Tesla Stock Price

Are investors cashing out before the end of the year for tax reasons, or is this a vote of no confidence for Tesla? In the last month, Tesla's stock price has dropped by ~20%.

Grandma The Fighter

I am sitting at the hospital bedside of my 93 year old grandmother. Rebecca was born in Russia, and survived Stalin and the Wehrmacht siege of Leningrad. Now she is fighting with her heart and her lungs, gasping and coughing to get a breath. She's a tough old lady, but I think she is getting tired.

Don't give up yet Grandma!

Fiat's Nero

This morning on Autoline Detroit, John McElroy's auto talk show, a Fiat lady stated that part of the Fiat 500's ordering experience will be calling colors by their Italian names. So red will be rose, and black will be nero. Cue the Rome burns jokes. But what I don't get is, why not call it Cinquecento then? For mist people, if you say "five hundred", they will think of a very bland large sedan from Ford.

If you're going to go Italian, go all in, that's what I say.

Aptera Dead?

Aptera has been very quiet since participating (but not finishing) in the Progressive Automotive X-Prize competition.  After a very promising early start, and lots of great media coverage, Aptera went through a management shake-up, and now appears to be starving slowly.  Without government loans to develop their product, or a large angel investor to come in and rescue them, they seem to be adrift.

You know it is bad when the fans, some of whom have put down actual deposits, are losing faith.  Look at this poll on the unofficial Aptera forums.  As of now the 68% of the responses say that they don't think they will ever get their car.

The Redesigned 300C

Allpar.com has some nice side-by-side photos of the refreshed 300C along with the previous design.  

I like the increased windshield rake, and how they lowered the door shoulders to allow for a less slab-sided look, with a little more glass.  There is a nice, slightly upward sweeping character line.  From the side, it looks a little more like a Cadillac (not a bad thing), while the front is distinctly Chrysler.

The interior is much nicer looking as well.

In my opinion, this is a good redesign of Chrysler's flagship.

Where Chrysler will be challenged for a while yet is in the powertrain department.  The new Phoenix V6 will bring much needed refinement and better fuel economy, but the rumor at Allpar is that the 300C will probably launch with a Mercedes sourced 5-speed automatic transmission, when the fuel economy leaders are getting into 6 speed transmissions.  Will Chrysler have the money to outsource a 6 or 7 speed auto?  Consider that the closest competitor to the 300C at Ford, the Taurus, gets EPA combined 22mpg with a 6spd auto, while the Cadillac STS gets 21mpg combined, also with a 6 speed auto.  Toyota's Avalon gets 23mpg from a 6 speed. 

Automakers Sue EPA over E15

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the trade group that represents most of the OEMs operating in the U.S., has joined the lawsuit originally filed by other organisations to try to block the E15 waiver that the EPA is granting for newer vehicles.  Detroit News story here.

Good.

The E15 waiver is a half-baked idea.  It should only be issued when it is determined that the vast majority (say, 95%) of cars on the road today can safely operate with E15.  Otherwise, consumer confusion will ensue, and the result will be that no gas station will want to carry the stuff.  If the data isn't there yet then the EPA should wait until the data is in.

Review: Pep Boys Definity Dakota H/T Tires

In my previous post, I reviewed the experience of buying tires at Pep Boys.*

The tires that were chosen were Definity Dakota H/T, which are a highway tread light truck/SUV tire. The Definity line is a store-brand of Pep Boys, manufactured by Cooper Tire. Cooper also makes Avon, Mastercraft, and Starfire branded tires. The Dakotas are also available in offroad (M/T) and all terrain (A/T) tread patterns.

These tires have a 520 treadwear rating (very good), A traction (good) and B (decent) temperature rating. They come with a 60,000mi tread life warranty.

And they're even Made In The U.S.A., not Chinese rubber here.

Consumer Reports did not review Definity Dakotas, but they did review Cooper's Discovery SUV tires, and gave them a good rating, particularly for dry handling, hydroplaning, and noise.

The new Dakotas were a marked improvement over the worn Kelly tires that were previously mounted on Anne's Escape. We noticed the difference right away, the Escape rode much quieter and a bit softer than it had on the old tires. "Wow, this is like a new car!", said a very happy Anne.

Wet braking and handling on snow seemed good, definitely better than the old tires. The highway tread still seemed to have plenty of bite to get going in the snowy and icy road conditions that prevail in Michigan now.

Overall, I would say that the Definity Dakota tires are a good tire, and are quite good for the money. Pep Boys is currently charging $120/tire for them, with the 4th tire free, though this does not include balancing and tire stems. If I was in the market for inexpensive all season SUV tires, I would definitely consider Dakota H/T.

Summary:

Pros

• Quiet
• Good wet/snow grip
• Soft ride
• Made in USA

Cons

• Balancing, stems cost extra
• 4th tire free deal is a prepaid Visa rebate, not cash back at sale

*Disclosure: Pep Boys provided a free set of Definity tires to my friend in exchange for this review. The blogger was not compensated.

SOLVED! Geocache Challenge Prize #1

SOLVED!

SOLVED! Geocache Challege Prize #2

SOLVED!

