Arcimoto, the real thing? ($12k tandem EV trike, 70/130 mi. range)

[freebeard]

Headquartered in Eugene, Oregon, the slightly less well-known automotive capital of the world...

Right after Fremont, CA.

It's a wonderful origin backstory. Too bad he has to say Eugene, instead of the Whiteaker. This isn't specific to Arcomoto, but it follows on from Gallileo Russell's Hyperchat.

Elon Musk Interview: 1-on-1 with Sandy Munro

[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by Snax

Interesting to hear him say almost exactly what I did in my last comment: 'Golf carts don't cut it!'

"People don't want a 1/4 inch drill. They want a 1/4 inch hole."

It just keeps giving

[Snax]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Right after Fremont, CA.

It's a wonderful origin backstory. Too bad he has to say Eugene, instead of the Whiteaker. This isn't specific to Arcomoto, but it follows on from Gallileo Russell's Hyperchat.

I used to work for CenturyLink and spent way too much time behind their shop on Blair working out of one of our boxes and trying not to step in the **** of homeless people.

That's where I first saw their 3rd gen design, then watched the next 3 generations in various stages roll out from there.

[redpoint5]

You can tell Musk has an engineering mind as he is aware of things like coefficient of thermal expansion. It's those details I enjoy in the discussion.

Autos should have adopted a 48v standard ages ago. Would be neat to see Tesla drive this. Data over power is neat too. Eliminate unnecessary parts and points of failure.

[RedDevil]

48 Volt could easily save several kilogrammes of copper per car.
Wires could be much thinner; even the insulation, strangely enough. With higher voltage and lower amps a short would quickly blow the much smaller fuse, and the voltage differential would make it a snap event instead of a potential smoldering half-short that could cause a fire.
48 Volt is much safer than 12 Volt.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

48 Volt could easily save several kilogrammes of copper per car.
Wires could be much thinner; even the insulation, strangely enough. With higher voltage and lower amps a short would quickly blow the much smaller fuse, and the voltage differential would make it a snap event instead of a potential smoldering half-short that could cause a fire.
48 Volt is much safer than 12 Volt.

I'm constantly amazed at how slow the auto industry is to innovate considering the fierce competition.

Cassette decks were standard in cars until around 2006 even though CD players came out in 1981, and everyone had moved on to mp3s. At this point cars shouldn't even come with nav, or CD players. It should essentially be a receiver that accepts bluetooth or stereo input, and perhaps tune in to terrestrial radio and have a multifunction touch display.

Why are there 30,000 different brake pad part numbers? There should be like 10(or so) standard sizes of brakes. Ditto on tire sizes and most other parts, especially wear items that get replaced somewhat regularly. There should be 10 air filters, 10 coil packs (or less), 10 oil filters...

48v should have been standard from the beginning. How did it start with 12v?

I've been using LEDs for brake lights and turn signals since 2003. How is a high schooler implementing technology a decade ahead of the industry?

[Fat Charlie]

Oxygen sensors. There are too many oxygen sensors.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

Oxygen sensors. There are too many oxygen sensors.

Do you mean per car, or in general?

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

48v should have been standard from the beginning. How did it start with 12v?

Considering that most civilian vehicles resorted to a 6-volt electrical system while some military vehicles already resorted to a 24-volt system, it becomes even harder to explain why 12-volt became mainstream.

[Piotrsko]

Possibly because you got twice the watts out of the same size case? 48 volts also crossed the dangerous to life threshold in the event that flesh becomes the major conductor to ground