Zero-Emissions, Fast, and now with a Backseat

Tesla Motors has unveiled the new Model S previously known as project WhiteStar. 520 orders have already been secured for the 120-mph, 5.6 to 60, $57,500, 7-seat sports sedan as the Tesla Roadster goes into full production with 300 delivered. Tesla's early years continue to be rocky, but successful delivery of the halo sportscar have encouraged the continued frenzy and fanfare. Tesla has been blessed with good press despite a falling out between co-founders Martin Eberhard and Elon Musk as well as a law-suit with upstart eco-lux car-maker rival Fisker. After introduction of the Roadster Sport option, Tesla has revealed detailed specifications for the Model S. The base Model S is available with a 160-mile range using the same lithium-ion battery pack tech, single-ratio transmission, and fully-electric driveline as the Roadster. The sedan can be charged in 45-min using a 480-volt outlet, but can also be charged using conventional 120 and 240-volt outlets. For those needing more range optional battery-packs providing 230 and 300 mi ranges are available as options. Depending on the battery option and outlet voltage full-charging takes no more than 5 hours. The battery-pack can also be swapped in as little as 5 minutes. All-wheel-drive will also be optional as well as a Sport model that increases top speed to 130-mph and quickens acceleration. Keeping with Tesla's performance-oriented brand character the Model S is advertised as providing sport sedan dynamics. When Tesla provides a press car we'll see whether it's a handler or not. Emphasis on utility for family buyers, the Model S seats 5 adults as well as 2 children in a third row. The compact drivetrain and body design allow for cavernous cargo capacity. There is station wagon rivaling space under the rear hatch and additional trunk space under the hood in the front. At $57,500 the car is placed well against a BMW 5-series, Jaguar XF, or Lexus GS and others in the mid-sized luxury sports sedan market. A Model S with a 300-mi range will be closer to $65,500 but all Tesla cars qualify for a $7500 federal tax credit taking the base model just south of $50,000 as initially reported more than a year ago. First deliveries are expected late in 2011, and Tesla is reportedly working on a smaller sedan in the $30,000 range.

Hitting the Ice Running

Fisker may or may not be a household name anytime soon. The Danish designer Henrik Fisker and co-founder, designer Bernhard Koehler, are doing their best to get the attention of world's luxury cognoscenti. In 2005, the two designers, whose work includes the current generation of Aston-Martin sportscars, started building special bodies for Mercedes SLs and BMW M6s. This art harks back to the European luxury automotive market of the early 20th Century when a customer would choose their prefered 'rolling' chassis from an auto-maker and then commission one of many coachbuilders to fashion bespoke bodywork. I saw a Fisker Tramanto (Mercedes-Benz SL) in an empty stand on the accessories floor at the '06 Paris Auto Show and thought it was beautiful, and a bit of a passing novelty.
Well now, Fisker has unveiled the Karma, a gasoline-electric hybrid with a collective 400-hp, and it's beautifully designed. It's a Trussardi shoe to the Prius's Easy Spirit, with the same difference in price. Unlike the Prius, which was launched with impeccable timing making it an instant 'brand name,' the Fisker is a very pretty and expensive new hybrid, a luxury option. Also, Fisker joined with Quantum Technologies which specializes in alternative energies, and partnered with GM to develop the Karma's plug-in powertrain that is similar to the one already in development for the Chevy Volt.
The bodywork will be manufactured in Uusikaupunki, Finland alongside the Porsche Boxter and Cayman. The Karma is priced and powered to be an eco-chic alternative to a Maserati Quattroporte or BMW 7-series, as well as Tesla's much anticipated new sedan. From any angle the Fisker Karma is a very fast (0-62 in 5.8 sec.), and very economical (est. 100mpg and 300 mi. range) luxury sedan. Fisker estimates that a daily 50 mi. commute will require only one tank of gasoline per year. The Karma can go 50 mi. under electric power alone with a 10 year lithium-ion battery-pack life expectancy. Fisker hopes to sell around 15,000 cars annually worldwide, and has already secured over 1300 pre-recession orders for the Karma at $87,900. Fisker is also taking orders for the Karma S, a retractable-hard-top, two-seat luxury sportscar aimed directly at the Mercedes SL market. Those who placed an order upon the Karma's unveiling at Geneva in March of last year are expecting delivery in November which is not bad considering a factory-ordered Ferrari may not arrive for 24-36 months.

Light Bulb

Of a weekend I might visit a friend. A particular friend that likes tea and biscuits. When I am with this friend I enjoy tea and biscuits and lovely conversation. The mere mention of anything automotive in the presence of this friend launches us both into a frenzy of car talk. This phenomenon is a source of unending vexation for his wife and has been relegated to the front yard. So, to bring my blog back into the house allow me to say that I do have other interests. One of them being the art of living. The myriad possibilities of human life are indeed fascinating. From the Large Hadron Collider to the Secretary of State's choice of dress when visiting a drunken Japan. I do think this time in human history is exciting. There are many frightening things in the world, and many more exciting things that people are doing. I only wish I knew at this point where I was going and what I will be doing after leaving the nest of studenthood. I have found that the only truly rewarding human endeavors are the ones that involve helping another human being to have a better life. This is where I want to be going, be it making a better product, being involved in socially responsible decision making, or providing a better service. The relationships between business and government, government and other governments, accountability and honesty, as the world gets smaller these are relationships that get me going. Anyway, this is what happens when I should be sleeping.