SOLVED! Autoprophet Geocache Challege 2010!!!

Congratulations to Charles and his brother, who found both prizes this afternoon, Dec. 20th.

My family has been big into geocaching for years, so after seeing your blog entry, my brother and I swung by birmingham this afternoon.  Perfect timing, as my car needs a new battery, pads and rotors, and a few other regular maintenance type odds and ends.  Thanks Auto Prophet and Pep Boys!  

-Charles (Auto aficionado and NRA Life Member)
 

--------------------------

Thanks to Pep Boys, who donated some gift cards, I am very happy to kick off this year's Autoprophet Geocache Challenge!

I have hidden two groups of Pep Boys gift cards in a much-loved part of Birmingham. Prize

#1 is 3 $50 gift cards, for a total of $150. Prize #2 is 2 $50 gift cards, for $100. The gift cards are hidden in gaily spray painted clear plastic soup containers. If you find both prizes, you win yourself a total of $250 to spend at Pep Boys, right before Christmas. What can you get at Pep Boys for $250? Besides tires, parts, oil, etc.?

*Disclosure: Pep Boys donated gift cards for this contest, the blogger did not receive any compensation.

Smug Vee Dub

I saw this guy, "GAS H8R" on the road the other day. I suppose he removed the TDI badges from his Golf.

Nissan's Naughty Nav

Nissan's new Nav system will help you find "Adult Entertainment" locations, according to a review by Family Car Review.  It's debuting in the new 2011 Nissan Quest minivan. 

Good job Nissan.  Way to know your market.

Top 10 Recalls of 2010

Car And Driver, my favorite car enthusiast magazine, has an nice one-page article in this month's issue summarizing graphically the top 10 recalls of 2010. Leading the pack was Toyota, with 5 of the top 10 recalls. Second was GM, with 2, and Honda with 2. Nissan had 1 recall in the top 10.

Congratulations to Ford, Chrysler, VW, and Hyundai for not making this top 10 list.

Tangled

I went with the kids to see Tangled over the weekend. It was excellent, probably the best non-Pixar Disney movie in recent history.

I experienced 3D for the first time, and had mixed feelings. On one hand, it worked very well in many scenes. It seemed to break down a bit when the effect was used to try to make objects look very close to the audience. And the 3D version of the Justin Bieber biopic preview... ugh, nauseating.

It was neat. Maybe even worth an extra $3, for the right movie. But not for Justin Bieber.

Rumor: Honda Killing Element

There is a rumor that Honda is going to announce the end of the Element, the quirky 3 1/2 door bread van, likely due to slow sales.  It's too bad, I was impressed with Honda for bringing out such a quirky and utilitarian vehicle, which was basically a large box on wheels.  The Element, though much larger than the Scion xB and Nissan Cube, paved the way for the quirky little box cars.

I'm not sure what Honda is thinking lately, in terms of design.  Some of its designs are unique and interesting, like the now aging Civic, or the new CR-Z.  But Honda has been flirting too much with ugly, witness Acura's ugly chrome mug, or the bizarre Odyssey lightning bolt zig-zag belt line.  

Bumper Compatibility: Not There Yet

IIHS, the organization that is funded by the auto insurance industry, issued a report about continuing poor comparability between small SUV and car bumpers.  You can read it here.

The bottom line is, automakers have not yet redesigned their small SUVs to have bumper heights that are compatible with their cars.  The result is expensive low speed collisions between small SUVs and cars, which necessarily drive up insurance costs to the consumer.

How To Move Your Garmin Favorites

Garmin GPSs store your favorites in a file called Current.gpx, in the folder X:\GPX\.

So say you got a new GPS, and want to copy over your collection of favorite locations.

Connect your old GPS via USB to your computer. It should show up as a new drive.

Copy the file Current.gpx to your computer, and rename it to somenthing else, e.g. TEMP.gpx.

Then plug in your new Garmin, and copy the TEMP.gpx file to the \GPX\ folder.

Restart the Garmin. It should merge your favorites into its Current.gpx file.

GM Ad: "We All Fall Down"

This is a touching ad, no doubt about it.

However, GM isn't an individual. It is a huge company with hundreds of executives at the top, steering the boat.

GM isn't a boxer that took a hard punch by a powerful opponent.

GM whittled itself down, year after year, making bad decision after bad decision. And GM didn't entirely pick itself up... it required a major reorganization, financial destruction, and outside management.

That is the key thing. GM must remember, as an organization, how they went from largest automaker in the world to bankrupt. They need to have the "lessons learned" burned into the very DNA of their leadership culture.

I'm glad GM is back on track, for numerous reasons. A failure of GM would have been catastrophic not just to the domestic auto industry, but to the entire economy.

They had better stay on top of the game now, because I don't think the American public will have the will to save them again.

New GM Website

GM has updated its web site with a neat intro video showing off GM's engineering prowess.  It's a great video, with a nice tech-rock soundtrack, check it out.  http://www.gm.com

.GOV Soaking Up Hybrid Capacity

According to Bloomberg, Obama's administration has purchased 25% of domestic hybrid production.  In fact, it appears that Obama was the biggest customer for the Malibu mild hybrid, which was a market flop.

