Will the transition from fossil fuels be similar to that from Petrol to Diesel?

[indalo]

It's probably slipped your mind Flecc but the Chinese are already here, producing or rather, finishing off, the production of the new Rover and MG models at Longbridge.

It wouldn't surprise me if another Chinese firm embarks on a similar project given the economics of global car production in the current economic situation.

Regards,
Indalo

 

[flecc]

Yes, I knew of that Indalo, but I was thinking along the lines of China's own designs, including the microcars being discussed in this thread. It's unlikely they could be economically shipped over ready made.

Their home grown industry struggles, the much publicised BYD hybrid remains far short of it's production targets for home sales, and as Trex said earlier, they have a long way to go yet. That's probably what prompted them to take over Rover/MG and it's designs.

 

[trex]

Is there a place for microcars on our roads? The Twizy exists in two versions, two seats with 15kw motor and single seat, no driving licence required sort of moped with roof, 4kw motor. Maybe there is a market for microcars after all.

 

[flecc]

I'm sure there's no place for 4 kW ones since they would seriously disrupt traffic in our frequently hilly country. I'm also not confident the "no licence" condition exists in the UK. I can see a market for the 15 kW ones, reminiscent of the Mitsubishi bubble cars of yesteryear, but the two tandem seats that Renault mention seems a bit of a joke from the illustrations.

We don't make small people any more, our population gets taller and fatter by the decade.

 

[z0mb13e]

Wow - looks like I missed a doozy of a thread! Took half an hour to read all that!

So, my two pennies worth:

Will the transition from fossil fuels be similar to that from Petrol to Diesel?

No...

 

[eclectic_bike]

An interesting article on the future of energy. I tend to agree with his conclusion that energy systems that are decentralised are likely to be the future: Energy: the new thirty years' war | Michael Klare for TomDispatch | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk