Michael Kimberley (Lotus CEO) tells the Financial Times, “Don’t be surprised to see an electric Lotus shortly… it will become one of the showcases for the world of what you can do with electric vehicle technology.”

And so, the rumor mills are flying.  Lotus?  Electric?  Really?

Well, it’s not all that surprising really.  The Tesla Roadster, famed all-electric racer, that totally smoked a Lotus Elise off the line in a Top Gear episode, is actually built up from a chassis made by none other than Lotus.  So for Lotus to simply cut out the middle man as it were, is not much of a stretch.  Nor is it surprising that Lotus feels that it has to throw down the gauntlet for a rematch with the Tesla Roadster.

The real question is, will Lotus produce an all-electric racer like the Tesla Roadster?  Or will it be more like an E-Flex / “Extended Range Electric Vehicle” design like the Chevy Volt?  Or will it simply be just another hybrid?  (Especially of the non-green variety that uses the hybrid electric drive not to improve fuel efficiency, but to merely boost the vehicle’s acceleration.)

Well, since almost no one does a pure electric car, and I’m most unfortunately feeling cynical, I’m guessing the latter.  Lotus doesn’t entirely strike me as being a company setting out to save the planet with fuel efficient vehicles.  (Funny that.)  They don’t exactly make cars that compete with the Toyota Prius.  So using a hybrid’s electric motor purely to boost the already stunning performance of something like the Lotus Elise would be my guess as to the direction Lotus plans to take things.  In a way, hybrid drives are the new nitrous oxide, except that they improve both acceleration and braking.

I’d actually be pleasantly surprised if Lotus in fact went the serial hybrid route instead, designing an electric car with a gas generator backup that only kicks in when the electricity runs dry.  (Much like the Chevy Volt.)  Such a car is still an all-electric at heart, only burning gasoline when there’s no electricity left to run on.  And since most such cars are intended to go 40+ miles on an electric charge, it fits a lot of people’s daily commutes in an electric-only mode.  (But still leaves them the option to drive cross-country for a vacation by running on petrol.  Something all-electric cars like the General Motors EV1 never had.)  But since a serial hybrid essentially adds a mostly unused gas motor and fuel tank to what is basically an electric car, I have my doubts that such a sports car producer as Lotus will devote that much weight just to extending the drive range of an otherwise all-electric vehicle.  It just doesn’t race.  You don’t add weight to a race car.

And speaking of not adding weight to a race car, actually, I really don’t expect Lotus to do all electric much more than I expect them to do a serial hybrid.  Essentially an all-electric is just a serial hybrid without the gas generator backup for when you run out of juice in the batteries.  So you need to add a lot of batteries to make an all-electric work.  Batteries add weight.  Enough batteries to give a good range to a high-powered sports car add a lot of weight.  The Tesla Roadster is a perfect example.  Its handling suffers from so much battery weight.  Maybe Lotus thinks that they can do better than Tesla.  I’m sure if anyone can design a suspension to handle the weight well, it’ll be them.  But still … it’s not a very promising direction to take at the moment.  We still need better battery technologies.  So it’s hard to imagine Lotus making the same “mistake” as the Tesla Roadster.

Still, whatever Lotus comes out with, I’m sure it will at the very least be interesting.  Whatever they show us in the end.  Just because I flog being green doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy I good thrill! 

The Tesla Roadster

Tesla Motors, makers of the fully electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster, may have had a cheer, a chuckle, and a groan when BBC’s Top Gear took a Tesla Roadster out for a spin.

It starts out quite well.  After a quick jibe at the Toyota Prius, Jeremy Clarkson moves on to the stunning all-electric car of wet dreams: the Tesla Roadster.  And it’s a mighty impressive bit of production editing with electrifying special effects.

The high point is when they go head-to-head between a Tesla Roadster and a Lotus Elise in a drag race.  The Tesla wins, no hands down.  It’s not even a competition.

The Tesla Roadster beats a Lotus Elise off the line.

This is exactly why electric motors make perfect sense in a sports or race car.  Their torque is unbeatable.

The Tesla Roadster's motor cranks up to over twelve thousand RPMs!

The rapid surge to over twelve and a half thousand RPMs makes Jeremy sing, “That’s Biblically quick! This car is electric! Literally.“  Which he later follows with a proclamation, “Not bad for a motor that’s the size of a watermelon, and only has one moving part.”

Unfortunately, that’s the upside of Top Gear’s review of the Tesla Roadster.  It’s not long before the downside begins.

The first complaint is that the batteries add so much weight to the otherwise ultra lightweight car that it affects the handling.  As Jeremy puts it, the Tesla Roadster is kind of like him, “Thin at one end, thinning at the other, and ends with a big fat bit in the middle.”

Unfortunately, the Tesla Roadster has a few handling problems.

This, however, begins to be mitigated by the tires, which Jeremy says are low rolling resistance (which at InsanIT.net means low traction) wheels.  And because of the combination of tires and batteries, on their test track the Lotus Elise is able to easily squeeze by the Tesla Roadster on the corners.  “However, come the next straight … Yes!  Come on!  Come on!  Go!  Bye!“  Jeremy, in the Roadster, slingshots right by the Elise with ease once again as he hits a good straight.

Jeremy in the Tesla Roadster waves goodbye to the Lotus Elise once he gets back onto a straight part of Top Gear's testing track.

But then, on a high note again, the next disappointment falls.  The claim of Tesla that the Roadster will go 200 miles between charges is quickly dashed as the Top Gear team only gets 55 miles out of theirs.  The Roadster comes to a stop and has to be pushed into the garage for a recharge.

The Top Gear team has to push their Tesla Roadster back in for a recharge after only 55 miles of driving.

The disappointment is further explained by Jeremy.  “Ok, to fill the tank on a normal car takes, what, a couple of minutes?  To fully recharge the batteries in this, from a normal thirteen amp socket like that, takes sixteen hours.”

Things only get worse from there as the Roadster proved to be more prototype than production quality.  Taking a second Tesla Roadster around the track some more quickly comes to a halt as the motor overheats, putting the car into a reduced power mode.  And while it cooled down Top Gear tried to go back to using their first Tesla Roadster … “Only to find that while it was being charged its brakes had broken.“  Oops.  Not so good for Tesla.  “So then, with the light fading, we had no cars at all.“  It was a dismal end to the Top Gear’s first day of Tesla Roadster testing.  Jeremy ends the day walking down an empty track, musing, “I did think that the Teslas would bring a bit of peace and quiet to our track with their electric motors.  I didn’t think it would be this much peace and quiet though.”

Jeremy is sad as Top Gear's TWO Tesla Roadsters both fail on testing day, leaving the track eerily silent at the end of the day.

“What we have here then is an astonishing technical achievement:  The first electric car that you might actually want to buy.  It’s just a shame that in the real world it doesn’t seem to work.”

Of course, being Top Gear, that’s not quite the end.  They still had to hand the car over to The Stig for a track time run.

Even The Stig slides a bit off the track because of Tesla's choice to use low rolling resistance tires.

The Stig finds out all too quicky just how bad the traction of low energy ties are as he bites into the grass through the first turn.  But being the professional that he is, once gauged, he pushes the Roadster quite well.  The Stig manages to get a track time of 1:27.2 in the Tesla Roadster, exactly the same time as a Porsche 911 GT3, and strangely enough, exactly on the same mildly moist track conditions.

And there it is, the Tesla Roadster completes Top Gear's test track in the exact same time (and conditions) of a Porsche 911 GT3 at a mere 1:27.2 seconds.

So there it is.  We knew that the Tesla Roadster was fast.  We knew that an electric motor could really tear up a track.  And Top Gear proved it.  But we also knew, all too well, just how expensive it was.  And, unfortunately, Tesla Motors still seems to have a few quality control issues to work out, at least if you’re going to push your Tesla Roadster in track conditions, as Top Gear found out in the worst of ways.

