Electric car charging from public solar panels

Electric car owners in Zurich who want to charge up with green energy can have their battery communicate with a local utility’s solar panels and find out whether the panels are producing at that point in time.

If they are, the battery can instruct the utility to send electricity.

It’s part of a small trial between IBM and Swiss utility EKZ involving an app, cloud computing services and a phonebook sized data-recording device installed on “several” EVs including a Renault Twingo, an IBM press release states.

The device was developed by Zurich University.

The app also lets the car owner hand over charging responsibility to EKZ, which can schedule charge-ups when sun and wind power is available, and better manage its peak load generation.

One knock on EVs is that they’re only as green as the form of electricity that feeds them – coal-base electricity does not reduce a car’s carbon footprint as much as renewable electricity does. But wind and solar sources do not furnish constant electricity the way coal does.

The app can help assure the car charges only when the sun shines or the wind blows. (Although the bigger step will come when utilities switch to 100 percent renewable, taking the guesswork out).

The app runs on mobile devices, tablets and web browsers.

In addition, owners can read the app while they’re away from their car – say, in the office or even thousands of miles away – to check how much charge remains.

All the more reason why cars might could one day come for “free” as part of a service package from a utility, a mobile phone company or an internet provider.

Photo: BP Solar

Gary Lauder says: Take Turns!

Gary Lauder is the managing partner of Lauder Partners, a VC firm, and the co-creator of the Socrates Society at the Aspen Institute. Full bio and more links

Compared to traffic signals that force you to stop your car and then bring it back up to speed again, traffic controls like roundabouts save energy and money, and reduce pollution.

The trouble is that roundabouts don't work in all situations. So what can you do instead? In this shorter-than-normal TED talk, Gary Lauder presents a possible solution.

When Google's Autonomous vehicles Collide - Who Pays the Bill?

This photo of what looks like a minor case of Prius-on-Prius vehicular violence may actually be a piece of automotive history: the first accident caused by Google's self-driving car.

There are rumours that one of the drivers switched his car to Manual just before the accident. Thus, proving Sebastian Thrun's point. (See the video)

China: Surge in Luxury cars sales for Audi, BMW & Mercedes

Strong Chinese luxury auto sales have lifted the prospects of German luxury car makers which were left behind in an earlier rush to buy cheaper models with 'cash-for-clunkers' subsidies, analysts say.

Audi, BMW and Daimler, which owns Mercedes-Benz, all reported better sales in November on a 12-month basis, with China clearly the fastest growing market for all three.

"China is outstanding right now," Metzler Bank auto analyst Juergen Pieper reports.

Already the biggest market for Audi's parent group Volkswagen, "within five years it will be the most important country for Daimler and BMW and in the next three or four years for Audi," Nord LB analyst Frank Schwope forecast.

Schemes approved by governments worldwide to boost the auto sector with credits for junking an old car mainly benefitted makers of cheaper autos, including VW which aims to overtake Toyota as the biggest automaker by 2018.

Budget conscious auto buyers shunned the kind of powerful cars that Germany is best known for and luxury auto sales slumped sharply early this year.

November deliveries thus compared favourably with what were already weak sales one year earlier, with Daimler reporting a gain of 16 percent, BMW one of 11.5 percent and Audi one of 8.9 percent.

"Since September, sales have been back on the growth track," BMW sales director Ian Robertson said in a statement. "We intend to continue this trend in December and continue to exploit the increasing demand in China," he added.

Credit Crunch affects auto trade - 2 for 1 sales

The credit crunch brings with it many painful realisations, not least of these is the confirmation that we, the many, have been paying too much, for too little, for too long. This is clear in the current tactics being employed by some auto traders, desperate to retain their franchises and car sales businesses. Many are offering a 2 for 1 sale i.e. buy 1 new large family saloon car and you get a new small economy car, of the same mark, seemingly free. What a great deal, at first glance.

Shall we consider the maths? First you have to understand what drives the auto traders' business priorities, apart from making big profits. The way that auto and other franchise licenses work is that you, the license holder, need to guarantee the franchise owner a large turnover of product and a certain level of other ancillary business items, through your outlet. For auto traders, this is primarily the number of new cars, spares and possibly second hand cars, if they are running a registered and affiliated scheme that is associated with that automobile mark.

The normal mark-up on a new car is around 40%. I know this because I had the opportunity to assist a franchise holder clear his new car stock backlog, by buying some at cost. There is an advantage to do this if you sell on to the private buyer but there is no advantage in doing this if you expect to make money from another auto trader because they have access to an online register that shows the history of the car from manufacture. If you try to trade it in as a nearly new car you will be viewed with great suspicion. They may believe that you are testing their loyalty to the mark franchise by offering them something that has circumnavigated their rules.

Chances are they will either outright refuse to deal with you or tell you a price that is well below what you paid i.e. something around 50% of the normal on-the-road car price.

So let's get back to the arithmetic. Your new family sized Mazda costs you 25,000 monetary units. The dealer paid roughly 60%, 15,000. The immediate profit to the dealer is 10,000 units. He now offers you a free mini Mazda, which normally costs 7,800. You think you are quids in but the mini Mazda only cost the dealer 4,680. So he still has an excess profit of 5,320 on the deal. Plus he keeps his franchise margins, he gets a loyal and happy customer, he gets the spares and service revenue from a loyal and happy customer. In addition there may also be a small commission (between 5 7.5%) from the finance company who provides the customer with a smart personal loan to bridge any shortfall in monetary terms. So everyone is happy and life is good all round.

As a disclaimer, I would like to say that I have conveniently simplified the maths of percentages here and forgotten to mention the further complexity of reducing VAT, car Tax contributions and other legal and admin overheads etc. to simply the argument. Although this post is based on real events, no car dealers were injured in writing it.

For the future, try not to dwell on how much money the dealers has already made from you in the past. Let it go. The hardest pill to swallow is where your current vehicle's residual finance value is far greater than that of the vehicle's current market value i.e. you will need to spend more money to terminate the finance agreement than the car is worth. Ouch!

On the personal front, clear yourself of as much debt as you can and look to the retail markets for more quick win bargains to come. The wholesale manufacturers, retailers and dealers will become more and more desperate to shift stock because 'stock is money out' (bought on credit) and a quick return through a stock clearance event is the best way to greatly reduce the cost of that credit. Most organisations will be under pressure from their bankers and financiers to reduce their credit profile and overdrafts. Credit facilities are being rapidly withdraw. This will lead to a saturation of the retail market with the loss of many of the current familiar players.

In the parlance of the entrepreneurial estate agents, you will be looking for motivated sellers.

Drive safely, your life may depend upon it.