XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.sf.science   
   From: leszek.karlik@gmail.com   
      
   On Tue, 14 Jan 2014 22:06:36 +0100, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)   
    wrote:   
      
   [...]   
   >> And we all know that SF is exactly like today, only with blasters ;-))   
   >>   
   >> The problem with good electric cars today is that they're rather   
   >> expensive and there's no support network, but for a municipal   
   >> self-driving car/public transit hybrid system they should work rather   
   >> well (because they can self-drive themselves to a charging station).   
   >   
   > 	When I see self-driving cars I'll start thinking about that (because   
   > only then will you be able to start changing the laws and regulations to   
   > allow you to use the cars as public transit). As others have pointed   
   > out, people also use their cars for things other than just getting to   
   > work, and that will make it harder to pull off.   
      
   That will require a change in attitudes, but money and convenience are   
   a pretty efficient attitude changer. Self-driving cars have the capacity   
   for a significant reduction in transport-related mortalities, which are   
   especially harmful to the society, because it's frequently children and   
   young people who get killed in traffic accidents. (And thus they have   
   a high related cost of lost future productivity)   
      
   Significant reduction in transport-related mortality will lead to vastly   
   preferential insurance rates for self-driving cars, and the ball should   
   start rolling.   
      
   Well, unless "old car" lobbyists introduce legislation prohibiting   
   market practices in car insurance market, which wouldn't be surprising,   
   after all, that's what lobbyists are for. So, the US might turn out to   
   be rather resistant to this "self-driving car" concept :-)   
      
   [...]   
   >> Oil changes are cheap, but rather frequent, every few thousand miles,   
   >> and really, suspension maintenance is much less frequently performed   
   >> than   
   >> things like drive belts, fuel and air filters, valve clearances, coolant   
   >> replacement etc. I have internal combustion powered bikes and I do the   
   >> maintenance myself, so far no suspension work has been necessary ;-)   
   >   
   > 	Well, as I said it depends on your batteries. Generally the batteries   
   > are half the cost of the car according to various references I've found,   
   > so if you have to replace them even once every 10 years, you're VASTLY   
   > more expensive to maintain than both of my cars have been over the last   
   > 10 years.   
      
   When you buy a Tesla Model S for 70 grand, you can buy a "battery   
   replacement   
   in 8+ years" option, for 8 to 12 grand.   
      
   Battery prices are falling rapidly, because there's a lot of incentives to   
   research better batteries - phones, laptops, electric vehicles etc.   
   Everything   
   benefits from better batteries. I remember first laptops, with 2 to 3 hours   
   of operating time on a single charge. Now the laptop I'm using has up to 5   
   hours on a small battery, with vastly better performance, and consumer   
   portables   
   frequently have 8+ hours of battery time.   
      
   Similarly to solar power and LED lighting the power/cost curve of batteries   
   is advancing rather rapidly. This is why electric power is the way of the   
   future.   
      
   Gasoline's power density is way higher than electric batteries, of course,   
   but   
   using this power is inconvenient, expensive and dangerous. We've done   
   this for a long time, so we're used to it, but now it makes sense to switch   
   to electricity :-)   
      
   --   
   Leszek 'Leslie' Karlik   
   http://leslie.hell.pl/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)