Ford, Boeing and NU Form Nanotech Alliance 84
spoonyfork wrote to mention an article detailing a collaboration between Ford, Boeing and Northwestern to research how nanotechnology can improve car and plane design. From the article: "Ford hopes the alliance will help it build more fuel-efficient cars and engines that are more durable because they run cooler. The research also will focus on designing vehicles that run on alternative energy sources, such as hydrogen and electricity. Nanotechnology should allow batteries for hybrid vehicles that produce more energy while weighing less and taking up less space, Stevens said. CEO Bill Ford Jr. recently said half of the company's models will have hybrid capabilities by 2010. By making batteries and other components smaller, it opens up space for more features that consumers want in their vehicles, Stevens said. Designers will be forced to make fewer compromises when choosing materials and amenities."
Re:Those companies are in trouble! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Smaller components for smaller cars (Score:4, Insightful)
Incidentally, SUVs themselves are held to the lower safety standards of light trucks, not passenger cars. They don't have the same safety standards for their occupants as passenger cars for side impacts, and their bumpers are not as strong. There's also the the significant increased risk of rollovers.
So buying an SUV or light truck not only puts other road-users at greater risk, it also puts the occupants at higher risk than if they'd bought a medium or large sized car.
To be fair, there are uses for light trucks and SUVs, mainly out of cities. In urban areas, a large car does the same job, is safer all round, and gets better fuel efficiency. The tax and safety loopholes that SUVs get should be closed, as they are primarily passenger vehicles, not business light trucks.
Nanotech (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Smaller components for smaller cars (Score:5, Insightful)
US cars made for the US market (oh, might I add Canada and Mexico in there, as well?) meet US tastes and demands. Yeah, that means big, old Expeditions and Crown Victorias and big, gas guzzling cars. It's not Ford et al's fault -- it's market driven.
If you look at Ford products in Mexico, the UK, Europe, and Asia, you'll see that Ford builts and sells more small cars the world over than big SUV's and full size cars in the North American market.
I'm currently working in Mexico launching an American market car. Down here when you ask for "full size" at the airport, they give you a Focus! I'm currently driving a Mondeo that my 6'2" frame barely fits into and while it's a perfectly safe care, it "feels" dangerously small when you're used to something the size of a Taurus or larger.
Not too long ago, I was trying to find out some information about these Mondeos (they don't sell 'em in the US/Canada market). I read a review of Mondeos on a British site. The review exclaimed that among the good points were the cavernous amounts of space inside this absolutely huge vehicle. The principal bad point was the miserable gas mileage, at only 27mpg is was fuel hog!
It just goes to show that perception among different markets is, obviously, different, and that you can't pigeonhole Ford into being nothing but a huge SUV maker. Remember, Toyota and Nissan sell into the USA/Canada/Mexico market, too, and they sell huge, behemouth trucks and SUV's, too! I'm betting you don't see many of those in Europe.
Re:Smaller components for smaller cars (Score:3, Insightful)
You speak of the US market, supply and demand and these are very good points, in the american mind puny european cars are just not 'cars', their toys that never feel 'safe' and just aint american enough. Europeans on the other hand think about things like 'gas is expensive', 'boy we polute a lot', 'wow taxes on huge cars are expensive' and the ever favorite 'how could i park such a monster of a car in town!'. So sure both sides have different ideas and concepts of what a car is and different problems they face.
However the enviriomental question isn't one thats unique to europe. Looking at recent huricanes one could say they are not becomming more frequent, but are becomming more powerfull
Now the climate isn't changing its self, we as human kind contribute a lot to this, and thus we as people tried to initiate the kyoto convention, tax bigger cars and poluting industries, raise taxes on gas and a slew of other measures (here in the netherlands you get a big tax break on a small car equiped with state of the art filters, and get huge tax increases on big poluting cars forinstance).
Now the US didn't join the kyoto convention, still refuses too, sugested a watered down version that wouldn't mean taking drastic measures, the US doesn't choose (yet?) to drive less poluting cars, and doesn't stimulate less poluting industries 'as much' as europe does.
Doesn't anyone in america get the feeling that maybe their demands for bigger, more gas guzzling cars isn't such a bright idea and that maybe the kyoto convention isn't so silly afterall?
As you said its all supply and demand, and i'm just wondering why demand ain't shifting
Re:Smaller components for smaller cars (Score:3, Insightful)