Hey now, I didn't say it was more environmentally friendly, only faster and gas save-ierBut still pollutes the air more in every EPA measured emissions other than CO2
I would like to get some wheels for my YZ450F real bad. Gonefirefightin seems to think I can plate it playing stupid, I will try this weekend and hope for the best. He picked up a YZ426F for next to nothing and ordered up some wheels.Hey now, I didn't say it was more environmentally friendly, only faster and gas save-ier
It really is too much fun. If you mountain bike, you should buy/make a supermoto. The same things go from being obstacles to things you can fool around on. Stairs, curbs, mud, wet pavement, loading docks...all a supermoto playground!
Yup! (what's your name on there?) I'm mainly on supermotomania now, but I really am trying to get out and ride more as opposed to just spend time talking about riding on the internet.
Yes, I remember that winter when all the leaves staid nice and greenit turns out the Piaggio (? unsure) tested a 4 wheel leaning scooter-ish thing in NYC last winter!
Just add LOTs of electricity...
some highlights, see link for the ginormous gallery:
looks like a Piaggio MP3, only longer and wider yet! would be interesting to see someone lanesplitting on that thing. i bet passengers would love that pillion seat tho
Lane splitting is illegal.looks like a Piaggio MP3, only longer and wider yet! would be interesting to see someone lanesplitting on that thing. i bet passengers would love that pillion seat tho
I don't think it's illegal in California... probably some other states too...
as noted above lane splitting is legal in Cali as well as in most other parts of the world. eventually the rest of the US will get there, and until then riders will continue to do it instead of sitting stuck in traffic.
Nissans Electric Leaf Spreads the EV Gospel
By Chuck Squatriglia November 13, 2009 | 5:06 pm | Categories: EVs and Hybrids
LOS ANGELES Nissans big bet on electric vehicles rolled silently into Dodger Stadium today, the first stop on the Japanese automakers 22-city nationwide tour to spread the EV gospel.
Company CEO Carlos Ghosn is among the industrys loudest EV evangelists, and he firmly believes the four-door, five passenger Nissan Leaf will usher in the era of cleaner, greener motoring when it goes on sale late next year.
Nissan joins General Motors and others in promising electric cars within the next year or so, and the Leaf is slated to hit the market alongside the Chevrolet Volt. Ghosn said consumers are itching for affordable, attractive cars with cords and he boldly predicts such automobiles will comprise 10 percent of the market within 10 years.
People are looking to us for a solution, Ghosn said. If we bring an electric car to market at the same price as a conventional car and we can prove battery lease and energy costs are cheaper than gasoline, I think well have a hit.
Thats right. Youll own the car. Nissan will own the battery.
Ghosn said leasing batteries which Nissan will produce through a joint venture with NEC provides several benefits. First and foremost, it keeps the cost of the car reasonable. Although automakers dont discuss what their batteries cost, they are widely believed to run $500 to $1,000 per kilowatt-hour. The Leaf sports a 24 kilowatt-hour lithium manganese battery.
By retaining ownership of the battery, Nissan also can update them as technology advances so consumers arent left with last years model. And though Ghosn didnt mention it, leasing provides Nissan with some cover should the battery wear out prematurely because it can just replace the pack.
You dont worry about the battery, Ghosn said. We worry about the battery.
Ghosn didnt say what the lease might cost but said Nissan is confident the cost of the lease, plus the money youll pay for electricity, will for most consumers be no more expensive than buying gasoline. When we drove a Leaf development prototype in April, a company exec said the cost per mile is 4 cents if you figure gas is four bucks a gallon, electricity is 14 cents a kilowatt hour and you drive 15,000 miles a year. Nissan said at the time the car would cost about 90 cents to charge if you plug it in off-peak.
The Leafs air-cooled battery provides enough juice to go 100 miles in city traffic. Nissan isnt releasing any performance or technical specs for the car because the drivetrain is still under development. But Larry Dominique, v.p. of advanced planning and strategy, said the Leaf will do zero to 60 in less than 10 seconds. That would make it faster than the Nissan Versa, he said. Top speed is 90 mph.
Plug the car into a 110-volt socket and youll need 14 to 16 hours to recharge it. A 220-volt 20-amp line cuts that to seven or eight hours, while a 440-volt quick charge station will get you to an 80 percent state of charge in 25 minutes, Dominique said.
The Leaf is based on a heavily modified version of the platform underpinning the Versa and the two cars bear more than a passing resemblance. The Leaf is vaguely futuristic with its aquiline headlamps, sharply raked windshield and sweeping lines. But the rear end is a bit too bulbous and one person said the front end looks like a catfish.
