Back to the drawing board

Issue #85, May 30th, 2021

Transformation in the automotive industry goes back all the way, literally to the drawing board. Rolls-Royce offers customization to its premium brands, for individual cars in styles that customers like. Grilles are redesigned without the constraint of an efficient cooling for the conventional radiator and engine in front. Tesla continues to rely more on computer vision for autonomous driving, as it ditches a few radars. At the same time, the price of lidars if falling. Toyota plans for the reuse of EV batteries for energy storage at their end-of-life. India is building cost effective charging equipment, the weak link in the EV adoption chain. Here are some recent updates in the auto industry as it relooks at some age old practices and systems and redesigns them.

Boat shaped cars from Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce has long offered high-net-worth buyers the opportunity to choose many details in their vehicles, from the color of paint and leather to interior furnishings and even art installations. The brand says its Coachbuild program offers even more customization to elite clients, who’ll collaborate directly with the automaker to build a unique car. The automaker said it started the program by making three individual cars in a style they’re calling the Rolls-Royce Boat Tail. Each has been custom-built as an open-air four-seater with a rear portion designed to evoke the deck of a J Class yacht. - Bloomberg

Reimagining the grilles

For BMW and Hummer, the primary function of the grilles on their new EVs is to uphold the brand, which was built, in both cases, around combustion engine cars. With no engine sitting behind them, and no radiator pulling in air, why bother? As legacy automakers move to electric powertrains, they’re re-inventing the grille in ways both familiar and strange. Tesla has had the privilege of setting consumer expectations for how an electric car is supposed to look. Its designers did not have to fret over legacy grilles. 

“It actually amazed me how much cooling we did need,” says Gordon Platto, lead designer for Ford’s new electric Mustang Mach-E. But with the batteries and motors typically placed along the bottom of the car, it usually makes sense to take that air from lower down. (Look closely at any Tesla and you will see a grille tucked beneath the bumper.) - Bloomberg

Recycled batteries from EVs for energy storage

Toyota Motor has agreed to partner with Jera, a joint fuel-procurement venture between Tokyo Electric Power and Chubu Electric Power, in a bid to transform old batteries used for electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles into power storage system for renewable energy, Nikkei has learned. Toyota and partner Jera are hoping to establish a new technology that will enable storage batteries to operate more efficiently by combining different kinds of cells. - Nikkei Asia

Low cost charging infra for EVs

The Indian government in collaboration with manufacturers of electric vehicles and charging devices has been able to develop a low-cost charging infrastructure for electric two and three wheelers which is expected to help push adoption of such vehicles in the coming years. The Department of Science and Technology (DST), the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India, in close co-ordination with NITI Aayog team have been work on this initiative. The new standards for this new low-cost charging infrastructure will be ratified by the Bureau of Indian Standards. - Live Mint

Computer vision instead of radar

Tesla has decided to replace its radar sensor with a camera-based version of its Autopilot system for Model 3’s and Model Y’s in the North American market. “Pure vision Autopilot is now rolling out in North America,” co-founder and CEO Elon Musk tweeted. He also said Tesla plans to release a new version of its FSD system, using a camera system by the end of June. Last October, the electric vehicle manufacturer, introduced a test version of its subscription-based FSD to a select group of customers. The new FSD is meant to enable cars to navigate in semi-autonomous mode on city streets as well as highways. - Forbes

Affordable lidars for autonomous driving

Prices of one key type of the sensors used in autonomous cars are falling rapidly, raising hopes of accelerating progress in the development of self-driving technology. A Velodyne lidar sensor on an autonomous test vehicle in California, right, and illustrations of Luminar's lidar on a robot taxi, top left (Reuters), and an Aeva sensor that helps self-driving vehicles see the road. - Nikkei Asia