Tesla – Page 2671 – I wish I had more to offer

Tesla is finally starting to expand rollout of new Supercharger V3 stations

Tesla is finally starting to expand the rollout of its new more powerful Supercharger V3 stations a few months after unveiling the latest generation of its fast-charging stations. Back in March, Tesla launched Supercharger V3, which can deliver a burst of power up to 250 kW to Model 3 vehicles. The new technology has the… Continue reading Tesla is finally starting to expand rollout of new Supercharger V3 stations

Tesla: robocall

More cash will be required to raise production and to fund its ambitious projects Go to Source

Quadric.io raises $15M to build a plug-and-play supercomputer for autonomous systems

Quadric.io, a startup founded by some of the folks behind the once-secretive bitcoin mining operation “21E6,” has raised $15 million in a Series A round that will fund the development of a supercomputer designed for autonomous systems. The round was led by automotive Tier 1 supplier DENSO and its semiconductor products arm NSITEXE, which will also… Continue reading Quadric.io raises $15M to build a plug-and-play supercomputer for autonomous systems

Tesla Model Y Not A Crossover, But A Tall Sedan: Says Designer

As we all know, the lines between vehicle classes are completely blurred these days. While the Tesla Model 3 may be the best thing that ever happened to Tesla, the new American automaker is still struggling, as expected. Perhaps a small crossover or even a pickup truck should have come first? We ask this since… Continue reading Tesla Model Y Not A Crossover, But A Tall Sedan: Says Designer

GM says most new vehicles to get over-the-air upgrade tech by 2023

The General Motors logo is seen outside its headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan in this file photograph taken August 25, 2009. REUTERS/Jeff Kowalsky/Files DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors Co said on Monday most of its global models will be capable of over-the-air software upgrades by 2023, as the automaker rolls out new… Continue reading GM says most new vehicles to get over-the-air upgrade tech by 2023

Hyundai system purifies cabin air, raises awareness about pollution levels

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Hyundai Smart Air Purification system
As virtuous as one might be in choosing a vehicle that doesn’t produce tailpipe emissions, there’s a hazy reality to traveling by car: That you’re stuck breathing emissions from other gasoline or diesel vehicles—especially fine particulate emissions, which are some of the most concerning for health and tend to linger within a few hundred feet of major roadways.

Hyundai Motor Group appears to have the right idea for those who don’t want to sniff others’ exhaust quite as much. Last week it revealed an intelligent Smart Air Purification system that monitors air quality in the cabin and operates a filtration system accordingly.

DON'T MISS: What are the 10 most polluted U.S. cities?

The system will even precondition your vehicle to clean up the cabin air before you enter, or automatically close the windows to speed up the purification process. “Combined with advanced filtering innovations, the technology can remove fine particulates before passengers enter the car, and purification of cabin air throughout a journey,” said the company, in a press release.

Hyundai Smart Air Purification system

It grades the air quality inside, from Poor, Fair, and Good to Excellent, and a display accessible through the infotainment screen shows a real-time 16-bar digital display. Quality is detected using a laser-based sensor that works independent of the fan or outside temperature, collecting 94 to 99 percent of fine particulates.

CHECK OUT: EPA panel questions health effects of air pollution

According to the EPA, exposure to fine particulates—those smaller than 2.5 micrometers (1/30th the width of a human hair)—are the main cause of visible air-pollution-related haze in the US, and they acidify lakes and streams, taint soil and groundwater, and contribute to acid rain. And according to the CDC, they can be inhaled deep into the lungs, where they can affect the hearts, lungs, and blood vessels, leading to higher rates of heart disease and heart attacks.

Larger particulate matter of less than 10 micrometers still might not be completely filtered out via a vehicle’s climate system and can aggravate asthma or cause other respiratory symptoms.

READ MORE: Why the future of electric cars depends on China's war on pollution

For example, four counties in California’s Los Angeles–South Coast Air Basin, with a combined population of 15.7 million, fall into the EPA’s Moderate risk category.

“Enabling our customers to breathe the cleanest air, even in highly-polluted areas, is a demonstration of how Hyundai Motor Group strives to care for its customers,” said YongSuk Shin, the lead of the Hyundai Motor Group engineering design team behind the feature.