The government purchased about 64 percent of GM's Chevy Malibu hybrid models and 29 percent of all Ford Fusion hybrids manufactured since Obama took office in 2009, the data show. GM stopped making the Malibu hybrid in 2009 after lack of consumer demand.

Hybrid demand is weak because of relatively reasonable gas prices, so the U.S. government is helping to keep hybrid capacity utilized by buying for the federal fleet.  This will help the taxpayer in the long run, by using less fuel, but the cost up front is significant.

Interestingly, Bloomberg reports that the average purchase price was about $5,300 under MSRP.  GIven that hybrids tend to be a loss leader or break-even product to begin with, this program probably didn't help Ford and GM make much money.

For the hybrid business to prosper and evolve, two things need to happen, and soon: batteries need to be cheaper, and gas prices need to be higher.  The consumer has proven that he is primarily cost driven.

Fiat's Nero

I heard on John McElroy's automotive news show, Autoline Detroit, that Fiat will use Italian names for its colors in its marketing and ordering materials.  For example, red will be called rosso and black will be nero.  (Que Rome burning jokes)

What I don't understand then is why Fiat is calling the 500 "Five Hundred" and not "Cinquecento", which is its proper Italian name.  Some Americans many associate a recent large sedan by Ford with "Five Hundred".  Maybe the problem is teaching us dumb Americans how to say Cinquecento, although it isn't that hard once you hear it.  It sounds like "chink-wuh-chento" (not "sink-wuh-sento").  Fiat could hire some Italian babe with full lips to show us how it is done.

If you are going to go Italian, I say, go all in.  Call it Cinquecento.

Ford Explorer Smashing "Priceless Ming Vases"

Part of Ford's online social marketing campaign for the new Explorer is a series of short and amusing YouTube videos which answer a question about some feature of the vehicle.  

I thought this one was funny.

iPod Touch Bug: Alarm

Well so much for the illusion of Apple's "it just works". I found a bug in iOS 4.1 in, of all things, the built in Alarm app.

After the end of daylight savings time, my alarm that was set for 6:00 AM now triggers at 7:00 AM, even though the click is set to 6:00 and the alarm is set to 6:00!

Happy Veterans Day

Did you know there is only one surviving American veteran of WWI?  Read Frank Buckle's fascinating story here.

Thank you to our military veterans.  You fought, and many of you were wounded, many of you lost friends, because the country asked you for service.  Our freedoms and comforts rest on your shoulders.

GE: Eating Up EV Tax Credits

Is there a downside to the public to GE's announcement that it will buy 25,000 EVs, including 12,000 Chevrolet Volts?  

The tax credit for EVs phases out after a manufacturer sells 200,000 of them.  From Public Law 111-5, Sections 1141-1144

`(2) PHASEOUT PERIOD- For purposes of this subsection, the phaseout period is the period beginning with the second calendar quarter following the calendar quarter which includes the first date on which the number of new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicles manufactured by the manufacturer of the vehicle referred to in paragraph (1) sold for use in the United States after December 31, 2009, is at least 200,000.

By gobbling up EVs, GE certainly helps to jump-start the industry, but they also gobble up future tax credits that consumers would have gotten, unless GE opts to forego the EV tax credit.  Which would be bad business.

E15: Big OIl Fights Back

The American Petroleum Institute has filed a lawsuit to block the EPA's waiver allowing E15 in late model (post 2007) vehicles, on the grounds that the potential harmful effects from E15 have not been fully studied.

I agree with the API, at the heart of it.  If E15 is sold alongside E10, some customers may try to use it in older vehicles, and they could have problems.  

However, on the practical side, I don't see E15 going anywhere in this piecemeal permitting approach.  For E15 to have any impact, it will have to be mandated, not just permitted.  And I doubt it will be mandated until it has been proven safe for older vehicles.  Considering that the average age of cars on the road in the U.S. is around 10 years or so, to safely cover most used cars EPA needs to test back well before 2001 model year.  I don't have the data (R.L. Polk, where are you?) but I suspect you would have to go back to like 1995 to cover 95% of the vehicles on the road.

On the commercial side, gas station owners are not about to spend $20,000 per pump to upgrade to E15 certified pumps.  According to this NY Times piece, unless there is a mandate, gas stations are not going to be switching over.

The third option for service station owners is simply not to sell E15, which Mr. Eichberger said seemed likely. "It is an authorization without a mandate," he said. "There is no retailer out there who has to sell this product."

E15 will remain mostly a symbolic gesture for the near future.  And if your favorite station does put up signs warning you that they are selling E15, make sure you don't put it in your older car, boat, 4 wheeler, or lawnmower.

Mulally Crushes Jobs

Steve Jobs, that is.  Amazing times we live in.  Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford, has crushed Apple's Steve Jobs in the Fortune magazine Business Person Of The Year internet poll, 96% to 4%.  Link here.

Mahindra Update -- Still On Track?

I just got this email from Global Vehicles regarding Mahindra. It doesn't mention the litigation at all, and seems to blame domestic Indian market demand for the delay to U.S. introduction. Huh?

