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BETTER PLACE FOUNDER SHAI AGASSI SAYS THAT DETROIT AUTOMAKERS CAN LEARN FROM TESLA MOTORS, RESPOND BUT NOT COPY IT

Should major automakers be concerned about the fact that Tesla's market cap is rapidly approaching the levels of Ford and General Motors? Of course.  (Click Image To Enlarge)

As the electric car company becomes more and more successful, the Big Three need to respond. But just copying a brash startup won't work. Here is what will.

Earlier this summer, General Motors vice chairman Steve Girsky hinted that the company's CEO, Dan Akerson, was more than a little concerned about the rise of electric vehicle startup Tesla Motors:   Girsky said in an interview with Bloomberg. 

“He thinks Tesla could be a big disrupter if we’re not careful.  History is littered with big companies that ignored innovation that was coming their way because you didn’t know where you could be disrupted.”

Shai Agassi, the founder of bankrupt electric vehicle infrastructure company Better Place, has some advice for them: Don't copy Tesla. Just learn from it.  (Click Image To Enlarge)

Should major automakers and their investors be concerned that Tesla's market cap is rapidly approaching the levels of Ford and General Motors?  Of course. That's why Shai Agassi, the founder of bankrupt electric vehicle infrastructure company Better Place, has some advice for them: Don't copy Tesla. Just learn from it.

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ.TSLA) - Share Prices Jan 1, 2013 through September 13, 2013 - Google Finance (Click Image To Enlarge)

In a series of three posts on LinkedIn, Agassi expresses his thoughts on what Detroit should be doing to get in on the electric vehicle market, which Tesla currently has cornered.

In a series of three posts on LinkedIn, Agassi expresses his thoughts on what Detroit should be doing to get in on the electric vehicle market, which Tesla currently has cornered. (Click Image To Enlarge)

Agassi says.

"This was my reaction to a number of posts in the business media that were starting to compare and contrast Tesla with the rest of the industry.  There's this whole idea that the industry should copy Tesla or somehow figure out how to copy Tesla when they're making probably a thousand times as many cars as Tesla."

Agassi says, "There's this whole idea that the industry should copy Tesla or somehow figure out how to copy Tesla when they're making probably a thousand times as many cars as Tesla." (Click Image To Enlarge)

The auto industry, in other words, needs a different strategy.

Agassi's four main takeaways for the industry: Electric cars are objects of desire; Electric cars are like a modern appliance that has software and physical components which need to be constantly updated; Electric cars are on wheels, so automakers need to design vehicles with exponentially improving battery packs in mind; and electric cars drive and sell differently--because car dealers won't invest in marketing a new product category, direct sales may be the way to go.

He has four rules to remember:  Electric cars are objects of desire. Electric cars are like a modern appliance; Electric cars are Moore's Law on wheels; and Electric cars drive and sell differently. (Click Image To Enlarge)

When I ask Agassi if he thinks it's realistic for big, clunky automakers to switch to an entirely new distribution model, he points to the used car industry.  He says.  

"eBay is selling more than a million cars a year at a price point that's roughly around $10,000. If you were able to offer a $10,000 car--one third to one half the price of a new car today--you create a whole new proposition for a whole new market segment."

Agassi says, "If you were able to offer a $10,000 car--one third to one half the price of a new car today--you create a whole new proposition for a whole new market segment." (Click Image To Enlarge)

That requires bringing electric vehicles down to that new low price point--a daunting proposition considering the high cost of batteries. But Agassi has an interesting solution: Don't factor battery prices into EV costs; it's not like gas prices are included in vehicle sticker prices. Instead, he says, automakers should follow the cell phone subscription model and ask people to pay a certain amount per month ($300, say) for battery use.

Agassi argues that automakers shouldn't factor battery prices into EV costs--it's not like gas prices are factored into regular vehicle costs. Instead, they should opt for a subscription model. (Click Image To Enlarge)

Even though Agassi's now-defunct Better Place also relied on a subscription model for battery use, he still believes the model is valid. Better Place, he says, deployed its "battery switch" stations before testing consumer demand, whereas Tesla is deploying charging and battery switch stations only after gauging demand (Tesla also manufactures its own vehicles, while Better Place did not). He writes:

"Produce a base version of an electric cross over. Make it beautiful and benefit from great electric performance. Then take a page from Ford’s Model-T game plan: price that new car at a disruptive price of $9,999, “batteries not included” (after operator subsidies and government incentives).   At high volume, even at that price, this car will be making great profit for the carmaker."

"Support the car with an operator that deploys infrastructure making this EV more convenient to use than a gasoline car. The operator will own the batteries, and offer electric miles at weekly cost which is at parity what the average driver pays for gasoline today. Only this service contract will come with unlimited miles. Then offer various luxury versions of the car, with many “options” offered at higher price points. Consumers who are offered an insanely great car for $9,999 will buy a ton of add-ons, generating even better margin for the carmaker."

Tesla is deploying charging and battery switch stations only after gauging demand. (Click Image To Enlarge)

And he says.

"The company that follows this advice will capture not just a portion of the EV market, it will capture a portion of the car market. That's how industries are formed."

It's hard to say whether legacy automakers are nimble enough to make such a dramatic shift.  The next major EV manufacturer--if there is one--may be a company that doesn't yet exist.

The company that follows this advice, he says, "will capture not just a portion of the EV market, it will capture a portion of the car market. That's how industries are formed." (Click Image To Enlarge)

He says.  

"If you had to guess in the year 2000 who would bring a music device that would capture most of the market, you'd say Sony--they own music labels, they own everything in the industry.   If I told you it was Apple, you'd be laughing because they didn't make a music device at the time."

COMMENTARY:    I agree with Agassi Shai's assessment of Tesla Motors.  Right now the market for electric vehicles or EV's is too small and too early in its development for either the Big Three or Asiatic automakers.  However, they see that the handwriting is on the wall:  The world's oil supply is quickly running out.  We are now entering a period where we consume more oil than the "Oil Shieks" can produce.  Global warming is becoming a reality, no matter what the neysayers think.  With oil prices exceeding $100 per barrel, and the oil refineries producing less gasoline, this has driven gas prices to the highest levels since 2005.  

Electric vehicles are filling a real need in the marketplace, but until the battery technology can improve storage capabilities, and the cost of the vehicles comes down, sufficiently to attract more buyers, EV manufacturers will be stuck in this "dead zone."  Tesla Motors is not immune form this.  It knows it too.  Elon Musk knows that Tesla Motors cannot survive strictly by meeting the demands of affluent buyers who afford to pay premium prices for the Tesla Model S sedan.  This is why Tesla Motors is pushing for a lower-priced EV like the Model C.  

