#13: Ironing Board redesign, Sono Stories, Census Bureau (EN)
Have a great and sunny Sunday! The first quarter is already drawing to a close. It's crazy how fast the time flies.
+++ SPRINT REVIEW +++
Last Sunday it flat out slipped my list of news: every two weeks, Sono publishes the development status, and this time it was even available as a PDF. I went through the document for you, and these are the key takeaways:
The one unified large display is off the table, it two separate displays remain. Yes! I think that's good news. Not every trend also makes sense, and if you have ever driven a prototype with one display, you know how annoying this is when your co-pilot is fiddling around behind your steering wheel to enter destinations.
The “ironing board” design of the charging flap and the filigree telescopic rod mechanism to open it have been improved and are being revised. Also good news.
The service provider for airbag integration, seat belts and steering wheel can start in August - not earlier. Creating the Design Freeze for everything in September will be challenging.
The OnBoardCharger (OBC) and the high-voltage battery communication are not yet stable. The infotainment team therefore still has problems to develop their applications.Welcome to the automotive world :-) This reminds me of 2015, when a customer asked me to connect to IT systems that both did not exist, but had a clear deadline on when the task should be completed.
The design team of Sono provides assistance to two projects from the OpenNEXT project “Sion Parts for Future” to print Sion parts yourself. One takeaway for Sono is to come up with a new concept of how 3D printed parts can be integrated by end customers. I like how this small side project keeps raising the bar.
https://sonomotors.com/site/assets/files/5650/sono-motors-dev-sprint-review-cw8-21-1.pdf
All reports in the list:
https://sonomotors.com/en/state -of-development /
+++ B2B +++
Sono is serious about selling solar integration to other companies and has put a small page online and a blog post:
https://sonomotors.com/de/solar-integration/
+++ SONO STORY +++
Gladys visited several development teams in the ongoing segment “Sono Vlog”. A modified charging flap was examined with 3D glasses - not as wide as the current one, more compact, but significantly higher, similar to the Leaf or Honda E. On a test track, she and the team did some emergency braking tests from 100 km/h to 0 with “payload” (=camera crew). No distance or braking times were recorded, so we don’t know anything for sure, but one thing: yes, it is braking. It was probably not a real full emergency stop anyway, otherwise the cameraman would not have been able to continue filming hands-free. As the saying goes: if you drive electric the right way, the tears of joy run of horizontally to your ears.
+++ JOBS +++
Software developers are still hard to come by. Sono is now trying to arouse the interest of developers with a blog post - and presents the tools and the software stack on which the software platform for the Sion is developed.
https://sonomotors.com/de/blog/sono-digital-who-we-are-what-we-do-and-how-you-can-contribute/
On top, four new jobs have been added to the website:
Interior Engineer (from the Idea to the product)
Crash & Safety Engineer (requirements and test cases)
Logistics specialist (planning the inboundprocess for the production of the Sion)
Internal Audit & Risk Manager (checking, coordinating and further developing the internal control system)
https://sonomotors.jobs .personio.de
+++ ADVISORY BOARD / QUESTIONS TO SONO +++
The test drives have not yet started, so there will soon be a another on-site testing session. Like the video from Regensburg, I get to ask questions directly to the team. This time the focus is not on driving, but on “charging, interior, technology and infotainment ”. I've already received a quite few questions and updated the list. If you are still interested in something, feel free to use the comments below or go directly to the question page. I'll take all submissions with me and get the answers back to you.
https://sono.news/testdrives/virtual-test-drive-ii-eure-fragen-vor-ort-stellung
+++ FUN FACT +++
The US census bureau runs a segment called “Profile America” for more than 25 years now and showcases great american “first” in research and development. On August 31, 2016, the census bureau published:
“On this date [Aug 31] in 1955, William G. Cobb of the General Motors Corporation demonstrated the world's first solar-powered car. This vehicle didn't take the world by storm because it was a model a mere 15 inches long”. So far, so good. Pictures of this model electric car are available on Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunmobile
Seven years later, 1962, Charles Escoffier attached solar panels to a lightweight 1908 “Baker” car. It was the first solar car ever that could actually move people”.
Many websites got confused and mixed the image of the tiny miniature solar car of 1955 with the baker of 1908 and solar panels of 1962.
And the same happend on the Sono Blog Post: a picture of the 1908 baker, subtitled “Gobb’s (with a G) solar car of 1955”. Somehow, the author must have realized that something is not right there. But in a brilliant move, the text reassures the author “It may look odd… but hey, he tried”.
Besides that funny slip, the rest of the text is really good, factual correct and worth reading. Just remember:
-Mr. Cobb = tiny model solar car in 1955 for a GM exibition,
- Mr. Escoffier: first street legal solar car in 1962. Built by attaching solar panels and a battery to a vintage 1908 lightweight car.
https://sonomotors.com/en/blog/how-our-solar-technology-could-change-the-energy-supply-in-mobility/
Stay healthy. Stay positive. See you next week.
PS: This weeks cover photo is from last friday: a great late night hacking session for the Open!NEXT “Sion Parts for Future” project. I am one of the people joining the contest and we did some amazing next-level stuff. We were so focused that we did not realize that the sun went down already. Thank you, @mjeri, what a great hack day, from Kafka to Kotlin.