Good Morning Mahindra Truck Fans,

Congratulations. You are part of over 30,000 signed up to be the first to experience the hardworking Mahindra trucks.

I know you are wondering when you will have the opportunity to get behind the wheel of one of these amazing, authentic, robust, fuel-efficient trucks at a Mahindra dealer near you. While I cannot give you a firm answer on timing, I can tell you in my estimation, trucks will arrive in the spring of 2011.

Mahindra has applied for and received their EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) certificate, which means the vehicles have passed emission requirements. They also filed with (NHTSA) National Highway Safety Administration, which handles US standards for safety.

With these hurdles completed, it would seem production is imminent, but other factors may hinder the US launch. India's car sales are on a dramatic trajectory upward. The sales pace combined with an industry wide parts shortage is impacting home market sales, which will have an affect on the United States introduction.

In closing, I know each of you anxiously await the arrival of the Mahindra trucks, and I am confident that you will see a launch announcement in the next few months.

If you haven't seen the Specsheet on the trucks yet, please click on the link below to see it.

Click here to view Specsheet

Or copy and place the following into your browser:

http://mahindrana.com/pdf/specsheet.pdf

---

Regards,

John A. Perez
CEO
Global Vehicles USA, Inc.
1720 Windward Concourse
Suite 400
Alpharetta, GA 30005

www.mahindraNA.com

They Want Trucks!

Well, not just trucky trucks, they also want crossovers.  But still, Americans are not buying increasing numbers of small cars, which may force some very interesting discussions in Sacramento and Washington.  From AP:

The category – known as light-duty trucks – made up 54 percent of all new U.S. vehicle sales last month, compared with 46 percent for cars, according to industry tracker J.D. Power and Associates. It's the biggest difference since December 2005, when trucks accounted for 56 percent of sales.

Which continues to show that Americans want large cars and cheap gas--not small, fuel efficient cars.   If Washington forces the automakers to push small cars in a market that doesn't want them, there will be a strong political backlash.

Engineering School Q&A

A student emailed me asking about how to go about getting into the automotive engineering business. Here are my answers.

I stumbled across your blog through an internet search and found your writing to be very interesting. I am a 24-year-old Mechanical Engineering student, and I have plans to go into Automotive Engineering.

Some advice on the best way to become an Automotive Engineer would be very helpful. I spent 6 years out of highchool as a diesel/auto technician before going back to school. Is this going to be a help for me as an engineer later on?

It depends. If you are going into part of the business that is service related, such as service and diagnostics (the guys who write service manuals, develop procedures, etc.) this is very valuable experience. And it is valuable in general if you are going to be involved in hands-on vehicle work.

Is there any drafting software I can get to experement with on my own time in order to put me ahead of the game later on?

Again, it depends what you are going into. If you are going to be a designer, or a release engineer who releases parts that someone else has designed, CAD is very useful. If you aren't going to be dealing with part design as much, for example you are in the vehicle testing side of things, it is less useful. The concepts among different CAD programs are probably similar, so I wouldn't sweat it too much--it is the thinking in 3D, and the craft of drawing up designs which matters. You can get a cheap copy of TurboCAD and go to town.

And most importantly: I've almost finished up my basic courses and plan to transfer to a 4-year university to finish my education. What qualities do I need to look for in an engineering program?

Look for engineering programs that have relationships with industry. You want to get into an internship, or co-op type situation if you can. This will give you invaluable experience and may line you up for a job later, if they like you. Look for schools that have good placement records--how many students go on to get jobs in their field? Look for schools that offer hands-on activities such as Formula SAE or similar competitions. Look for schools that have lab facilities for engineers where they can actually build and test things.

How much does the university matter to prospective employers?

Not super much. I have met brilliant engineers from smaller, less exclusive schools. I have also met idiots from places like Cornell. If you go to a decent school which has a good reputation in industry, and you do well, you will be looked at.

Some other advice. If you can hook up with an engineering professor who is running a lab and working on neat stuff, especially if it is grant funded neat stuff like military research, do so. Being on a project, doing real work, is always a plus.

Volt: Quicker With Gas

Edmunds did a track test on the Chevy Volt.  One interesting result is that the Volt is nearly 1s faster from 0-75mph when using the gasoline range extender than in pure EV mode.  Hmmm... could it be because some gasoline torque is going to the wheels?  Just asking.

The AutoExec Wheelmate Desk on Amazon

Heh. Check out the user photos here.

Review: Scosche motorMOUTH II Bluetooth

I was recently given a Scosche motorMOUTH II (model BTAXS)

bluetooth gadget to try out.*

The motorMOUTH II is an ingenious idea, one of those "why didn't they think of it sooner!" type things. It is basically a bluetooth headset combined with a stereo mini-jack. Instead of sticking it in your year (that would really hurt) you plut it into your car's aux input. It plays the audio from your phone call, or stereo audio via A2DP, through your car's sound system.

