Coming developments for the Tesla Models S, X, E & the Supercharger fast charging network (video)

Transcript: http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/26861-Elon-and-JB-speak-in-Oslo-Feb-1st-2014-1000-CET-%284AM-EST%29/page4?p=568100#post568100

Tesla's Model S is very popular in Norway. 527 units delivered in November 2013 alone, in a country with a population of just over 5 million. Elon Musk & Tesla CTO JB Straubel spoke to a group of Norwegian Tesla owners recently & revealed some interesting future plans. See video or transcript of the event above (hint: video is 1.5 hours & audio not sharp — read the transcript), but some of the interesting details included:

･ Battery swapping will be trialed between San Francisco & Los Angeles. If it proves popular, it will be expanded. Tesla's expectation is that as charging improves, battery swapping will become superfluous.

･ AWD will be a future option on the Model S, using a separate motor for the front wheels. Range will be unaffected!

･ Improved seats are under development for the Model S. Retrofitting to existing vehicles will be available.

･ Existing Supercharger quick charging stations are 90 or 120 kilowatts. Upgrades to 135 kW are coming.

･ Model S offsets the carbon emissions produced in its manufacture in less than 10,000 miles of driving.

･ Battery cost for the Model E ("mass market car" planned for 2016 or 2017) will be 30 to 40% less per killowatt hour than the S.

･ Model X — Falcon Doors will be in the producton vehicle — all wheel drive using separate motors for the front & back wheels — energy consumption will be approximately 10% higher than in the S due to greater frontal area & mass.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1090225_elon-musk-talks-tesla-model-x-details-model-s-upgrades-at-europe-qa-sessions / Tesla Motors car electric vehicle EV cars car future plans owners owner fan fans Q & A session Tesla CEO Elon Musk company company's Chief Technical Officer CTO JB Straubel Model S Model X electric SUV mass-market Model E sedan Tesla Model X all-electric crossover SUV 4 wheel drive Falcon Doors Model X wheelbase Model S cd dc lower drag coefficient increased frontal area, the total drag will be higher. Combined with a slightly heavier weight the Model X energy consumption 10 percent higher range production Model X double hinged double-hinged doors sensor sensors adjust opening sequence all-wheel drive separate electric drive motor rear front wheels future upgrades improved front seats more comfortable modified spring force cushion retrofit retrofitted carbon footprint manufacturing process internal study process manufacture battery cost Model E of 30 to 40 percent less per kilowatt-hour price target $30,000 $40,000 cost reduction giga-factory Tesla Model E batteries battery lithium ion LiIon Oslo Norway Tesla Motors Club transcript /

Smartphones make you tired & unproductive

At the moment, the picture is still unclear, but the risks seem to include:

• Smart phone use seems to constitute the biggest risk.

• All Web connected electronic devices contitute a risk, so avoid tablets, laptops & desktops too.

• Everyone needs a break from work at the end of the day.

It may be that the entire problem is essentially unrelated to the technology as such. A work phone, or other device, may simply be a tether which keeps the employee "at work", even after hours. YouTube on a work device out of hours may be OK. An email from the boss at 9 pm with a new task, or query, isn't.

http://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2014/02/06/smartphones-make-you-tired-and-unproductive-study-says/ / productive day at work tomorrow smartphone tonight reading send sending work email evening harder hard decent night’s sleep new research findings exhaust exhausts workers working worker work morning disengage disengaged next afternoon knowledge workers job jobs monitor monitoring Android iPhones notes boss after office day respond responding responded colleagues colleague all hours less effective research reseaarching researchers University of Florida Michigan State University University of Washington scholars conducted two studies worker worker's workers’ night time night-time nighttime technology habits sleep duration quality energy workplace engagement mid high level manager managers mid- to high-level managers morning use used 9:00 pm night how many hours they slept rate their agreement statements like drained lot effort concentrate on something afternoon assess statements work engagement today work working forget forgot prior studies have shown staying focused focus direct resisting distractions distracted effort interfere interferes with sleep takes a toll next day sleep quality fewer hours of sleep subject subjects report reported depleted reserves of self-control self control morning exhaustion book Sleeping With Your Smartphone Harvard Business School professor Leslie Perlow study studied executives Boston Consulting Group disconnect more excited about their work felt more satisfied satisfaction professional personal lives more collaborative efficient electronic device affects sleep quantity focus the following day especially draining always on always-on Christopher M. Barnes assistant professor management University of Washington’s Michael G. Foster School of Business co-author paper screen so close face faces prepare for sleep particular threshold affect sleep habits researchers research researching phone smartphone smart phone respond responses response Barnes change managers manager manage messages toning down expectations response time /

Would you like a hand?

Credit: Suck/The Gadgeteer

Looks like a bit of fun: a Mickey's hand stylus on your pencil, pen or marker. Another piece of good news is that when I looked at the Suck web site, they were priced at £UK5 ($US8.20, $A9.16), rather than the $US35 indicated in the linked article.

http://the-gadgeteer.com/2014/02/06/not-to-put-too-fine-a-point-on-it/ / styli stylus Suck UK company name design designed fine line fine-line, precision drawing Touch Point Stylus Pencil Topper Mickey Mouse Mouse’s hand slide fit slides end practically stick like stick-like object pen pencil marker stylus capacitive screen capacitive-screen smart phone smartphone tablet Mickey Mouse phone smart phone smartphone tablet /

Toyota prepares solid state batteries for the 2020s

Lithium ion batteries are state-of-the-art for electric vehicles. Energy density is around 300 Watt hours (Wh) per litre. At this density, cramming enough energy into a vehicle creates design problems.

Toyota claims an energy density of 400 Wh per litre for its existing solid-state batteries. By 2025, they predict energy density between 600 & 700 Wh.

http://www.autonews.com/article/20140127/OEM06/301279980/toyota-preps-solid-state-batteries-for-20s / solid state Tokyo Toyota Motor Corp. corporation major advances develop development developing smaller more powerful solid-state solid state batteries battery next generation next-generation power pack power-pack succeed lithium ion battery technology litium-ion LiIon twice the energy density drive power electric vehicles more than 300 miles single charge enter production early 2020s top engineers company 20s manage managed five fold fivefold increase power output experiment experimental liter solid-state managing Soichiro Okudaira conference current coin-sized cell lab laboratory stage Toyota technology cars early 2020s Hideki Iba general manager Japanese carmaker's battery research division developments at Automotive World annual engineering engineer technical conference Tokyo more compact higher power output energy density liquid electrolyte nickel-metal hydride lithium ion batteries solid ceramic polymer electrolyte more compact stable molded more flexible shapes better packaging electric vehicle EV hybrid vehicle vehicles increase increased performance EV-mode driving lithium air batteries power output lithium cathode react interacts with oxygen less material lighter packaging /

Samsung Galaxy S5 — What can we expect?

Two things we can be sure of: more memory & faster processor.

How much RAM? Either 3GB (as in the Note 3) or 4GB.

When? Maybe as early as this month or March.

http://www.gottabemobile.com/2014/02/07/samsung-galaxy-s5-release-date-not-to-expect/#!uMXQe

http://www.techradar.com/au/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/samsung-galaxy-s5-what-we-want-to-see-1146930 / Samsung Galaxy S5 release date news rumor rumors flat flexible metal plastic smartphone smart phone cell mobile trawl trawling Web Samsung's fifth generation iteration flagship phone overview name prefix handset spin offs off top products product MWC 2014 launch release date price big smartphone manufacturers manufacturer annual product cycles now predict launch headline headlining products product rumors launch forward MWC 2014 Unpacked 5 price tag SamMobile aluminium chassis curved display metal polycarbonate metal jacket designer desinging design look feel chassis frame rumor supplier suppliers metallic phone carbon-fibre carbon fibre launch launched 64 bit 64-bit CPU A7 processor ARM executive chip CPU display sharp sharper human eye can detect color improved colour performance refresh rate video animation QHD Quad-HD benchmark test WQHD screen tech AMOLED panels panel flagship handsets technology LCD panel handset Android OS operating system Android 4.4 KitKat TouchWiz interface screenshot screenshots screen shot handset hand set Google Now home screen homescreen TouchWiz overlay Air Gestures hover multiple fingers screen perform action actions digit Tizen variants design patent application physical home button curved flexible camera fingerprint finger print retina scanner retinal scanning unlock iris recognition technology battery improved battery life /

Answer a call through the cover of this iPhone case

Credit: Moshi/The Gadgeteer

http://the-gadgeteer.com/2014/02/04/you-can-answer-your-phone-through-the-cover-of-this-iphone-case/ / Sensecover case iPhone 5 5s 5/5S Moshi answer your phone without even opening cover hybrid leatherette front cover embedded proprietary SensArray pads slide answer call phone smart phone smartphone without opening cover also openings front allow check time phone earpiece through cover back phone protect protected polycarbonate shell buttons ports left open easy use magnetic clasp keeps front cover closed protect screen protected color colour colors colours Brushed Titanium Steel Black finish front cover cases available $US45 dollars US $45.00 /

PVs more efficient, durable, reliable & effective

Credit: indiegogo

Photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation: fabulous idea! Free energy from the Sun!

Unfortunately, there are a few inefficiencies & limitations:

1. Photovoltaics are made largely of very pure silicon. Manufacture requires large inputs of energy, & the resulting PVs are expensive.

2. For greatest efficiency, PVs need to be perpendicular to the Sun. Because of the movment of the Earth, for fixed PVs, this only happens briefly, once per day.

Problem 2 can be solved by a two-axis tracking system which allows PVs to always face the Sun. New problems this creates are expense, complexity, reliability problems with the mechanism, & susceptability to wind damage.


Credit: Solar Choice

Rawlemon has a different approach: collect sunlight with a large spherical lens, concentrating the light onto a very small (& so less expensive) PV, thus minimizing problem 1, above.


Credit: indiegogo

Unfortunately, or fortunately, the Earth goes right on moving, so the PV has to move so that it remains in the concentrated sunlight. Moving a centimetre square PV is very much easier than moving a meter square (or larger) one. As a result, the mechanism is less expensive & virtually immune to wind damage. In any case, it is protected from wind by the large spherical lens above it.

Potentially, a problem with the Rawlemon system is heat. PVs become less efficient as they heat up. In conventional PV system, this effect is reduced, somewhat, by the large size of the collector. On the other hand, there is plenty of air space below the Rawlemon collector, facilitating heat dissipation.

At the momemt, you can sign up for a demonstration-scale version that will keep your phone charged for $99 on indiegogo.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rawlemon-solar-devices

http://www.gizmag.com/rawlemon-spherical-solar-energy-generators/30453/ / noble cause harnessing harness clean renewable energy Sun solar panels esthetic aesthetically uninspiring start up start-up Rawlemon change undeniably beautiful concentrated photovoltaic CPV PV technology Andre Broessel German architect inspired daughtter daughter’s toy marbles Rawlemon design spherical lens concentrate sunlight small photovoltaic photo voltaic panel dual-axis pivot mount track tracks apparent movement Sun Sol designer transparent sphere collect concentrate diffuse light traditional devices cannot can not providing provide efficiency boost deploy deployed used far more locations than their flat fixed counterparts claimed concentrate concentrating concentration Sun’s light one area Rawlemon design reduces solar cell surface 1 percent traditional panel range of devices market 10-cm 3.9-in 3.9 in inch Beta.ey S phone charger currently subject Indiegogo campaign funds raised earmarked product produce produced production certification cerify Beta.ey S charger charge compatible mobile cell smart smatphone phone USB 2.0 charging port battery storage capacity of 27.5 Whr Bet.ey S Special Edition Beta.ey XL designed charging tablets Rawlemon larger devices device portfolio 100-cm 39.4-in Beta.ray 1.0 generate 1.1 kWh a day per day run power laptop for about two days 1.8 kWh battery cell largest device in the Rawlemon range is the 180-cm (70.1-in) Beta.ray 1.8 that will generate up to 3.4 kWh a day, enough to run your laptop for almost a week 5.4 kWh battery Beta.ray 1.0 1.8 feature water-filled acrylic-polymer water filled acrylic polimer lenses solid lens generate thermal energy Rawlemon developing system Microtrack same technology install installed building skin produce energy during the day multimedia display at night Beta.ey release later this year Beta.ray Rawlemon Microtrack system bring to market design designer designing beauty stack up more effective efficient efficiency flat PVs PV concentrator designs design water-filled water filled spheres sphere heavy massive Rawlemon video pitch /