Category: Automotive

As though cameras on top of every traffic light weren’t bad enough already: there’s now a trial run of satellites that will catch you speeding, over a several-block range, from hundreds of miles up. Hope for clouds, I guess? More »

view additional pages

AUTO RACING MUST BE OUTLAWED!

BY SENATOR RICHARD L. NEUBERGER
with Lester David

IT happened recently in my home State of Oregon: A car driven by a young automobile race driver hurtled out of control at Portland Speedway and crashed into a retaining wall. Don Porter, father of four small children and himself only 31, died violently.

Six weeks earlier at the Indianapolis Speedway, a car went out of control and immediately caused a dozen others to pile up. Headlong into the traffic jam rushed Pat O’Connor of Indiana. Unable to stop, he plowed into the rear of a car and flipped over. Young O’Connor’s car burst into flames and he perished in the wreckage.

And two days after this, a Porsche-Carrera driven by Hodge Bruch turned over three times during a race at Bridgehampton, N. Y. Bruch, father of three, died on the way to a hospital.

Some people call this sport. I call it wanton, tragically unnecessary bloodshed. Some call it healthy, exhilarating competition. I call it shameful and uncivilized.

The three deaths I have described are only the latest in a long, macabre list which stretches back over the years almost to the very start of automobile racing. Every step of the way, car racing has been accompanied by massacre. Tracks all over the country have counted—are still counting!—their dead. I believe the time has come for the United States to become a civilized nation and to stop this carnage which has persisted too long. I believe full study should be given to outlawing automobile racing, once and for all, by legislation effective in all 49 states.

There are a number of reasons why I am convinced this must be done.

In the first place, the exhibitions are degrading to the human spirit. I do not pose as a psychologist, but is there any serious doubt that the majority of persons who throng to these proceedings are there because of the extreme hazard to the drivers? For every spectator who really understands and loves automobiles, there are a hundred who come be- cause men are in constant peril of being killed or mangled.

And this, to me, is pathetic. It is a lowering of the essential dignity of man. It approaches dangerously close to the raw crowd lust of the Roman “circuses” where the populace jammed the arenas to watch gladiators battle to the death.

We toss critical barbs at the Spaniards because of their bull-fighting. We roll our eyes heavenward and shudder at the goriness of this national sport. And yet how many bull fights are as bloody as the race not long ago in San Diego, Calif., where a woman driver died hideously and newspaper photographers took pictures of her hand protruding agonizingly from beneath her over-turned racing car I have heard and read many criticisms of some films, TV programs and books because they expose our children to violence. Yet we permit our youngsters to visit automobile race tracks. Is not the impact of a supposedly violent tele- vision show upon an impressionable young mind comparatively mild compared with the effect of a roaring, rendering crash in which racing drivers are slaughtered or maimed?

My second reason for urging abolition of automobile racing deals with the danger to the lives of the participants.

Does it make any sense to permit continuation of a sporting activity when the death of a driver or two in a major race is considered normal? In a recent discussion of the subject in Harper’s Magazine, Prof. Laurence Lafore of Swarthmore and Robert W. Lafore quoted a peril exists for drivers of cars who roar around tracks at great speeds and jockey wildly for positions. Anything can happen as tires and brakes, vital to safety, take gruelling punishment. If it doesn’t happen, Providence alone can be thanked.

And now we come to still another danger—the risk to the spectator. Fortunately, we have not had any catastrophe in this country similar to the flaming death which snuffed out the lives of 82 persons at the famous 24-hour Le Mans race in 1955—not yet.

But are we absolutely certain it can’t happen here?

Professor Lafore of Swarthmore makes this chilling assertion in Harper’s: “The special horror of Le Mans was the product of special circumstances but something like it might happen anywhere.” The italics are mine. Lafore points out: “It is clear that the designers and engineers have created a degree of power and speed which leads by a lap or two the driving ability, safety precautions and organizing power of human skill.”