I have been using the gadget for a few days, and I think it is worth buying. If your phone rings, you just change your input to AUX, and press the button on the side to answer the call. You can also use the button hang up, redial, and voice dial (if your phone supports it). It isn't large or obtrusive, and while I didn't care for the shiny plastic microphone end, it isn't ugly. Since it can be plugged directly into a mini stereo jack, it can be installed without wires trailing all over.

Inbound sound quality is reasonably good. Streaming music from my iPod was decent, but not as good as a direct USB connection. I did find that the volume level was a little low, but I was able to compensate it on my head unit by increasing the gain on the AUX input. People I called on the unit told me that I sounded reasonably clear, but occasionally a little "robotic" or "tinny", which suggests that a high level of compression and noise cancellation is going on. My callers were able to understand me even with the car moving at highway speeds, and I didn't have to shout.

The design of this unit suggests an interesting unintended use. If you were to plug this unit into the input jack on your PC sound card, or another recording device, you could easily record telephone conversations, conference calls, or other audio streams that come through your bluetooth connection.

Pros:

• Reasonably good incoming audio and A2DP sound quality
• Good battery life
• Plugs into your AUX port directly
• Easy to use (like a bluetooth headphone)
• Useful accessories included, such as Y adapter, extension cable, dash mount
• Compact

Cons:

• Unit resets when connected to power and drops bluetooth link temporarily.
• Non-standard power connector, should be micro or mini USB
• Outgoing sound quality mixed
• You may need to increase your AUX volume

Overall, I think this is a great gadget, and I would buy one. It is more convenient than a stand-alone bluetooth speaker, or fumbling with an in-ear headset while in the car. And it is quite a bit cheaper, at around $70 (Amazon Link), than an add-on bluetooth module for your factory stereo, which will typically cost around $300.

You can find the PDF manual here.

*Note: a publicist for Scosche sent me a motorMOUTH II to review, I did not purchase this unit with my own money. But I would, because it is good.

Volt Spotting

I saw this Volt parked in Southfield today. A lovely dark red specimin.

Notice how GM is hiding the exhaust. Can you see a tailpipe? The muffler is that light gray thing on the left side. I can't tell where the tail pipe exits, it is well hidden. I'm not sure about the wisdom of the reverse lamp location, it seems like it would get grimy under there from road grime during the winter months.

Disappearing Drive Problem Solved

I have this problem on my Windows 7 desktop PC at home, that from time to time my secondary 1.5TB WD Caviar Green hard drive disappears from the system, as if it wasn't installed at all.

It turns out to be a bug in how Windows wakes up SATA drives--there is a time-out, and apparently some large SATA drives don't wake up fast enough, and are assumed to be missing.

There is a Microsoft hotfix for the problem here.

If your large SATA drive isn't the primary drive, then you won't see the BSOD or error messages, obviously.  Instead it will just be disappearing.

Some Double Rainbows

There were some scattered showers this evening, with patches of blue sky, it was very striking. I caught these gigantic double rainbows with my (weak) cell phone camera.

Shocking News: Americans Won't Pay More For Electric Cars

From Edmunds Green Car Advisor:

About two out of three Americans say they wouldn't be willing to pay more for an electric car than for a comparable gas-powered vehicle, while just 17 percent said they'd pay more than a $5,000 premium for an EV, Nielsen Co. said, citing its September poll of more than 2,300 people.

I guess the good news is that about 30% of Americans would pay extra for an electric car--but most of them would not pay more $5,000.  

To me, the reason is obvious.  People are still mostly motivated by costs, not by environmentalism, and the reduced range of an electric vehicle is also a point of concern for the average person.  Now, if gas prices would stabilize around $4/gallon, I am sure the numbers would shift.

Mahindra Trucks... Still Dead

Despite some sputtering noises to the contrary, it appears to me that Mahindra's plan to import diesel light trucks into the U.S. is still quite dead.

In addition to jerking around the dealer network and potential customers, and creating ill will, Mahindra has to overcome a legal battle with its original distributor, Global Vehicles.

Also, not to pile on or anything, but while Mahindra may have certified its emissions for the EPA, I have not heard anything about NHTSA certification to FMVSS or crash testing.

E15: Good For Corn Farmers, Confusing For The Rest Of Us

EPA is announcing today that they are ready to approve E15 (15% ethanol) gasoline blends, but only for 2007 model year and newer vehicles.

That's silly.

Are gas station owners really going to set aside one or two pumps for E15, and label them?   Consumers would then be faced with 5 types of gasoline choose from: base, mid-grade, premium, E85, and E15.  Some people will be confused and put E15 in pre 2007 vehicles.  Others will be confused and shun E15.  

EPA should have waited to see if E15 was good for all "modern" vehicles, and then switched E10 to E15, since they are apparently required to enrich the corn farmers and ethanol refiners.

People running E15 should expect to see a small degradation in fuel economy.  Since ethanol is about 25% less energy rich than gasoline, switching from E10 to E15 should look like a 1.3% fuel economy reduction, or about 0.4 mpg in a car that averages 27 mpg.  Switching from E0 to E15 will cost about 3.8%, or about 1 mpg.

