Loner beats the odds in auto fuel efficiency

[mubs]

Johnathan Goodwin can get 100 mpg out of a Lincoln Continental, cut emissions by 80%, and double the horsepower. Does the car business have the guts to follow him?

Fascinating article in FastCompany.

 

[ddrueding]

Great read, and I agree with the tone of the article. My impression goes something like this:

All these really cool things are possible, but most are expensive up front. American car companies (and to a lesser degree, the rest of the industry) are dragging their feet because they don't want to lose what they have. Of course, their foot-dragging is causing them to lose it one piece at a time. No-one who has the money and political capital to make something happen has the guts to do it.

Prediction? The company that takes us off gasoline won't be a major company, it will be someone new with nothing to lose (Tesla? This guy? Who knows.)

 

[jtr1962]

Prediction? The company that takes us off gasoline won't be a major company, it will be someone new with nothing to lose (Tesla? This guy? Who knows.)

I agree here 100%. The auto industry is more entrenched than any other industry in history, period, even the railways of the early 1900s (and the robber barons who ran those were notoriously resistant to innovation). Along those lines of thought, GE seems to be showing little interest in LEDs, instead banking their future on some as yet undiscovered improvements in the incandescent lamp. Care to guess who will be the lighting giant/GE equivalent of the 21st century. My money is on Cree first, Seoul Semiconductor second, Philips-Lumileds a distant third.

The hard truth is that when you become big enough, you feel like you can never be dethroned. You tend to ignore those little upstarts you laughed at until it's too late. Despite all the money being poured by the big automakers into fuel cells, I feel in the end the electric car will win by virtue of simplicity, ease of refueling, low purchase/operating costs, and long-term reliability. Unneccessary complexity has push the price of cars into the stratosphere. Whoever can simplify things under the hood to lower costs will come out a winner. It won't hurt either that any competitors to the big three won't be saddled with expensive labor agreements.

 

[ddrueding]

The hard truth is that when you become big enough, you feel like you can never be dethroned.

I disagree. What I have noticed is that everyone becomes more afraid of losing what they have when they have more to lose. The bigger/richer someone (or some corporation) is, the less risk they are willing to take, and the more blind they become to potential improvements/innovations. The corollary is, that someone with nothing to lose has the most potential.