I’ll ask this question: In all the auto racing tracks of the country, are the spectators completely and sufficiently safeguarded against disaster such as befell the onlookers at Le Mans that tragic day? Is there no possibility that such a catastrophe could be repeated in one of America’s races?

The world won’t ever forget what occurred at Le Mans. Approximately 250,000 persons were watching the race. About three hours after the contest began, an Austin-Healey driven by Great Britain’s Lance Macklin swerved to avoid a Jaguar driven by Mike Hawthorn. Coming down fast was Pierre Levegh, driving a Mercedes.

The Mercedes couldn’t veer or brake in time. It struck the Healey in the rear left corner and took off crazily. It hit an earthen embankment on the side of the track and somersaulted over and over for dozens of yards. The driver was hurled out and instantly killed. As it spun, the car exploded and pieces flew into the crowd like a fragmentation bomb.

The effect was devastating. About 20 persons were mercilessly decapitated by the flying hood. The engine and front axle hurtled into another section and killed dozens more. Others were burned to death as the car’s flaming body descended on them. The toll: 82 dead, 78 injured. Could it happen here?

I think that if we cannot answer that question with an unqualified no, we are not justified in permitting the continuance of this sport in our country.

Why wait until a disaster happens before we clean house? If, through the tragedy that came to another nation, we have been taught a sobering lesson, isn’t it foolhardy not to pay attention?

There’s a tragic footnote to the Le Mans horror. The French authorities took all sorts of precautions for the following year. With all the precautions, a man was smashed to death and some dozen cars crashed, flipped and skidded. This year’s race was no better. The crackups followed one after the other. One driver hit an embankment head-on. He caromed off as another came up. The driver of the first car was killed.

I am primarily concerned over the adverse impact of automobile racing on the psychology and attitude of youthful Americans. Racing tends to glamorize speed and dare-deviltry in automobile operation, an attitude completely at odds with efforts to install safe-driving principles in the minds of young drivers. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent on safety campaigns. How much of this is dissipated by the adverse psychological impact of auto racing on young minds?

There is something else about automobile racing which worries me. America is gradually becoming a nation of spectators. I would rather see Americans engage themselves in hiking, golfing, camping and bicycling than watching a handful of men —and even women—risk their lives wheeling racing cars around a track. The President’s Conference on Physical Fitness has demonstrated worry over the health, stamina and athletic prowess of most Americans—and I share this concern.

However, there are some bright spots in the picture. Already the most hazardous of all types of racing, the “open road” kind, has been practically abandoned in this country. These, as the name implies, are held over public highways, with spectators lining the roadsides as the cars zoom by.

If we need any evidence that we’ve done the right thing by abandoning open road racing here, all we have to do is look toward Europe. It was just a year ago last May that Marquis Alfonso de Portago was streaking along during the Mille Miglia when either a tire blew or an axle broke. His car, a Ferrari, swerved, uprooted a milestone and crashed into a telephone pole.

An instant later, de Portago and his co-driver were dead. But the horror was far worse. The car had smashed into the dense crowds that lined the road and killed 13 spectators, some of them small children.

If this isn’t enough to convince us we’ve done right, then all we need do is look toward Cuba. Last March, during the 315-mile Gran Primo de Cuba race, a young driver took a shallow turn, skidded and ran into a crowd. In a moment, seven were dead and 31 injured.

There is another bright spot in the American auto racing picture. In 1957, the Automobile Manufacturers Association recommended that its member companies (General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Studebaker-Packard and American Motors) cease all participation in car racing. The AMA directors, meeting in Detroit, recommended in a resolution that the companies no longer enter cars in the various competitions held throughout the country, including stock car racing.

And this brings up one final point.

Promoters of auto races say that these contests are essential to the technical development of various advances in car construction. They assert it’s necessary to run racing cars at great speeds in order to test new devices and gadgets for general use in passenger vehicles.

I challenge this ridiculous claim.

Even if this should be true, isn’t it perfectly obvious that the necessary high speeds can be achieved without running 20 or 30 cars simultaneously around a narrow track before huge audiences of spectators?

