Average petrol prices have hit a 30-month high in Australia, and there could be more pain on the way due to Middle Eastern and North African unrest
Latest data from the Australian Institute of Petroleum (AIP) shows the average national price of unleaded petrol rose by 0.3 cents a litre to 143.9 cents a litre in the week ending April 10.
That’s a 30-month high, and we’re likely to get squeezed a lot more in the next month or so -- economists are forecasting $1.50 a litre -- as concerns continue about the threats to oil supply caused by the problems in the Middle East and North Africa.
According to the AIP data, the average metropolitan price rose by 0.5 cents a litre to 143.5 cents a litre last week, while the regional average price remained at 144.8 cents a litre, AIP data shows.
And those prices would be higher except for the trailblazing Australian dollar, which as we write this is buying 105.08 US cents. But it can only do so much heavy lifting, and over the past fortnight the price of a Singapore barrel, the key index for Australia, has also surged.
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Thứ Ba, 13 tháng 3, 2012
SHANGHAI AUTO SHOW: Geely unveils China's first hot hatch
A hot little number: 1.3 turbo and twin clutch transmission
Geely is about to prove that the Chinese automotive industry can build fun cars -- not only affordable cars.
The EC6 hatch, unveiled at Auto Shanghai yesterday, had an original design and two important new developments: a 1.3-litre turbo engine and a six-speed twin-clutch transmission similar to those used in the Volkswagen Golf GTI.
According the data in the Chinese-only press information, the cute as a button EC6 has a five star China NCAP safety rating, "multiple" airbags and 16-inch wheels.
In the metal it looks about as big as a MINI but has hints of Mazda2 and Suzuki Swift in what is, generally, an original design.
It is not clear if the EC6 is destined for right-hand drive, but West Australia-based Geely importer John Hughes is understood to have put his hand up for the vehicle -- and a number of others.
Geely also unveiled the IG concept car, a gullwing hatchback with solar panels on the roof to power the air-conditioning. It was available with a frugal 1.0-litre petrol engine or a fully electric powertrain.
But it was for motor show display only at this stage.
However, on the Geely production car games wish list are:
The EC7 sedan and hatch (Corolla rivals);
The EX8 small SUV (a small RAV4 rival);
The GS coupe convertible (similar to the Peugeot CC);
The SX6 softroader (a Mitsubishi Outlander rival).
At this stage Geely vehicles are only sold in West Australia but the distributor plans to introduce them in the eastern states later this year.
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Geely is about to prove that the Chinese automotive industry can build fun cars -- not only affordable cars.
The EC6 hatch, unveiled at Auto Shanghai yesterday, had an original design and two important new developments: a 1.3-litre turbo engine and a six-speed twin-clutch transmission similar to those used in the Volkswagen Golf GTI.
According the data in the Chinese-only press information, the cute as a button EC6 has a five star China NCAP safety rating, "multiple" airbags and 16-inch wheels.
In the metal it looks about as big as a MINI but has hints of Mazda2 and Suzuki Swift in what is, generally, an original design.
It is not clear if the EC6 is destined for right-hand drive, but West Australia-based Geely importer John Hughes is understood to have put his hand up for the vehicle -- and a number of others.
Geely also unveiled the IG concept car, a gullwing hatchback with solar panels on the roof to power the air-conditioning. It was available with a frugal 1.0-litre petrol engine or a fully electric powertrain.
But it was for motor show display only at this stage.
However, on the Geely production car games wish list are:
The EC7 sedan and hatch (Corolla rivals);
The EX8 small SUV (a small RAV4 rival);
The GS coupe convertible (similar to the Peugeot CC);
The SX6 softroader (a Mitsubishi Outlander rival).
At this stage Geely vehicles are only sold in West Australia but the distributor plans to introduce them in the eastern states later this year.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
NEW YORK AUTO SHOW: Impreza hatch breaks cover
Japanese car maker launches sophisticated AWD hatchback in New York, but the arrival date in Oz is yet to be confirmed
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Subaru staff were handing out 3D glasses at the launch of the new Impreza in New York. They needn't have bothered.
The stylish new Impreza hatch is hardly the sort of car to blend in with the wallpaper. It's all angles, curves and general chunkiness that will divide opinion, but the new car can't be called bland.
Taking inspiration from the company's Liberty models, the new 2012 Subaru Impreza range has been given a 'TBA' arrival in Australia, with Subaru Australia's National Corporate Affairs Manager David Rowley telling the Carsales Network that ideally the car would have been available in the last quarter of the year.