Tesla Model X tested for fine particulates

The system, which hasn’t yet been announced for any of Hyundai’s vehicles—globally including the Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis brands—could be well received in China, where there’s growing concern over the health effects of pollution. Tesla has also offered a HEPA filtration system in the Model S and Model X [above], with the claimed capability to reduce pollution levels in the vehicle to “undetectable” levels and even to scrub the air immediately around the vehicle of fine particulates.

BYTON CEO Reveals M-Byte Electric SUV Skateboard Platform

BYTON’s M-Byte skateboard platform revealed. BYTON’s CEO Daniel Kirchert takes a little time off of running the company to record a video that show’s off the skateboard platform of Byton upcoming M-BYTE SUV. Kirchert explains that BYTON is about two months away from making their first prototypes of the production-version M-Byte, and that the skateboard… Continue reading BYTON CEO Reveals M-Byte Electric SUV Skateboard Platform

Tesla Begins Shipping Parts To Nearest Service Center When Vehicle Fault Is Detected

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Published on May 6th, 2019 |

by Kyle Field

Tesla Begins Shipping Parts To Nearest Service Center When Vehicle Fault Is Detected

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May 6th, 2019 by Kyle Field

Tesla’s Vehicles Self-Diagnose Then Self-Medicate When Faults Are Detected
Tesla will now start shipping any required parts to the nearest Service Center when the vehicle detects a fault, according to a tweet from the company earlier today.

Tesla has defied the norms and pains of many service center visits with its over-the-air diagnostic capabilities, but this takes that to the next level by eliminating the next barrier to getting the issue fixed. When an issue is detected by the in-car diagnostic system, a popup message appears in the car notifying the owner of the issue and requesting that they make an appointment at the nearest Tesla Service Center.

An unexpected condition has been detected with the Power Conversion System on your Model 3 & replacement part has been pre-shipped to your preferred Tesla Service Center. Please use your Tesla Mobile App or your Tesla Account to schedule a service visit appointment now.

Improving Service for owners continues to be a focal point for Tesla CEO Elon Musk as the number of Teslas roaming the roads of the world continues to grow at an exponential rate. Enabling vehicles to both self diagnose and to order any required parts gives Tesla that much more of an advantage in getting a jump on finding and shipping the parts needed for a repair.

Parts supply is an area that the company has historically, and to this day, continues to struggle with. Stories of owners waiting not just weeks, but upwards of nearly 6 months in some cases, for the required parts to arrive litter the internet. Seeing a story here and a story there about the issue makes it hard to put the scale of the problem into context, but there is enough evidence to make it clear that parts supply continues to be an opportunity for the company.

The new functionality is an impressive step towards the future that will require vehicles to be more self-aware as Tesla ramps up its preparations for its fully autonomous Tesla Network of robotaxis. These vehicles will need to know when they need service and be able to not only get the parts ordered, but also schedule their own service appointments without owner intervention.

In related news, Tesla’s twitter account has been given new life in the last few days, with a new bite of personality and responsiveness that has many wondering if the Securities and Exchange Commission’s restrictions on Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s tweets simply pushed him to use the company’s official Twitter account for his snide, snarky, insightful, playful tweets and replies. Oh, SEC, when will you learn? Don’t mess with the genius in the corner. Just leave him alone with his toys so he can get back to transforming the world for the better.

If you want to take advantage of my Tesla referral link to get 5,000 miles of free Supercharging on a Tesla Model S, Model X, or Model 3, here’s the link: http://ts.la/kyle623(if someone else helped you, please use their code instead of mine). You can also use it to get a new Tesla Solar system for your home.

About the Author

Kyle Field I'm a tech geek passionately in search of actionable ways to reduce the negative impact my life has on the planet, save money and reduce stress. Live intentionally, make conscious decisions, love more, act responsibly, play. The more you know, the less you need. TSLA investor.

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Correcting Audi: Tesla Model 3 Charges Over 2 Times Faster Than Audi e-tron

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Published on May 17th, 2019 |

by Guest Contributor

Correcting Audi: Tesla Model 3 Charges Over 2 Times Faster Than Audi e-tron

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May 17th, 2019 by Guest Contributor

The article was written by Simon Barke and Myles Clark. They each hold a PhD in physics, work for an international space mission at the University of Florida, and understand scientific data quite well.

Matthew Mostafaei, Audi’s manager for e-tron, presented data taken from Twitter during the New York Auto Show without naming the source. (That’s plagiarism.) The data was misrepresented by plotting it on a different axis. (That’s a falsification.) He then used the data to show the e-tron’s charging superiority over the Model 3, when it actually proves the opposite. (That’s deception.) You may call this good marketing. I call it a brazen lie. At best, it is a highly misleading accident.

