Germany votes to ban internal combustion engines in 14 years

[Travlr]

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2016/october/germany-votes-to-ban-internal-combustion-engine-by-2030/

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

The future is going to suck, I'll continue to live in the past. 

[jcctx]

I probably won't live to see it, but I doubt they will make the goal!!!

[Triple Jim]

The resolution is non-binding, so may not happen, but it is a strong statement of intent, especially when German regulations have historically shaped many EU regulations.

[oldbike54]

  Face it fellas , the world is changing , most young folks aren't in love with motor vehicles , and after our generation is gone ...

 Dusty

[JJ]

When I visited the factory for the company I now work for in Wujiang, (near Suzhou, outside of Shanghai.)..that city recently BANNED all gas-powered scooters!!   All the scooters in the parking lot were electric...  So electric bicycles and scooters were everywhere!!

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Will be interesting to see how they replace such things as heavy truck and construction equipment i.c. engines (just to name two) with electric.

[Kai]

The content of this resolution was not to ban internal combustion engines in 2030, it was to stop the sales of new vehicles with these engines in 2030. 
What to say ? I'm not really surprised, at some point the "new traffic age " has to begin. Guzzi motorcycles will not shape the future. Let us enjoy them as long as possible  

[Lannis]

The content of this resolution was not to ban internal combustion engines in 2030, it was to stop the sales of new vehicles with these engines in 2030. 
What to say ? I'm not really surprised, at some point the "new traffic age " has to begin. Guzzi motorcycles will not shape the future. Let us enjoy them as long as possible

I suspect it's more of a "statement of intent" than an actual goal.

After Fukushima, the Germans panicked and said they would immediately shut down all their nuclear power plants ... then it got pushed out .... then they realized that they didn't have a plan other than burning the hell out of coal ...

I'm looking for the same thing to happen with IC engines .... panic, look for a plan, etc ....

Lannis

[atavar]

Did anyone ask Volvo or Mercedes?

[Triple Jim]

I suspect it's more of a "statement of intent" than an actual goal.

That goes along with the fact that it's a non-binding resolution.

[rocker59]

Makes me wanna roll some coal!!!   

[Lannis]

That goes along with the fact that it's a non-binding resolution.

And when you consider that a 1916 Cadillac is just about the same car as a 2016 Cadillac (steering wheel, 4 rubber tires, crankshaft, pistons, electric starter, differential, generator, headlights, gearbox, radiator, etc), the goal of doing away with all that in 15 years sounds rather 1960's "Popular Science-ish", in which by 2000 we would colonize Mars and be running around in fusion powered self-guided cars when we weren't flying in our personal jet-packs ...

Lannis

Lannis

[Doppelgaenger]

The writing is already on the wall for internal combustion, even with current battery technology, and there are already work going on with regular lithium ion that is going to double their capacity within the next few years. 600 mile range on a car that needs basically no service whatsoever? I'm glad that the germans are committing to something like that even if they don't get it done by then, at least they're committing to innovation.

Yes something does get lost in the transition from gasoline to electric, especially on motorcycles, but the performance gains to be had and the instant and massive torque of electric vehicles is loads of fun and something I would love to own right now. 20 minutes on a Zero S made my Breva 1100 feel very slow and massive when I got back on it. I know for sure I'll eventually buy electric, and I know I'll be happy when I do, but the technology isn't there yet for motorcycles because range is too low and charge time is too long. I'm not sure I could ever go without a gas bike in the garage though.

Like Charlie said, I don't see gasoline and diesel coming to an end any time soon either. Construction equipment, offroad vehicles, aircraft, ships and anything else that has to work off the grid and needs to be running RIGHT NOW is going to stay internal combustion for a while. Already I've heard tell of mechanics who are lamenting the fact that electric cars are going to put them out of business, but they won't have to worry for a while.

[Perazzimx14]

Did anyone ask Volvo or Mercedes?

I guess I could go the Volvo plant up the road in Shippensburg Pennsylvania and ask if they were talked too.

[drdwb]

"No new combustion engine cars are to be allowed on the roads after 2030". Well that leaves one loop hole, and even if they close that imagen what our well kept bikes might be worth than, assuming they still allow petrol to be sold. On the other hand maybe we'll be riding jet bikes like Star Wars.

[rocker59]

some things will not be electric in any of our lifetimes...

[LowRyter]

Rocker, Semis maybe not electric but easily on natural gas. 

[rocker59]

Rocker, Semis maybe not electric but easily on natural gas.

CNG is already being used on some local city trucks, but Over The Road trucks will not be CNG in our lifetimes.

[atavar]

CNG is still internal combustion.