However due to the recent natural disasters in Japan, the supply of components has meant manufacturing has slowed down, and it's now likely we won't see the fresh-faced new Impreza models on local soil until early 2012. Mr Rowley explained that the Gunma plant in Japan where the Australia-bound Imprezas are manufactured has been unaffected by the catastrophic earthquakes, citing logistical bottlenecks, such as a damaged docks and roads, as to the cause of the delays.
One thing is certain though -- Subaru has taken criticism of its interiors onboard and has crafted an improved cabin with more sophistication than the current models'. Sitting in the driver's seat, there are more soft-touch materials in evidence and though there are still some harsher materials and plastics in evidence, it's a more refined and pleasant place to sit.
Sitting in the driver's seat, Subaru has added a high resolution colour LCD screen to the centre stack which together with Bluetooth telephony and dual zone climate control as standard (on US models), lends the cabin a more sophisticated air. The new 6.1-inch touchscreen sat nav system is available as an option on entry-level and mid level models in the US, adding voice control and the ability to send/receive SMS text messages, though whether this system will be available in Australia is not yet clear.
It's also a perceptibly roomier car inside, particularly in the rear seat, which will appeal to family buyers. Though the new MY12 Subaru Impreza hatch model is similar in size to its predecessor, the wheelbase has been extended from 2621mm to 2644mm, which together with improved packaging results in improved interior space.
Walking around the new Impreza hatch at the New York auto show, it's clear that the new design elements have been inspired by the Liberty's styling, with the angular headlights and curved wheel arches a tip of the hat to the Impreza's upmarket sibling.
The overall body shape of the hatch is suitably fresh, and the rear end of the vehicle has a more original -- if somewhat angular -- appearance when compared to its predecessor. Like the sedan version, the 2012 Subaru Impreza hatch will be powered by a new version of the 2.0-litre boxer petrol engine, which will deliver improved fuel economy but no power gains, with outputs remaining at 110kW/196Nm.
Two gearboxes are offered, a CVT and a five-speed manual transmission, and Subaru's all-wheel drive layout is retained on all models. Safety levels have been improved according to the car maker, so expect another five-star ANCAP safety rating to be awarded when the new Impreza arrives in Australia.
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Subaru staff were handing out 3D glasses at the launch of the new Impreza in New York. They needn't have bothered.
The stylish new Impreza hatch is hardly the sort of car to blend in with the wallpaper. It's all angles, curves and general chunkiness that will divide opinion, but the new car can't be called bland.
Taking inspiration from the company's Liberty models, the new 2012 Subaru Impreza range has been given a 'TBA' arrival in Australia, with Subaru Australia's National Corporate Affairs Manager David Rowley telling the Carsales Network that ideally the car would have been available in the last quarter of the year.
However due to the recent natural disasters in Japan, the supply of components has meant manufacturing has slowed down, and it's now likely we won't see the fresh-faced new Impreza models on local soil until early 2012. Mr Rowley explained that the Gunma plant in Japan where the Australia-bound Imprezas are manufactured has been unaffected by the catastrophic earthquakes, citing logistical bottlenecks, such as a damaged docks and roads, as to the cause of the delays.
One thing is certain though -- Subaru has taken criticism of its interiors onboard and has crafted an improved cabin with more sophistication than the current models'. Sitting in the driver's seat, there are more soft-touch materials in evidence and though there are still some harsher materials and plastics in evidence, it's a more refined and pleasant place to sit.
Sitting in the driver's seat, Subaru has added a high resolution colour LCD screen to the centre stack which together with Bluetooth telephony and dual zone climate control as standard (on US models), lends the cabin a more sophisticated air. The new 6.1-inch touchscreen sat nav system is available as an option on entry-level and mid level models in the US, adding voice control and the ability to send/receive SMS text messages, though whether this system will be available in Australia is not yet clear.
It's also a perceptibly roomier car inside, particularly in the rear seat, which will appeal to family buyers. Though the new MY12 Subaru Impreza hatch model is similar in size to its predecessor, the wheelbase has been extended from 2621mm to 2644mm, which together with improved packaging results in improved interior space.
Walking around the new Impreza hatch at the New York auto show, it's clear that the new design elements have been inspired by the Liberty's styling, with the angular headlights and curved wheel arches a tip of the hat to the Impreza's upmarket sibling.
The overall body shape of the hatch is suitably fresh, and the rear end of the vehicle has a more original -- if somewhat angular -- appearance when compared to its predecessor. Like the sedan version, the 2012 Subaru Impreza hatch will be powered by a new version of the 2.0-litre boxer petrol engine, which will deliver improved fuel economy but no power gains, with outputs remaining at 110kW/196Nm.
