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posted by janrinok on Sunday January 14 2018, @07:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the you-can't-handle-the-future dept.

Sure looks a lot like your father's Oldsmobile...

Electric cars were supposed to be the future – or at least look like it. So now they're here, why do they still look like ordinary petrol and diesel cars and not dazzling props from a science fiction film.

Before they hit the market and became relatively mainstream, many imagined (or at least, hoped) that electric cars would resemble the Light Runner from Tron: Legacy. After all, without the need for an internal combustion engine, an exhaust system and a fuel tank, electric car designers should have the creative freedom to rip up the rule book and create some truly eye-catching vehicles.

But this hasn't really happened. Park a Renault Zoe next to a Renault Clio, for example, and compare the two. While there are subtle differences and styling cues that suggest the Zoe is electric and the Clio isn't, the overall body form is strikingly similar. In fact, the Zoe is assembled on the same production line as the Clio and Nissan Micra.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by AlphaSnail on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:02AM (10 children)

    by AlphaSnail (5814) on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:02AM (#622118)

    Though I'd bet 20 or 30 years down the road the designs will get played with this first generation has to pass existing safety standards built up for currently existing cars. Also just to get taken seriously you don't want people making fun of your weird car - you want to fit in with what people are used to (at least for the mainstream market).

    • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:15AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:15AM (#622131)

      It might not be stargazer... it might be pew pew along the lines of magazine!

      Your true power has been revealed! Know your folly and prostrate yourself before your betters, you insolent insect! Slewp, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

      • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:32AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:32AM (#622137)

        Shut the fuck up and massage my itchy prostate with your cock! Come on come on when does it get hard?? Goddamn you're fucking pathetic.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:22AM (7 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:22AM (#622148)

      Exposed wheels like in the light runner are more dangerous and not so good for aerodynamics.

      Most people who buy cars have a number of common requirements:
      1) You'd like to be able to seat 4 people comfortably in your car.
      2) You are still going to have a large front windscreen and a similar rear windscreen. So if you want it cheap people are going to get out from the sides, not the front or back.
      3) Lots of people like some storage. So you are still going to have a storage compartment. And where will you put it? Either front or back, or both. Not the sides because 2). And the bits that stick out are also collision buffers.
      4) You'd still want a fair sized air intake for cooling the air-conditioning condenser, the battery and other high power electrical stuff, so you still get a grill in the front.
      5) After satisfying such requirements and more you end up with a conventional rectangular box format car so you are still going to have four wheels, because that's better for stability than three with such a format.

      There's stuff like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeltaWing [wikipedia.org]
      That might be good for racing with only one or two people in the car but not so good for a car to drive to and park at a shopping mall.

      • (Score: 2) by Nuke on Sunday January 14 2018, @07:43PM (4 children)

        by Nuke (3162) on Sunday January 14 2018, @07:43PM (#622247)

        In fact the earliest electric cars did look "futuristic" or at least nothing like conventional cars.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5 [wikipedia.org]

        https://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/2011/jenny/hiriko/hiriko04.jpg [designboom.com]

        It was found that apart from a few hipsters, students, and people crying out for attention, people did not want them - would you?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @07:52PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @07:52PM (#622251)

          The earliest electric cars were about 100 years ago.

          You referenced one from the 80s and a concept image which could be any of the (moderately successful) bubble cars currently in production and use (more common in Japan, but).

          Neither was first. Only one is a failure.

          You can do better, Nukie m'boy! Put some thought into it lest we think you're intellectually lazy, or too foolish to google before making claims. Ie. before we start treating you like a lie-prone child.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:07PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:07PM (#622295)

            There was a TeeVee show called "Grounded for Life" that came on after "That '70s Show" IIRC.

            The crazy brother/uncle lost all his money and stuff and ended up driving the worlds ugliest production car. [google.com]

            -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

        • (Score: 2) by Pav on Monday January 15 2018, @09:52AM

          by Pav (114) on Monday January 15 2018, @09:52AM (#622506)

          Aptera [youtube.com] was certainly futuristic. Watch and weep as one of their beautiful prototypes [youtube.com] is destroyed by the "b team" guys who were brought in by the new company owners after the "a team" was sacked. Listen to their mealy mouthed comments, saying that the entire program couldn't work in the real world (after it had for several years). The new team had failed disasterously in their X-prize bid, and haven't done much of worth since.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @09:43AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 16 2018, @09:43AM (#623056)

          Earliest electric cars are from the 1800 anyway the shape was indeed futuristic.
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamais_Contente [wikipedia.org]

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:58PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:58PM (#622290)

        Aw, man. That takes all the fun out of designs.

