Charged with Electric Vehicle News and Views
2014 V8 Supercars - Adelaide - Nissan Time Attack - Rick Kelly in the Nissan LEAF Nismo RC vs Todd Kelly in the Nissan Altima V8 Supercar vs Neil Crompton in the Nissan GT-R Road car.
A 1/4 mile drag race video of 2x Tesla Models S P85's going head to head. This may be the quietest drag race you'll ever hear.
Robert Llewellyn reviews the UK built 2nd generation Nissan Leaf from Oslo Norway.
Electric luxury car Tesla Model S was named by Consumer Reports magazine on Tuesday as its overall top pick for 2014, while Japanese models took just five of the top 10 spots, their worst showing in the 18-year history of the annual rankings.
The battery-powered Tesla Model S was chosen best overall for its "exceptional performance and its many impressive technological innovations," Consumer Reports said, noting it was "pricey" at $89,650.
Tesla Motors said it expects to deliver about 35,000 of the model this year. By comparison, the best-selling car in the United States last year, the Toyota Camry, sold about 408,000 in 2013.
Consumer Reports hasn't named a best overall since a Lexus model took the top honors in 2010.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that his company has met with Apple but added that it is "very unlikely" that Tesla would be bought by the company.
“We had conversations with Apple,” Musk said in an interview with BloombergTelevision. “I can’t comment on whether those revolved around any kind of acquisition.”
When asked if the electric automaker is for sale, Musk answered, “I think that’s very unlikely because we need to stay super focused on achieving a compelling – creating a compelling mass market electric car. And I’d be very concerned in any kind of acquisition scenario, whoever it is, that’d be become distracted from that task which has always been the driving goal of Tesla.”
Last week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Tesla met with Apple’s top deal maker Adrian Pernica leading to speculations of a possible Apple acquisition of the electric car company that has been going from strength to strength. The report also caused Tesla shares to soar as much as 11 percent to an all-time high of $215.21 on Thursday. The shares closed at $209.97, up 8.4 percent.
Here's a unique way to promote Electric Vehicles!
Los Angeles based Ayumi Kim works for a certain well-know California based electric vehicle manufacturer and initially got the idea to start this project as a way of sharing some of the left-field questions about electric vehicles she gets asked on a daily basis.
Ayumi, along with illustrator friend Sarah, have written a humorous FAQ that answers such real-world concerns as ""Can you plug a chainsaw into the cigarette lighter?" or "What happens if I hit a wombat with this car?"
Most of the booklet IS kid friendly, it being a coloring book and all, but there may be one or two questions that are PG.
The girls are looking to raise the modest sum of $3,500 to cover printing costs so if you're looking for a way to promote the cause and help them publish "educational materials to promote sustainability and green thinking" a pledge of US$15 will secure a copy.
Source: Kickstarter
This year, the FIA Formula One World Championship is set for a wholesale change of the technical regulations that have doubled the power of the KERS system. because of the harvesting demands of the energy recovery systems, rear braking can be controlled electronically for the first time.
The braking system concept is totally new, taking the form of a brake-by-wire system for the first time at the rear wheels. This has become necessary due to the significantly increased performance of the ERS, which requires much greater variations in rear wheel braking torque than previously. With brake-by-wire, an electronic system measures how hard the driver presses the brake pedal and then – using the additional information from energy recuperation – determines in a split-second the amount of braking pressure that should be fed through to the rear brake callipers.”
Because the ERS (Energy Recovery System) is so much more powerful on these new cars compared to the KERS on the 2013 cars, harvesting energy when the car is braking – 161bhp of energy compared to 80bhp with the KERS – it is essential that the engineers install a system to compensate for the powerful effect that has on brake balance and braking stability. This makes it acceptable for the driver and doesn’t destabilise the car with a sudden balance shift. A lot of the lap time in modern F1 comes from stable braking.
How does it work?
An F1 car has two brake systems for safety – front and rear – so that if one fails the other will stop the car. For 2014, the rear brake system has the brake-by-wire, which assesses how much brake pressure the driver has called for when he presses the pedal and an electronic system modulates the power to the rear brakes, allowing for the ERS effect, that is taking energy to charge up the kinetic motor generator unit (known as MGU-K). It smooths out the process, slowing the car in a consistent way at the same time as ensuring the maximum energy harvest for the ERS.
