Photo: bmw
We’ve seen our fair share of stupid reports in the past and most of them were quickly dismissed but what we’ve read today might just take the cake. And yet, it will be hard to prove it on the short term.
Autocar just published a story today, quoting ‘inside information’ that claims BMW’s range will be made primarily of electric models or plug-in hybrids in the future, dropping the old principle of powering the wheels directly from the engine.
According to them, internal combustion engines are true dinosaurs today and they will no longer be used as we know today but instead as generators that will power electric motors alone, driving the car per say in less than 10 percent of the situations.
The only problem they didn’t take into account was the ever growing battery technology.
As more and more car makers are looking toward hybrid and EV cars to solve their CO2 emission problems, the new discoveries in the field of batteries are more impressive by the day.
Today we literally have batteries that weigh less and can be charged 1,000 times faster. The only problem is that they are not cheap to buy but considering that the report we’re quoting claims that these moves will take place in 8 years from now, there’s plenty of time for that to change.
If more manufacturers are interested in developing new tech in this area, the production costs will go down, just like it happened with carbon fiber. That means that we won’t have to drop engines altogether along with their fuel tanks just to make room for bigger batteries.
It also means that range anxiety will be a thing of the past and emissions will also go down. At the same time, the wheels can still be powered by conventional engines to allow us to enjoy driving.
If you were to ask me, I’d tell you that the future looks like the i8. Big engines will surely be gone, that’s a fact, but they won’t be completely extinct because then nobody would be able to actually enjoy driving a car.
The batteries will shrink in size and weight and the body of future cars will indeed be made from a mixture of lightweight materials but, once again, I’ll emphasize that dropping them altogether will not happen, not even in 10 years.
Maybe in the far fetched future that will be a thing but first, we have to downsize the hell out of what we have and the 1.5-liter 3-cylinder B38 plant in the i8 will probably become the equivalent of the 3-liter N55 we have now. Oh, and we didn't even dwell in the fuel-cell issue that BMW seems extremely interested in these days.
According to them, internal combustion engines are true dinosaurs today and they will no longer be used as we know today but instead as generators that will power electric motors alone, driving the car per say in less than 10 percent of the situations.
The only problem they didn’t take into account was the ever growing battery technology.
As more and more car makers are looking toward hybrid and EV cars to solve their CO2 emission problems, the new discoveries in the field of batteries are more impressive by the day.
Today we literally have batteries that weigh less and can be charged 1,000 times faster. The only problem is that they are not cheap to buy but considering that the report we’re quoting claims that these moves will take place in 8 years from now, there’s plenty of time for that to change.
If more manufacturers are interested in developing new tech in this area, the production costs will go down, just like it happened with carbon fiber. That means that we won’t have to drop engines altogether along with their fuel tanks just to make room for bigger batteries.
It also means that range anxiety will be a thing of the past and emissions will also go down. At the same time, the wheels can still be powered by conventional engines to allow us to enjoy driving.
If you were to ask me, I’d tell you that the future looks like the i8. Big engines will surely be gone, that’s a fact, but they won’t be completely extinct because then nobody would be able to actually enjoy driving a car.
The batteries will shrink in size and weight and the body of future cars will indeed be made from a mixture of lightweight materials but, once again, I’ll emphasize that dropping them altogether will not happen, not even in 10 years.
Maybe in the far fetched future that will be a thing but first, we have to downsize the hell out of what we have and the 1.5-liter 3-cylinder B38 plant in the i8 will probably become the equivalent of the 3-liter N55 we have now. Oh, and we didn't even dwell in the fuel-cell issue that BMW seems extremely interested in these days.
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