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BMW i3

Don't ask me what it is about this car specifically, but I am obsessed with it. It's a technological marvel of engineering and styling.  Starting with the most embarrassing shot of the day, here is the side profile of the i3.

As you can (mostly) see, the shape of this vehicle is very different.  Much of the design is driven by the underlying engineering. Unlike almost every single vehicle for sale, this car uses a carbon fiber frame, which surrounds the lithium-ion batteries.  BMW likes to stress the modular nature of the car.  The frame for example is the "Life Module" - since it surrounds and protects the passengers.  More interesting than the marketing monikers is the actual construction, which is indeed modular.  

Weight: Carbon fiber has many notable qualities: rigidity, weight and cost are chief among them.  Long used in racing, automakers have been working with and trying to make it work for the last 15 years.  Forming, binding and layering carbon fiber is very different from stamping sheet metal and has consumed hundreds of millions of R&D dollars.  The material is ideal for this model since electric cars tend to be heavy due to the weight of the batteries.  In addition to having a carbon fiber frame, most body panels of the vehicle are plastic, which also saves weight.  How much does it weigh?  An astounding 2,600 lbs.  A Toyota Prius weights about 2,900 lbs., a 328i about 3,300 lbs. and a Chevy Volt about 3,700 lbs.

Styling: Like a Tesla Model S, the BMW i3 has a very low center of gravity due to the location of the batteries below the passenger floor.  Having the mass down low enables a more boxy design without the inherent handling effects.  While I did not have a chance to drive the i3, various press accounts are very positive.  Because the car is so new and groundbreaking, BMW decided to make it look new and groundbreaking as well.  Since the aim of the "i" line of vehicles is to minimize environmental impact, much of the interior materials are recycled or made from renewable resources, such as plant fibers.  While that sounds questionable, the materials look and feel great in person.  The top and bottom of the door panels are made of plant fibers. It's strange and strangely appealing.

Due to the strength of the "Life Cell", BMW was able to do without a B-Pillar, the removal of which allows for small suicide doors to access the rear seats.  As you can see below, the bottom of the door frame shows the raw carbon fiber.

 

The instrument cluster is electronic as to be expected. Even here, BMW chose an unconventional route by having a floating primary display for the driver and another, larger, display that floats in the center and controls navigation, radio, etc.  As the BMW press photo below shows, the dash has a horizontal wood accent running across it that provides a start contract to the otherwise large, gray dash.

           Courtesy of BMW

$400 For This?

Battery compartment of my 328i

Like many car enthusiasts, I like expensive vehicles. In particular, German cars are my weakness. Not surprisingly, this is an expensive habit. Apart from the initial purchase price, maintenance costs are shockingly high.  To guard against both, I like to buy certified pre-owned vehicles (C.P.O.).  

Unfortunately, the bumper-to-bumper coverage of my warranty has run out for my 2007 BMW 328i. This gives me the opportunity to experience one of the few negative side effects of BMW ownership - absurd dealer maintenance costs.

You see, while I love cars, my mechanical abilities are rather limited. Coupled with limited amounts of free time and well-founded suspicions of independent shops that often don't have the knowledge or equipment to repair my cars, I chose to go to the dealer for repairs. I shouldn't complain then when I get an estimate for $400 for a new battery.

While I trust that my dealer will perform the work correctly, I am fully aware of the inflated prices. So, being frugal in nature, I did some research and found out that this is not uncommon at all. Apparently, BMW batteries are very specific to each vehicle. My battery is specific to other 2007 328i's that have the same options. That means a car like mine, except with i-Drive, will have a different battery. That makes it difficult for third-party battery manufacturers. How many battery models do you need for the 3-series? 20? To make matters worse, the manual does not identify what type of battery the car needs.

Apart from having trouble finding a suitable battery, BMW keeps its dealers happy by requiring that new batteries be "registered" to the car. This means a technician needs a proprietary BMW computer interface to tell the car's computer that it now has a new battery. Theoretically, this helps the charging system optimize power delivery (i.e. it's not trying to charge the battery at the same level as the old one). My online research found plenty of threads on sites such as Bimmerfest and others that both lament this and emphasize the importance of registering the battery to avoid errors.

Quite frankly, whatever the technical innovations of my car's electronics system are, they are lost on me. Being on the receiving end of a $400 bill for a car battery makes me long for the days when cars were not as over-engineered. Perhaps I should adjust my taste in cars down-market. Less exciting, less fun to drive and much, much cheaper. 

 

Electric-Car Makers’ Quest - One Plug to Charge Them All

via www.nytimes.com

You would think that the few auto manufacturers that produce electric vehicles could agree on a universal architecture to charge these vehicles. Apparently, as this New York Times article points out, this is not the case.

There are different levels of charging (120 volts, 240 volts and 480 volts). The more volts you pump in, the faster the batteries charge. That's quite intuitive. What's less intuitive is that there is sophisticated circuitry in these chargers that interfaces with the electronics of the batteries. Those two systems have do understand each other in order to work. Unfortunately, they often do not.

