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Volkswagen hires Apple executive for autonomous vehicle role

FILE PHOTO: Volkswagen logos are pictured during the media day of the Salao do Automovel International Auto Show in Sao Paulo, Brazil November 6, 2018. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) said on Wednesday it had hired an executive from Apple (AAPL.O) as a director responsible for technical development at its commercial vehicles… Continue reading Volkswagen hires Apple executive for autonomous vehicle role

Workers at General Motors's Canada plant hold work stoppage over closure

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Wind turbine inspection drones utilize machine vision for consistent results

Industrial wind turbine towers can reach as high as over 400 feet, making inspection of turbine blades hazardous for human operators. Thanks to machine vision and the utility of UAVstfqtcfzufeetdqxzvszbusttvayruauftbfs, these risks can be eliminated completely. [Native Advertisement] SkySpecs, headquartered in Ann Arbor, MI, USA and Amsterdam, Netherlands, offers fully-automated drone inspections of wind turbines.… Continue reading Wind turbine inspection drones utilize machine vision for consistent results

Carmakers temper their enthusiasm for driverless technology

Shift in mood at Consumer Electronics Show as groups grow wary of ‘Level 3’ autonomy Go to Source

One-step Plug&Charge coming to (Electrify) America

Chevrolet Bolt charging at Electrify America 350 kw charger at Home Depot in Chicopee, Mass.
It's easy to plug in an electric car. What trips up many new electric-car drivers is paying to charge.

At some charging stations, drivers pay by the kilowatt-hour. At others, they pay for the time they park their car in the space, or pay a base rate for parking plus a smaller amount for the charge. Some charging stations take credit cards. Others can only be activated with a special RFID tag associated with an account on a particular network.

Electrify America thinks it has a better way. It calls it Plug&Charge.

READ THIS: Blink charging network joins interoperability push

In partnership with European charging systems integrator Hubject, Electrify America is enabling Plug&Charge on all its public charging stations in the U.S.

It makes public chargers—both standard Level 2 chargers and Level 3 DC fast chargers—work like the home chargers that most electric-car drivers have in their garages: Just plug in the power cord and it starts charging.

Expanded communication between the car and the charger—already taking place for safety reasons—transmits payment information as well as details about the car, its battery, and such information as when the driver needs the car to be fully charged for a return trip.

DON'T MISS: California approves next Electrify America fast-charge rollout

The communications are based on an international standard known as ISO 15118, which is considered the first step in enabling vehicle-to-grid communication. V2G is expected to allow drivers to set parameters such as prices at which they want to charge and what sources of power they wish to purchase, for example, such as solar, all renewables, or any type of power. (This could work similarly to distributed energy suppliers in people's homes.)

Drivers store whatever payment information they plan to use, such as a credit card number in their car's communication system or link the car to a universal payment app.

CHECK OUT: ChargePoint users can now access networks in Canada, Europe

V2G is expected eventually to allow charged (and even partially charged) electric cars to return power to the power grid to help supply peak loads. This is expected to help reduce demand for power from electric utilities and help them become more efficient.

So far, few electric cars on the road today are compliant with ISO 15118, but more models are coming that will have this capability built in. More cars are coming, however, and Hubject, Electrify America, and other charging station operators want to be ready.

Electrify America says it will have 2,000 charging locations ready to work with Plug&Charge by the end of 2019.

Tesla’s Software-First Approach Foreshadows The Future Of Cars

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Published on January 6th, 2019 |

by Guest Contributor

Tesla’s Software-First Approach Foreshadows The Future Of Cars

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January 6th, 2019 by Guest Contributor

Originally published on EVANNEX.
By Charles Morris

Everyone knows that Tesla is an innovative company, and almost everyone knows that its cars don’t need gasoline. But as Lou Steinberg points out in a recent article entitled “Some of the Greatest Innovations are not What You Think,” electrification is not Tesla’s only innovation, and when it comes to competing in the global auto market, it may not even be the most important.

Tesla’s center stack touchscreen display in the Model S (Image: Tesla)

In Steinberg’s view, Tesla’s most important innovations stem from the fact that it’s the first company to approach cars the Silicon Valley way: as a software problem. Steinberg perceived the power of “tin wrapped software” as the CTO of Symbol Technologies. “Symbol built hardware, but was able to use software to tune how it worked in different environments. Flexible software meant that the hardware behaved one way in a hospital (long-battery life for a 12-hour shift) and another way in a retail store (higher-power radios to overcome dead zones).”

