Recent content by PLC

I guess it will be an airbag. The hood lifts 10cm up and an all-around-airbag, covering the edges of the hood, the fenders, the "grill" and parts of the windscreen, extends automatically, when a pedestrian hits the front of the car. Cool enough? If not yet, type "new Volvo V40 pedestrian airbag"...

You are right. "The lower the hood the worse" is a way to simplified term and only true when the leading edge moves from low (sedan) to very low (lambo like). Pushing the pedastrian down (very high leading edge) is either worse. But I do not agree with your spring-theory. A just elastic bedded...

True words. And let's not forget the broad mass on each side of the big pond which is proud of their prejudices: US-cars are tanklike pollutionmachines and EU-cars are overpriced, underengined microcars. Even Musk adresses this state of mind when he points out the bulletproofness of the CT and...

That's what common sense would tell you. But I don´t think these regulations are actually about pedestrians. The EU has a long history of complicating things by standards and laws to keep foreign competitors out of the domestic market. The members of those standards committees recruit mainly...

As I said above: even the Wrangler can just pass as a commercial verhicle in europe. Too edgy, too much uncomfort for pedestrians who got hit. The CT may even need additional plastic-bumpers to achive the coziness of a Wrangler-hood ;) Btw: the lower the edge the worse. A low edge throws the...

Let's work that out from the logical side: The size of the CT is not the problem, the weight of the CT is not the problem, remains the (spotty) stiffness of the used panels as the problem. And this stiffness is a direct result of the material they have chosen. If you want to use stainless steel...

I don´t think, that the CT won´t have crumple zones. I just think, that those crumple zones won´t meet the EU regs for passenger cars. Especially because the quite sharp and stiff edges in the front won't spend pedestrians enough comfort while beeing hit by a CT. For example: We are not allowed...

There are a lots of commercial vehicles in Europe which are made for up to 7500kg GVM but are typed down to 3500kg GVM to avoid the need of a lorry-drivers-licence, lorry-highwayfees, lorry-speedlimits and driving time recording. A 4250kg typed CT with 2750kg tara would offer 1500kg payload...

Tell me if I am wrong: the CT will have about the same dimensions as a Ford Raptor. There are several Raptors driving around where I live. You can drive a hummer H1 around if you want to. We even have lorries on our roads ;) There are other reasons why the CT will not meet EU-standards. A just...

You are right. 1.5h are only true if you have several chargers with you. With the integrated charger you need 9.2h to recharge to 95%.

You should take an economyclass from time to time. You need to sell to get the scale. And for that you need to meet a pricepoint and you need an investor who is believing in the product and willing to hang on. Except you want to stay in a niche for ideological enthusiasts like Zero does.

There is no denigration involved when I say you cannot race or travel with Zero bikes. It's just a fact. A little more torque and a little more power doesn't do the trick to charm away the fact they are running out of battery soon and you have to invest at leat 1.5h to go on. No one buys an...

Thanks for the link. Where do you read all that? There would be a lawsuit if he spoke out open what happened between Alta and HD. The bikes where selling good and 50% better every quarter. Of course they did not break even yet. How could they? We are talking about the industrial massproduction...

Can you explain a little closer what that sentence means? My (business)english is unfortunately too bad. To the rest of your post: thats what I am talking about. The Alta bikes are (or have been) top notch and would have forced KTM to deliver serious BE-dirtbikes instead of this E-Freeride-BS...

Of course Zero bikes replaces something for some people, but in a global scale they replace nothing. The FX is an XT500 with limited range. Out of which practical reasons should anybody buy this thing? An Alta EXR outperforms designated racebikes and has several features that could be key (no...