You of course remember that moment in Back to the Future 2 (yes, the crappy one), early on in the film after Marty arrives in Hill Valley circa 2015, when he walks to a busy Main Street type of area, and is bombarded with giant video and hologram advertisements from all directions. The video advertisements [...]
You of course remember that moment in Back to the Future 2 (yes, the crappy one), early on in the film after Marty arrives in Hill Valley circa 2015, when he walks to a busy Main Street type of area, and is bombarded with giant video and hologram advertisements from all directions. The video advertisements look tame by today's Vegas standards, but hey, it's the best we could do in 1989, and anyway, you've got your 3D "Jaws 19" effect (which single-handedly kick-started my interest in holograms…more on that in a future post), and a Texaco that offers landing gear check-ups. What's not to like? The most important element of the scene, however (in that it resolves the plot hole of how that 1980's DeLorean ended up flying), is the advertisement for Goldie Wilson III's Hover Conversions.
Hover Conversions.
The phrase at once fills me with both a giddy enthusiasm for the promise of tomorrow, and the nerdy wholesome thrill of a good old-fashioned Do-It-Yourself project, straight out of the 1956 Popular Mechanics Illustrated DIY Encyclopedia. Nevertheless, Hover Conversions are not exactly around the corner, nor does it require not an entire blog posting to point out that 8 years from now we'll be just as likely as we are now to label a flying automobile as rank vaporware.
No, rather, the reason I call your attention to Mr. Wilson's fine services (at the low, low price of only $39,999.95) is that therein lies my preferred model for perhaps finally moving forward into the long-proclaimed era of the electric car.
There is no end to the list of reasons why we need an electric car future. Air quality, for one. Reduced dependence on fossil fuels, for another. Cars that make that delightful "Lulululululululu" sound of the Jetsons, for a third.
The main barrier to widespread acceptance, however, is the problem of long recharge times. You can't take your electric car to the local gas station and fill it up in two minutes with regular or unleaded Alternating Current. Upon draining the batteries, you must leave your car in your garage overnight, plugged into the wall.
What we need is an electric car that travel a decent distance on a tank, can be taken to a fuel station anywhere in the country, and can still provide you with all of the enjoyment behind the wheel that we've come to expect from the moderne, well-tuned automobile. Because, really, who doesn't want to follow the advice of Dinah Shore?
To our rescue comes the Hybrid. The Toyota Prius, specifically—the first Hybrid car to attain any sort of respect within mainstream America. The Prius runs on gas and batteries, features a gee-whiz status monitor, and presents a design only slightly less futuristic than the third generation Taurus. However, it is not a perfect solution. The internal combustion engine and electric motor cooperate in a complex, closed-box fashion, leaving many to question the future reliability and maintenance costs of the vehicle. Furthermore, while the system is more powerful than most of what preceded it, the Prius is still underwhelming in terms of performance.
Enter PML Flightlink. PML whatlink? From the company website:
PML Design & Manufacture Electric Motors, Electric Vehicle drive systems, Joystick Controls & Controllers. We are world leaders in building bespoke motors for specialist applications in addition to our comprehensive standard product range. Latest innovations include our electric car motors, 12 volt brushless motors, electric boat motors and revolutionary new wheelmotors, ideal for electric vehicle applications.
Last year, PML Flightlink made news when they came out with the Mini QED, a stock Mini Cooper the company converted in-house to make use of their various parts–gutting the drivetrain, they replaced the engine, brakes and more with their own computerized drive system, batteries and four pancake in-wheel motors. What they ended up with was a 640 bhp monster of a car that looked basically like a regular Mini, but that could go zero to 60 in about 4.5 seconds. What's more, to charge those batteries, PML Flightlink added a regular gasoline-powered generator in the place where the old engine had once sat. Thus, the 640 bhp monster managed about 90 miles to the gallon.
So both the Mini QED and the Prius contain electric motors AND internal combustion engine…so how do they differ? Simple. The gasoline engine in the Mini QED never directly turns the wheels. The wheels are turned entirely by the electric motors installed within them. Therefore, the gasoline generator is free to run at a constant rpm, powering only the batteries at a maximum efficiency, regardless of the starting and stopping that the car might be doing in traffic. Conceptually, the Mini QED is a far simpler beast. Of course, the computer software necessary to control those four motors is a complex operation in itself, but as far as the mechanical parts go…well, they sound like a good weekend project for Goldie Wilson the Third.
Sure a few companies are coming up with gorgeous, futuristic luxury automobiles taking advantage of the brilliant PML design, but that's not where I'm going with this. When has the vanguard of any technological revolution ever been left to the luxury tastemakers alone, hoho? No, rather: Imagine a Tomorrow in which you take your old rustbucket to the local PML Conversion Center, where for less than the cost of a full new car, the friendly mechanic takes out your old thumping engine, your squealing breaks, your stiff steering, and returns to you a fuel efficient, smooth-running, electric screamer! Or, imagine a future of continuous automobile upgrades, in which your few standardized drive-train parts can be swapped out with about as much effort as changing your brakepads! The secret to bringing new technology into the mainstream, as Orville and Wilbur know, is to bring it to the tinkerers, the nerds, the mechanics of society. Then, as the technology becomes more refined, can it be applied to the very finest objets d'arte, to be drooled o'er by ten-year-old and mid-life-crisis-sufferer alike.
As a final note, because I was unable to find another such offer on the internet, I would hereby like to be the first to offer my own 2006 Scion xB (AKA, the Brave Little Toaster) to PML Flightlink for QED conversion, under the condition that I be allowed to then be a real-world beta tester of what shall no doubt be the next bold step in automotive evolution.
(Thanks goes out to this website for B2TF reference materials and screen capture.)
3 Comments
Weak, dude, kicking a taurus while it’s down… My baby hit 100,000 miles and it’s still groovin’ to its own futuristic curves. You only wish your toaster had this much style.
Great post. I just want to quibble with your Orville and Wilbur reference. Do you mean that aviation technology came “into the mainstream” with them? Because aviation technology definitely doesn’t seem like it’s “in the mainstream” today. Apart from a very small number of people who buy and build airplane kits, the only way flight affects society in general is because a lot of people are willing to pay for a ride. Even a little Cessna is going to set you back a good deal, not to mention gas, maintenance, and airport fees and whatever.
Or was this an example of the internal combustion engine coming “into the mainstream” so that in the hands of these two nerds a new technological development could take place?
no, rather I meant that, at least prior to World War I, most of the airplanes were hand-built by small companies and amateur enthusiasts. It was not until after the war that airplanes became expensive tourism vehicles for the very rich.