Last year, one of the motoring organisations in Europe conducted several studies, asking drivers of all ages and backgrounds what their feelings were on self-driving cars. The general consensus was that nobody really wanted them, and at the time it was considered that it might be more appealing to the American market.
Skip forwards 8 months and now we have some inkling that US drivers might also not be that hot about the idea of self-driving cars. Michigan's Transportation Research Institute just published the results of a recent study in the US, and it turns out 70% of drivers pretty much don't want self-driving cars, and over 95% of them said that if self-driving cars are forced upon us, they wanted gas and brake pedals and steering wheels.
More to the point, in the light of recently published hacks against Chrysler vehicles - now ask yourself the question - do you want to be in a completely automated car? By necessity they'll be net-connected, meaning they'll be even larger hacking targets than existing vehicles.
If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you know my feelings on drone cars already.
Anyway - the Fortune article that talks about the TRI study can be found here : Most Americans want to put the brakes on self-driving cars
Monday, August 3, 2015
Monday, July 27, 2015
OnStar, UConnect or any other remote assistance capability leaves your car open to hacking.
In other news, d'uh! Given that GM have been able to remotely start and stop cars via OnStar for years, it should come as no surprise to anyone that Jeep's UConnect is the latest remote assistance system to fall prey to hacking. Following successful demonstrations of how Ford and Toyota's systems can be remotely accessed, now we know it's more than just honking horns and flashing headlights. Now we know that brakes can be disabled, steering inputs can be changed, and transmissions can be killed.
How? Simple - all new cars use a centralised data communication system called CANBus. Everything is on there from the engine management system to the radio. Naturally this means the cell network connection for remote assistance can access the same onboard network, which ipso facto means that's the way into your whole car's brain for anyone with enough skill.
And these two guys gleefully demonstrate how easy these sort of hacks are: Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway This naturally isn't limited to GM, Chrysler, Ford and Toyota. It's just that those are the only ones that have been publicly demonstrated up to this point. Mercedes, Land Rover, GMC, Dodge, VW, Audi, Volvo - you name it - they all have remote assistance functions to call the emergency services, or that let you remote start your car, or set the climate control before getting in.
And the mere fact that this outside connection exists means that it should come as no surprise to anyone as each and every one of these systems falls to hacker demonstrations.
How? Simple - all new cars use a centralised data communication system called CANBus. Everything is on there from the engine management system to the radio. Naturally this means the cell network connection for remote assistance can access the same onboard network, which ipso facto means that's the way into your whole car's brain for anyone with enough skill.
And these two guys gleefully demonstrate how easy these sort of hacks are: Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway This naturally isn't limited to GM, Chrysler, Ford and Toyota. It's just that those are the only ones that have been publicly demonstrated up to this point. Mercedes, Land Rover, GMC, Dodge, VW, Audi, Volvo - you name it - they all have remote assistance functions to call the emergency services, or that let you remote start your car, or set the climate control before getting in.
And the mere fact that this outside connection exists means that it should come as no surprise to anyone as each and every one of these systems falls to hacker demonstrations.
Monday, July 20, 2015
Living the life electric - part 5.
(This post follows from last week's - best read that first if you missed it).
Utah has a program for vehicles with lower than average emissions. Their 'clean fuel decal' program means you either get a custom number plate, or a number plate decal to indicate that your vehicle is in this program. There are a couple of perks - free use of the HOV lane even with a single occupant, and free parking downtown. The weird thing is that electric cars don't automatically qualify for this program where some hybrids do. For example if you buy a Prius, you automatically get the clean fuel decal. But if you buy a LEAF or a Ford Focus Electric, you don't. Because according to the Utah State Legislature, electric engines are somehow not quite as clean as petrol-electric hybrids.
Instead, owners of electric cars have to enter into a lottery for - wait for it - an annual allocation of 48 clean fuel decals.
So yeah - this state is really getting behind their air quality programs.
Interesting point to note : we have some of the worst air pollution in the country now because we have a closed valley that causes inversions, and two oil refineries in said valley. Of course, in the name of clean air, the legislature just approved a huge refinery expansion whilst at the same time attempting to encourage people to drive less. Second interesting point to note : most modern cars emit less crap from their exhaust than they suck in to the airbox. But don't let facts and logic stand in the way of local government....