        Especially crazy access/egress possibilities. [google.com]

        ...then there's Messerschmitt's 1 + 1 design. [google.com]

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday January 15 2018, @02:56AM

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday January 15 2018, @02:56AM (#622383)

        Panoz does different for the sake of different - they make some hot stuff, but usually get shut out by the rules committees because of their differences...

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:12AM (19 children)

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:12AM (#622120) Journal

    Note that the light runner looks quite similar to real-life (non-electric) racing cars (and that surely is not a coincidence). So the reason why electric cars look nothing like that is the very same why petrol cars don't look like racing cars.

    The reason being that it would simply be too impractical for normal use.

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    • (Score: 2, Disagree) by bzipitidoo on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:37AM (11 children)

      by bzipitidoo (4388) on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:37AM (#622124) Journal

      Marketing believes that the public doesn't care much about practicality.

      One of the stupidest things about gasoline cars is the unnecessarily bad aerodynamics. Look how long it took to lose the hood ornaments. For over 50 years, grill openings have been bigger than necessary, for the sake of appearances, because much of the public still believes that means the car is more powerful. And then there's the underside. Electric cars don't have mufflers sticking out, but they still have framework spoiling the smoothness of the underside.

      • (Score: 4, Informative) by Dr Spin on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:18AM (4 children)

        by Dr Spin (5239) on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:18AM (#622133)

        It is claimed that one of the reasons all cars look much the same is "safety regulations". I have no idea if its true, but I am told that the reason we can't have vehicles that look like the Mercedes 810D or 240SL (or indeed, Land Rover Defenders or the old shape Fiat 500) any more is that they would kill pedestrians if they hit them.

        --
        Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
        • (Score: 5, Informative) by Unixnut on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:33AM (2 children)

          by Unixnut (5779) on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:33AM (#622159)

          > It is claimed that one of the reasons all cars look much the same is "safety regulations".

          It is, The EU mandated a certain front body shape to minimise pedestrian injuries, a lot of car makers have to comply to sell to the EU. As it costs a lot to design a car, few car manufacturers will design two cars, one for the EU market, one for the rest of the world (in reality: None of them will).

          As a result, all normal cars have that ugly "snub nose" look, and pretty much all cars look alike, and with time these cars will make their way worldwide:

          http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/09/how-pedestrians-create-boring-cars/ [thetruthaboutcars.com]
          https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704644404575481663295463730#articleTabs%3Dvideo [wsj.com]
          http://www.autonews.com/article/20120423/OEM03/304239967/european-safety-styled-cars-due-in-u.s. [autonews.com]

          As it is a regulation and not a law, it can be ignored (although the manufacturer will be fined for it). Exotic cars like your Ferraris and Lamborghinis actually flaunt the regulation. They deliberately don't follow it. This results in a large fine for each car sold, however they tack the fine onto the retail price of the car, and it just makes the cars more expensive and exclusive, which actually works for that market.

          Normal cars can't do that, as a €20,000 fine (for example, I can't find out the actual fine cost per unit) on a €25,000 family car makes it too expensive. Would you be willing to spend 2x the price of the nearest competitor cars just to have a non dull shape?

          • (Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @06:33AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @06:33AM (#622464)
            A higher nose is better so your car is less likely to dive under the rear of the SUV or similar and get you decapitated.

            Most cars are designed to handle bumper vs object crashes not windshield vs object. So a windshield vs object crash doesn't even have to be high speed to kill or maim you.
          • (Score: 2) by quietus on Tuesday January 16 2018, @11:23AM

            by quietus (6328) on Tuesday January 16 2018, @11:23AM (#623076) Journal

            No. The EU did not mandate a certain body-front shape. It mandated minimum and maximum angles, reference lines and other dimensions with regards to the front bumpers [and other protection systems], but not a specific shape. Penalties are determined by the member states.

