#29: Tour Start, Fording depth, Sono Digital (EN)
Have a beautiful Sunday! I hope your cellars are dry and the apartment is still where it should be. I looked, we have reservations from the corner around Erftstadt and other flood areas. I hope you are well.
+++ HIGHLIGHT +++
At Sono, the 2021 tour begins Tuesday with the new prototypes. Then, on July 20 in Freiburg at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Stuttgart, July 24 - 25, Roman fort and then in Nuremberg on July 28 in the furnace.
I'll probably go to Nuremberg on the 28th, maybe we'll see you there. Unfortunately, my car is already fully booked with passengers. Otherwise, I would have offered to pick someone up on the way.
There is also a new extra page on the Sono homepage with information about the tour stops: "There will be sanitary facilities at every location. We also provide shelter in strong sun or rain".
https://sonomotors.com/de/faq-tour/general/
+++ LEFT AND RIGHT: FORDING DEPTH +++
For days my Facebook timeline has been full of "battery experts" who don't drive an electric car - but know exactly that an e-car has to be a worst-case scenario during floods. To put that on a factual level: In the datasheet of every car - regardless of whether it is a combustion or a battery- the "fording depth" is given. This is the depth of the water that you can drive through. Most vehicles are somewhere in the 25 to 40 cm ballpark.
The Mercedes GLK, the off-road vehicle for downtown Düsseldorf, sports a mere 30 cm fording depth. The electric ID.4 can drive through 40 cm deep water. Real hunters drive the Mercedes G500 4x4, which leads the pack with a whopping fording depth of 100 cm, followed by the Toyota Isis (Hilux) with 70 cm.
People in Japan are used to natural disasters, so the electric Nissan Leaf can plow 70 cm if needed. A friend of mine lives in New York and (had) an i3. The Hudson ran into the underground car park. The i3 was four meters deep in the water, it was a total economic loss, as it was the case with the combustion engines on the left and right - but nothing sparked.
After a natural disaster, electricity is usually the quickest to come back, usually after a few hours, so charging would not be an issue either. But it is always best that nothing happens.
In 2020 the Nissan Leaf even received the "Japan Resilience Award" for its ability to charge bidirectionally because entire villages can be supplied with emergency power quickly and easily after a natural disaster.
If someone is on the test drive, they can shock the team by asking about the wading depth of the Sion.
Nissan Leaf water depth test:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9plRzRZ_PY
Model X through deep water:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSR6Y2gNeI0
Japan Resilience Award for E-Auto; English, 2020:
https://global.nissannews.com/en/releases/200317-00-e
+++ FREEZE +++
September is approaching relentlessly, and with it, D-Day for the Feature Freeze. Everything has to be there. Everything still looks good - the project manager in me reckons with the Mikado effect every day. Whoever moves first and says he can't make it has lost. Experience has shown that there are always a few in the project, and August with the holiday season leaves additional holes in the project plan - everyone hopes that they don't have to be the first. We'll keep our fingers crossed and just read last week's sprint report again. As an advisory board, I can say - there are still issues, but I don't know anything that cannot be resolved.
https://sonomotors.com/de/state-of-development/
+++ DIGITAL +++
In addition to the car, Sono Digital is also busy building the first products - and the sharing app.
The implementation goes beyond the Sion; you can also provide other vehicles for sharing. In this case, sharing does not have the same level of comfort as with the Sion, and there is not necessarily a "digital key" either. But sharing is possible - right up to the physical handover of keys.
"Community rules" can be used to define what you don't like in your car, for example, cats if you are allergic to them.
https://twitter.com/SonoMotors/status/1415992999692144645
+++ JOBS +++
Some new jobs. The first job advertisement since the beginning of Sono does not use "you" / "your" but "you" / "your"! # Large corporation :-)
Commodity Buyer Automotive (f / m / x)
Conducting contract and price negotiations within your product area
Automotive Designer Exterior / Interior (f / m / d)
Independent development of attractive and innovative exterior and interior design drafts Observance of functionality and series implementation
FMEA electric vehicle engineer (f / m / d)
Responsible for the complete set-up and implementation of the FMEA (failure mode and influence analysis) Activities
Head of overall vehicle development, electric vehicle (f / m / d)
Responsible for the set-up and the leadership of our total vehicle activities
responsible for the definition of objectives, including ensuring a self-consistent, across attractive of all significant customer criteria target vehicle
Senior Program Manager electric vehicle (w / m / d)
responsible for the technical support of the entire vehicle project Sion
empowerment module and Competence teams for the management and control of time and costs and scope
https://sonomotors.jobs.personio.de/?language=de
+++ DEUTSCHE WELLE +++
Deutsche Welle reported on Sono Motors
Spanish: https://twitter.com/dw_espanol/status/1413981357257023491
German: https://www.dw.com/de/solarzellen-statt-glanzlack/av-58199295
English: https://www.dw.com/en/sion-the-disruptive-new-solar-e-car/av-58199320
+++ FUN FACT +++
A petrolhead from Hagen clearly overestimates the performance of his gasoline vehicle during the flooding. Usually we would never make fun of someone in trouble, but this case is special. See for yourself.
All the sympathy goes, without any "fun," to everyone who is affected by floods. Stay healthy. Stay safe. Nice week.
https://twitter.com/Erdkadse/status/1415751684635123721