BMW ActiveE Getting an Electrically Streamlined Home

Coming to grips with the taxing nature EVs can have on a residential power grid is causing some car companies to explore products more akin to the housing market than the auto industry.

BMW is the latest company to announce special plans and research designed to counteract that burden by rethinking how homes use electricity. The German automaker expects to have a demo home as part of their Mountain View, Calif. technology office, completed by the end of March.

The home is designed to efficiently charge their EV, the ActiveE, which is a variation on their 1-Series while maintaining flexible power consumption to compensate for increased consumption during charging times.

Toyota introduced something similar in October, 2010 called the Toyota Smart Center, which they said would be commercially available in 2015… Do you love your Camry enough to let the same person style both your car and home? In Japan, Nissan built a demo house called Kan-kan-kyo for the same purpose.

As for BMW, they’ve paired up with Tendril, an energy management company that is helping provide data to fully examine how an EV changes household power consumption.

“We’re keen to understand how utilities will gain benefit from a program like this,” Tendril CEO Adrian Tuck said to the New York Times. “The car guys don’t want to have 3,000 relationships with all the different utilities.”

Tuck also said that even a small number of EVs charging at once could actually create demand peaks. While we’re still a long way off from having electric vehicles in every driveway, or even more than a handful per city, it could feasibly create a problem.

The auto industry is not known for sharing ideas between competitors, in fact that behavior routinely rips contracts between car companies to shreds, but keep your eye out for some serious copy cat strategy down the road.

Chevrolet is offering Volt owners a service via their OnStar system and a smartphone app that will show sources of renewable energy. That sort of power is at its peak availability during otherwise off-peak hours, encouraging Volt owners to charge off-peak.

Perhaps a similar service will be available in the future from other companies as well. For now, there are only 700 BMW ActiveEs available by lease, so it seems unlikely that they will actually market streamlined home services any time soon.

Read more: http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2012/01/bmw-activee-getting-an-electrically-streamlined-home.html

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

 

Today we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and for the 18th year a "National Day of Service."

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his life's work to make the country a better place for all.  In 1994, Congress designated the MLK Jr. holiday as a national day of service, and it is the only federal holiday observed as a national day of service - a "day on, not a day off."  The MLK Day of Service is part of United We Serve, the President's national call to service initiative, which asks all Americans from all walks of life to come together to solve the nation's most pressing problems.

Lead by the efforts of the Corporation for National and Community Service, service on MLK Jr. Day is meant to meet a tangible need in the community, or a need of the spirit.  It is a way for Americans to "celebrate Dr. King through service projects that strengthen communities, empower individuals, bridge barriers, and create solutions. How will you serve today?

Read more about Dr. King http://www.thekingcenter.org/

BMW Beats Mercedes to Take Lexus’s U.S. Top-Selling Luxury Title

Congrats, BMW!

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW)’s BMW brand outsold Daimler AG (DAI)’s Mercedes-Benz last month to cement its victory as the top luxury brand in the U.S. for 2011.

BMW’s sales rose 15 percent to 26,834 in December compared with a year earlier, the Munich-based automaker said today in a statement. With total 2011 sales at 247,907, BMW outsold Mercedes by 2,715 vehicles.

“BMW Group sales momentum has been increasing all year and this new burst of consumer confidence filled our dealer showrooms putting” BMW “over the top,” Ludwig Willisch, chief executive officer of BMW of North America, said today in a statement.

The battle between BMW and Mercedes to replace Toyota Motor Corp. (7203)’s Lexus as the top luxury brand in the U.S. after 11 years was helped by a lack of the Japanese automaker’s production following the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

The competition was so intense between BMW and Mercedes that each side refused to release their sales results yesterday until the other went first, two people familiar with the situation said. Other automakers announced December and full- year U.S. sales yesterday.

Researcher Autodata Corp. released estimates yesterday for the manufacturers using “credible industry sources,” Autodata said in an e-mail. Autodata’s results showed BMW in the lead.

Ultimately, Mercedes went first, releasing its results on PR Newswire at 8:56 a.m. New York time. BMW followed posting its release on its website about 11 a.m.

Mercedes U.S. deliveries, aided by a refreshed C-Class sedan and redesigned M-Class sport-utility vehicle, rose 28 percent to 25,701 vehicles in December, Mercedes said in its statement. Deliveries of Mercedes vehicles for the year rose 13 percent to 245,192 in the U.S.

The results exclude Daimler’s Mercedes Sprinter and Freightliner vans, and Smart cars and BMW’s Mini brand, which aren’t luxury vehicles. The 2011 full-year figures also exclude sales of the Maybach brand.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-05/bmw-projected-to-beat-mercedes-in-u-s-2011-luxury-vehicle-sales.html

Family Fun Open Swim at UPJ

Family Fun Open Swim will be held at Pitt-Johnstown Zamias Aquatic Center on the following days: January 15, 22, 29 (Sundays) and February 11 and 18th (Saturdays). From 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm on Sunday and from 1:00 to 3:30pm on Saturday. The cost is $25 per family.

Families must fill out an application and release form. One program pass will be issued to each family which must be shown for admittance to
the pool. All aquatic center rules and regulations must be followed. No family member under the age of 18 is allowed to swim without a parent or guardian present in the pool area.  Non-swimmers and beginners must be supervised by a parent/guardian who is in a bathing suit within arm’s reach of their child. Only approved flotation devices can be used. Swimmers do not have access to the gym, weight room or track.

Follow the link for more information or to print an application and release form: http://www.upj.pitt.edu/30564.pdf