My #1 passion is by far gadgets. Hands down. But one of my more minor hobbies involves following the automotive sphere. I love reading the various car magazines containing the up and coming latest and greatest in the mechanical world of cars. But because this is a gadget/technology blog, cars rarely make it on these pages. Every once in a while however something comes along that just so happens to appease the car side of my interest while pinging the gadget side long and hard. Regardless of how you feel about the Chevy volt — Too Expensive? Too ugly? Too average? — the level of sophistication being packaged inside is actually pretty geeky. Just how geeky didn’t become fully apparent to me until I saw news of a Chevy Volt iPhone and BlackBerry app (No Android love!?) The app at first appears to simply offer information as to the state of your Volt’s electrical and mechanical systems, displaying everything in an easy to read and graphically appealing layout. Hopefully it doesn’t stop there.
I say hopefully because we don’t know much else about this app. It was only briefly mentioned on stage without much description. Checking out car specs is cool and all, but I would like to see more useful features added as well. Simple things such as locking/unlocking the doors, starting the car to charge the battery, adjusting radio stations, and copying over GPS coordinates/map directions from your mobile device onto the in-vehicle navigation unit are but a few things that could make a novel and mildly useful app crucial in many eyes.
You may recall a similar app created by Hughes Telematics for Mercedes-Benz vehicles that gave some basic functionality such as door locking/unlocking. The only problem with the Mercedes app is that again it is rather basic with the UI in particular leaving much to be desired as well as a lofty annual price of $280. I’m sorry, but even if I had money coming out of my dog’s ass, I still wouldn’t spend almost $300/year just to see a few of my cars specs and perform a few other functions remotely. To each his own I guess.
Hopefully GM didn’t skimp on developers making the Chevy Volt app or those responsible for integrating it into the car itself. Such a misstep would likely hamper GM’s efforts to rebuild their image as a world class leading, technology minded company *chuckles*.
As an added treat for sitting through my ramblings, a video. We all like videos right?
Even though Gadgetsteria isn’t a car blog, certain cars could be considered gadgets. The Bugatti Veyron is one such car. While initial price was around $1 million, demand extremely low quantities built has pushed that number upwards nearing $2 million in some areas.
With that said, if you frequent the more mainstream news sites, you’ve probably seen or heard of the unlucky rich chap in Texas who decided to submarine his $2 million Bugatti Veyron into a salt water marsh. The driver was uninjured. The cause for the most epic failure of all time? A low flying pelican — so says the driver — coupled with fumbling for a dropped cellphone. After watching the video above, you tell me where that unicorn pelican was…
I just don’t see a “low flying pelican” anywhere in the video clip. You? I wept a salty tear of sadness after watching the lifeless car being pulled from the murky death bed…
One of the pleasant side effects of electric vehicles is that their motorless operation means a reduce in noise pollution. While one here or there won’t add up to much of anything, the difference when considering an entire city full of silent electric vehicles becomes quite apparent. Gone would be the annoying sounds of idling cars. Imagine how odd it would be to be standing in the middle of Times Square and see hundreds of cars whizzing buy, except all you could hear would be faint tire noise, people talking, and birds chirping. However, that will all be but a dream if politicians have their way. It seems the silent nature of these beasts is a cause for concern, or at least for those who don’t look where they’re walking or for oncoming traffic when crossing the street. Silent future cars are “too” quiet.
Apparently, enough people have already been injured because they failed to see a two ton plus silent electric vehicle coming at them. In defense of some, particularly the blind, they can’t help it and for them this issue is a real concern. Still, adding useless “features” to a device or car that don’t really need to be there is in my mind dumb. At least Nissan is having some fun with it as they are reported to be looking at adding more “futuristic” sounding engine effects. How cool would it be to watch some ho-hum styled car drive by yet sound like it came straight out of Bladerunner? Better yet, what about a Toyota Prius sized car cruising along belting out X-Wing Fighter sounds? Hey, if they’re going to go all futuristic, you might as well go over the top no? Is your geeky self excited?
Owning a car is one of this things in life that brings a sense of pride, a sense of responsibility, and a sense of freedom. One of the downsides however is the constant flow of money a car takes. One other problem that often strikes at the most inopportune times is a dead battery. Why does it always seem to happen at night when you’re in a hurry and in the worst part of town? To make matters worse, its dark as dark can be under your hood and you’re trying to clamp jumper cables on in a endless crab claw like fashion. Naturally, having a light near or on the jumper cables is a brilliant and ingenious idea. So much so it should have been invented some time ago. However, for some strange reason, the year 2009 had to roll around before LED Jumper Cables could be introduced.