            Source [europa.eu]. See Annex I, Technical provisions for the testing of vehicles and frontal protection systems.

        • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday January 15 2018, @02:58AM

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday January 15 2018, @02:58AM (#622386)

          After a while, car design would have to morph into a level of self-similarity to avoid decapitation of the passengers type problems, can't have mismatched bumper heights or other creative configurations - even if the configuration is safe in a collision with itself, it's probably not as safe in a collision with a standard car as a standard car would be...

          --
          🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:22AM (5 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:22AM (#622135)

        The grill has to be big enough for the worst-case situation, which is very different from the normal situation. Picture a hot day in a high-altitude desert, climbing a steep road, with a trailer. Maybe the car is going slow so there isn't wind, or maybe it is fast and accelerating hard. The car isn't new, so the radiator's surface is 70% obscured by dead bugs.

        I find headlights to be an interesting legacy design issue. LED lights work better when cool, and they can best be made as flat panels. We should have that. The lights could each be a foot tall, two feet wide, and only a quarter inch deep. We don't get this though, because LED may be an optional feature and because of expected style. The ideal shape for any other kind of light is much less flat.

        • (Score: 5, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:37AM (3 children)

          by hemocyanin (186) on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:37AM (#622138) Journal

          That's the worst idea for a headlight I've ever heard of. Imagine trying to drive at night into an oncoming swarm of billboard size lights.

          • (Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:56PM (2 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:56PM (#622327)

            It's not as if the total amount of light would need to change.

            Tiny lights case star-like sparkles in the eye, particularly for people who have had corrective eye surgery.

            Going bigger allows reducing the brightness of individual points. It even allows a softened edge if you like, with dimmer LEDs near the edge. That would really reduce optical artifacts in the eyes of opposing drivers.

            • (Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Monday January 15 2018, @07:00AM (1 child)

              by maxwell demon (1608) on Monday January 15 2018, @07:00AM (#622480) Journal

              It's not so much the total amount, but the directedness. A panel shines light in all directions. The reason for the normal lights' shape is that they send the light in a very directed way; most of the light goes down to the street.

              With undirected light emission, you either have too much light up to other's eyes, or too little light down to the street.

              --
              The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @07:26PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @07:26PM (#622673)

                A panel is composed of many tiny elements. Each can be designed to have a narrow beam, a wide beam, or a flattened beam. Put those together and you can get what you want.

                You can even get an beam that can be aimed without any moving parts. Simply install an excess of elements, all with narrow beams but facing different directions. You can install more elements than you have power to simultaneously operate.

                Why does everybody assume weird and awful properties for this form factor?

        • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @03:32PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @03:32PM (#622191)

          Agree with hemocyanin. Headlights are getting too annoying as it is. All it takes is one pair of halogen blue-white super-bright headlines to shine in my eyes and my night vision is gone for a minute or two. I especially hate jacked-up trucks since their headlights are right at eye level for me. Even worse, lots of idiots seem to get a boner from getting right up behind me and shining their headlights in my center mirror while tailgating. I turn my center mirror up these days and let their own headlights blind them. Haven't been tailgated like that since.

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 14 2018, @03:22PM (6 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday January 14 2018, @03:22PM (#622190)

      I think you can find the answer in a an older, similar question:

      Why do mass production cars never look like the wild concept car prototypes at auto-shows?

      They occasionally try: the Plymouth Prowler, Toyota MR2... but those type of production cars still don't sell as well as Ford's Taurus, or Toyota's Camry. The mass market is boring, basically by definition. If lots of people buy something, it becomes commonplace.

      20 years ago, in-console display screens and backup cameras were super-rare / futuristic.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:40PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:40PM (#622301)

        production cars never look like the wild concept car prototypes

        A bunch of design ideas from a 1965 Chevy concept car [google.com] did make it into the production run a few years later. [google.com]

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

        • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday January 15 2018, @01:55PM

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday January 15 2018, @01:55PM (#622563)

          The Corvette and Viper (and especially the GT-40) are sort of Unicorns to the Camaro and Mustang's pony - they sort of stand on the bridge between production and concept.

          But, even the Corvette and Viper never managed to do production scissor doors.

