|
Kevin Webb@triangulator.org |
161 followers 551 following 572 posts
Tinkering with semiconductors and copper for ebikes, cargo bikes, and things slightly larger.
Also curious about the pre/post-cloud internet (forecast: 🌤️).
:pinned post: bsky.app/profile/triangulator.org/post/3k7eviqtg3k27
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
Most ev miles don't require this kind of performance, however, as long as we expect EVs to be a 1-1 replacement with ICE we need a car that performs just as well running errands as it does on road trips. That means bigger batteries and higher power throughput.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
Yikes serious Kendall Roy vibes.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
But the biggest impediment to progress on UX is a one-sized fits all strategy for EVs. Making something work for the 95th percentile trip is substantially more expensive. "Fatter charging curves," as the Out of Spec folks call it, cost money.
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
On one hand, I get why Tesla was able to deliver a solution: vertically integrating car + charging makes UX *way* easier. Doing the same thing across a wider number of vehicles, with radically different battery architectures, and price/performance optimizations is much harder.
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
But if I hadn’t tuned into to Out Of Spec on YouTube, I don’t think I would have even known what to do with any of this information, or how to make decisions necessary to troubleshoot. What’s deployed today is enthusiast grade technology. I’m not even sure it’s a product.
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
I suspect there’s a specific type of design engineering that’s causing a lot of this pain (same type that’s building turn “UI”s on the DCFCs), but it’s not working. Rounding down and saying IDK is way better than stranding drivers.
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
If I’d just gone with the numbers Kona reported to me, I would have needed a tow truck in the middle of nowhere. This gets at something critical: the cars shipping today are more precise than they are accurate. I think this is at least 75% of the frustration.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
They can convert to kWh after the battery is charged but neither the car nor the charger has any idea how long that will take. As for distance and time: they can guess but are notoriously bad. I knew this and figured out the correction for the Kona’s range estimate.
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
So that leaves the driver standing there (or as I discovered, attempting to sleep there) awash in data from the charger and the car, yet none of it explains why things are going so damn slow. Could be broken…or more likely not, and this just what’s possible right now for your specific situation.
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
People think in terms of time and distance, but cars and charging infrastructure only measure kW — an instantaneous rate of energy transfer. Converting to kWh — a quantity of energy delivered — is challenging as a predictive exercise. Converting to time and distance is a near impossibility.
2 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
What drivers experience as “charging” or “range” is an exceptionally complex system involving car and DCFC hardware design, weather, driving habits, route choice, traffic conditions…
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
My takeaway: it’s not that things are broken per se (I did have one DCFC session shutdown due to a cable overheating), but that US’ one-sized-fits-all EV strategy might be impossible. For the most part things aren’t broken — they are highly/annoyingly non-deterministic. I don’t see that changing.
1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
The Kona is fine, but by no means the benchmark for what MY25 EVs have to offer. That said it was a fantastic way to learn about charging infrastructure in real time and see first hand what’s happening at interstate DCFC stops.
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
Had my first “EV road trip” forced on me this week after getting stranded by a flight cancellation. The one-way options at turned out to be a Dodge Ram pickup truck or a 2023 Kona EV with a half charged battery. Tl;dr this story doesn’t surprise me:
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
It’s really cool, Mahle is up to cool stuff. Have you ridden one?
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
Retro Tech Dreams
@retrotechdreams.bsky.social
[ View ] |
The Raleigh Vektar (1985) called itself the world's first computerized bike
7 replies 39 reposts 167 likes
|
Miles Grant
@milesgrant.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Electric vehicle rebates never "fill up" (they shouldn't!) E-bikes achieve our climate, health & road safety goals better than EVs, but politicians drive everywhere & see people who bike as Others tl;dr subsidies for rich are Incentives (good!); subsidies for working class are Handouts (bad!)
5 replies 66 reposts 200 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
Moment of zen: Dude maintaining (and operating) an airport by himself near the arctic circle.
Come for the MacGyver-level technical and physical ability, stay for the avant-garde drone footage.
youtu.be/c1wkx1V1qHY?...
