Apple To Use VW Technology; VW Could Be Subject Of Criminal Probe -- September 21, 2015

Crude oil (the "crawler") is up 4% today.

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Apple to "ship" its first electric car in 2019. Will use Volkswagen technology.

Apple has hired this year Megan McClain, a former Volkswagen engineer with expertise in automated driving, and Vinay Palakkode, a graduate researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, a hub of automated driving research.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, as they say in the area, Bloomberg is reporting that Volkswagen may be the target of a criminal probe following allegations of messing with emissions systems in their diesel vehicles.

Both news items were posted on-line the same day. Timing is everything.

From Macos Rumors regarding the AppleCar:

Apple has already been aggressively hiring for its car project, poaching employees from companies like Ford, General Motors, Tesla, Volkswagen, and more. Many of its recent hires have expertise in connected and autonomous vehicle systems. 

I assume the prototype will be a bit wide so that the model that is actually shipped can be marketed as "thinner."

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Transmitting Electricity

This comes in "response" to the article about Texas and wind power (posted yesterday):

According to the Department of Energy, California lost about 19.7 x 109 kWh of electrical energy through transmission/distribution in 2008. 

This amount of energy loss was equal to 6.8% of total amount of electricity used in the state throughout that year. At the 2008 average retail price of $0.1248/kWh, this amounts to a loss of about $2.4B worth of electricity in California, and a $24B loss nationally.

The reader who sent me that noted: 12 cents/kWh was in the "old days."

The reader also noted that the real energy loss is converting natural gas to electricity ... that's why it just kills me to see electricity used for cars. If you want to burn natural gas in your car, great. But don't convert it to electricity first; that's as dumb as using natural gas to grow and ferment corn for ethanol.

The reader's recommendation:

• coal for electricity
• natural gas for transportation
• refined crude for export
• go all electric when nuclear fusion is perfected, deployed, and in operation

And for those interested in crude oil exports, a better solution is light oil swaps for heavy oil and refine here in the states.