FutureBoy
Well-known member
- First Name
- Reginald
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2020
- Threads
- 207
- Messages
- 3,522
- Reaction score
- 6,018
- Location
- Kirkland WA USA
- Vehicles
- Toyota Sienna
- Occupation
- Financial Advisor
- Thread starter
- #1
So I recently took a 3500-mile road trip. I was driving my Toyota Sienna on mostly interstate driving over mountain passes, through agricultural and ranch land, round many corners, fighting traffic in long straights. All the while dreaming of doing the road trip in my CT3 when it arrives.
And thinking about the comparison really got me thinking. Ya know, it really is astonishing how well ICE vehicles work these days. My Sienna was driving at well over the speed limit for hours on end, up and down steep hills, over rough and bumpy areas (for the interstate), through quick changes in traffic speed, with lane changes, avoiding large trucks, etc. Given the number of moving parts in an ICE vehicle, I find it astonishing (when I actually think about it) that these things work so well. They really are engineering marvels. To get here, we've been developing ICE vehicles for well over a century in a very concerted effort from multiple companies with some great ingenuity along the way. This has included many failed ideas, less than reliable solutions, and competition from multiple sources.
Given all that I started thinking about BEV tech. Ultimately the real difference here is that in an ICE vehicle the long-term engineering has gone into mechanical developments. For BEVs, there is also a lot of engineering involved but mechanically they are very much simpler. Instead, there are electro-chemical and electro-magnetic engineering developments that have made our current state possible. But really, the force of development on this front has not been nearly as long, sustained, focused, inventive or competitive. And yet the changes that have come in the last 20 years are incredible.
I think that with the mechanical simplicity and switch to electric-based engineering, BEVs get advantages in reliability, design creativity, overall performance, and flexibility. But we have just begun to see what amazing vehicles there will be in the future. It will take a while I believe but as society gears up to really understand BEVs to the extent that they currently do ICE, there are going to be some pretty incredible vehicles developed.
I'm already stoked about my CT3 but after all that time thinking about the possibilities, I'm also excited to see what will develop next.
And thinking about the comparison really got me thinking. Ya know, it really is astonishing how well ICE vehicles work these days. My Sienna was driving at well over the speed limit for hours on end, up and down steep hills, over rough and bumpy areas (for the interstate), through quick changes in traffic speed, with lane changes, avoiding large trucks, etc. Given the number of moving parts in an ICE vehicle, I find it astonishing (when I actually think about it) that these things work so well. They really are engineering marvels. To get here, we've been developing ICE vehicles for well over a century in a very concerted effort from multiple companies with some great ingenuity along the way. This has included many failed ideas, less than reliable solutions, and competition from multiple sources.
Given all that I started thinking about BEV tech. Ultimately the real difference here is that in an ICE vehicle the long-term engineering has gone into mechanical developments. For BEVs, there is also a lot of engineering involved but mechanically they are very much simpler. Instead, there are electro-chemical and electro-magnetic engineering developments that have made our current state possible. But really, the force of development on this front has not been nearly as long, sustained, focused, inventive or competitive. And yet the changes that have come in the last 20 years are incredible.
I think that with the mechanical simplicity and switch to electric-based engineering, BEVs get advantages in reliability, design creativity, overall performance, and flexibility. But we have just begun to see what amazing vehicles there will be in the future. It will take a while I believe but as society gears up to really understand BEVs to the extent that they currently do ICE, there are going to be some pretty incredible vehicles developed.
I'm already stoked about my CT3 but after all that time thinking about the possibilities, I'm also excited to see what will develop next.
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