Sigh. On one hand, you have to give the brains behind Moller Skycar (guess who) credit for not giving up. On the other hand, enough already. The dream of personalized airborne transportation is a fund-raising MacGuffin. The company’s latest salvo in the BS wars: Moller Skycar Goes to War! Or, as the press release puts it, “Moller is pleased to announce today that its Skycar technology has gained ground within the military for its use in high-tech, demanding battlefield applications like those in Afghanistan.” Apparently, one Lieutenant Colonel James Thomas, 304th SB, 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, recently issued white paper entitled “Winning an Asymmetric War with Skycars.” Google loves the story, but offers-up no such report or background on Col. Thomas. Still the press release, quotes from the heretofore unknown document:
Category: Technology
Motorists expecting change from President Barack Obama’s choice of transportation secretary will find only a slight adjustment of priorities. Former Illinois Congressman Ray LaHood (R-Peoria) appeared before Senate transportation committee colleagues yesterday to give the first glimpse at what he wants to do to with federal transportation funds after taking his place in the cabinet. “Tolling new lanes of highways is thinking outside the box,” LaHood said. “We need to think about those kinds of opportunities. If we’re going to think innovatively, those are some of the ways we’re going to have to think about these things instead of the gas tax.” LaHood referred to the federal fuel excise tax first implemented in 1932 as a “dinosaur” and repeated the claims made by former Transportation Secretary Mary Peters that traditional funding sources were not bringing in enough money (more). LaHood suggested tolling was the “innovative” alternative that the country needs to “plus up” transportation revenue. Toll roads have been in use since the Middle Ages both as a means of generating fee income and of controlling public movement. And that’s OK, apparently.
Fourteen US companies have ganged up on the taxpayer to demand $1 billion so they can get back into the battery game. Today’s Wall Street Journal tells the story of this “latest pitch from corporate America to inject federal dollars into a project”. Alliance participants point to the 1987 creation of Sematech as an example of a successful government-industry partnership. There are, however, some big differences between the US Semiconductor industry of 1987 and the almost non-existent US advanced battery industry of today. The US’ semiconductor industry was a world leader in 1987 and was shocked into further efforts by the rise of Japanese competitors who made higher quality, lower priced memory chips. The US battery industry, on the other hand, was largely abandoned by indigenous firms as they chased ever higher return-on-investment businesses in order to boost short term stock prices. The story of failing to keep a hand in significant games due to the lure of better profits elsewhere has been told over and over again in America’s MBA infested halls of shame. Read More >
Last night’s TopGear (which will air in the U.S. by 2015 or on your computer now) featured Jeremy “The Gentle Giant” Clarkson driving the Tesla Roadster. His observations?
The good: Same time around the track as a Porsche GT3. No gas. Very fast in straight lines. Looks good. Very fast in straight lines. Cheap to fill up compared to a gas/diesel car.
The bad: Handling only so-so, because of the low-resistance tires and the 1000 lbs added by 6831 batteries in the middle of the car. Ample road noise. Green-ambiguity of electric cars & power production.
The ugly: After caning it, Clarkson got 55 miles of range. In a 13 amp UK socket, he estimated a 16 hour recharge time. Tesla had to bring two cars. One overheated while driving (on the track), the other’s brakes “broke” while it was recharging.
Clarkson calls the car a stunning “technical achievement” but finishes by saying it is “completely irrelevant” as he previews a later segment on Honda’s fuel cell car, the Clarity FCX.
James Malackowski penned an editorial in today’s Detroit News, improbably arguing that “much of the privately funded green and energy innovation in the United States will stall or likely never come to fruition if the domestic automobile industry fails.” Malackowski reaches this conclusion by comparing the Detroit 3’s patent portfolio in four areas (emission control, hydrogen fuel cells, hybrid/electric tech, and “emerging related technologies developed by these same firms including solar, wind and other green inventions”) with those of 15 other large automakers. His conclusions, presented without sourcing, are that “GM has higher average quality and newer green technology and patents than the other 14 automakers combined”; “Ford and GM together hold approximately a third of all green technology patents and the related value”; “GM has 70 percent of the patents in the emerging technology category. This domestic share increases to 85 percent if Ford is added”; and “Ford owns 30 percent of all patents with a similar related value measure in emission control innovation.” Unfortunately for Malackowski’s argument, comparing the number of held patents is meaningless considering that these innovations are simply not reflected in these firms’ products.
Recently, firms like Tesla have launched themselves into the public eye by trumpeting the meme that Silicone Valley’s innovation-driven culture will show the way for Detroit which remains mired in old-economy faults. And it’s a storyline that has yielded millions in venture capital and free media attention. The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman unintentionally brought this line of thinking to its point of absurdum by calling on Steve Jobs to “do national service and run a car company for a year.” But as our ongoing Tesla Death Watch consistently demonstrates, Silicon Valley automakers could still stand to learn a thing or two about, you know, actually producing cars from even Detroit’s most dismal. And then there’s this story from The San Jose Mercury detailling the extent to which Silicon Valley is dependent on business from Detroit. “As soon as the automotive industry coughs, a lot of other companies get a cold,” Gartner analyst Thilo Koslowski tells the Merc. “That includes companies in the semiconductor industry and that includes a lot in the Bay Area… It’s a relatively big market for them in Silicon Valley.”
From the land of speed cameras and license points comes news that a new generation of GPS satellite navigation systems could be the Next Big Nanny to take all the fun out of driving. The Times reports that TomTom and Navteq are developing Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) which will take GPS far beyond its current navigation-only capabilities… with dismaying results. The new systems will reportedly tell motorists when to change gear, at what speed to take a corner and even how to drive more economically, while providing 3-D navigation and refined destination-seeking capabilities. Needless to say, the prospect of having a computer yell at you for taking corners too fast on a windy mountain road is hardly the stuff of gearhead daydreams, but as usual a higher power is at play here. Navigation system makers have been dealing with the legal reprecussions of uncritical reliance on GPS systems, such as the woman who got her SL500 stuck in mud when her sat/nav told her that a ford over the river Sence was navigable. By issuing constant feedback about driving style and possible damage to the car’s internals while improving the three-dimensional mapping, these firms hope to prevent future lawsuits. And annoy the hell out of anyone who happens to enjoy the occasional spirited drive.
The British Government’s love for cameras of all kinds is well known, and its passion for speed cameras is a story we’ve followed at TTAC for some time. Until now, the news we’ve reported has been consistently bad, unless you happen to be a big fan of increasing government surveillance for revenue-building purposes. But the Times of London reports the speed camera onslaught may have reached its zenith, as the town of Swindon has become the first British municipality to ban the automatic speed traps. The Tory-led council of Swindon banned the devices, for a variety of reasons, although it seems that the “blatant tax on motorists” angle may have taken a back seat to the camera’s half-million-dollar annual maintenance costs in the decision. Hysterical opponents of the move wail that the council would have “blood on its hands” when the first person is killed by a speeding driver.
Assuming there’s still is an auto industry in the upcoming year of magical beings, 2010, Ford plans to roll out the Nanny Key. Ford’s press release sums it up thus: “Ford’s MyKey feature — which debuts next year as standard equipment on the 2010 Ford Focus and will quickly become standard on many other Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models — allows owners to program a key that can limit the vehicle’s top speed and audio volume. MyKey also encourages safety-belt usage, provides earlier low-fuel warnings and can be programmed to sound chimes at 45, 55 and 65 miles per hour.” Parents seem quite keen on the idea, but the kids are not exactly thrilled. “Teens surveyed by Harris said they are largely open to MyKey if it means they will have more freedom to drive. Initially, 67 percent of teens polled said they wouldn’t want MyKey features. However, if using MyKey would lead to greater driving privileges, only 36 percent would object to the technology.” In our home, we achieved pretty much the same end by buying an old Volvo 240. Hey! Isn’t that a Ford product?
Chrysler dropped the other shoe, pre-bailout PR-wise. It’s officially official: ChryCo’s ironically named ENVI group is creating three new electric vehicles: a Dodge sports car (based on the Lotus Europa), a Chrysler minivan and a Jeep. Chrysler claims the plug-in models will go into production as a “fleet” of 100 vehicles next year. They’ll go on sale to the general public in that most magic of model years 2010. The quick and dirty: the Dodge sports car is electric-only, with Chrysler claiming a range of up to 150 miles. The Jeep and Chrysler minivan have theoretical ranges of a Volt-like 40 miles, with “small” gasoline engines on board to “power the electric-drive system.” This sounds more like a generator to recharge the batteries, rather than an engine to simply power the car once the go-juice runs out. Recharge time for the sports car is claimed to be 4/8 hours, depending on your household voltage. As for the Jeep and minivan, they would also plug-in to recharge the batteries; the ICE is for long drives only. As for the type of batteries, site of production, or most importantly – price – we have no idea. Chrysler, LLC may not have any idea about those either.