          --
          🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 2) by Webweasel on Monday January 15 2018, @09:52AM (3 children)

        by Webweasel (567) on Monday January 15 2018, @09:52AM (#622505) Homepage Journal

        Man, I loved my MR2. Such an awesome car. Eventually became a single father with 2 kids. This resulted in me selling it, which was a real shame after all the effort I put in (Engine swap, lots of mods)

        I'm going to put a deposit down with the local import garage in a few months and ask them to find me a shining example. Planning on a 1999 Turbo with as low mileage as possible, ideally white to go with my Celica GT4. Shame the Supra got so popular and is stupid money now. I'd love to have all 3 parked outside my house, all in white. Well, two out of three isn't bad.

        Hey I can dream can't I?

        --
        Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
        • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday January 15 2018, @01:57PM (2 children)

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday January 15 2018, @01:57PM (#622565)

          Yep, I've been fortunate enough to hang on to my mod-toy, a 1991 Miata bought new, turbocharged in 1996, and still with us.

          See, the secret is: if you're a family of 4 with 2 drivers, you just get a 2nd 2 seater... Also, living like a redneck on a big piece of land gives more room to park the toys.

          --
          🌻🌻 [google.com]
          • (Score: 2) by Webweasel on Monday January 15 2018, @02:25PM (1 child)

            by Webweasel (567) on Monday January 15 2018, @02:25PM (#622570) Homepage Journal

            Yes, the MX5/Miata is a great car. A colleague at bought one as his first sports car, we went out one lunch so he could show it to me. "Hey why not drive it back to the office?" Game on!

            By the time we got back he was white with fear and just kept repeating "Ive never taken a car to its redline before"

            That was a fun day.

            --
            Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
            • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday January 15 2018, @02:44PM

              by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday January 15 2018, @02:44PM (#622576)

              I've got two now, picked up a '99 for $2500 - it's got mismatched tires, and a general case of not being owned by a driving enthusiast for many years, but it's still easy to toss into a nice, controlled 4 wheel drift on the 270 degree on ramp every day, rain or shine.

              --
              🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:29AM

    by SomeGuy (5632) on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:29AM (#622121)

    It doesn't matter how the vehicle looks as long as it can leave a light ribbon that destroys anything that runs in to it.

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:29AM (10 children)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane (4757) on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:29AM (#622122)

    Everything being the same but the drivetrain sends a powerful message to potential buyers: it's still a car like you're used to, we as a company treat it exactly as the other cars in our lineup and it will get the same level of support from garages. It's reassuring.

    Too many changes drive customers away. People are often afraid or suspicious of change. It's very-well known in social studies and marketing. Drab-looking electric cars appeal to people's sense of continuity and comfort, and makes their adoption by the general public a less-risky proposition.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:55AM (9 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:55AM (#622127)

      To sell to old people.

      Notice how in Picard's last movie appearance when he's getting old, he takes out the retro all-terrain-vehicle for a joyride on some planet of the primitive screwheads.

      We are living in the future of the old people and the old people are living in the past.

      SoylentNews is old people

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by TheReaperD on Sunday January 14 2018, @04:47PM (8 children)

        by TheReaperD (5556) on Sunday January 14 2018, @04:47PM (#622202)

        Over half of the developed world is "old people." They're also the ones with the highest share of wealth so, yes, the market caters to "old people."

        --
        Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit
        • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @05:17PM (7 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @05:17PM (#622210)

          You forgot to mention that old people are the ones who vote. The market and the law cater to old people.

          Fuck the future; we got ours; young people should just die.

          SoylentNews is old people

          • (Score: 1) by r_a_trip on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:42PM (5 children)

            by r_a_trip (5276) on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:42PM (#622265)

            Young people become old people really fast. When the big 3 0 approaches, you are no longer "young". After that you'll stay old until you die.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:34PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:34PM (#622299)

              Die young and give all your money to my pension fund.

            • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:47PM (3 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:47PM (#622304)

              ...but some of us refuse to ever grow up.