If high speed is the main thing, why not run each car against the clock, but alone on the track? In this way, the high speeds allegedly so vital to technical improvements in vehicles would be achieved and 90 per cent of the hazard would be elimi-

Patents ~ Nutty or Novel?

HERE are a few more recently patented “dream kites” which the inventors who planned them hope will soar to dizzy heights of fame and fortune. Just how useful they will prove to be only time can tell.

Which Are They—Nutty or Novel?

TOOT! TOOT! YER TIRE’S FLAT!

Instead of clumping along for miles swearing at the rough roads when you really are ruining a good tire that has gone flat, an Idaho inventor proposes you should use his ingeniously devised gadget which screws on over the tire valve in place of the regular valve cap. When the air in your tire escapes its rubber jail as you go humming along on a dark night, you will, if you have installed this signal, be warned of the fact by a loud electrically operated horn placed on the dashboard!

IS THIS HENRY’S HUNCH?

No less an authority than Henry Ford declares that the airship of the future will be a combination of all the mechanical grapefruit and rhubarb known to aerial invention. Such a ship as Henry visualizes is shown here, with a central gas bag, airplane wings, ship hull and undisclosed helicopter propellers. To all these proposals, Dr. Hugo Eckener, who also knows something about airships, being designer of the Graf Zeppelin, voices the German equivalent of the word “Hooey!”

RIP ‘ER OFF IN SECTIONS!

Possibly, in conjunction with the flat tire signal above, you will be strictly up to date and will be using this type of tire when the electric call comer for a change. Instead of wrangling a whole casing off the rim, all you will have to do is run the car ahead a few inches until the deflated section of this ultra modern tire is uppermost. Then you will quickly be able to effect a change of tire with a fresh segment—theoretically. But how about all the friction between “the pieces of pie?” And think of all the signals you’d need!

George Whitesides wrote:

1. Support the relevant state-regional-level infrastructures: favorable state capital gains tax, generous support for K-12, university education.

2. Develop professional, competent, adequately funded technology transfer offices in Michigan research universities. Develop some system for lowering cost of start-up capital (low-interest state loans, etc).

3. Pick *one* geographic area (probably Ann Arbor, since young professionals would like to move/live there) and continue to strengthen the start-up ecology there (University, tech-transfer office…)

4. Pick a few areas of technology (robotics, mobile communications for automotive, border security, inland water management, whatever…where Michigan might have an unfair advantage) and invest selectively in those.

5. Develop a mechanism for attracting, recruiting, and moving first-rate scientists/engineers from abroad (there are still lots who would like to leave Russia, Poland, etc., and come to the U.S.).

6. Use the large Detroit Middle Eastern community to establish ties to capital in the Middle East.

7. Have a state-level office reporting to the governor that partners with regional development groups in Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, etc.

8. Develop a program to pair experienced and aspiring entrepreneurs in apprentice arrangements of 3-4 years’ duration (inside or outside Michigan).

9. Develop a public education program to explain the entrepreneurial process, and its benefits (PBS, etc.).

10. Develop more programs with explicit emphasis on creation of jobs (all of Michigan) and technology for urban renewal (Detroit).

[Editor’s note: To help launch Xconomy Detroit, we’ve queried our network of Xconomists and other innovation leaders around the country for their list of the most important things that entrepreneurs and innovators in Michigan can do to reinvigorate their regional economy.]

Comments | Reprints | Share:  

 
 
 

view additional pages

OUR EXCITING NEW FIRE ENGINES!

Amazing super pumpers, aerial ladders, and telescoping “Snorkles” are aiding the fight against fire!

By Ross R. Olney

THE whining scream of a fire engine is one of the most chilling sounds on earth. Who hasn’t thrilled to the siren sound, looked up in dread as the engine raced past, and then perhaps started running to where black clouds of smoke billow up into the air, shot through with tongues of scarlet flame?

The sight and sounds of a fire crew going into combat never fail to draw and hold the spectator. Will the fire roar out of control? Will the firemen be able to smother the flames before too much damage is done? Are there humans trapped behind that cloud of smoke? Fires are one of the great dramas of modern life, played out by men in helmets and rubber coats, and we are usually the nervous, nail-biting audience.

In the majority of cases we know how this drama will end: the firemen will win their fight, the blaze will be brought under control before it engulfs a whole community. But sometimes the outcome is in doubt for hours, days, and—in the case of forest fires—for weeks. But now, with the help of new, exciting fire engines and firefighting equipment, firemen are going into the frontlines with a better than ever chance of defeating their enemy quickly and efficiently. And thanks particularly to new super pumpers and aerial ladder trucks, potential fire victims will be saved and more firemen will be spared. Here’s what can be done today: —Firemen can rise above the tallest fires on new platforms and either fight or direct the battle from overhead.

—They can shoot long extension ladders to upper stories of buildings to rescue trapped victims or deliver water.

—They can, with tremendous water pressure, actually blast entry holes in the sides of concrete buildings.

—Soon, with double 40-ft. monster trucks, they will fight fires 70 stories up, and they will do this from the ground! Still, they will have enough pressure to blast a hole in the high wall to get to the fire.

Can you recognize these new heavy fire fighters? Chances are you have one of them on the fire department in your own town.

Two designations cover most heavy fire trucks. The first, and presently most popular, is the “cab forward” model. As the term implies, the driver and crew are positioned forward with the engine nearer the mid-section of the unit. This model is preferred by many departments because of its visibility and stability. Remember, these trucks must go fast through close quarters.

Still preferred by many departments, particularly in smaller towns, is the older “engine forward” truck. Again as the name indicates, the crew is seated to the rear of the engine, with the power plant located forward under a long hood. An advantage here is the straightening of all drive shafts to pumps, power take-offs, etc.

Five major manufacturers build most of the huge fire trucks in use in the United States today.

*Crown Coach Corp., Los Angeles, Calif.

One of the biggest names in fire apparatus design and manufacture is Crown and the Crown “Firecoach.” This new Firecoach is available in a complete line of custom models, depending on the needs of the city, with optional cab designs, compartmentation and, a full range of pumping capacities from 500 to 2000 gallons per minute.

Crown fire trucks are built on a special Z-type frame for strength and endurance. They also feature an unusual removable front corner panel on their cab-forward models for ease of repair and inspection of electrical junctions, clutch, brake, steering gear and other parts above and below the front floor board.

In addition to varied capacity pumpers (with the Stang “Intelligiant” Deluge Gun), Crown manufactures aerial platform units using the well know Pittman “Snorkel.”

You can recognize Crown equipment as it thunders past by the vertically mounted twin headlights, the oversize red horizontal directional signals just beneath the windshield, and the distinctive Crown emblem. In the front, dead center, is a huge built-in chrome siren.

*Peter Pirsch & Sons Co., Kenosha, Wisc.

Aerial ladder trucks, the most dramatic and recognizable at a fire, are a specialty of Pirsch. In fact, these new units are known as “America’s Finest Aerial Ladder Trucks” by many firemen. Pirsch also manufactures a unit with the Pittman “Snorkel” aerial platform.

The Pirsch Intermediate Aerial Ladder Truck is a compact unit built with 65-ft., 75-ft., or 85-ft. Pirsch aluminum alloy extendible ladders. A companion unit, the Pirsch Quintuple Intermediate Aerial Ladder Truck carries the same hydraulically operated ladders, plus hose compartments for 2-1/2-in. fire hose, 100-gallon booster tank and equipment, and a two-stage series-parallel fire pump (500 to 1500 gpm). Booster pumps are also available with this unit. Easy to see why it’s called “a complete fire department on wheels.”

The Pirsch Junior Aerial Ladder is a smaller unit built especially for efficient operation in smaller towns and in residential areas of cities. Controlled electrically by one-man push buttons, the ladders on this unit extend to 50 and 55 ft.