Agassi says it like it is.  The Big Three and Asiatic automakers should not try to copy Tesla, but learn from it.  Furthermore, you cannot simply copy Tesla's design and technology innovation which is clearly head and shoulders above anything the big automakers presently have.  Tesla Motors has intellectural property protection to insure they will be around.  It is being sought out by other companies, including several of the big automakers like Nissan and Toyota to license Tesla's lithium battery technology.

One other thing:  Tesla Motors has Elon Musk.  In all my years, I have never seen another entrepreneur with a track record of success that comes even close to what Elon has been able to accomplished.    Musk co-founded of Zip2, Founded PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla Motors. With his management team he has successfully scaled each company to the point where they now have developed sustainable and predictable revenue models.  He is the real deal.  Tesla Motors has a successful IPO and its stock is now at 165 a share, impossible, but true.  It would not surprise me if the does get SpaceX to put the first American on Mars in another 20 years.  The big automakers cannot replicate someone like Elon Musk.

Courtesy of an article dated August 29, 2013 appearing in Fast Company Exist

THE FERRARI SPECIALE 458 -- ESTABLISHES NEW BECHMARKS FOR INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH

It’s called the 458 Speciale: it’s Ferrari’s new sportscar, the fruits of the innovation and extreme technological research that have gone into a car as outstanding as the 458 Italia.

The aerodynamic efficiency (an E index of 1.5), a more powerful aspirated V8 engine (605 cv) and the highest power density (135 cv/l) in the history of Ferrari road cars, an extraordinary weight/power ratio (2.13 kg/cv), electronic control of the slip angle (SSC): these are some – but not all – of the characteristics that make this car truly Speciale and that are destined to become standard for the Ferraris of the future. The aptness of the car’s name is easily shown by its performance figures: accelerating from 0-100km/h in 3s (or 9.1s for 0-200km/h) and a best lap time round Fiorano of 1m 23.5s.

Ferrari Speciale 458 side, front and rear views (Click Images To Enlarge)

The new 8-cylinder mid-engine berlinetta, which will be launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show on September 10, was designed with the target of raising performance and driving emotion to the highest levels, while still guaranteeing ease of control in every situation.

Ferrari Speciale 458 top view, cockpit view and transmission shifting controls (Click Image To Enlarge)

The 458 Speciale is the latest product of Ferrari’s core philosophy of extreme technological innovation and research which, in this instance, has yielded powertrain, aerodynamics and vehicle dynamics advances that transform the already exceptional 458 Italia into a car genuinely worthy of the “Speciale” moniker. The result is a completely new, uncompromising, streamlined sports car concept.

 

Many of the sophisticated solutions being applied for the very first time to an in-range car in the 458 Speciale, including its advanced active aerodynamics, will become a standard feature of all new Ferraris in the future.

Flanked in the Maranello marque’s range by the multi-award-winning 458 Italia and 458 Spider, the new mid-rear-engined V8 berlinetta was designed to boost both performance and driving emotion to unprecedented levels, yet simultaneously guarantee smooth, effortless control in all kinds of situations.

  

Ferrari Team drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa both take turns driving the Ferrari Speciale 458 in a racetrack in Barcellona, Spain.  Looks like both drivers had a great time.

Having lavished meticulous attention on the power unit that was named “Best Performance Engine” at the International Engine of the Year Awards for two consecutive years, Ferrari has now built its most powerful naturally aspirated V8 ever (605 cv) with an extraordinary specific power output of 135 cv/l , the highest ever achieved by a road-going naturally aspirated engine.

Thanks to an equally exceptional weight/power ratio of just 2.13 kg/cv, the 458 Speciale can sprint from 0 to 100 km/h in a mere 3.0” (0-200 km/h in 9.1”) and also clocked a lap time of just 1’23”5 at the Fiorano Circuit.

 

The 2014 Ferrari 458 Speciale taken through its paces on a test drive on the country roads of Italy.

Aerodynamic requirements guided the work of the Ferrari Styling Centre, which led the project in cooperation with Pininfarina, to sculpt the car’s forms to ensure they were more performance-oriented than ever. The most notable features in this sense are the front and rear movable aerodynamics which balance downforce and cut drag, thus helping make the 458 Speciale the most aerodynamically efficient range production car in Ferrari history (E Index of 1.5)

The technology used in the vehicle dynamics subsystems which gives the driver instant confidence and control at high speeds, natural power oversteer management and precise response to commands are further advances in an area in which Ferrari is already a well-established leader.

One of the most innovative content of the 458 Speciale is the Side Slip angle Control system (SSC) which makes it easier to achieve car control on the limit, thereby greatly improving driving emotions.

Thanks to the development of an accurate new algorithm SSC performs instant-to-instant analysis of the car’s side slip, comparing it with the target value and then optimising both torque management (via integration with F1-Trac traction control) and torque distribution between the two wheels (via integration with the E-Diff electronic differential).

Part and parcel of the car’s development included Michelin Pilot Sport Cup2 tyres which were specifically honed for it in an intensive collaboration programme involving, amongst other factors, numerous track test and simulator sessions. Conceived for the 458 Speciale, they boost performance over a single lap in the dry as well as improving performance consistency in subsequent laps. They also allow the car to avail of maximum available grip in the wet.

The abovementioned technical content has improved the 458 Speciale’s single lap time and also delivers repeatability of that performance on subsequent laps that is absolutely unprecedented for a car not designed exclusively for track use. The result is that the 458 Speciale has the fastest response time (0.060 s) and highest lateral acceleration (1.33 g) ever achieved by a car in the Prancing Horse range.

COMMENTARY:   For you automotive aficionados here are the specifications for the Ferrari Speciale 458:

Click Image To Enlarge

Courtesy of the Ferrari Speciale 458 Official Website

TESLA MODEL S ACHIEVES BEST SAFETY RATING OF ANY CAR EVER TESTED BY THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION (NHTSA)

Tesla Motors Model S luxury sedan (Click Image To Enlarge)

SETS NEW NHTSA VEHICLE SAFETY SCORE RECORD

Palo Alto, CA — Independent testing by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has awarded the Tesla Model S a 5-star safety rating, not just overall, but in every subcategory without exception. Approximately one percent of all cars tested by the federal government achieve 5 stars across the board. NHTSA does not publish a star rating above 5, however safety levels better than 5 stars are captured in the overall Vehicle Safety Score (VSS) provided to manufacturers, where the Model S achieved a new combined record of 5.4 stars.

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Of all vehicles tested, including every major make and model approved for sale in the United States, the Model S set a new record for the lowest likelihood of injury to occupants. While the Model S is a sedan, it also exceeded the safety score of all SUVs and minivans. This score takes into account the probability of injury from front, side, rear and rollover accidents.

