Tesla’s first battery-swap station opening by year-end

Tesla demonstrated its battery swapping technology over a year ago, with no apparent progress since. Now, Slashgear has reported that the first operational battery-swap station will be coming soon.

http://www.slashgear.com/teslas-first-battery-swap-station-opening-by-december-15350430/

Changes to California Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) credit rules

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-04/tesla-to-get-fewer-eco-credits-as-california-tweaks-rules.html
/ battery swap battery-swap station electric vehicle EV lithium ion LiIon LiFeO4 iron phosphate electric car company drivers Model S ninety second refuel cars battery exchange system rapid charging Tesla's Supercharger network wholesale exchange batteries themselves fully automatic automated robot robotic systems drop existing battery pack out underneath EV replace fully charged version Tesla's demonstration battery swap technology last year CEO Elon Musk fill traditional gas tank petrol fast fastest faster Supercharger network 30 minutes 170 miles range Model S efficiency cost-effectiveness scaling battery swapping infrastructure drivers switch back original battery return journey opt pay difference upgrade fee managing battery demand start up Better Place folded last year first Tesla swap station somewhere between San Francisco Los Angeles /

Turbine-electric drivetrain for lower cost delivery

A. turbine powered generator B. battery C. plug in charging D. electric traction motors E. fuel tank
Credit: Wrightspeed/Hybrid Cars

Internal combustion piston engines have many disadvantages:
● inefficient — in lab conditions, perhaps a little more than 30% for a diesel — driving a vehicle, very much less
● not very durable — around 5,000 hours operating life — at peak efficiency (full load) closer to 500 hours
● high maintenance costs
● dirty exhaust

Gas or diesel turbines, are less efficient, but at peak load have an operating life of 40,000 hours & have much lower maintenance costs. Very clean exhaust.

Electric motors are 80 to 90% efficient — largely independent of load — durable too — only one moving part — & much lower operating costs.

Many medium duty trucks, such as delivery vehicles, have many start/stop cycles in daily operation & rarely reach peak efficiency. Add to this, heavy traffic with slow driving in a low gear + idling, to create a recipe for inefficient operation, high fuel cost & short operating life.

Even less efficient are garbage trucks. Much of their operation is: accelerate for a few meters, brake hard (throwing away the energy just consumed to get the truck moving), load the garbage, & repeat.

Wrightspeed had a better idea:
● replace the piston engine with an efficient electric motor
● batteries are expensive, so restrict battery range to reduce cost &
● add a turbine-powered generator to periodically recharge the battery

This improves efficiency because:
● 80-90% efficient electric motor drives the vehicle
● an electric motor brings with it regenerative braking, which further improves the efficiency of the vehicle by returning energy to the battery at each stop
● electric motors don't need to idle, further adding to efficiency
● although peak efficiency of a turbine is less than that of a piston engine, when it is operating, it is always driving the generator at peak efficiency

Wrightspeed claim their powertrain can improve efficiency from eight or ten miles per (US) gallon, to 25 or 30 or more. In operation, this is a saving of $35,000 fuel & $8,000 in maintenance per vehicle per year.



FedEx is trialing delivery trucks with Wrightspeed drivetrains:

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1094920_fedex-tests-wrightspeed-electric-trucks-with-diesel-turbine-range-extender

Extended interview with Wrightspeed CEO, Ian Wright:

http://chargedevs.com/features/qa-with-ian-wright-the-ceo-of-wrightspeed-on-tesla-gas-turbines-and-electric-trucks/ / EV electric passenger vehicles commercial trucks electric drive huge global fleet reduce emissions fuel costs improving efficiency alternative powertrain power train drivetrain drive train range extender electric delivery trucks diesel turbine generator WrightSpeed turbine range extended electric delivery van conversion FedEx electric powertrain Silicon Valley WrightSpeed turbine takes gasoline combustion engine Chevy Volt BMW i3 REx range extended electric cars tested 39 kilowatt hour lithium ion battery pack range urban delivery constant speed buffered battery pack power train propulsion systems /

Eight of the best pocket-sized phones for small hands

Samsung's Galaxy Note was introduced to a surprised world. With a 5.3 inch screen, most thought it too large. Apple, on the other hand had decided that 3.5 inches was ideal, as it was the best screen that could be managed with one hand, using the thumb for touch. Of course, this ignores the fact that hands come in a range of sizes – 3.5 inches is ideal for some (probably including Steve Jobs), but too big for for others & unnecessarily small for still others. For those who chose to use a phone two-handed, one-handed reach of the thumb is irrelevant.

Android phones, meanwhile, continued to grow larger. Galaxy Note expanded to 5.7 inches. Samsung's S grew as well, & now sports a 5.1 inch screen, only slightly smaller than the original Note, which surprised so many.

Apple has finally moved with the trend, & has 4.7 & 5.5 inch screens in the iPhone 6.

