

Ask HN: How would you design a car in 2013? - Felix21

In the 80's, when steam, electric, and gasoline powered vehicles competed for dominance, gasoline powered cars won arguably because it had the greatest combination of power and convenience.<p>Also, the form factor of the automobile evolved over time around the gasoline engine.<p>In 2013 however I am almost 100% certain that the  gasoline engine will not win if the playing field were level again.<p>My question is: If the automobile was invented in 2013:<p>1. What would be the most efficient, eco-friendy and convenient way to power this car?<p>2.  How might the form factor of the automobile evolve around this energy source?<p>Lets ignore politics and bureaucracy for now, and talk only in terms of technological possibility.
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idupree
Counterfactuals are complicated, but I didn't realize how complicated until I
wrote all this. The basics have already been invented for other reasons
(internal combustion engine, battery, electric motor, etc) so any sort of car
should work fine aside from the infrastructure (power distribution, roads).
Which sort is best depends on e.g. whether there's cheap oil (there might be
if we hadn't used so much oil already) and what people are using cars for
(people would be used to another mode with different capabilities; I've read
that humans regardless of transit mode tend to prefer about an hour commuting
per day and the distance of an hour depends on the prevalent mode). Random
thoughts follow:

If the automobile were invented in 2013, we wouldn't have range anxiety,
because we'd be used to getting around on horses. (Without range anxiety,
electric cars might be the cheapest.) Or we would have range anxiety if there
were lots of functioning places that would exchange your horse for one that
wasn't tired (and no car recharging/refueling stations, of course).

Or maybe trains would still be the way everyone gets around. The streetcar
would be ubiquitous, and would be the only reason we'd have quality roads
(with rails in them). The streetcars might run on electricity or natural gas,
judging by modern bus and light rail. Bicycles might be popular, and suburbs
would have developed around streetcar lines rather than along interstate
highways (I'm US-centric).

Cars might not need charging/fueling stations, if they could piggyback on an
extensive electrical streetcar network's power lines. Then they would probably
be electrical and have battery for short off-network trips.

The probable lack of a good road network is going to be a problem. We'll have
to design a car that's good off-road. Preferably we will avoid annoying
bicyclists by wearing away their dirt roads (if bicycling is in style and
horses aren't); but we'll fail, because just having an enclosure for a person
(I assume an enclosure is necessary to count it as a "car") is pretty heavy,
and we can't improve wheels/tires terribly much.

Which parts and energy sources would be cheap? David Archer's _Global Warming:
Understanding the Forecast_ (2007 edition, p.101) tells me that about 2/3 of
US oil use is in transportation. The world might not have as much oil
production capacity if the car hadn't existed (thus higher prices; then again,
a newly invented car wouldn't suddenly be used by everyone, so oil production
could ramp up over time along with demand); or the world might still have lots
of easily extractable oil (lower prices).

Who would buy/use this car: rich? middle class? People who already travel a
lot? People who are content? Individuals? Businesses? Transit companies (along
the lines of ZipCar or self-driving cars)? Taxi drivers (there would probably
be taxis powered by horse, bicycle, or some sort of engine)? How would people
learn to drive this car? Probably most people wouldn't be used to operating a
dangerous piece of machinery, and there wouldn't be laws regulating it (or
there would be strict industry-focused laws).

The lack of experienced drivers suggests self-driving cars are a good idea;
but the lack of well-marked roads means our AI tech needs to be a bit further
ahead and we might have to wait 5 years.

EDIT: crossposted this response to my blog, since why not
<http://idupree.dreamwidth.org/2568.html>

