Tesla and Toyota Join Forces

From Ecogeek: http://www.ecogeek.org/component/content/article/3172

These two automotive companies from opposite extremes of manufacturing scale are starting a 'joint project' to build electric cars together. Somewhat like the Geely/vovlo/PML merger I blogged; upcoming new-tech companies being assimilated or formally backed by the powerful existing market leaders.

Toyota-Tesla should have a sizeable lead over Geely et al, with the Prius already dominating the hybrid market, not to mention Geely currently produce less than 4% as many cars as Toyota (the world leading manufacture). However, looking at it from another angle: Geely's vehicle sales shot up 59% in 2009, outstripping their own targets during a global recession. Also, they are China based. China overtook the US to be the country producing the 2nd most road vehicles in 2008. By the end of 2009 they had almost doubled Japan's yearly figure; that's more than the US and Japan combined.

I don't see as much raw technology innovation within Tesla (as with PML's drive system), and the Prius still has fairly modest capabilities. My prediction is that the Toyota-Tesla partnership will either:

- Come up with some equally advanced electric drive train advances.

- Loose market share, perhaps even market dominance, in the longer term.

Of course, pretty much every car manufacturer has *something* electric due out in the next few years: Plug-In Vehicle Tracker: What’s Coming, When

+ Of the worlds most fecund manufacturers:

- GM's volt is due out this year. It has offerings for Israel and Denmark too, which is significant because they are trial locations for ubiquitous electric car infrastructure rollout. Renault and Nissan are partnered up for that already. See YouTube video explanation, or Shai Agassi's inspirational TED speech.

- Nissan's "Leaf" has sold out in for 2010 (though no production until 2012/2013).

- VW has good solid diesel cars, which are going to be more environmentally friendly over for some time, but the company could get left out if their 'halo' electric concept cars don't start rolling of production lines too.

- Honda has hybrids out, right now, that presumably square up to Toyota's. However, no plug-ins with release dates, and they've wasted a lot of effort on hydrogen powered research.

+ Source for Automotive Industry figures (with pretty graphs): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry

"River of Gods" by Ian McDonald (2004)

This is a difficult novel, both to read and review. It doesn't fit any one sci-fi sub-genre. Some of it's best attributes are also seriously problematic. It is big, 576 pages my in my pretty paperback edition. It tries to do too much.

Each of the first 8 chapters are devoted entirely to separate main characters, which is quite an ambitious idea, but does not a page-turner make; it's page 79 before we get to follow up on a storyline. This places a big burden on one's memory, it is not a casual read, particularly as nearly all the characters and places are Indian. Perhaps it would make a good TV (mini) series, particularly if it features the suggest soundtrack: Thievery Corporation, Asian Dub Foundation, Nitin Sawhney, Portishead, Sigur Ros, etc.

I do like the idea of a sci-fi novel in this setting, it presents a conduit for fans of the genre to be introduced into a geographically new cultural background. It certainly got me to look up information about Hindu deities and such. There is a glossary at the back too, but it often didn't have an entry for the words I wanted to look up, and using it further interrupts reading flow.

A truly futuristic tilt is implicitly acknowledging that the world will be far less western centric in several decades time (though China is barely ever mentioned at all). The US is still exerting political pressures on the Balkanised remains of India, but the height of AI science is taking place in our fictional splinter state: "Bharat". Admittedly, this is largely because it hasn't fully given in to US demands to apply it's Hamilton act, banning high level AIs (originally cooked up on basis of bible belt moral views it seems). Politically, this kind of situation seems aptly plausible, with DMCA type IP law being exported around the world at the moment, ACTA, etc.

+ Characters and Plot Summary:

While I felt the whole novel could just about squeeze into the same universe as Vernor Vinge's "Rainbows End" (a little novel I really liked and should have blogged by now), while some of the character's chapters have specific other feels: