It's not?
Poll: Do you have, or plan to get, an electric car?
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At least as shown in the video, a human drives the tractor the whole time via remote control.
There's no autonomy in that...
Cheers!
There's no autonomy in that...
Cheers!
huh, I thought I saw a few moments where it was autonomous. I'm really not concerned if I missed someone in the corner with a control tablet. Before he retired my dad planted using John Deere autonomous tech. He still sat in the cab in case he needed to correct something, but from what I was told 99% of the driving was done by computer. If they can get those tractors to drive autonomously, they can get these to drive autonomously.
Yeah, in my career I've worked as a supplier (embedded computers, later solid state storage devices) to the companies that developed the autonomous systems for tractors, and it's basically been at a "fully autonomous with a human failsafe for emergency safety purposes" stage for quite some time. The autonomy level needed for these systems is trivial compared to self-driving cars on public roads, and the cost savings and advantages to driving by computer (not missing any areas for fertilizer or double-fertilizing any areas, etc) make it a significant advance in farming.
I can't imagine the human operator is anything more than a failsafe here as well. It's just likely shown via remote access than in-cab. In the video they show "optional" manual driving mode, and refer to the human as supervisory.
So it's significantly more autonomy than would be described as "remote control".
That's pretty slick looking. The fake exhaust/engine sounds it pretty silly though.
Silly or not if I could hear this in cabin while driving I would never come home.
What you mean to say is that I paid up front for my electricity. There is no free lunch.
Right - for most people, they replace the electric bill with the monthly loan payment on the solar panel system. After it's paid down in 10 years, that's where the savings start happening. Though, if you need to change your roof, it's 5k-10k to remove and re-install the panels. My neighbor had the tesla panels installed, then need to replace his roof 1 yr later. Tesla charged $7k to pull and replace the system.
And, it would be a damned shame if those panels became faulty after 10 yrs. The Florida sun is brutal year round down here.
Having said all that negative stuff above, I might pull the trigger on roof panels in the next few years. I just put a new roof on my house, so I'm good in that dept. for at least 25 years I think.
Martys1
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A decade ago I saw that some guys in So Cal would take a Ford Festiva with a standard transmission, remove the engine, bolt on a kit plate, install a starter motor for either a DC3 or DC 9 and some batteries and away you go, thought about it then, as well as a be golf rabbit or pu on bio fuel
Martys1
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Yeah, I do think that solar makes the most sense to wait until your roof needs replacement, unless the roof is already relatively new and has 15+ years of life left.
That was my plan with the house I bought in 2010. The roof wasn't at replacement point yet, but it was clear it wasn't going to last a decade. So I was holding off on solar until the roof replacement. Of course I sold the house when I got divorced in 2016, so now it's a moot point.
recently moved to a significantly more sunny area and have a metal roof on the shop that I'm thinking would be excellent for solar panels. gets me back to thinking of an EV that'd do most of the short-medium trips under 150 miles r/t where I don't need the pickup to haul something large/heavy
I got a quote for a full solar system. If I doubled my electric bill and divided the cost, I would have broken even in 20.5 years if I had no problems with it. I had a friend install one here and he was praising it for the first six months. Then it started to not produce as much energy. He also had his tied to the grid so he could sell his excess to the city. When we all lost power for a week, he did as well as it required power from the grid to work.
If electric cars truly worked and were economical, gas powered cars would disappear very soon. You need something that is quick to recharge (10 min or so) and have a good range for those who do not live in a city.
Of course they still need lubricants and tires and plastic. If we get rid of the oil companies, lubricant oil might reach $1000 a quart. Tires might be $6000 a set. Plastic (which a lot of card parts are made from) $$$?.
And farm equipment? Some combines run 24/7 during the harvest only stopping to change operators. They even fill the trucks with grain while moving and still harvesting.
Love this 
They do "truly work", I drive a PHEV, and I know and have spoken with several people who drive EVs. Barring a disaster, I believe I currently own my last vehicle that doesn't plug in to charge a high voltage battery. Discussing the resistance to EV adoption is better left for the Debate section, but in many cases it isn't a failure in technology.
Who is suggesting that we get of oil companies entirely? You just made a good point for why we'll continue to need them. Production will adjust to meet new, reduced demand. That doesn't mean that prices will skyrocket.
I grew up on a family farm, as did my wife. We still have family and friends in production agriculture, so this is a topic near and dear to me.
I think this is actually a good reason to switch what new vehicles we can to EVs quickly. I'd rather not get into the specific drawbacks of drilling for, refining, and burning fossil fuels outside of Debate, but I feel like we are no longer getting a good payoff for burning gasoline and diesel in the vehicles used to travel on well maintained, paved roads for errands and short work commutes. I don't need to burn gas to go to the grocery store 20 miles away. Not even in winter. My wife doesn't need to burn gas to get to work 15 miles away for 99% of the year. I don't need to burn gas to drop my son off at school just a couple miles away. Unfortunately in some cases I still am burning gas for these things. Save petroleum for work equipment that still does need it while it still needs it. Make it so the juice is worth the squeeze. It's going to take a while to convert tractors and heavy equipment to electric, so save the gasoline and diesel for them.
Also, if you look through this thread you will find that I posted a couple times about companies developing electric tractors. I think I shared one very recently about John Deere's work. I also shared something about a startup several months ago as well. It's neat stuff.
^^ haha @day_trippr
I don't know if the world will run out of oil (and other fossil fuels e.g., natural gas and coal). I see estimates everywhere of 50 yrs. I see other descriptions of unlimited supply of oil, especially with conversion of things like shale oil.
But if it does run out, or becomes overly expensive due to scarcity, we will go full nuclear. There is NO WAY to get enough energy from the sun or wind to power all the vehicles and homes and factories.
This article gets right to the point: The Future of Electrical Vehicles Could Be Nuke Power
I don't know if the world will run out of oil (and other fossil fuels e.g., natural gas and coal). I see estimates everywhere of 50 yrs. I see other descriptions of unlimited supply of oil, especially with conversion of things like shale oil.
But if it does run out, or becomes overly expensive due to scarcity, we will go full nuclear. There is NO WAY to get enough energy from the sun or wind to power all the vehicles and homes and factories.
This article gets right to the point: The Future of Electrical Vehicles Could Be Nuke Power
Love this
Why I'm really hoping that Aptera works. Although others here have scolded me because they think it's silly.
I'm not investing in them now, but if after a few years of their customers having vehicles on the road it still looks like a valid vehicle, I'm going to seriously consider buying one.
Right now 40% of the electric grid comes from coal, so 38% percent ( I am giving credit for those who can charge their EV with Home Wind Generator and those who can charge their car with solar on a week end) are coal powered.
Oh, I forgot those who pay extra just for Green stuff like solar and wind. They get 100% of their power from the green stuff. Of course, it is separated on the grid and packets of green are sent directly to those who pay extra (I have never figured out why it cost more if it is free?)
Does it upset you that while I have no tailpipe emissions that I'm rolling coal better than you are?
No, just the fact that "green" is not so green. I do not even own my own car now as I no longer drive.
The idea that a "green" car is better for the environment is total BS. E = MC Squared has not changed.
You never have 100% efficacy so any change of energy to a different form of energy costs some of that energy. Burning NG to produce electricity would be better spent directly in an engine.
Unless there is a great leap forward in technology, we (and all countries) need fossil fuels.
I am afraid what will happen a few years from now with all the hazardous waste from "green" energy. Along US 287 near Amarillo, Texas there are already piles of spent Windmill blades that have been there over a year.
And then we have lithium. Where will all those batteries go?
Nuclear Plants are a much more reliable source of electricity. One plant produces the equivalent power of 3,125,000,000,000 solar panels or 431 wind turbines (Federal Government numbers). All three produce hazardous waste, but volume size, nuclear plants produce much less waste.
I wish we had spent our money and time perfecting Nuclear to be safer. Been a lot better for birds.
The idea that a "green" car is better for the environment is total BS. E = MC Squared has not changed.
You never have 100% efficacy so any change of energy to a different form of energy costs some of that energy. Burning NG to produce electricity would be better spent directly in an engine.
Unless there is a great leap forward in technology, we (and all countries) need fossil fuels.
I am afraid what will happen a few years from now with all the hazardous waste from "green" energy. Along US 287 near Amarillo, Texas there are already piles of spent Windmill blades that have been there over a year.
And then we have lithium. Where will all those batteries go?
Nuclear Plants are a much more reliable source of electricity. One plant produces the equivalent power of 3,125,000,000,000 solar panels or 431 wind turbines (Federal Government numbers). All three produce hazardous waste, but volume size, nuclear plants produce much less waste.
I wish we had spent our money and time perfecting Nuclear to be safer. Been a lot better for birds.
Yep. Anyone serious about saving the climate/earth/humanity is also serious about restoring nuclear power generation.
[edit] I don't want to take this thread off topic. My comments about nuclear are just that for electric vehicles to truly be green, they need to be charged with a green energy source. What was posted by Kent, above, solves that problem, but I don't find that "vehicle" to be a realistic form of conveyance for most families. Sure, it's good for a quick trip to the grocery store or short work commute. But you're not loading up your wife, 2.4 children, christmas presents, and heading across state to visit Grandma in it.
I'm always a bit puzzled when I see EV farm equipment that is targeting the field where crops are grown. Soil compaction just below tilling depth is always a concern, even for machinery as light as a front-tine walk-behind type tiller. Those batteries are heavy compared to the diesel engine they will be designed to replace, and that will only lead to a further decline in soil health.