“I bought the Model S because it was the first time I had ever seen someone treat a car as a software problem,” Steinberg writes. Sure, modern cars are full of software, but their builders are hardware companies, and automotive hardware is a mature market with few opportunities to disrupt, or even to differentiate their products.

Tesla has changed everything — for the first time, a car can improve itself over time via software upgrades. “Aside from navigation maps, all of my cars [he has owned many] had features that were largely fixed on the day they left the factory,” says Steinberg. “Not my Tesla. Every month, it gets software updates that make it better. It learned how to park. Then it learned how to do it better. It opens my garage door when I come home. It improved its self-driving. It improved the stereo. It added anti-theft features. After one year, my car is safer and better to drive than the day I bought it. My Tesla driving experience keeps improving through patches and updates.”

Tesla owner describes why he loves the car’s software updates: “It’s the feeling that your car is always new.” (YouTube: Tesla)

Steinberg vows never again to buy “a car whose capabilities are frozen in time,” and once they’ve experienced the ever-improving Tesla ownership experience, most drivers probably feel the same.

Another important but overlooked innovation that the Sages of Silicon Valley have made is to free up constrained resources. The Tesla Rangers — mobile teams that perform minor service at customer locations — provide an example. Why are the Rangers such an innovation? Because they free up resources at service centers. “The most constrained real estate at a service center is in the service bays,” Steinberg writes. “You can hire more technicians if demand increases, but the service bays are a big capital investment that can’t be flexed up and down. The second most valuable real estate at a showroom is in the parking lot. You can fill it with cars to sell, but only if you don’t have a lot of cars you already sold taking up space while waiting for a service bay to become available. Cars waiting for service, especially warranty service, crowd out cars that are ready to be sold and delivered. Add to this the fact that many owners will ask for a loaner car, and you need a fleet of loaners. It all costs money.”

Thus, the Tesla Rangers represent not just a convenience for customers (though they certainly are that), but also “a way to optimize constrained resources and save capital. It frees up the parking lots to sell and deliver cars.”

And the third and greatest innovation of all? Tesla isn’t selling just cars. There’s a saying in the software business: “People don’t buy software, they buy a roadmap.” In other words, customers, especially large companies, don’t buy software based only on what it can do today, but based on their confidence that it will continue to get better and keep up with future needs. Once you conceive of a car as software, the capabilities you can offer to customers are almost unlimited.

Tesla uses the phone as a “key” for the Model 3 (Image via Tesla)

“Tesla isn’t limited to promoting the current features,” writes Steinberg. “Tesla and Musk are either lauded for offering a vision or panned for over-promising, but they offer a glimpse of what your car will be able to do in the future. Not another car you have to purchase again…the very same car you buy today. My car knows how to park, and will someday have full autonomous driving. Why shouldn’t it drop me off in front of the store and then find a parking space on its own?”

Many stock market observers believe that the high valuation of TSLA stock has a lot to do with investors’ belief that the company will someday offer full self-driving capability, an innovation that could have even greater implications for mobility and society than electrification. And it’s not just the stock price. A Mercedes or a BMW is a great automobile, but once you buy it, it’s going to be the same vehicle you bought until the day you sell it. If, instead, you could have a machine that’s going to get better and better, and eventually be able to drive itself, how much more would you be willing to pay?

“By treating cars as software, and constantly pushing updates, Tesla can command a premium price today by selling the roadmap,” concludes Steinberg. “Other manufacturers may innovate incrementally, but as the character ‘bored Elon Musk’ once tweeted, ‘Incremental innovation is really just adjusting for inflation.’”

About the Author

Guest Contributor is many, many people. We publish a number of guest posts from experts in a large variety of fields. This is our contributor account for those special people. 😀

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The “Tesla Stretch” — Proving Car Buyers Will Pay More For A Tesla Model 3

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Published on January 9th, 2019 |

by Matt Pressman

The “Tesla Stretch” — Proving Car Buyers Will Pay More For A Tesla Model 3

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January 9th, 2019 by Matt Pressman

Originally published on EVANNEX.

