Exclusive Video: The Story Behind a Record-Setting Electric Airplane Flight
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Chip Yates does not like sitting still. Just a day after piloting his electric-powered Long EZ airplane to over 200 miles per hour – making him the fastest electric-airplane pilot in the world – he had to disassemble the airplane, pack it up and drive 2,000 miles east to Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Here at Airventure, Yates continues to be busy answering questions about his record-setting run. And perhaps one of the more surprising answers is that Yates is a not a veteran test pilot. He just got his license in June and has about 58 hours of experience, including the record-setting run last week.
The rookie pilot had offers from a few of the most experienced test pilots and Long EZ pilots in the world, including SpaceShipOne pilot (and Long EZ builder/owner) Mike Melvill. But Yates was more concerned about the experimental power system than the airplane.
“Despite being an inexperienced pilot I still thought I was the best guy to fly this plane on this day,” Yates says. “I know the powertrain very well, I know where the limits are and how far I could push it. I didn’t want to be the guy that built the airplane that killed Mike Melvill.”
Ford profit drops 58 per cent as Europe losses deepen
A US$ 1 billion ($ 969 million) second-quarter profit for Ford Motor Company has been soured by massive losses from the brand’s embattled European division.
Ford’s global profit was less than half the size of the US$ 2.4 billion ($ 2.3 billion) it achieved in Q2 2011, with almost half of the difference between this year and last accounted for by losses in Europe.
Ford Europe returned a US$ 404 million ($ 392 million) loss in the second quarter of 2012, US$ 580 million ($ 562 million) adrift of its US$ 176 million ($ 171 million) profit in the corresponding quarter in 2011.
Ford says the poor financial result is a reflection of the “deteriorating external environment in Europe”, and was compounded by low sales, subsequent production adjustments, lower vehicle prices and higher customer incentives.
With Ford Europe’s 2012 losses now totalling US$ 553 million ($ 536 million), the manufacturer is bracing for a full-year deficit in excess of US$ 1 billion.
Video: Dr Joerg Pohlman of SGL about the use of Carbon Fiber on BMW i
Altairenlighten.com sat down for an interview with Dr. Joerg Pohlman, Managing Director of SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers to discuss carbon fiber materials and recycling, Composite Crash Performance and Lightweighting Electric Vehicles.
BMW Group and the SGL Group operate a joint venture. The SGL Group holds 51% and the BMW Group 49 % of shares in the joint company, SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers. The two partners have built a new state-of-the-art carbon fiber manufacturing plant together in Moses Lake in Washington State in the U.S. The new plant plays an important part in the two companies’ strategy to automate the production of ultra-light carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs) for use in future vehicle concepts.
The carbon fibers produced in Moses Lake are being processed at facilities in Wackersdorf and Landshut. Wackersdorf delivers textile fabrics made from carbon fibers, which are then being processed at the BMW plant in Landshut to make lightweight CFRP body components for the BMW i3 and BMW i8. Both vehicles will be assembled at the BMW plant in Leipzig. The BMW i3, the BMW Group’s first series-produced electric vehicle, will be released on the market in 2013, followed by the BMW i8 sports car shortly afterwards.
Here is the video interview:
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Hyundai: Airbag Recall in Canada
This morning, Transports Canada posted two Hyundai recalls, including one for 1,925 2012-2013 Hyundai Sonatas, because of a flaw in their airbag system, which might deploy unnecessarily and cause an accident.
The second recall targets 29,679 2007-2008 Hyundai Santa Fes. On some vehicles, the front passenger seat’s passive occupant detection system (PODS) could mistake an adult of small stature for a child, thus deactivating the passenger airbag (the recall does not concern the driver’s airbag).
Owners of recalled vehicles are urged to get in touch with their dealership, which will make all the necessary repairs.
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| 2013 Hyundai Sonata (Photo: Hyundai) |
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| 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe 2007 (Photo: Philippe Champoux) |
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Report: Lotus drops 5-year, 5-car plan, new Esprit due 2014
Lotus can’t seem to make up its mind. After dropping CEO Danny Bahar, the company’s new owners have also dropped his five new cars in five year plan. The five-year five-car plan was unveiled a little less than two years ago at the 2010 Paris Motor Show.
“The Dany Bahar plan is no longer viable. It has been closed down,” a source told Auto Express.
INstead, the new owners, DRB-Hicom, will launch one new car in 2014 – that car will most likely be the new Lotus Esprit.promised for next year.
“It’s their way of saying they are really serious about putting the company back on an even keel,” the source told us.
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Road Test: 2012 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Facelift
Aston Martin, Road Tests — By MR on July 26, 2012 at 6:00 pm — No Comments
The brand new Aston Martin V8 Vantage Facelift has finally arrived in the hands of our test driver. The latest version of the V8 Vantage is still a no-excuses two-seater sports car, the entry-level model in the Aston Martin line up. Like its non-facelift predecessor, it is beautifully built, performs brilliantly and while the interior ergonomics aren’t perfect, they’re not that bad either.
Placed in front of the Aston Martin test centre located adjacent to the famous Nurburgring circuit, a red V8 Facelift Coupe was awaiting our arrival. Ready to be tested and reviewed alongside its powerful sister, the V12 Vantage. Our day could not start any better than this knowing that our destination would be the autobahn and country roads near the Nurburgring Nordschleife, commonly referred to as the Green Hell.
Aston Martin’s entry-level model adopts some of the cosmetic and hardware upgrades first seen in the Vantage S. One of these many upgrades is the seven-speed Sportshift II, which comes standard in the Vantage S. It replaces the optional six-speed Sportshift automated manual transmission while the standard six-speed manual transmission remains.
Harman Unveils Kinect-Style Gesture-Recognition Concept for Cars
Photo: Peter McCollough/Wired 
A few weeks ago a job listing posted by Microsoft implied the company’s Xbox Kinect gesture-recognition technology could be included in cars as a part of a next-generation user interface. And it’s not so farfetched considering that BMW and Mercedes-Benz are developing gesture-based infotainment controls, while Cadillac uses a limited version of the technology in its new CUE system.
But rival automotive tech supplier Harman apparently has plans to beat Microsoft to the punch and has gone a step further with a system that recognizes facial and hand gestures. The company’s European division has unveiled a concept vehicle with a system that interprets nods, winks and hand movements to execute in-car commands. “It’s all about reducing distractions in the car,” Hans Roth, director of technology at Harman, said at a recent media event.
According to the UK car site Recombu, drivers can switch the radio on and off with a wink of an eye, turn the volume of the stereo up or down with a tilt of the head to the left or right and tap the steering wheel to skip to the next song or radio station. The system will also increase or decrease the temperature of the climate control when the driver raises or lowers a hand above the gear-shift knob, and even place a phone call on a connected Bluetooth phone when the driver simply makes the universal pinky-and-thumb “on the phone” gesture while saying the name of a contact in the phone’s address book.
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