Some say that the all-electric car is dead.  That sentiment even gets thrown around at Top Gear.  But here, honestly, I think that’s just a load of back-minded hogwash.  With better battery technologies like NanoSafe, and better (higher amperage) recharging stations put into place (If hydrogen “gas stations” can get an infastructure built up from nothing, then why not high amp “recharging stations” from our already solid electrical infrastructure?) then there’s really no reason for the electric car to be dead.  At all.  In fact, frankly, across most of the world it makes more sense to use electricity than it does to use hydrogen, at least until we have a good means of producing hydrogen for every region.  The electric car only gets its bad name from the early attempts to push it before the technology was ready.  Where as the hydrogen car has no bad name yet simply because it practically doesn’t exist.

And still, the only difference between a hydrogen fuel cell car and a battery car is … the battery.  You either charge a battery by electricity, or you charge the battery by filling a fuel cell back up with hydrogen.  The motor is the same.  The transmission is the same.  Everything is the same, except which battery provides the electricity to power the car.  So most of the advances in one technology are likewise advances in the other.  They don’t have to compete.  Their technologies are almost completely shared.

Why is it that so many automotive heads are jumping onto the hydrogen bandwagon?  It’s a buzzword that can’t be let go.  But what is a hydrogen fuel cell?

Ultimately, hydrogen fuel cell is simply this: a battery.  Whether run by an actual battery, or run by a hydrogen fuel cell, the car’s motor is the same.  It’s just an electric motor.  In fact every last detail of the car except for the souce of electrons can be identical, be it hydrogen or battery.

So what makes hydrogen fuel cell cars so much better?

Umm … nothing.

One could argue that it’s the refuel time that makes all the difference.  In theory, if hydrogen gas stations actually existed outside of test areas, one could refuel a hydrogen fuel cell car on the go, traveling across the country, just as quickly and easily refuelled as any petrol-fueled car is today.

Except that it’s already been shown that the same infastructure could be built to recharge battery-powered cars in as little as five minutes.

Maybe it’s the gas tank then?  Or maybe these hydrogen-obsessed auto manufacturers just aren’t willing to admit that better battery technologies like NanoSafe?

Whatever the reason, it’s very hard to argue sensibly.  I mean what country worried about alternative fuels doesn’t already have a strong electrical infrastructure in place?  Moving electricity from Point A to Point B has been efficiently solved for a very long time.  Where as moving around hydrogen?  Not so solved.  The production of electricity is also certainly no challenge.  And even today more and more across the world is green electricity becoming a priority. Can the same be said about the production of hydrogen?

Don’t get me wrong.  I have nothing against a hydrogen fuel cell in principle.  In fact in places like Iceland it makes a world of sense to explore.  But in places where hydrogen isn’t so cheap or easy to produce, perhaps it’s time better spent looking at something that already works than pushing something that just isn’t ready.  Let the people whom it makes sense for lead the way in hydrogen, and take some honest time working on battery-based cars elsewhere.

And if it’s really just a range thing, then by all means, just make some plug-in hybrids and be done with that problem already.

There’s a smart way to do things, and a not-so-smart way to do things.  Finding the best alternative fuel future for us all doesn’t mean throwing all of the eggs into just one basket, and especially not when that basket is just a buzzword.

It’s a Sunday.  The afternoon sun is shining.  The birds are singing.  The cicadas are buzzing.  What a perfect day to mow the lawn, right?

I pull out my man-powered push mower that runs on neither gas nor electricity, but simply the power of my muscles.  (Because I’m so green … and because I can get away with it with such a tiny lawn.)  I’ve had this particular 20″ blade Task Force lawnmower for over a year now.  It’s not exactly the most fun I’ve ever had mowing a lawn (considering my last lawnmower was a powerhouse push mower with a powerful 6.5hp four-cycle engine) but I’ve only got a small yard now, and I’m being green.