The Model S has the advantage in the front of not having a large gasoline engine block, thus creating a much longer crumple zone to absorb a high speed impact. This is fundamentally a force over distance problem – the longer the crumple zone, the more time there is to slow down occupants at g loads that do not cause injuries. Just like jumping into a pool of water from a tall height, it is better to have the pool be deep and not contain rocks. The Model S motor is only about a foot in diameter and is mounted close to the rear axle, and the front section that would normally contain a gasoline engine is used for a second trunk.

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For the side pole intrusion test, considered one of the most difficult to pass, the Model S was the only car in the "good" category among the other top one percent of vehicles tested. Compared to the Volvo S60, which is also 5-star rated in all categories, the Model S preserved 63.5 percent of driver residual space vs. 7.8 percent for the Volvo. Tesla achieved this outcome by nesting multiple deep aluminum extrusions in the side rail of the car that absorb the impact energy (a similar approach was used by the Apollo Lunar Lander) and transfer load to the rest of the vehicle. This causes the pole to be either sheared off or to stop the car before the pole hits an occupant.

The rear crash testing was particularly important, given the optional third row children's seat. For this, Tesla factory installs a double bumper if the third row seat is ordered. This was needed in order to protect against a highway speed impact in the rear with no permanently disabling injury to the third row occupants. The third row is already the safest location in the car for frontal or side injuries.

Click Image To Enlarge

The Model S was also substantially better in rollover risk, with the other top vehicles being approximately 50 percent worse. During testing at an independent facility, the Model S refused to turn over via the normal methods and special means were needed to induce the car to roll. The reason for such a good outcome is that the battery pack is mounted below the floor pan, providing a very low center of gravity, which simultaneously ensures exceptional handling and safety.

Of note, during validation of Model S roof crush protection at an independent commercial facility, the testing machine failed at just above 4 g's. While the exact number is uncertain due to Model S breaking the testing machine, what this means is that at least four additional fully loaded Model S vehicles could be placed on top of an owner's car without the roof caving in. This is achieved primarily through a center (B) pillar reinforcement attached via aerospace grade bolts.

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The above results do not tell the full story. It is possible to game the regulatory testing score to some degree by strengthening a car at the exact locations used by the regulatory testing machines. After verifying through internal testing that the Model S would achieve a NHTSA 5-star rating, Tesla then analyzed the Model S to determine the weakest points in the car and retested at those locations until the car achieved 5 stars no matter how the test equipment was configured.

The Model S lithium-ion battery did not catch fire at any time before, during or after the NHTSA testing. It is worth mentioning that no production Tesla lithium-ion battery has ever caught fire in the Model S or Roadster, despite several high speed impacts. While this is statistically unlikely to remain the case long term, Tesla is unaware of any Model S or Roadster occupant fatalities in any car ever.

The graphic below shows the statistical Relative Risk Score (RRS) of Model S compared with all other vehicles tested against the exceptionally difficult NHTSA 2011 standards. In 2011, the standards were revised upward to make it more difficult to achieve a high safety rating.

 Click Image To Enlarge

COMMENTARY:   The 5-Star Safety Rating gives Tesla Motors a slam dunk, winning the top three automobile awards.  In a blog post dated May 15, 2013, I reported that Consumer Reports had given Tesla Motors a score of 99 points, beating all the major automobile carmakers.    Consumer Reports said that the Tesla Motors Model S sedan was "the best car ever tested."      Last year the Tesla Model S won Motor Trends' Car of the Year for 2013.   It's an incredible car.  Yes, it's expensive, but you get what you pay for.   Last year the Tesla Model S won Motor Trends'  Car of the Year for 2013.   It's an incredible car.  Yes, it's expensive, but you get what you pay for.

Courtesy of a press release dated August 19, 2013 by Tesla Motors

CAMPING MADE POSSIBLE FOR MINI COOPER CAR OWNERS: SLICK TEENY CAMPERS FOR ONE OR TWO THAT ARE READY FOR THE CAMPSITE

The Mini Cowley Caravan whether parked on the beach or a campsite is ready for anything. Photo by BMW Group (Click Image To Enlarge)

The idea of a motor home from the makers of the diminutive Mini Cooper sounds like a joke—and it actually started out that way. Last April Fools’ Day, the Mini team decided to have fun at the internet’s expense by proposing a caravan camper featuring the brand’s trademark style. But it turned out that many enthusiasts didn’t get the joke and wanted to place orders immediately. “We prepared the MINI Cowley caravan as an April Fools’ Day prank, had the vehicle built as a one-off, and took it camping,” writes Mini spokesperson Nathalie Bauters. “We received terrific feedback from our owners and enthusiasts. The rest is history.”

Just over a year later, the Mini design team has proposed three new concepts equally suited for a quiet camping trip in Big Sky Country or making the pilgrimage to Burning Man.

The Mini Clubvan Camper

Billed as “the world’s smallest luxury camper van,” this kit of parts transforms an ordinary Mini Clubman into a mobile apartment that could be used for a weekend off the grid, or in a pinch, bootstrapping a startup. A sleeping berth for one, clever hand-powered shower, and storage rack take the place of bedroom, bathroom, and closet. Padded window covers help keep the temperature regulated, peering eyes out, and ambient noise to a minimum. A pullout kitchenette with a two burner stove, sink, and fridge means foodies won’t be forced to resort to roadside diners.

The Mini Club Van Camper has roof racks that store the gear, a built in fridge cools the beer. Photo by BMW Group (Click Image To Enlarge)

The Mini Clubman Camper fits snuggly inside your Mini Cooper so it is always ready to go anywhere.  Photo by BMW Group (Click Image To Enlarge)

The Mini Clubman Camper turns your Mini Cooper into a more than adequate place to sleep when you are on the road. Photo by BMW Group (Click Image To Enlarge)

The Mini Clubman Camper fits snuggly inside your Mini Cooper providing a safe place to sleep when you are on the go.  Photo by BMW Group (Click Image To Enlarge)

It may not seem like much, but compared to the 130-square-foot microapartments that are becoming popular in global centers, it’s not too shabby.

The Cowley Caravan

The Cowley Caravan has all of the benefits of the camper, but with room for two and space enough to enough to include a bevy of homey touches. Wood paneling creates a rustic feel well suited to the open road. The rear of the caravan opens revealing a kitchen larger and better appointed than those in many food trucks. Built in speakers and an iPad dock means that travelers won’t have to leave their creature comforts at home.

The Cowley Camper has a lot of square footage, but even more style. Photo by BMW Group (Click Image To Enlarge)

The Mini Cowley Caravan looks very slick and snazzy on the road. Photo by BMW Group (Click Image To Enlarge)

The Mini Cowley Caravan whether parked on the beach or a campsite is ready for anything. Photo by BMW Group (Click Image To Enlarge)

The Mini Cowley Caravan interior has adequate room to house two people comfortably.  Photo by BMW Group (Click Image To Enlarge)

The Cowley Caravan is named for the factory in Oxford, England where the original Mini line was built. The workers there have been producing cars for the past 100 years, including some of the new Minis, and their institutional knowledge worked its way into these new concepts. “The sliding windows on the Mini Cowley caravan resemble the sliding windows that came standard on Mini’s built before 1969,” writes Bauters.

