EuroWire September 2017

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September 2017 40
Automotive
A peculiarly American mystery: the
invisibility of electric vehicle charging stations
“Research shows car buyers have absolutely zero knowledge of
electric vehicle infrastructure.”
Sean Szymkowski of Green Car Reports was referring to American
car buyers and speci cally addressing their hyperopia as to
electric vehicle charging stations.
The US Department of Energy estimates there are 15,993 public
charging stations in the United States – over 3,000 of them in
the state of California alone. But 60 per cent of respondents to a
recent J D Power survey stated they never see a charging station
in their area.
In fairness it should be noted that many of these facilities hide in
plain sight at Dunkin’ Donuts, Wal-Mart, McDonalds and similar
sites across the country.
A quick search by Mr Szymkowski disclosed many such Level
2 and DC fast charging stations, and apps like Plugshare stand
ready to pull up a convenient location.
It would seem that a driver/charger interface might be as
routine as other connections in the cellphone era.
But no – the J D Power survey cited in Green Car Reports found
the availability of charging stations to be the biggest concern
of 37 per cent of shoppers considering an electric car. This is,
in fact, the biggest deterrent to the purchase of electric and
plug-in hybrid vehicles. (“Car Buyers Have No Idea Electric-Car
Charging Stations Even Exist,” 7 th June)
The hesitancy of prospective electric car buyers is more
understandable in the matter of range anxiety. They know
where their comfort zone lies: within 300 miles. And the most
a ordable electric vehicle on the USA market – the 2017
Chevrolet Bolt EV – manages an Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA)-estimated 238 miles per charge.
† But that gap will narrow. The thrust of the Green Car Reports
article is that the resources available now to motorists for
locating convenient electric charging stations clearly are
not being utilised to their full potential. If automakers are
serious about pushing electric cars at more a ordable prices,
Mr Szymkowski observed, consumers must be made aware
that the infrastructure is no longer in its infancy. Until then,
he wrote: “Electric vehicles will likely remain a niche.”
Elsewhere in automotive . . .
† General Motors on 16th June announced plans to open
a ‘supplier park’ to support future vehicle production
at its Arlington assembly plant in Texas. Expected to
be operational in 2018, the addition will consist of two
industrial manufacturing and warehouse buildings covering
more than 1.2m ft2.
GM estimates that nearly 600 of the 850-plus new
manufacturing and other jobs created for these facilities will
replace work previously done outside the USA.
Steve Kiefer, senior vice president of GM’s global purchasing
and supply chain, told the Detroit Free Press that the supplier
park concept aims at “improved logistics e ciency and
coordination.”
Rogue ‘co-bots’
Going well beyond safety concerns,
threats from hacked industrial robots
now include sabotage and blackmail
“Give us the bitcoin we’re asking for and we’ll let you know
which lot numbers have the faulty brake components.”
Senior editor David Schneider of IEEE Spectrum, the journal of
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, had drafted
an email message that no factory operator wants ever to receive.
The particulars will di er, but the sense will always be the same:
Pay up – or su er the consequences.
Mr Schneider referenced the report “Rogue Robots: Testing
the Limits of an Industrial Robot’s Security” from the computer
security rm Trend Micro (Irving, Texas) and researchers at
Polytechnic University of Milan. The joint e ort explored
how malevolent hackers might compromise various kinds of
industrial robots, whose number is expected to reach 2.6 million
units worldwide by 2019.
“The dangers of industrial robots to factory workers have long
been well appreciated, which is why most of these machines
operate in cages designed to keep people out of harm’s way,”
wrote Mr Schneider. As industrial robots are increasingly being
designed to work alongside human workers, these collaborative
robots (“co-bots”) could present unique safety issues should
their software be compromised. (“New Report Highlights
Dangers of Hacked Factory Robots,” 16th May)
Transatlantic Cable
Image: www.bigstockphoto.com Photographer Zsolt Ercsel