With the arrival of the electric car, we will see certain things disappear that we have seen on, in or on cars for more than 130 years. We list seven parts that will be well on their way to the status of a museum piece in about fifteen years’ time.
With increasing electrification, certain elements are disappearing from cars. The grille, the exhaust, things that you as a car enthusiast spot as one of the first things and from which you recognize a certain version, they disappear! The interior is also different. Especially the handling is changing. We often notice it when testing new cars. The times that you, as an AutoWeek test editor, still pick up a gear lever, can be counted on the fingers of one hand in a whole year. With these seven parts we prepare you for saying goodbye to familiar things.
1. The exhaust
The exhaust has been subject to inflation for years. Not only due to the arrival of electric or electrified models, because manufacturers also hide them behind the bumper on petrol and diesel versions. Notches and moldings in the rear bumpers should create the illusion of double angular pipes. Do you remember how it used to be? That you could also see what kind of meat you had in the cockpit on a BMW 3-series without a type designation from the single or double exhaust?
2. The grille
Get used to the closed car nose. The grille is still often the showpiece of the car. One German brand might even go a bit too far in this, of course we mean BMW. Everything is different with an electric motor. Although it also needs cooling, an open grid to suck in as much air as possible is no longer necessary.
3. The fuel cap
The fuel cap is in most cases already hidden behind a cover and with retro models you can sometimes see it as a shiny decorative part. Think Minis.
4. The gear lever
Electric driving is usually not even accompanied by a gearbox. With plug-in hybrids, the electric motor is always coupled to the automatic transmission. Cars in which you have to change gears yourself are becoming scarce. Even with conventional powertrains you have seen the automatic transmission for years. Then you still have a selector lever, but poking yourself to put in the gears is no longer there.
5. The tachometer
See for yourself how things are going in the engine room via a tachometer: there is something beautiful about it. Of course, there are very cool representations in modern cars of how the energy flow is going and how many kilowatts and newton meters come into action, but staring at a tachometer will be less and less. In an electric car such a thing makes no sense at all.
6. The air scoop
The air scoop on the hood: be honest, do you immediately think of a fat Subaru? In the 80s and 90s they got bigger and bigger and they also dominated the entire side of a Ferrari Testarossa or 348. Especially the one on the hood, intended to help a big turbo engine with a lot of air, we will miss.
7. The cardan shaft
With an electric motor on the front or rear axle or on both, the space-consuming cardan shaft is a thing of the past. The cardan tunnel, the high bridge that in the past ran through the interior of cars, can disappear and that has advantages: more interior space, fewer parts. These innovations certainly have advantages.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl