Few automotive engineers know more about electric powertrains than Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer.
In his previous life as Nissan’s head of development, Palmer led the team that created the Leaf. His arrival at Gaydon has put Aston Martin on course for what will be a part-electric future, and he is politely sceptical about James Dyson’s plan to introduce an electric car in 2020.
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“I wish him the best of luck,” Palmer told Autocar, “but on the numbers that have been reported, I know you won’t do it for that money, and you won’t do it in that timescale. At least, I know that I couldn’t.”
Aston Martin Consulting has been involved in several EV projects for other manufacturers (the only publicly disclosed one being Faraday Future), and Palmer says an underestimation of the challenges involved has been a common factor.
“We’ve had discussions with about 10 of them,” he continued. “Every single one has underestimated the difficulty of engineering a car to a budget and to an aggressive timescale. Some of them will get there, but always over budget and late.”
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Peter Cavellini
Hmmmm....!
Thats what they said about Elon Musk.....
Peter Cavellini.
tuga
Peter Cavellini wrote:
And seeing as Tesla has yet to make a profit ( they are in fact bleeding money ) and can't seem to release a car in the timetable they have set themselves ( see, Model 3 launch ), they can keep on saying it and still be right.
xxxx
No immediate profit
They said that about Google, Facebook etc. No one knows more about electric cars than Musk!
Besides, Aston Martin have spend most of their existance losing money.
Hydrogen cars just went POP
5wheels
xxxx wrote:
Tesla have ramped up production by 300% in the last two months and their share have gone balistic. Dear Mr. Palmer I think maybe getting 10 times the salary of others is possibly one of the problems. But there again these electric cars which are faster than an AM and cost less than half. Swings and roundabouts
what's life without imagination
manicm
Peter Cavellini wrote:
Um, you do note Tesla did not start from scratch do you? The original Roadster was Elise/Vauxhall based to jog your memory, and did not have any autonomous features. It was a terrible car and obviously a guinea pig for the current range.
supercarrambler
The original Roadster was 80
The original Roadster was 80/90% re-engineered Elise and only sharing a few common parts, the reasoning was Elon did not have to prove that he could re-invent the windscreen wiper stalk or door window winding mechanism but prove the reliability and function of the EV drive-train, also why spend 5+ years building a factory and designing from gound up a concept when you can piggy-back off a world class small automotive manufacture who are efficient in low volume.
The TESLA Roadster's DNA was from AC Propolsion's Tzero where Martin Eberhard (company founder) commssioned the swap from lead battery to lithium-ion.
And sorry the Roadster was not terrible, owner reviews were the exact opposite with many of them using their TESLA as their main driving vehicle dropping their everyday Porsche's and Audi's..
Symanski
Not sure about Andy Palmer at Aston.
I'm not sure that Andy Palmer is the right guy at Aston Martin. He seems determined to spend all their money in F1, with the flimsy excuse it's to support the mid-engined car they plan on.
Aston Martin an EV specialist? That I find hard to believe! Even for the Rapide-E they're using Williams (of F1) to engineer it!
Aston has few resources, and barely turns a profit. The honeymoon period on the new cars will be short, especially for the new Vantage as it's ugly. Aston needs a new designer, and a CEO who's focused on the products not F1, not power boats, not appartment blocks, and not a children's clothing line. You think I'm joking, but Aston has announced all of those in the last year!
As for Dyson, if he is using the Gordon Murray i-Stream process he can achieve his goals easily.
si73
So he may be late and/or over
So he may be late and/or over budget, hardly a revelation and probably expected by most.
Vertigo
Prognisticating
The issue is, the selling point of the car (as far as we know right now) is expected to be Sakti3's solid-state battery technology. Longer range for less weight, high power, very fast charging.
But the longer they leave it, the more rival companies are likely to offer similar stats by the time it goes on sale. Toyota, Fisker and Bosch are planning to productionise solid state batteries in the early 2020s, and several other car brands and battery manufacturers are on the way too. We also know that Tesla and VW Group have high-range cars in development that will charge several times faster than anything today, although the tech behind this isn't known.
One of the main reasons why Tesla was able to break through was that its battery tech was so far in advance of anyone else, and to this day very few cars rival the 2012 Model S's specs. If Dyson can't pull off a similar trick, they'll need to find another way to break into the market.
manicm
With no automotive
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