The Mini Countryman ALL4 Camp

Inspired by African safaris, but intended for the festival touring crowd, the ALL4 Camp allows the adventurous to explore without much planning. Concert goer’s can pack a bag and follow their favorite band knowing that the next hotel room is just above their head. The concept was originally intended to put a few vertical feet between outback explorers and carnivorous creatures, but the principle will also help keep altered concert attendees from mistakenly walking into the tent.

This roof top camper of the Mini Countryman All4Camp will keep wild animals, and confused concert goers from ruining a good night’s sleep. Photo by BMW Group (Click Image To Enlarge)

The roof top camper of the Mini Countryman All4Camp looks very small when stored away, but provides more than enough room for two people  Photo by BMW Group (Click Image To Enlarge)

The roof top camper of the Mini Countryman All4Camp in the open position waiting for the sun to set.  Photo by BMW Group (Click Image To Enlarge)

The Mini Countryman All4Camp looks right at home whether on the beach or campsite.  Photo by BMW Group (Click Image To Enlarge)

While the campers still have the feel of parody, the concepts reflect the inventive and thrifty mindset that has marked the Mini brand since its creation in 1959. With enough success, maybe we’ll even see a return of the Mini pickup truck and Mini van?

COMMENTARY:   Finally campers that are specifically designed for Mini Cooper car owners, or sub-compact car owners, that provide comfortable room for one or two occupants whether on the beach or campsite.   The Mini Clubvan Camper, Mini Cowley Caravan and Mini Countryman All4Camp provide alternatives regardless of the size of your wallet or car for that matter. Unfortunately, Mini says these campers are strictly prototypes, and says there are no plans to offer any of them for sale. And no, this doesn't seem to be a recycled April fools joke, in which Mini touted the Swindon Roof Top Tent and Cowley.

Courtesy of an article dated August 5, 2013 appearing in Wired 

2013 VOLKSWAGEN XL1 DIESEL/ELECTRIC PLUGIN HYBRID CAR TEST DRIVE, COULD REACH 209 MPG, LIMITED PRODUCTION, PRICE UNKNOWN

The 2013 Volkswagen XL1 diesel hydbrid is the most aerodynamic and fuel-efficient hybrid ever produced (Click Image To Enlarge)

Smaller than a Golf and lower than a Boxster, Volkswagen's XL1 looks like a bijou supercar. It has a sleek, thigh-high, carbon-fiber composite body, butterfly wing doors, a mid-mounted powertrain, and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The XL1 is a supercar of a different sort, though. It won't hit 200 mph, but it will go more than 200 miles on a single gallon of diesel. 

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In fact, on the official European combined driving cycle, the XL1 is rated at 261 mpg. European and American fuel-consumption tests are quite different, but VW engineers say an equivalent combined EPA city/highway number would be about 20 percent lower -- say, 209 mpg. What does that mean? It means you could drive the 2800 miles from Santa Monica Pier to downtown Manhattan on about 55 bucks' worth of fuel. And a bit of electricity. 

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Perhaps what's most remarkable about this little diesel/electric plug-in hybrid, however, is that it wouldn't be stuck in the freeway slow lane the whole way. With a combined system output of just 68 hp and 103 lb-ft, acceleration is understandably modest -- VW claims 0-60 mph takes about 12.5 seconds -- but during our brief test drive, the XL1 was content to happily bowl along a Swiss freeway at 70-75 mph, the diesel twin purring at a little over 2100 rpm. The XL1's top speed is electronically limited to 100 mph.

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Duck under the door and into the cabin of the XL1, and you're greeted with a lot of familiar-looking VW hardware, right down to the instruments and switchgear, though most of it is actually bespoke to the XL1. The steering wheel is small, with a flattened base, and the DSG shifter looks like a three-quarter-scale version of the one you'll find in a Golf GTI. The small, fixed nav screen is the Garmin unit from the Up!, VW's cute little city car.

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You don't so much fire the XL1 up as switch it on. The hybrid system gives primacy to the 27-hp electric motor wherever possible. Squeeze the long-travel accelerator pedal and the XL1 oozes away with a distant high-pitched whine. The 47-hp, 800cc parallel twin diesel -- architecturally, it's one half of VW Group's 1.6-liter TDI four -- sounds like one of those air mattress inflation pumps when it first fires up, a rapid chocka-chocka-chocka-chocka-chocka-chocka in your right ear.

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The electric motor is situated between the diesel engine and the seven-speed DSG transmission. At low speeds and with modest accelerator inputs, the XL1 will run a considerable distance solely on electric power before the diesel kicks in. Press a button, and the XL1 will stay in pure EV mode for up to 30 miles, courtesy of a 5.5-kW-hr lithium-ion battery pack allowing emissions-free running in city areas. Management of the power flow is impressive: Only when the chocka-chocka of the little diesel overwhelms the whine of the electric motor are you aware of any change in how forward motion is being accomplished. The transitions are smooth and seamless.

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Just like any supercar, the XL1 demands compromises. It's noisy because there is very little sound deadening, which helps keep overall weight to just 1750 lb. Not only do you clearly hear both engines, but you also hear the tires on the pavement, the suspension working over the bumps, and the curious rasp of the tiny carbon-ceramic disc brakes as you came to halt. VW engineers considered an active noise cancellation system, but discarded the idea because of weight and the fact that it would consume precious power. Mechanical noise is part of the XL1 experience, just like it is in a Pagani Huayra.

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What you don't hear much of, however, is the wind. With a Cd of just 0.189, the XL1 is the most aerodynamic production car in history. It cleaves the air like a hot knife through butter, and, at 50 mph or more, the dull roar of the tires effectively cancels out any engine noise.

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It's been many years since we've driven a new car without power steering, so the XL1's manual system is at first a bit of a shock. It's heavy in tight turns at slow speeds, and loads up in faster corners. But you do know exactly what's going on with the front tires. It's old school and kind of entertaining. The regenerative braking system, by contrast, is almost state of the art in pedal feel and consistency.

 

VW has not announced a price for the XL1, saying only that it will offer what it calls "innovative financing" to get customers into the car, and that just 250 will be virtually hand-built on a special production line at VW's Osnabrück plant in northwestern Germany. Simple auto industry economics suggest this is easily the most expensive Volkswagen ever made -- after all, supercar technologies mean a supercar price tag -- and that it's a money loser. So why build it? "It's a lighthouse car," says VW Group R&D chief Ulrich Hackenberg. "This is the technology spearhead of the VW Group, and all the brands will benefit."

