electricfication

[RAP72]

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[Richie]

we may not have a choice - not necessarily through legislation but market forces.
As fewer cars will require petrol, fewer places will sell it.

Petrol, not charging points, will become hard to find. The range issue could be turned on its head, and with cars as thirsty as most Jensens, that could be a big issue.

Changing a cars engine for a totally different system will, of course, change its character, be that engine a Lotus twin cam, a big V8, an A Series or a Honda VTEC. But better an electric motor that can be driven than one that can't be fueled.

But if I have to electrify my car, can I fit external speakers - perhaps tucked down in the exhaust pipes - to accurately replicate the sound as i drive along?

Edit - I posted the above before watching the film and i was encouraged to hear that engine sound systems are indeed being developed. that'l restore some of the inevitably lost character.

[Chris_R]

It's an interesting exercise, I may of course be wrong but I don't think electric conversions will get much appeal beyond a few.
If petrol become too scarce and too expensive then I think a more likely conversion will be to convert to using ethanol. In that way much of the originality can be retained, still using the original internal combustion engine. Of course there will need to be other changes but they are mainly in the fuel supply and ignition side rather than in the engine itself. Ethanol has a higher octane rating than petrol but contains less energy, consumption will go up by about 40% unless there are other changes to improve efficiency. It's also more reluctant to burn when cold which is one reason in colder climates that E85 (in Brazil they use E95, i.e. 95% ethanol and 5% petrol and E100 in the warmer parts of the country) is about the highest practical mix in use but with pre-heaters for the engine and/or the ethanol fuel there may be ways to adapt to that difficulty.
Converting from petrol to ethanol would be akin to converting coal fired traction engines to burning oil instead. They are still steam engines, only the energy source to make the steam has changed. Can you imagine a traction engine or heritage railway steam engine being converted to electricity with loudspeakers making the chuffing noises?
If you do a conversion to battery electricity, what will be the difference between an electric Jensen and an electric Aston Martin? I would suggest not so much. The driving experience of both will be much the same - more or less silent with a white noise generator coming in when speed drops below 20kph. This is something that is mandated by the EU for all new (all electric) cars from July this year and in a couple of years will need to be retrofitted to existing electric cars. I would not be surprised if other noise generators would be made illegal.
Given the choice of an Aston Martin DB6 Volante with an engine or one with batteries I know where I would spend my £1.5m (if I had £1.5m to spend that is). I think Prince Charles has the right idea with his by converting it to run on an alternative fuel (not batteries).
At the moment ethanol is manufactured on a huge scale for blending with petrol but that may change as petrol usage declines but the future manufacture of ethanol could be undertaken by more local smaller enterprises in the markets where it is wanted - in theory you could make your own in your shed!

[JHV8]

Being 52 this is not something I even have to think about, unless the Government interfere of course.

[Dion]

Strange to choose an Aston Martin for electrification. A Jensen would be a more appropriate choice to electrification, compared to the Aston.
An Aston Martin gets a lot of its value due to its excellent in-house designed and made engine, whereas a Jensen was using just a "common" engine which was available and fitting at the time (Nash, Ford, Austin, Chrysler, Lotus). More sacrilege to use an AM I would think.

[Steve Payne]

The main appeal of owning a Jensen to me is the V8 engine, I am sure electric cars are the way to go until something better comes along but keep this for the new stuff.

I am sure in another 10 or so years the way we use our ICE cars will be different to now but with the amount of them on the roads I cant see them banning them without the then government in power loosing there vote.

The price of the fuel will be the death blow for many cars is my guess, at £6 odd a gallon it is affordable but if it was £25 a gallon how many of us could justify anything more than a Sunday afternoon run.

Steve

[Frankoid]

There was a program about the famous locomotive "the Flying Scotsman" on the other day. They were passionate about the fact that is steam, and all the hard work that goes with it. They should rip all that antiquated technology out and fit electric motors

[Chris_R]

I completely agree with Steve which is why I suggest that converting to electric will only appeal to the very few.
The UK Government has already said that by 2040 the sale of new cars with only an internal combustion engine will be banned. Other European governments have set earlier dates, 2025 in Norway, 2030 in the Netherlands and Germany.
But already Volvo have abandoned internal combustion only engine cars, in the next couple of years they will be releasing more electric only models and other manufacturers are doing the same.
BMW, Audi, Opel, Renault, Skoda, Toyota, Fiat all have announced major plans for electric models in the next 5 to 6 years. In the next 3 years Daimler Mercedes will have an electric offering across its entire range. By 2024 all Opel car lines will have either hybrid or full electric power trains. Jaguar Land Rover have the Jaguar I-Pace electric SUV which is set to rival the Tesla Model X and in 2020 they will relaunch the Jaguar XJ as an electric only car. The future is here already although where all the electricity will come from for this revolution is an unknown question. Perhaps they'll dig some coal mines and open a few coal fired power stations!!
Its fairly clear that by the mid 2020s the new car with only an internal combustion engine will already be a thing of the past and within the following decade the proportion of cars with only an internal combustion engine will rapidly decrease so by the mid 2030s they will be very much in the minority. Petrol will still be around I think for at least another 25 - 30 years until all cars are fully electric and hybrid cars have become a thing of the past.
Classic car shows today are very popular all over the country, people like to come and see the cars of the past and when everything is electric or mostly electric there will likely be even more interest. Given that, who would want to come and see an electric Jensen, they will want to come and see and hear real engines, the wonderful sounding V8s that we have and the sporty Lotus engines and they will be fascinated to see how people drove 70 or more years earlier.
I think we need to preserve this heritage as far as we can and converting them to electric drive is not the way to do it.

[Richie]

Electrification doesn't appeal to me... but neither does a car that i can't find fuel for. So I do hope that market forces are such that the supply continues for a while yet.

The engine is, for many cars, such a defining feature, be it a big V8, a turbo diesel, or an air cooled flat 4. Mazda rotary anyone? As electric power inevitably becomes the norm, it will be interesting to see how manufacturers distinguish their cars in future.
Having said that, the engine already perhaps gives less distinction today than it did in the past??

[colin7673]

There's one thing here that everybody has forgotten, without the combustion engine,, Just where is the government going to get all the billions of pounds, euros or dollar they get now?. Once this has been worked out only then will you lose the use of petroleum

[Chris_R]

In a sense Colin, you are currently paying per mile or kilometre driven by the taxes on the fuel. With new technology it would not be too difficult to have a system that charges you per electric mile that you drive, with perhaps a premium or discount based on the car you drive. Something like the London Oyster card system where you have a credit balance on an account and as you drive your balance is reduced. The car itself would communicate with the billing system to take your charges. If not that then they'll find some other way to charge for road use once electric cars are costing them too much in lost petrol taxes, of that we can be certain!