"Winston" benefits from an integrated permanent magnet (rare earths) electric motor generator called the IMA charge assist motor that starts making useful Torque of 78lb-ft at 500 RPMS ^^ Better than diesel early torque out of the 1497cc gasoline inline-4 + electric motor assist hybrid setup through a dreamy clicky short through 6 speed manual tranny! Launched in 2010 the CRZ was designed using 2005 Technology. In 2009 Honda's executives gave the green light to a sporty hybrid that combines fun driving dynamics, a manual transmission & a hybrid fuel efficient drivetrain. In 2013, despite weakening sales, the CRZ was upgraded with a motor powerful battery & electric motor that improved performance, along with some styling changes.
Fun & Fuel Efficient not Fast
System power of the CRz is not worthy of a "sport" designation, though the handling of the CRz gives ample reason to praise this affordable hybrid manual coupe! 130HP @ 6000RPM as you approach the 6300 RPM red-line, the system pumps out peak net torque of 140lb-ft between 1000-2000RPM. The long stroke narrow bore engine uses regular 87 octane pump gasoline. There is no need to plug anything in, the hybrid system is entirely automatic, scavenging power from the drivetrain to minimize wasted energy and injecting that battery energy stored power back into the drivetrain with the IMA motor to help the 1.5l engine shine like a 2.0l engine.
The 144v 4.7AH lithium-ion battery stores about 0.7kWh of energy in a 48.5lb package containing the charge controller & BMS and thermal monitoring & management system. Slung low beneath the rear cargo area, the hybrid battery contributes to improve front-rear weight balance elegance. Able to discharge 15kw peak into the 108-172vdc IMA motor (42.5lbs) to add 23HP to the drivetrain between 1546-3000RPM. If the hybrid battery is more than 50% charged, using the SPORT+ button enables electric boost assist when accelerating from 18mph onward, on highway onramps for example :) When you cruise or decelerate the IMA automatically keeps the hybrid battery charged using energy capture and brake energy regeneration.
The electric motor is what makes the CRz's drivetrain shine like nothing else, even though net power output is really limited. 0-60 in 9 seconds is not high performance, but it's faster than a Prius!
42 MPG out of a safe high tech fun coupe with a interactive manual transmission makes up for the lack in power performance! 3 driving modes with multi-information display and ECO-feedback makes the CRz entertaining to drive. The stereo system also sounds fantastic! I am very excited to start making good use of Winston the 14 CRz again!
The CRz Transmission 6 speed manual
The manual transmission system delights experienced drivers with an easy to use setup that include hill start assist that prevents rollback when starting from a stop when stopped on an incline. An improved clutch in the 13MY onward handles the IMA motor torque better; 78lb-ft at 500RPM available! I wish 6th gear was longer to keep the engine at lower highway RPM's for even better fuel economy. Take a look at the drivetrain ratios. |
1st 3.143 0-15 mph 2nd 1.870 15-25 mph 3rd 1.303 25-35 mph 4th 1.054 35-45 mph 5th 0.854 45-52 mph 6th 0.689 52+ mph Reverse: 3.307 Final Drive Ratio: 4.29 |
i-VTEC makes the engine sing as it spools beyond 3000RPM under ongoing acceleration input from the driver pedal. Your pedal input will affect fuel economy more than anything else. Waiting for the vehicle to warm up all the way before "stepping on it" is also a good idea!
The IPM electric IMA motor is what makes this small engine system shine. Honda originally intended the CRz to make use of the K20 engine. Unable to pass crash testing with the larger engine, they ported the Fit Engine with some 6th generation IMA hybrid tech refined in the civic & insight hybrids.
Thank You Metromile Car Insurance
The IPM electric IMA motor is what makes this small engine system shine. Honda originally intended the CRz to make use of the K20 engine. Unable to pass crash testing with the larger engine, they ported the Fit Engine with some 6th generation IMA hybrid tech refined in the civic & insight hybrids.
Thank You Metromile Car Insurance
I was able to awaken Winston the CRz because Metromile enabled me to insure it with per-mile car insurance that is 1/2 the price I was paying StateFarm. Under my current work commute, I only log 5600 miles per year driving to and from work. Setting up the new insurance could not have been easier. I was able to do it online during very early morning hours. The CLUE network enabled importing my vehicle insurance data from my StateFarm account automatically.
Block Heating Under Consideration
Three methods considered
1. The easy OEM solution (coolant drain plug heater) is the most expensive
2. Using A DIY surface cluster network heater is cheap but complex
3. A cheap simple magnetic oil-pan heater seems to be the most practical
Injecting Electrical Heat Energy to Prewarm the Engine
Increasing the engine temperature from 52deg F (winter garage temps) to 100 deg F, requires about 3hours with 200w-500w of resistive electrical block heater grid power worth $0.06 to $0.17. Our 2005 Prius II block heater is 380w measure on a Kill-a-watt meter. If the Prius II was not operated within the last 3 days, I plug the block heater in to pre-warm the engine, which reduces cold start entropy problems, making cleaner tailpipe emissions faster, with cabin warming possible sooner. Elevating the temperature of the engines block, oil & coolant enables the engine to warm-up faster, which reduces stress & wear on the bearings and materials. A hot coolant storage bottle in the Prius II stores warm coolant in a heat insulated thermal energy containment bottle that preserves the heat in the coolant fluid, like a vacuum thermos can keep coffee hot for long periods. This similarly reduces next day restarts in daily use cycle cases that can take advantage of the warmer coolant that has not fully cooled off. The coolant heat storage bottle in the Prius acts like a heat recovery block heater system with thermal energy storage capacity that self discharges within 3 days. Using the block heater can enhance the thermal efficiency of the engine.
Electricity Costs of Block Heating vs Fuel Savings
In terms of energy cost, you are spending $40 a year on electricity for the block heater to offset gasoline waste on cold startups of the engine that ends up saving at least $40 a year worth of fuel. A prewarmed startup also improve air quality where the vehicle is operating. Putting electrical energy into the vehicle improves its energy performance. Embedding entropy with more energy that can be made from renewable sources like wind, solar, geothermal, fusion, wave, ZPE, MHD, electrodynamic spectrum capture optimization, and other energy technology that are vastly more abundant than oil, coal or any carbon burning fuel resources. The local star in our galaxy, the Sun, fuses 600 million tons of Hydrogen into Helium every second. Imagine the thermal and photo output performance of the sun! The sun is very high performance, very much unlike the CRz :) I view the CRz like the Ford Model T, emblematic of an era that will never be forgotten, when mankind forged new ways of going places together with better technology as one amazing human people on little Planet Earth, our Moon & ocean waves, sunsets to inspire, a deep desire to improve everything, we can be amazing people when we try!
My Annual Work Related Vehicle USE
5520 mi ~165hr ~ 33.45mph mix of stop & go with 60+ mph highway
Using Subaru 1993 Legacy @ 23MPG : 240 gal @$3/gal= $720
Using Honda 2014 CRz @39MPG 142 gal @$3/gal= $426
Using Hot Prewarmed CRZ @42MPG 132 gal $396 + $36e = $432
Using Toyota 2005 Prius II @46MPG 120 gal = $360
Using Hot Prewarmed PII @49MPG 113 gal = $339 + $36 = $375
The Subaru is a dirty, old gas hog with 190K miles that lived outside for most of its life since 1993
The Hybrids are clean, newer, regularly garaged vehicles with minimal moisture, rust, etc, less entropy damage. At almost 130k miles on the Prius 11 from 2005, rolling strong!
