BMW says it is planning to make plug-in hybrid electric versions of every car they build, following the BMW i3 and BMW i8 with a plug-in hybrid version of the newly revamped BMW X5 SUV. Speaking at the Australian launch of the BMW X5 this week, BMW’s head of production…
At first blush it seems ludicrous to think GM would be afraid of Tesla Motors. GM manufactures a zillion vehicles a year, has operations in dozens of countries, and a long history of automobile and truck manufacturing. But, in an interview with the Detroit News last week, it seems that…
Nissan as well as Tesla Motors is pledging to develop autonomous driving. In Nissan’s case the pledge is to develop a “commercially viable” autonomous driving system by 2020 and to marry this with their pledge for zero emissions. The two pledges together are “zero emissions” and “zero fatalities”. The technology…
As I noted a couple weeks ago, Tesla Motors is looking to hire engineers to develop automated driving features for their cars. That was based on finding a job posting that flat out said, Tesla looking to develop autonomous driving. Since then the job posting caught the attention of the…
Tesla Motors recently filed for a patent on a hybrid battery pack design that enables joining metal-air and lithium-ion battery cells into one battery pack, to implement a much larger total energy capacity and therefore a longer driving range. The idea is “just” a patent at this moment, and metal-air…
It’s been a long time since Americans have thought of Farmers Markets as a normal way to buy food. On my recent trip to Eastern Europe I had the chance to experience Farmers Markets in a different way, with huge market operations that are open every day as opposed to…
The ShootOut at the Bonneville Salt Flats is officially canceled ..per.. Post by KillaCycle Racing.
KillaCycle Racing has posted a few more pictures and statements. The short story is, that while the rain has let up the organizers will decide on Monday whether to cancel the event. Post by KillaCycle Racing. Post by KillaCycle Racing. Post by KillaCycle Racing.
In early August I noticed a job listing on Tesla’s Careers area looking for RADAR expertise in the kind of systems (LIDAR etc) used in autonomous vehicles. Now the company is flat out looking for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) Controls Engineer to develop fully autonomous driving. I’ve written up…
The Scion iQ EV exists after all, and is going to be used in a car sharing program in Pleasanton CA. A few days ago I’d asked whether Toyota is going to be canceling its electric vehicle programs, thanks to a press release playing up their hybrid cars, portraying fuel…
Drayson Racing and Qualcomm Halo have signed a deal to “include Qualcomm Halo WEVC technology in [Drayson]’s products.” Hurm, I didn’t know Drayson Racing had products, I just thought they were a racing team. In any case the press release says that Drayson Racing will be able to “make and…
KillaCycle Racing is back at the Bonneville Salt Flats for “Mike Cook’s ShootOut”. Racing was originally scheduled to start on Friday ..but.. heck Eva wrote it pretty well, so rather than rephrase it, I’ll paste it in here. I will note that, as Eva says, Drayson Racing is there as…
Shane Turpin, Empulse RR, Laguna Seca, 2013 eRoadRacing The gauntlet is thrown – let’s see if Formula E will pick it up. Brammo, the electric motorcycle company whose electric race bike, the Empulse RR, is among the top tier of electric superbikes, posted this on Facebook this morning: Spark-Renault SRT_01E…
A significant demonstration of electric vehicles at a charging station interacting with smart grid protocols was just made, showing significant vehicle-to-grid (V2G) capabilities. First – it’s talking about a new DC fast charging station that uses the SAE Combo Charging system a.k.a. SAE DC Fast charge. This is the newer…
Hydraulic Fracturing is what’s allowing us to keep the game of modern civilization going for a while longer without fearing the effects of Peak Oil. Fracing (a.k.a. Fracking) has made it possible to tap otherwise uneconomical oil and natural gas supplies and get fossil fuels out of them. Without Fracing…
