Hyundai and Kia Working On Wireless Charging

Kai, Hyundai working on creating a wireless charging plug-in.

According to recent reported on automobile industry, reported by Hybrid Cars; Kia along with its sister automaker Hyundai, motors are currently working with another company- Mojo Mobility in order to to develop a wireless charging system for vehicles that would act as a plug-in for it.

For this program, according to the circulating reports, the companies have received funding from the US Department of Energy's Vehicle Technologies Program. As fat as the development of this initiative is concerned, then the companies have found that the wireless stations can be charged at about 92% efficiency. However, regarding the subject of development, no timeline as of yet has been provided or disclosed to the public. Hence, nobody can say regarding when the charging stations will be made open for the public.



Earlier this year, in order to be ahead of its rivals, Hyundai made use of low-cost safety measures and latest autonomous features by 2020. The rollout of w3hich is expected to start this season with the migration of Hyundai's advanced driver assist systems, or ADAS, to the Elantra small car.

Moreover, Hyundai also plans to introduce in high-end vehicles that will enable to use new lane-keeping cruise control at any speed. However, Hyundai present technology only works at speeds more than 37mph. The company is basically moving towards autonomous driving, it is developing a new traffic jam assist technology that allows controlling acceleration, steering, braking without the input of the driver.

The new technology was also demonstrated outside Seoul, Hyundai Genesis followed a car through a track that included a S-turn slalom and U-turn and it was all done by the driver by just keeping his hands rested in his laps.

Hyundai also decided to focus on advanced security as different automakers are offering advanced safety technology at reasonable prices in normal vehicles. Just a few years back, technologies like automatic braking and active cruise control options were only found in high-end cars costing more than $1500.

Tesla Faces Criticism From Contractors

Protests are being organized by labor unions outside Tesla headquarters for wages and compensation.

Tesla Motors Inc. is facing criticism as its General Contractors along with all sub-contractors are showing their rage by organizing protests because of the unfair wage mechanism. As reported by the owners of Tesla Motors, the protest has been organized outside the company’s headquarters situated in Palo Alto, California.

As the blog post suggests, the protest is being conducted by the labor union in Hayward that is known as Carpenters Local 713. According to reports, it can be deciphered that the protestors are demand treatment which is just and compensations on the whole.

Along with that, claims are being made by the labor union that the electric car maker is cutting edges so that they make payments to third party contractors provide them their designated wages and give them the benefits they deserve. According to a flyer, that has been obtained from the owner of Tesla, “Driving the car industry in the future. Sending workers’ wages and benefits back to the past.”

The blog further claims that the banners by these protesters have been given to the San Jose State University and Natural Foods Co-op. as perceived, the site being used for this protest is relatively small where three men are protesting along with banners and “giant Grim Reaper."

Apart from this, we also need to take the battery swapping facility of Tesla into consideration at the Harris Ranch Battery Swap Station. Tesla has also given invites to the 200 Model S owners that will allow them to exercise the latest features.

These battery swaps function by replacing the battery pack of EVs with a charged version that has a similar configuration. So when the drivers return from their trips, they can get their hands on their original batteries.

For one round trip, the battery swap is likely to cost almost $80 where the process time is said to be seven minutes on an average. This facility is said to be open throughout the week between 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Moreover, during the first half of the trip, the swap is likely to take six minutes whereas eight minutes are required for the second half.

The company might experience growth on the whole but battery swaps will not really benefit the, much in the long run. During the annual stakeholders meeting the chief executive officer of Tesla Mr. Elon Musk stated: “Based on what we’re seeing here [battery swap stations], it’s unlikely to be something that’s worth expanding in the future, unless something changes.”

Is Elon Musk Manipulating Tesla Stock?

The automaking giant's CEO could be playing with the company's shares on the stock index as per analysts' belief.

Tesla Motors has been growing as a successful automaking company for the past couple of years with the electric vehicles that it has been making which have proved to be one of the best hybrid cars being currently produced. During the initial stages when the firm was going through a difficult time to prove itself in the market, the firm’s CEO Elon Musk declared that he won’t be taking his salary from the company as long as it does not get out of the crisis it was facing. Musk not only enjoys that largest stake in the luxury car making a firm but also has an option of obtaining more shares. Even if those options are not taken into consideration, it cannot be ignored that around 23 percent of the whole firm is owned by the socialite.

Last week on Friday, Elon Musk was seen announcing a new update for the Model S car which made the analysts in the industry believe that he could even be carrying out some kind of manipulation on the shares of the smart car making company. Previously, the number of shares Musk owns in Tesla business came about to have a value of $6.3 billion whereas currently, the value of the shares has risen up to a massive $8 billion. The CEO of the firm seems to be gaining at a high speed as the net worth of the shares that he owns increases. After the announcements that were made by him last week, the following session on the stock index showed that Musk has a lot of control on the activity of the shares of his company as their value increased by a big difference on something that did not prove to be a major news.

