The Volt, New Technologies, and the Gartner Hype Cycle

In understanding the introduction and diffusion of a new technology, the Gartner Hype Cycle graph can provide some valuable insights as to why the plug-in electric vehicle hasn't become a smashing success overnight. To be sure, the Volt has become "Obama's Car" in the eyes of many Tea Party Leo-Luddite naysayers, and the vehicle has been politicized to no end. Second and third generation vehicles will be forthcoming and slowly will gain an increasing number of adherents, that I am sure of. The key here is price, quality, reliability, and market size. Look to the historical example of Henry Ford and the Model T, for example. For Henry the market was rural inhabitants bound to the land and isolated. For the likes of the plug-in, it is the city dweller, and the majority of Americans live in cities. It comes down to price! Drop it substantially, and the buyers will come in droves. That is the challenge facing GM, and indeed the other makers of plug-ins and zero emission vehicles. Elon Musk can make rather expensive technological demonstrator toys, but whoever comes up with the "People's Plug-In" or electric car, will transform the 21st century.

Review: Chris Paine's "Revenge of the Electric Car"

Hi folks -- finally got a copy of of the recently released "Revenge of the Electric Car" and viewed it this evening. Not as shrill as "Who Killed the Electric Car," and quite different in focus. Whereas "Who Killed the Electric Car" centered on the car,the EV1, this film was all about people -- Bob Lutz, Elon Musk, Carlos Ghosn, Dan Neil, and "Gadget." The character portrayals are excellent and I recommend the film for no other reason than that. "The Revenge" traces developments between 2008 and 2010, and does end a bit flat, but then the electric car right now is in sort of an "equilibrium" in terms of future developments. With the production of the Volt halted for the next five weeks due to a disappointing demand (not a surprise since it is a car in search of a market), one wonders will the transition to a zero emission motor vehicle world and electrics proceed at a slow pace, or will events push things along beyond current levels? Like many others, I do feel that the future is in electrics, and not hydrogen or natural gas, but "when" is the $64,000 question. If we in the U.S. wait long enough, we may just find ourselves in the slow lane of technological change and economic growth.

Chrysler's Turbine Car -- A class visit by author Steve Lehto

Jay Leno, owner of a Chrysler turbine car, and author Steve Lehto

Hi folks -- had a great visiting lecture in my HST 344 class today. Steve Lehto, author of a very fine monograph on the history of the Chrysler Turbine car project, came in and did an excellent job teaching the students about this unique car, its technology, and the negineers behind it. Thank you, Steve!

The Sad Fate fo the Volt -- A Short Poem, contributed by Ed Garten!

In light of GM halting production for a spell of the Volt, I found the following "poem" on the Internet. I assume that "Progs" mean "Progressives." None the less, the poem is a bit humerous given the pickle that GM seems to be in re: the Volt.

Ed

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O and his Progs are crying today,
No one will purchase a new Chevrolet.

Though rebates, incentives and good vibes were offered,
The people refused to be hoodwinked and haltered.

We looked at the Volt and were slightly offended,
Then looked at the price in the tax dollars tended.

"No Volt" and "Buy Ford" we repeated and screamed,
And the Volt sales just stopped; their sales numbers creamed.

A lesson from US to His Highness, King O,
Stop trying to snow us. You know where you can go...

Ryan Burg's Porsche 924S Project

Hi folks -- Photos still coming for this post!

Ryan is a student in my HST 344 Class.

An Update: 1987 Porsche 924s Project.

Some background: My father and I bought a 1987 Porsche “The Poor Man’s Porsche” off of craigslist a few years ago. I spent a summer driving this sports car with a 2.5 inline 4 cylinder 5-speed manual transmission with a short shifter on it. It’s a fun car. It is a front engine, rear trans-axle, rear wheel drive well handling Porsche. We purchased it for around $3500 and enjoyed riding around in it. I had planned on driving it to school and using it as my daily driver until the motor gave out. The culprit seemed to be oil circulation.

As many of you know that oil gets circulated through the oil filter that you screw on to the engine block hand tight then 3/4^ths a turn with a wrench. Less understood is that when you rev the engine and the oil pressure peaks not all oil goes through filter, because the filter cannot withstand the pressure. There is a release valve that allows oil to bypass the filter and keep the bearings and parts lubricated at high rpm. We believe this valve to be the root of all evil, but there is no real way of knowing what went wrong, other than the seal around the oil filter was blown out and all the oil drained out of the car. This started a series of bad things. Broken camshaft belts, destroyed bearings, locked up balance shafts, and oil and coolant mixed to name a few. Above you can see the brown/black burn marks taken of the crankshaft where the main bearings burned out on the old motor. In another picture you see an empty engine bay. The last two pictures are of the old motor on an engine stand, and our used motor now in the engine bay. We use the old motor for reference while we install the motor we recently purchased off of craigslist for $400. We took the new purchase to a mechanic to test the compression and change the timing and camshaft belts.

We have put close to a grand into rebuilding this car, which I consider to be very modest considering the options we discussed. Choices such as sell the car as is dismantle it for parts (potentially profitable), buy a new refurbished motor $$$, convert it to electric, and all sorts of goofy ideas. However we stumbled across this motor on craigslist for cheap, drove to Akron, OH and took a shot in the dark trusting a stranger on his word that it runs. Some preventative maintenance and now the motor is in the car, not an easy job. The motor has been taken in and out a few times while attempting to line up the clutch housing with the torque tube, and while getting the steering column U-joint to bolt to the steering knuckle. Tasks still needing completed: exhaust installation, starter installation, radiator installation, air intake installation, sway bar installation, oil and coolant flush and fill, and other miscellaneous tasks. These German engineers really cut out some work for those DIYers. The moment of truth is soon to come, and with some more electrical and fluid upgrades this car may be running soon.

UAW Conference -- "The Auto Industry Bailout was the Single Most Important Decision by President Obama"

So reads the news this morning related to a quote by former President Bill Clinton as he addressed more than 1,000 UAW members in Washington. Clinton went on to say that Milt Romney's father George would be "turning in his grave" over the 2008 New York Times op-ed piece Milt wrote that argued against a taxpayer - financed industry bailout.

Would George Romney be turning in his grave of late? Probably so, but perhaps not for the reasons Clinton mentioned. In fact, George had argued during the late 1950s and the early 1960s for a break up of Big Three, so that small independents like AMC would have a bigger chance to succeed in the marketplace. Furthermore, George might be turning over in his grave if he could see the America of 2012 -- a once great economic power house now dependent on China and the Middle East, wracked with political turmoil and moral decay.