mschuyler

Sure they are. There's not a week that goes by in the tech press that does not announce an advance in battery technology. They don't have that far to go. If they doubled battery life just one time (not exponentially) the range would be circa 600 miles. That matches the range of a normal car. But face it, most people do not drive 600 miles a day. Their daily driver takes them about fifty miles per day to work and back. Electrics are already viable. As William Gibson has said, "The future is already here; it's just unevenly distributed." You'll come around. You have no choice. Don't feign surprise when this happens. That electric car parked in your garage on five years will be there because it makes sense.

sunsalem

You nailed it.

Newton06

Sure.

Porsche's product roadmap shows the end of IC engines for the 911 within 3 years.

LOL!

I have seen not one (that being a single "1") Tesla on a roadcourse event (I've attended & instructed at >30 with assorted organizations in the last 3 years at VIR alone). And I seriously doubt within the next 3 - 5 years that number will change significantly.

Stick to your Leafs and over-priced amusement-park ride cars whose only selling factor is 0-60 acceleration when the 2000 lb batteries are full.

Now, make no mistake, I fully believe that electric cars will eventually become viable alternatives to current sports cars, both in terms of price and performance, just not in my lifetime. Unless of course some other method of propulsion is discovered (unlikely).

There are tons of Teslas in Bellevue; the wealthy tech-**** love showing them off in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the 520 when they're commuting to Redmond. Ironically, MS frowns heavily on telecommuting. Go figure...

Eric Reeves

Until my cell phone can keep a charge all week without having to recharge it battery technology will not be for me.

NY09C6

I would just be happy with one full day in real life. Not what the specs say...

Dalannex

Boy are you in trouble now! I’ve made similar comments in the past and was really surprised to learn how many new corvette owners are liberal tree huggers that view Elon musk press conferences as their favorite ****. They’ll come for you now.

sunsalem

Thanx for trying to turn this discussion into a political mud-slinging contest.

mschuyler

A. Who cares what Porsche says? B. Who cares what cars are on a "roadcourse event"? C. Who cares what Tesla says? What does that have to do with anything relevant? The push to electric is moving faster than your V-8 deluded eyes can imagine. If you are a commuter, within five years your DD will be at least a hybrid. Why? Because your need for range is modest (circa 50 miles) and your need for good MPG will be ever increasing. If you, personally, do not fit that profile, well good for you, but most people do and THAT is what will drive the market--not you. Plan on it.

LIStingray

Hybrid sales in the USA are 2.75% of all passenger vehicles sold - a percentage that hasn't gone up since 2013, so I think your prediction might be a touch optimistic. And, there is nothing that indicates gas prices will be more than $3.50/gal in the next 5 years.

JerriVette

Hybrids such..make the electric corvette a full electric and call it a Chevrolet E Ray.

Electric is the future without question.

GM should also have an E V electric hot rod Chevrolet E Ray CUV built on the same platform with a little stretch over two seat two door sports car,

Mjolitor 68

Just bcus a bunch of Green Weenies in Brussels & Tokyo are screaming for hybrids doesn’t mean it’s progress.

We’re quickly going to reach the point where the electric grid can’t handle millions of plug in electric cars. How is that progress?

The ICE has plenty of development left.

JoesC5

Agreed. Non-plug-in Hybrids make some sense, especially for daily commuters as they can also be used for longer trips, since they can be filled up with gasoline and their ICE will power them anywhere. No doubt a non-plug-in car will save some money in gasoline, but it also does not have to have any electricity from our grid, but presently, most hybrids don't save enough money to cover their additional cost to purchase within a reasonable time period(that the original purchaser keeps the car, before dumping it).

For most American's travels, a 100% EV like the Bolt or Tesla, isn't really practical. We presently have the infrastructure in place, and is paid for, to supply gasoline for 100% of our needs so there is no sense spending trillions of dollars to duplicate that infrastructure just to supply electricity for our cars, especially to artificially destroy the gasoline industry because a group of people don't like using oil.

When we truly begin to have a shortage of oil, then let the free market solve the problem of how we get from point A to point B without a bunch of people that have fancy degrees in 3rd century cave wall art telling the rest of us how to live our lives.