Two gearboxes are offered, a CVT and a five-speed manual transmission, and Subaru's all-wheel drive layout is retained on all models. Safety levels have been improved according to the car maker, so expect another five-star ANCAP safety rating to be awarded when the new Impreza arrives in Australia.
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
SHANGHAI AUTO SHOW: No end in sight to SUV boom
Audi says there are still unexplored niches in the softroader world
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Audi -- which was late to cash-in on the SUV boom but has since embraced the rise of recreational wagons -- believes there is no end to our passion for faux-wheel-drives.
As the German car maker unveiled its third SUV in as many years, the Q3, it warned that there are still new ways to pique our interest in high-riding cars.
The head of Audi's future vehicle development, Roman Schindlmaister, told the Carsales Network at the Shanghai Motor Show yesterday: "In my opinion the SUV boom will go on. But, he warned, "you have to build the right SUV".
He hinted that Audi had dusted off its old Steppenwolf concept (pictured) -- a bizzare, high-riding Audi TT with chunky tyres and rugged looks -- and was looking at other models in the Audi range that could be converted into a "cross-over" vehicle. That is, part-car, part wannabe SUV.
When asked about reviving the Steppenwolf concept or a vehicle like it, he said: "It was a serious study for us but I think the idea wasn't finished ... maybe we are [again] thinking of this.
"We are thinking about new derivatives, making maybe a mix with some niches or whatever. But I can't give you ... our ideas. You will have to be surprised. We will surprise you."
He said the popularity for small, medium and large SUVs would remain as long as car makers found ways to make them more economical.
He said it would not be long before small and medium SUVs had hatchback-like fuel consumption -- and said the company was taking drastic measures to slash weight from the Audi mothership, the Q7 4WD.
"There is a market for ... SUVs like we have to day, like the Q3 and also the Q5, but you have to build an intelligent SUV," he said.
"What we are doing now is thinking about our Q7 ... we are planning to bring it down about 300kg."
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Audi -- which was late to cash-in on the SUV boom but has since embraced the rise of recreational wagons -- believes there is no end to our passion for faux-wheel-drives.
As the German car maker unveiled its third SUV in as many years, the Q3, it warned that there are still new ways to pique our interest in high-riding cars.
The head of Audi's future vehicle development, Roman Schindlmaister, told the Carsales Network at the Shanghai Motor Show yesterday: "In my opinion the SUV boom will go on. But, he warned, "you have to build the right SUV".
He hinted that Audi had dusted off its old Steppenwolf concept (pictured) -- a bizzare, high-riding Audi TT with chunky tyres and rugged looks -- and was looking at other models in the Audi range that could be converted into a "cross-over" vehicle. That is, part-car, part wannabe SUV.
When asked about reviving the Steppenwolf concept or a vehicle like it, he said: "It was a serious study for us but I think the idea wasn't finished ... maybe we are [again] thinking of this.
"We are thinking about new derivatives, making maybe a mix with some niches or whatever. But I can't give you ... our ideas. You will have to be surprised. We will surprise you."
He said the popularity for small, medium and large SUVs would remain as long as car makers found ways to make them more economical.
He said it would not be long before small and medium SUVs had hatchback-like fuel consumption -- and said the company was taking drastic measures to slash weight from the Audi mothership, the Q7 4WD.
"There is a market for ... SUVs like we have to day, like the Q3 and also the Q5, but you have to build an intelligent SUV," he said.
"What we are doing now is thinking about our Q7 ... we are planning to bring it down about 300kg."
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Thứ Hai, 12 tháng 3, 2012
All-electric F1 series?
FIA boss Jean Todt is backing electric power in high-level racing
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Jean Todt, former Scuderia Ferrari F1 team boss turned Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) boss is broadening the motor sport peak body’s sights to eventually include an electric car racing schedule alongside conventional Formula One.
Autoblog reports that Todt wants to start on lower-key events using go-karts and smaller single-seat vehicles and work up towards a full-scale all-electric F1 series. The FIA announced recently that it’s already in negotiations with the European Commission to develop an EV racing series.
Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone reportedly doesn’t share Todt’s interest in the idea, but there are two reasons to believe he might come around. Firstly, the auto industry is in the very earliest phase of an unstoppable expansion into alternative power sources, one which will eventually see interest in IC drop off, albeit not for some decades yet. Secondly, F1 plays a valuable – not to mention lucrative – role as test bed for the advancement of automotive technologies. With so many stakeholders sinking so much into making electric power viable, it’s not inconceivable that a racing series could play an important part in that process.
Ecclestone might note, too, that the idea has already attracted the attention of parties less interested in his sport than himself. First hand up to express interest was that of Mitsubishi. The Japanese company’s president, Osamu Masuko, normally not a fan of motor sports, sees enough commercial merit in the idea to enthuse about it publicly.
