Re:Porsche found a way to 3D-print lightweight pistons that ...
by adrianN on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @12:42AM
(#23828590)
It's nice that they get some use out of 3d printing, but what's the point of R&D in ICE cars? It's a dying technology. In twenty or thirty years their sale will hopefully be banned in most interesting markets, or at least strongly disincentivized.
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Re:Porsche found a way to 3D-print lightweight pistons that ...
by andykx on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @01:07AM
(#23828719)
I think ICE cars will find a new home with hobbyists who are interested primarily in driving on a track. Tons of people already throw non street-legal race cars on trailers and drive hundreds of miles every weekend. There are 30-50 cars racing at my small, local track every weekend. For a company like Porsche, with a name that car enthusiasts hold in high esteem, you have to imagine that they will continue to sell enthusiast-focused cars. Also, they made the Taycan, which many consider to be the sports car of the future (though that’s a matter of opinion).
I’m not a “business” person by any means, but I tend to doubt that every automaker in the world is making a poor decision (on a financial level) by continuing to improve their ICEs. There are incredibly smart teams of people making these decisions, and they’re doing it for a reason.
Re:Porsche found a way to 3D-print lightweight pistons that ...
by asguy on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @12:49AM
(#23828635)
This is like the RISC vs CISC debate: 25 years ago some of the loudest individuals proclaimed that x86 was dead, and we’d all be on MIPS/PowerPC/SPARC/Alpha. Reality doesn’t always match up with idealism.
Engineering has a habit of advancing due to incremental improvements. The ICE still has room to grow and become more efficient.
Re:Porsche found a way to 3D-print lightweight pistons that ...
by adrianN on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @12:52AM
(#23828646)
The ICE has no room to become carbon neutral with efficiencies that are even comparable to electrics. Getting from electricity to liquid fuel to movement probably has losses exceeding 90%. Electric cars on the other hand are like 80% efficient.
Re:Porsche found a way to 3D-print lightweight pistons that ...
by thomquaid on Tuesday July 14, 2020 @01:02AM
(#23828693)
You are very wrong here. Ethanol as an ICE fuel could be done carbon neutral very quickly thru yeast, and battery technology will probably never reach comparable energy densities in weight limited applications (mobile applications). We may engineer a society where the limitations of batteries are not limiting (because we/goods never travel far), but only a fool thinks you need electricity as an energy source for carbon neutral ICE.