As this is the C8 forum, I would compare the future C8 to the NSX. The NSX is carrying around a huge amount of unnecessary weight because it is a non-plug-in hybrid. What has the NSX gained in performance vs cars like the AMG GT or the Porsche 911, etc?

NY09C6

Sorry dude.

The government is driving this change. No one else.

GM obviously just spent a lot building two new V8s for the ME. You might see hybrid as an option, but gas motors are here for quite a while longer.

JerriVette

I think it's Europe pushing for hybrids in cities like London where they have proposed laws outlawing ICE in cities.

I prefer either all gas or all electric vehicles.

the added weight and expense of both together seems wasteful.

mschuyler

Sorry dude, but it's a lot more than government, government subsides notwithstanding. I'm not saying Corvette people will move to electric, but cost conscious people who have that as a priority will as soon as the graph lines cross. Honda Civic sales, for example, are as much a MONTH as Corvette sales are in a year. Ditto with the Accord. This is the 'commuter market' and it's ripe for sale of electrics.

Watch it happen before your very eyes in the next five years.

NY09C6

Hybrids will happen in 5 years as required to meet CAFE, there is no question.

GM is currently taking a 9k a hit per car due to California regulations.

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/2...ess/161209707/

All government regulation driven.

Daekwan06

The last sentence is all that matters. As long as gas is cheap, electric cars are a hard sell. Considering gas has been in the $2/gal range for the past 4 years.. it should be no surprise the percentage of electric/hybrid vehicles sold in the US hasnt budged. But since we all know gasoline is finite resource.. the entire answer to popularity of electric vehicles is not if, but when, the average price of gas rises significantly will people then start buying electric cars in significant numbers. Tesla gained most popularity when gas prices hovered around $4/gal.. what happens when gas hit $5/gal? $8/gal? $10/gal.

The same people calling electric cars useless, will be the first ones trading them in for something much more fuel efficient. We dont even have to wonder what will happen to big displacement, big power engines.. as we've already seen this before during the 1970's gas crisis. My 2cents.. enjoy the cheap gas and big V8 HP while you can.. because the clock is ticking. And when that time finally comes.. electric will be the future of vehicle based powertrains.

IrishSpuds

GMAFB. The corvette is a sportscar not a millenial pos that runs on batteries. I suggest you but a prius.

Newton06

I hope you are not in consumer or product research, because you really fail to comprehend several key elements of market fundamentals and dynamics.

Last time I was stuck in stop and go traffic on the George Washington bridge after an week of strategy meetings with product executives at Microsoft, I counted no more than 10 EVs from Redmond to dinner in Bellevue, back to the Fairmont downtown.

Any idea what they where?

All P85/P90 models. I saw not one lowly Volt, but will say the area is swimming in Priuses. In fact, most of the vehicles were late model Audi's, Porsche's and BMW's.

Now why in the world would all these tech-saavy, enviro****s not be driving EVs or hybrids since most live within a 15 mile radius of their work location?

Hmmm...

Seattle metro is a perfect example of your use case, yet EV uptake (and I'll be so bold to assert hybrid as well) accounts for little more than statistical noise. In fact, I'd be willing to wager that of the vast majority of people there driving Priuses if they could afford a late model BMW, Audi, or Porsche (all gas), they would drop the hybrid in a heartbeat. Of course there would be stalwarts that would hold out for a P85/P90 or even a 'lowly' 3 (if they ever make it to production scale) simply because they are hell-bent on EV. They constitute a tiny minority.

Do you honestly believe California's insane attempt to ban ICE new vehicle sales by 2040 even has a snowball's chance in hell of becoming law (terrible legislation BTW - no surprise coming out of CA).

But I digress.

You obviously know more than all the product planners, chief engineers, & strategists at all the major automotive manufacturers (save Elon if I dare say so).

I'd suggest requesting some 1 x 1 time with Tadge & Harlan to tell them they're driving the future of the Corvette brand off a cliff by not switching to hybrid/EV right away. I mean, there's already 15 - 20 people who won't even consider a C7 because it lacks a proper DCT and AWD (and overheats). The Corvette death knell is near!

Let us know how it goes.

WKM

They could do it without batteries. Trains have been doing it for 80 years!