On this week’s show : Monster Tajima returns
to the mountain, how you can control a Tesla
Model S with just your voice, and the little
stowaway kitten that got us all going awww
this week.
These stories and more, coming up next on
TEN.
Enjoying today’s show on Youtube and and
want to read the stories we’re referring
to today?
Either click on the little information bar
at the top of this video on selected stories,
or head to our website at www dot transport
evolved dot com, where you’ll find the latest
future car news as well as our buying guides,
tech primers and of course, our weekly show
notes.
It’s Friday, June 5th, 2015. I’m Nikki
Gordon-Bloomfield, and I never thought I was
going to feature cute kitty cats on my show.
But I am. Best new thing in the world of future
cars? I think so.
Patents and trademarks can be a complete and
utter pain in the you-know-where, especially
if you’re hoping that your next big thing
is going to use a name that someone else has
already laid claim to.
Well, that’s what happened this week when
we heard that the U.S. Patents and Trademarks
office had denied Detroit Automaker GM permission
to use the name ‘Bolt’ for its upcoming
twenty-seventeen long-range electric car.
The name, apparently, was already registered
to Yamaha motorcycles for use on a street
cruiser, and thus, the US Patent and Trademarks
office said allowing Chevy to use the same
name would be just too confusing.
But in the best traditions of working together,
GM and Yamaha were soon able to work something
out, leading to the granting of the name Bolt
EV (rather than just Bolt) to Gm to use on
what we think will be next- year’s biggest
electric car. So, if you’re going to mention
this car to anyone, be sure to add the letters
E and V after that all-important Bolt.
As we’ve just come to the end of May, it’s
time again for the monthly EV sales report
card, and as our friends over at GreenCarReports
detailed on Wednesday, the late spring weather
has helped lift us out of the plug-in doldrums
of the past few months.
Sales of the Nissan LEAF were up dramatically
on the previous month, totalling 2,104 sales,
while the Chevy Volt, its nearest competitor,
managed 1,618 cars. While that’s far lower
than previous years, it’s the best figure
since August last year for the Volt -- and
we should note that there’s a brand-new
version in the wings waiting to hit the dealers
this fall, which means sales are going to
be lower.
Sales of the BMW i3 meanwhile, totalled 818
cars, more than twice the number recorded
for April, with its German rival -- the Volkswagen
e-Golf, racked up 410 sales.
As usual, Tesla Motors hasn’t given a month-by-month
breakdown, but we’ll get more accurate figures
at the end of this month when it releases
its Q2 sales estimate.
If you’re a Gen Xer, the chances are you
grew up with a whole host of TV shows that
promised you the day when you could talk to
your car and have it talk back to you.
Yeah, I’m looking at you, Michael Knight.
Anyway, this week, our dream of talking to
our cars came true courtesy of that clever
coding guy known as Allen Wong, founder of
Rego Apps and Smartest Apps. As we told you
last month, Wong has just published his $9.99
Apple Watch Remote S app, enabling you to
do the same things with your Apple Watch as
you can with Tesla’s official iOS and Android
Apps.
Well, this week, he released a video of himself
talking -- yes, talking -- to his watch, and
having it carry out specific actions on his
Model S. From unlocking his car to opening
the sunroof, we think it’s particularly
fun.
It’s not in the app store yet, but hey,
we don’t care. Just Talk Nerdy to me, and
I’ll be fine.
This is Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima, legendary
rally champion, hill climbing boss, and all-round
good guy. While most people his age are looking
forward to retirement, Monster keeps pushing
the bounds of what’s possible, setting record
after record at the annual Pikes Peak International
Hill Climb.
Since 2012, Monster has competed the 12.72
mile course in an electric rather than gasoline-powered
car, citing concerns over global warming and
we’re guessing, the knowledge that electric
motors give full power all the way to the
top.
Well, for twenty fifteen, Monster has just
announced a team up with Rimac Automobili-
the same folks who built the Rimac_One supercar.
As you might expect, the union of two automotive
legends means that Monster’s car this year
will be powered by a total of 1.1 megawatts
-- yes, I just said megawatts -- in the form
of four chain-driven electric motors.
The specs are unbelievable, and we’re told
this year’s racer -- twice as powerful as
the electric car Monster drove last year -- will
hit 60 mph in just over two seconds and go
on to hit 125 mph in 5.6 seconds.
Watch this space, because this year’s race
to the sky is going to be blisteringly quick.
Just over a month ago, Tesla Motors announced
a brand-new line of non-automotive products
at a special event in Hawthorne, California:
The Tesla Power Wall and Tesla Power Pack
stationary energy storage products.