At 13k miles on the CRz, it sat unused for a long time, on a battery tender for life support! I also put fuel stabilizer and occasionally exercised it every ~30 day for 15-45 minutes to keep the IMA battery partially charged etc. Made in October of 2013 at the Honda Plant in Suzuka, Mie, Japan, online since 1960. This same facility produced Honda CRX, Honda City, Honda CR-Z, Honda Fit, Honda del Sol, Honda Insight, Honda NSX, Acura RSX& Honda S2000 (AP2) + Honda Integra. I worry about the GS Yuasa Blue Energy EH4 x 40 modules in hybrid battery failing because of how fragile lithium-ion batteries are! Time will tell :) I keep them partially charged around 40-70% at 51-58 deg F in an insulated but cool garage space. This space is about to gain water vapor capture capacity with a 30L electric dehumidifier to dry the vehicles once the door is closed on rainy days. Maintaining the relative humidity to below 45% is essential to prevent mold, rot and other moisture condensation problems like corrosion. The use of the dehumidifier minimized to only solve moisture ingress issues from wet commuter vehicles pulled into the garage in the winter. Block heating will continue for all the reasons previously noted. I keep all lead batteries on a tender too, float charged with automatic chargers.
Saving Money (Potentially)
An estimate $280 annual gas savings by switching from the Subaru to the CRz. Insurance of $720 annual for the Subaru on StateFarm drops to Metromile $480/ yr for sub 6000mi route saving another $240, making the total insurance & gas savings of $520/year. $20/mo MintSim reduced by smartphone costs by $504 : totally $1024 annual spending reduction with no life quality loss.Switch the Prius to Metromile also saved another $240/year + switch from Verizon to MintSim on Megs phone saved another $504, totally $744 annual savings, without any loss of service :) All together platform switching will save us about $1750 per year. With Fuel Efficient Cars, Driven Less with Pay Per Mile Car Insurance & Smartphone MVNO MintSim alternative to Verizon with our iPhone SE's!
5520 mi ~165hr ~ 33.45mph mix of stop & go with 60+ mph highway
Using Subaru 1993 Legacy @ 23MPG : 240 gal @$3/gal= $720
Using Honda 2014 CRz @39MPG 142 gal @$3/gal= $426
Using Hot Prewarmed CRZ @42MPG 132 gal $396 + $36e = $432
Using Toyota 2005 Prius II @46MPG 120 gal = $360
Using Hot Prewarmed PII @49MPG 113 gal = $339 + $36 = $375
The Subaru is a dirty, old gas hog with 190K miles that lived outside for most of its life since 1993
The Hybrids are clean, newer, regularly garaged vehicles with minimal moisture, rust, etc, less entropy damage. At almost 130k miles on the Prius 11 from 2005, rolling strong!
At 13k miles on the CRz, it sat unused for a long time, on a battery tender for life support! I also put fuel stabilizer and occasionally exercised it every ~30 day for 15-45 minutes to keep the IMA battery partially charged etc. Made in October of 2013 at the Honda Plant in Suzuka, Mie, Japan, online since 1960. This same facility produced Honda CRX, Honda City, Honda CR-Z, Honda Fit, Honda del Sol, Honda Insight, Honda NSX, Acura RSX& Honda S2000 (AP2) + Honda Integra. I worry about the GS Yuasa Blue Energy EH4 x 40 modules in hybrid battery failing because of how fragile lithium-ion batteries are! Time will tell :) I keep them partially charged around 40-70% at 51-58 deg F in an insulated but cool garage space. This space is about to gain water vapor capture capacity with a 30L electric dehumidifier to dry the vehicles once the door is closed on rainy days. Maintaining the relative humidity to below 45% is essential to prevent mold, rot and other moisture condensation problems like corrosion. The use of the dehumidifier minimized to only solve moisture ingress issues from wet commuter vehicles pulled into the garage in the winter. Block heating will continue for all the reasons previously noted. I keep all lead batteries on a tender too, float charged with automatic chargers.
Saving Money (Potentially)
An estimate $280 annual gas savings by switching from the Subaru to the CRz. Insurance of $720 annual for the Subaru on StateFarm drops to Metromile $480/ yr for sub 6000mi route saving another $240, making the total insurance & gas savings of $520/year. $20/mo MintSim reduced by smartphone costs by $504 : totally $1024 annual spending reduction with no life quality loss.Switch the Prius to Metromile also saved another $240/year + switch from Verizon to MintSim on Megs phone saved another $504, totally $744 annual savings, without any loss of service :) All together platform switching will save us about $1750 per year. With Fuel Efficient Cars, Driven Less with Pay Per Mile Car Insurance & Smartphone MVNO MintSim alternative to Verizon with our iPhone SE's!