[elvisboy77]

The greenheads have lost their collective minds.  Hope they get their electrical systems in shape to handle all those batteries, LMAO

[Chuck in Indiana]

The writing is already on the wall for internal combustion, even with current battery technology, and there are already work going on with regular lithium ion that is going to double their capacity within the next few years. 600 mile range on a car that needs basically no service whatsoever? I'm glad that the germans are committing to something like that even if they don't get it done by then, at least they're committing to innovation.

Yes something does get lost in the transition from gasoline to electric, especially on motorcycles, but the performance gains to be had and the instant and massive torque of electric vehicles is loads of fun and something I would love to own right now. 20 minutes on a Zero S made my Breva 1100 feel very slow and massive when I got back on it. I know for sure I'll eventually buy electric, and I know I'll be happy when I do, but the technology isn't there yet for motorcycles because range is too low and charge time is too long. I'm not sure I could ever go without a gas bike in the garage though.

Like Charlie said, I don't see gasoline and diesel coming to an end any time soon either. Construction equipment, offroad vehicles, aircraft, ships and anything else that has to work off the grid and needs to be running RIGHT NOW is going to stay internal combustion for a while. Already I've heard tell of mechanics who are lamenting the fact that electric cars are going to put them out of business, but they won't have to worry for a while.

Me, too. I rode a Zero SR, and it was like a Lario with 3 times the power, better brakes and handling. Serious fun..

[Lannis]

some things will not be electric in any of our lifetimes...

If we really wanted to save fuel, lower emissions, and make the highways safer, we could do that RIGHT NOW by putting the cross-country non-local loads that those trucks are pulling on railroad trains, with suitably updated routing and dispatch systems.   

But we don't really want to, or at least the truck lobby has convinced us that we don't really want to.

If we "wanted to", we don't have to wait for some new super-zoot technology.   The technology isn't the issue.

Lannis

[azguzzirep]

Germany and most Germans think they are single-handedly going to save the Earth to make up for what Germany did decades ago.

And Germany now takes it's marching orders from the EU Commission .

[Chuck in Indiana]

I've wondered why they don't use more railroads for x country loads myself.. maybe there's a reason that I don't know about. <shrug>

[oldbike54]

 Just something to consider , Germany imports almost all of its oil . No idea how they plan to produce the electricity to power the necessary charge stations , but they are on the leading edge of Solar and wind power . This move away from internal combustion must be viewed from their perspective and not from our's .

 Dusty

[Lannis]

I've wondered why they don't use more railroads for x country loads myself.. maybe there's a reason that I don't know about. <shrug>

The first and most obvious answer is that a 5-man train crew will pull a load from the West Coast to the East that it would take 300 drivers to do.   Transitioning workers from driving trucks to servicing trains would be tough, and the unions (and probably the drivers) don't want to face that, even though there would be lots of local trucking to get stuff from the railroad to the destination.

Second is that the same track-it-by-the-second, know-exactly-where-it-is sorts of dispatching systems that you use every day with UPS, FedEx, or the USPS aren't in place for the railroads, and someone would have to get on the stick and fix that.

Third is that we are continuously giving up track mileage for "Green" "Rails to Trails" sorts of boondoggles, which are not "green" at all when you add it all up.  That's a national strategy problem that is easily fixable, with the willpower to do it.

All that being said, Stormtruck (if he's reading this) has some good "inside-the-industry" information that makes the case in the direction of trucking that we last had on the list 5 years ago or so.   I'd like to see it again, and consider the assumptions behind it in the year 2016 .... !

Lannis

[Lannis]

Germany and most Germans think they are single-handedly going to save the Earth to make up for what Germany did decades ago.

If that's what they're doing with energy, they're going about it a strange way.   German coal use has gone up 40% in the last 5 years since they decided to do away with nuclear ... and they're planning for more.    "Greenhouse Gas" emissions goals aren't even being lit up by the tail-lights any more, they're so far behind, and getting behinder.    And they know as well as anyone else that providing a base power load from intermittent sources like wind and solar is just an impossible pipe dream; hand-wringing and speculation isn't going to keep the lights on.

So I'm not sure how they're going to explain all this to the emissions monitors ....

Lannis

[Demar]

I'm skeptical of using Elon Musk's Hyperloop to transport people, however, it may make sense for shipping goods across country. A cross country system of tubes could be constructed and the entire tube casing could be a series of solar panels to help power it. There could be major hub stations in big cities (just outside the cities) that could serve as transfer points. The tube (entire system)would also be weather proof and short of an earthquake or major flood damage would allow for shipment even in the most severe snow/ice storm.

[Wayne Orwig]

some things will not be electric in any of our lifetimes...

Put it on rails. Power it by electric.