Be that as it may, what you see is what you get. Dominique said the design is locked in, meaning no further revisions beyond details like wheels and the like are planned. Nissan already is developing the tooling for the body panels. As for the rest of the car, Dominique said its almost ready for production.
Were probably 80 or 90 percent there, he said.
Nissan plans to offer the car for between $26,000 and $33,000″ when it goes on sale in December, 2010. Although Dominique wouldnt say how many Leafs the company plans to produce, Ghosn has repeatedly said it will be a mass-market car, not a niche vehicle. Nissans plant in Oppama, Japan has the capacity to crank out 50,000 Leaf cars annually, and Nissan is using a $1.6 billion federal loan to build an EV and battery plant at its North American headquarters in Smyrna, Tennessee. When the factory opens in 2012, it will be able to produce 150,000 electric cars and 200,000 battery packs annually.
Some may question whether there is that much demand for electric cars, but Ghosn has no doubt. He said Nissans research has shown 8 percent of Americans and 9 percent of Europeans are hand raisers who say their next car will be electric despite the fact the first mainstream EVs arent expected for another year.
I think Im being conservative saying 10 percent of the market will be EVs by 2020, Ghosn said. People will say Youre being too bullish. But I think that underestimates peoples concern for the environment.
Paul Scott, a founder of the EV advocacy group Plug-In America, thinks Ghosn is underestimating demand.
I think hes being conservative, Scott said. Its conservative because the technology is that good. Once people experience these cars, the rate of adoption will accelerate.
Chris Paine, director of the film Who Killed The Electric Car?, agreed. A growing number of people, particularly young adults, are increasingly concerned about the environment and the economic and geopolitical implications of petroleum, he said. Theyre ready for an alternative.
People understand internal combustion doesnt have to be the future, Paine said. If [Nissan] can deliver a clean car at the same price as a conventional car, people will buy it.
Aptera Founders Ousted in Boardroom Showdown
By Darryl Siry November 15, 2009 | 11:11 pm | Categories: EVs and Hybrids
Aptera Motors has ousted founders Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony, sources told Wired, painting a picture of a boardroom confrontation between the original founders and the auto industry veterans the company brought in last fall.
Rumors that Aptera Motors was letting them go and laying off an unknown number of people began swirling last week on the unofficial online Aptera Forum. The company says it simply elected to slow things down and minimize its burn rate while waiting for the Department of Energy to approve its loan application. It isnt saying much about what happened to Fambro and Anthony, but claims the companys relationship with them remains positive.
But the management shuffle and layoffs represent the Southern California startups latest challenge as it tries to bring the Aptera 2e, its extraordinarily efficient and unusual three-wheeled electric car, to market.
Back in September 2008, Aptera announced it had hired Paul Wilbur, a longtime industry veteran, as president and CEO. At the time, Wilbur had 26 years of experience, including stints at Ford and Chrysler. By all accounts, handing him the reins was a natural transition supported by the founders. Fambro, who would hand over the leadership duties to Wilbur and become chief technology officer, said at the time, We have searched long and hard for exactly the right leader to help us fulfill the promise of this vehicle. Paul Wilbur is that leader.
Wilburs hiring came just one month after Fambro announced the close of Apteras last round of significant financing, a $24 million equity injection which included existing investors Idealab and Google. At the time, Fambro said in a statement, these new funds will be instrumental as we pursue our goal of bringing the Type-1 to market later this year. This suggested the 2e, which was then called the Type-1, was nearly done.
But shortly after announcing Wilbur was taking over, the company switched direction, choosing to delay production of its funky three-wheeler by nearly one year to October, 2009 so it could make significant design changes. At the time, the company explained in a letter to depositors that the decision was driven by customer feedback indicating the car needed to be more practical:
That might have been the first sign of a rift between the founders and the new team. It seemed apparent Wilburs team quickly decided the vehicle Fambro and Anthony deemed ready for production was not fit for the real world. Although the decision was couched as a response to customer feedback, the response on the Aptera forum was decidedly mixed. With the typical fervor of early adopters, many wanted the company to push the car into production and leave the changes for later iterations.
Marques McCammon, the companys chief marketing officer, told Wired.com on Sunday the implemented changes included modifications to enhance the safety, security, reliability and comfort of the production vehicles. But the change that drew the most attention was the decision to replace the cars fixed windows with windows that roll down. That might seem like an obvious improvement, but sources inside Aptera say accommodating such a change compromised the structural rigidity of the cars composite shell. That required additional significant changes to maintain the same safety rating in side impacts.
