The era of electric cars is lightning fast: Chevrolet and Apple are racing

Carburetor, gearbox, ignition, spark plugs, injectors, clutch, pumps, filters, valves ...

All these devices have been invented and constantly improved for over 100 years. It is hard to imagine how hard it was to come up with them, how many man-hours were invested in running them in, debugging and fitting. Factories, factories, and entire industries arose for their manufacture and improvement. The best options first showed themselves at racing events, and then the winners gradually penetrated into mass production.

But all this will soon disappear. For the 21st century, apparently, will be the century of electric vehicles. Forgive me, Marty - neither Mr.Fusion, nor flying machines are expected. But we will at least reduce emissions.

Yes, you cannot make a vroom-vroom on an electric car, attracting the attention of girls and scaring away grandmothers. But in front of him, you can make another trunk. And its design is radically simpler - an electric motor with a simple power characteristic, a single-speed transmission, and batteries. Steering wheel, suspension. That’s practically all.

Yes, the brainchild of the dreaming billionaire Mask, Tesla cars , high cost ($ 60-100 thousand). They need to be charged for a fairly long time (from a home outlet - all night). There are so far fewer quick charges than gas stations (150 in all of the USA). And so far it is most appropriate in North America, where there is a middle class living in private houses with garages. It is for this reason that Tesla's sales in China completely disappointed Mask, right up to the dismissal of top managers.



But still it is a success. Electric cars spread their wings. And, looking at her, other giant companies decided to keep up. On sale there are already a couple of dozen models of electric cars from different companies. Let me introduce you a selection of recent news from this area.

Chevrolet

Chevrolet - the second national American car after Ford. At the Chicago Auto Show on February 13, the company announced that the development of their new Bolt electric car was given green light. The concept first appeared in January at the Detroit International Automobile Exhibition.



The manufacturer promises a price of $ 30,000 and 300 km per charge. The car, designed to compete with the future relatively inexpensive model Tesla Model 3 ($ 35,000), should go simultaneously with the enemy in 2017.

Apple

Yes, I was not mistaken. iPod -> iPhone -> iPad -> iCar. The Wall Street Journal managed to take possession of classified information , according to which the company has a dedicated unit for several hundred people. They are working on an electric car, codenamed Titan. According to the same source, the early design of the car resembles a minivan.

According to rumors, the project was launched almost a year ago, and the company invited engineer Steve Zadeski and designer Mark Newson, who previously worked for Ford, as leading specialists. Many remember that in 2014, the CarPlay system was officially introduced - this is iOS for embedding in cars.



The result will be a car from Apple, whether it will become an icon of hipsters, and whether it will be possible to photograph your lunch on it - is not yet clear. It is also possible that Apple will abandon the project as a result, and use the best practices (the same battery systems) in other endeavors. But the next ten years promises to be very interesting for the automotive industry.

Toyota

The Japanese have their own quirks. The rest of the world is not a decree for them. Despite the fact that in Japan, as it turned out, there are more charges for electric vehicles than gas stations (40 thousand versus 34 thousand), the auto giant Toyota decided to produce a car with hydrogen fuel cells . Whether they will be able to build from scratch a network of gas stations both on their island and on other continents - time will tell. It is worth mentioning that according to preliminary estimates, “refueling” such a car will cost about $ 100 .

For reference, charging one of the most economical electric cars, the Nissan Leaf for weekly trips of 800 km will cost you $ 600 per year, at the prices of the state of Illinois. Refueling in the same state of an average passenger car will cost you about $ 2,300 a year.