The Semiotics Of Volt: The Meaning Of "Direct"

GM's clarification about how the Volt powertain has an interesting statement:

There is no direct mechanical connection (fixed gear ratio) between the Volt's extended-range 1.4L engine and the drive wheels.

Note how GM defines "direct mechanical connection" as "fixed gear ratio".  However, to a technically minded reader this sounds like semantic squirming.   

Here is how it works.  There is a planetary gearset.  In the Volt, the outer ring is locked by a clutch, and is also connected to the gas engine and generator motor.  The generator can be used to recharge the battery, or to produce torque.  

When the ring gear is locked ("grounded") to the transaxle case (C1 locked), there is no torque path from the gas engine to the wheels, which are connected to the planetary gears.  If C1 is unlocked, C2 and C3 are locked, then torque flows from the gas engine to the wheels.

The point is, there is definitely a mechanical connection from the gasoline engine to the wheels, because the clutches can be commanded to send torque to the  ring gear and therefore out to the wheels.   

Volt Frenzy, Part III

After doing some reading around, it does seem like the blogosphere overreacted to the news that the Volt's gasoline engine *gasp* can actually help push the front wheels.

My conclusion is that it doesn't really matter. Since a gasoline engine was put on-oard to charge the battery, the Volt was never going to be a pure electric car. From the very beginning, it was thought to be a "series hybrid" (gas to electric to wheels), but now we see that it is really a "series/parallel hybrid" (gas to electric and gas to wheels).

So what?

If you drive less than about 40 miles per day, it will act more or less like an electric car, carrying around some extra weight in the form of a vestigial gas tank and small engine. If you always remember to plug it in, and never put a drop of gasoline in it, it should work fine*.

If I understand the design correctly, the difference in how the Volt operates and how a Prius operates isn't significant, except that one is tuned to rely more on its electric power path, and the other is tuned to rely more on its gasoline power path. It seems to me that GM could, with software changes, tune the Volt to work like a Prius. They could use the gasoline engine to send more torque to the wheels, and less to charge the huge battery.

*Actually, we need to ask GM... can the Volt run without a drop of gas in it, ever? Or will it annoy the user with warnings and chimes because it wants to run the gas engine from time to time to keep it fresh?

The Telegraph Rumor Was True!

A few months back, this article in the Telegraph caused a stir among the Volt followers. In it, Andrew English quotes an Opel engineer working on the Ampera (Euro Volt):

"We are considering driving the wheels directly from the petrol engine," says Andreas Voight, an Opel project engineer.

Then, The Car Connection, wanting a clarification, went to GM and asked about this. GM responded with two points:

"We're definitely not making any changes,"

and

Peterson also directly refuted English's claims regarding the Volt's high-speed need for the gasoline engine, stating that during the 40-mile electric-only range, there is no circumstance under which the gasoline range extender will turn on--no matter the power draw or speed. Beyond that range, it supples ample power for the electric motors, whatever the driving conditions.

Now, the "no changes" comment is a bit of a red herring, because the original article was under the misconception that the planetary gearset link between the engine and axles was new. So GM was able to give a correct answer to the wrong question.

But on the more direct question, GM appears to have claimed that the gasoline engine will not be needed in the first 40 miles, and that it supplies "ample power... whatever the conditions".

It is possible that in the testing and calibration optimization work late in the program, that GM's powertrain engineers discovered that they couldn't meet certain requirements (highway acceleration?) unless they blended in some good old fashioned fossil fuel-to-the-rubber torque. In which case, GM wasn't trying to mislead, they just didn't know yet.

Edmunds: "GM Lied",

Edmunds' Mike Magrath writes, in very strong terms, about the admission in an online interview that yes, the Volt's gasoline engine can send torque to the drive wheels, if needed.  

"flat-out lie to make things look better."

This is a devastating PR failure for GM.  After the long and massive build-up for the Volt, and the swearing up and down that it was a "range extended EV", this makes GM look really desperate for public approval, and ready to play semantic games to look better than they really are.

A true, pure,  "range extended electric vehicle" would have no mechanical torque path from the engine to the wheels, in the minds of the EV boosters and automotive bloggers.  To electric car fans, the Volt was just demoted to a plug-in gasoline hybrid, with a large electric reserve, but a PHEV nonetheless.  The Volt will now be compared not with the Nissan Leaf, but with the Prius plug-in.  And when Ford brings out its electric Focus, it will be able to claim the first new American all-electric sedan.

What GM did was take a similar architecture to the Prius or Ford hybrid, and do two things--add a much larger battery pack, and tune the software so that the car "chooses not to" use its gasoline engine for propulsion except for rare circumstances.  So it is a PHEV trained to act more like an EV than an HEV.  

The question now is, how will the public react?  Will they listen to the bloggers and EV enthusiasts, that Volt is not literally an all electric vehicle, or will they agree with GM, that since it runs almost all the time on only on electric torque, it is effectively a range extended EV?

Sharron Angle on Dearborn

Sharron Angle, a Republican candidate who is trying to unseat Harry Reid in Nevada, was recorded at a town hall meeting answering a question from a guy concerned about creeping Sharia law in the U.S. The left has latched onto her quote as proof that she's an anti-Muslim bigot and a crackpot.

