Aging tuner drivers vs aging muscle drivers: different world?

[TalkToTheFiST]

Im thinking future, say 25 years. Take a guy who is 70 now, when the 60s and 70s era was around, that guy was a young man and those cars had a high appeal. But a lot of people can't do what they WANT bc of cost, so when that guy is older, he can finally realize his dream. Or maybe he's been living that dream since he was 20 and just still loves muscle cars. Either way it's just nuts n bolts, air n fuel. As long as you can find parts and gasoline, muscle cars will live on.

But for the tuner generation, im afraid things will be different. In 20 years maybe i want to build an ST monster and get a Focus and decide to put 20g into it to make it a sleeper with 800hp. Is there a chance our tuners will be tuning for today's cars in two decades? This is the only thing that worries me about my particular preference, that i will be forced to change. Muscle car guys don't have to change, they can keep wrenching bolts replacing pipes. Short of my learning to tune with my own software, is all this inevitably coming to an end? I know there will be new cars i may fall in love with but what if i don't? What if i never get over my first love, who is currently at just under 70k.

 

[Geebs]

I wonder what the chances are of finding a gas station in the next 10-20 years? We all know supply and demand and if EV's are the next step (which they are), then it only makes sense that "charging stations" will take the place of "gas stations". Not saying I think gas will be gone but considering that for me right now, if I want E85 there is only one place within a 20 mile radius of me that has it....I wonder if in 10-20 years it will be like that just to find any kind of gas....

 

[RoadKill]

It’s all about if there is demand. In the early 2000’s the import scene had performance brands putting out parts for cars that were 10 years old.

In all honestly what I am looking forward to is battery powered crate engines. Watching the latest video of Lucid Air on the Laguna Seca course is mind blowing. Sure I will miss shifting gears and the rumble sound of the engine but going fast will hopefully replace that excitement.

 

[dhminer]

I wonder what the chances are of finding a gas station in the next 10-20 years? We all know supply and demand and if EV's are the next step (which they are), then it only makes sense that "charging stations" will take the place of "gas stations". Not saying I think gas will be gone but considering that for me right now, if I want E85 there is only one place within a 20 mile radius of me that has it....I wonder if in 10-20 years it will be like that just to find any kind of gas....

Regular gas maybe, but diesel isn’t going anywhere soon unless we develop a swappable battery and shops that can change in the time it takes a trucker to fill up their fuel tanks. Maybe we’ll just be driving torque monster diesel sports cars.

 

[carnufex]

Regular gas maybe, but diesel isn’t going anywhere soon unless we develop a swappable battery and shops that can change in the time it takes a trucker to fill up their fuel tanks. Maybe we’ll just be driving torque monster diesel sports cars.

Ill be driving a diesel before I will be a character on the Jetsons

 

[thecman02]

I'm not worried about gas or tuning. I have the means of tuning the vehicles I want. Fueling could become difficult. As long as they don't make it illegal to make ethanol I'll be able to drive my vehicle regardless of having gas stations. The worrisome shit to me is what the government decides to do. They are trending towards taking freedoms away. I'd be more worried about forced automated driving cars.

 

[rallytaff]

I'm not worried about gas or tuning. I have the means of tuning the vehicles I want. Fueling could become difficult. As long as they don't make it illegal to make ethanol I'll be able to drive my vehicle regardless of having gas stations. The worrisome shit to me is what the government decides to do. They are trending towards taking freedoms away. I'd be more worried about forced automated driving cars.

I agree. California is already making plans to scrap selling new gas engine cars in 2035. If you have one, hang on to it!

 

[gtx3076]

I enjoy the fiesta but I don’t get attached to things. Not being able to readily put fuel in the fiesta would just be an excuse to buy something new.

 

[Dpro]

Hydrogen power is coming. Too many people sell it short while companies like Plug Power make behind the scene inroads with major companies for Hydrogen powered fleets. ICE engines will run on Hydrogen and put out nothing but water. The EV dream will hit a snag in the next few years it’s already happening today in China where power outages are stranding millions of Tesla drivers in big cities . It was literally in Todays news! Oh and ya China is pushing EV’s big time due to the level of pollution they make with all their coal burning power plants. Tail wagging the dog?