Ideally, the driver would feel nothing unusual with this system, in that it should provide consistent, stable braking on demand. The job of the new rear brakes system is to ensure consistency. Some people might argue that the electronic assistance to the driver makes it a “driver aid” and in the sense that without it, it would be difficult to maintain a brake system that the drivers would be happy with. This damps it out. But as it’s written into the regulations it doesn’t fall foul of the regulation saying that the driver must drive “alone and unaided” – a rule that prevents the use of traction control, ABS and countless other technical goodies.
While FIA and pit lane boffins label everything with an acronym and make it sound overly technical, effectively formula One cars are adapting the 'brake pedal feel simulator' that most road car hybrid drivers, especially Chevy Volt owners, will be very familiar with, and from all reports it's taking the drivers some time to get used to it.
Robert Llewellyn takes a zero carbon electric road trip through Wales in his Nissan Leaf.
Total distance travelled 418 miles (670 km), Total CO2 output. 0.0, Total fuel cost £0.00p
Chris Harris drives the new $1.2 million McLaren P1 at the Yas Marina Grand Prix circuit in Abu Dhabi UAE. Before taking to the track at night, Chris Harris chats with Chris Goodwin, the Chief Test Driver for McLaren Automotive to discuss the technology of McLaren's latest offering, perhaps the definition of the modern day hypercar.
Fair warning, the McLaren Chris Harris drives in this video is the XP7, the pre-production prototype for P1. The car has had a long life over the past 15 months, driving around the world and clocking over 40,000 hard miles.
Bloomberg's Matt Miller is at it again, making a career move out of shorting Tesla Motors.
We've seen Miller's tabloid style video reports on Tesla before. It could only be classed as 'light entertainment' at best!
Meet the MTT-136, a self-contained battery powered electric tank track. Developed by Canadian Inventor Yvon Martel, the tank track has different attachments and can be used for towing, pushing and grading on virtually any terrain.
The specs claimed in the video are battery dependant, with recharging time varying from 15 minutes to eight hours and range is a similarly variable 45 to 210 kms. The device as shown in the video weighs 280 lbs (127 kg)
Recharging a Toyota plug-in hybrid or all-electric vehicle could in future be as simple as parking the car. Toyota has announced verification testing is to begin later this month of a new wireless battery charging system it has developed for vehicles that use an electric powertrain.
The new technology allows a vehicle to be charged simply by parking it in alignment with a coil set into the surface of the ground. This makes the process simpler and easier, dispensing with cables and connectors.
The Toyota charging system transmits electricity using magnetic resonance created by changes in magnetic field intensity between a transmitting coil in the ground and a receiving coil in the car. It is designed so that it can reduce any loss in power transmission efficiency caused by misalignment or height differences between the coils.
The system is being developed with a future market launch in mind. Measures have been taken to minimise any electromagnetic interference with nearby equipment, and the transmitting coil in the ground has been madde robust enough to withstand vehicles driving over it.
To help the driver align the car correctly, Toyota has developed a function for its Intelligent Parking Assist system that shows the position of the transmitting coil in a parking space.
The test programme involves three plug-in hybrid used by homes in Aichi prefecture in Japan. It will assess user satisfaction, the system’s ease of use, misalignment rates and charging behaviour, such as how often charging takes place and timer-based charging it used.
Toyota will use the test results to develop the technology further, with the ultimate aim of bringing the system to market. Toyota believes its commercialisation will help promote the use of electrified vehicles and mobility options that are smarter, easier to use and kinder to the environment.
| Charging method | Magnetic resonance |
| Frequency | 85kHz |
| Input voltage | AC 200V |
| Charging power | 2kW |
| Charging time | Approx. 90 minutes |
Robert Llewellyn takes a first drive in the electric version of the VW UP!
Also includes extensive pondering on the 'Yorkshire connection' as regards the time honoured phrase 'aye -up.'
Mahindra & Mahindra unveiled its concept electric sports car 'Halo' which it expects to launch commercially in the next three years.
"There is a plan to commercialise Halo, we are working on a bigger powertrain and a final design. It will take about three years to be production ready," Mahindra & Mahindra Executive Director and President Pawan Goenka told reporters at the Indian Auto Expo.
According to the company, the Halo can touch a speed of 0-100 kmph in less than 8 seconds. It has a top speed of 160 kmph with a range of 200 km on full recharge.
