In other news, I've been watching Azure's stock page on Yahoo to keep up with press releases, etc. Ten weeks ago, the share price was hanging out around $0.03/share. Two weeks ago, it briefly hit $0.35/share and seems to be holding around $0.25/share.
As far as I can tell, there is no reason for the movement - unless their arrangement with Ford for small buses is worth more if people think Ford is going to survive. Or perhaps automotive suppliers are no longer being shunned in the market.
I bring this up because I view the health of Azure as critical to being able to maintain our AC24 based cars.
In full disclosure, I bought 1,000 shares about a year ago at ~$0.30/share when I was impressed by their customer support (~$300). It was play money and I thought there was a chance for them to do well if one of their customers (Ford, Aptera, etc.) started selling lots of systems. I am thinking of it as a lottery ticket. I broke my rule about buying stocks in companies losing money.
- Randy
ps: Finally took my 914 to a mechanic to adjust the shift linkage. Shifts like a dream now - had minor problems with three bushings that added up to major problems. Back to trying to wring every last foot-pound out of the motor via software settings...
On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 9:39 AM, Randy Pollock <ra...@alumni.caltech.edu>wrote:
> ps: Finally took my 914 to a mechanic to adjust the shift linkage. Shifts > like a dream now - had minor problems with three bushings that added up to > major problems.
I just ordered a rebuilt side-shifter from the same guy that supplied TimK's. I will get it and put it in after a few weeks, at the same time send the hub adapter back to EA to get them to check the runout on it.
> Back to trying to wring every last foot-pound out of the > motor via software settings...
For what it's worth, I ran last night using Andy's DMOC settings. Andy's 914EV came online this week and yesterday he ran 0-60 in 20s, while carrying a 200lb passenger even. His DMOC settings were not very different from mine so it's no surprise that it did not make any noticeable difference to my performance. Thus, the answer to my problems does not seem to be software parameters.
heh, I have 1000 shares of Azure stock as well. They posted $7.4M losses for
Q1 this year, but as you say their stock price is coming up (along with the
rest of the market).
There are at least a few of us local to you; can you tell us where you took
your 914 in?
Of curiosity, I see there are a couple
of Solectria motors & controllers on eBay.
--Dave
On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 9:39 AM, Randy Pollock <ra...@alumni.caltech.edu>wrote:
> No magic bullets (yet), but interesting thoughts.
> In other news, I've been watching Azure's stock page on Yahoo to keep up
> with press releases, etc. Ten weeks ago, the share price was hanging out
> around $0.03/share. Two weeks ago, it briefly hit $0.35/share and seems to
> be holding around $0.25/share.
> As far as I can tell, there is no reason for the movement - unless their
> arrangement with Ford for small buses is worth more if people think Ford is
> going to survive. Or perhaps automotive suppliers are no longer being
> shunned in the market.
> I bring this up because I view the health of Azure as critical to being
> able to maintain our AC24 based cars.
> In full disclosure, I bought 1,000 shares about a year ago at
> ~$0.30/share when I was impressed by their customer support (~$300). It
> was
> play money and I thought there was a chance for them to do well if one of
> their customers (Ford, Aptera, etc.) started selling lots of systems. I am
> thinking of it as a lottery ticket. I broke my rule about buying stocks in
> companies losing money.
> - Randy
> ps: Finally took my 914 to a mechanic to adjust the shift linkage. Shifts
> like a dream now - had minor problems with three bushings that added up to
> major problems. Back to trying to wring every last foot-pound out of the
> motor via software settings...
On 6/17/09 9:51 AM, "David Hale" <astronomerd...@gmail.com> wrote:
> There are at least a few of us local to you; can you tell us where you took > your 914 in?
Leamon Stansell in Tujunga. Highly recommend on 914world.com and I concur. He does this almost as a hobby, so he doesn't work on cars every day. Reasonable prices and not afraid of unusual cars.
> Of curiosity, I see there are a couple > of Solectria motors & controllers on eBay.
I looked and couldn't find any this morning. What are they going for?
> On 6/17/09 9:51 AM, "David Hale" <astronomerd...@gmail.com> wrote: > > There are at least a few of us local to you; can you tell us where you > took > > your 914 in?
> Leamon Stansell in Tujunga. Highly recommend on 914world.com and I > concur. > He does this almost as a hobby, so he doesn't work on cars every day. > Reasonable prices and not afraid of unusual cars.
Ah, of course, I have dealt with Leamon but forgot about him. Thanks for the reminder.
> Of curiosity, I see there are a couple > > of Solectria motors & controllers on eBay.
> I looked and couldn't find any this morning. What are they going for?
hi all i thought you may find this interesting, a charging plug standard, finally...
Some of you on this list are engineers and may know of this, but most of you are new to EVs and will benefit from learning about how you'll be charging your car soon.
It was announced on Sunday that a standard for EV charging will be voted on in July. The standard is known by the catchy name of "SAE J1772".
This is why we hire right brained people to come up with the names of things.
However, I definitely want the left brained engineers to be in charge of designing the tools I use for transferring electrons coursing through the grid into the battery of my car.
So, don't worry about remembering the J1772 part of the name because al you'll care about is how fast you can charge. There are going to be three levels.
Level 1 is already in effect. This is essentially any 120 Volt 20 amp plug. You have them all over your house, and if you have a garage, chances are you have several there, too.
Charging on a level 1 plug will be fine for most people who charge at home since you'll be able to get a good 4-5 miles of range per hour of charging. Starting a charge at midnight, for instance, will give you 28-35 miles of range by 7 am. If your car is a PHEV, that may be enough for your daily commute.
For full battery EVs, however, there will be a need to charge faster than that. Tesla is a perfect example. The battery pack in the Roadster holds 53 kWh of usable energy. Since many drivers of EVs will want to charge faster than the 120V plugs will allow, a 240V plug will be necessary. Level 2 charging will be 240V at 12 amps up to 80 amps. Telsa's High Power Connector, for instance, charges at 240V/70A, fast enough to pump 53 kWh into the battery in about 3.5 hours.
The standard discussed in the article will allow charging up to the 240V/80A limit, but will also allow your car to communicate with the utility supplying the electricity as well as the company supplying the charger. The utility will be able to control the charging to take advantage of the intermittent wind at night, or to prevent too many cars from charging during peak daytime hours when the grid may be over loaded. With "vehicle to grid" technology, utility operators will even be able to "buy" kWh from EV owners during peak hours to stave off a rolling black out.
This standard will be welcomed by all the car makers that are planning plug-in vehicles since they will all want to build the proper connector into their vehicles from the start. Let's hope the vote next month makes this a reality.
BTW, the level 3 standard is for really fast charging. These devices will be built by companies such as Aerovironment and placed along the freeways for use by EVs traveling long distances. Some batteries are capable of taking a fast charge (480V 600A or better), but not all can at this time. This level 3 standard is in the works and should be confirmed in the next few years.
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