              -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:11PM (2 children)

                by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:11PM (#622314)

                You moved out of your mother's basement when you buried her in the basement and you moved into your dead mother's room.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:56PM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:56PM (#622328)

                  You should write movie scripts. Oh, wait. [wikipedia.org]

                  Mom's still on this side of the grass, on the other end of the country.
                  Her folks lived into their late 80s and she's passed their marks.
                  Wouldn't be surprised if she outlived us all.

                  -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @12:57AM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @12:57AM (#622342)

                  Sure Norman, sure.

          • (Score: 2) by TheReaperD on Tuesday January 16 2018, @02:30PM

            by TheReaperD (5556) on Tuesday January 16 2018, @02:30PM (#623135)

            I am old people, you insensitive clod!

            --
            Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:57AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @08:57AM (#622128)

    Who cares how they look?! Instead the interesting question is where they get their go juice. And this from the environmental point of view rather than eg. practical.

    • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:01AM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:01AM (#622130)

      Instead the interesting question is where they get their go juice.

      I don't know about you but I always top up the go juice by sticking my massive rigid dick into the battery and shooting out a quart of manly techbro cum.

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:18AM (1 child)

        by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:18AM (#622134) Homepage

        The Jewgas are behind it. Treacherous Bastards.

        What, motherfucker? A Jewga is something I made up, it don't mean any goddamn thing. Shut the fuck up, you goddamn Jewga.

        • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:24AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:24AM (#622136)

          You mean gewg jewg originalsocialist originalsodomite? That jewgas?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @06:51AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @06:51AM (#622477)

        Slap the latest JavaScript UI framework on it if you want a fadmobile

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by damnbunni on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:36AM (10 children)

    by damnbunni (704) on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:36AM (#622150) Journal

    People just don't want cars that 'look like the future'. While there are exceptions, hybrids and electrics that look like normal cars sell better than weird-looking ones.

    Often a LOT better.

    People want cars that blend in with traffic. An odd-looking car, of any sort, means you'll spend a lot of time getting pointed at, stared at, and being asked questions. While that can be neat for a little while, it gets annoying pretty quickly. (Try driving a Ferrari for a while. Or a '52 Studebaker with flames and a blower. Or an Excalibur. The attention is fun when it's a weekend toy vehicle, not so much when it's a daily driver.)

    • (Score: 2) by richtopia on Sunday January 14 2018, @12:40PM (2 children)

      by richtopia (3160) on Sunday January 14 2018, @12:40PM (#622166) Homepage Journal

      Sorta. Yes marketing has come to similar conclusions: the Chevy Volt initial designs initially was very stylized: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Volt#/media/File:Chevy_Volt_Concept_NAIAS_2007_02.jpg [wikipedia.org]

      However; the Prius demonstrated that people want some identity to hybrid electric vehicles. Other hybrids of that era were converted from standard vehicles, and only had a badge to differentiate them. The Prius became a statement, and the uniqueness let people know you were driving a hybrid.

      • (Score: 2) by damnbunni on Sunday January 14 2018, @01:44PM

        by damnbunni (704) on Sunday January 14 2018, @01:44PM (#622173) Journal

        The first generation Prius was a very 'normal car' especially compared to the Honda Insight.

        The original Prius wasn't very distinctive-looking. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DCA_Prius_1Gen_12_2011_3594.JPG [wikipedia.org]

      • (Score: 1) by toddestan on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:14PM

        by toddestan (4982) on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:14PM (#622270)

        The problem with that Volt concept is that you wouldn't be able to see out of it. So I would argue that it really never was intended to go to production like that. With that said, it does have a lot of similarities to the new retro-Camaro.

        The other interesting thing about the Volt is that like the Prius, the first generation did have a bit of a distinct look to it, even though I thought the large rear end was a bit ungainly. The redesigned second generation, however, is very generic and looks like it could have been made by anyone.

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 14 2018, @02:53PM (6 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday January 14 2018, @02:53PM (#622184)

      People want cars that blend in with traffic.

      Which can be "proven" just by looking at the color and paint scheme distribution of cars on the road. What's the percentage of "bland" vs "vivid / recognizable" in your town?