Thankfully they are finally here. Said cables are pretty simple and are your standard jumper cables with LED lights built into the end of the clamps. The LED’s are activated when the user opens the clamps meaning easy and intuitive use without having to fumble with light switches. $34.95 will buy you the 16″ jumper cables and some sanity.
Fuel efficiency. Miles per gallon. Fuel Range. Big things to consider when purchasing a car these days as gas prices are still higher than they should be coupled with the onslaught of story after story of dwindling crude oil supplies. The U.S. auto industry has failed for the most part to innovate in a “green” direction until very recently. Their fascination with big, gas guzzling vehicles has caused them to be in a desperate position of playing catch up with the rest of the world. *Helpful hint* If you (U.S. auto makers) need something lofty to set their sights on as to match, the new L1 concept by VW would be a good goal to seek. While Chevy claims 230+ MPG for the Chevy Volt, the math and logic used is fairly misleading, as in reality, the actual number of miles you travel will be far less. Getting back to that goal, the L1 concept by VW is ignoring Chevy’s Volt and proclaiming their L1 concept, which isn’t set to release until 2013, as the most fuel efficient vehicle at 170 MPG. Clearly their number is smaller than Chevy’s and in this game, bigger is better. So what gives?
Well, the drag coefficient of the L1 is an uber slippery 0.195 compared to the Chevy Volt’s ~0.28(ish). While it may not seem much, that gap is huge as drag is a big factor when fuel efficiency is concerned. Futher details will take a decent bit of reading on your part. If you feel so inclined, stop by the Auto Blog and give it a looksie.
While I’m not too much of a car guy, there is auto tech that does pique my interest from time to time. A perfect example of this interest piquing can be seen in this latest product Uncle Sam is testing: Airless Tires. While such contraptions aren’t new as they have been built before (moon lander used airless tires), actual usable products here on planet earth for an actual car application aren’t too common. However, this latest prototype the military is giving a beat down to will hopefully make it’s way to the civilian market soon. Just from the looks alone, I’d be willing to sign half my life to the undertaker just to rock these on my car. But looks aren’t this tires only bread and butter. According to the manufacturer, Resilient Technologies, the tire is able to keep on rollin’ with as much as 30% of the honeycomb destroyed — a useful feature when running over a roadside bomb running from insurgent. Though for us more slower paced kid toting people, we’ll have to deal more with potholes, animals, and whatever else wonders into the road.
If you’re into the whole auto arena, this isn’t the first airless tire to come across your radar. Michelin has been working on their own airless tire called the “Tweel” since 2005. The difference is of course the physical appearance and the fact that this is more geared towards consumers. Read: looks a tad more comfortable to drive on and probably is… So pick your poison. The heavy duty rugged as all get out military spec airless tire or the soft as a baby bunnies backside edition. Leave it below.
Now, I’ll just get straight to the chase and say it; Chevy was given a rating of 230 MPG for their electric car, the Volt. Now, at first you my think holy cow, cross country trips on a single tank of gas. But hold it there boys and girls, the marketing that GM is going to push and has already shown to be taking the spotlight, the 230 figure, is kind of misleading. While the car can technically go 230 on one tank of gas, the test for that number assumes the driver drives roughly 50-60 miles per day. 40 of those miles won’t use a single drop of gas, the last 10-20 will only use .2-.4 gallons of gas giving you roughly a 220-250 MPG rating. The real downfall in fuel economy comes as you keep driving.
If you drive a car, chances are sometime in your existence on the little blue marble called earth, you will run into the situation of having to get somewhere and having nothing but a dead car. It is a part of life that we sadly can’t escape. Whether the cause be from a bad battery, bad alternator, or simply leaving the little light inside on, having a dead battery in a time sensitive day and age is a major bummer. Sure you can fumble around with jumper cables, but that is so yesteryear. Instead, fumble around with the Quick Jumper. The Quick Jumper is meant to be plugged into cigarette lighters — one in the good car and one in the car that needs charging. The concept is ingenious and keeps motorists clean and happy. 5-10 minutes is all the Quick Jumper needs to bring your lifeless battery back to life.
For those needing a more solo option, the SelfCharge Auto Jumper comes with enough internal power to jump start your car also via cigarette lighter. I can’t believe no one thought of this or at least tried to market it before. It’s so easy that anyone of any age and intelligence level could do it. Pricing for the units goes as follows: Quick Jumper ($26) SelfCharge Auto Jumper ($46).
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You may recall a similar app created by Hughes Telematics for Mercedes-Benz vehicles that gave some basic functionality such as door locking/unlocking. The only problem with the Mercedes app is that again it is rather basic with the UI in particular leaving much to be desired as well as a lofty annual price of $280. I’m sorry, but even if I had money coming out of my dog’s ass, I still wouldn’t spend almost $300/year just to see a few of my cars specs and perform a few other functions remotely. To each his own I guess.