Its also a good example of the typical dynamic between the culture of California technology startups and the auto industry. The tech industry is more apt to ship a product early and make improvements down the line. This approach is exemplified by Tesla Motors, which continued to iterate improvements including an entirely new powertrain into the 2008 Roadster shortly after entering production. More recently, Tesla has introduced major improvements to the Roadster for what it callsRoadster 2.0.
The counter to this is the Detroit perspective, perhaps best described by Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard when he frequently said the difference between cars and software is it isnt so easy to recover from a car crash. The auto business historically is much more methodical and risk averse, preferring to make every effort to ensure a car is completely ready for the market before starting production. This perspective often also comes with deeply ingrained views on what must be included to achieve product parity in the market. A small dose of this perspective may prove valuable for EV startups, but too much can be problematic.
In Apteras case, sources say, Wilburs decision to postpone production led to a series of consequences culminating in continued production delays and the recent layoffs.
Though Aptera managed to raise $24 million just before capital markets imploded last year, the decision to delay production created a much larger capital requirement because it delayed the revenues it would have received shipping cars to more than 3,000 customers. Sources tell Wired.com Wilburs team struggled to raise new capital, although to be fair the fundraising environment has been tough this year. Had Aptera frozen the cars design and started shipping cars late last year, the cash flow could have sustained it longer and perhaps helped it raise new capital.
Aptera has a different perspective. McCammon said, While we are now beginning to see success in our financing efforts, the first half of 2009 was miserable in the financial markets. We now believe we will not be closing our present round of fundraising until late this year or early next year.
This difference of perspectives is said to have grown more contentious as time went by and capital dwindled. Last spring, Aptera focused on lobbying the federal government to allow it to compete for the same Department of Energy loans that have awarded almost $1 billion to Tesla and Fisker Automotive. That effort paid off last month when President Obama signed a law allowing companies that build high-efficiency three-wheelers to compete for the loans. But time may be running out and the DOE is not known for moving quickly neither Tesla nor Fisker has seen a dime, even though the loans were announced months ago.
McCammon said Apteras backup plan is still private money we have a sizable amount circled, and we intend to get the rest. The DOE is an accelerator as it turns you into a big boy much faster than if you had only organic growth.
He also said that in the absence of the DOE funds we feel that we are at a strategic disadvantage to some of the other companies in this space that have received funds, like Tesla raising the question of whether federal support for some startups makes it harder for others to access capital because investors might be holding out for those companies getting huge amounts of low-cost money from the government.
Aptera says that through these challenging times it has maintained a professional, if at times strained, relationship with the founders, noting that some tension is to be expected given the tough decisions it is undertaking.
But other sources inside Aptera tell a different story, saying Fambro and Anthony increasingly were at odds with Wilburs direction. As the new CEO developed a plan to slash costs aggressively and leave a skeleton crew to wait for federal money, the founders developed an alternative plan. It included reversing the new engineering direction and delivering cars to customers ASAP. The plan also may have included returning executive control to the founders. It is unclear what would have become of Wilbur had the board accepted this plan, and at this point its moot because the plan was rejected. In a boardroom showdown, the majority of directors backed Wilburs plan. Shortly thereafter, Fambro and Antony were let go their official status with the company remained unclear Sunday along with an unknown number of other employees
The company insists Fambro was not let go and says he volunteered to take a leave of absence to help the company save money while it waits out the DOE loan process. McCammon said he could not comment further as he was not familiar with the details.
As was the case with Tesla when co-founder Martin Eberhard was ousted in 2008, reaction in online discussion forums has ranged from shock to confusion to anger. It is normal in situations like this for the companys earliest and most loyal supporters to unquestioningly rally behind the founders, as their emotional attachment stems from the days when Apteras vision was pure and its expectations unlimited by the realities of building a car and bringing new technology to market. Often times, the inside story has several different versions, with the prevailing management team feeling justified that it has done, and is doing, everything it can to make the company a commercial success and offer a return to shareholders.
Photos of the Aptera 2e in San Francisco: Jim Merithew / Wired.com
New Scientist took a look at the relative carbon impact of owning a dog (or cat, or hamster) and owning an SUV like a Toyota Land Cruiser. The results, plotted in the chart above, may surprise you. Take a look at the original article to see if you agree with the methodology, or if you can even put an environmental price on your furkid.
Dan Neil of the LA Times said:
The Nissan Leaf is described as "sweet, glycerin smooth, techy, frisky and even a little bit beautiful." (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times / November 13, 2009)
By Dan Neil
November 20, 2009
This thought came to me as I was piloting the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle prototype around Dodger Stadium last Friday: When gasoline-powered cars sleep at night, they dream of being electric.
Think about it: Every year, automotive engineers find new ways to smooth more rough edges off the conventional automobile. For example, long gone are the rude jolts that used to accompany gear changes in automatic transmissions. These have been ironed out either by continuously variable transmissions (which have no stepped gear intervals) or by sophisticated suites of computer programming that modulate engine torque at the precise moments of gear change. Even set-to-kill sports cars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis and Porsches -- cars that used to wrench your neck like a Leavenworth hanging -- now shift gears with a kind of eerie, liquid transparency. The only things that change are engine pitch and the needle on the tachometer.
This level of refinement, which is such a struggle to achieve in conventional cars, is a birthright of electric cars. In the Leaf -- an all-electric, five-passenger car that will start hitting American streets in late 2010 -- you step on the accelerator and the car spools out velocity in one continuous, syrupy stream. It's nothing short of elegant.
Once upon a time -- 10 years ago -- cars had such things as torque curves. Which is to say that, because of the peculiarities (the volumetric efficiency) associated with different internal combustion engine designs, each model of car hit maximum torque at a particular rpm. Cars with big American push-rod V8s under the hood typically had massive torque at lower rpm, and cars with multivalve overhead-cam fours and sixes hit peak torque at higher rpm.
These liabilities have been largely erased in the current generation of cars, thanks to computer-controlled throttles, variable valve timing and duration, forced induction and variable-geometry intake manifolds -- all of which help optimize the flow of gas in and out of an engine and establish a "flat" torque curve. In the case of a BMW twin-turbo 3.0-liter engine, for example, maximum torque comes at 1,400 rpm and doesn't start to go away until 5,000 rpm.
The BMW engine is, in other words, more like an electric motor. In fact, an EV's motor produces maximum torque at 0 rpm and maintains consistent torque across most of its operating speed range. That's what makes EVs such little hot rods -- loads of off-the-line quickness and mid-range punch.
During my all-too-brief drive, the Leaf prototype (clad in Nissan Versa bodywork), with three people on board, shot across the stadium parking lot like it had been pinged with a BB gun. Zero-to-40 mph acceleration, I estimate, is in the mid-5-second range, which would suit a decently sporty little car. Arrayed around the Leaf chassis is 90 kilowatts worth of lithium-ion batteries driving an electric motor good for 106 horsepower and a healthy 207 pound-feet of torque. According to Nissan, the Leaf's top speed is 90 mph and the nominal range is 100 miles.
One last tech-wonk example: Automakers are continuously evolving technology to help cars maintain traction and directional stability. With conventional traction and stability systems, if wheel slip or vehicle yaw is detected, the computers will pulse the appropriate wheel's brake or retard engine timing or both, until the vehicle regains stability. But this is a big, sloppy, coarse means of doing the job. What's needed is a finer-grain method of modulating wheel speed without scrubbing off all the speed and momentum.
Electric motors are instantly and almost infinitely variable, and are vastly more articulate with regard to changes in traction. This is why the Tesla Roadster, which can maintain almost 100% traction at the rear wheels under acceleration, corners harder and faster than the Lotus Elise upon which it is based.
Imagine the potential road-holding power of an all-wheel-drive electric sports car, such as Audi's promised e-Tron. Imagine what you could climb with an electric Jeep.
Here's my point: As repeatedly underlined at the Nissan Leaf's U.S. debut last week, the future of EVs comes down to the question of consumer acceptance. Will consumers buy them? Will they like them? What about battery leasing and recharging infrastructure, and carbon emissions? What about cost? These are reasonable questions.
But I predict consumer acceptance will ultimately be a nonissue. Why? Because the trajectory of vehicle engineering has trained car buyers to expect their next car to be smoother, quieter, quicker, more high-tech, with better cabin isolation and more road-holding, than the one before.
Two decades of computerization of the automobile have created a kind of well-oiled semiautonomous being, half semiconductor, half metal and glass. Many cars today have electric steering, electric brakes, virtual gauges, video camera mirrors, even virtual bumpers. In other words, cars are nearly electrified already.
The next logical -- even inevitable -- step in the evolution of the automobile is when we jettison the big, heavy, hammering, noisy piece of reciprocation under the hood.
The Leaf is definitely Car 2.0. Sweet, glycerin smooth, techy, frisky and even a little bit beautiful. It just feels like tomorrow. Perhaps the question is not "Will people buy them?" but "Can we build enough?"
That said there exist cheaper non-MB alternatives to AdBlue. The default option at the dealer is still pretty shockingly expensive in any case.
