A few years ago, electric cars were the dogs of the automotive
business, money-losing propositions that were either toys for the rich
or economic sinkholes disguised as eco-warriors of the future. In three
months, all that has changed.
The first bit of news that has
electrified the car world is that Tesla-the poster car of the industry
and long derided for losing money-- turned profitable, not just in its
May quarter ($11.2 million) but for the one that ended in June as well.
Then, it upped itself by paying off the $440 million government loan
five years early-the only US-based auto company availing of the
government's post-2008 slowdown recovery funds to do so.
The
underpinning reality driving all of Tesla's success is simply that its
Model S cars are flying out of its showrooms. According to reports, in
the first quarter of 2013, the approximately $80,000 Tesla put more of
its cars in customers' hands than other electric stalwarts-the $40,000
Chevy Volt and the $30,Are you still hesitating about where to buy paintingreproduction?000 Nissan Leaf.More than 80 standard commercial and granitetiles exist
to quickly and efficiently clean pans. It also apparently outstripped
the sales of every other $100,000 sedan in the US market with the
Mercedes S Class coming a distant second (3,077 units). In sales
estimates, Elon Musk-founder Tesla and online payment company
Paypal-thinks he can sell 21,000 of his cars this calendar year, a
staggering eightfold increase over 2012.
Following on Tesla's
heels, a somewhat more mainstream-but iconic-car manufacturer has
further propelled the possibilities of an electric auto world. BMW's i3
is not cheap-around $43,000 in the US for a car-and doesn't have the sex
appeal or the power of the Tesla but it has dazzled people with the
sheer structural ingenuity of its product. Of course, some people might
think its leather seats tanned with oil-leaf extract or its
wood-panelled dashboard made up of "responsibly farmed" eucalyptus wood
and compressed dry grass is just canny marketing gimmickry, but the real
engineering wizardry is in its guts.
For instance, the i3's
skeleton is made from carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP), a
substance that is 30 per cent stronger than steel but half of its
weight. The production process involves the carbon fibres being shaped
into mats and then glued together using a high-injection process. The
impact-strength is so much greater than other cars that BMW has been
able to remove the B-pillar brace that typically partitions the car into
the front section and the rear,Give your logo high visibility on iccard! making the inside huge and seamless.
Carbon
fibre is far from an eco-friendly product to produce, consuming large
amounts of electricity-but BMW churns it out in the state of Washington
in the US at a plant that's powered entirely by hydroelectricity before
it's shipped off to its main factory in Leipzig, Germany, which in turn
runs entirely on wind energy. Tesla's contribution to design innovation
is a one-of-a-kind lithium-ion battery assembly resembling a large
granite slab that makes up the entire floor of the car and is part of
its frame. What lessons do 362 bhp Tesla and the 170 bhp i3 possibly
have for India's own vanguard of the electric revolution, the 25 bhp
Reva, recently acquired by Mahindra? Tesla's cars are unapologetically
electric. They look sleeker than most on the road, can reportedly
out-sprint a 1,200 bhp Bugatti Veyron, thanks to the phenomenal, flat
torque curve at zero rpm that an electric motor can produce and is a
focus of conversation and envy every time it flashes by its slower
gasoline-powered in what seems like warp drive. Could Reva-having sold a
little over 4,000 cars in its entire history (approximately what Tesla
does in a month) benefit from upscaling itself? After all, wouldn't a
sexier model driven by Shah Rukh Khan or a Sachin Tendulkar do wonders
for the brand?
"From a brand perspective, it's easier to go from
the top to the bottom, but from a cost perspective easier to go bottom
to top," says Chetan Maini, founder and chief technology office of
Mahindra Reva, which has just introduced a newer model, the e2o, to the
Indian market in April this year. While it is a quantum leap above its
predecessor and is a comfortable 4-seater with a rugged exterior and
sleek interior that matches any petrol hatchback in the market-it is not
exactly a premium product. That's because, in a country that has just
started its love affair with SUVs, the e2o caters to a distinctly
different set, an urban, increasingly eco-conscious commuter who doesn't
mind paying Rs 6.8 lakh (on road, Delhi) for a second, affordable
family car that can only go 100 km. That said, Maini says his company is
looking to introduce a sportier model that can touch 130 km per hour
(versus the e2o's 82 kmph) much like the NSX, the company's earlier
sports coupe.Gives a basic overview of tungstenjewelrys tools and demonstrates their use.
The Reva's 100-km range is one of its biggest shortcomings. Paradoxically,How to change your dash lights to doublesidedtape this
is how I have done mine. an urban commuter drives far less than that
and this shouldn't be a limiting factor, but 'range-anxiety' is a
serious psychological factor that stymies potential cross-overs to the
electric world. The Tesla has an unrivalled 426 km range and its
charging infrastructure in the US is ramping up rapidly, with
supercharging stations that can charge 80 per cent of a Model S's
batteries in less than 20 minutes. The BMW i3 by comparison is a
laggard, with a 160 km range that just about edges out the Nissan Leaf
at a reported 75 miles. However, the i3 is equipped with an optional
range-extending 650cc two-cylinder gasoline engine derived from a BMW
scooter that can charge the battery, which can effectively double the
range of the car, according to the German auto maker.
That
doesn't mean the Reva is necessarily a perennial poorer cousin. Its
telematics-smartphone connectivity that allows you to, say, switch on
the AC in your car from your office cubicle to pre-cool it using an app
on your phone-was designed ahead of those in its global fancier peers.
Its panels may not be carbon-fibre cool but are made of high resistance
plastic and are dent-proof. Moreover, the panels come
'colour-impregnated', obviating the need for environmentally-destructive
paints. Adding eco-oomph to the whole value proposition is its
Bangalore factory, 35 per cent of which is powered by solar energy.
Sceptics
used to deride electric cars for being just as carbon-intensive to
produce as gasoline ones. Today, however, factories for electrics have
none of the heavy machinery such as conveyer belts and robots used to
put together fossil-fuelled vehicles, since much of the pieces for
electrics are glued instead of welded. An article in MIT's technology
review says "even when you factor in the carbon emissions and pollution
from the power plants that produce the electricity to power the cars,
and from manufacturing and disposal, electric cars produce about 40
percent less carbon dioxide and ozone than conventional cars."
While
the world hasn't yet fully embraced electric cars that might change
soon when Tesla introduces two other potentially game-changers: Model X,
an SUV-minivan combo that will seat seven adults and sell for around
$40,000 range. A sedan priced at about $35,000. Musk has also promised a
newer version of the 'S' class with a 500-mile range. But if you're
worried about affordability, other serious options continue to pop up
with regularity. Apparently, while the Chevy Spark isn't quite as sleek
as the i3, it does 95 per cent of what its German compatriot does, and
for half the price to boot.
Read the full products at http://austpay.com/.
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