That monster you see roaring off to a fire could very well be the Pirsch Senior Aerial Ladder Truck. This tractor-trailer unit can deliver water or rescue victims after extending its ladder to a remarkable 100 ft. from a special full hydraulic hoisting and operating control stand.

When travelling, the “Senior” has a tiller man at the rear. He steers the huge trailer through traffic and around tight turns.

Another center mounted, built-in siren (just below a Pirsch emblem) will identify this equipment. Units from all manufacturers will, of course, have a flashing or rotating red light atop the cab or windshield.

*Seagrave Fire Apparatus Division, Columbus, Ohio.

Offering one of the largest selections of new fire equipment is Seagrave, a name well known for fire trucks. They use not only their own 300-hp V-12 engine, but numerous 6- and 8-cylinder engines and diesels built by other manufacturers. Seagrave also builds most of their own chassis, with a solid Z-type frame. Amidships, and low in the frame to lower the center of gravity, is Seagrave’s famed “Heart of Gold” pump, the only solid bronze unit in the industry.

Engine forward and cab forward pumpers, chemical and foam units, ladder and aerial ladder trucks and a 90-ft. aerial platform unit all bear the Seagrave emblem for 1965. Their new tractor-trailer aerial ladder truck has the only completely enclosed tiller seat in the country.

A special new unit by Seagrave is the “Vigilante,” a standard pumping engine which is also an unlimited capacity foam unit. Perfect for fighting fires in petroleum plants, highway accidents, tank trucks and railroad cars and airplane crashes, a Vigilante truck has just gone on duty with NASA at the Manned Spacecraft Center.

Seagrave units have a center mounted siren just above a huge chromed hose connection. The name Seagrave also appears front and side. Another distinctive marking, a giant bell, is on the right front corner of the cab.

*American LaFrance, Elmira, N. Y.

Brand new at this famed fire equipment company is a towering water platform unit called the “Aero Chief.” Only recently put into production, this unit will extend to heights of 70, 80, or 90 feet, and will carry water through a 6-in. line to the firefighter on the platform. How much water? A big 2000 gpm can be pumped from the high 60×42-in. bucket.

The Aero-Chief has a nesting boom so that in its retracted position the overall height, unlike other such units, is only one inch over 9 feet. This was designed to enable the unit to pass under low bridges and tree limbs on the way to a fire.

How do you recognize this unit? By name, of course, and by the bell on the right front bumper. Also by the obvious 6-in. water pipe running up the right side of the boom to the basket, visible when the boom is folded for travelling or extended.

*Mack Trucks, Montvale, N. J.

The future of fire fighting equipment is embodied in new units from Mack. First, and presently in use, is the Mack Aerial Platform. This boom assembly consists of four sections, three of which telescope. On top of the boom is a 15-sq. ft. platform which is self-leveling and which can rise to 75 feet and pump 1000 gpm. Unique is a 60,000 BTU heater which blows hot air up through the inside of the boom to prevent ice accumulation in freezing weather. The boom is mounted on a standard Mack fire fighting truck.

Two men operate the Mack boom, the Pittman “Snorkel,” and other standard aerial platforms. The man on the platform controls, with one hand, the motion of the boom and bucket, while a man at ground level can over-ride the platform control in case of emergency.

And the future? Presently under construction at the Mack plant is the world’s most powerful fire fighting apparatus. Ordered by the fire department of New York City, these two tremendous units (called the Super Pumper and the Super Hose Tender) will cost a total of $875,000.

Each of these units will be 40 ft. long, 11 ft. high, 8 ft. wide. The pumper will be powered by a 2400-hp British Napier-Deltic diesel engine, an engine normally used to drive a 100-ton locomotive. Ready for fire fighting duty in 1965, the pumper will move 4400 gpm (half a tank car full every minute) 70 stories into the air . . . and will still have pressure enough to blast a hole through the side of the building! (See cover of this issue.) In fact, great care will be taken to clear firemen and onlookers from the area where the pumper is being used since the pressure developed by the powerful engine will be enough to tear a man apart!