      It's not hard, or even very expensive, for people to make their cars brightly colored, or uniquely identifiable, even in a city of a million people - but, barely 1% choose to do so.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 2) by tekk on Sunday January 14 2018, @06:19PM (4 children)

        by tekk (5704) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 14 2018, @06:19PM (#622223)

        I may have heard wrong, but I was told that the reason for boring colors in cars was insurance. The color of your car isn't something that's on too many people's mind and your insurance isn't as expensive for a car that's silver or white (high visibility, but not a risk taker's color like yellow or red) as it is for other colors, and so all other things being equal, people go for the one with cheaper insurance.

        • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 14 2018, @06:27PM

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday January 14 2018, @06:27PM (#622227)

          That's not how my insurance company works... I have heard stories about white cars being cheaper to insure than black with some companies, but that doesn't seem to reduce the black count very much.

          Then there's the old "arrest me red" legend, which... isn't all about the red. I've driven a sports car with two bold red racing stripes down the middle, and once in a while a cop will take notice and tail me, but after they determine that I'm under the speed limit and the white hair registers with them, they lose interest and drive away. When I was just a punk kid in a super-bland white Honda Civic, they'd still pull me over for looking like a punk kid, even if I was under the speed limit.

          --
          🌻🌻 [google.com]
        • (Score: 1) by toddestan on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:28PM (1 child)

          by toddestan (4982) on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:28PM (#622277)

          The problem is that many cars don't offer exciting colors anymore. If you look at new cars, you'll find they come in white, black, various shades of silver and grey, a beige or brown (less common now), and if you're lucky maybe a maroonish color. The exceptions are generally small/cheap cars, and fun/sporty cars. Interiors are even more drab, with most cars offering at most two colors, almost always a black and a lightish tan as your only two options.

          I think a lot of this has to do with the decline of special-ordering cars, and maybe a bit with people worried about resale. A dealer doesn't want to order a bright blue or green car for stock, as not everyone will want that color so they might get stuck with it for a while. Whereas most people are willing to settle for a silver/grey/beige vehicle out of dealer stock if the color they really want isn't available, so that's what the dealers order.

          Of course, you can always personalize your vehicle and have it repainted any color you want. However, that's expensive if you want it done right, and secondly it will pretty much destroy your resale value.

          • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday January 15 2018, @02:54AM

            by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday January 15 2018, @02:54AM (#622382)

            I have the feeling that if the wild colors would sell, they would be offered for sale.

            We bought a bright yellow Dodge Caliber from the first year or two of production, I think they did that one to get attention for the model - but by the third year of production the brightest color on offer was a sort of dull burnt orange metallic... if people were buying the YELLOW they would have continued to offer it, I'm sure.

            We bought that car used when it was a year old, and it had been sitting on the lot for a couple of months... you may be right about the resale thing... didn't bother us at all, we drove it until it was only worth about $1500, at that price point color doesn't seem to be as big a deal.

            --
            🌻🌻 [google.com]
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @09:04AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @09:04AM (#622495)

          That doesn't explain it.

          The least stolen car color is pink. To make it even better from an insurance point of view, pick a highly visible pink, rather than the standard "same color as the fog" gray metallic.

      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday January 15 2018, @06:15AM

        by bob_super (1357) on Monday January 15 2018, @06:15AM (#622455)

        Non-boring colors reduce resale value.

  • (Score: 2) by pkrasimirov on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:25AM

    by pkrasimirov (3358) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:25AM (#622156)

    Electric drive changes a lot in car but not everything. The powertrain is different, all the safety and comfort is reused. That's big difference from Engineering PoV but not so much from customer.

    However I agree the single most important reason for the cars to stay the same is marketing. Whatever sells will be designed and produced.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:57AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:57AM (#622162)

    In addition to the "regulations", "safety standards", and "physics", already mentioned above, an answer is right there in the TFS.

    > Park a Renault Zoe next to a Renault Clio, for example, and compare the two. While there are subtle differences and styling cues that suggest the Zoe is electric and the Clio isn't, the overall body form is strikingly similar. In fact, the Zoe is assembled on the same production line as the Clio and Nissan Micra.

    So, uh... you can reuse the production lines. Developing an entirely new "inside" is expensive enough, no need to compound it by developing and building production lines for an entirely new "outside" as well. That can come later.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @12:50PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @12:50PM (#622168)

    TFA makes a big deal about electric car air drag, with Cd in the 0.23 range. This may be low compared to the existing fleet of cars, but there are large improvements possible if you are willing to accept different shapes.