"This car has been fully designed and developed in India with all indigenous technology," Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicle CEO Chetan Maini said.
The company also introduced a quick recharge variant of its existing electric car e20, equipped with smart port technology.
The car can be fully recharged in one hour, while a recharge of 15 minutes will give a range of 25 km.
Kia’s Niro urban lifestyle concept vehicle, unveiled last September at the Frankfurt Motor Show, made its US debut at the 2014 Chicago Auto Show. The Niro suggests a possible future B-segment contender, and features a hybrid electric powertrain working through an advanced four-wheel drive system.
The concept is powered by a variant of Kia’s turbocharged 1.6-liter Gamma engine, capable of 160 hp (119 kW). The engine and a seven-speed, dual-clutch transmission serve the front wheels while an electric hybrid system powered by regenerative braking delivers up to 45 hp (34 kW) to the rear wheels when road conditions require extra grip.
Although Niro presents a sturdy and muscular outline, it has relatively compact dimensions on its all-new B-segment platform. Its 164.8-inch overall length, 72.8-inch width and 61.3-inch height place it firmly in the city car bracket.
Entry into the vehicle is by way of dihedral “butterfly” doors with flush door handles, that swing up high into the roof. Mounted directly onto the side windows are milled Plexiglas door mirrors with built-in cameras.
Speaking to owners during a European tour, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has announced several product developments and company goals.
Musk confirmed plans to release an all-wheel-drive edition of its Model S sedan. The option may be available by the time the Model X arrives on the market, around early 2015.
The company is also working on higher-capacity battery options and new seats that will likely be ready by next year. For current owners, a seat modification will be available to improve comfort.
In the meantime, existing owners will be able to experience the Version 6.0 software update within a few weeks. The revision adds real-time traffic data, along with more control over suspension settings and ride-height adjustment, among other improvements.
Musk expects its "giga factory" to reduce battery costs by at least 30 percent, hopefully as much as 40 percent, with 30 gigawatt-hours of production capacity. Cheaper batteries are likely necessary for the company to meet its goal for a $30,000 mass-market car with a 200-mile range.
Following the completion of its transcontinental charging network in the US, Tesla is currently bringing new Superchargers on line at a rate of five per week. The chargers will eventually charge at a maximum 135 kW current.
While Musk was chatting with owners at the casual town-hall meetings, Consumer Reports was completing its latest brand-perception survey that showed the startup surging into the top five ahead of Subaru, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and other established players.
On January 30, 2014, Tesla Motors embarked on a promotional tour.
The plan was to drive two Model S sedans across the United States, powering them for free on the newly completed cross-continental Supercharger network.
In addition, the team would set the world record for charge time of an electric vehicle driving the across the US.
This episode follows Robert Llewellyn's one day electric car journey from London to Edinburgh in a Nissan Leaf. Using the Ecotricity fast charge network they covered the 407 miles with 8 rapid charge stops in just 13 hours.
In 2011 the BBC's Brian Milligan took 4 days to drive an electric car from London to Edinburgh. In what could only be seen as an anti-EV publicity stunt, Milligan set out to make the 484-mile journey using only publicly available charging infrastructure, making eight stops and spending about 46 hours of his total trip sleeping and waiting for the Mini E to refill its battery.
On day 3 of the BBC trip, David Peilow talked Tesla Motors into loaning him a Roadster to complete the same distance in 1 day. The Roadster stopped twice enroute and handsomely beat the BBC crew but could have potentially completed the trip in one day AND on a single charge.
As the Leaf comes with a Level 3 CHAdeMO charging socket fitted as standard, a Nissan Leaf, using the Ecotricity Fast Charge network, can cover the BBC trip in 1 day so on the third anniversary of the BBC's trip Robert Llewellyn and David Peilow set out to prove it.
In fact we posted a video of a British couple doing 500 miles (800 km) in a day in a Nissan Leaf using the Ecotricity Electric Highway backed by renewable energy.
The BMW i3 was launched last year but is already available in the UK.
Robert Llewellyn took an i3 for a brief spin including drag racing a BMW M3 at Brands Hatch.
Drag Times have uploaded another drag racing video of their Tesla Model S P85, this time against a 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray / Z51 with it's 460 hp normally aspirated Gen V small-block 6.2-liter pushrod V-8 good for 0-60 mph in less than 4 sec.