“The development costs for electric vehicles seem much lower than for gasoline cars, and it would also contribute to the technological development of cars that are already on the market,” he told Japan Today.
Peugeot, meanwhile, has set a new record for electric power around the Nurburgring with its EX1 sportster. First unveiled at 2010 Paris motor show, the EX1, a radical open-top two-seater that looks half car half motorcycle, completed a 20.8km lap of the Nordschliefe circuit in 9 minutes 1.338 seconds, demolishing the 9:51 record set in 2010 by a modified MINI E. And that was in conditions driver Stephane Caillet described as ‘unfavourable’.
Weighing less than a tonne, the EX1 uses two electric motors – one front, one rear – putting out an aggregate of 240kW and 480Nm.
Good for 0-100km/h in around 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 260km/h, it had already broken six speed records for a vehicle in its weight category: 1/8 mile (8.89sec), 1/4 mile (14.4s), 500m (16.81s), 1/2 mile (23.85s), 1000m (28.16s), and 1 mile (41.09s).
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Jean Todt, former Scuderia Ferrari F1 team boss turned Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) boss is broadening the motor sport peak body’s sights to eventually include an electric car racing schedule alongside conventional Formula One.
Autoblog reports that Todt wants to start on lower-key events using go-karts and smaller single-seat vehicles and work up towards a full-scale all-electric F1 series. The FIA announced recently that it’s already in negotiations with the European Commission to develop an EV racing series.
Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone reportedly doesn’t share Todt’s interest in the idea, but there are two reasons to believe he might come around. Firstly, the auto industry is in the very earliest phase of an unstoppable expansion into alternative power sources, one which will eventually see interest in IC drop off, albeit not for some decades yet. Secondly, F1 plays a valuable – not to mention lucrative – role as test bed for the advancement of automotive technologies. With so many stakeholders sinking so much into making electric power viable, it’s not inconceivable that a racing series could play an important part in that process.
Ecclestone might note, too, that the idea has already attracted the attention of parties less interested in his sport than himself. First hand up to express interest was that of Mitsubishi. The Japanese company’s president, Osamu Masuko, normally not a fan of motor sports, sees enough commercial merit in the idea to enthuse about it publicly.
“The development costs for electric vehicles seem much lower than for gasoline cars, and it would also contribute to the technological development of cars that are already on the market,” he told Japan Today.
Peugeot, meanwhile, has set a new record for electric power around the Nurburgring with its EX1 sportster. First unveiled at 2010 Paris motor show, the EX1, a radical open-top two-seater that looks half car half motorcycle, completed a 20.8km lap of the Nordschliefe circuit in 9 minutes 1.338 seconds, demolishing the 9:51 record set in 2010 by a modified MINI E. And that was in conditions driver Stephane Caillet described as ‘unfavourable’.
Weighing less than a tonne, the EX1 uses two electric motors – one front, one rear – putting out an aggregate of 240kW and 480Nm.
Good for 0-100km/h in around 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 260km/h, it had already broken six speed records for a vehicle in its weight category: 1/8 mile (8.89sec), 1/4 mile (14.4s), 500m (16.81s), 1/2 mile (23.85s), 1000m (28.16s), and 1 mile (41.09s).
Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
A6 premiere at AIMS
Audi's large sedan gets its first Aussie showing in Melbourne during the first week of July
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The first public unveiling of the new Audi A6 will take place in Melbourne at this year's Australian International Motor Show (AIMS).
Audi's large, luxury sedan has made its global debut elsewhere (with the hybrid version going on display in Detroit early this year), but AIMS, in the first week of July, will be the first opportunity most Aussies will have to see the A6 up close.
“The Audi A6 is significant because it features many innovations which epitomise developments in the industry – both in safety and environmental aspects,” said AIMS director Russ Tyrie.
“It features an array of new assistance, multimedia and safety systems, and is packed with innovative technology.”
The importer is yet to reveal whether the hybrid variant will be sold in Australia -- and the portents aren't outstanding in light of Audi's commitment to selling both diesel and TFSI (petrol) variants of the A6 here. Although the hybrid is good for combined output of 180kW and 560Nm from its petrol/electric drivetrain, it also adds weight to a car that Audi has worked hard to lighten in this latest generation.
“As with all new Audi models, we have applied the absolute latest technology to the new A6,” said Audi Australia managing director, Uwe Hagen.
“Everything from infotainment to safety and efficiency has been improved – for example fuel consumption has been dramatically reduced across the range, by as much as 19 per cent in some cases.
