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THE WITNESS
NOVEMBER 21, 2019
WHEELS
www.witness.co.za
Above and beyond Five-seater, vertical take-off jet will change the way people commute in the next five years ALWYN VILJOEN A PRESENTATION by Lilium CEO Daniel Wiegand and Tencent Holdings’ chief exploration officer (CXO) David Wallerstein at the Web Summit 2019 explained how the way people commute will change radically in the next five years. The Web Summit is billed as “the best technology conference on the planet”, bringing Fortune 500 companies and groundbreaking start-ups together, and was held in Portugal. Wallerstein introduced the Lilium jet, in which the Chinese Internet giant Tencent is an investor alongside Atomico, founded by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström. Wallerstein explained his job as Tencent’s CXO is to look “at the things that humanity has to get right” as the world’s population heads to 10 billion people by 2050. He said cities will continue growing, with congestion caused by 100 million cars sold a year, pollution from burning 700 billion barrels of fuel a year, and roads that costs $1,5 trillion a year — money that could go to building green infrastructure for energy or water. Wallerstein said congestion and pollution will only get worse “unless we do something different” — like using the electric, vertical take-off planes Lilium has designed to add a third dimension of personal travel. Wallerstein said the Lilium jet will increase people’s scope of travel exponentially while addressing some of the planet’s biggest challenges. He was most excited that going green does not mean going slower or backward, but
Wallerstein pointed out the plane uses relatively cheap, off grid landing pads, which could be a completely new paradigm for the developing world to connect people by air instead of building roads for private cars.
A bird’s eye view of engineers working on the Lilium jet. PHOTO: LILIUM faster, further and cheaper. Wiegand said in designing the Lilium the goals were to create a new personal transport system that doesn’t need roads, won’t emit gas or make noise, but will expand one’s “radius of life” by going much faster than today’s traffic. The company was founded in 2015 and now has a team of almost 400 people who this year delivered the prototype Lilium jet. It has seats for five people, takes off vertically like a helicopter,
flies like a plane at 300 km/h for 300km, “all completely emission free and extremely silent”. SAFE Wiegand stressed the Lilium jet meets the same safety standards as a commercial aircraft, which is statistically a lot safer than travelling in a car, but adds the Lilium has a whole aircraft parachute in case of emergencies, as well as a lot of redundancy, with 36 engines, three batteries, 12 independent data
buses and four flight control computers, all using the same electricity as a Tesla car. Ducted fans capture and dissipate noise to make the Lilium 100 times quieter than a helicopter. Wallerstein compared the Lilium’s noise to 36 hairdryers, with none of the paraffin smell that all aircraft have. He said the Lilium can fly at 3 000 metres, removing “visual pollution” while saving billions in road infrastructure and changing states into large metropolitan areas.
CHEAPER THAN A TAXI Wallerstein said what got Tencent interested in Lilium was this accessible price point of flying. Wiegand said the Lilium air taxi flies 25 times further than people can travel in a car in one hour, and does so €2,80 cheaper than an electric ground-based taxi. He said this was because the Lilium’s business model is based on that of a ground-based shuttle service, but because it travels at around 250 km/h and takes a straight line to the destination, it can carry 20 more passengers per kilometre than a car, despite having the same number of seats. “This means even if the Lilium costs 20 times more to build than a car, and the pilot has two or three times the salary [of a driver], the cost of the pilot per passenger is lower than for the driver on the ground,” Wiegand said. Lilium plans to shuttle people across three large cities in 2025, but in 20 years, Wiegand expects all trips over 100 km to be in a similar, small autonomous planes, “because it is so much faster and cost effective”. He predicted that adding this third dimension to personal travel will have the same revolutionary impacts on property prices in small scenic towns and rural lifestyles, as the car did when it replaced horses. • alwyn.viljoen@witness.co.za
NEW MODELS RENAULT gave its entry level Kwid a redesigned rear axle and larger rims — up from 13 to 14 inches — which improves road holding, according to Renault. ABS brakes and a passenger airbag are now also standard. The Kwid’s one-litre petrol engine remains unchanged, mated to either a five-speed manual or five-speed automated manual transmission (AMT). Inside, the Kwid Dynamique and Climber models get a larger touchscreen infotainment system, now measuring 20,3 cm, and featuring Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity as well as a reverse camera. All models are sold with a five-year/150 000 km mechanical warranty, oneyear comprehensive insurance cover and a two-year service plan. Prices for six models start at R144 900 for the Expression manual, with the AMT adding R10k, while the top spec Climber AMT lists for R174 900. The prices include a year’s comprehensive insurance, a two-year service plan and a five-year or 150 000 km warranty. PHOTO: QUICKPIC
Selling for R1 250 000, the standard features in the new Audi A7 55 TFSI Sportback quattro S tronic includes a panoramic glass sunroof, a spoiler that extends automatically at 120 km/h from the luggage compartment lid above Audi’s signature flat light strip, climate control in four zones, adaptive cruise control, defroster nozzles for windscreen and side mirrors, and a five-year or 100 000 km Audi Freeway plan. PHOTO: MOTORPRESS
Nikola announces radical new battery, wants to share SA’s 2020 COTY list revealed A TOTAL of 48 vehicles from 21 manufacturers have made it on the 2020 AutoTrader South African Car of the Year (COTY) list. The vehicles were all launched in the period from November 1, 2018 up to October 31 and tested by the SA Guild of Motoring Journalists. The 48 vehicles contesting the 2020 COTY title range from the small Hyundai Atos to the Ferrari V8 Tributo (pictured), with surprise entries like the JMC Vigus from Chinese bakkie builder JMC competing against the rally-ready Ford Ranger Raptor. AutoTrader became the title sponsor for the competition organised by guild in 2019. Following conclusion of a multi-year deal, George Mienie, the company’s CEO, said he is proud of the fact that AutoTrader is playing such a fundamental role in shaping the South African motor industry. “This competition is already one of the finest in the world and, with the changes made in 2019 and further enhancements that will take place in 2020, such as extended consumer voting to finalists stage, we expect the AutoTrader South African Car of the Year to soar to even greater heights,” he said. Rubin van Niekerk, SAGMJ chairman, agreed. “We made a number of meaningful changes to the competition last year – including the introduction of an online consumer vote (55 000 votes were cast in this process) and the inclusion of five categories. Van Niekerk said the 2020 COTY will see two new categories, which are family, leisure, lifestyle, premium car, premium SUV, sport and urban. The 2020 event is widely expected to be the best year ever, which will see the 34-year-old competition continue migrating into an even more modern and digitally savvy competition. The Mercedes-Benz A-Class won the 2019 AutoTrader South African Car of the Year title and now the question on everyone’s lips is: which car will win South Africa’s most illustrious automotive accolade in 2020? — Wheels Reporter.
PHOENIX electric truck maker Nikola Corporation on Tuesday surprised the electric vehicle world with claims of a 500 Wh/kg battery at half the price, 40% of the weight and none of the toxic elements in current lithium iron batteries. If these as yet untested claims prove true, the start-up will have a battery that can power electric vehicles for at least 900 km — removing range limits and high prices that have so far prevented evees from selling. For context, the Tesla 3 has 2 170 lithium ion cells making 247 Wh/kg. Nikola’s bold claims that their prototype battery costs half the price of cur-
rent li-ion batteries and that their cell does not contain the toxic elements have battery experts asking what materials they are using. The company plans to answer this question in greater detail at its Nikola World 2020 demonstration. This year’s event was held in Scottsdale in April. The venue and date of next year’s conference have yet to be announced. Nikola said its prototype battery cell is the world’s first free-standing electrode automotive battery able to charge and discharge for 2 000 cycles, and that is in talks with “a world-class battery engineering team to help bring the new
battery to pre-production”. Current lithium-ion batteries degrade after about 800 cycles. This is the biggest advancement we have seen in the battery world,” said Nikola Motor Company CEO Trevor Milton in a statement. “We are not talking about small improvements; we are talking about doubling your cell phone battery capacity. We are talking about doubling the range of BEVs and hydrogen-electric vehicles around the world. “Nikola is in discussions with customers for truck orders that could fill production slots for more than 10 years and propel Nikola to become the top
truck manufacturer in the world in terms of revenue. “Now the question is why not share it with the world?” said Milton. “Our goal is to eliminate emissions around the globe,” Milton said. “But we can’t do it all by ourselves.” Due to the impact this technology will have on society and emissions, Nikola has taken an unprecedented position to share the intellectual property (IP) with other OEMs, even competitors, that contribute to the Nikola IP licence and new consortium. OEMs or other partners can e-mail batteries@nikolamotor.com for more information. — Wheels Reporter.
ONE VERY FAST OWL
Toyota’s premium badge, Lexus, has given its RX range substantial connectivity and safety spec upgrades. The ranges sell from R1 012 000 for the EX while the top-of-the-range RX 450h SE lists for R1 315 800. The RX has Lexus’ seven-year or 105 000 km warranty and a full maintenance plan. The warranty on the hybrid battery is eight years or 195 000 km. Service intervals are at every 15 000 km, alternatively once a year. Apart from premium cladding and very sporty performance, this money buys an onboard WiFi hotspot with an initial complimentary 15GB data plan, with the option to purchase additional data at any time, and an LED adaptive highbeam system (AHS). Under the hood, Lexus provides three engines outputs from the 3,5-litre V6 engine, starting at 221 kW and 370 Nm in the RX 350 and moving up to 216 kW and 358 in the RX 350 L, both linked to a quickshifting, eight-speed transmission. In the RX450 hybrid, the electric motors and electronically-controlled continuously variable transmission tally up to 230 kW, which delivers a 0-100 km/h sprint time of 7,7 seconds and ultralow emissions (131 g/km).
