Gartner asserts that “connected cars or smart cars are poised to play a pivotal role in the Internet of Things (IoT)”. We say “Hah!”

Also,

• Who levies automotive platform taxes?
• What in the world could “over serving” transportation mean?
• Using the Automatic app in a Porsche.
• BMW’s  “sounding the alarm” over tech companies efforts to collect auto data.
• China’s car industry and other unimportant details relative to declining interest in driving among young people.

(Picture above was taken with Horace’s iPhone 6 back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 ISO 1000, 1/15 second exposure on approach to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and shows the way Americans like to live).

29mb mp3 about 60 minutes.

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Show Notes

250 Million: Number of Connected Vehicles on the Road in 2020, According to Gartner

Volkswagens gefährliche Nähe zu Chinas Politbüro (Volkswagen & China’s Politburo “Dangerously Close”).

Ford’s connected car plans.

BMW sounds alarm over tech companies seeking connected car data.

Amphicar from Jim Zellmer.

Speaking of “jobs to be done” (Asymcar 18)….

A rare Amphicar makes an entertaining Saturday afternoon appearance on Madison’s Lake Mendota.

Wikipedia:

The Amphicar Model 770 is an amphibious automobile, the first such vehicle mass-produced for sale to the public starting in 1961. The German vehicle was designed by Hanns Trippel and manufactured by the Quandt Group at Lübeck and at Berlin-Borsigwalde. Its name is a portmanteau of “amphibious” and “car”. The Amphicar was designed to be marketed and sold in the USA. Compared to most boats or cars, its performance was modest, and only 4000 were produced by 1965. Nevertheless, it is still among the most successful amphibious civilian autos of all time, and still often prized and preserved as novelty collectible automobiles today.

eBay: 3 for sale starting at $53,950.

International Amphicar Owners Club. Tips on buying an Amphicar.

Entering and leaving the water.

## I recorded the brief Lake Mendota video using an iPhone 6 with “digital zoom”. Not too bad.

Matt Grantham:

I thought that I would send this one through and add a couple of comments based on the last podcast for things to think about for the second part.

I am not sure if I mentioned it with in Asymcar 16 but one of the reasons that people are so excited about solar (especially in Australia and other sunny parts of the world) is that with the roof top option you completely take the need grid infrastructure out of the equation. Which in Australia is about half the cost of your bill and as panel costs come down the economics of this are just going to get stronger. I agree that wind prices are also going down but all other technologies have the disadvantage that they are not able to be distributed around the grid.

To highlight this point here is an article which really shows the system challenge for energy based looking at the distributed vs centralised model

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/even-coal-free-couldnt-compete-rooftop-solar-88808

It is relevant to mention that you can also have large PV solar plants as well that face the same challenges as wind, coal and geothermal if they are grid connected.

In the podcast I did I forgot to mention one crucial element that could really help push EV’s and that was electricity tariff reform because if you can start to see one of the what at the moment is one of the problems for the grid ie over supply and as a result cheap energy and combine that with tariff reforms that encourage EV users to suck up this cheap energy then what was a problem for the grid is now a competitive advantage for EVs as long as you get the market structure right. I think good energy market structures are the key.

Also another concept that we have thrashed about on our show from time to time is the idea of variability VS intermittency with regards to clean energy and if you have got a real time market and smart devices like EV’s then they can add to the overall stability of a grid. Solar now we are calling “predictably variable” because even though it is not there at night and you can get clouds from time to time when you look at the system input across a city on a daily basis you do get a very predictable output from it on a day to day basis and modern weather forecasting is helping to refine this even further.

Here are some other EV articles I stumbled across recently that you might be interested in.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/why-evs-will-make-solar-viable-without-subsidies-91738

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/makes-sense-pair-solar-evs-14517

Steve Crandall joins us to discuss hydrogen fuel cells vs. lithium batteries. The two alternatives to post-internal-combustion motoring are far harder to assess than it might seem. Both require systems analysis and the systems themselves need to be weighed against the incumbent infrastructure and jobs to be done.

We begin with Toyota’s fuel cell sedan announcement and recall Honda’s Clarity. The conversation leads to the observation that technical merit is not always sufficient or even necessary to market adoption success. We note that Toyota supported the Prius through years of low volume. Steve compares this to AT&T’s abandonment of a cell service in the 1990’s.

Steve compares the energy performance of hydrogen and gasoline and shares a look at the economic conditions necessary for a successful hydrogen fuel cell launch.

28mb mp3 about 58 minutes.

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Notes:

Steve Crandall:

Energy & Clothes Drying

Where EV’s are doing very well

Coal is Still King

United States Department of Energy Study: Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles Advancing Rapidly Fuel Cell Technologies Office United States Hydrogen Policy

Walkable City Book

Top Gear: Honda Clarity Honda’s website How the Clarity FCEV works

Toyota Fuel Cell Sedan Toyota Japan

Tailpipe emissions

Sustainable Energy

Fuel cell expert says Tesla is promising more than it can deliver

Matt Grantham joins us to discuss electric vehicles, renewable energy, smarter software, solar opportunities and economics. Matt introduces us to Solar X, the solar car challenge. He reflects on these emerging technologies in light of Australia’s nearly extinct auto manufacturing sector.

We explore the concept of a car as the home power source and consider possible EV disruption of traditional power generation and distribution concerns. The potential business models arising from these emerging technologies makes us pause in light of solar firm’s stock performance.

25mb mp3 about 52 minutes.

Subscribe to Asymcar podcasts via iTunes or RSS.

Notes:

Utility “Death Spiral” Pro & Con

Barclays Downgrades Electric Utility Bonds, Sees Viable Solar Competition

Australian coal industry facing some home truths

Suntech says solar PV costs to match coal in China by 2016

Utility seeks “fixed price” hike on smaller customers

Bringing Solar Power to Scale

John Wood discusses UltraBattery

SolarX: Australia’s first solar electric hybrid sports car

Interviews with both winners of the World solar car challenge.

Green Tea Party Energy Platform

The Big Roads by Earl Swift

Bradley GT Electric Kit Car (photo above) Carbuzz.

Buying into solar power, no roof access necessary.