While bigger screens are better for many reasons, for many users, how a phone fits into a pocket of a pair of tight jeans is an important selection criterion. Another, is how well a phone suits the user's hand size.

https://gigaom.com/2014/10/13/best-phones-under-5-inches-2014/ / big demand two-handed two handed usage high-end smartphones fit pair skinny jeans upgrade powerful handset fits in your pocket huge screen carriers expensive phones bigger 5 inches powerful processors cameras replace tablet laptop easy to carry iPhone 6 Plus large screen size big phones phablet Sony Xperia Z3 Compact true flagship powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chip 3 GB RAM waterproof memory expansion expand expandable MicroSD card slot cameras phones availability smart phone smartphone device Samsung Galaxy Alpha light solid metal construction fingerprint sensor Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 HTC One Remix Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor cpu Sharp AQUOS Crystal bezel GSM network Moto X first generation smaller phone Snapdragon S4 Pro chip cutting edge mixed reviews Motorola voice activation iPhone 6 Moto X Android iOS 4.7-inch screen best Apple App Store most mature marketplace mobile apps iPhone 5S Apple’s Touch ID sensor 64-bit A7 processor Amazon Fire Phone good build quality one handed use Amazon Prime Amazon Appstore Google Play Apple App Store Dynamic Perspective Amazon’s 3D effect four front-facing cameras gimmick /

Smartwatch 33% off

Pebble Steel left & original Pebble right
Credit: Pebble/The Verge

If you've been thinking about a smartwatch, but haven't jumped yet, you might like to have a look at the Pebble, which has just dropped from $149 to $99.

Its among the most popular, with advantages including one week battery life, readable-in-the-brightest-sunlight display, hundreds of apps & watchfaces including design-your-own.

$99 is the new price for the original Pebble. Pebble Steel has dropped $50 too, now $199.

https://getpebble.com/ / smart watch smartwatch Bluetooth on sale price reduction reduced save saving /

iOS 8 shunned by refusenik fanbois

Credit: Fiksu/The Register

Analysis firms differ, & unsurprisingly, Apple paints a rosier picture than anyone else, but take-up of iOS 8 seems to be slower than any version since iOS 5.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/07/apple_ios8_slowest_adoption_rate_ios5/ / Apple persuade fanboi legions old versions mobile operating system OS iOS 8 adoption rates new version stalled equal numbers Apple fanfolk new and old operating system rollout of iOS 8 least successful since iOS 5 mobe app bazaar Fiksu take-up take up slower just under 40 per cent users using the latest operating system failed to persuade fanboi legions abandon old versions mobile operating system adoption rates new version stalled new and old operating system rollout of iOS 8 least successful iOS 6 iOS 7 50 per cent Fiksu analysis analysing version of iOS people running its client apps unreliabl updated visits App Store analysis firms assessments Mixpanel 45 per cent of Apple switched new version Jony Ive flat design parallax parallaxing /

Tesla D announcement — its all-wheel drive + safety features — updated

Update — Tesla D from the bottom up
Credit: Mark Ralston—AFP/Getty Images/Time

Making good on his tweet of a few days ago, at 7pm US Pacific Time, Thursday 09 October, Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, revealed "D" & "something else."

As previously suggested in these pages, the "D" stands for dual motors, one driving the front wheels, the other driving the back, providing all wheel drive.

Tesla claims that unlike fossil fuel vehicles, the addition of 4WD has improved efficiency, yielding improvements in acceleration, range & top speed.

Update 11 October: Tesla claims range at a steady 65 mph is improved from 261 miles for the standard Model S to 295 miles for the 85D.

And the "something else"? Driver assistance features, which have been referred to as "auto-pilot". They include:

● change lane on driver use of the turn indicator
● automatically apply the brakes to avoid a collision
● ability to read speed signs & reduce speed if necessary

http://chargedevs.com/newswire/tesla-d-is-more-revolutionary-than-you-think/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/10/09/tesla-musk-safety-driver-aids/16986665/

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tesla-announcement-sparks-speculation-26082605

http://time.com/3487514/tesla-motors-d-not-self-driving/ / luxury electric car maker Tesla Motors Model S sedan upgrade faster safer all-wheel-drive CEO Elon Musk something else dual motor rear-wheel-drive power front wheels powering rear heavy less efficient optimizing optimise optimize top speed 155 mph 130 mph rocket SpaceX safety features steer itself lane brake automatically move the car over a lane when driver turn signal use cameras read speed limit signs adjust car's speed auto pilot drive itself driver-assist features Raj Rajkumar pioneer self-driving cars Carnegie Mellon University /

German genius invents machine gun that makes & fires paper airplanes

Yes, it really does make paper airplanes & then launches them.



http://sploid.gizmodo.com/mad-genius-creates-awesome-fully-automated-paper-airpla-1644140869

Or, you could make something similar using Lego:

/ German genius invention inventions fully automated paper airplane machine gun machine gun folds plain paper sheets into airplanes designed design 3D printed crowdfunding mass manufacturing share his plans aeroplane /