WE HAVE A LARGE VARIETY OF ENGINES AND GEARBOXES TO CHOOSE FROM
JAPANESE hyper electric car builder Aspark showed the Owl at the 2019 Dubai Motor Show, two years after the prototype hypercar made its debut at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show. Each Owl costs $3,1 million, (over R50 million by the time luxury import taxes have been paid) and only 50 will be built in Italy by Manifattura Automobili Torino, with delivery after April 2020. Aspark claims the needle goes to 100 km/h in 1,89 seconds, to 300 km/ h in 10,6 seconds with a top speed of 400 km/h. The speed is delivered by four electric motors making 1 480 kW and 1 998 Nm, powered by a 64kWh lithium-ion battery that has a 450 km range when driven slower, according to the Japanese car maker’s estimates. The battery charges in roughly 80 minutes via a 44-kW charger. The Owl’s cabron fibre cockpit is less than a metre high (99 centimetres) and the low hyper car’s kerb weight is only 860 kg, riding on double-wishbones on each corner with torque vectoring taking the Owl off the drag strip and into corners. To stop, the Owl has carbon-ceramic brake discs with 10-piston calipers in front and four-piston stoppers at the back. But why call such a fast hypercar after a fluffy bird? Because in Japanese, the name ‘fukurou’ for ‘owl’ contains the syllables ‘fuku’, for ‘luck’ — delivering two potent symbols for the price of one. And then there’s the happy bonus sound effect in English — as the Owl certainly ‘fukurous’ off! — WR.
MOTORBIKES
MANY PERFORMANCE ENGINES AVAILABLE
QUALITY USED LOW MILEAGE ENGINES, GEARBOXES & PARTS
Lexus Spares 1UZ-FE - Full Gasket set - Water Pumps - Cam Belts - Flywheel - Plug Lead set - Coils - Fan Belts - Starters - Dizzy Caps - Airflow Meters - Engine Mountings - Gearbox Mountings - Cam Belt Pulleys - Alternators
Other Engine Spares - Cylinder Heards for most makes of LDV’s - Replacement Turbos for most makes of LDV’s - Bell Housing Big/ Small - Gearboxes - Diffs
ENGINES, GEARBOXES, HEADS, TURBOS, DIFFS, LEXUS SPARES We have in-house Workshop for Engine Exchange and Fitments
WE OFFER DELIVERIES INTO DURBAN AND SURROUNDING AREAS ON ALL ENGINE AND GEARBOX PURCHASES.
At the recent EICMA Motorcycle Show, which is hosted annually in Milan, Italy, KTM impressed with a new 390 Adventure bike and a faster, firmer Duke 890 R alongside the surprise Duke 790, aka the “Scalpel” — but KTM fans were only interested in the tweaks the engineers made to flagship from the Kraftfahrzeug Trunkenpolz Mattighofen factory — the KTM 1290 Super Duke R (pictured). These tweaks include a chassis which now has a composite frame weighing 189 kg, down from 195 kg, and the engine being part of the frame’s structure to make the overall chassis a lot stiffer and allow a longer swingarm for even better grip. The V-Twin gets a faster-shifting gearbox, titanium inlet valves and a new ram air system, a new pressure-lubricated slipper clutch, redesigned cylinder heads engineered to bump up low-to-mid RPM torque and twinspark plug ignition in each cylinder for improved efficiency. In short, the bikers’ bike is now even better.
UK start-up Zapp will deliver its first electric scooters next month from Thailand at a steep R100 095 before import taxes. This is superbike money, but Zapp claims the most power and best handling ever for a scooter, thanks to a centre of mass that is level with the rear wheel, and an electric motor making 14 kW and (get this) 587 Nm to protel the 90-kg bike. This is a lot more torque than SA’s top CV Joint selling bakkies deliver — the 3,2 Ranger speCialists makes 470 Nm and the 2,8 Hilux 450 Nm. for CV joints, ball joints, Two 5,5 kg batteries totalling 1,25 kWh drive tie rod ends, wheel bearings. the motor. The batteries can be charged in under four hours over a 110/240 V outlet, 341 GReYlinG stReet with regenarative braking extending the Pmb. 033 342 9174/75 scooter’s 60 km range to 72 km. — WR.
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