Due to the short sightedness of some manufacturers, we have different standards for these things. That means different circuitry, different physical chargers (think various sizes of gas nozzles) and charging stations that support one, but not the other. Imagine the headlines when consumers get stranded because the charging station they relied on only works for Nissan Leafs as opposed to Chevy Volts.

I can already see enterprising companies offering universal adaptors. And you thought international travel was difficult.

Innovative Use of Technology Creates Electricity As You Drive

No, we are not talking about a Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) that uses the kinetic energy created during braking and to convert it into electricity. This technology is called piezoelectricity. It uses changes in pressure to create electricity.

Several companies are using this principle to create electricity utilizing the pressure that tires exert on the road surface. As cars travel down the road they apply pressure on the "contact patch" which is the small area of a tire that actually touches the asphalt. Innowattech, an Israeli company offering this technology, can either retrofit existing roads or build the technology into new roads. The principle remains the same. About 6 cm below the road surface, the company installs "piezoelectric generators". These act as on/off switches. A vehicle travelling over the generator turns it on for a fraction of a second, during the time it exerts force on the generator.

Placing these generators sequentially beneath a stretch of road creates many opportunities to generate small amounts of electricity. California might be the first state in the US to take advantage of the program if a house bill becomes law. Representative Mike Gatto, D-Burbank, stated in an interview with NBC LA that a "one mile stretch of two lane highway can generate enough power to power 500 homes for an entire year, or to power 120 electrical vehicles a day".

Even if that is a tad ambitious, the potential this technology represents is impressive. If utilized for new road construction only, piezoelectricity could go a long way towards shoring up straining electrical grids in an environmentally friendly manner. 

Demand Based Pricing All the Rage

Demand based pricing has been the Holy Grail for marketers for some time. The idea is fairly simple. It's not new either. The concept aims to more accurately take the actual, local supply and demand atmosphere into account when pricing goods and services. This pricing scheme results in variable pricing for goods based on current demand. Put another way, things that used to cost a certain amount for all customers at all times would cost more or less, depending on the customer and the time of the transaction.

Much of this has existed for millennia and on the whole, we as a society accept this. For example, gas prices rise in the summer due to supply factors (summer formulations) and demand factors (holiday travelers). This is not new.

A new facet of this would be to add timing to the price mix. Perhaps gas is priced differently throughout the day and the week. As it stands currently, gas tends to be cheaper early in the week and during non-peak demand times. Frequent intra-day price changes tend to be used only by stations with electronic price boards.

We could add another pricing variable into the mix - buyer's urgency. This is the Holy Grail I mentioned earlier. Imagine a gas pump that could automatically analyze its customers and decide that it is vacation time, your car is fully loaded, you have an out-of-state license plate and that your tank is almost empty. How badly do you really want the gas?

Those aren't all achievable right now, but we could get there. The seller just needs more information. I was first introduced to the concept in college. A marketing article applied this concept to soda machines.  It would be quite simple to install a computer in the drink dispenser that would read the ambient temperature and adjust pricing accordingly. Somewhat more futuristic, but still not beyond the realm of possibility, would be the machine's ability to "guess" the potential purchaser's level of interest. This could be accomplished by infra-red heat monitoring and perhaps the sweat level of the buyer's fingers as he selects his drink.

Price gouging you say? Yes indeed. That is the basic purpose of demand based pricing. That and “aligning scarce resources and reducing inefficiency in the market.”  Sometimes we're ok with it and other times we are not. Increasing gas prices after a natural disaster could be perfectly legitimate or blatant profiteering.

Recent automotive related instances of demand based pricing include "congestion pricing". This is the plan in Dallas, where I-635 is being rebuilt. The system would include toll and non-toll lanes. According to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the pricing on toll lanes "could vary with the level of congestion, time of day, occupancy or vehicle type."

Another recent demand based pricing scheme that caught citizens off guard affects those parking their vehicles in San Francisco. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will institute what it calls "demand-responsive pricing" in a two-year study. Sensors will feed data to apps and signs that guide drivers to open spots. The sensors also determine which parking spots areas are most appealing and increase the prices for those spots. The hourly parking fee can range from $.25 to $6.00 per hour.

Existing pricing and taxing schemes will likely change as more transaction related information becomes available. After all, we already have car insurance companies that install electronic readers in their customer’s vehicles to determine their insurance rate based on actual driving patterns. Stay tuned for more.

Parking Problems in the 1950's

When I think of the 1950's, big cars with three-speed automatic transmissions and tail fins come to mind.  Narrow parking spaces and parallel parking are problems they likely did not encounter. 

Apparently, this is not the case, as evidenced by the ingenious "fifth wheel parking" solution.

This is a much cleaner solution compared to modern self-parking systems that use a myriad of sensors to do the job for you. Also note how long this takes in the BMW.