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New Zealand Developers Building Open Source Code For Electric Cars

Posted by Soulskill on from the free-and-open-source-wheelin' dept.

MatthewVD writes "New Zealand electric racecar developer Greenstage is close to finishing an open source project called 'Tumanako,' which would allow owners of electric cars and motorcycles to tweak the code in their vehicles. Electric vehicle gearheads grouse about proprietary code that keeps current, torque and speed within very conservative limits. 'In racing, you need the system to push all those parameters to the limits. You only need the system to survive until just past the finish line,' says Bill Dube, the owner of the record-setting KillaCycle. Open source code could also be used to build any type of electric vehicle, from cars and submarines to motor-launched aerial gliders, from scratch. It's like Linux for your Chevy Volt."

8 of 45 comments (clear)

  1. couple things by Osgeld · · Score: 3, Interesting

    1) I dont have a chevy volt, I bought a 40mpg Kia 2 years before the tax credits, and cash for clunkers were announced, and a little bitter that I did the right thing and got fuck all nothing for it.

    2) I dont want to sound too assie, but how many gearheads are computer / electronic nerds? This may well be the future for more professional setups, but when you have local racer Johnny brazing spade terminals for a simple toggle switch with a blow torch looking at written instructions at the drag strip I dunno, seems ripe for people to come in, take the fruits of your labor, slap it on a 1$ rom and sell it as a 299$ speed chip.

    1. Re:couple things by eggfoolr · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Me, me! I'm a gear head and an electronics nerd.

      I work in IT and race a Mazda RX7 on the weekends. I rebuilt and modified the motor and programmed the ECU! I've been wanting to build an electric race car like this for years and now I can get a head start with this project. Fantastic!

  2. Just don't let... by Zapotek · · Score: 2

    ...people named Keith download it and flash their car. (Top Gear reference, in case you're wondering)

  3. Interesting Idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    200kW Inverters, Battery Management Systems, and chargers are all high price items right now. I'm curious to see where this goes. It's an ambitious undertaking but it could be done with the right people working on the project.

  4. Electric != Autonomous by robwgibbons · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I had a weird mixed reaction to this, before I remembered what "electric car" actually means. Open-source electric cars are a great idea. However, if this were to be extended to autonomous cars I would begin to get worried. Allowing people the ability to modify the software controlling their autonomous vehicle seems to me an inherently bad idea.

  5. ArcticCore by jd · · Score: 2

    Is the gas engine equivalent. It'll be interesting to see if/when anyone actually uses either project, versus the software merely being there. The world doesn't operate according to Field of Dreams, building it means nothing. What matters is not what is there, but what people find useful.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  6. Re:Linux car distros by c0lo · · Score: 2

    ..always knew they would come at last.

    So, when the "year of Linux on race cars" is supposed to be?

    (ducks)

    --
    Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
  7. What is the relevance? by udippel · · Score: 2

    ... of an article of 2009 on April 11, 2012?
    I mean, technically.