Horace Dediu and Jim Zellmer discuss the odds of disrupting the present automotive club via Tesla. We further dive into the regulatory and cultural environment that sustains the current players, while reflecting a bit on Segway, Toyota’s Winglet, organ donors and the Fiat “multiair” engine. Finally, we preview a larger discussion on apps in and […]
Mark Golden and Mark Schwartz:: Wireless charging would address a major drawback of plug-in electric cars – their limited driving range. Tesla Motors expects its upcoming Model 3 to go more than 200 miles on a single charge and the Chevy Bolt, which is already on the market, has an advertised range of 238 miles. […]
Anton Wahlman joins us as we dive into numbers, production curves and the clash between reality, vision and hubris over autonomous cars Tesla’s “financial equation” merits much discussion interspersed with reflections on an EV landscape littered with government subsidies. We close with accounting, including a dissertation on variable costs and the burden of “dealerless” car […]
We consider the landscape that Apple’s purported Titan project will address in a few years time. Horace discusses the pattern of disruption powered by Moore’s law. We turn to the transportation sector and consider the “reimagining” of the car. We further consider scenarios, from sustaining where the current players grow, to new entrant opportunities. The […]
!! Apologies for intermittent audio problems. I tried to minimize these in post !! We revisit “Antennagate”. Should organizations hire people with industry skills and experience or capable, driven outsiders? Horace shares tales from Henry Ford’s personnel practices during the Model T to Model A transition. The conversation accelerates into a discussion of aesthetics and […]
We consider Uber’s street smarts, “cash on the hood” driver acquisition tactics and their ability to operate over the top, that is above local regulations and norms. The proposed elimination of diesel cars in Paris and London ignites a side trip through today’s regulatory labyrinth. Horace reflects on a recent Tesla test drive while evaluating […]
Chris Mohajer: As someone who works in the cleantech industry, I thought I would share a few things that relate to Asymcar 15 & 16. The California Energy Commission recently held a workshop where Ford, GM, BMW, Nissan, and Honda all gave presentations discussing how they plan to integrate EVs into the grid. LINK At […]
Steve Crandall joins us to discuss hydrogen fuel cells vs. lithium batteries. The two alternatives to post-internal-combustion motoring are far harder to assess than it might seem. Both require systems analysis and the systems themselves need to be weighed against the incumbent infrastructure and jobs to be done. We begin with Toyota’s fuel cell sedan announcement […]
Long bets have always fascinated me. I considered BMW’s long bet while driving the i3 recently. The car’s dynamics such as acceleration and handling are in a different league from the Prius, which I have sampled as a rental and taxi mule. Crucially, BMW has preserved their traditional 50/50 weight distribution. The car seemed to […]
The orthodox vs. the unorthodox: Tata, Tesla and Toyota. Why might an asymmetric competitor lose and a symmetric competitor win? We begin with Tesla and Apple. We continue with aluminum vehicles and re-visit information asymmetry as Horace exploits it to buy a Mercedes on eBay. We talk about car APIs (Aux input jack and ODBII). Jim […]