WEBVTT - Shocking Future of Automobiles

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<v Speaker 1>On Monday, October two, seventeen, General Motors officials announced a

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<v Speaker 1>big move for the company. By twenty twenty three, the

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<v Speaker 1>manufacturer plans to add twenty new vehicles that get their

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<v Speaker 1>power either from electric batteries or from fuel cells. Mark Royce,

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<v Speaker 1>the global product development chief of GM, went even further,

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<v Speaker 1>saying the company believes in an all electric future. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>Jonathan Strickland, and this is tech stuff Daily. Here's a

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<v Speaker 1>fun fact. Once upon a time, the electric car was

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<v Speaker 1>the present. At that time was the earliest days of

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<v Speaker 1>the automobile. Inventors in the eighteen twenties and eighteen thirties

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<v Speaker 1>began to experiment with electricity as a means to create

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<v Speaker 1>mechanical energy for vehicles. Clever folks in Hungary, the Netherlands,

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<v Speaker 1>and the United States began to build small scale vehicles

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<v Speaker 1>testing electricity's potential, which is sort of a pun I guess.

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<v Speaker 1>In eighteen thirty two, a man named Robert Anderson built

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<v Speaker 1>a horseless carriage that used electricity to power the wheels

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<v Speaker 1>of the gadget. It wasn't particularly powerful or efficient, and

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<v Speaker 1>it would be a few decades before anyone made significant

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<v Speaker 1>strides toward building an electric vehicle that would actually be

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<v Speaker 1>practical for the purposes of transportation. The late nineteenth century

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<v Speaker 1>was a really exciting time for electrical engineers. By nineteen hundred,

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<v Speaker 1>electric cars made up about a third of all the

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<v Speaker 1>vehicles on the road. Around that same time, other inventors

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<v Speaker 1>were working on the internal combustion engine. The first example

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<v Speaker 1>of such a fuel driven engine being used to move

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<v Speaker 1>a vehicle was an eighteen seventy in Vienna, when Siegfried

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<v Speaker 1>Marcus installed a gasoline engine on a hand cart. So

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<v Speaker 1>electric cars had a head start on internal combustion. Why

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<v Speaker 1>then did the world turn to engines running on fossil

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<v Speaker 1>fuels rather than electric vehicles from the start, After all,

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<v Speaker 1>electric cars were comparatively quiet and clean if you look

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<v Speaker 1>at steam or gasoline powered vehicles. Not surprisingly, the deciding

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<v Speaker 1>factor came down to price. When Henry Ford unveiled the

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<v Speaker 1>Model T, which is company could build in larger numbers

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<v Speaker 1>through the new strategy of mass production, the price tag

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<v Speaker 1>was almost a third of what it cost to buy

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<v Speaker 1>an electric roadster. The gas powered cars became more practical

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<v Speaker 1>as regions began to improve the road systems linking towns together.

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<v Speaker 1>It became possible to take a long car trip, one

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<v Speaker 1>that exceeded the driving distance your typical electric vehicle could

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<v Speaker 1>manage on a full battery charge. Fueling stations were a faster,

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<v Speaker 1>more convenient way to extend the vehicle's range than an

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<v Speaker 1>infrastructure that would support a national fleet of electric cars.

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<v Speaker 1>The internal combustion engine took center stage and pushed the

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<v Speaker 1>electric car off to the side. Things are changing now.

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<v Speaker 1>Not only is there more of a support system for

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<v Speaker 1>electric vehicles, we've seen several advances in battery manufacturing that

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<v Speaker 1>are starting to bring prices down. That's one of the

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<v Speaker 1>big goals for Tesla's Giga factories to bring down the

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<v Speaker 1>cost of individual batteries through mass production. That will help

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<v Speaker 1>lower the barrier of adoption for electric vehicles in general.

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<v Speaker 1>General Motors isn't the only manufacturer of traditionally gasoline powered

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<v Speaker 1>vehicles to jump on the electric slide. Volvo has made

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<v Speaker 1>a similar promise, as has the ultra luxury auto manufacturer

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<v Speaker 1>Astid Martin. That's right, in a few years, James Bond

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<v Speaker 1>might be cruising around in an all electric, hand crafted

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<v Speaker 1>luxury sports car and then it will likely blow up somehow.

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<v Speaker 1>General Motors has the distinction of being one of the

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<v Speaker 1>largest auto manufacturers in the world, which is really what

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<v Speaker 1>makes the company's strategy noteworthy. But considering there are many

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<v Speaker 1>regions in the world in serious discussions about banning diesel

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<v Speaker 1>and gasoline vehicles, you could argue this is a self

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<v Speaker 1>preservation move and an attempt to get ahead of that curve.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, China, the world's largest car market, may move

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<v Speaker 1>to ban such vehicles within a decade or two. It

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<v Speaker 1>could be that General Motors sees the writing on the

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<v Speaker 1>wall and wants to avoid the economic squeeze of having

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<v Speaker 1>fewer markets to sell to. Either way, it's good news

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<v Speaker 1>for electric vehicle fans. One other thing we should mention

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<v Speaker 1>is that while electric cars produced no greenhouse gas emissions,

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<v Speaker 1>you have to take a big picture view of the

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<v Speaker 1>system to really understand the environmental impact of an electric vehicle.

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<v Speaker 1>For one thing, whereas the electricity coming from, if the

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<v Speaker 1>answer is a cold power plant, then the source of

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<v Speaker 1>pollution just shifts from the car to the car's power source.

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<v Speaker 1>Moving to electric vehicles makes the most sense when the

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<v Speaker 1>source of your electricity is a renewable one that doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>depend on fossil fuels. The manufacturing process itself, particularly for

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<v Speaker 1>car batteries, can also be a source of environmental concern.

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<v Speaker 1>So while we should feel pretty good about moving away

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<v Speaker 1>from fossil fuels, which not only can cut down on

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<v Speaker 1>greenhouse gas emissions but also improve national security by reducing

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<v Speaker 1>a nation's dependence upon foreign oil, it doesn't mean we

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<v Speaker 1>should be less vigilant overall. To learn more about how

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<v Speaker 1>electric motors work, why battery technology can't keep up with

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<v Speaker 1>Moore's Law, and everything else related to tech, subscribe to

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<v Speaker 1>the Tech Stuff podcast. It's the big brother to this show,

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<v Speaker 1>and each episode is a deep dive on a tech

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<v Speaker 1>topic that's all for me for now, See you next time.