When called, the super pumper and hose tender will proceed together until they reach an area several blocks from the fire. There, the pumper will stop and hook up to a major water supply hydrant, or a pond or river. The hose tender will move quickly on, laying hose as it goes. By the time the tender reaches the scene of action, firemen can drop off the now-empty hose carrying trailer, hook up to the water gun atop the tractor, and go to work.

The tender will carry 8000 ft. of 4-1/2-in. hose.

Water pumped horizontally from this amazingly powerful fire fighting unit will carry over 1200 ft. By connecting additional super pumpers and tenders together, there is no limit to the distance that can be covered between water source and fire.

But there will always be one problem. Fire! However, with these new, super-efficient fire fighting units, today’s firemen are defeating their enemy more easily.

AAMCO has just announced that their popular  iGAAUGE application is now available for Android handsets.  The free tool provides users with access to car repair information, nearby fueling spots  and traffic information  For those of you who have trouble keeping up with all the care that goes along with owning a car,  iGAAUGE offers a preventive maintenance schedule to ease your worried mind.  Finally, there are special offers provided by AAMCO that are only available to iGAAUGE users.

Might We Suggest…

• Twitter Working on Official Android App
  Not much to say here that isn’t already in the title.  Business Insider is reporting tonight that twitter CEO Evan Williams claims and Android app is on the way and “it’s going to be awesome”.  As to …

This Canadian ad for Mini makes a claim that I believe is unique in the annals of auto advertising: Our car will make your man-boobs undulate. Here, a pair of buddies—one resembles David Spade, the other Arzt on Lost—take a high-speed spin, which prompts Arzt to declare: "This thing really handles!" The revelry gives way to awkwardness, however, when Arzt’s man-boobs begin quavering and Spade looks away, feeling shame for both of them. Following advertising tradition, the mortification is broken by a deadpan punch line (Arzt’s "I’ll get out and walk from here") and then some upbeat music. Still, nice work, Taxi. In 30 seconds, you managed to show off the car and get in a solid laugh.

—Posted by Todd Wasserman

Ford EcoBoost engine will be deployed to more models and will be optimized to improve fuel efficiency. …

… “in the future it will further improve the economy and power of EcoBoost engines by using more efficient turbochargers and fine-tuning the precision of the direct-injection fuel system. ” …

Via New York Times, Wheels Blog: Ford EcoBoost Engine

The ecoBoost engine improves fuel economy through optimization techniques. …

FORD ECOBOOST ENGINE TECHNOLOGY: “EcoBoost’s combination of direct injection and turbocharging mitigates the traditional disadvantages of downsizing and boosting 4- and 6-cylinder engines, giving customers both superior performance as well as fuel economy. With direct injection, fuel is injected into each cylinder of an engine in small, precise amounts. Compared to conventional port injection, direct injection produces a cooler, denser charge, delivering higher fuel economy and performance. ”

La compañía estadounidense Rapier Automotive ha estado preparando su deportivo con motor central durante estos últimos cinco años y ahora sus esfuerzos son recompensados pues ha empezado a recibir pedidos.

El coche construido casi completamente a mano es totalmente personalizable y ofrece a los clientes varias opciones de motor, pintura y combinaciones para el interior.

Los futuros propietarios pueden elegir entre los siguientes corazones Chevrolet: LS3 V-8 de 6.8L con 480 caballos, LS7 V-8 de 7.0L con 505 equinos y el LS9 V-8 sobrealimentado de 6.2L cuya potencia máxima bordea los 638 CV (utilizado también por el ZR1).

En cualquiera de los casos la potencia es enviada a las ruedas traseras a través de una caja de cambios manual de seis velocidades , el montaje con el corazón de mayores prestaciones le permite al deportivo acelerar de 0-100 km en 3.0 segundos y desarrollar una velocidad máxima de 358 km/h.