“I’m really looking forward to announcing specifications and pricing in Melbourne. I’m confident that the A6 really will take its market segment by storm – it is a deeply impressive vehicle in a market where impressions matter.”
The Australian International Motor Show will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 6pm Friday, 1 July.
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discount new cars » Get the best price on a new Audi
The first public unveiling of the new Audi A6 will take place in Melbourne at this year's Australian International Motor Show (AIMS).
Audi's large, luxury sedan has made its global debut elsewhere (with the hybrid version going on display in Detroit early this year), but AIMS, in the first week of July, will be the first opportunity most Aussies will have to see the A6 up close.
“The Audi A6 is significant because it features many innovations which epitomise developments in the industry – both in safety and environmental aspects,” said AIMS director Russ Tyrie.
“It features an array of new assistance, multimedia and safety systems, and is packed with innovative technology.”
The importer is yet to reveal whether the hybrid variant will be sold in Australia -- and the portents aren't outstanding in light of Audi's commitment to selling both diesel and TFSI (petrol) variants of the A6 here. Although the hybrid is good for combined output of 180kW and 560Nm from its petrol/electric drivetrain, it also adds weight to a car that Audi has worked hard to lighten in this latest generation.
“As with all new Audi models, we have applied the absolute latest technology to the new A6,” said Audi Australia managing director, Uwe Hagen.
“Everything from infotainment to safety and efficiency has been improved – for example fuel consumption has been dramatically reduced across the range, by as much as 19 per cent in some cases.
“I’m really looking forward to announcing specifications and pricing in Melbourne. I’m confident that the A6 really will take its market segment by storm – it is a deeply impressive vehicle in a market where impressions matter.”
The Australian International Motor Show will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 6pm Friday, 1 July.
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Wireless charging has magnetic appeal for EV buyers
Cabled EV charging systems have the jump, but electromagnetic wireless alternatives can complement and potentially overtake them
In the mid-1990s, PC maker Compaq published a full-page ad in major newspapers spruiking its new wireless power supply. Packed with jargon, trademarks and diagrams, it proved a convincing act until someone noticed it was April 1.
Turns out the ad wasn’t merely witty, but unwittingly prescient. Fifteen years on, you can find wireless charge mats for mobile phones, iPods and the like at any Dick Smith. They’re also found under some electric toothbrushes.
And now, with climate change, peak oil and legislators worldwide pushing auto makers and buyers alike towards battery electric vehicles, some of the industry’s biggest names are sinking serious dollars into putting similar technology in cars, garages and public parking spaces.
Nissan has been talking up wireless EV charging for a couple of years. The company’s first announcements came around the mid-2009 appearance of its production Leaf EV. At that time, despite the rising excitement about EVs in media and motor shows, research was flagging problems ahead, with Nissan’s UK study revealing 61 per cent of potential buyers were put off by the inconvenience of recharging (pictured). Announcements were common that makers were readying their EVs for high voltage rapid-charge cabled systems; Nissan took it a step further by announcing it was also working on wireless inductive systems.
Not much has changed in the consumer research. Indeed studies have turned up so much in the way of continued resistance to EVs that the term ‘range-anxiety’ has been absorbed into the industry lexicon.
This year, Toyota has announced a development deal with WiTricity, a company emanating from the research labs of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), while BMW has done the same things with German electronics giant Siemens. It’s likely that in coming years we’ll hear more of names like Evatran, Momentum Dynamics and HaloIPT alongside Better Place, the company that’s consumed most of the media mindshare to date with its cabled charging and battery-swap systems.
This new gang – even the ones without Siemens’s and MIT’s brand power – is attracting plenty of attention and cash for an idea that potentially clears away many of the obstacles blocking the electric car’s path to acceptance. Evatran’s Plugless Power system, for example, is currently undergoing testing in Google’s fleet at the IT giant’s headquarters in Mountain View, California.
Charging issues the chief point of consumer resistance to EVs
Either of the two wireless technologies being investigated potentially provides a neat solution to a number of the problems slowing battery power’s headway into the global auto market. Those issues are well researched and documented: essentially, batteries are slower to fill up than petrol tanks, even using high-voltage rapid charging facilities, and faster to empty.
In day-to-day life terms, it translates into this: as things are, you spend all night charging up from a domestic plug in the carport, and you’re lucky to get more than 100 or 150 kilometres max out of it the next day. Lithium-ion technology is still early in its developmental arc, but progress is slow. Researchers estimate that as things are at present, a battery good for more than 200km would double the price of a mass-market vehicle.