Utah has a program for vehicles with lower than average emissions. Their 'clean fuel decal' program means you either get a custom number plate, or a number plate decal to indicate that your vehicle is in this program. There are a couple of perks - free use of the HOV lane even with a single occupant, and free parking downtown. The weird thing is that electric cars don't automatically qualify for this program where some hybrids do. For example if you buy a Prius, you automatically get the clean fuel decal. But if you buy a LEAF or a Ford Focus Electric, you don't. Because according to the Utah State Legislature, electric engines are somehow not quite as clean as petrol-electric hybrids.
Instead, owners of electric cars have to enter into a lottery for - wait for it - an annual allocation of 48 clean fuel decals.
So yeah - this state is really getting behind their air quality programs.
Interesting point to note : we have some of the worst air pollution in the country now because we have a closed valley that causes inversions, and two oil refineries in said valley. Of course, in the name of clean air, the legislature just approved a huge refinery expansion whilst at the same time attempting to encourage people to drive less. Second interesting point to note : most modern cars emit less crap from their exhaust than they suck in to the airbox. But don't let facts and logic stand in the way of local government....
Monday, July 13, 2015
Living the life electric - part 4.
(This post follows from last week's - best read that first if you missed it).
For our Nissan LEAF, we initially we decided the supplied 120v trickle-charger would be fine, but that meant the cable would never be in the car - problematic if we ever needed some juice whilst out somewhere. Realising that the LEAF has a standard J1772 charging port, I also realised I didn't need to pay Nissan $1500 for their charging station. Bosch do one for less than $500 which does the exact same thing.
At this point I also discovered 'electric car people' are very particular about the terminology. The thing you put on the wall in your garage is NOT a charger. It's an EVSE - electric vehicle supply equipment. It's designed to provide power at a known voltage and current to the car, and the charging functions are all built in to the car itself. This means I can plug in 120V at 1.3kW, 240V at 3.3kW or 240V at 6kW and the car will adapt accordingly.
The only difference in the charging methods is time-to-charge. The cost of power doesn't vary where we live, so there's no benefit to attempting to charge overnight.
For the LEAF, from an almost-dead battery to fully-charged takes 20 hours on the trickle-charger, about 8 hours on a 3kW supply and about 4 hours on a 6kW supply.
There are three decision to make when looking at an EVSE. The first is this: do you own a Tesla? In which case you can't buy an off-the-shelf EVSE because Tesla use a proprietary charging port connection. Assuming you don't own a Tesla, the second question is AC or DC charging? AC is the most common. DC is massively powerful and for most electric cars will give you a 40 minute charge time from dead. The disadvantage is a huge cost for the EVSE, upgraded electrical system in your house or garage, and a charging cable the size of Duane Johnson's biceps. Assuming then that you go with the far more common AC charging, the final question is 'will this burn my garage down?'.
The power rating of your electrical supply is very important. In our case we have a 50amp feeded to the garage, so adding a new 30amp EVSE to that circuit would not leave a lot of 'wiggle room' in the electrical system. For that reason I chose to put in a 16amp version. Shorter charge times than the trickle charger, longer than a 6kW supply. With the 3kW supply I used, for our daily driving, it literally takes 20 minutes in the evening to top off the charge. I did all the electrical work myself as it's pretty damn simple, and I didn't pay Nissan another $1500.
Perfect.
For our Nissan LEAF, we initially we decided the supplied 120v trickle-charger would be fine, but that meant the cable would never be in the car - problematic if we ever needed some juice whilst out somewhere. Realising that the LEAF has a standard J1772 charging port, I also realised I didn't need to pay Nissan $1500 for their charging station. Bosch do one for less than $500 which does the exact same thing.
At this point I also discovered 'electric car people' are very particular about the terminology. The thing you put on the wall in your garage is NOT a charger. It's an EVSE - electric vehicle supply equipment. It's designed to provide power at a known voltage and current to the car, and the charging functions are all built in to the car itself. This means I can plug in 120V at 1.3kW, 240V at 3.3kW or 240V at 6kW and the car will adapt accordingly.
