The era of electric cars is coming with lightning speed: Chevrolet and Apple join the race

Carburetor, gearbox, ignition, 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 think of them, how many man-hours invested in their running in, debugging and fitting. For their manufacture and improvement arose factories, plants and entire industries. 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. Sorry, Marty - as long as neither Mr.Fusion nor the flying machines are expected. But we at least reduce emissions.
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Yes, the electric car can not be done vroom-vroom, attracting the attention of girls and scaring grandmothers. But in front of him one more trunk can be made. And its design is radically simpler - an electric motor with a simple characteristic of power, single-speed transmission, batteries. Steering wheel, suspension. Almost everything.

Yes, at the brainchild of the dreaming billionaire Mask, Tesla cars, high cost ($ 60-100 thousand). They need to be charged for quite a long time (from a home outlet - all night). Fast charge is still much less than gas stations (150 for all of the USA). And most of all, it is appropriate for the time being precisely in North America - where there is a middle class living in private houses with garages. It is for this reason that Tesla 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 it, other giants decided to keep up. There are already a couple of dozen models of electric cars from different companies on sale. Let me present you a selection of recent news from this area.

Chevrolet

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



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), must be released simultaneously with the opponent in 2017.

Apple

Yes, I was not mistaken. iPod -> iPhone -> iPad -> iCar. The Wall Street Journal managed to seize secret information , according to which the company has a dedicated division of 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 as leading specialists, the company invited engineer Steve Cedeschi and designer Mark Newson, who previously worked at Ford. Many people remember that in 2014 the CarPlay system was officially introduced - this is iOS for embedding in cars.



As a result, the car from Apple will appear, 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, as a result, Apple will abandon the project, and will use the groundwork (the same battery systems) in its other undertakings. But the next ten years promises to be very interesting for the automotive industry.

Toyota

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

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