COMMENTARY:     The XL1 is powered by a source of 800cc two-cylinder turbo power (half engine BlueMotion), producing 47bhp.  It supports the 27bhp electric motor that is powered by a lithium ion battery.  These can be imposed on internal plug, which allows the car to travel 35 km (22 miles) on electricity alone.  The electric motor can also be used to support the torque of the diesel engine in the "full throttle acceleration, lifting the figure of £ 74m to £ 103 feet, but it also contributes to the overall effectiveness is well beyond the regular production cars.  XL1 8bhp only requires to maintain a constant speed of 62 mph, however, requires a 1.6 TDI Golf 18bhp to accomplish the same feat.  The result is a car that you can go back and let 313.9 mpg only 24g/km of CO2 - the same time allowing a maximum speed of 100 mph (electronically limited) and 0-62 mph time of 11.9sec. Despite its relatively small 10-liter tank of diesel, there are several XL1 about 340 km.

In its press release of February 27, 2013, here's what Volkswagen said about the XL1:

"Volkswagen to produce XL1 by handcrafting-like production methods at its Osnabrück plant in Germany

XL1 is the most aerodynamic production car ever

0.9 litre combined fuel consumption was a vision – now it is a reality

Wolfsburg, 21 February 2013 – The XL1 from Volkswagen is the most fuel-efficient production car in the world, with a fuel consumption value of 0.9 l/100 km. Thanks to its plug-in hybrid system, the two-seater can also cover a distance of up to 50 km in all-electric mode and therefore with zero local emissions.

The XL1 is an automotive hero that follows pure sports car design principles: low weight (795 kg), perfect aerodynamics (Cd 0.189) and a low centre of gravity (1,153 mm high). This gives the efficient Volkswagen the ability to cruise on the road at a constant speed of 100 km/h using just 6.2 kW / 8.4 PS. In all-electric mode, the XL1 requires less than 0.1 kWh to cover a driving distance of over one kilometer.

High-tech lightweight design, perfect aerodynamics and a plug-in hybrid system – consisting of a two-cylinder TDI engine (35 kW / 48 PS), E-motor (20 kW / 27 PS), 7-speed dual clutch gearbox (DSG) and lithium-ion battery – all make it possible for the new Volkswagen XL1 to emit just 21 g/km of CO2. If necessary, the XL1, with a top speed of 160 km/h, can accelerate to 100 km/h in just 12,7 seconds. Clearly, 0.9 l/100 km fuel consumption is a record figure that has not been achieved by any other vehicle to date, and it illustrates how Volkswagen is redefining what is technically feasible in carmaking.

Conceptually, the XL1 represents the third evolutionary stage of Volkswagen’s 1-litre car strategy. When the new millennium was ushered in, Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Piëch, who is today Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG, formulated the visionary goal of bringing to market a production car that was practical in everyday use with fuel consumption of one litre per 100 km. In the two-seat XL1, this vision has become reality. Despite the tremendous efficiency of the XL1, developers successfully came up with a body concept, which delivers more everyday utility than in the two previous prototypes. While the driver and passenger sat in a tandem arrangement for optimal aerodynamics in the L1, the 1-litre car presented in 2002 and in 2009, in the XL1 two occupants sit slightly offset, side by side, nearly as in a conventional vehicle.

The XL1 is 3,888 mm long, 1,665 mm wide and just 1,153 mm tall. By usual automotive standards these are extreme dimensions. For comparison: a Polo has a similar length (3,970 mm) and width (1,682 mm) but is significantly taller (1,462 mm). Even a purebred sports car like today’s Porsche Boxster is 129 mm taller (1,282 mm). So, the XL1 will make a spectacular appearance – a car of the future, built for today."

VW Group chairman Martin Winterkorn promised it will be available by 2013 “at an affordable price.”  Car & Driver Magazine thinks that the VW XL1 will be somewhere around the equivalent of $50,000.   Qatar won’t get it—and the U.S. probably won’t, either—but this is just the thing European eco-warriors have been waiting for.

Sorry USA.   American's would buy them all at $50,000 a pop.

Courtesy of an article appearing in the June 2013 issue of Motor Trend Magazine, an article dated August 1, 2013 appearing in All About Super Thunderspeed Cars, an article dated March 18, 2013 appearing in The Superslice and a video uploaded on YouTube on February 27, 2013 

TESLA MOTORS ELON MUSK'S WILD NEW IDEA: 'HYPERLOOP', A FASTER-THAN-PASSENGER JET PNEUMATIC TUBE TO SHUTTLE PASSENGERS

Elon Musk, CEO and founder of Tesla Motors and SpaceX

This whole transit system would be impossible to crash, always available on demand, way less expensive than current travel options and, ideally, solar-powered.

Tesla Motors (TSLA) CEO and co-founder Elon Musk started off his week on Monday by tweeting an announcement that, from anyone else, would have sounded like a tease for a bad sci-fi movie:

“Will publish Hyperloop alpha design by Aug 12. Critical feedback for improvements would be much appreciated.”

If you still think electric cars or rocket ships are cool, you haven’t been keeping up with Musk. His “hyperloop” is a proposed “really rapid transit system” that he says will be able to get a passenger from San Francisco to Los Angeles in a half-hour. That would mean travel at 800 miles per hour, or about twice the speed of conventional  aircraft.                         

Artists concept of a futuristic ET3 high-speed pneumatic tube transportation system might look like (Click Image To Enlarge)

He has been a little vague on how this works, except to say recently that the concept is “a cross between a Concorde, a railgun, and an air-hockey table.”
 
Also, he says it will be impossible to crash, always available on demand, way less expensive than current travel options and, ideally, solar-powered.

Artists conception of an underground passenger terminal for the futuristic ET3 highspeed pneumatic tube transportation system (Click Image To Enlarge)

Remember, this isn’t Donald Trump talking trash. This is Elon Musk, who has already changed the nature of money, as a co-founder of PayPal, the electronic payments system.
 
Since selling PayPal to eBay (EBAY), Musk has served as CEO of SpaceX, which is in the business of building rocket ships and spacecraft. The company, which he co-founded, is now under contract with NASA to service the International Space Station.
 
Of greater interest to today’s investors, though, is Musk’s role as co-founder, CEO, and CTO of Tesla Motors, the venture that is proving that building all-electric vehicles can be a profitable business.
 
We’ll find out how profitable it is right now on July 22, when Tesla announces its earnings results for the second quarter. The stock, which just made a splashy debut on the Nasdaq-100 Index (INDEXNASDAQ:NDX), has zoomed from $25.52 to $133.26 in a bit less than a year.
 
That’s the kind of price increase that makes for warnings about a bubble market.
 
But Musk says Tesla is just getting started. His real goal is to produce electric cars at an increasingly economical price. The first Tesla model, launched in 2008, was a roadster with a base price of about $70,000.
 
