Tesla's electric semi truck unveiled during a presentation in Hawthorne, Calif., on Nov. 16, 2017.Alexandria Sage/Reuters
Between gridlock, delays and construction, it goes without saying that everyday driving is frustrating and monotonous. But when it comes to news about cars, there is rarely a boring day. It is often contradictory and confusing and never loses its shine.
Here are a few examples starting with Tesla.
On August 10, chief executive officer Elon Musk tweeted that the Tesla Semi will start shipping in late 2022. These electric trucks are, according to Tesla, “the safest, most comfortable truck ever. Four independent motors provide maximum power and acceleration and require the lowest energy cost per mile.”
Tesla Semis will be able to travel more than 800 kilometres on a single charge. Still, there are questions. As Inside EVs put it, “We don’t know the price (whether it will be somehow linked to the original projection ($180,000 for the 500-mile version), the battery type (4680-type cylindrical battery cells or older 2170-type), other specs, where it might be produced and at what rate.”
Details, details …
Shortly before the Tesla Semi announcement, a Californian-based safety advocacy organization called the Dawn Project debuted an ad campaign that trumpeted the findings of a safety test run with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta Software. The Dawn Project maintains the test found “Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Software Represents a Potentially Lethal Threat to Child Pedestrians.” A professional test driver using Tesla’s FSD software on a professional driving course, hit a stationary child-sized mannequin “over and over again at an average speed of 25 miles per hour (40 kilometres an hour) and failed to detect the presence of the child-sized mannequin in the road.”
According to Dawn Project founder Dan O’Dowd, “This is the worst commercial software I’ve ever seen.” Some critics argue that the test was flawed and that the FSD was never engaged.
To sum up: Elon Musk tweets, “Tesla 500 mile range Semi Truck starts shipping this year, Cybertruck next year.” Also, Tesla Full Self-Driving software potentially (maybe) a child killer. Got it.
On Aug. 9, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the Chips and Science Act into law. CBS reports that the bill, which passed both chambers of Congress, will spend “$200-billion to boost domestic production of semiconductor computer chips and reduce U.S. reliance on overseas manufacturing of the components that power nearly all facets of modern technology.”
North American drivers need the Chips and Science Act because semiconductors aren’t really made here. More than half of the world’s semiconductors are made in Taiwan and the small Pacific island is home to the world’s largest chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd. Reams and reams have been written on the precarious nature of the semiconductor market and its worldwide shortage.
Nothing I have read has alarmed me more than an article in Interesting Engineering. The article itself is straightforward, it’s the fact that the reporter felt compelled to write, “It goes without saying that the horror of war would far outweigh problems associated with the chip shortage if China were to invade Taiwan.”
Apparently, it does not go without saying. You just said it.
It’s deeply alarming that, when discussing the possibility of what would in all probability be the Third World War, it’s necessary to remind readers that it would be worse than a semiconductor chip shortage.
It really should go without saying.
Meanwhile, consider the fate of your local service station. EVs will dramatically change the way we stop and shop. For instance, so many Chevrolet Bolt owners complained of missing the “guilty pleasure snacks found at the gas station mini mart” that they converted a Bolt owner’s home garage into a mini service station stocked with “favourites such as a frozen drink machine, hot dog warmer, beef jerky buffet, chips, candy [and] a drink fridge.”
Leave it to Starbucks, the company that changed the way North Americans think about a cup of coffee, to pioneer the transformation of the service station. In March, Starbucks and Volvo announced plans to install up to “60 DC fast chargers at up to 15 Starbucks locations along a 1,350-mile (2,170-kilometre) route between the Colorado front range and the Starbucks Support Center (headquarters) in Seattle,” according to Electric Cars Report. The first four chargers have been installed in Provo, Utah. While it’s not exactly the “Last Spike” on the Canadian Pacific Railway, it demonstrates an acknowledgment that there will be an enormous shift in the way we refuel (whoops … recharge).
It goes without saying.