El deportivo también se caracteriza porque su cuerpo está fabricado en su totalidad con aluminio, además se aprecia perfectamente el estilo monocasco del chasis; esta combinación de elementos le permiten al coche brindar una imagen bastante atractiva.

Según la compañía, el deportivo puede circular por las calles sin ningún problema y se encuentra disponible por 179.000 dólares, además se ofrece a los clientes la opción de probar el rendimiento del Rapier SL-C Superlite Coupe en las instalaciones principales del fabricante en Boston.

Rapier SL-C Superlite Coupe

Vía | Motor Authority

“Like mothers who push healthy food at skeptical children, carmakers insisted that despite the mushy-veggies taste of smaller engines and hybrid everything, Americans will learn to love gas sippers and drive them without shame.” (from coverage of the New York Intl Auto Show by the NY TIMES: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/automobiles/autoshow/04SHOW.html?hpw)

Now while it’s clear that automobile writers may be wondering where the muscle cars went (and choosing to write about ever-clunkier-looking crossovers and sport utility vehicles),  it turns out the first mass-market pure EV is hitting the showrooms in Japan, and auto buyers are taking to it like the proverbial duck to water: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Japanese-start-buying-apf-3281658505.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode=.  It’s a 4-seater from Mitsubishi called the i-MiEV and it costs about $30,000 after tax and other incentives.  The car is rated for 100 miles between charges, and can be charged in as little as 30 minutes at a turbo-charged charging station (no, there are not very many of them).  See this article from AutoBlogGreen: http://green.autoblog.com/2010/04/02/mitsubishi-aims-for-sub-30-000-price-tag-on-u-s-i-miev/

i-MiEV from Mitsubishi, Japan's first mass-market EV

At the same time, Nissan announced that its new EV, the Leaf, will be in showrooms by December, and they have started taking orders.

We’re anxiously awaiting the Tesla IPO announced earlier this year (http://earth2tech.com/2010/01/29/tesla-ipo-electric-car-startup-files-for-100m-public-offering-finally/), and that offering, when it happens, may herald the first true US EV “muscle car” public company.

For the smallcap investor, there are ways to invest in the EV as a passenger-car trend, both by investing in cross-border companies and by investing in companies that make parts and pieces of EVs.  One hint at the broad influence that EVs will have if they are widely accepted (and we assume they will be) is written between the lines in an announcement by Ford and Microsoft, and released on the first day of April.  It deals with a cooperative agreement between the two companies as to a program called Hohm (a combination of the place you live and a measure of electrical energy), which may help EV owners calculate the cheapest and most efficient ways to re-charge their cars, considering that charging a car is likely to double the energy usage of some homes. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2010/04/hohm-20100401.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+greencarcongress%2FTrBK+%28Green+Car+Congress%29

Also mentioned in that announcement are Ford’s plans to introduce 5 new electric vehicles over the next few years, the first of which is the electric Transit Connect, which was shown at the Chicago Auto Show earlier this year, and which will start being delivered in the 4th quarter of 2010.  The Transit Connect is a co-product of Ford and Oak Park MI-based Azure Dynamics Corp* (TSX: AZD and OTC: AZDDF; http://www.azuredynamics.com/), and while it has been announced as a commercial vehicle, there seems a strong likelihood that some portion of the Transit Connects that hit the roads will find themselves serving at least partly as family vehicles.  It’s worth noting that the Transit Connect (which will be available in gas-powered and EV versions) was named North American Truck of the Year for 2010: http://www.northamericancaroftheyear.org/.  AZDDF and AZD shares closed Thursday at $0.26, with average volume of well over 800,000 shares a day in Toronto.   

