As part of my post-pandemic reboot, I figured I might never set foot in another auto show — except perhaps for CES. If only the Las Vegas Strip weren’t so daunting.
After reading more than a dozen reviews of CES 2024, I’m actually sorry I neglected to attend this year’s event in Las Vegas. It’s not the weird cars that I missed so much — and there were some pretty cool concepts, notably Honda’s buzzy Saloon electric sedan and Space-Hub people mover and Kia’s matryoshka-like PBV range of commercial electric vehicles.
But the latest edition of the old Consumer Electronics Show is not the Detroit Auto Show with a tech makeover. In fact, it’s really a “mobility” show, in the broadest sense of that word.
The early CES reviews I’ve digested conjured faded memories of past Tokyo Motor Shows — where you could see such wonders as Mazda’s hydrogen-powered rotary engine and Toyota’s first Prius gasoline-electric hybrid concept. Those curiosities were unveiled literally decades ago. I haven’t seen anything quite so offbeat at a Detroit show in years.
Thank goodness for CES, which has evolved these past seven years or so into THE mobility/tech show in North America, with plenty of eye and mind candy for geeks of every stripe.
This year’s event was bursting with displays on hydrogen, from Bosch Mobility’s hydrogen combustion engine (sadly, not a rotary) to Hyundai’s ever-expanding hydrogen ecosystem. There is a growing consensus that the first hydrogen fuel cell-powered models to gain real traction in global markets will be commercial vehicles, especially in the medium and heavy-duty sectors, and major suppliers like Bosch and Hyundai — sorry, Nikola — are gearing up for the challenge.
If you’re still looking for sustainable transportation to get off the ground in a big way, you may not have long to wait, according to the CES tom-toms: California-based Pivotal is aiming to deliver the first of its Helix eVTOLs to customers later this year. It could be another 3-4 years, however, before Hyundai’s Supernal launches its long-promised air taxi business, previewed at CES with the latest S-V2 prototype and a projection of a future vertiport.
Strip or no, I’m now planning to crash next year’s show. At the rate things are going, we could see some serious steampunk hardware any day now: A hydrogen-powered airship perhaps or a space tug powered by a plasma engine. Not much would surprise me.
So my New Year’s resolution is to attend the next big “mobility show.” See you at CES 2025.
felixstrategy.com 
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