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
|
Tim Carmody
@tcarmody.bsky.social
[ View ] |
“It is not just that my side — the ideas I believe in like bodily autonomy, economic justice and diversity — are losing in the marketplace of ideas. It is that many of the ideas that I believe in absolutely kill in the marketplace of ideas, and it *does not matter*.”
3 replies 15 reposts 49 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
The cameras in question here aren't enforcement related -- they're specifically for surveillance and passively tracking movement. If we ripped down all the red light and speed cameras these things are still there. The solution is legal we don't have a right to privacy in public (yet).
2 replies 0 reposts 21 likes
|
Kieran Healy
@kjhealy.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Overturning Chevron is going to usher in an era where self-taught judicial expertise in technical areas such as chemistry, statistics, mechanical engineering, biology, geomorphology, epidemiology, mathematics, and many other fields will once more be able to shine forth as it did in the Middle Ages.
39 replies 229 reposts 792 likes
|
RJ Andrews
@infowetrust.com
[ View ] |
What if each U.S. National Park had a cookie-cutter section removed and placed on a giant chessboard for easy comparison? My latest, with Wendy Shijia Wang: charts.substack.com/p/delicious-...
0 replies 12 reposts 21 likes
|
parker higgins
@xor.blue
[ View ] |
"open on sundays" was the compromise position. really NYPL should have as many helicopters as NYPD
3 replies 22 reposts 69 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
:sad trombone:
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
|
Matt Steinglass
@mattsteinglass.bsky.social
[ View ] |
People said Greenpeace was nuts in 2009 to predict 921GW of installed solar by 2030. Last year there was 1,419GW. Cost dropped 95% from 2008-20 and it’s dropping faster. There will be vast amounts of cheap clean energy in the future; we just need to use it.
www.economist.com/interactive/...
8 replies 169 reposts 526 likes
|
The War on Cars
@thewaroncars.bsky.social
[ View ] |
NEW EPISODE: "Killed by a Traffic Engineer"
In his new book, Wes Marshall argues that his fellow traffic engineers need to do some deep soul searching so that they no longer design a system that kills tens of thousands of people per year.
Available now!
thewaroncars.org/2024/06/25/1...
9 replies 72 reposts 215 likes
|
Doug Gordon
@brooklynspoke.bsky.social
[ View ] |
You can describe a lot of what's wrong with the U.S. right now by the idea that elites being held accountable for breaking the law is seen in elite circles as bad.
17 replies 145 reposts 513 likes
|
e.w. niedermeyer
@niedermeyer.io
[ View ] |
gasoline and lithium-ion batteries have pros and cons on the one hand gasoline is more energy dense, but on the other hand gasoline also refuels dramatically faster gasoline is also terrible and we should get rid of it, I just don't think misleading people about these basic realities gets us there
24 replies 14 reposts 120 likes
|
|
e.w. niedermeyer
@niedermeyer.io
[ View ] |
👇my cultural theory of the US EV adoption challenge👇
4 replies 4 reposts 58 likes
|
b-boy bouiebaisse
@jbouie.bsky.social
[ View ] |
i am definitely Calvin’s Dad
18 replies 85 reposts 1067 likes
|
Dan Greene
@dmgreene.bsky.social
[ View ] |
It's cool that when interest rates were low, all you had to promise in return for a billion dollars was "Uber for dogs." Now you have to promise the godhead or whatever
0 replies 5 reposts 14 likes
|
Ben Sandofsky
@sandofsky.bsky.social
[ View ] |
It took 5 years to write, but here’s the full story behind Lambda School, Silicon Valley’s disastrous foray into for-profit education.
I cover how it burned through $120m, why Income Share Agreements failed, and how one developer-turned-journalist ended the fraud.
www.sandofsky.com/lambda-school/
0 replies 12 reposts 23 likes
|
Will Oremus
@oremus.bsky.social
[ View ] |
The Federal Trade Commission, of all entities, is out here writing absolute bangers about AI snake oil. www.ftc.gov/business-gui...