The Tesla Model 3 is turning out to be an electric car that’s seducing car buyers across multiple market segments. According to a CleanTechnica report, “45% of current electric car drivers plan to buy a Tesla next.” Okay, that’s understandable. Non-Tesla EV drivers might be interested in a Tesla. That said, it’s extraordinary how many gas-powered car owners, from vastly different auto segments, are transitioning to Teslas.

Tesla Model 3 (Photo by Zach Shahan, CleanTechnica)

Bloomberg reports, “When Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk first revealed the Model 3 at a late-night party in March 2016, the vehicle was expected to compete in the premium sedan market against the likes of Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes. Instead, owners of mass market cars like the Honda Accord and Toyota Prius are opening their wallets for the sedan, signaling that the vehicle is pushing Tesla beyond its luxury niche and more into the mainstream.” Buyers are also coming from the BMW 3 Series, and surely other luxury cars, but luxury car sales are not down much and Tesla appears to be pulling much more from lower classes.

“For Earl Banning, getting behind the wheel of a Tesla meant spending more than he ever had on a car. The 43-year-old Air Force neuropsychologist from Dayton, Ohio, ponied up $54,000 for a Model 3, figuring he would save on gas and keep the car for a long time. It was almost double what he had previously paid for a fully loaded Honda Accord,” reports Bloomberg.

The most common cars traded in for a Model 3 according to Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk (Chart by Bloomberg)

Banning says, “I call it the Tesla Stretch — everyone I’ve met who owns a Model 3 is willing to spend more to get into a Model 3.” For example, a former Nissan Altima owner, 36-year-old Eric Snapat, spent nearly $60,000 on his new Tesla. And 26-year-old Robert Preston actually charges $155 a day to rent out his Tesla on Turo to help pay for his new Model 3. “Every weekend I have someone renting it,” Preston said.

“Tesla recently said that more than half the trade-ins for the Model 3 were from vehicles priced below $35,000. And there are signs that the sedan’s popularity is adding [some] pressure on rival carmakers. … In October, sales of cars such as the Accord and Prius continued to slip as deliveries of the Model 3 ramped up,” according to Bloomberg.

⇒ Related: Honda Accord Sales & Civic Sales Drop 80,000 In 2018

A Tesla Model 3 charging in Florida. (Photo by Zach Shahan, CleanTechnica)

“Tesla has captured lightning in a bottle,” said Jeremy Acevedo, manager of industry analysis at researcher Edmunds. “It’s hard to even benchmark the Model 3 against other cars because it’s broken the mold in so many ways.”

⇒ Tesla Model 3 = Lightning, Model Y = Thunder

About the Author

Matt Pressman is all about Tesla. He’s a TSLA investor, pre-ordered the Model 3, and loves driving the family's Model S and Model X company cars. As co-founder of EVANNEX, a family business specializing in aftermarket Tesla accessories, he’s served as a contributor/editor of Electric Vehicle University (EVU) and the Owning Model S and Getting Ready for Model 3 books. He writes daily about Tesla and you can follow his work on the EVANNEX blog.

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China car sales see first drop for 20 years

Car sales in China, the world’s biggest vehicle market, have seen their first annual fall in twenty years. Sales fell 6% to 22.7 million units in 2018, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). The deceleration comes amid a slowdown in China’s economy which has hit performance at car manufacturers around the world. The… Continue reading China car sales see first drop for 20 years

WLTP causes ‘wide variance’ in dealers’ financial performance

The new WLTP rules impacted that came into force in Q3 impacted the market in November with wide variances in performance between franchises. According to dealer profitability specialist ASE November 2017 was a poor month, with retailers clocking up record losses as they coped with the cooling market. “This has not been replicated in 2018,… Continue reading WLTP causes ‘wide variance’ in dealers’ financial performance

China Digest: 360 Enterprise closes $132m Series B; LiDAR maker Benewake raises funds

January 9, 2019 China’s internet security firm 360 Enterprise Security Group has completed a $131.2-million Series B round while LiDAR-maker Benewake also announced its Series B2 financing. 360 Enterprise closes $132m Series B 360 Enterprise Security Group, a Chinese B2B internet security software provider, has closed a Series B financing round worth 900 million yuan… Continue reading China Digest: 360 Enterprise closes $132m Series B; LiDAR maker Benewake raises funds