Renewable Energy: Alternative Assembly
Renewable Energy: Alternative Assembly
image: Aleksandar Rodic
Globally many automotive plants sit idle after decades of successful assembly. Some have closed or reduced production, with jobs disappearing at astonishing rates. But in some cases alternative assembly from renewable-energy and new-tech enterprises are taking advantage of the automotive downturn. In turn transforming defunct automotive labour and assembly lines into alternative 'green jobs'. Many renewable-energy companies are seeing opportunities in old automotive assembly lines to produce equipment for solar and wind power systems. Following the trend of the rust-tech industrial base converting to clean-tech manufacturing.
The principal of buying assets when they're cheap is hardly a new idea, or exclusive to the automotive industry, therefore the growth of renewable energy is no exception to market development. Companies are paying only about 25 percent of the estimated cost of building those factories from scratch. Taking advantage of the low prices available today to expand their manufacturing capacity cheaply and to position themselves to grow when market conditions improve. These projects are real attempts to replace thousands of lost automotive jobs with 'green jobs'. It also proves the ability of some renewable-energy companies to benefit from the recession, especially from the automotive industry's pain.
Solar Power: Traffic Lights
Solar Power: Traffic Lights
'Green' traffic lights are not a new idea. The move to LED traffic lights is already offering significant savings on both energy consumption and costs. Berlin already derives 100% of their electricity for traffic control from renewable sources. India has combined both these attributes into a single traffic system. South African's first solar powered traffic light intersection was unveiled a few years ago. The main benefit being that traffic flows will be free of disruption when inevitable power failures occur.
Some solar-powered traffic signals have been previously provided by private investors. Sometimes costs were defrayed by allowing limited advertising on the lights. Certainly one way of getting motorists attention, but not likely to improve road safety. But the extensive use of renewable sources to power traffic lights is still very limited.
Navigation: Video Maps
Navigation: Video Maps
While car navigation systems are gaining in importance, maps are still the medium of choice for laying out a route to a destination. However, even with a map, one is almost always more comfortable navigating a route the second time due to the visual memory of the route.
A novel navigation system under development at Microsoft aims to tweak visual memory with carefully chosen video clips of a route. The navigation system, called Videomap, adjusts the speed of the video and the picture to highlight key areas along the route. To make the first time navigating a route feel more familiar, the system integrates a map with a video automatically constructed from panoramic imagery captured at close intervals along the route.
Pre-Owned Electric Car Batteries
Pre-Owned Electric Car Batteries
Nissan and Sumitomo established a joint venture to recycle lithium-ion electric car batteries, which could give Nissan an early lead in the fledgling electric car market by making its vehicles more affordable. The venture is based on a '4R' business model - Reuse, Resell, Refabricate and Recycle. Nissan aims to launch mass market electric vehicles by 2012. It already operates a joint venture with NEC - Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) - that makes high-performance lithium-ion batteries.
Reselling the batteries solves one of electric car manufacturers' biggest problems, which is affordability. Demand is expected to be particularly high for back-up power supplies, uninterruptable power supplies, load levelling for the electricity grid, and levelling of energy from both photovoltaic solar and wind power. In Japan, demand for such recycled batteries is expected to reach the equivalent of at least 50,000 electric cars a year by 2020.
3 Wheels
3 Wheels
Three-wheel vehicles are not a new idea, but getting new ones beyond concept stages is mission impossible. Recent automotive shows have unveiled the latest generation of these tri-wheel cars. Each idea with new advantages and cutting-edge designs, three-wheelers are some of the coolest looking, if not totally practical, modes of transportation around.
A three wheeled car, also known as a tricar or tri-car, is a vehicle having either one wheel in the front for steering and two at the rear for power, two in the front for steering and one in the rear for power, or any other combination of layouts. Having one wheel in front and two in the rear for power reduces the cost of the steering mechanism, but greatly decreases stability. However, a configuration of two wheels in the front and one wheel at the back has many strong proponents among automotive designers and enthusiasts. Having one less wheel also increases fuel efficiency because of decreased rolling resistance.
Brand Reputation: Ford Recalls
Ford Recalls
In an attempt to protect brand reputation, vehicle manufacturers have been very proactive towards warranty responsibilities. Amazingly, a serious safety problem which has plagued Ford for well over a decade has arisen again. Ford recently announced that it will add another 4.5 million older-model vehicles to the long list of those recalled because a defective cruise control switch could cause a fire. The problem first emerged in 1998, when the government investigated complaints of engine compartment fires.
The latest voluntary action pushes Ford's total recall due to faulty switches to 14.3 million registered vehicles over 10 years, capping the company's largest cumulative recall in history involving a single problem. The recall covers 1.1 million Ford Windstar minivans that had a small risk of fire due to internal leaking from the switches. Ford said in a letter to federal regulators that it found a small number of reported fires linked to the problem during an internal investigation that began last year, but did not specify how many.
Renault Launches EVs Site
Renault Zero Emission Range
Renault made quite an impact at the Frankfurt Motor Show with an extensive electric vehicle range. Following on the success of the show Renault has just launched a new site dedicated to promoting its upcoming range of Zero Emission vehicles; the Fluence, Kangoo, Zoe and Twizy. But the site is not only about the vehicles. The new site also provides information about Renault's process of making EVs affordable to everyone.
The site offers explanations of how Renault hopes to make these cars mainstream and affordable. Renault plans to offer all of its EVs with a Better Place strategy. Renault will lease the batteries of all upcoming EVs rather than outright selling the battery to the buyer. The energy storage system will all be leased separately with payments going to a chosen energy supplier. Additional information on the site suggests that Renault will offer three charging options for all of its EVs.
What Energy Crisis? (JPN)
What Energy Crisis?
What Energy Crisis?
Business common sense will tell us that an energy crisis is any great bottleneck, or price rise, in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In popular business literature it often refers to just one energy source used at a certain time and place. But what exactly constitutes a global energy crisis? A global energy crisis is a situation in which the world suffers from a disruption of energy supplies.
In the case of the automotive industry, oil, is accompanied by rapidly increasing energy prices that threaten economic and global security. The threat to economic security can be represented by the possibility of declining economic growth, increasing inflation, rising unemployment, and losing billions in investment. The threat to global security can be represented by the inability of certain governments to exercise foreign policy options towards countries with substantial oil reserves. The automotive industry is therefore providing a valuable service by putting human ingenuity at the center of the debate over energy.
X-by-Wire: A Feel Good Thing
A Feel Good Thing
AFGTは、新しいゲーム用デバイスのコンセプトで、「触る」ことでゲーム効果をより高めることができるものです。このデバイスは、シリコン接触センサーで構成され、ユーザーがバーチャルリアリティーの世界を体験できるものです。このデバイスは、シリコンラバー製の独立した気室をアクチュエータで気圧を調節し実現するものです。AFGTは、気室の操作により、ゲーム機とユーザーを知覚的なレベルまで近づけました。
