Category: EVs

Much has been made of the Tesla Model S P85D (all wheel drive, 691 hp, 0-60 in 3.2 seconds and still seats 5 people) being compared to the sports cars of the day, such as the Verge making play with the Ferrari F12berlinetta.

Apparently there are still cars that can beat the Tesla in a drag race?

But no-one was really mooting the comparison. The videos on YouTube really show the Tesla showing off immediate acceleration and the video on The Verge is no different.

The Tesla plainly moves quicker from a standing start and it takes a few seconds for the 2 seater Supercar to overtake it. In a Bond movie, the F12 would be behind because due to the laws of scriptwriting, the road would have narrowed.

There’s also the issue that to achieve that sort of acceleration, the F12 has to be handled by an expert driver and it’s conceivable that multiple takes are needed to get the best possible result out of the supercars. The Tesla could be operated by my Mum (who is a confident but cautious driver). Just push the pedal and feel the seat leather envelop you.

No-one is really claiming the Tesla Model S, laden down with 5 seats and a roomy trunk, can beat an Italian-designed 2 seat supercar that costs 3 times as much. But the video shows that the Tesla has one great strength in being first away from the lights every time.

This week has been somewhat serendipitous because while I was thinking about what needs to be on the dashboard of a modern car, I discovered ustwo came out with a video that shows some of their thoughts in this regard. (Note: they actually published this stuff last summer)

They also have a five part blog post about it here.

John Leech, @KPMG, head of automotive “£100m investment in developing driverless cars will be warmly received by the automotive industry”

— Transport community (@transportktn) March 19, 2015

Some people will view the release of driverless cars as a new step in the eventual progress of humanity while others will be horrified. Some people value the freedom a car brings while others love the mastery of the machine.

I would have to say my only real concern is that I’ve seen the software that most developers write and while that’s fine for apps and games and even trains that are restricted to rails, having them on roads is a different challenge. And we haven’t yet established whether the Google Car will interface with the Apple iCar or whether the latter will “Go Thermonuclear”. And I’m only half-joking.

Billions will be spent developing better intelligence in cars and every company will end up re-inventing the wheel again and again as they approach their end goal. Investment from governments will need to be made in homologation of car intelligence and not just in wheels, suspension and other controls. Some manufacturers will wait and just license the Google Car software which, on the face of it, is probably smarter.

But driverless cars will bring about a huge reduction in the number of cars required on the roads. A family may ‘subscribe’ to a car service rather than owning a car (which is just one step further than today’s hire-purchase leasing). Most of us don’t need a car to sit idle outside our house at night and idle outside our workplace during the day – our car can be out helping pensioners get their shopping or driving government workers to perform site inspections while still managing to be outside at 5:30 to drive us home. And there will be a knock-on effect on the ‘taxi’ industry.

The interesting point though is that I foresee a singularity in this sector. At some point, probably twenty years after the first commercial release, there will be a sufficient mass of intelligent cars for governments to ban human driving from public roads. By that time no-one will be producing ‘feature cars’ in any volume and no-one outside of specialist collectors will even own them.

(Copyright Shai Agassi, care of TED)

Unlike oil, electric-based miles will follow Moore’s Law. With oil, we are subject to the uncertainties of the market, to the potential disruptions caused by unrest, the action of cartels and the varying taxation of governments.

The idea that energy is actually abundant is revolutionary. Our entire economy is based on energy-scarcity; we use it to power our gadgets, move around in cars, gather, clean and cook our food, light our nights and hear our homes. The idea of abundant energy is disruptive and we can take control.

Disruption in three stages.

1. Efficiency – take control of your environment. Stop lighting rooms that are unoccupied. I’ve considered just throwing the master switch on the junction box as the last thing I do before bed. It’s an extreme but it’s not unreasonable. And upgrade your light bulbs and your computers to take advantages of new lower power technology.

2. Renewables – get on the bandwagon. Start with micro generation and work on growing it. If you’re not in a sunny area, put up a wind turbine. See if your external lights can be powered by the wind alone.

3. Software – we can do some magnificent things with software. Maybe we can use it to turn off lights or power down plasma screens or even to just boil exactly the amount of water we need for a cuppa.