So this story is a little shocking. It turns out that if you let your Tesla’s battery fully discharge, it becomes essentially destroyed. At that point, the car is one large brick. Nothing will work: you won’t even be able to turn the wheels so it can be towed conventionally. But it gets worse, much worse. If this happens, Tesla charges you $40,000 or so to get a new set of batteries. “Oh, but the waranty should cover it!” you’ll say. Nope, it specifically doesn’t. “Ok then, insurance will take care of it.” Wrong again. Insurance companies specifically do not cover this. Let the batteries go empty = $40,000 out of your account. “Ok, well, shoot… but maybe Tesla will let me finance that…” Wrong. Again. You pay in full, or you’ll be asked to get your expensive brick out of the dealership.
For something like this to happen isn’t that hard. Drive the car around so that it’s at, say, 50% charge and leave it at the airport for a week or so. Or park it in your own garage, but use an extension cord (as opposed to proper charging cables). Heck, you can think of a number of ways this could happen. And happen it did, to at least 5 devastated clients.
Tesla at the moment is in a bit of a predicament as it has to walk the fine line between aggressively warning its customers of the potential danger, and talking about it too much and risk spooking buyers off. And it’s even doing some potentially shady things (like remotely activating a GPS module in order to physically go plug a dying car in) to do what looks like some damage control. In official comments on the issue, representatives liken the problem to “making regular oil changes” and “maintaining a proper level of care”. Batteries, similarly, should never be allowed to fully discharge.
Well, we don’t know. Maybe this is a new class of problems that a new class of vehicles brings with it. Whatever the case, you should read the longer article at the link below. It’s pretty interesting.
Try for a second to get past its strange appearance; this is an actual working electric bicycle with decent specs. On a standard configuration you will get 40 miles per charge. An upgrade doubles that. And the standard configuration charges the battery back up in 4 hours, the upgrade cuts that down to 1. The 1 meter sq. (36 inches sq.) device weighs 120 lbs and can carry a rider tipping the scales from 90-300 lbs. It goes up to 28mph to 35mph, a speed which is electronically limited depending on regional moped laws. The all aluminum construction features a glove box, a cargo bay, an all LED dot lighting system with hazzards. And the list goes on. This thing is pimped out.
And it’s expensive. At $4,000 to start, this isn’t an impulse buy, but damn if you won’t be the coolest kid on the block riding around on this thing. And it does appear like it will be available this year.
Sometimes it’s products that solve the smallest of annoyances that we find the most appealing. Like that flustercuck of cables under your desk. Look at it right now. You find that pretty? Admittedly this is not a huge problem, although for the tidier amongst us it can be quite the nightmare. That’s why we like the Plug Hub. It’s a plastic case that features three winding posts to wrap excess cable around, a base to accommodate a power strip and a door to hide all that business from sight. You can leave it right on the ground or even screw it to a wall. It’s an elegant solution fully deserving the $29 price, at Quirky.
Walking, as they say, is very last century. Why exert yourself in any form when you can get technology to do it for you? Taking a step in the right direction (get it?), the spnKiX motorized shoes, from product designer Peter Treadway, let you get around without walking around. You simply put them on (while still wearing your regular shoes) and off you go. A hand-held remote controls your speed, which tops out at 10mph with a range of 2 to 3 miles. It’s not much, really, but maybe enough for a quick trip to the grocery store. Or walking the dog. Charging then takes about 2 hours. They’re made from fiber reinforced Nylon plus Aluminum, and the batteries are lithium ion.
Peter has already made over 30 prototypes of the spnKiX and is ready for prime-time. But he needs your help with the quintessential Kickstarter campaign. He’s trying to raise $25k, with a single pair of the motorized shoes setting you back $375. $950+ gets you a special edition with black wheels. If all goes well, you’d get your shoes by March 2012.
Being confined to a wheelchair is not easy, at least we can’t imagine it is. And while being able to propel yourself with your arms can become second nature after a while, some electric assistance can probably be appreciated over longer distances. Currently in development in Japan, the WHILL is an twin-hub attachment that can go over the wheels of a wheelchair and provide said electric locomotion. The device is then steered a bit like a Segway, with the user tilting his upper body in the direction he wishes to travel.
Each of the hubs contains a separate 24-volt motor, powered by a lithium-ion battery pack. These turn the chair’s wheels, propelling it up to a top speed of 20 km/h (12.5 mph). The battery reportedly takes two hours to charge, and offers a range of approximately 30 kilometers (19 miles).
The WHILL project is currently looking for volunteers to test it. There is no word on price or availability.
Crazy as that headline sounds, that’s pretty much what we’re looking at here. Developed by a Japanese company called Humanix in conjunction with Hiroshima University, the iSAVE-SC1 is supposed to be the world’s safest car. Well… Let’s see now. First off, we’re not entirely sure it fits the description of a car, really, since its top speed is 50km/h. Then, it’s got three wheels. Finally, it’s electric… Quite frankly at this point it sounds more like a glorified golf cart.
Oh and yeah, it has what looks like airbags all over it, ostensibly to soften the blows from a collision. It’s a real product which will go on sale in Japan for US$10,400. Then there is talk of mass-production, though we’re less certain of mass-adoption. We realize that changing energy markets dictate that maybe we should be shifting our ideas and expectations of what our transportation forms ought to look like. And it’s nice to be safe… but have they even looked at it?
If you’re not a fan of eye rape, then please do yourself a favor and do not watch the above video. Remember, it cannot be unwatched.
Much as I’m as fan of the Chevy Volt and what it can potentially represent, I’d like to have a word with whoever thought the above number was a good idea.
Related Tags: automotive, electric
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