Is Nissan retiring the Z after 2018

MaysEffect

And hydrocarbon/ethanol fuels still have one of the greatest energy densities on the market. Thus the reason ice engines have reigned Supreme over such a long time.

Zoren 370

And to you MaysEffect I enjoy reading your post you seem so knowledge with cars and motor racing history. I like the way you do your write up and choices of vocabulary. You can have a career in motor car journalism too!

A compliment from a petrol head almost 2x your age. cheers!

Erob

The battery replacement cost for most current electric vehicles puts them in a category of not affordable for most people. The manufacturer stated cost of battery replacement for a Tesla is approximately $12,000, however, after further reading the actual cost is reported to be between $30,000 - $40,000. Since I do not own one I'm not sure of accuracy of this report but it is worth consideration if you're interested in buying one. Also, the common number for battery replacement seems to be around 8 years. What are people going to do if they don't want to pay for a new battery pack, keep it for 7 years and trade it in for a new one? Therefore keeping a perpetual monthly car payment? No for me. I prefer debt free. And Yes, if you can afford a Tesla you can probably afford to replace the battery pack but again the majority of the population cannot. I'm all for owning an electric car but for me they have a long way to go. I realize most manufacturers want to jump on the band wagon since it is obvious this is the future of vehicles, BUT, there must be a balance. So hopefully good ole fashioned gas powered sports cars will not be abandoned for some time. They (manufacturers) still need to dance with the one that brung'em.

SouthArk370Z

As more and more EVs are made and sold, the price of batteries should drop. Economy of scale.

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Erob

I'm sure you are absolutely correct SouthArk, it's like every other new technology that has been introduced through the years. The price starts out high and decreases with time, however, with the ease of information access these days most people can quickly figure out the cost comparison of operating a gas car to an electric car over an 8 year period. Currently the replacement of a battery pack, from most manufacturers, exceeds the cost of operating a gas car over the same time period. So as long as this is the case most people will buy the gas car. So the pressure is on development of a more cost efficient battery replacement pack OR a battery pack that costs the same as it does now but the replacement time frame is greater...... and is equal to the cost of operating a gas powered vehicle during the same time frame. Once that happens then new gas powered cars will disappear.

Zoren 370

Ok has anyone of you guys watched E-Formula races?

Did any of you guys actually enjoyed watching it? Honestly
I fell asleep 30 mins after the green light!

I’ll rather watch Nickelodeon with my kid!! Lol

zeeder

In what way was the race less engaging than the races you normally watch and don't fall asleep to?

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Zoren 370

Well have you actually watched a live E-Formula race Vs any races that are powered by race fuel engines? Before I answer your question.

CF736

I watched E-Formula one time and I just couldn't stick with it. The cars are fast and have crazy amounts of acceleration but without the engine noise I just felt like something was wrong the whole time.

Regarding "E" cars though.... if I could afford a Tesla Roadster I'd buy one in a heartbeat. Tesla is definitely moving in the direction of the future. I think that company has clearly demonstrated that you can have power and a reasonable amount of run time/distance per charge.

Have you seen the drag races with the stripped down Tesla vs (you name it)?? It's rare that the Tesla gets beat.

Personally, I think the people that have most of the money in this world will continue to keep the gasoline engine alive. With the advancements that have already been made in emissions reduction with the catalytic converters and such... gas is burning cleaner and cleaner. I'm sure science with continue to improve the emissions and that will calm down the environmentalists and keep the mighty dollar (Insert whatever currency here) being the true driving force behind it all.

MaysEffect

Efficiency comes with a increased cost. The "science" is already here to make emissions lower than tree hungers can possibly imagine. Formula 1 cars already have a thermal energy efficiency of 50%, compared to normal road cars that are around 20-30%. But the technology behind F1 is too expensive. Having a car with this level of efficiency would likely cost way too much or would be way too slow for most people (weight being a major proponent to efficiency). Or on the flip side of using exotic unstable materials, it would be too dangerous. So we are pretty much locked into this fine window of materials and efficiency due to cost and safety.

Electric cars are already far ahead in this realm (around 75-85% thermal efficiency), but the energy density is far behind gas fuel. So there is generally a stalemate between the two technologies. We don't need rich people to keep one or the other alive. The battle within itself is enough to keep both going on well.

Electric cars are however the future for metropolitan commuting. Keeping emissions at the lowest level possible in our cities has huge health benefits. This is what we should all be paying attention to. Nothing else is relevant as chemical mining for battery fuel and magnetic motors are equally environmentally impacting compared to mining gas.

If we could take our v6 engines to a level of efficiency as a F1 car, it would not only make more power but would produce less emissions. But this comes at a cost of reliability. So trade offs are always an issue. Would an electric motor swap make more power or get us better mileage? Its arguable still.

sx moneypit