I thought I would get to the bottom of it, so I downloaded and listened to the audio recording (available here) of the event. The remarks of interest start at about 43:00, "My question is very controversial..."

Here is what she said, if I am understanding the audio clearly:

OK, we're talking about a militant... um... terrorist situation. It... I believe it isn't a wide spead thing, but...
it is enough that we need to address, and we have been addressing it. Um, uh, my thoughts are these, first of all, Dearborn Michigan and Frankfurt Texas are on American soil, and under constitutional law, not sharia law, and I don't know how that happens [noisy] in the United States. It seems to me that there is something fundamentally wrong with allowing a foreign system of law to take even hold in any, um, municipality or government situation in our United States.

Um, as far as the mosque at ground zero, I made my own statement when that was first brought up, I'm a personal property rights defender...

Now, the non-charitable way to read this is that she is agreeing with the questioner that Dearborn is under sharia law. However, she is clearly fumbling around at first, with lots of stuttering and "ums". I think what she may have meant to say is that Sharia is not really an issue ("isn't a wide spread thing", "Dearborn... under constitutional law, not sharia law") but that she is against it ("fundamentally wrong with allowing"). She then goes on to talk at length about the mosque at ground zero, more smoothly, which is probably the question she was prepared for.

An experienced pol would have skipped the stuttering, said "I'm not aware of the situation in Dearborn, but in general, I'm not for allowing sharia law..."

As an occasional visitor to Dearborn, I can attest that there is significant cultural friction between the Muslim population and the other, mostly Christian ethnic groups, but they don't have anything like Sharia yet.

Between Angles stumbling and the poor audio quality, I am not sure you can use this to show she's unhinged. At worst I think it shows someone fumbling for an answer and botching the delivery.

Secretary LaHood, Man Of LaMancha

Secretary of Transportation Roy Lahood is advocating bans on in vehicle cell phone use, even of the hands-free variety.  

I don't think it is going to happen--people like the ability to make hands-free calls.

Much bigger safety gains might be made by training people to follow basic traffic rules, like not driving slow in the left lane, and wearing seatbelts.  Approximately 18% of all U.S. drivers still don't regularly wear their seatbelts! (source)

Western Digital Caviar Green (WD10EADS) Failure

On my desktop PC I have a 1 TB secondary drive which I use for storing photos, videos, music, and etc.  I was using a WD Caviar Green model WD10EADS, and it developed a strange behavior.  File access slowed to a crawl, with wait times of between 3 and 5 seconds to read from or write to a file.  Disk utilization (resource monitor) showd 100%, but the drive wasn't making much noise.  According to the SMART check, everything was still within spec.  Then I tried to do a sector test on it, using WD's Data Lifeguard tool, and it failed about 2/3 the way through, "Error 8: too many bad sectors".  

My theory about what is going on is that the drive controller, for some reason, is not able to "wake up" anymore, and so sometimes when you ask for a file it takes a long time to actually read it or write it, but my data did not appear to be damaged--I was able to copy everything off of the drive, it just took multiple tries for some files.

Thanks to a 3 year warranty, I am able to send the drive back for replacement to Western Digital.   I'm a little spooked by the failure though, and I am going to replace the drive with a non-Green model for now.  I liked how quiet the Caviar Green was, but it wasn't the fastest drive even when it was working.

Coda's Electric Car Will Cost $44,000...

...and be serviced at a "a major retail department store chain" (e.g. Sears, or perhaps WalMart) for the electrical propulsion system, or one of several Firestone locations for non-powertrain issues.

Yeah, good luck with that.  

They expect people to pay top dollar (more than a Leaf or Volt) for a car that looks like a 2003 Protege.  Then, if something breaks, the customer has to decide if needs to be taken to the mall or to Firestone to get fixed?

And if you get in an accident and need body and mechanical work, where do you take it?  

My prediction: Leaf, Volt, and later Ford's Focus EV will kill off the Coda.  People will have no compelling reason to have a complicated life when the faithful full service dealer is still right down the road.

Edmunds article is here.

Wild Dodge Magnum

I saw this, uh, pimp-wagon on the road Friday.

X-Prize Realities

Now that the Progressive Automotive X-Prize competition is over, I expect that green car boosters (and Tesla, who didn't bother entering) will begin pointing at the winners as evidence that the mainstream auto industry can't compete.

But.

As impressive feats of small-team engineering, the X-Prize finalists are amazing.  But they are nothing like consumer products, just as NASCAR "stock cars" are nothing like consumer products.  The X-Prize competitors were given a set of design constraints, which to Progressive's credit did include basic performance and safety criteria, and optimized their designs to meet those criteria.  In other words, they built cars that were going to have very high efficiency and a bare minimum of performance.

If you were to take an X-Prize winner, and try to make a mass market product out of it, that would meet FMVSS standards for a passenger car, 150,000 mile reliabilty, NHTSA's crash standards, would be comfortable and convenient, easy to drive, and affordable to a middle class family, you would not wind up any where close to 100 MPGe.  

You would probably wind up with something like a Nissan Leaf or Chevrolet Volt.  But without the economies of scale in purchasing, design, and development that a major OEM has, your X-Prize car would cost thousands of dollars more.