From Green Car Congress
Honda updates CR-Z hybrid with more power and Li-ion battery 28 September 2012 (now its 2018)
Honda updated the sporty CR-Z hybrid (first launched in 2010) improvements focusing on style & performance. Power of both the gasoline engine & electric motor has been increased to 137 PS (128 hp, 96 kW) without compromising fuel economy or increasing exhaust emissions (30-46 MPG Fuelly)
2013 Honda CR-Z Launch Edition
New Lithium-ion battery replaces the old NiMH unit. A Plus Sport (S+) boost system to helps produce lively acceleration with lots of early low RPM torque from the IMA motor.
The CR-Z’s 1.5-liter gasoline engine updated with improved variable valve timing system & Engine Control Unit (ECU) tuning. An anti-vibration knock sensor introduced along with a stronger crankshaft. The gasoline engines peak power output has been increased from 114 PS (112 hp, 84 kW) to 121 PS (119 hp, 89 kW).
The electric motor system has also been improved with rectangular winding with better EMF magnetic flux density, which along with the power from the Lithium-ion battery increases output from 14 PS (10 kW) to 20 PS (15 kW).
The 1.5L Engine & Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid system now delivers a combined output of 137 PS at 6600 rpm (+13 PS) and 190 N·m (140 lb-ft) of torque (N·m ). The power delivery dynamics are similar to a K20 engines, with more torque sooner because of the E-boost IMA system!
The 0-62 mph sprint time falls to 9.0 sec and top speed is 124 mph (200 km/h). The combined manufacturer rated consumption is 5.1L /100 km (47 mpg US), with 116 g/km of CO2 tailpipe emissions
To help the sporty performance, a Plus Sport (S+) boost system can be user activated if the hybrid battery is more than 50% charged, then the driver can engage this system using the S+ button on the steering wheel. When the accelerator is pressed the electric boost begins, delivering increased acceleration for up to ten seconds. A flashing gauge on the dashboard indicates when the system is active. S+ can be used in ECON, Normal or Sport modes
Thoughts About Real vs Official Honda Claimed Fuel Economy of the CR-Z
~39 MPG in the real world, as an average fuel economy diverges from the optimistic official rating of 47 MPG. The only way to get the Honda official fuel economy; using Wayne Gerdes hypermiling techniques to get 45+ MPG out of a CR-Z provided warm weather 70 deg F & relatively flat roads with little to no traffic congestion and opportunities to draft behind long haul tractor trailer trucks while keeping inertial while corning like you throw caution to the wind while driving. If you can pulse & glide a lot using the manual tranny its possible to eek out even more MPG. CleanMPG might be a good website to search query for "hypermiling" as a research term, if you want to learn more about how to obtain the highest possible fuel economy from your vehicle of choice.
Going Forward
Our 2nd gen. Toyota Prius 2005 was based on technology that started being developed in 1992. A prototype of the Prius was ready by 1995, all under deep internal secrecy at Toyota. Honda also had a secret hybrid program under development. The founder of Honda always focused on improving performance & efficiency. Look no further than the 2017 Acura NSX for an example of what he was aiming for. 3 electric motors, a powerful hybrid battery & a turbocharged 3.5L V6.
Electrification of the transportation sector already well underway since the year 2000, the CRZ contains 6th generation IMA technology. The 2018 Honda Accord Hybrid now makes use of 9th generation dual e-motor + 2.0L gas engine technology to offer astonishing fuel economy with super ultra low tailpipe emissions. The march towards 60MPG was already kicked off by the GM Chevy Volt Range Extended Electric Vehicle :)
The Tesla Model S already proved that electric vehicles can be better than anything else. The Tesla Model S contains flaws, problems, oversights, defects and issues that like all other products, can never be fully solved within the time constraints of market forces. No products that sell in large volumes are perfectly engineering with minimal flaw.