    For example, the Sylph http://aquaflector.com/ev/sylph.jpg [aquaflector.com] was tested in a wind tunnel (1/4 size model), Cd was 0.10 without internal air flow. The actual car must be a little higher since it did have a small radiator opening at the front.

    While the designer was initially looking for outside money to develop a very high efficiency commuter/sports car, he eventually realized that his tastes were far from the mainstream and built the car as a personal art project. His preference would have been for 4 wheels (narrow track at the rear), but the regulations for cars are stringent, thus it was built as a trike/motorcycle (in USA/California) to sidestep these rules.

    • (Score: 2) by fritsd on Sunday January 14 2018, @04:22PM (3 children)

      by fritsd (4586) on Sunday January 14 2018, @04:22PM (#622197) Journal

      I couldn't see from that picture where the weekly shopping goes?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @07:58PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @07:58PM (#622253)

        You can find design drawings on that site. There's storage behind the seat!

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:45PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:45PM (#622284)

          The door is very wide, with good access to the back seat (good for 1 adult + one child). Or if the back seat is flipped down, there is over 6 feet of flat floor that a friendly couple can sleep on. The engine is completely underneath that rear floor level.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:49PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:49PM (#622288)

          > You can find design drawings on that site.

          Poked around and didn't see any design drawings -- can you post the URL please?

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by bob_super on Monday January 15 2018, @06:20AM

      by bob_super (1357) on Monday January 15 2018, @06:20AM (#622456)

      > if you are willing to accept different shapes.

      Those shapes are going to cause major mutilation in the event of an accident.
      No manufacturer wants those headlines.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @02:01PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @02:01PM (#622175)

    The reasons are obvious:

    Marketing
    Safety
    Regulations
    Manufacturing
    Being practical..

    • (Score: 2) by ledow on Sunday January 14 2018, @05:02PM (1 child)

      by ledow (5567) on Sunday January 14 2018, @05:02PM (#622207) Homepage

      An awful lot of buyers don't care what the car looks like either.

      It never factored in my decisions.

      And when I see the ugly-arse cars that exist on the road today, I don't believe that most other people care either.

      (I mean, what are those side-panel things on some Citroens? It looks like the rubber bits stuck on a toy car that'll fall off in seconds.
      The Fiat Multipla with the stupid double-front? And just about everything on a Smart car?)

      Then you have the colours... there are some seriously horrible coloured cars out there.

      Sure, if I can avoid those I will. But if I'm buying a car, I'd happily buy something that looks like a square box but is cheaper and/or larger inside or more fuel efficient.

      • (Score: 2) by Webweasel on Monday January 15 2018, @10:13AM

        by Webweasel (567) on Monday January 15 2018, @10:13AM (#622511) Homepage Journal

        You forgot the worst one of all, the Nissan Joke err, sorry I meant Juke.

        Seriously, why the FUCK are these cars so popular?

        --
        Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @02:02PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @02:02PM (#622176)

    Electric cars could be very quiet. In some places they want to add noise so it sounds like a fuel engine while complaining about noise pollution from cars.

    Still waiting for the day where cars are taxed for every decibel over a specified limit.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 14 2018, @03:12PM (5 children)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday January 14 2018, @03:12PM (#622187)

      taxed for every decibel over a specified limit.

      Keep waiting, Harley riders vote too.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday January 14 2018, @06:24PM (2 children)

        by maxwell demon (1608) on Sunday January 14 2018, @06:24PM (#622226) Journal

        Harleys don't count as cars, do they?

        --
        The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
        • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 14 2018, @06:30PM (1 child)

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday January 14 2018, @06:30PM (#622228)

          A Harley does count as a motor vehicle, I think it would be pretty hard to pass a law giving anything on less than 4 wheels a break for noise regulation.

          --
          🌻🌻 [google.com]
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @09:13AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @09:13AM (#622496)

            Why?

            Over here, motorcycle buyers pay a lot less taxes than cars. At one point I considered getting a drivers license for a motorcycle and checked the prices. I could get a brand new Hayabusa for the same price I paid for an 11 year old Toyota MR2.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by dry on Monday January 15 2018, @03:31AM (1 child)

        by dry (223) on Monday January 15 2018, @03:31AM (#622402) Journal

        Around here, a lot of Harleys are actually illegal noise wise. It seems to be a hard law to enforce as it is hard to measure the sound in such a way that it stands up in court.

