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Would you buy an EV from a Chinese OEM?

  • Yes

    Votes: 23 21.3%

  • No

    Votes: 66 61.1%

  • Maybe

    Votes: 19 17.6%
  • Total voters
    108
I was scrolling through CNN today while waiting….waiting for a boarding call and noticed a story on driverless autonomous trucking. The firm Aurora has officially announced round trip long haul between Houston and Dallas. Four years of testing has delivered 10,000 customer loads and, now officially, they are 1200 miles into the new service. No safety drivers are now in the cabs. They are starting with one truck and will gradually ramp up service as we move through 2025.

I’ve been sceptical of this concept in the past, from a safety and public acceptance stance, but this will be a development to keep a close eye on.i believe the route they are running features 401 style highways and comparable traffic loads. So if successful over a time period, while expanding routes and frequencies, then. It will be a matter of time until we see similar pilot projects on the 401.

And beyond technical wizardry of the trucks themselves, it will be interesting to examine the changes to the business of moving freight, that autonomous may bring. And over much longer distances as well.
 
just east of the creek said:
I’ve been sceptical of this concept in the past, from a safety and public acceptance stance, but this will be a development to keep a close eye on.i believe the route they are running features 401 style highways and comparable traffic loads. So if successful over a time period, while expanding routes and frequencies, then. It will be a matter of time until we see similar pilot projects on the 401.
Click to expand...
I'm skeptical of autonomous driving, but not nearly as skeptical as I am about human drivers!
 
just east of the creek said:
I was scrolling through CNN today while waiting….waiting for a boarding call and noticed a story on driverless autonomous trucking. The firm Aurora has officially announced round trip long haul between Houston and Dallas. Four years of testing has delivered 10,000 customer loads and, now officially, they are 1200 miles into the new service. No safety drivers are now in the cabs. They are starting with one truck and will gradually ramp up service as we move through 2025.

I’ve been sceptical of this concept in the past, from a safety and public acceptance stance, but this will be a development to keep a close eye on.i believe the route they are running features 401 style highways and comparable traffic loads. So if successful over a time period, while expanding routes and frequencies, then. It will be a matter of time until we see similar pilot projects on the 401.

And beyond technical wizardry of the trucks themselves, it will be interesting to examine the changes to the business of moving freight, that autonomous may bring. And over much longer distances as well.
Click to expand...
Toronto to Montreal would be ideal...
 
So the last couple weeks, a trucking company called Amar Group, has started sending electric trucks into the CN Brampton Intermodal yard to drop off & pickup containers. Never seen this until just recently.

It looks just like a normal truck except they just stuck a battery on to it. It doesn't look all space age/ "Tesla like" if you know what I mean. I can't find any pictures of the trucks except for this graphic posted on their Facebook page. You can see the battery down by where the tires are.

I reckon I'm going to start seeing more electric trucks coming into the yard. Trucking companies will use them for last mile deliveries while still using diesel for longer hauls.

Trucks at container yards often end up idling for hours as they wait for a crane to give them their container. So it makes sense to send electric trucks to container yards.

It should be noted that Amar constructed their own container storage yard relatively close to the CN Brampton yard. So they can afford to test out electric trucks. Other trucking companies like Challenger, who are based out of Cambridge, are less likely to use electric trucks due to being further away.
Amar Green.jpg
 
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Electric trucks are going to make pretty significant inroads. The challenge is more on the charging infrastructure side, as the electrical service required is substantial, and many warehouse sites don't have the grid overhead to add that much additional draw. Of course, this will help the market for large behind the meter stationary battery storage that can smooth out peak power loads and maximize the potential for charging for a given level of service. Stationary battery deployments are going exponential, and it's going to be a very big business indeed.
 
I'm disappointed at how slow the technologies have progressed. I believed the hype (check the beginning of the thread) and the prediction timelines (and my comments) for Toronto /Canada are largely wrong. Loblaws started their autonomous pilot in 2022, and there isn't much else around.
Inflation adjusted, oil is slightly more expensive now than it was in 2000.
This was supposed to be the year of EV fleets being introduced and we don't have that either.
Looks just like the Crosstown, the future of transportation has been delayed.
 
Proponents say robotic delivery can reduce carbon emissions and avoid the traffic congestion that slows some traditional couriers.

The robots can travel 5 km/h, which is slightly faster than a person walking.

They don't sound faster than standard delivery drivers and I imagine these robots can't enter buildings or go up elevators, which seems to be what people want when they order their things. I assume come winter these robots are useless.
 
TRONto said:
I'm disappointed at how slow the technologies have progressed. I believed the hype (check the beginning of the thread) and the prediction timelines (and my comments) for Toronto /Canada are largely wrong. Loblaws started their autonomous pilot in 2022, and there isn't much else around.
Inflation adjusted, oil is slightly more expensive now than it was in 2000.
This was supposed to be the year of EV fleets being introduced and we don't have that either.
Looks just like the Crosstown, the future of transportation has been delayed.
Click to expand...
After posting I did see that you can buy an EV for less than an ICE. That's something
 
1000017195.jpg

Saw one of the automated/driverless delivery vehicles for the second time today, and this time managed to snap a photo. The red car following has people monitoring it and can apparently control it if necessary (during this pilot project). Davenport and Symington.
 
Surprised it hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet. What do you guys make of Uber's new Route Share feature?

I can definitely see some cities, particularly in America, that will use this new Uber feature to compensate for their lack of public transit funding.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that Philadelphia is now allowing Uber Route Share on their roads after announcing funding and service cuts for SEPTA.

I like how Uber keeps trying to market this feature as being more affordable than compared to the normal Uber service. But is it cheaper than a bus fare? I doubt it.
 
I can see this being faster than bus. You are also assured a seat, when this is not the case on the bus.
 
I imagine it will attract a market share, even at a higher price. There are plenty of people who would exchange a ride in a more comfortable, less crowded, more reliable vehicle for a price increment. Others will continue to take the bus because it's more affordable, and will accept the slower/less pleasant ride to get the lowest cost.

One issue is the impact on transit revenue when that slice of the market abandons the bus. And I'm not crazy about the overall wage erosion vs public transit employment. And how many Uber vehicles will it take to replace even a single bus - not great for road congestion?

I expect transit agencies will complain bitterly about the loss of revenue - but will any attempt to improve their service to actually compete on price or comfort? I expect not.

- Paul
 
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