Archive for Thoughts

There has been some followup news on the e-plate system, basically a wireless RFID MyKad-like system for cars announced in mid-December 2006. The e-plate system is part of the government’s Automated Enforcement System to be implemented by 2010, which will also include 700 new surveillance cameras at strategic locations nationwide. It is assumed that these surveillance cameras will be equipped with e-plate readers, helping enforcement offices detect drivers who break traffic rules such as red lights and double lines.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy reveals more details:

1. Tamper-proof e-plates will be sealed into the body of vehicles.
2. Will contain information on driver, chassis and engine number, and model.
3. E-plates are only available at authorised e-plate makers appointed by JPJ.
4. Enforcement officers will be equipped with hand-held scanners.

The supplier of the e-plate technology has not been decided yet though, the government is still deciding between 13 proposals from various parties. It is hoped that implementation can be done within this year.

Related Posts:
E-plates: RFID number plate for cars

French automotive engineering company Valeo says that it’s camless engine development project will likely be ready by 2010 or 2011, and it already has a few customers working together with them, though Valeo board member Martin Haub declined to name who the customers are.

Valeo’s camless engine is not a full camless engine, but rather half camless, where only the intake valves are electronically actuated with a camshaft. The exhaust valves are actuated using the traditional camshaft method. Valeo says it took the half camless approach because this gives the Valeo half camless engine 80 percent of the performance of a fully camless engine while keeping costs down by half as much – as it is, a four-cylinder half camless engine is about 300 euros more than a normal camshaft engine. As for benefits over a normal engine, Valeo says the engine has 15% to 20% better fuel economy, as well as 15 to 20% better torque at the low end of rev ranges.

Mercedes Benz already has it’s own camless engine project called KDI EVT, with the resulting cam-less valvetrain engine expected to be supercharged with direct injection. BMW is also researching the technology, but is concerned with cost and durability, says BMW general manager for calibration V8 engines Christian Bock. Bock says the technical barrier to camless engines are not the valve actuators themselves but rather the sensors to make it all work with precision. Currently sensors are no accurate enough and have engine-life durability and reliability issues.

Look after the jump for a diagram from Valeo explaining how their electronic valve actuators work.

Related Posts:
Camless Solenoid Valve Engines
KDI EVT in the new 2008 C-Class

Click here to read the rest of Valeo has customers for half camless engine

Some of you may remember a piece of news in July where a team of Universiti Sains Malaysia researches led by Dr Syamsul Rizal Abd Shukor came up with a way to produce hydrogen in a system compact enough to be fitted into a car. The system involved using waste aluminium metal and sodium hydroxide to separate water into it’s components – hydrogen and oxygen.

While I’m not sure if the new Hydroxene system in LMG’s new pick-ups and SUVs are based on the results of this USM research, it works very similiarly.

Click here to read the rest of LMG Tourer with Hydroxene technology

I would like to pose a question to any of you who purchased a car recently. The government is unhappy that car prices have not been reduced much, only in the tune of 2-5% or at most 5-10%.

If you purchased a Toyota Camry (used as an example) last year, and Toyota cuts the price of the Toyota Camry by 15-20%, how would you feel? Would your car’s value drop in the second hand market? And if yes, would you be angry? Would your brand loyalty to Toyota be affected if Toyota was the only one who gave a big price cut for their cars? Would your brand loyalty to Toyota be affected if all car manufacturers did similiar price cuts? Or would you be okay with it, considering it is an effect of the National Automotive Policy?

There are no right or wrong answers. It’s a matter of your own opinion, and I hope everyone will agree to disagree in case differences of opinions occur in the discussion. Also feel free to give your thoughts on what you think of the NAP in general, and the after-effects so far. The prices of cars in Malaysia is truly a complicated thing. Such a delicate balance must be kept.