Many a deal has been struck around the world working towards networks of wired charging points, but they have their problems. Not least, they’re vulnerable to vandalism and simultaneously liable to send an unfortunate vandal into orbit with a 415-volt whack. And even with rapid-charge facilities, it still takes far longer to fill a battery than the two or three minutes we’re used to at the petrol pump.
At any rate, drivers are not likely to be happy about leaving their car plugged into a charge point in a public place for an eight-hour working day – let alone overnight, when we consider inner city terrace suburbs where street parking is the norm and off-street parking is restricted to the plum end of the property market.
Wireless charging’s answer to problems with cabled systems
On paper at least, the advantages of wireless over cabled systems are manifold. Because wireless charging generates no heat there’s no fire risk, and because it works by magnetism rather than radiation, there’s no anxiety (at least yet...) about health risks. It uses no moving parts and no physical connections, dramatically reducing its maintenance costs – Rolls-Royce cited this as an important consideration in setting up its 102EX electric show car for it. And with the right economies of scale, it’s also prospectively easy and cost-effective to retrofit receiver units to vehicles.
The absence of physical connections and moving parts makes full automation easy, too. More so because it’s safe and economical to run the transmission units in always-on mode – they only use power during coupling time with a vehicle. Its automation potential also makes it easy to integrate data communications systems into it that extend to ‘smart’ payment and reporting systems.
At the way-out-there end of the development scale lies the potential to embed transmission infrastructure along stretches of road, allowing vehicles to charge on the move.
All that and there’s little transmission efficiency difference between wireless and cabled systems (efficiency here refers to the rate of power shrinkage between transmitter and receiver). Developers claim to have closed the efficiency gap considerably in just a couple of years. In early 2009, researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology reported efficiency rates of up to 80 per cent transmitting across a 1cm gap from an embedded power line. Within a few months, the team was powering a bus at efficiency levels of up to 60 per cent across a 12 cm gap.
More recently, UK developer HaloIPT has claimed power losses of just 10 per cent, putting it on a par with most plug-in systems, and without their complex electronic circuitry. The company’s system is capable of coupling coils up to 400mm apart and up to 250mm off centre.
Momentum Dynamics, meanwhile, claims its technology charges a vehicle much faster off a 240V grid than a cabled system. It’s developed its receiver coils for retrofitting to a wide variety of vehicles with undersides up to 60cm above the road surface.
The downside
The main downside, as UK analyst Toby Procter pointed out in a recent article published by his firm, Trend Tracker, is that most of the technologies are yet to undergo real-world testing. And while hardware integration between send and receive coils is simple, transmitter installation costs could prove problematic. This is reflected in what Procter cites as a likely infrastructure scenario to emerge: one that opts for affordable cable-based systems in homes and other private charge points where plugs and wires present little problem, and wireless systems in public spaces.
The problem here is that local governments, most of whom operate on tight budgets, may take some persuading of its merits, given how much more work it takes to bury a wireless charging coil under a parking spot than erect a cabled stump next to it. If there’s a clear sell, it lies in the near-zero maintenance costs mitigating the up-front slug, but those selling the idea face entrenched competition from cable vendors who, with several years’ jump on them, are already well into rolling out their own networks.
Establishing standards
At this early stage in the development of a technology ultimately dependent for success on standardisation, most makers are still working with operating standards and protocols developed in-house and unique to their product.
“Each manufacturer has developed their own protocols, their own security subscription schemes and the units aren’t interoperable,” John Rosinski, spokesman for one such firm, Pennsylvania-based Momentum Dynamics, told Procter in a recent interview.
“So a car driver moving around a city or through an area might have to have several subscriptions.” So embryonic is the technology, Rosinski told Procter, that the US government hasn’t yet worked out which agency should be tasked with addressing it, let alone got to the nuts and bolts.
In the next phase, these manufacturers begin jockeying to have their solution implemented as the industry standard. Overseeing that process is SAE International, the engineering profession’s global peak body. Charged with the development and worldwide implementation of standards and guidelines for such matters, SAE launched a taskforce late in 2010 “to establish performance and safety limits for wireless power transfer for automotive applications while establishing a minimum interoperability requirement”, according to its statement announcing its convening. This involves a look in depth at the two wireless charging technologies in play – inductive and magnetic resonance – assessing the pros and cons of each and interoperability issues.
After setting to work early this year under the leadership of BMW executive Jesse Schneider, the team aims to come up with first draft guidelines by year’s end. Schneider told media through SAE’s statement that field data requirements mean it will likely be 2012 or 2013 before a full balloted standard is finalised and published.
How does wireless charging work?