Previously, analysts thought Musk was more worried about the kind of growth Tesla was going through and how it was holding up with it. But now, the attitude seems to have reversed as now analysts believe he is more concerned about the shares of the firm than the actual growth of the firm which has made them think if manipulation is being done by him in any way.

In the past when Tesla has made a small announcement, the shares of the firm have followed the same kind of activity and jumped by a mile. This looks to the analysts as if the CEO only wishes to increase the value of the shares on the stock index which is why he is carrying out little activities like these. Musk, however, has denied of any rumors related to this.

Uber Wants To Buy Tesla's Autonomous Cars

Uber's CEO, Travis Kalanick, has said that he will be buying all 500,000 autonomous cars manufactured by Tesla.

Tesla Motors Inc. is one of the powerhouses of the United States’ automotive industry. The company has made it all, from traditional cars to the cars powered on a hydrogen fuel tank. Its recent innovation is to build an autonomous car. The company provided people with a concept car a few months ago and vowed that it will be working on them soon. So far as it is known that the Tesla’s self-driven cars will be on the roads by 2020.

At the 17th annual dinner of Top 10 Tech Trends, Steve Jurvetson who is a reputable venture capitalist had a chat with the CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick, over a possible partnership and investment. According to sources, it is believed that the CEO of Uber is all set to all of the 500,000 autonomous cars manufactured by Tesla Motors by 2020, only if Tesla succeeds to build them. Uber’s business is currently at a very low point and it has faced a lot of criticism from the taxi drivers. But now, the company is all set to take its business to the next level once it acquires the autonomous cars from Tesla in the coming years.

In the past years, Uber has to face a lot of troubles due to its network of drivers throughout the world. The company was involved in many incidents and cases that jeopardized the position of it in the market. And now it is facing the consequences. The CEO has vowed that he will be buying all of Tesla’s autonomous cars if the company manages to complete the production in the next five to six years.

This move will make it easy for Uber to do business. Mr. Travis Kalanick believes that the self-driven cars are the future of the automotive industry and by acquiring these cars it will put the traditional taxi drivers out of business sooner or later.

The CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, stated that the company is currently testing 12 cars on the roads of California. Elon Musk further believes that it will only be robots in the coming years that will handle the vehicles on roads and little or no human involvement will be noticed.

According to the CEO of NVidia, Jen-Hsun Huang, stated in the annual developer conference of company “It would be like an elevator. They used to have elevator operators, and then we developed some simple circuitry to have elevators just automatically come to the floor that you're at ... the car is going to be just like that.”

Toyota's Mirai Now Gives Excellent Driving Range

Toyota's latest car meets what Tesla provides to its customers.

Toyota Motor Corporation is the giant in the automotive industry. The company is still one of the most dominant forces in the sector and has also leaded the market for a very long time. There was an ongoing battle between Toyota and Tesla where Tesla was providing a more better mile range than Toyota. The executives of the company previously explained that the time of electric battery cars is almost over and they cannot survive in the real world. As for the hydrogen-fueled vehicles are concerned, the future is dependent on them.

The company’s latest launch, Toyota Mirai, has surpassed the agreements after it announced that its car can give a 312 miles of driving range on a single hydrogen tank. These agreements have been surpassed in California. According to sources, it is quite convincing that Toyota Mirai can now be driven 312 miles on a single hydrogen tank. Stock Transcript reports “It is a convincing figure that an EPA-estimated 67 miles each gallon equal to that which drives the series of the Toyota Mirai past every other zero-emissions car on the market, counting the all-electric Tesla Model S P85 D.”

Regardless of its exceptional new driving range, the latest car possibly encounters a ‘crippling’ setup challenge. The Energy department revealed that only 12 hydrogen fuel stations are open to public in the whole United States and this might create problems for the car owners. Furthermore, 10 out of those 12 are based in California only. Hence, this could be the only reason as to why Toyota has sweeten the deal for possible buyers to 1.97 percent.

The company has vowed that the Toyota Mirai owners will receive free fuel for three years or fuel worth of $15,000. But this does not meet or come close to what Tesla Motors provide to its customers. The owners of Tesla’s cars will be provided with free fuel for life from more than 425 supercharger stations installed throughout the world. Furthermore, in order to do long distance travelling, there are more than 9,937 electric charging stations in the US and 2,200 only in California.

According to the Toyota's website, “Toyota has plans to create 46 hydrogen fueling stations in California. This demonstrates that the initial purchaser of Toyota Mirai will possibly fit the classic early-adopter frame. In other words, this is not a vehicle for a timid technophobe. Toyota has taken a lot of flack for its goals of the hydrogen car.”