Since then, Tesla has been hit by so much
demand that it’s already sold out of 2015
and 2016 allocations and is even considering
expanding its massive gigafactory to cope
with demand. In Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s own
words, things were ‘Crazy off the hook”.
And this week, former Tesla shareholder Daimler
decided it wanted some of Tesla’s fun, announcing
its own range of domestic and industrial static
battery products for customers around the
world.
Offered in 2.5 kilowatt-hour and 5.9 kilowatt-hour
units, these battery packs are Daimler’s
answer to the new Tesla Energy products, and
will be made at Daimler’s own lithium-ion
battery manufacturing company Deutsche ACCUmotive.
There’s no word on pricing yet, but we’ve
got to admit they don't’ have quite the
same style as Tesla’s wall-mountable Power
Walls.
Still, we think there’s enough demand for
everyone, so welcome aboard, Daimler!
One of the key benefits to owning an electric
car over is the low cost of fuel when compared
to a gasoline vehicle. Charging at home from
power generated via photovoltaic solar panels
on your roof is a complete no-brainer, while
the majority of Level 2 charging stations
are either available for a small per–use
fee or a premium that while it is more expensive
than charging at home, is still cheaper than
gasoline.
In fact, only fast or rapid charging -- where
fees can be upwards of $5 per half-hour -- is
truly ‘expensive’, but now if you live
in Mile High city -- that’s Denver, Colorado
for those who don’t know -- even rapid CHAdeMO
DC quick charging is cheap thanks to the introduction
of Nissan’s No Charge to Charge program
in the high altitude city.
As we explained earlier this week, Nissan’s
No Charge to Charge program -- which offers
new LEAF owners two years of free electric
car charging at both public level two and
rapid charging stations -- has been gradually
expanding across theU.S. since it launched
fourteen months ago.
The seventeenth key market to welcome the
program, Denver joins San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Sacramento, San Diego, Seattle, Portland Oregon,
Chicago, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Nashville,
Phoenix, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston and Washington,
DC in offering free LEAF charging -- and it
will supposedly be joined by another eight
regions before the end of the year.
Toyota continued its long, long advertising
campaign for the upcoming twenty sixteen Toyota
Mirai Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car this week by
releasing the second in its ‘fuelled by
everything’ web TV series.
Unlike the first one -- in which we learned
how the hydrogen fuel cell sedan could be
powered by hydrogen from cow poop, this one
focuses on a place in Pennsylvania which was
once famous for its oil wells.
In an ad which Toyota said was Petroleum Past
helping to fuel the Hydrogen Future, we see
a tame chemist -- who also happens to be the
founder of a company specialising in large-scale
hydrolysis equipment -- to a local high school
in order to collect water from the aptly-named
Oil Creek in order to turn it into oxygen
and hydrogen with the help of some electricity.
Queue lots of inspirational music and hugs
all round -- but as we and several others
have noted, the film doesn’t address how
energy inefficient the process of electrolysis
can be. Still, it’s a neat film, as long
as you realise that there’s a lot of energy
being used to make hydrogen and oxygen from
water that isn’t talked much about.
And finally, because we promised it at the
top of the show, the ultimate union of the
Internet: Cats and Tesla electric cars.
As we told you on Tuesday, this tiny wibble
feral kitten decided about this time last
week to turn the area between the suspension
and electric motor in the Tesla Model S of
Austi Texas resident John Griswell.
After attempts to extract the feline using
tempting food failed -- or rather enticed
the kitten out before it jumped back in again
-- Griswell was forced to take his Model S
to the local Tesla Service Centre for some
expuuurt help in extracting this tiny ball
of fluff from the rear of his car.
The kitten, we understand, is alive and well,
and ready to go to its new adopted home. Catastrophe
averted.
Yes, I know those were some diabolical puns,
but what do you expect when you give me a
story about pussies?
We’ll be back next week at the usual time
for another show, but in the meantime, you
can find all the other news that’s fit to
print on our website at www dot transport
evolved dot com, chat to us on twitter at
transport evolve, or head to our YouTube channel
to catch up with our latest shows.
As always, there’s a lot we haven’t managed
to fit into today’s show, including how
the Cadillac ELR packs all that extra power
for the 2016 model year, California comes
to an agreement on ZEV requirements for intermediate
volume automakers, an energy coop in minnesota
gives free renewable energy to electric car
owners, and how auto dealers could be letting
plug-in owners down with mediocre after-sales
service.
So when we’re done, be sure to head to our
site to read them all.
Thanks for watching, I’m Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield,
stay out of trouble and until next time, keep
evolving!