QA: QC : Cost King
Understanding product defects remains a complex topic at the design stage within the constraints of production reality feasibility. While it is possible to build super strong, amazingly durable devices, with minimal glitches or flaw, and this is often done in low volume cost naive aerospace applications, building consumer vehicles without flaw can only be done with incredible efforts, often not feasible before the product launches, leading to recalls, lemons and more problems for some buyers.
No Transmission
Next generation hybrid vehicles eliminate complex transmissions. The engine becomes part of the gen. set and has a clutch mode for high speed highway to directly drive the transaxle. Two electric motors with elegant simple mechanical interlinking form a system with the motor where one motor serves mostly to drive the vehicles with its power while the other electric motor acts as a motor generator with the gasoline engine. This system offers 60+ MPG in a practical vehicle like the Prius Prime or new Honda Accord Hybrid, new Chevy Volt, with other platforms like the VW XL1 yielding even better fuel economy! The XL1 is like an aerospace toy, with aerospace costs & low volume production that is more of an example of what could be done than what can be done for most people in the car buying markets.
Human Drivers
The deep inner passion I have at 34 years of age to drive a manual transmission vehicle can be traced back to 1998 to a 5 speed 1985 Nissan 200SX. A 1992 Nissan 240 type x with a 5 speed manual was my second vehicle. A 1995 Toyota Celica 1.8L with a 5 speed manual was my 3rd vehicle. Our 2005 Toyota Prius II is the 4th vehicle and the first non manual transmission vehicle I have driven with any regularity. I consider driving boring, especially in traffic. For years while driving the Prius I dreamed of having a manual transmission again to make piloting more interactive. Automatic cars are stupid easy to drive, which I find it astonishing how some many people pilot with remarkably low driving skill, even in simple to use automatic vehicles. This problem comes from brain damage and mediocrity among vehicle drives that cause phantom slowdowns on interstates, emotional incompetent unskilled drivers doing hair brained actions that cause standing waves and progress stop & go traffic jams to form for no good reason, just their grossly incompetent driving style or lack thereof. When doing analytics on my own vehicle driving techniques, I consider myself very average as a driver.
42 Superior Driving
In the future all cars & vehicles will be piloted by superhuman intelligences AI artificial cognition platforms with extensive sensor fusion & deep learning integration. Not only will computer cars drive more efficient, faster with lower emissions, they will also have fewer accidents, greatly improving passenger safety while also improving air quality that is good for people. Young people today do not want to buy cars. They want to have a subscription service to an something like Lift or Uber, where the autonomous vehicle is never parked, except when being serviced or repaired. Self driving vehicles will not only learn from human drivers, they will learn from each other and continue to improve with time. When one computer controlled car makes a mistake, it will share the learning with all other network connected self driving cars. Together as a learning fleet the self driving vehicles will continuously improve.
Autonomous Vehicles 2023 onward
Do not hold your breath waiting or a car to buy that can drive itself. President of the Center for Automotive Research, Carla Bailo, cites research showing that car buyers today do not want early versions of self-driving technology. Consumer demand ultimately influences market forces that dictates what actually sells. A kind of catch 22 conundrum for autonomous vehicle technology today since it comes at such a price premium. Significant market adoption or consumer willingness to buy a self driving car will not occur until the late 2020's and early 2030's.
ICE Power Still Strong
Gasoline engine advances will keep ICE (internal combustion gasoline engines) alive until 2050 or longer, especially in low cost vehicle applications. The gasoline engine will continue to provide motive power in most vehicle applications because of low fuel costs, rapid time saving refill, increasing per tank range with more efficient engines and radical new variable compression, direct + port inject and other ICE advances design to push thermal efficiency beyond 40%. Electric motors in today's electrified vehicles are already 90% efficient at converting input electric power into traction output power to move the vehicle. Sadly charging & discharging the battery also has energy losses, meaning net system efficiency of an electric vehicle is only in the 80% range with 2018 era Lithium Ion EV batteries and the efficiency decreases due to chemical entropy inside the fragile fade prone batteries, causing the range of battery electric vehicles and the charging efficiency to decline over time. Fear not, battery technology will continue to improve. Also the batteries in electric vehicles can be recycled, very much unlike the tailpipe funk emitted by internal combustion engines.