So funny...

This is the best clip... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/7888971.stm

Hopelessly Addicted

There are some things in life that I feel I just cannott live without. One of them is coffee and the other is my car. But in recent years it seems that fast or large cars are the new smoking. My sister, who used to smoke and stopped in the 90s by the way, used to be all about the flash-glam sports car of the moment and now she drives a Smartcar. I am, however, not so easily moved by the winds of change. I don't have a complex about needing a really big engine like most American men my age, but I am addicted to a swift, well-engineered, refined and responsive performance car. Literally, it must perform in all areas well or I don't like it, and generally this makes it bad for the environment. The Prius, the Smartcar these are not options for me. I'm not saying they are not absolute technical and engineering marvels, but they don't handle.
I'm a consumer and it makes me feel better when I'm told my coffee is fair trade and is packaged in recycled paper, but I could just make it at home if I were more organized and didn't have to spend so much time in the car. So when I get myself together and start getting up early enough to make my own coffee and use my own washable cup before getting on a commuter train in the near future I'm sure I will still want a car. Which in this day and age is like saying, "oh I gave up smoking, but I'll have one on the weekend every now and again." That's why I'm glad there are companies like BMW that are working on giving me an alternative to fuel my dirty habit. I am especially fond of BMWs because I've owned several, and let me just say some very nice people drive BMWs. BMW has been working with hydrogen as an alternative fuel for as long as I can remember and have refined the technology to a system they say is production ready. They use a conventional combustion engine that runs on liquid hydrogen and emits nothing but water. The only problem is with the production of hydrogen. The same with the electric car, of which BMW has developed the very limited production Mini E, where does the electricity come from. Ethanol, biodiesel all the alternatives are problematic, but it will be interesting to see what happens in the next few years in this arena. Cars make people crazy. They make people homocidal, cause them to get divorced, get hidden in times of war, they can be incredibly evocative and historically significant pieces of art, a time-capsule, a manifestation of the drive of a culture or a source of national pride.

I consider the Tesla as the benchmark for a current real-world application of the electric car. It is quite expensive, but new technology always is. Mercedes-Benz sells quite a few SL roadsters (5,000 in the US alone) every year in the same price range. There is however, one fundamental problem with this product that makes it seem less than viable to replace an SL or a 911 cabrio as a boulevard cruiser. The manufacturers claim of 200 miles between charges seems to be a bit of a stretch. U.S. automotive magazines such as Motor Trend and BBC's Top Gear television program have tested the Tesla for the performance and found the range to be much less. Fast depletion of battery power stores is a problem with any electric car. If this problem were taken care of then electric could be a pheasable thing to do with the car industry, it may be the best bet. But then the fossil fuel dependance is just shifted to electricity production and the power grid. A world full of millions of cars plugged-in every night surely must be just as bad if not worse than tail-pipe emissions. So, it seems battery development is really the place to look. And it just so happens there has been a bit of a break-through in battery tech recently at Stanford. The replacement of carbon anodes in conventional lithium-ion batteries for silicon nanowire anodes produces 10 times the power. http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/nanowire-010908.html It seems to me that this has some indications for the auto industry. The Tesla Roadster literally uses laptop batteries, 6831 of them. The same carbon anode lithium-ion batteries are used in cell phones and iPods as well. They are all over the place, and this is a major improvement. Electric car motors are extremely simple, compact, light, and immensely powerful for their size. If the batteries were smaller and more powerful than we really would be getting somewhere. However, I don't know how this new battery translates into added miles out of a heavily loaded electric car motor or even if there are plans to use it this way. But there should be.

Sutainable Zoom-Zoom

A couple of interesting cars this week are the Mazda Kazamai and the Tata Nano. The Mazda Kazamai is a cross-over concept targeting the Russian compact SUV segment, and debuted at the Moscow International Auto Salon 2008. It's an evolution of Mazda's Nagare(flow)-themed designs seen at motorshows around the world for the last few years. The Taiki (Tokyo '07) is my favorite design of this theme. The Nagare design theme emphasizes aerodynamic-efficiency and coincides with Mazda's Sustainable Zoom-Zoom campaign which promises long-term focus on expanding efforts for environmentally-friendlier Mazda products. Mazda has been experimenting with hydrogen power and developed a hydrogen-electric hybrid that was shown in Tokyo with the Taiki. Mazda also has more experience than any other manufacturer with Wankel-rotary engines which emit less compared to conventional reciprocating piston engines due to higher outputs from small displacement.

The Tata Nano is new from India. Tata, formerly a truck maker, is a booming car business and purchased Jaguar and Land Rover from desperate Ford last year. That same year Ratan Tata unveiled his Nano in New Delhi. The Nano weighs 1300lbs. seats four and employs a 33-hp, 623cc 2-cylinder engine. The market for new cars in the developing world has car companies around the world frothing at the mouth and tripping over themselves for market shares. The Nano is very smart at 127,000 rupees($2600) people only ever able to afford motor-scooters could have the added safety of a car. If everyone in India wants a car why not an affordable, fuel-efficient, low-emissions vehicle.