The only difference in the charging methods is time-to-charge. The cost of power doesn't vary where we live, so there's no benefit to attempting to charge overnight.
For the LEAF, from an almost-dead battery to fully-charged takes 20 hours on the trickle-charger, about 8 hours on a 3kW supply and about 4 hours on a 6kW supply.
There are three decision to make when looking at an EVSE. The first is this: do you own a Tesla? In which case you can't buy an off-the-shelf EVSE because Tesla use a proprietary charging port connection. Assuming you don't own a Tesla, the second question is AC or DC charging? AC is the most common. DC is massively powerful and for most electric cars will give you a 40 minute charge time from dead. The disadvantage is a huge cost for the EVSE, upgraded electrical system in your house or garage, and a charging cable the size of Duane Johnson's biceps. Assuming then that you go with the far more common AC charging, the final question is 'will this burn my garage down?'.
The power rating of your electrical supply is very important. In our case we have a 50amp feeded to the garage, so adding a new 30amp EVSE to that circuit would not leave a lot of 'wiggle room' in the electrical system. For that reason I chose to put in a 16amp version. Shorter charge times than the trickle charger, longer than a 6kW supply. With the 3kW supply I used, for our daily driving, it literally takes 20 minutes in the evening to top off the charge. I did all the electrical work myself as it's pretty damn simple, and I didn't pay Nissan another $1500.
Perfect.
Monday, July 6, 2015
Living the life electric - part 3.
(This post follows from last week's - best read that first if you missed it).
So what's it like living with an electric car in the family? Well - it's different.
If you've never driven an all-electric car, it's weird at first. There's no engine noise, so there isn't really an 'ignition' to speak of. You just push a button and the car 'wakes up' and is ready to drive. The electric drivetrain sound is pretty sweet. Quiet, but sounds like power. As far as performance goes, our LEAF will embarass ANY sports car off-the-line for the first 50 meters. After that, not so much (obviously).
The dash display is a bit too oriented around the range-to-dead meter - giant fins either side and a huge numerical display. No wonder people get range anxiety - the dash literally screams at you. But the LEAF has an 'eco' mode which considerably dulls the accelerator response whilst increasing the amount of resistance under regenerative braking. In city traffic, this is not a bad mode to be in apart from one thing; because the regenerative resistance is so large, the car will slow down quite nicely without ever touching the brakes, meaning the person behind you is presented with a car that is slowing down with no brake lights. You have to be aware of that, so we've taken to just lightly loading the brake pedal in these conditions to ensure there is at least a clue for the people behind us.
In the suburbs or on the motorways, eco mode is a little too dull on the accelerator - you can find yourself being an obstruction in traffic if you're not careful, and you sure as hell don't want to use eco mode to turn across oncoming traffic. The snail-like acceleration means you need a gap in oncoming traffic the size of the Queen Mary to perform a turn.
Because we got the SV version with the Premium package, it has power-everything, heated-everything, 360 degree cameras, Bose audio - the works. All of these, of course, drain the range, but there is a display on the center console that shows you how much the HVAC and extras are 'costing' you.
It does change the way you drive, for sure, but I'm not getting into hypermiling or anything stupid like that. It's a damn car - just use it as a car. My wife loves never having to go to a petrol station and I love that the solar installation on our garage roof is offsetting the cost of charging it. My daily driver is still a Range Rover, but now we have an electric car in the family, I'm watching the developments in battery technology and new electric cars far more closely. We still need a car with large range and fast refuelling (I'm not going to sit around mid-road-trip for 3 hours waiting for my car to recharge - not even 30 minutes) - so going all-electric isn't an option right now. But someday - when batteries have more capacity and charging stations are plentiful and can recharge in 2 to 3 minutes? Yep - I'm all in.
So what's it like living with an electric car in the family? Well - it's different.
If you've never driven an all-electric car, it's weird at first. There's no engine noise, so there isn't really an 'ignition' to speak of. You just push a button and the car 'wakes up' and is ready to drive. The electric drivetrain sound is pretty sweet. Quiet, but sounds like power. As far as performance goes, our LEAF will embarass ANY sports car off-the-line for the first 50 meters. After that, not so much (obviously).