A chart presented by Audi’s manager for e-tron and connected vehicles in the US, Matthew Mostafaei, made the rounds this week. During a New York International Auto Show presentation, he pointed out how much longer Audi’s new all-electric “e-tron” SUV can sustain a 150 kW charge rate. The point of the chart: in many situations, the e-tron charges faster at a 150 kW charger than a Tesla at the upcoming 250 kW “Supercharger V3.” And the faster you charge, the quicker you arrive. Right? No, not quite…

There is a lot of confusion about electric vehicles. Different test cycles, range, state of charge, efficiency, charging power, and charging rate. This lack of general knowledge helps companies make unsubstantiated claims about their cars.

I got on the phone with Mark Dahncke (Director, Product/Technology/Motorsports Communications of Audi USA) about this. He confirmed the source of the data and admitted that Audi never contacted or credited the original author. He further regretted that Audi (accidentally) falsified the underlying data. Although he was now denying that the presented chart implies that the e-tron can charge faster, he was still defending Audi’s basic claim that a high charging power helps you reach your destination faster. Oversimplified statements like these are not only purposefully misleading. They also add to general EV confusion, which is bad for everyone.

Let’s set the record straight, try to understand what Audi did, and find out what the data really shows. Below is the slide Audi showed during the New York Auto Show presentation. The chart shows the charging power (20 to 250 kW) of different electric vehicles over battery state of charge (0 to 100%). The first indication that something is terribly fishy here is the fact that the unspecified Tesla at a third-generation Supercharger starts charging at negative 1%. (The black line and red arrow/text was added by me.)

Audi got the data from Twitter — and did not know how to read it.

When I confronted Audi with the charges of plagiarism, I was told they used an image published by Electrek. However, Electrek is not the author of the data and instead itself names the original Twitter source. It was published 2 months ago by user “@privater” on Twitter (“u/privaterbok” on Reddit).

On reddit here.

Audi’s mysterious charging profile is a perfect match. What is striking, however, is that the data posted on Twitter was plotted on a non-equidistant horizontal axis. Notice that 28%, 30%, 40%, and 44% are spaced by the same distance on the chart while being different by 2%, 10%, and 4%, respectively. Audi blatantly ignored that, simply copied and pasted the v3 trace onto its traditional, equidistant axis, and stretched it arbitrarily so that it somehow worked with the rest of Audi’s chart. The company never cared to check the underlying data. No wonder they got confused to the point that their version now starts with the car in a negative state of charge!

Luckily, u/privaterbok used Reddit to post the original data in a spreadsheet. I managed to create a corrected version of Audi’s chart that also includes a new charging profile for the upgraded 150 kW Tesla Supercharger V2.

It is important to note that the 250 kW Supercharger system is still in a testing phase and further improvements are likely. Both Tesla charging profiles do not include any automated battery preheating, which will increase charge powers at low charge states. So, the Tesla charging profiles shown here can be seen as conservative. Anyhow, now that we have corrected data to work with, we can answer the question of what this data is actually telling us.

In its current form, it is purposefully misleading. Don’t get me wrong — it is very impressive that the e-tron can sustain a higher charging power at a higher battery state of charge. But does this help you get anywhere faster? Not without the range and efficiency to back it up it won’t…

Charging power is not charging speed!
First of all, we have to adjust the horizontal axis. Who cares about battery percentage? The important information for the driver is how far they can go before they need to fill up. The battery of a low-range vehicle does not get me anywhere, no matter if it is fully charged or not. For the Audi, a 100% state of charge corresponds to 204 miles (EPA test cycle). The Tesla data Audi copied from Twitter was measured from a Model 3 Long Range, hence I will correctly use 325 miles for a 100% state of charge. The chart above highlights the 40 mile and 200 mile range equivalents for the e-tron and the Tesla, so we can rescale the traces accordingly and plot the charging power over electric vehicle range.

This version of the chart is slightly less misleading, but we still have another step before this is a real apples-to-apples comparison. That step is to take into account how fast the vehicles actually charge in units that are more relevant in the real world. For that, we need to adjust the vertical axis to reflect charging speed (charge rate in miles per hour). This metric not only depends on the charging power but also on the efficiency of the vehicle. The more efficient a vehicle is, the more range you add for any given charging power.