Honda updated the sporty CR-Z hybrid (first launched in 2010) improvements focusing on style & performance. Power of both the gasoline engine & electric motor has been increased to 137 PS (128 hp, 96 kW) without compromising fuel economy or increasing exhaust emissions (30-46 MPG Fuelly)
2013 Honda CR-Z Launch Edition
New Lithium-ion battery replaces the old NiMH unit. A Plus Sport (S+) boost system to helps produce lively acceleration with lots of early low RPM torque from the IMA motor.
The CR-Z’s 1.5-liter gasoline engine updated with improved variable valve timing system & Engine Control Unit (ECU) tuning. An anti-vibration knock sensor introduced along with a stronger crankshaft. The gasoline engines peak power output has been increased from 114 PS (112 hp, 84 kW) to 121 PS (119 hp, 89 kW).
The electric motor system has also been improved with rectangular winding with better EMF magnetic flux density, which along with the power from the Lithium-ion battery increases output from 14 PS (10 kW) to 20 PS (15 kW).
The 1.5L Engine & Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid system now delivers a combined output of 137 PS at 6600 rpm (+13 PS) and 190 N·m (140 lb-ft) of torque (N·m ). The power delivery dynamics are similar to a K20 engines, with more torque sooner because of the E-boost IMA system!
The 0-62 mph sprint time falls to 9.0 sec and top speed is 124 mph (200 km/h). The combined manufacturer rated consumption is 5.1L /100 km (47 mpg US), with 116 g/km of CO2 tailpipe emissions
To help the sporty performance, a Plus Sport (S+) boost system can be user activated if the hybrid battery is more than 50% charged, then the driver can engage this system using the S+ button on the steering wheel. When the accelerator is pressed the electric boost begins, delivering increased acceleration for up to ten seconds. A flashing gauge on the dashboard indicates when the system is active. S+ can be used in ECON, Normal or Sport modes
Thoughts About Real vs Official Honda Claimed Fuel Economy of the CR-Z
~39 MPG in the real world, as an average fuel economy diverges from the optimistic official rating of 47 MPG. The only way to get the Honda official fuel economy; using Wayne Gerdes hypermiling techniques to get 45+ MPG out of a CR-Z provided warm weather 70 deg F & relatively flat roads with little to no traffic congestion and opportunities to draft behind long haul tractor trailer trucks while keeping inertial while corning like you throw caution to the wind while driving. If you can pulse & glide a lot using the manual tranny its possible to eek out even more MPG. CleanMPG might be a good website to search query for "hypermiling" as a research term, if you want to learn more about how to obtain the highest possible fuel economy from your vehicle of choice.
Going Forward
Our 2nd gen. Toyota Prius 2005 was based on technology that started being developed in 1992. A prototype of the Prius was ready by 1995, all under deep internal secrecy at Toyota. Honda also had a secret hybrid program under development. The founder of Honda always focused on improving performance & efficiency. Look no further than the 2017 Acura NSX for an example of what he was aiming for. 3 electric motors, a powerful hybrid battery & a turbocharged 3.5L V6.
Electrification of the transportation sector already well underway since the year 2000, the CRZ contains 6th generation IMA technology. The 2018 Honda Accord Hybrid now makes use of 9th generation dual e-motor + 2.0L gas engine technology to offer astonishing fuel economy with super ultra low tailpipe emissions. The march towards 60MPG was already kicked off by the GM Chevy Volt Range Extended Electric Vehicle :)
The Tesla Model S already proved that electric vehicles can be better than anything else. The Tesla Model S contains flaws, problems, oversights, defects and issues that like all other products, can never be fully solved within the time constraints of market forces. No products that sell in large volumes are perfectly engineering with minimal flaw.
QA: QC : Cost King
Understanding product defects remains a complex topic at the design stage within the constraints of production reality feasibility. While it is possible to build super strong, amazingly durable devices, with minimal glitches or flaw, and this is often done in low volume cost naive aerospace applications, building consumer vehicles without flaw can only be done with incredible efforts, often not feasible before the product launches, leading to recalls, lemons and more problems for some buyers.