 

[TyphoonFiST]

Im thinking future, say 25 years. Take a guy who is 70 now, when the 60s and 70s era was around, that guy was a young man and those cars had a high appeal. But a lot of people can't do what they WANT bc of cost, so when that guy is older, he can finally realize his dream. Or maybe he's been living that dream since he was 20 and just still loves muscle cars. Either way it's just nuts n bolts, air n fuel. As long as you can find parts and gasoline, muscle cars will live on.

But for the tuner generation, im afraid things will be different. In 20 years maybe i want to build an ST monster and get a Focus and decide to put 20g into it to make it a sleeper with 800hp. Is there a chance our tuners will be tuning for today's cars in two decades? This is the only thing that worries me about my particular preference, that i will be forced to change. Muscle car guys don't have to change, they can keep wrenching bolts replacing pipes. Short of my learning to tune with my own software, is all this inevitably coming to an end? I know there will be new cars i may fall in love with but what if i don't? What if i never get over my first love, who is currently at just under 70k.

It will become a dying Art....watch it happen!

 

[TyphoonFiST]

Hydrogen power is coming. Too many people sell it short while companies like Plug Power make behind the scene inroads with major companies for Hydrogen powered fleets. ICE engines will run on Hydrogen and put out nothing but water. The EV dream will hit a snag in the next few years it’s already happening today in China where power outages are stranding millions of Tesla drivers in big cities . It was literally in Todays news! Oh and ya China is pushing EV’s big time due to the level of pollution they make with all their coal burning power plants. Tail wagging the dog?

I too read of this.....

 

[Dpro]

It will become a dying Art....watch it happen!

This is most likely true as well.Cars will be fast as hell and no need for tuning. Tesla has already shown that. It’s going to be a different world. Though then the world my father grew up in was vastly different than what is now similarities yes but things they did not dream of as well. By the way where are the damn flying cars that were supposed to be here already? Picture phones that were more like original Imac’s than cell phones? Shit Star Trek nailed cell phones with communicators . Fucking flip phones!

 

[D1JL]

Have you thought of the art of tuning electric cars?
I used to have a website and provided a service of tunning electric golfcarts.
Specifically, the 2002 Ford Think. They were designed to only do 25 MPH and I reset them to do 45.
There is a lot you can do with ramp and threshold settings.

 

[thecman02]

Have you thought of the art of tuning electric cars?
I used to have a website and provided a service of tunning electric golfcarts.
Specifically, the 2002 Ford Think. They were designed to only do 25 MPH and I reset them to do 45.
There is a lot you can do with ramp and threshold settings.

I'm actually in the mist of getting the wheels in motion to start a "electric tuning company." I had a focus in automotive and heat transfer/thermodynamics in college. The biggest obstacles are thermal management and and communication protcal between controllers. Actually working with a company for a turnkey hybrid system for performance side by sides.

 

[rallytaff]

My question is, where is all this electricity going to come from to power up these 'gross polluters'? I see NO plans for any power stations to be built so I guess there'll be a lot of stranded drivers unable to drive! By the way, how many people will be able to afford to buy EV's?

 

[Mycooking]

Considering even the after market and tuning community is alive and well for the 1990s Saturn sl2s I think we're fine. Still want to build another 95 sl2 5spd like I had circa 2007.

 

[jeffreylyon]

Hydrogen power is coming. Too many people sell it short while companies like Plug Power make behind the scene inroads with major companies for Hydrogen powered fleets. ICE engines will run on Hydrogen and put out nothing but water. The EV dream will hit a snag in the next few years it’s already happening today in China where power outages are stranding millions of Tesla drivers in big cities . It was literally in Todays news! Oh and ya China is pushing EV’s big time due to the level of pollution they make with all their coal burning power plants. Tail wagging the dog?

There is good chance that battery-powered EVs are a step in the direction of a fuel cell-powered EV but a hydrogen ICE combines the negatives of an ICE with the negatives of hydrogen-powered anything. Once we figure out how to make hydrogen without fossil fuels with any reasonable level of efficiency and how to move it around the country, store it reasonably well, and produce things that can use it at scale, it might become the next step. We can't do any of that, yet.