The Model 3 Long Range maxes out at a ludicrous 1000 miles per hour at 250 kW charging power. This translates to close to 600 miles per hour at the 150 kW level. If you do the math, these values include a roughly 8% loss (mainly due to heat). If we assume the same 8% loss for charging the e-tron, the picture looks very different. Audi’s entry in the electric vehicle market peaks at just above 300 miles of range added per hour at the charger due to its inferior efficiency: it needs to charge a much larger battery which provides significantly less range than the Model 3’s much smaller battery.

Finally, we can directly compare the speed at which the two cars can charge. The area below the charging profile is directly related to the time it takes to add drivable range to the car. As an example, I picked a realistic remaining range of 40 miles before we begin charging. We then charge both cars to 200 miles (since the Audi can’t get beyond 204 miles). You can see in the chart above in the highlighted area between 40 and 200 miles: the larger this area, the faster the charge process will be to add 160 miles of range. So, in reality, the Audi e-tron charges way slower than the Tesla Model 3 even at the older generation Supercharger.

How long does it take to add 160 miles of range?
@privater, the Twitter user who published the original data, also posted the charts for range vs time while charging.

From these charts, we know for certain that it took 15 minutes to charge from 40 to 200 miles on the third-generation Supercharger. This would translate to roughly 21 minutes when charging the same car at a V2 Supercharger. And the e-tron? Well, if our charge rate estimates are correct, it would take 36 minutes for the e-tron to add 160 miles of range.

Can this be true? Turns out, our estimate is spot on. User “Elbil24” published a video on YouTube charging the e-tron from 1% to 99% at a 175 kW rapid charger. For this charging session, it took exactly 36.7 minutes to charge from 20% to 98% (which corresponds to 160 miles on the EPA test cycle).

So let’s go back to Audi’s headline: “quick to charge = quick to arrive.” This is true, but Audi forgot to mention that the e-tron’s real-world charging is discouragingly slow.

Tl;dr
Here is what you should take away from this article: do not trust anything published by the Volkswagen Group. After all the coverups from the past few years, it comes as no surprise that Audi keeps deceiving the public with falsified data and twisted arguments. Some companies never learn. I just hope customers finally will.

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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Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory Update — Unbelievable Progress Over A Single Month

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Published on May 7th, 2019 |

by Dr. Maximilian Holland

Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory Update — Unbelievable Progress Over A Single Month

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May 7th, 2019 by Dr. Maximilian Holland

In the latest aerial flyover video of the Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory, the main roof structure is now essentially complete, the walls along the east side of the main structure are also complete, and the rest is rapidly being finished. The progress over the past month has been spectacular, as we can see when comparing images over that time period.

Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory images courtesy of 烏瓦 and Jason Wang (see article text for links)

The above shots (click to zoom), both looking from south to north along the length of the Gigafactory site, come from an April 5th video by 烏瓦 and a 7th May aerial video by Jason Yang. It is stunning to see the speed of construction progress over essentially just a single month, scarcely believable were it not for the evidence of our own senses.

As can be seen in Jason’s full video (below), whilst there remains some construction work to be done on two taller structures at the north and south ends of the factory, the central body of the structure is now basically complete. The main roof is effectively in place (roof workers can be seen in the video, finishing up the last remaining small patches), the main east side wall is up (visible in the above shot), and the west side wall is near to completion.

It’s an amazing transformation from the build state just one month ago, when the structure was still in the early phases and the first few roof panels were just starting to be laid down.

Recall that the goal is to have the factory in a ready state to start pilot production runs sometime in September, with volume production beginning in the 4th quarter:

“It looks like we’ll reach volume production at the end of this year with, let’s say, more than 1,000 cars a week, maybe 2,000 from Shanghai Giga at the end of this year. That’s what it looks like to be the case right now. If it’s not at the end, it will be shortly thereafter.” Elon Musk, Q1 2019 Tesla earnings call

For those of you who want to marvel at what can be achieved over just a month, remind yourself of what the site looked like on 5th April, from the video by烏瓦 …

… and then watch Jason Yang’s latest video, dated 7th May:

About the Author

Dr. Maximilian Holland Max is an anthropologist, social theorist and international political economist, trying to ask questions and encourage critical thinking about social and environmental justice, sustainability and the human condition. He has lived and worked in Europe and Asia, and is currently based in Barcelona.

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