Over the years I have been covering electric vehicles, I’ve seen several companies attempt to add value to EVs by using swappable battery packs.
The idea is that if charging takes longer than refueling a tank of gas, we could just swap a battery pack for a fully charged one.
A startup called Better Place built its entire business model around it and went bankrupt.
As we head into summer, it’s hard not to think about traveling. Not only it is the traditional season for vacations, but we’ve also been cooped up inside for months and most of us are probably itching to explore something new. Of course, given that we’re in the middle of a global pandemic where travel—especially by plane—isn’t a great idea, planning a trip may be more fantasy than reality these days. Either way, you may be curious about which countries have opened up to tourists. If so, an interactive map put out by the International Airline Transportation Association is a great tool.
This tall and narrow battery-powered vehicle made in China by Changli isn’t really a car, but it will get you places and it’s extremely cheap.
FCA’s commercial vehicle arm Fiat Professional presents the production version of its all-electric Ducato van, the Fiat E-Ducato, a year after the first prototype was shown in mid-2019. It will be the first electric Ducato in the 39-year history of the model.
It’s expected to enter the European market within the next few months, starting from selected countries, and will be available in all body variants, offering a payload of up to 1,950 kg and load volume from 10 to 17 m3.
Segway’s S-Pod makes WALL-E’s hoverchair a reality.
Credit: Segway
#Tesla #AI
Featured image: Tesla
Tesla has managed to attract the best artificial intelligence specialists to its Autopilot team who are committed to developing software that makes full self-driving possible. The company recently published two patents that relate to improvements in this area.
Tesla Filed Patent ‘Enhanced object detection for autonomous vehicles based on field view’ https://www.tesmanian.com/blogs/tesmanian-blog/patent-enhanc…um=twitter pic.twitter.com/IU6tdaOlH7 — Tesmanian.com (@Tesmanian_com) June 5, 2020
While it probably won’t make it to your dining table, a new scientific achievement might be able to help in everything from radar equipment to electric cars: scientists have been able to form salt, aka sodium chloride (NaCl), in a hexagonal shape.
This is work done at the smallest of scales, with researchers able to get a thin film of hexagonal salt to form on top of a layer of diamond, due to the chemical interaction of both film and diamond substrate – something the team actually predicted would happen in advance through simulations.
It’s the latest in a series of discoveries where scientists have been able to synthesise 2D materials with unusual crystal structures, and it’s partly this self-imposed restriction to two dimensions that is enabling new and exotic structures to be formed.
A couple of months ago I introduced you to a UK company that converts classic cars to electric propulsion. The company, named eDub Services, was founded by a young man named Kit Lacey, and since my piece on his business, he and I have been in conversation about this fascinating field of entrepreneurship. I have an old Volvo 240 in my garage that one day will need an electric drivetrain for sure, so getting acquainted with someone like Kit is a good bet.
I talked to Kit about the concrete and chronological information on his rebuilds and how we could make it accessible for all of us curious about how such projects can be carried out. This series is the result, in Kit Lacey’s own words. So let’s begin at the beginning.
It all started with a road trip. All the best ideas do, in my opinion. Driving down the A1 with my mum in the driver’s seat and my wife in the back. The year is 2013. “How hard would it be to convert a camper van to electric?” I ask my mum. “Not too hard,” she replied. … Maybe a strange question to ask, but there is some context.
Kitty Hawk is shutting down its Flyer program, the aviation startup’s inaugural moonshot to develop an ultralight electric flying car designed for anyone to use.
The company, backed by Google co-founder Larry Page and led by Sebastian Thrun, said it’s now focused on scaling up Heaviside, a sleeker, more capable (once secret) electric aircraft that is quiet, fast and can fly and land anywhere autonomously.
Kitty Hawk is laying off most of Flyer’s 70-person team, TechCrunch learned. A few employees will be brought over to work on Heaviside, according to the company. Those who are laid off will receive at least 20 weeks of pay, plus tenure, depending on how long they were with the company. Former workers will also receive their annual bonus and have their health insurance covered through the end of the year. The company said it will set up placement services to help people find employment.