The OEMs could have easily competed in the X-Prize competition, if they wanted to.  They were too busy making vehicles people would actually consider buying.

Ken Block: "obama can't gymkhana"

Check out the bumper sticker on the Segway wheel at 2:30.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TshFWSsrn8&feature=player_embedded#!

Travis Pastrana Does Mt. Washington, Quickly

This is a really neat video of a world class rally driver flying up a mountain road. Link to video

Evil Twins?

Jaws from James Bond

2011 Dodge Durango

Tell The EPA What You Think!

The EPA has posted some prototype fuel economy labels on their web site, and is asking for the public to comment. You can see them in their full detail here.

There are two proposed

designs. The first shows a large letter grade (also color coded), Green A, Yellow B, Orange C, and Red D. Apparently, everyone passes--F's are not allowed to go on sale?

The second shows some Star Trek style sliding indicators, and leaves out the letter grades, but keeps the color coding.

The EPA is inviting public comment as part of its rulemaking, and you can fill out the form at the bottom of the page and hit "send" to give them a piece of your mind.

I have already voted for Form 2 (the simpler one on the right). I think the letter grade Form 1 is too cluttered, and I don't agree with the way they are assigning letter grades. As much as I hate to sound like a whiny pre-med, the grades need to be on a curve--you can't really compare Silverados with Subarus, can you? The grades should really be assigned among like vehicles.

I also think that the fuel/energy efficiency report should be as simple as possible. Ideally, the form should present one universal metric--MPGe (miles per gallon equivalent), which recalculates all energy consumption into units we are used to, miles per gallon of EPA standard test gasoline. The MPGe also is closely related to CO2 production, so I would leave the CO2 data off of the label completely. MPGe tells you everything most people really care to know.

The fuel const estimate is neat, but how often will they update the number? What if the label is based on $2.70 gasoline and $0.12 electricity, but in fact gas is $3.50 and electricity is now $0.20/kWHr? Will we be constantly reminded now that not only our mileage may vary, but our fuel cost may vary as well?

So that's my advice to the EPA, and my comment as well. Keep it simple, leave the grades off, and be careful about the energy cost assumptions.

Help Name Ford's Iguana

Ford Motor is doing a Facebook poll to pick a name for their stow-away iguana.  I like "Henry" myself, for political reasons.

Link to poll: http://www.facebook.com/ford/posts/154449744566760

Illegal Immigrant Hides In Parts Shipment

I thought this was cute--an iguana managed to make it from southern Mexico to Ford's transmission plant in Sterling Heights, MI, hiding in a parts shipment. He's at the Detroit Zoo now.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/maynards-garage/2010/aug/25/new-ford-iguana/

Pre-Cruise Friday Part 5: Best In Show

This, in my opinion, is the most beautiful vehicle at the Dream Cruise. Not because it has been restored to such great shape--though it has--but because of what it represents. This truck was restored to serve as a hearse for fallen firefighters who are being escorted to their last call. It was a work of love, funded by charity.

The place of the hero.

Click on the photo to read the whole story

Pre-Cruise Friday Part 5: Emergency Vehicle Alley

The police and fire departments had a really neat display of emergency vehicles, right down the street from all the Mustangs. This was my favorite area of the Cruise so far.

Old school vehicles.

The "meat wagon", a Vietnam era ambulance.

Inside the meat wagon

This Troy Police car was built with funds siezed in drug raids.

Watering the kids.

Paddy wagons, old and new.

Pre-Cruise Friday Part 4: Ferndale Stryker

The U.S. Army's TACOM set up this Stryker vehicle on the median in Ferndale. Several TACOM employees were there to answer questions. I asked about IED survivability, and they explained that while the Stryker was designed before the Iraq and Afghan wars, and was not equipped to handle roadside bombs, they are retrofitting them with a thick aluminum underhull, offset from the main hull, which can help absorb the blast energy. The next generation will be designed with a "double V" hull.

A large vehicle, it was designed to fit inside of military transport planes.

It looks light and airy, but actually there isn't a ton of room inside. The gunner sits below the gun (to the right and behind of the driver) and can control it remotely while looking through periscope prisms and a camera screen. The driver space looked tight.

Pre-Cruise Friday Part 3: Ford in Ferndale

Next I headed south to Ferndale, where Ford has set up "Mustang Alley".

This Dewalt Superduty concept was pretty neat, and it was the only vehicle I saw at the Cruise that could probably cut itself up into little pieces.

Police Mustang (the strobes are flashing, but it is hard to see)

CSI Transit, lots of room for "samples"

Mustang Alley

A mockup of the Taurus Police car. I don't think it is the real thing, because it didn't have any kit inside of it, and had a console shifter.

Not content to let Chrysler show off too much, Ford also brought a monster truck, but no crushed import under this one.

The new Boss 302

More views of The Boss

The new Ford Explorer was there. I though it looked good, if a bit like the GMC Acadia. The rear glass does not appear to open, and neither do the rear quarter windows, a departure from the 2010 Explorer.

Moving on...