At an event for Tesla owners over the weekend, Musk said the company hopes to ship 800 Model S vehicles per week by the end of 2014. It has added a third model, the Model X, a crossover between a sedan and an SUV, and has plans to produce a minivan to appeal to the masses in a couple of years.
 
If you think this is sufficient innovation for an entrepreneur who is, after all, only 42 years old, wait until he unveils his plans for what he calls “the fifth mode of transportation,” alongside trains, planes, cars and boats.
 
Speculation is rife about what exactly this mode of transportation could be. Blogger Brian Dodson, who really is a rocket scientist, explains how he thinks it might work, based on the sparse information available.  
 
In short, it sounds like the hyperloop might be a kind of pneumatic tube for people.  Musk has to be one of the few people on Earth who could suggest such an idea without getting laughed at.
 
Ironically, the concept, like that of an electric car, isn’t new. Pneumatic tube systems, which use compressed air to move objects through a tube connecting fixed points, are still in use in some industries, but were more common in the late 19th century. In their early years, there was speculation that the technology could be used to transport people, but nobody ever proved it.
 
Musk hasn’t promised proof at this point, just an “alpha design.” But he has said that he will make the design available as “open source,” and that he will not seek any patents for it.

COMMENTARY:    Elon Musk has incredible entrepreneurial vision which I have often compared to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.   Tesla Motors, a producer of technologically advanced, brilliantly designed and award-winning all-electric cars he founded  in 2003, and Space Exploration Technologies Corporation or SpaceX, which he founded in 2002, has achieved incredible success by being the first commercial space company to build a fully-recoverable, multi-stage space rocket, the Falcon 9, and cargo and passenger carrying spacecraft, the Dragon spacecraft.  In 2012,  NASA awarded SpaceX a contract to develop and demonstrate a human-rated Dragon as part of its Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program to transport crew to the ISS. SpaceX is planning its first crewed Dragon/Falcon 9 flight in 2015, when it expects to have a fully certified, human-rated launch escape system incorporated into the spacecraft.   

So far, both companies are doing very well and achieving much success.  The Tesla Model S all-electric luxury sedan has received rave reviews from car experts, received Trend's 2013 Car of the Year, 2013 World Green Car of the Year,  Automobile Magazine's 2013 Automobile of the Year and in May 2013 achieved the highest score awarded to an automobile by Consumer Reports in 2013.  Consumer Reports said.

"It performs better than the entries from any other car company."

With all these accolades, Tesla Motors, in spite of racking up record operating losses, is loved by Wall Street.   Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock has skyrockted from $33.87 at the end of 2012 to its current price of  $116.16 as of 10:17 a.m., July 17, 2013.   Yes, Tesla Motors stock has risen to bubble-making proportions, but interest in the stock has not waned.   So far today, TSLA has risen +7.29 or +6.29% since the opening. 

Elon Musk appears to be making all the right moves at both Tesla Motors and SpaceX.  Clearly, Tesla's all-electric vehicle technology is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, but the Company has been criticized for producing vehicles appealing only to celebrities and snobbish affluent buyers.   Elon Musk knows that in order to achieve higher revenues and justify its lofty stock price, his cars have to appeal to larger audiences.  In a blog post dated February 14, 2013, Elon Musk unveiled the Model X, a electric crossover between a sedan and SUV.  The Model X will compete in the high-end mainstream SUV market.  Prices will be in the Model S territory, or about $49,000.  A fourth model, aimed at a lower price point and wider audience, would likely be announced in 18 to 24 months says Musk.  That vehicle will compete in the mid-to-highend electric vehicle market against models from Nissan, Toyota, and the Big 3 Detroit automakers.  

SpaceX is racking up one success after another.  Its Dragon spacecraft recently delivered its first shipment of cargo to the International Space Station, and appears to be on schedule to begin delivering NASA space astronuts to and from the ISS within two years.  

Elon Musk has already boisted that SpaceX could be sending astronauts to the planet Mars within 10 to 15 years, and this new idea of a pneumatic tube to shuttle passengers between Northern and Southern California at faster than commercial jets is another example of this.

Elon Musk is very flamboyant and boisterous, but I would not crossout any of these ideas.  Who would've thought that SpaceX would eventually replace the Space Shuttle, and transport payloads at 30% lower than the Shuttle.  These ideas are going to take a lot of capital, so I have a feeling that a SpaceX IPO is not out of the question withint two or three years.  Stay tuned. 

Courtesy of an article dated July 16, 2013 appearing in Minyanville and an article dated June 3, 2013 appearing in Core77

THE "FOOTLOOSE" BY MANDO, IS THE WORLD'S FIRST CHAINLESS FOLDING ELECTRIC BIKE

Click images to visit the Mando Footloose website

The Footloose by Mando is doubtless going to make you want to test ride it. Asserting that it is the world’s first chainless hybrid electric folding bike, Korean auto suppliers Mando Corp and Meister Inc have collaborated to bring us this beautiful design.

Click Images To Enlarge

Designboom states it can go up to 18.6 miles with the motor alone, and farther with pedaling by the rider.

“By directly transforming electricity via an alternator connected to the crank, power is generated directly from the user. The energy stored in a lithium-ion battery, which is then used to actuate the engine. Using an electronic control unit (ECU), the ‘footloose’ works with sensors and an automatic gear changer to monitor terrain and adjust the motor’s output as necessary. It monitors the system for problems, which it displays via a handlebar-mounted human machine interface (HMI).”

Click Images To Enlarge

It will apparently be available in the European markets starting 2013.  Here is a video illustrating the bike a bit more:

 

COMMENTARY:   This is a paradigm change in the e-bike world for sure.  It is a clean and simple design.  It removes all of the typical bicycle drivetrain components: the chain, chainrings, cogs, derailleurs, and shifters.  This also removes the dirty, greasy chain!    

Of course it adds the alternator and some other electronic components but overall it appears to be a system with less components.  As long as it proves to be reliable, the series hybrid system could be a great e-bike drive system for the future.

 

The Footloose was developed in a partnership project of Mando Corp. and Meister Inc. (automotive suppliers in South Korea).  British designer Mark Sanders and Dutch e-bike expert Han Goes were very involved in the design.

Footloose Design By Mark Sanders

Click Image To Enlarge

Footloose Advanced Technology

Click Image To Enlarge

Footloose Specifications

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Footloose Color Options

Mando Footloose in white and black colors (Click Images To Enlarge)

Mando Footloose in grey and light blue colors (Click Images To Enlarge)

Courtesy of an article dated November 26, 2012 appearing in FeedBox

RUMOR: TESLA MOTORS INC (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO ELON MUSK LINKED ROMANTICALLY WITH HOLLYWOOD STARLET CAMERON DIAZ

Tesla Motors CEO and founder Elon Musk (left) and Hollywood star Cameron Diaz (right) are rumored to be romantically linked (Click Image To Enlarge)

Billionaire entrepreneur, Elon Musk denied rumors that he is dating Hollywood actress Cameron Diaz during a recent interview with CNBC’s Squawk on the Street.