In a word, magnetically. Both technologies leverage the natural magnetic fields surrounding every object, which are strengthened under charge. Inductive coupling uses an electromagnetic field between two objects in close proximity as the medium for transferring energy between them. A charging station or mat beneath the vehicle sends energy to the vehicle receiving unit, which collects it and stories it in its batteries.
Magnetic resonance ‘strong coupling’ uses the oscillating nature of magnetic fields to pair objects on discovery of a common frequency. When they do, it’s possible for the transmitter coil to convert electrical energy into a magnetic field, transfer it into the orbit of the receiver coil, which converts it back to electricity and dispatches it to the battery.
Arguments continue over cost differences, but the wireless advocates are at a distinct disadvantage having to prove the efficacy of their technologies in the face of cabled system suppliers who have already won contracts and begun rolling out their networks. That said, the electric mobility industry is in its infancy, meaning it’s so dynamic and unpredictable that even each-way bets are fraught with risk. Among all the ideas being flung around, however, this one has a clear enough value proposition to guarantee it a place in the not too distant future.
In the mid-1990s, PC maker Compaq published a full-page ad in major newspapers spruiking its new wireless power supply. Packed with jargon, trademarks and diagrams, it proved a convincing act until someone noticed it was April 1.
Turns out the ad wasn’t merely witty, but unwittingly prescient. Fifteen years on, you can find wireless charge mats for mobile phones, iPods and the like at any Dick Smith. They’re also found under some electric toothbrushes.
And now, with climate change, peak oil and legislators worldwide pushing auto makers and buyers alike towards battery electric vehicles, some of the industry’s biggest names are sinking serious dollars into putting similar technology in cars, garages and public parking spaces.
Nissan has been talking up wireless EV charging for a couple of years. The company’s first announcements came around the mid-2009 appearance of its production Leaf EV. At that time, despite the rising excitement about EVs in media and motor shows, research was flagging problems ahead, with Nissan’s UK study revealing 61 per cent of potential buyers were put off by the inconvenience of recharging (pictured). Announcements were common that makers were readying their EVs for high voltage rapid-charge cabled systems; Nissan took it a step further by announcing it was also working on wireless inductive systems.
Not much has changed in the consumer research. Indeed studies have turned up so much in the way of continued resistance to EVs that the term ‘range-anxiety’ has been absorbed into the industry lexicon.
This year, Toyota has announced a development deal with WiTricity, a company emanating from the research labs of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), while BMW has done the same things with German electronics giant Siemens. It’s likely that in coming years we’ll hear more of names like Evatran, Momentum Dynamics and HaloIPT alongside Better Place, the company that’s consumed most of the media mindshare to date with its cabled charging and battery-swap systems.
This new gang – even the ones without Siemens’s and MIT’s brand power – is attracting plenty of attention and cash for an idea that potentially clears away many of the obstacles blocking the electric car’s path to acceptance. Evatran’s Plugless Power system, for example, is currently undergoing testing in Google’s fleet at the IT giant’s headquarters in Mountain View, California.
Charging issues the chief point of consumer resistance to EVs
Either of the two wireless technologies being investigated potentially provides a neat solution to a number of the problems slowing battery power’s headway into the global auto market. Those issues are well researched and documented: essentially, batteries are slower to fill up than petrol tanks, even using high-voltage rapid charging facilities, and faster to empty.
In day-to-day life terms, it translates into this: as things are, you spend all night charging up from a domestic plug in the carport, and you’re lucky to get more than 100 or 150 kilometres max out of it the next day. Lithium-ion technology is still early in its developmental arc, but progress is slow. Researchers estimate that as things are at present, a battery good for more than 200km would double the price of a mass-market vehicle.
Many a deal has been struck around the world working towards networks of wired charging points, but they have their problems. Not least, they’re vulnerable to vandalism and simultaneously liable to send an unfortunate vandal into orbit with a 415-volt whack. And even with rapid-charge facilities, it still takes far longer to fill a battery than the two or three minutes we’re used to at the petrol pump.
At any rate, drivers are not likely to be happy about leaving their car plugged into a charge point in a public place for an eight-hour working day – let alone overnight, when we consider inner city terrace suburbs where street parking is the norm and off-street parking is restricted to the plum end of the property market.
Wireless charging’s answer to problems with cabled systems
On paper at least, the advantages of wireless over cabled systems are manifold. Because wireless charging generates no heat there’s no fire risk, and because it works by magnetism rather than radiation, there’s no anxiety (at least yet...) about health risks. It uses no moving parts and no physical connections, dramatically reducing its maintenance costs – Rolls-Royce cited this as an important consideration in setting up its 102EX electric show car for it. And with the right economies of scale, it’s also prospectively easy and cost-effective to retrofit receiver units to vehicles.