No Transmission
Next generation hybrid vehicles eliminate complex transmissions. The engine becomes part of the gen. set and has a clutch mode for high speed highway to directly drive the transaxle. Two electric motors with elegant simple mechanical interlinking form a system with the motor where one motor serves mostly to drive the vehicles with its power while the other electric motor acts as a motor generator with the gasoline engine. This system offers 60+ MPG in a practical vehicle like the Prius Prime or new Honda Accord Hybrid, new Chevy Volt, with other platforms like the VW XL1 yielding even better fuel economy! The XL1 is like an aerospace toy, with aerospace costs & low volume production that is more of an example of what could be done than what can be done for most people in the car buying markets.
Human Drivers
The deep inner passion I have at 34 years of age to drive a manual transmission vehicle can be traced back to 1998 to a 5 speed 1985 Nissan 200SX. A 1992 Nissan 240 type x with a 5 speed manual was my second vehicle. A 1995 Toyota Celica 1.8L with a 5 speed manual was my 3rd vehicle. Our 2005 Toyota Prius II is the 4th vehicle and the first non manual transmission vehicle I have driven with any regularity. I consider driving boring, especially in traffic. For years while driving the Prius I dreamed of having a manual transmission again to make piloting more interactive. Automatic cars are stupid easy to drive, which I find it astonishing how some many people pilot with remarkably low driving skill, even in simple to use automatic vehicles. This problem comes from brain damage and mediocrity among vehicle drives that cause phantom slowdowns on interstates, emotional incompetent unskilled drivers doing hair brained actions that cause standing waves and progress stop & go traffic jams to form for no good reason, just their grossly incompetent driving style or lack thereof. When doing analytics on my own vehicle driving techniques, I consider myself very average as a driver.
42 Superior Driving
In the future all cars & vehicles will be piloted by superhuman intelligences AI artificial cognition platforms with extensive sensor fusion & deep learning integration. Not only will computer cars drive more efficient, faster with lower emissions, they will also have fewer accidents, greatly improving passenger safety while also improving air quality that is good for people. Young people today do not want to buy cars. They want to have a subscription service to an something like Lift or Uber, where the autonomous vehicle is never parked, except when being serviced or repaired. Self driving vehicles will not only learn from human drivers, they will learn from each other and continue to improve with time. When one computer controlled car makes a mistake, it will share the learning with all other network connected self driving cars. Together as a learning fleet the self driving vehicles will continuously improve.
Autonomous Vehicles 2023 onward
Do not hold your breath waiting or a car to buy that can drive itself. President of the Center for Automotive Research, Carla Bailo, cites research showing that car buyers today do not want early versions of self-driving technology. Consumer demand ultimately influences market forces that dictates what actually sells. A kind of catch 22 conundrum for autonomous vehicle technology today since it comes at such a price premium. Significant market adoption or consumer willingness to buy a self driving car will not occur until the late 2020's and early 2030's.
ICE Power Still Strong
Gasoline engine advances will keep ICE (internal combustion gasoline engines) alive until 2050 or longer, especially in low cost vehicle applications. The gasoline engine will continue to provide motive power in most vehicle applications because of low fuel costs, rapid time saving refill, increasing per tank range with more efficient engines and radical new variable compression, direct + port inject and other ICE advances design to push thermal efficiency beyond 40%. Electric motors in today's electrified vehicles are already 90% efficient at converting input electric power into traction output power to move the vehicle. Sadly charging & discharging the battery also has energy losses, meaning net system efficiency of an electric vehicle is only in the 80% range with 2018 era Lithium Ion EV batteries and the efficiency decreases due to chemical entropy inside the fragile fade prone batteries, causing the range of battery electric vehicles and the charging efficiency to decline over time. Fear not, battery technology will continue to improve. Also the batteries in electric vehicles can be recycled, very much unlike the tailpipe funk emitted by internal combustion engines.
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