Musk who heads Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) and Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) said,

“I don’t know where people got that from.”

Elon Musk Became Acquainted When Diaz Bought  A Car

The New York Post first reported that Diaz bought one of the electric sports cars from Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) earlier this year, and Musk became acquainted with the actress.

According to the report, Musk became close to Diaz and he had been increasingly traveling from Tesla headquarters in Palo Alto, California to Los Angeles.  Musk travels regularly & arrives unexpectedly at the company’s office in LA. Sources told the New York Post that Musk was “visiting Cameron.”

Tesla Motors Model S all-electric sedan  (Click Image To Enlarge)

The report said the Diaz is a big fan of Musk. She bought a Tesla Model S EV, an energy-friendly electric sedan with a top speed of 130 mph

Meanwhile, during the interview with Squawk on the Street, Musk said that the lowered-priced sedan from Tesla Motors, Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) will be available in the market over the next three to five years. According to him, the car will be as good as the BMW3 series or the Audi A4, and it is smaller than the Tesla Model S, and half of its price. Musk previously stated that the company’s low priced entry-level car will compete with Nissan Leaf.

Tesla Motors Model S all-electric sedan (Click Image To Enlarge)

During the interview, Musk also revealed the Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) engaged in preliminary discussions with Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) regarding the self-driving car technology, which will be integrated in Tesla vehicles. He also said that the company is improving the recharging time for its vehicles.

In addition, Musk also said that a hyperloop will be cheaper mile by mile than high speed rail. Musk stated.  

”Isn’t there something much better than could be done? I think it could be done for about one-tenth of the cost for the high speed rail scheduled for California.”

He plans to discuss his hyperloop idea on June 20.

The shares of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) have been performing well. Musk is the largest shareholder of Tesla and his wealth increased by $2.9 billion. Data from Bloomberg showed that his net worth doubled to around $4.8 billion this year.

Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ.TSLA) Share Prices - YTD January 8, 2013 through May 31, 2013 - Google Finance (Click Image To Enlarge)

COMMENTARY:   Elon Musk is not only an entrepreneurial genius, but a notorious "poon-hunter," and what better way to attract sexy, beautiful dames, but with a Tesla Motors all-electric vehicle.  Having said this, if the rumors linking these two are true, I wonder whether Tesla Motors Inc stock will go up or down on the news.  LOL   Shares have exploded during the month of May 2013 from $53.28 on May 1, 2013 to a high of $110.334 on May 28, 2013.  Shares have come down a bit since then and ended the month of May at $97.76.  According to Wall Street analysts, the explosive increase in Tesla Motors' share prices is driven mostly by investor hype and higher than normal ZEV tax credits on each vehicle sold. These ZEV tax credits have pushed Tesla's margins to 17% from a previous 8%.  Adjusting out these ZEV tax credits, the actual margins should be around 5%.  Already several analysts have cautioned investors of a potential bubble.  I definitely agree.  

Courtesy of an article dated May 31, 2013 appearing ValueWalk   

BULLETPROOF INNOVATION: KIBBUTZ-OWNED PLASAN SASA'S IKEA-STYLE, FLAT-PACK ARMOR KITS

 

WITH ITS REVOLUTIONARY MANUFACTURING PROCESS, THE KIBBUTZ-OWNED COMPANY NOT ONLY SECURES VEHICLES FOR THE U.S. MILITARY AND NOW PRIVATE CLIENTS, IT PROTECTS ITS COLLECTIVIST WAY OF LIFE, TOO.

When Specialist Thomas Wilson confronted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about the lack of armor to protect U.S. troops against roadside bombs in Iraq in 2004, neither man could have foreseen that the solution would come from Sasa, a kibbutz in Israel’s upper Galilee that remains loyal to its collectivist foundations.

For a brief period in the summer of 2000, Israel and the Palestinians appeared on the verge of peace. And although the Camp David talks ultimately failed, the prospect of a reduced Israel Defense Forces budget swayed Plasan Sasa, the IDF’s primary armor supplier, to become export-oriented.

Sasa, kibbutz, with Plasan in the foreground (Click Image To Enlarge)

Fast-forward to 2011 and Plasan sat atop Dun & Bradstreet’s annual list of largest kibbutz enterprises with around $850 million (3.173 billion ILS) in sales, thanks to its supply of vehicle protection kits to Navistar and Oshkosh, manufacturers of the U.S. military’s MRAP and M-ATV Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles.

A vehicle outfitted with Plasan's armor (Click Image To Enlarge)

There is nothing inherently innovative about the manufacturing of armor, but what differentiated Plasan from its competitors was its ability to do so at a rate of about one thousand vehicles per month. It did this by providing the products as kits--what Plasan Chief Designer Nir Kahn calls “the Ikea wardrobe of flatpack vehicles”--and allowing its partners to assemble them on their own production lines.

Plasan Chief Designer Nir Kahn works on sketches (Click Image To Enlarge)

Israeli-born Kahn, whose accent still betrays his northern England upbringing despite his return as a fresh university graduate 15 years ago, explains that Plasan’s customers care about three things: cost, weight, and the threat the armor is supposed to stop. He says the company’s advantage lies in its “proactive approach” of designing both the vehicle for the armor and the armor for the vehicle, and in the close cooperation between the designers, engineers, and testers, who all sit “quite literally under one roof.”

Lockheed Martin AVA with Plasan-made armor (Click Image To Enlarge)

Kahn says. 

“We do hundreds, if not thousands, of rounds of projectile testing every single day.  There’s the neighbor in Toy Story who’s always taking toys and blowing them up. So in our vehicle design engineering department we make the toys and pass them over to the guys who blow them up.”

The firm’s other advantage is the effort it puts into vehicle comfort and appearance, according to Kahn.   He says.

“Plasan has led the industry in designing vehicles with a more progressive look. They are still military vehicles--they can’t be flower-power Volkswagens--but they project an image of humanity and progressiveness, which helps the soldier to be sure that when he rolls into that village he’s going to find friends rather than enemies.” 

Future Future Tactical Truck System Utility vehicle Demonstrator from International, outfitted with Plasan armor (Click Image To Enlarge) 

Plasan sold more than 20,000 vehicle kits in the decade following 9/11, primarily to the U.S., but also to a small number of other countries including the United Kingdom. Now, given the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 and its imminent departure from Afghanistan, alongside the recent sequestration of the Pentagon budget, it makes sense that Plasan has shifted its focus to the civilian market.

Kahn says. 

“Perhaps because we’re a kibbutz company, we wanted our business to be based on things other than war.”  

Kahn clarifies that Plasan’s job has always been to protect people rather than to profit from conflict. 