I’d like to wish all my readers a happy new year. 2005 has been an interesting year for the automotive industry. Pretty exciting. We had new launches from both our largest national car manufacturers, the Perodua Myvi and the Proton Savvy. We had the controversial AP Saga involving Rafidah Aziz, Tun Dr. M and the AP Kings. A new National Automotive Policy. We saw Proton undergo a major management change, and the possibility of a take-over by Volkswagen AG.

Let’s hope 2006 will bring us more exciting developments. I’m sure everyone is eagerly awaiting the new Proton Satria Replacement Model. Sightings of a K-car being test driven which might be a Perodua have also been spotted, though these are all just speculations.

Petrol prices have gone up multiple times this year and currently stands at 1.62 a liter for RON97. There are speculations of another hike REAL soon, so be sure to adjust your finances in preparation for it.

As for imported makes, I think a replacement for the current Honda Civic is also due very soon since if I recall correctly, they’ve stopped production of the older 1.7 VTEC and 2.0 i-VTEC models to clear out the stock. No immediate indications of an update for the Altis or Camry yet. The Accord has been facelifted in Japan and the US but not in Malaysia, fine by me as I don’t like the new facelift anyway. The Sentra has been facelifted again. Nissan has to do alot better than this for their sedans. They seem to be focusing on the X-Trail and the Frontier for the moment. They still don’t have a proper competitor for the City and the Vios. Both the City and Vios have been facelifted in 2005.

Happy trails and enjoy 2005’s last night, wherever you may be spending it. I’m likely going to spend it at home. Already partied enough last night at the Malaysian Press Club’s pre-New Year party. Remember, don’t drink and drive. I’ve had my fair share of that experience.

There are a lot of people who feel that we just shouldn’t have had an automotive industry in the first place. Since Proton’s birth in 1983, the normal rakyat with average income have been forced to buy Protons. This is because of government protection in the form of high taxes on foreign makes.

Click here to read the rest of National Automotive Policy draft tomorrow

Google has launched a free Wi-Fi service in San Fransisco. Together with it’s Wi-Fi service, it has also launched a free VPN service so that Wi-Fi users can encrypt their over-the-air data.

Since their e-mail service is called Gmail, I wonder why they didn’t name their Wi-Fi hotspot G-Spot.

It’s amazing how much this song which was recorded 10 years before our country got independance sounds so much like Negaraku, our national anthem.

Click here to read the rest of Mamula Moon

Hyundai builds 4 million vehicles annually today. By 2007, output is expected to be 5.5 million vehicles.

Proton? Production is now shy of 200,000 cars a year. 178,431 sounds about right. Perodua? 113,431 vehicles.

This is why Proton has no chance to give us good cars at fair prices. There is no economies of scale. How did Hyundai do it? They’ve been around since 1967. That’s 38 years. Proton? About 20 years. It was born in 1983. The first Proton Saga rolled off production lines in September 1985.

Even the local market share that Proton holds is dropping, can it compete internationally?

Click here to read the rest of The Korean Advantage

Jeff Ooi already has a very detailed coverage on the latest updates on the Proton vs. MITI saga, so I’m not going to talk much about it. More time for me to write more howtos and more about nice shiny automobiles! But I’m sure all of you would want to know the latest in this Proton/AP controversy.

Basically, Dr. M reveals some basic statistics on the distribution of APs in Malaysia, of which a majority of 54400 went to 20 particular companies, out of 67,000. The remainder 12600 went to the remaining 82 AP awardees.

Let’s do some basic math here.

54400 / 20 = 2720

This is an average of 2720 APs per company. Based on the market rate of RM35,000 per AP, this is an instant profit of 95.2 million ringgit a year on top of everything else. In Singapore, COEs are sold instead of given away, and the money goes to the government. Here, it goes into the bumiputra businessman’s pocket. I want to be bumiputra too.

Next, Dr. M responds to Rafidah saying that it was his administration which decided the ruling on 40% local content to qualify as national car. He says it did not fall under his control/decision, etc etc, haih. The same with the Naza Ria’s status as a national car.

Details here at Screenshots.

Click here to read the rest of Proton vs. MITI, Round 3