The absence of physical connections and moving parts makes full automation easy, too. More so because it’s safe and economical to run the transmission units in always-on mode – they only use power during coupling time with a vehicle. Its automation potential also makes it easy to integrate data communications systems into it that extend to ‘smart’ payment and reporting systems.
At the way-out-there end of the development scale lies the potential to embed transmission infrastructure along stretches of road, allowing vehicles to charge on the move.
All that and there’s little transmission efficiency difference between wireless and cabled systems (efficiency here refers to the rate of power shrinkage between transmitter and receiver). Developers claim to have closed the efficiency gap considerably in just a couple of years. In early 2009, researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology reported efficiency rates of up to 80 per cent transmitting across a 1cm gap from an embedded power line. Within a few months, the team was powering a bus at efficiency levels of up to 60 per cent across a 12 cm gap.
More recently, UK developer HaloIPT has claimed power losses of just 10 per cent, putting it on a par with most plug-in systems, and without their complex electronic circuitry. The company’s system is capable of coupling coils up to 400mm apart and up to 250mm off centre.
Momentum Dynamics, meanwhile, claims its technology charges a vehicle much faster off a 240V grid than a cabled system. It’s developed its receiver coils for retrofitting to a wide variety of vehicles with undersides up to 60cm above the road surface.
The downside
The main downside, as UK analyst Toby Procter pointed out in a recent article published by his firm, Trend Tracker, is that most of the technologies are yet to undergo real-world testing. And while hardware integration between send and receive coils is simple, transmitter installation costs could prove problematic. This is reflected in what Procter cites as a likely infrastructure scenario to emerge: one that opts for affordable cable-based systems in homes and other private charge points where plugs and wires present little problem, and wireless systems in public spaces.
The problem here is that local governments, most of whom operate on tight budgets, may take some persuading of its merits, given how much more work it takes to bury a wireless charging coil under a parking spot than erect a cabled stump next to it. If there’s a clear sell, it lies in the near-zero maintenance costs mitigating the up-front slug, but those selling the idea face entrenched competition from cable vendors who, with several years’ jump on them, are already well into rolling out their own networks.
Establishing standards
At this early stage in the development of a technology ultimately dependent for success on standardisation, most makers are still working with operating standards and protocols developed in-house and unique to their product.
“Each manufacturer has developed their own protocols, their own security subscription schemes and the units aren’t interoperable,” John Rosinski, spokesman for one such firm, Pennsylvania-based Momentum Dynamics, told Procter in a recent interview.
“So a car driver moving around a city or through an area might have to have several subscriptions.” So embryonic is the technology, Rosinski told Procter, that the US government hasn’t yet worked out which agency should be tasked with addressing it, let alone got to the nuts and bolts.
In the next phase, these manufacturers begin jockeying to have their solution implemented as the industry standard. Overseeing that process is SAE International, the engineering profession’s global peak body. Charged with the development and worldwide implementation of standards and guidelines for such matters, SAE launched a taskforce late in 2010 “to establish performance and safety limits for wireless power transfer for automotive applications while establishing a minimum interoperability requirement”, according to its statement announcing its convening. This involves a look in depth at the two wireless charging technologies in play – inductive and magnetic resonance – assessing the pros and cons of each and interoperability issues.
After setting to work early this year under the leadership of BMW executive Jesse Schneider, the team aims to come up with first draft guidelines by year’s end. Schneider told media through SAE’s statement that field data requirements mean it will likely be 2012 or 2013 before a full balloted standard is finalised and published.
How does wireless charging work?
In a word, magnetically. Both technologies leverage the natural magnetic fields surrounding every object, which are strengthened under charge. Inductive coupling uses an electromagnetic field between two objects in close proximity as the medium for transferring energy between them. A charging station or mat beneath the vehicle sends energy to the vehicle receiving unit, which collects it and stories it in its batteries.
Magnetic resonance ‘strong coupling’ uses the oscillating nature of magnetic fields to pair objects on discovery of a common frequency. When they do, it’s possible for the transmitter coil to convert electrical energy into a magnetic field, transfer it into the orbit of the receiver coil, which converts it back to electricity and dispatches it to the battery.
Arguments continue over cost differences, but the wireless advocates are at a distinct disadvantage having to prove the efficacy of their technologies in the face of cabled system suppliers who have already won contracts and begun rolling out their networks. That said, the electric mobility industry is in its infancy, meaning it’s so dynamic and unpredictable that even each-way bets are fraught with risk. Among all the ideas being flung around, however, this one has a clear enough value proposition to guarantee it a place in the not too distant future.
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