Naughton: The Car of the Future | Newsweek Voices - Keith Naughton

The Car of the Future

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I suspect we may be surprised regarding fuel prices -- and not in a nice way.

I doubt our supplier "friends" abroad will miss a chance to run up the dollar signs at the pump.

For that matter, we Americans have gotten off on the cheap for decades, and I wonder how much longer that can last. I live in a foreign country where a gallon of unleaded premium costs on the order of 20-fold as much, compared to average monthly incomes, than it does in the U.S.

I also think (read: hope) that alternatives such as reasonably efficient batteries will come to the fore much sooner than we now suspect. There are countless bright folks out there right now looking to make a buck with one eye and looking at the technological possibilities with the other eye.

Smaller vehicles? Sure, with some, though Americans are likely to be among the most resistant to downsizing. My Sister, for instance, insists on her SUV, though her husband rarely rides with her and their kids are grown and gone from home. But she drives to her job, about 15-16 miles, round-trip, daily, in a vehicle designed to spaciously seat 8 or 9, less spaciously to handle another passenger or two -- and, in a pinch, to carry north of a dozen. Average-sized adults, I mean, not a bunch of kiddies.

Even my aging Mom, who virtually never even drives her car (let alone have passengers) insists on keeping her decade-old Cadillac best compared to an aircraft carrier.

Me? I LOVE driving -- but haven't done so in 15 years, as I live in a major foreign metropolis with excellent public transportation options, including taxis, motorcycle taxis, a decent subway system, and an elevated train. And the later two are expanding apace. I can get practically anywhere I might wish to go, in the metropolis anyway, by one of these means -- cheaply. Were I to buy a car, I likely, as a single guy with no dependents, opt for something like a Smart-For-2 or Mini-Cooper. Heck, if the government here ever were to put in true bicycle lanes, I'd go back to riding a bike, as I did for years in China. Loved it, and improved my health.

I'm from car-crazed Texas, but even there, people are beginning to cotton to the idea of meaningful mass transit -- not just a single bus on sparse routes every hour or two, but light rail and the like. And if fuel prices do indeed rise, as I'm inclined to believe they will somewhere down the line, interest in alternatives will climb right along with those prices.

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Posted By: MekhongKurt @ 08/03/2009 3:04:06 PM

I suspect we may be surprised regarding fuel prices -- and not in a nice way.

I doubt our supplier "friends" abroad will miss a chance to run up the dollar signs at the pump.

For that matter, we Americans have gotten off on the cheap for decades, and I wonder how much longer that can last. I live in a foreign country where a gallon of unleaded premium costs on the order of 20-fold as much, compared to average monthly incomes, than it does in the U.S.

I also think (read: hope) that alternatives such as reasonably efficient batteries will come to the fore much sooner than we now suspect. There are countless bright folks out there right now looking to make a buck with one eye and looking at the technological possibilities with the other eye.

Smaller vehicles? Sure, with some, though Americans are likely to be among the most resistant to downsizing. My Sister, for instance, insists on her SUV, though her husband rarely rides with her and their kids are grown and gone from home. But she drives to her job, about 15-16 miles, round-trip, daily, in a vehicle designed to spaciously seat 8 or 9, less spaciously to handle another passenger or two -- and, in a pinch, to carry north of a dozen. Average-sized adults, I mean, not a bunch of kiddies.

Even my aging Mom, who virtually never even drives her car (let alone have passengers) insists on keeping her decade-old Cadillac best compared to an aircraft carrier.

Me? I LOVE driving -- but haven't done so in 15 years, as I live in a major foreign metropolis with excellent public transportation options, including taxis, motorcycle taxis, a decent subway system, and an elevated train. And the later two are expanding apace. I can get practically anywhere I might wish to go, in the metropolis anyway, by one of these means -- cheaply. Were I to buy a car, I likely, as a single guy with no dependents, opt for something like a Smart-For-2 or Mini-Cooper. Heck, if the government here ever were to put in true bicycle lanes, I'd go back to riding a bike, as I did for years in China. Loved it, and improved my health.

I'm from car-crazed Texas, but even there, people are beginning to cotton to the idea of meaningful mass transit -- not just a single bus on sparse routes every hour or two, but light rail and the like. And if fuel prices do indeed rise, as I'm inclined to believe they will somewhere down the line, interest in alternatives will climb right along with those prices.
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Posted By: Joee187 @ 07/22/2009 12:30:33 PM

Budddy Chrysler And GM are gonna Make The pErfect Plug In Vehical Ever!1 Toyota and Nissan Are trying to Follow our Foot Steps and now they want GM to Build Toyota a Deisal Truck and Dodge To make Nissian a Truck!! I TOLD SOOO MANY OF YOU PPL OUT THERE THAT AZN IMPORTS ARE GONNA BEG FOR DOMESTICS TO HELP THEM WITH SELLS!!! CHRYSLER IS COMING BACK ***!! JUST WAIT! ALL U PRICKS ARE RELYING ON UR 2010 MODELS WHICH CHRYSLER IS STILL RELYING ON THEIR 08 MODELS!! JUST IMAGIN WHEN WE COMOUT WITH OUR NEW 2010 -2011 MODELS!! BUDDY WELL BE LIKE HOW WERE IN 05-08 ! WE DOMINATED SELLS IN THOSE YEARS!! JUST WAIT SMALL D*#K AZN CARS....DOMESTICS BEAT U ONCE WE CAN BEAT U AGAIN!! PERIOD!!
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Posted By: JimF @ 05/29/2009 3:43:00 PM

Ethanol might be viable and green if and when cellulosic ethanol is producible, and biofuels might have promise, but what we have today -- Ethanol from corn -- is an extraordinarily bad idea: uses as much oil as it saves, creates as much or more pollution than oil, and adds new carcinogens to smog. All while providing lower gas mileage, less power and fouling some engines.

Sorry.