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday January 15 2018, @03:59AM

          by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday January 15 2018, @03:59AM (#622419)

          It seems to be a hard law to enforce as it is hard to measure the sound in such a way that it stands up in court.

          Probably because the judge also rides a modded Harley.

          --
          🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @03:11PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @03:11PM (#622186)

    But political meddling stopped the whole thing from taking off.

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 14 2018, @03:15PM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Sunday January 14 2018, @03:15PM (#622188)

      It was the petroleum industry, who managed to externalize/defer the significant costs of their product and profit from the short-term cheap energy.

      That, and solar cell technology was really lame in the 1970s.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 2) by looorg on Sunday January 14 2018, @05:05PM (1 child)

    by looorg (578) on Sunday January 14 2018, @05:05PM (#622208)

    The Jetsons and other such series set an unrealistic ideal of the future. Still no flying cars or friendly robots that do everything for us, but I guess we are slowly making it there. That said I believe the domestic robot will be common before the flying car, that one has so many more issues and ramifications compared to the bot it will take longer to implement them.

    But why does the electric cars look like normal cars? Probably has more to do with wanting to use standardized parts and then modern normal cars have spent so much design time in air-tunnels etc to find the "perfect" form there just might not be an improvement on that. Lets just assume that you would remove most of the space occupied by the combustion engine and exhaust. Would we all drive around little square boxes? The drag on that would most likely be quite horrible. Beyond the scientific explanations there are also the perceived ideas of people of what a car is supposed to look like. Looks or image in that regard are probably as important. While you want your new electric car to be "sci-fi":ish you also want it to be a car for normal people and not just the super nerds.

    The linked Light Runner looks beyond stupid, it looks like some cross between a F1-racing-car and a rocket. Either the car-body-compartment is very small or the wheels are gigantic -- tractor sized wheels in a F1 style. If you don't need the shape to be car like anymore they still keep it around.

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by SomeGuy on Sunday January 14 2018, @05:58PM

      by SomeGuy (5632) on Sunday January 14 2018, @05:58PM (#622214)

      Movies and TV shows don't have to stick with what is real, practical, or even possible. They happily go with whatever looks cool. That is not always a bad thing, especially in a fantasy show like Tron or The Jetsons, but people have to remember that is fantasy.

      One impractical detail in some fantasy sci-fi show that I find funny is the use of transparent/translucent paper, computer screens, or drawing boards. Movies like it, because they can have the space guy closely reading a document without obscuring their face. In reality that would be completely unreadable, and I'm laughing my ass off "Why is everyone in the future reading from 1980s overhead transparency sheets!?" :)

      How about an episode of The Orville that goes something like this:
      A male crew member is standing in front of the captain's desk, the captain leans back in his chair, looks at his computer screen to read something, and the "background" of the text is the crew member's well-endowed crotch.
      "Uh, could you move a little to one side? Thanks.".

  • (Score: 2) by Entropy on Sunday January 14 2018, @07:41PM (1 child)

    by Entropy (4228) on Sunday January 14 2018, @07:41PM (#622246)

    That mandate certain bumpers, wheel covers, heights of things, and everything else. All these laws were created around standard gasoline vehicles, and thus the electric cars can't really look like anything else.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:07PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @10:07PM (#622296)

      You can blame the insurance industry lobby for some of these "safety" features. I believe that they were tired of paying out for low speed crashes that were costing huge money to repair...all because one bumper over-rode the other.

      Pisses me off that trucks get a pass on the headlight height rules. When you raise a truck (lift kit, etc), you should be required to also lower the headlights back to some reasonable height.

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:11PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:11PM (#622315)

    Because jews want us to drive drab, very uncreative and similar looking cars. Being non-humans themselves, they don't care about looks. They live for generations in the same dirty and bug-ridden dwellings and show a remarkable inability to civilize.

    After so much progress in vehicle technology, we are forced to use the same old designs. Anyone showing uniqueness and creativity is quickly destroyed.

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