Given that it had the necessary composite materials, manufacturing facilities, and the ability to conduct detailed finite element analysis, it wasn’t such a leap for Plasan to make regular vehicles lighter, too. Today, the company is among the leading tier-one suppliers of carbon fiber parts to the automotive industry, supplying parts for the hoods and roofs of the new Corvette Stingray, SRT Viper, and other vehicles through its Detroit subsidiary Plasan Carbon Composites. Using its proprietary technology, Plasan produces parts for each sports car in 17 minutes instead of the industry standard 90-120 minutes. Its next goal is to bring this technology into the mainstream.

A Plasan-armored, mine-resistant ambush protected all-terrain vehicle (Click Image To Enlarge)

Kahn says.  

“Cars have been made out of pressed steel for the best part of 100 years, and up until now most efforts to change that have been about material substitution.  We’re trying to change the conversation, to design the vehicle from composite materials for a high volume manufacturer. A high volume manufacturer in the military industry is one thousand a month, a high volume manufacturer in the motor industry is one thousand a day. But the principles are the same.A Plasan-armored, mine-resistant ambush protected all-terrain vehicle (Click Image To Enlarge)

Like most of his colleagues, Kahn does not live in Sasa. However, he acknowledges that the kibbutz’s ownership of Plasan helps instill a general feeling that the company belongs to its employees.

Dani Ziv, Plasan CEO and a Sasa resident since his days in the IDF’s Nahal Infantry brigade, says the company’s strength lies in its combining of commonplace industry values like competition with kibbutz values like democracy that don’t exist in the industry.

 Ziv says. 

“Democracy creates a more open dialogue within the organizational hierarchy. Every manger’s door is open, and there is no distance between the VP and the people on the bottom floor.  What differentiates Plasan from other companies in our market is that our people receive more responsibility, and if someone wants to take initiative he has more freedom to do so.”

Plasan Sand Cat armored vehicle based on a shortened Ford F350 platform (Click Image To Enlarge)

The kibbutz ideology has made its mark on Plasan, but the company’s success has not altered Sasa’s commitment to the traditional collective model maintained by less than one-quarter of Israel’s 281 kibbutzim. If anything, says Sasa Treasurer and former Plasan employee Raul Cohen, the almost-overnight impact of the first MRAP contract in 2007 gave it the freedom to decide, rather than have the banks force it into privatization like other kibbutzim.

For a community with 220 members and a population of around 400 (residents are typically offered membership in their late 20s or early 30s) that previously subsisted off agricultural proceeds, it wasn’t easy dealing with sudden riches. It took 18 months for a formula to be devised, under which Plasan takes a certain percentage for investments, while the kibbutz spends its dividends on housing infrastructure, pensions, individual bonuses worth up to a few hundred thousand shekels (about $100,000) per member, and on the local elementary and high school.

As the primary purveyor of education to an area encompassing Druze, Circassian, and Arab villages and a number of other kibbutzim, Sasa takes its responsibilities seriously. Cohen, who arrived at the kibbutz from a poor city neighborhood as a 13-year-old in 1960, says that Sasa foots the multi-million-shekel education bill and sees the role of operating its schools as no less important than that of operating Plasan.

The Office of Naval Research Combat Tactical Vehicle (Technology Demonstrator) outfitted with armor designed and manufactured by Plasan (Click Image To Enlarge)

Cohen calls the decision to provide pensions--previously almost non-existent--a “personal and collective” promise. He says:

“Any member who grows up here today lives safe in the knowledge that there will be enough money to take care of them if we remain a collective kibbutz, and even if we don’t remain collective the pension is substantial enough to ensure the member ages respectably.”

COMMENTARY:   I love the benefits that Plasan Sasa kibbutz provides its 200 members.  Even if Plasan goes out of business, a guaranteed trust fund has been set aside that will be pay pension benefits to the members. GM, Chrysler, Boeing and the rest of the U.S. automotive and airline industries should learn from this.   

I think that Plasan has definitely delivered on its corporate vision and mission: 

• Global leadership in armor, focused on the wheeled  and tracked vehicles market
• A growing and profitable international company
• Excellence in concept, armor and survivability solutions based on cutting edge technologies

Plasan has also established the following core corporate values:

• EXCELLENCE - we aim for excellence at all levels of management and performance
• LEADERSHIP- we promote a “culture of leadership” at all managerial levels
• INNOVATION- we encourage initiative, precedent setting and creativity to attain market dominance
• TRANSPARENCY & TEAMWORK- we strive to create added value for the organization by adopting an advanced managerial culture.

Checkout Plasan Sasa's YouTube videos about its armor composite products.

 

 

Courtesy of an article dated March 26, 2013 appearing in Fast Company 

HITACHI UNVEILS THE 'ROPITS' SINGLE-PASSENGER AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE WITH GPS FOR URBAN DWELLERS

Hitachi's Ropits single passenger robot car (Click Image To Enlarge)

ROPITS (Robot for Personal Intelligent Transport System) is a single-passenger autonomous vehicle meant to travel on sidewalks. ROPITS is equipped with GPS, gyro sensor and laser sensors.  It can pick-up and drop off a passenger autonomously, while the vehicle can be controlled by a joystick controller in the cockpit.

Click Image To Enlarge

Hitachi has unveiled its Ropits single passenger robot car, which looks like a Fisher Price Cozy Coupe for adults and does the driving all on its own. The name and style prompt one to think of a science fiction contraption, but it’s the vehicle’s autonomic functionality that truly brings the idea of “futuristic” to the forefront.

Click Image To Enlarge

Ropits stands for Robot for Personal Intelligent Transport System, and was designed to aid those who find walking difficult. The idea is that Ropits vehicles could be outfitted in a city, for example, and hailed via a computer or kiosk of some sort positioned in various places around town. The robotic car will retrieve the passenger and whisk him or her away to their destination.

Click Image To Enlarge

It has GPS for easy navigation and laser distance sensors to determine obstacles and a gyro sensor for those uneven roads. It is also small enough that it can maneuver its way through pedestrian spaces without the walking “civilians” getting mad or hurt.

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The passenger has to indicate on the touch-screen map their desired destination and Ropits will do the rest. The system is also designed that anyone who needs to use the robot car can hail a Ropits from computer-networked stops around the city. If you’re worried about getting dizzy as it zigzags its way around the city, it has “active suspension” which controls each wheel individually to keep the passenger comfortably upright.

COMMENTARY:   I have a friend who could use  ROPITS vehicle right now.  He is disabled, so he cannot drive, and can barely walk to a bus stop or BART station, which means he has to pay for expensive taxi's to get around.  ROPITS would meet his needs perfectly.  When is this vehicle coming to the U.S.?

Courtesy of an article dated March 14, 2013 appearing in Robotic Trends