The combination of interstellar radiation and the earth's magnetic field created some amazing light shows over northern Michigan last night
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John Voelker takes a good look at the so-called "reporting" on Fisker and its DoE loans since last week. The trigger for all this was the release of the EPA efficiency estimates for the Karma, Fisker's first product which I wrote about at the time.
https://plus.google.com/114133424228405038490/posts/fKBxFpZ51sq
In short, while the Karma's numbers are disappointing, any criticism of the ATVM program (the DoE low interest loan program) because the Karma is assembled in Finland is disingenuous. Fisker always planned to have the Karma assembled in Finland by contract builder Valmet. The bulk of the loan money was meant for development and production of the second Fisker model which should eventually emerge from a former GM plant in Delaware. Check out John's story for more.
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Fisker's Federal Fiasco: Loans, 20-MPG Electric Cars, Shoddy Reporting
Today, if the news cycle cooperates, ABC News will air a segment on its Nightline program that looks at Fisker Automotive–makers of the 2012 Karma plug-in luxury sport sedan–and the low-interest loa…
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After a limited launch in just a handful of markets late last year, the Chevy Volt will be available nationwide by the end of this year.
The Volt is the world's first production electric vehicle with extended range capability but it's a very complex vehicle that may or may not be the best choice for everyone.
Throughout the development of the Volt from early 2007 to late 2010, I wrote about the technology and the people developing it for AutoblogGreen and Autoblog. I recently compiled those articles into an e-book called Recharging the Car. The book is now available at a reduced price on the Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook and Apple iBooks stores. http://rechargingthecar.abuelsamid.com/
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Amazon.com: Recharging the Car eBook: Sam Abuelsamid: Kindle Store
Amazon.com: Recharging the Car eBook: Sam Abuelsamid: Kindle Store
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Given what a "huge roaring success" both the BMW X6 and Acura ZDX have been, I'm stumped as to why Mercedes-Benz, Audi and probably others are all working on similar competitors.
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Mercedes investing $350 million to produce BMW X6 competitor in Alabama | egmCarTech
Mercedes investing $350 million to produce BMW X6 competitor in Alabama. Posted: Oct 21, 2011. Email 1 Comment. 2012 Mercedes-Benz M Class. Mercedes-Benz is planning to produce a fifth model at its Va…
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In the 1994 interview clip below where he discusses the Macintosh, Steve Jobs quotes the line from Picasso where he says "Good artists copy, great artists steal." Jobs then goes on to say, that "we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas."
As I said in a previous post about Jobs being one of the great leaders of our time, virtually none of the great products of his career were done first by Apple or Pixar or Next. Jobs just applied his sense of style to edit and refine.
Apparently Jobs only believed that permission to steal ideas applied to him. In a widely reported quote from the authorized Walter Isaacson biography that will be released on Monday, Jobs lays into Android
"“I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”
The iPhone is a great product but it's not perfect and Jobs attitude toward Android is deplorable. We can only hope that Tim Cook sees the stupidity in this approach and finally backs down on this ridiculous patent war.
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Occupy Wall Street explained by Calvin and Hobbes #OWS
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Decades Old Calvin and Hobbes Strip Succinctly Explains Occupy Wall Street Movement
You could probably learn everything there is in life from Calvin and Hobbes. [via reddit] Related: The Multiple Flavors of The Sly Oyster
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Here's an interview I did with Henrik Fisker at the Detroit Auto Show a couple of years ago. In the interview he discusses using a battery from a company called Advanced Lithium Power, but that subsequently ending up going with energy storage from A123 Systems.
http://www.greenfuelsforecast.com/ArticleDetails.php?articleID=680
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However, ever since I began writing about it in late 2007, I was always skeptical about whether it actually reach production. Numerous other plug-in vehicles like the Phoenix SUT and Aptera 2e have succumbed to the realities of trying to launch a new carmaker. Even Tesla struggled with the launch of the Roadster and the Model S will be at least two years late to market and the company has never had a profitable quarter.
Much to my surprise the Karma is now trickling out the Valmet factory in Finland although it too is late. As of today, Fisker can even legally sell it in the United States after having received it fuel economy and emissions certification from the EPA.
Just as the final label fuel economy values of Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf remained a mystery right up until they got EPA approval, the same is true of the Karma. In a release published by Fisker today, the numbers came up well short of what the startup has been bragging about for the past several years.
Instead of the claimed 50 mile electric range, the 20 kWh lithium ion battery is only rated for 32 miles per charge. Now that the EPA has settled on a procedure for estimating electric driving range, this drop was to be expected.
Plug-ins like the Karma, Volt, Leaf and the upcoming Prius PHEV are tested on the various drive cycles with a full charge and then recharged to determine how much electricity was consumed. The electrical consumption is then extrapolated to determine total range and then factored down account for real world factors like using headlights, AC and traffic. Just as the Volt's range dropped from 40 miles to 35 and the Leaf from 100 miles to 73, the Karma will carry a label that rates it 32 miles per charge.
Of course real world range will vary tremendously based on factors like driving style and environmental conditions. A Volt can achieve somewhere around 25-27 miles in the depths of winter or easily get over 50 miles on a nice spring day. Getting 50 miles from a Karma under optimal conditions, shouldn't be too challenging.
Like the Volt, the Karma carries a gasoline engine to run a generator and maintain the charge once the plug-power is used up. However, unlike the Chevy ER-EV, the luxury sedan lacks some of the more interesting drivetrain tricks cooked up by the engineering team led by Larry Nitz, Pam Fletcher and Andrew Farah at the GM Tech Center. The Volt still manages to achieve 35 mpg city, 40 mpg highway and 37 mpg combined running on gas.
I give a much more detailed explanation of how the Volt works in my e-Book on the car's development. It's available on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005GY0SZC/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=samsthought-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B005GY0SZC&adid=01THG4PKP373YNMGVWC8& , B&N http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/charging-into-the-future-sam-abuelsamid/1104806909?ean=2940013095755&itm=1&usri=recharging%2bthe%2bcar and the iBooks store http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/recharging-the-car/id457122112?mt=11
The Karma only manages to squeeze 20 mpg out of every gallon of petrol. That's not bad for a big luxury car like this, but frankly not all that impressive considering all the hype. If you drive less than 40 miles a day (which covers about three-quarters of all driving in the US) and have somewhere to charge it regularly, you can get by with little or no gasoline use. But if you have a longer commute, there might be better options out there, although perhaps not as stylish.
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Newsroom – Fisker – Press Release
English. Deutsch. Italiano. Français. Español. ??. News. Press Releases. Auto Shows. Story Ideas. Research Room. Fisker in the News. Archived Search. Models. 2012 Karma. Concepts and Future Models. Mu…
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If a similar case came before the current US Supreme Court, how many here think that a similarly wise and well reasoned ruling would result?
Reshared post from +Bob Goyetche
"The internet cannot, in short, provide access to information without hyperlinks. Limiting their usefulness by subjecting them to the traditional publication rule would have the effect of seriously restricting the flow of information and, as a result, freedom of expression.."
Nice ! I know a few people this is too late to help, but it's nice to see it there now..
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Internet links not libel, top court rules – Politics – CBC News
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that hyperlinking to defamatory material on the internet is not the same as publishing the material itself.
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Reshared post from +John Pozadzides
Dear TSA,
In album Things That Make You Go… Hmmm! (141 photos)
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