56 replies 2219 reposts 5108 likes
|
Kevin M. Kruse
@kevinmkruse.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Seriously, I need someone to hold a screening of The Beekeeper for Biden with an audience of normal Americans, and he'll have the drones on the way before the third act. He'd take every state in the union.
10 replies 22 reposts 231 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
Fwiw, I worked on this issue for several years and was shocked to learn how poorly understood it is even by municipal staff, and how few care or think there’s any potential for harm.
triangulator.org/blog/local-p...
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
The problem isn’t with red light cameras, it’s a broader issue related to right to space/privacy. There’s a lot of concern over red light cameras meanwhile we have law enforcement contractors/data harvesters deploying LPR and Bluetooth tracking infrastructure at a bigger scale with zero discussion.
1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
Also, I’ve got bad news for the folks that think blocking speed cameras will fix the ubiquitous roadway surveillance problem. Not sure they’re even the top ten in terms tracking infrastructure.
1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
Totally. I’ve never thought about brands related to gas purchases (and my grandfather owned a gas station!), but apparently the big players feel they’ve decommoditized it enough for their brand to carry value. Doesn’t translate to electrons. From their view it’s 100% a real estate play, esp for L2.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
Yeah that makes sense. Relatedly, one thing I heard from an electric charging team at a major EU petrol company: they couldn’t build brand loyalty the same way they’d achieved with their petrol brand/gas stations. So it was harder to market/build sticky customer relationships.
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
The discussion about financials was interesting! Has anyone done any solid analysis/reporting on the business models for DCFC in the US? Can it actually work as a standalone business nationwide?
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
John Voelcker
@johnvoelcker.bsky.social
[ View ] |
Ionna CEO Seth Cutler + product head Ricardo Stamatti spoke to me for a long piece on @caranddriver.bsky.social. They promised reliable charging + a pleasant user experience. Well-lit canopies even!
“We put people on the moon, in 6 years or so. We should be able to make #EV chargers work, right?”
1 replies 2 reposts 5 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
The geofences don't protect pedestrians. And zero interest in there (or anywhere else in the US) in geofencing cars. But point of the regs Hermosa Beach put forward was to give the PD the right to impound kids bikes. FWIW LAPD didn't chase kids with helicopters because they were going over 28mph.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
Also note the pic from Hermosa Beach PD—those are electric motorcycles. Tbc, the problem is the cost of electric mobility is dropping such that people who couldn’t previously afford a mobility at all now have access. In the case of Hermosa Beach, they’re mostly upset about kids.
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
Wait until you hear how fast cars go! :)
Also here’s a very expensive report that Caltrans put together to learn geofencing can’t/doesn’t keep bikes off sidewalks.
The solution here is making more/safer bike lanes so riders aren’t forced on to ped infrastructure.
dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-...
2 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
And if you think bike geofencing is simply a new opportunity for cranks and NIMBYs rather than a legitimate public policy challenge…you’d be right! “Over the past two years there have been no reported crashes involving e-bikes on The Strand, said police Chief Paul LeBaron.”
1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
Great to see continued innovation from the LA region in the War on Bikes!
www.dailybreeze.com/2024/06/06/h...
2 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
|
Marisa Kabas
@marisakabas.bsky.social
[ View ] |
there it is.
"The congestion tax is not only a burden on police officers and other essential commuters — it’s bad for public safety,” said Patrick Hendry, president of the city’s police union, in the first of the two releases. nysfocus.com/2024/06/07/h...
94 replies 719 reposts 2150 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
Welp this was way more meta and way more depressing than I’d expected. NYC is just another casualty in the death spiral currently gripping centrist dem politics.
0 replies 0 reposts 1 likes
|
|
Kevin Webb
@triangulator.org
[ View ] |
Seems they've become a bit of a mark:
0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes
|
Kelsey Atherton
@atherton.bsky.social
[ View ] |
direct sale of cars from manufacturers would, in a single blow, hollow out one of the most consistently reactionary classes of local gentry, these small-money middlemen with their middling bribes that nevertheless halt years of work to maintain a rotten status quo.
47 replies 450 reposts 1832 likes