It starts out like any other mow.  Only I’m halfway through now and I think I’m feeling something odd.  Only I’m not sure.

I’m three quarters of the way through the yard and I’m definitely feeling something odd.  The blades are spun by the wheels being pushed forward.  The blades spin free when the wheels move backward.  It’s a simple and nifty way to spin the blades by sheer manpower.  The force of the push spins up the blades.  But as I push forward now, the blades seem to kind of klang a bit before the spin. I’m sure of it now.

As I push the mower towards my shed so that I can take a look at it, it gives one last klang.  And now I just hear the gentle click-click-click of the freespin.  Only I’m pushing fowards, not backwards.  The blade no longer powers up when I push.  My lawnmower is dead.

Well drat!  That ain’t good!

Green proponents or just people with small yards may be quite familiar with this lawnmower.  It seems to be a popular one.  Until it broke on me, I didn’t entirely dislike it myself.  (What can I say? It’s a lot of work pushing a people-powered mower.)  I always kind of thought of it as the cream of the bad crop.

And as you look at the design, it looks built to last.  Except for the wheels and the handle tighteners and grip, it’s all metal.  It holds up well. … So I thought.

Then I get the wheel assembly apart.  It’s as simple as slipping a C clip.

On the inside of the wheel is gear toothing.  Which turns that black sprocket you see there.  That black sprocket is designed to move only in one direction.  When the wheels move forward, it grips, allowing the blade to spin up.  When the wheel doesn’t move, or moves backwards, it slips, allowing the blade to free-spin.  This way the blades don’t slow down just because you do.  And you can’t jerk moving blades to a grinding halt by moving backwards.

But wait.  What’s this?  While everything else important is made of metal, the sprocket that does all of this is made of plastic!

A quick examination of this cheap plastic sprocket, the heart of the blade spinning operation, the part that takes the most abuse, reveals the problem.  The inside metal catch that free spins one way and grips the other has torn this cheap piece of plastic to shreds!

I don’t care how any marketing guru cares to try to spin this one.  The most important part of this lawnmower, the part that takes the most stress and abuse per square meter of surface area, is made of plastic.

IT WAS DESIGNED TO FAIL!

And so the bad lawnmower has been thoroughly FUBARed by an intentional design by the manufacturer for it to break down.  There’s simply no other way to explain using a cheap plastic part at this most important juncture.

Is it even worth trying to get this thing repaired under warranty?  They’re just going to replace that god awful little plastic sprocket with another plastic sprocket.  The lawnmower is just going to fail again.  There is no “if”.  There is no question.  It’s only a matter of time.  It’s designed to fail.

If I were a blacksmith or a machinist I might try to die cast or machine out a new sprocket from metal that would last for years and years.  But I’m not.  I’m a tech geek.  I don’t have neat toys like that in my basement.  And frankly, if I were going to do anything to this lawnmower at this point, it’d be to strap a motor and a car battery to the bugger and make that sucker electric!  But I don’t have the R&D budget for that kind of tinkering, and frankly, the blade really isn’t so good at catching all of the types of grass and weeds in my not-so-perfect yard.

It’s time for something better.

Say hello to my little friend: The Black & Decker Lawn Hog 19″ corded electric lawnmower!

It’s my new best friend.  It’s the green lawnmower I always wanted.

Okay, so electric isn’t quite as green as human-powered.  It’s still a lot better than gas, so cut me some slack.  I could have spent like $450 (give or take) on a hearty battery mower.  Or $350 give or take on a severely underpowered battery mower.  But why spend that kind of money when I can get the el-cheapo electric that uses a cord instead of a battery?

I’ve already taken the new mower out for a spin.  Man is it so much better than that stupid man-powered mower.  Now mowing the lawn is literally as easy as, say, using a vacuum.  Really!  That sucker is light!  It just glides across the lawn.  Never have I felt a lawnmower push so easily.  Even my last gas hog, a self-propelled push model, didn’t move this easy.