Privately held Norwegian company, Think Electric, announced last week that it will begin selling its Think City, a mini-sized urban vehicle, in New York City and other US cities: http://www.thinkev.com/Press-Material/Press-releases/THINK-to-begin-selling-city-electric-car-in-New-York.  Think’s US cars will be built in Elkhart IN, near the operations center of its battery supplier and significant partial owner, Ener1 Corp (Nasdaq: HEV; http://www.ener1.com/), which has been the recipient of a hefty federal stimulus award for its own battery operations.  HEV shares closed at $4.40 vs a 52-week high of $7.90 on Thursday, for a market cap of $550 million and daily average trading of  nearly a million shares.  One could own Think indirectly through HEV shares.

Think City EV (in a bubble)

I attended a presentation last month by Henrik Fisker, founder of venture-backed Irvine CA-based Fisker Automotive, which has announced a plug-in electric luxury sports car, the Karma, and is taking orders for it now.  Fisker Automotive has been awarded more than $500 million in federal stimulus loans conditioned on the company’s posting adequate investment matching funds.  While Fisker is privately held, a small minority of its shares are owned by its strategic partner, also based in Irvine CA, Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies (Nasdaq: QTWW; http://www.qtww.com/).  QTWW shares closed at $0.67 on Thursday, vs a year-high of $1.77, with average trading volume climbing toward 2 million shares a day, and a market cap of just under $100 million.  While it seems obvious given the high level of venture capital that has been invested, that Fisker will eventually go public, no plans have been announced to date.

The cloud that hangs over the EV and HEV industries is some worry about whether the car-driving public will give up their gas-powered cars.  Hybrids (there really are very few EVs yet available) as a percentage of sales dropped year-to-year in March: http://blogs.edmunds.com/greencaradvisor/2010/04/march-us-hybrid-sales-rise-18-percent-but-lag-overall-vehicle-growth.html, although the figures are not complete since not all hybrid makers reported.  The Prius still leads the pack with 53% of hybrid sales last month. 

It could be that the EV will attract a more willing audience than the technologically complex dual-system hybrids.  Standard-looking cars like the Tesla and Fisker will be needed to establish that EVs are not glorified golf carts, a moniker still thrown at some of the smaller ones, and once the big car companies are putting EVs in their showrooms that will help as well.  For now, the electric Transit Connect by Ford and Azure Dynamics looks to be the first of those big-name cars in the US, probably followed by their Japanese brethren from Nissan and Mitsubishi.

*client of Allen & Caron, publisher of this blog

U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have aligned on new federal rules that establish national greenhouse gas emissions standards that significantly increase the fuel economy of all new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States. Ultimately, the consumer will benefit from savings on a 2016 model year car of over $3,000 through the life of the vehicle. The country will save approximately 1.8 billion barrels of oil and eliminate almost a billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions. …

… “Today’s final rules, issued by DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and EPA, establish increasingly stringent fuel economy standards under NHTSA’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy program and greenhouse gas emission standards under the Clean Air Act for 2012 through 2016 model-year vehicles. Starting with 2012 model year vehicles, the rules together require automakers to improve fleet-wide fuel economy and reduce fleet-wide greenhouse gas emissions by approximately five percent every year. NHTSA has established fuel economy standards that strengthen each year reaching an estimated 34.1 mpg for the combined industry-wide fleet for model year 2016. ” …

Via United States Department of Transportation: Aggressive National Standards for Fuel Economy and First Ever Greenhouse Gas Emission Levels

Corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) and green house gas (GHG) emission rulemaking
CAFE and GHG emission fact sheet
Final Regulatory Impact Analysis
Final joint technical support document
Final Environmental Impact Statement (With Appendices A through G)

Straw Hat Autos for Hot Climes

IN THE torrid Madeira Islands, automobiles have donned straw hats to provide the last word in comfort for motorists. Experimenters there have found that woven straw is much less heat absorbing than the customary metal cover, and so have equipped their cars with an overall sheathing of this airy material. Hood, body, running boards, mud guards, and even wheels are encased with woven straw and motorists report that they no longer suffer from the terriffic heat when their cars are exposed to sun rays. An auto which has gone straw hat is shown in the photo above.