Count me amongst those in favor of EV technology where it makes sense. 'Local' type commuting is where we will be for the coming decade or two given the state of tech that's currently on the horizon. Farm equipment, passenger carrying aero vehicles, and long-haul driving won't be there for quite some time to come so long as the tech remains hampered by physical limitations to current battery technology.
Push the technology envelope to a point of disruption = yes. The balance is how to properly encourage rapid development and adoption, to which careful, well thought out legislation brought forward by technology experts (and not politicians from either extreme side of the spectrum) is critical.
Count me amongst those in favor of EV technology where it makes sense. 'Local' type commuting is where we will be for the coming decade or two given the state of tech that's currently on the horizon. Farm equipment, passenger carrying aero vehicles, and long-haul driving won't be there for quite some time to come so long as the tech remains hampered by physical limitations to current battery technology.
Push the technology envelope to a point of disruption = yes. The balance is how to properly encourage rapid development and adoption, to which careful, well thought out legislation brought forward by technology experts (and not politicians from either extreme side of the spectrum) is critical.
So topics like pollution and climate change do overlap with EVs a lot, but real in-depth discussion about climate change, pollution, and government policy surrounding those issues really belongs in the Debate section.
Kent88
HBT Moderator
Kent88
HBT Moderator
There is a lot here that I would debate, but this is not the thread for that
I was not suggesting that the Aptera car was for everyone all the time. I definitely think it has a place on the road, but being in a family like you described (round down to the nearest whole number for kids) with all of our extended family out of state, grandparents that get carried away at Christmas, and a spouse who I dearly love that constantly overpacks when we travel to see family, I know that I might actually be looking for a small electric school bus with a range of 350 miles per full charge.
But not everyone has 2.4 dependant children that they're responsible for transporting all of the time from the time they're born until the day they the parents stop driving. Not everyone lives over 50 miles from the people they like to see on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. I bet that not all families overdo Christmas presents like some in my family do.
We have two vehicles, and what we require them to do for us is different enough that one is a gas powered jeep with a V6, and the other is a Chevy Volt (PHEV), and we rarely argue over who gets a certain vehicle.
Well, I guess the obvious question is why do you prefer the Aptera over any other gas vehicle? I imagine almost every vehicle on the road right now is more comfortable, has more power, has greater range, has more interior space (!), is FAR safer, is better in every way.
If I gave the impression that I would prefer Aptera to any other gas vehicle for any given scenario, then my apologies. I thought I compared it to a Tesla pulling a generator.
In certain situations I would definitely take it over most gas vehicles. I don't think it takes much effort to imagine a scenario where a vehicle with low air resistance, a long battery range, built in solar panels, and maybe even limited seating all makes sense.
Oh I see. Well, it sure would be fun for a touring vehicle on vacation somewhere. I can also see where it would be fine in clogged city driving, where you aren't getting anywhere fast anyway. I'm sure my wife would not feel safe in it though.
People have strange feelings about how safe vehicles are. My wife insists on 4wd/awd for winter driving. I do feel better in such a vehicle when the forecast calls for snow or the roads appear icy. But our roads are pretty well maintained and the winters seem to keep getting milder, so I just keep an eye on the forecast and do my best to plan my errands around that, which anyone who has lived in a snowy part of the world learns to do anyway. I feel just as safe in the Volt as I ever did in the gently used pontiacs I used to get from family members.
Your odds of dying in a car crash are 1 in 100. Yea, that sounds higher than you'd expect, but feel free to fact check me. Anyway, that means that violent car crashes are not only common, but commonly end in death. If you know all of that, you might feel nervous zooming out into the agro traffic scene in that little glass bubble you posted above. If everyone was driving them, or you live in Mayberry RFD, different story. I feel the same about motorcycles, which I love.
I haven't gone out of my way to check Aptera's crash test results to know if they're significantly different from traditional vehicles, so me commenting on it's safety is pure speculation. Did you find that information?
No, but collision was on my mind and I won't hesitate to speculate
. I was reading on my back patio last night and heard a bunch of emergency vehicles whizzing by. Nearby, a small car was tboned by a full sized truck (Tundra). Instantly killed person in smaller car. Neither speed nor alcohol at play, just distracted driving I'd say. This AM I saw pictures of both cars on local news site. If that Aptera has been involved, it would have been reduced to a pile of lego blocks and body parts I'm afraid. I don't suggest that we should get into this escalatory competition to get the biggest vehicle, but I sure want my wife and me to be in the big sturdy one when my 1/100 moment comes.
I'm sure this isn't true of your wife, but I always find it interesting how many people that 4wd/awd makes you damn near invincible in inclement weather.
Most of those people don't seem to realize that every car has 4 wheel brakes. 4wd/awd can help you accelerate, but it doesn't help you stop.
D the Catastrophist
Well-Known Member
California banning the sale of new gas or diesel vehicles as of 2035 will definitely put a fire under the automakers tails to get more electric vehicles designed and produced. Especially since that puts CA in line with the EU. Combined that is a huge market that they can't afford to ignore.
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