Update: Between the Lines Editorial Posted Here
From wings to wingdings, the automotive industry has long been obsessed with adding technology to its products, often simply for the sake of adding new technology to its products. Two such “innovations” are coming down the pipeline from Honda and Audi, the first a camera system to offer a birds-eye view of your vehicle and the second a system which communicates with traffic lights. Automotive News (sub) brings news of the Honda system, which is set to debut o the J-market redesign of the Honda Odyssey minivan. The system would offer a bird’s-eye view of the car to help with parking and visibility in blind corners and intersections. Four wide-angle cameras placed around the vehicle offer the Gran Tourismo-like option of viewing your vehicle in the third person, theoretically making it easier to drive in congested urban environments. Similar technology has already been developed by Nissan. From Audi comes word of a new system known by the annoying “Travolution” moniker, which combines the terms “travel” and “convolution.” According to Automobile magazine, the system communicates with traffic signals and tells drivers how fast they should drive to minimize their time at red lights. After spending two years and 1.2m Euros to develop the system, Audi Audi has produced an A5 and an A6 Avant capable of communicating with three traffic lights in its hometown of Ingolstadt, Germany. That’s 400k Euros per light, in case you’re wondering. Undeterred by such expense, Audi plans on expanding the pilot project to include 20 cars and 50 lights. Automobile sums up its chances of a US debut with snark-laden terseness. “There is no word yet as to when such a system could migrate to the United States, although ‘never’ might be an appropriate guess.” And technology marches on.
The two U.S. satellite radio carriers became one at the end of July, but the monopoly has not had a smooth ride. After a few multi-million dollar golden parachutes payoffs, the combined company is in debt to the sad tune of over $2 billion. Neither was turning a profit prior to the merger, and the long-term outlook has SIRI singing the blues. Borrowing more money is near impossible right this moment and $400 million in convertible notes are due next year. (Sound like a GM-Ford merger to anyone?) Investors have punished the stock, sending its value below $1, risking delisting from NASDAQ. Just about everyone who wants satellite radio already has it, as hardware is already affordable. New cheaper ($4-$7/month) rate plans in hopes of bringing in new customers risks backfiring with current cash-strapped subscribers downgrading. The subscription-free competition is brutal: iPods, MP3-playing cell phones, OEM in-car jukeboxes, and terrestrial digital (HD) radio. Enjoy it while you can, but those satellites may be going dark in the not-so-distant future.
The flying car has long been the sci-fi terminus point for automotive technology. Such automotive luminaries as Henry Ford and Glenn Curtiss have been lured into costly, fruitless developments by visions of blasting away from traffic on the wings of flight. But the vision has never translated into production reality. The Moller “Autovolanter” is no closer to production than the flux capacitor, although far more complex. Green Car Congress reports that the sky-whip uses no fewer than eight of Moller’s proprietary Rotapower rotary-hybrid engines to power the Autovolanter. The plug-in hybrid two-seater can drive 150 miles on the road before lifting off vertically and flying a further 75 miles (at up to 150 mph), carrying up to 375 lbs and achieving nearly 15 mpg in the process. Well, in theory. Development of a prototype is estimated at $5m, though Moller claims low-volume production could make the Autovolanter available for $250k. But then there’s the problem of licenses, regulation and in-city use. Says Moller founder Dr Paul Moller “flying it in US cities is not going to be politically acceptable until it has been deployed successfully in other roles and environments. Practical or not, it excites the imagination to think about being able to rise vertically out of a traffic jam and just go!” Of course legal niceties weren’t really considered during development, as the Autovolanter was prototyped at the request of a “wealthy businessman who was unable to commute from the city to his country home due to the overcrowded streets of Moscow.” Dude, just bribe the cops.
A carbon fiber Formula 1 machine can sprint from 0 – 120mph in less than five seconds and survive crashes at 100. Sadly, the price of the hi-tech material is prohibitively expensive, restricted use to racing cars, luxury bicycles, boats and aviation. Now that those planes are getting long in the teeth, a German joint venture named CFK-Valley Stade reckons it can recycle carbon fiber (CF) from old Airbus frames for automotive applications. The project involves 77 (count ’em 77) research institutes and a major waste disposal company. Dow Chemical will be joining CFK-Valley Stade to build a plant to recycle more than 1k tons a year, starting (you guessed it) 2010. The exact chemical process is complex/boring, but the CF is shredded and subjected to pyrolysis. The fibers are then isolated and combed. The finished product is sub-aviation quality, but a lot cheaper. For cars, recycled CF may be used for interior parts, gas pumps, body parts or exterior mirrors. A VW spokesperson says at the expected lower price, CF will drift from its present applications in the company’s Bugatti and Lamborghini brands down market, to VW (SEAT?). Is this the antidote to the sad tendency of car companies to think thin, but build fat?
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