The dash display is a bit too oriented around the range-to-dead meter - giant fins either side and a huge numerical display. No wonder people get range anxiety - the dash literally screams at you. But the LEAF has an 'eco' mode which considerably dulls the accelerator response whilst increasing the amount of resistance under regenerative braking. In city traffic, this is not a bad mode to be in apart from one thing; because the regenerative resistance is so large, the car will slow down quite nicely without ever touching the brakes, meaning the person behind you is presented with a car that is slowing down with no brake lights. You have to be aware of that, so we've taken to just lightly loading the brake pedal in these conditions to ensure there is at least a clue for the people behind us.
In the suburbs or on the motorways, eco mode is a little too dull on the accelerator - you can find yourself being an obstruction in traffic if you're not careful, and you sure as hell don't want to use eco mode to turn across oncoming traffic. The snail-like acceleration means you need a gap in oncoming traffic the size of the Queen Mary to perform a turn.
Because we got the SV version with the Premium package, it has power-everything, heated-everything, 360 degree cameras, Bose audio - the works. All of these, of course, drain the range, but there is a display on the center console that shows you how much the HVAC and extras are 'costing' you.
It does change the way you drive, for sure, but I'm not getting into hypermiling or anything stupid like that. It's a damn car - just use it as a car. My wife loves never having to go to a petrol station and I love that the solar installation on our garage roof is offsetting the cost of charging it. My daily driver is still a Range Rover, but now we have an electric car in the family, I'm watching the developments in battery technology and new electric cars far more closely. We still need a car with large range and fast refuelling (I'm not going to sit around mid-road-trip for 3 hours waiting for my car to recharge - not even 30 minutes) - so going all-electric isn't an option right now. But someday - when batteries have more capacity and charging stations are plentiful and can recharge in 2 to 3 minutes? Yep - I'm all in.
Monday, June 29, 2015
Living the life electric - part 2.
(This post follows from last week's - best read that first if you missed it).
So $9,100 for a 2013 Nissan LEAF SV with 18,000 miles on it, loaded with the premium package. Great deal, but I'm not a car dealer. That's where my friend comes in. He IS a dealer - he owns a small business selling used cars, mostly luxury marques, but it means he's connected. He was curious about LEAFs so he offered to grab the red one from the auction and give me first refusal. (As it happened he also picked up a silver one that he was going to re-sell, but has now ended up keeping as his own car.)
So we went for a test drive in it. The idea was to replace our second car - a Toyota Yaris that is lucky if it does 10 miles a day. From that point of view, a pure electric with an 85 mile range is perfect. It's never going to do a road trip but as a city car it would work perfectly. I drove it - loved it. My wife drove it - loved it. So we pulled the trigger.
The best thing about a dealer friend is that wonderful things can happen. In my case, he bought the car at auction, imported it into the state, paid the auction fees and sold it to me for cost. What does that mean? It means we paid just shy of $10,500. Go look on any of the used car price guides and you'll see the price for this car varies from $12,400 to $15,800 depending on where you buy it used. As the saying goes, it's not what you know, it's who you know.
Next week: living with it.
So $9,100 for a 2013 Nissan LEAF SV with 18,000 miles on it, loaded with the premium package. Great deal, but I'm not a car dealer. That's where my friend comes in. He IS a dealer - he owns a small business selling used cars, mostly luxury marques, but it means he's connected. He was curious about LEAFs so he offered to grab the red one from the auction and give me first refusal. (As it happened he also picked up a silver one that he was going to re-sell, but has now ended up keeping as his own car.)
So we went for a test drive in it. The idea was to replace our second car - a Toyota Yaris that is lucky if it does 10 miles a day. From that point of view, a pure electric with an 85 mile range is perfect. It's never going to do a road trip but as a city car it would work perfectly. I drove it - loved it. My wife drove it - loved it. So we pulled the trigger.
The best thing about a dealer friend is that wonderful things can happen. In my case, he bought the car at auction, imported it into the state, paid the auction fees and sold it to me for cost. What does that mean? It means we paid just shy of $10,500. Go look on any of the used car price guides and you'll see the price for this car varies from $12,400 to $15,800 depending on where you buy it used. As the saying goes, it's not what you know, it's who you know.
Next week: living with it.
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