And starting it is a breeze!  No more yanking a cord.  No problem starts.  It just whirrs right up!

As I pushed it to its knees, I found that you also can’t kill it.  You just can’t.  Electric motors may spin down, but unlike gas motors, they don’t stall if you push them too hard.

There are only two problems I’ve seen with this mower.  The first is true of any corded mower: the cord.  What happens when you run over a cord?  I don’t want to know.  I really really don’t.  Fortunately you literally just plug in an extension cord into the mower, so if you run over the cord you can easily replace it should you be squeemish about splicing it.  (Call me squeemish.  I tried that once as a child, and it wasn’t pretty when I plugged the spliced cord back in.  I’ve been leery of electricity ever since.)

The other problem is the mulcher.  The blade on this sucker is like half fan blade,  half lawnmower blade.  It really sucks up the grass.  Which means that, of course, it’s constantly trying to push the motor to its knees because it’s constantly trying to dice up way more grass than it should at one time.  Now the solution is simple - use the bag in the back instead of mulch - or whenever you hear it struggle, just lift the nose of the lawnmower up a smidge to break the vacuum so that grass can escape.  Both are fine solutions to such a simple problem.  But it’s still a minor nuicanse.

But hey, if those are the worst two things I have to deal with to use such a great and green lawnmower?  No worries, mate!  I’m so very sold.

My only ponderance at this point is whether or not the battery-powered mowers are as smooth as this corded mower.  Battery devices run at slower speeds to save energy.  That might suck.  Worse though, a battery for a device with that much of a motor has got to have some weight to it.  Will a battery version push as effortlessly?  I don’t know.  It’s so lightweight that it’s almost ridiculous.  It’s great!  I’d hate to see that feature lost by adding a battery.

So, thanks to a judicious expendeture of money and a great company like Black& Decker, my lawn has never been so easy to mow.  And I still don’t use gas!  In a way, I’m actually almost glad that the Task Force mower was designed to break, because now I’ve found something infinitely better.

Do you ever have ideas about things that you are dangerously undereducated on? Like you know just enough to be dangerous? Yeah, I do. And one thing I’d love to learn more on, through hands-on experience if at all possible, is exploring new and innovative automotive designs. Mostly I’m drawn to cars and motorcycles, which considering I’ve never even ridden a motorcycle may seem a tad weird. But just because I’m not an expert doesn’t mean I don’t have any ideas.

If I had millions of dollars, one of the first things I’d love to do is start my own out-of-the-box automotive design business. And one of my first R&D projects? Electric disc brakes.

Instead of a hydraulic system that pushes pistons into calipers that grab a disk, why not simply have a capacitor-backup (for safety) electro-magnetic caliper system? Imagine how much better response time an electromagnet has compared to a hydraulic piston and what that could do for traction control, anti-lock brakes, and so forth. But for that matter, imagine a system where water can’t get into a brake line because there is no brake line.

Toyota is already replacing their hydraulic power steering system with the electric power steering system that they pioneered for the Prius hybrid. They liked the electric system so much better that it’s moving into other cars now. It has fewer parts. It has less ways to break. It needs less maintenance. And best of all, it works better.

I think the same type of move could easily be done for brakes. More responsive brakes with less maintenance and failure points? Who wouldn’t want electro-magnetic brakes? Especially as more cars become hybrids, more cars are going to have electrical systems capable of supporting new ideas like this. The general concept is still ultimately the same anti-lock disc brake design. You just replace a complex and high-maintenance hydraulic system with simple maintenance-free electromagnets.

Yep. If I could open up Arah’s Automotive, electromagnetic antilock brakes would be one of my first projects.

Since I don’t have the money to do that in real life, I’ll just have to imagine. So I’m imagining Arah’s Automotive here, on my blog. This is where it begins.