And the "oh, the poor grid" hand-wringing is nonsense. We should be improving the grid by localizing production and redundancy whilst encouraging folks to improve efficiency and electrifying their homes. Yep, you're right, if the grid goes down nobody can charge their EVs (or run their AC or keep their food cold...), but nor can they fill up their ICE cars or refine oil into gas. BTW, there are only about 900k (edited from 79k) Teslas in all of China, not "millions."

Maybe EVs aren't the bane of the grid but part of the solution; my truck has as much battery storage as does $150K worth of Tesla Power Walls. What if we all charge our batteries in the day time or during windy periods and pump some of that back to the grid when it's still and dark? Tesla is experimenting with that in CA right now. As I type this my roof is sending about 6kw to my neighbors cuz I don't need it. If it was going into my truck I could be burning it this evening, instead.

Sorry to go OT, but the pseudo-facts promoted by the petroleum lobbyists wear on me. The current state of EVs aren't great, or, maybe, not even good, but they are the best alternative we have to pumping rotten dinosaur sludge out of the ground, moving it all over the world, evaporating and condensing the best part, and burning it in our cars at 30-35% efficiency.

 

[jeffreylyon]

My question is, where is all this electricity going to come from to power up these 'gross polluters'? I see NO plans for any power stations to be built so I guess there'll be a lot of stranded drivers unable to drive!

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=50818

46.1 GW of new utility-grade power in 2022, 46% of which is solar. And that doesn't include home solar. Let's say that, on average, solar is pumping close to peak energy 4 hours a day. (46.1 gW * 46% * 365 days/year * 4 hrs/day) = ~30 tWh per year. My giant F150 Lightning needs around .5 kWh per mile. That means utilities added enough solar capacity to the grid in 2022 for me to drive my truck 61,921,520,000 miles every year. Or 4 million EV drivers (assuming at least the same efficiency as my big-ass truck) 15,480 miles a year.

And, remember, that's just the new solar utilities added in 2022. About 1/2 of all of my electricity (we have 2 EVs and heat pump cooling and heating) comes from my roof.

 

[thecman02]

I'm really disheartened by the polarized views I see. There's numerous technical hurtles that need to be solved in the coming decades. I honestly think hybridizing is the way to go to reduce the pain of transition to electrification. In that circumstance you pretty much double the efficiency of a vehicle all things considered even. That means you basically are cutting current emissions of vehicles in half, and reducing strain on electrical grid.

I do agree we need to harness power of smart grids more. There is plenty of energy that is wasted because it isn't stored into a useful medium. Between houses/cars having storage banks it will smooth out the energy demand peaks. Hydrogen could be a major component to the energy matrix if we can efficiently get it. Electric semi trucks with hydrogen fuel cells look promising. Fuel cells should be implemented to capture natural gas and used for electricity.

 

[gtx3076]

I'm really disheartened by the polarized views I see. There's numerous technical hurtles that need to be solved in the coming decades. I honestly think hybridizing is the way to go to reduce the pain of transition to electrification. In that circumstance you pretty much double the efficiency of a vehicle all things considered even. That means you basically are cutting current emissions of vehicles in half, and reducing strain on electrical grid.

I do agree we need to harness power of smart grids more. There is plenty of energy that is wasted because it isn't stored into a useful medium. Between houses/cars having storage banks it will smooth out the energy demand peaks. Hydrogen could be a major component to the energy matrix if we can efficiently get it. Electric semi trucks with hydrogen fuel cells look promising. Fuel cells should be implemented to capture natural gas and used for electricity.

It’s a car enthusiast l forum. I take it with a grain of salt. I remember when ford announced their first v6 ecoboost motor and all the old timers talked shit on it. Now small displacement motors are the norm on fleet vehicles.

Most of the gas we used to burn had lead in it. The first few generations of motors that burned unleaded gas did not perform as well as their leaded counterparts. In the end the vast majority of people would agree the initial pain of converting away from leaded fuel was worth it.