If youβre driving a late model car or truck, chances are that the vehicle is mostly computers on wheels, collecting and wirelessly transmitting vast quantities of data to the car manufacturer not just on vehicle performance but personal information, too, such as your weight, the restaurants you visit, your music tastes and places you go.
A car can generate about 25 gigabytes of data every hour and as much as 4,000 gigabytes a day, according to some estimates. The data trove in the hands of car makers could be worth as much as $750 billion by 2030, the consulting firm McKinsey has estimated. But consumer groups, aftermarket repair shops and privacy advocates say the data belongs to the carβs owners and the information should be subject to data privacy laws.
They crafted whatβs known as βmodel legislationβ that would allow them to continue selling recalled used cars, so long as they disclosed open recalls to customers somewhere in a stack of sales documents. They then turned to their army of lobbyists β more than 600 on call in 43 states β to help get the measure passed, one state at a time.
The effort is paying off. About this report This story was produced as part of a collaboration between USA TODAY, The Arizona Republic and the Center for Public Integrity. More than 30 reporters across the country were involved in the two-year investigation, which identified copycat bills in every state. The team used a unique data-analysis engine built on hundreds of cloud computers to compare millions of words of legislation provided by LegiScan.
In the past five years, versions of auto dealersβ copycat bill have been introduced in at least 11 states β California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia. So far only Tennessee and Pennsylvania have adopted them, but Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey and New York still have measures under consideration.
The success of auto dealersβ effort is a case study in how special interest groups with deep pockets go from state to state with model legislation β copy-and-paste measures that can be handed to friendly lawmakers in any state β to get the policies they want, often with little public scrutiny and sometimes with tragic consequences.
After an out-of-control Tesla Model S plowed into a stand of palm trees on a highway median outside Fort Lauderdale last month, police rushed to put out the ensuing blaze using a department-issued fire extinguisher. It was a wasted effort. The car kept on burning after the crash, which killed the driver.
The police may not have known lithium-ion batteries inside electric vehicles, once ignited, can’t be put out with chemicals from a conventional extinguisher. The battery fires are susceptible to a self-destructive chain reaction known as thermal runaway, causing a feedback loop of rising temperatures. The Tesla fire stumped a series of first responders in Florida. Firefighters eventually doused the flames with water, which seemed to work, but the wrecked car reignited twice more after being towed away. That prompted what a police report later termed “extraordinary measures,” including a call to Broward County’s hazmat unit for advice on stamping out the fire once and for all.
The accident illustrates the challenges faced by first responders unfamiliar with the special characteristics—and hazards—of electric vehicles’ powertrains. Safety experts say the only way to extinguish a lithium-ion battery inside a car is with thousands of gallons of water, much more than what it takes to stop a fire in a typical gasoline engine. The other option is to just let it burn itself out. “It’s such a difficult fire because it takes so much water to put out,” said Robert Taylor, fire marshal in Davie, Fla., where the crash occurred.
Stupid automotive question: Why does the Chevy Bolt have a physical shift linkage for PRNDL, that controlled by an actuator, when all that's inside the "transmission" is a parking pawl and a sensor that indicates the position the transmission is located in to tell the computer which way to control the motor? It's not like the physical shift linkage moves any gears. Electric motors don't have gears, they have 100% torque at 1 MPH and reverse by reversing the direction of the electricity.
Government regulation? What GM had in the parts bucket? Unneeded complexity? Doesn't make much sense to me.
The dissassembly of the engine of the Chevy Bolt EV is fascinating. It's very different then a conventional gasoline automobile under the hood.
I am actually surprised how truly different the power train is -- and in many ways simpler then a gasser or diesel -- no emissions equipment, no transmission or gear box. Nearly every component is electrical, there is no serpentine belt or alternator. Interestingly enough, the cabin heat uses anti-freeze like a conventional automobile.
