Daily Archives: July 1, 2017

In Brief Henrik Fisker has given us a sneak peak of his luxury EV with an official reveal of the prototype scheduled for later today, and pre-orders of the car are available to the public. His company's statements about the car's potential are staggering, and establish it as fierce competition for Tesla. Fiskers Coming Soon

Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker has unveiled a prototype of his luxury electric vehicle (EV) the EMotion on Twitter, ahead of the official unveiling event that will occur later today. Pre-orders for the $129,000 vehicle have also opened, which require a $2000 deposit. Production of the car is set to begin in 2019.

The company also took to Vimeo to release a video of the hotly anticipated vehicle.

The car will, reportedly, have a range of over 643 km (400 miles), a top speed of 260 km/h (161 m/h), a charge time of nine minutes for 100 km (62 miles), and utilizesthe wonder material graphene in its battery, which wasdeveloped in collaboration with Nanotech Energy Inc. Fisker has previously announced that the cars other salient feature isfully autonomous driving capabilities. A press release stated:

The EMotion will be equipped with hardware that will allow fully autonomous driving when approved and released by a soon-to-be-announced partnered supplier. The interior will emphasize ultimate comfort and user interface from both front and rear seats, and all seats will have access to screens and infotainment features.

The development of EVs at all ends of the spectrum is pivotal to the success of the technology. Fiskers price indicates he is aiming for the luxury car price range, and if the figures stand up to scrutiny, the vehicle will be able to compete with its petrol or diesel powered counterparts.

If Fiskers bold claims are true, the car will exceed almost any other EV on the market including the Tesla model S, the car Fisker claims to have helped design and now seems to be taking aim at. Teslas vehiclehas a rangeof up to 300 km (186 miles) if you use the $10,000 85-kwh battery, and takes an hour to charge if you use a Tesla Supercharger station.

There is also promising competition from Porschein the form of the Mission E. The company aims to be producing the EV by 2020, which they estimate will have a range of 450 km (250 miles), and a charge time of 15 minutes.

This competition is good news for the EV market, as it will encourage innovation that will drive the more environmentally friendly type of car forward. Whoever wins the EV supercar race, the planet wins too.

Originally posted here:
Here's a First-Ever Look at the New Electric Vehicle That Charges in ... - Futurism

In Brief Facebook's Aquila drone completed its second successful test flight. The solar drone stayed aloft for almost two hours, providing more data that will eventually help the Aquila team bring internet access to billions around the world. Second Successful Test Flight

Facebookssolar-powered Aquila drone completedits second successful flight Thursday near Yuma, Arizona. It stayed aloft for 1 hour and 46 minutes, cruising over the desert and gathering data the team will use to optimize its efficiency moving forward. After the flight was over, the drone landed smoothly without incident, Mark Zuckerberg reported in a Facebook post.

This was the latest step in the Aquila project which will eventually see an entire fleet of the drones staying in flight for months at a time. The unmanned drones will need to be completely optimized to make this kind of longer term performance possible, so these test flights are critically important.Zuckerberg said that Facebook intends to use the drone to increase the worlds access to the internet.

When Aquila is ready, it will be a fleet of solar-powered planes that will beam internet connectivity across the world, Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook. Today, more than half the worlds population 4 billion people still cant access the internet. One day, Aquila will help change that.

Aquilas wingspan is wider than a Boeing 737, but it weighs less than 455 kg (1,000 pounds). To stay aloft, Aquilas solar panels collect power during the day and stores enough in a battery for the dark hours. It uses about 5,000 W of power at its cruising altitude, which will be about 18,300 meters (60,000 feet). Aquila cruises at a deliberately slow speed of about 129 km/h (80 m/h) to maximize efficiency.

Right now the Aquila team is working to make the craft lighter and trim down its power consumption. They also aim to more accurately assess how much power it will take to operate during the different altitudes and temperatures of take off, flight, and landing, and how those power demands will affect battery size, latitude range, solar panel performance, and seasonal performance. Additional test flights will also allow the team to assess actual in-flight dynamics and see how the massive drone batteries stress the large, flexible wings.

The Aquila fleet is just one way Facebook is working to connect people with technology. Zuckerberg has also revealed that the company is working on a brain-computer interface that will let uscommunicate using just ourminds.

Continued here:
Facebook's Drone Is One Step Closer to Beaming Internet to the World - Futurism

In Brief Elon Musk told a Twitter follower asking about the final release date of the new Model 3 that he will release news this Sunday July 2. The first deliveries are expected by the end of July with scaled production to ramp up by the end of September.

If youve been waiting for more details about the Tesla Model 3 launch,youll want to stay tuned this Sunday, July 2. Late last night, Elon Musk responded to a Twitter users query about the exact release date of the latest Tesla model:

In the past, both Tesla as a company and Musk personally have stated that deliveries of the Model 3 will begin in July. Obviously, once the new models are in circulation, the final details will no longer be rumor, but verified fact. For instance, fans are waiting to see whether there will be a solar roof or windshield, and how much the cars final look will resemble leaked photos of prototypes.

Only the most hardcore Tesla loyalists and employees will be driving Model 3s from the first production run, but the plan has been for production toscale up by September. Sunday may also be when we find out what the configuration process looks like although Musk has already said it will be limited. In order to limit complexity and achieve an economy of scale, Model 3 buyers will probably choose their cars color and the size of its wheels.

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Elon Musk Says Details on Tesla 3 Will Be Released This Weekend - Futurism

In Brief During an appearance on an online radio show, SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell revealed the company's upcoming plans for its Falcon Heavy rockets and more. As reusable rockets become the standard, space is becoming cheaper and more accessible.

SpaceX has no plans to relax following their recent successful weekend doubleheader. Serial entrepreneur Elon Musks space venture company is already looking ahead, beginning with a final upgrade to their Falcon 9 rocket scheduled for later this year.

We are flying Block 3s right now, SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell saidduring a June 22 appearance on the online radio program The Space Show. Block 4s start flying shortly, and then Block 5 at the end of this year. We definitely have gotten better [at] more smooth introducing of change. You dont see the big impacts to production weve had before when weve changed vehicle designs.

Block 5 is going to be the definitive version for the Falcon 9, Shotwell explained, and it is capable of being relaunched a dozen or so times. It would also not require refurbishing the reusable rocket would simply undergo inspections prior to launch.

Shotwell said during her radio show appearance that SpaceXs much larger Falcon Heavysfirst mission in 2018 will be carrying a payload for Arabsat. Well be flying Arabsat to [geostationary transfer orbit] on the second Falcon Heavy flight, and then well be flying STP-2, an Air Force mission, she said. In total, the Falcon Heavy has three missions scheduled in the next 18 months, the first being a demonstrationlater in 2017.

SpaceX has much more planned for the months to come, including that commercial Moon roundtrip. Three years ago or so we were producing six rockets a year, Shotwell said. This year we are going to produce more than 20. When you consider that reusability is a key element of SpaceXs design, you can imagine just how many missions those rockets will be capable of handling in the coming years.

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SpaceX COO Claims the Company Will Produce 20 Rockets in 2017 - Futurism