On Sat, 11 Apr 2015 15:13:38 +1000, John G wrote:

formulated the question :
On Fri, 10 Apr 2015 22:36:33 -0500, Martin Eastburn
wrote:

What would you have cars have ? 120V AC running around the young kids in
the back ?

Actually the voltage is going up and up soon. Local areas will have
power supplies for local needs. Small high voltage wire will carry the
power needed. Getting rid of heavy lots of copper wire.

Get ready. Times are a changing.

Martin

On 4/10/2015 2:00 AM, robobass wrote:

And as for why it is on cars today -- even cars which come
*without* a cigarette lighter -- it is because it has been in cars for
long enough so people have found other uses for it -- whether it is well
designed for the purpose or not -- it gets *used* for those extra
purposes, and people complain if it is not present. :-)

Well sure, but the customer has no alternative. And a modern family will
want to plug in many things. Navigator, portable DVD, phone charger... You
start accumulating ciggie plug extensions and end up with wires and
oversized connectors all over the place. I'm sure the industry is aware of
the problem, but it's hard to revise a standard which has been there so
long, not matter how bad it is. A revision would not only need cooperation
between manufacturers of both cars and devices, but also woukd require rule
changes by regulatory bodies in many countries. Fortunately, since I have a
soldering iron, I don't need to wait another twenty years.

Are there really cars without cigarette lighters?

Well, there are cars without lighters - and even cars without
"auxilliary power outlets". There are also cars with 120VAC outlets in
the dash and/or rear cargo area.

Name them please.
Well, I KNOW the 2013 Durango had a 150 watt 120 volt AC outlet
standard in all but the low end SXT, Ford Flex has it too (or did in
2013). 2014 Toyota 4-runner has one too, So did the Nissan
Pathfinder.Also available in the 2015 GMC Acadia.
Starting in 2010 it was available (100 watt only) in the Subaru
Imprezza and outback.The Hyundai SantaFe also has or had it available,
either as standard or optional equipment. It is also in the Veloster.
I know it is also availble as a factory option on the Silverado/Sierra
pickups and the Suburbans.

I'm sure they are in a lot of other vehicles as well. The GMC Hybrid
pickup had I believe 1500 watts of AC available for the 2 years it was
built. You could run a Skill Saw off of it.