Overdrive

Hello and welcome to Overdrive, a program that contemplates issues related to cars and transport.

• Coronavirus impact on car sales (1:21)

• Vehicle dealerships are open for Takata airbag repairs (2:11)

• No road user charges in London (3:07)

• Is it the time to get a bargain on a new car (4:04)

• Car company incentives offer incentives (4:58)

• We talk to the CEO of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries about were car sales are going (6:06)

• Motoring Minute Peugeot 508 GT Sports Wagon (12:55)

• Rob Fraser and I discuss taking two utes to the country (12:54)

• Motoring Minute Subaru Levorg (19:50)

• Quirky news – with Alan Zurvas on deodorizing tyres (21:22)

You can find more information at Driven Media or previous programs are available as podcasts on iTunes or Spotify. or our Facebook site OverdriveCity

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKyx5sv6cgF4URRmNq2JiXg/videos

So, let’s start with the news

Originally broadcast 11 April 2020

How the transport industry must cope with the coronavirus is often seen in very one-dimensional steps: Travel less; keep your distance. But there are many factors that interplay in the services we provide and the way the public uses them. It might seem simple, until there is a catastrophe.

But if we are forced into looking at traffic and transport issues for this event what can it teach us about how we manage in the “typical” situation?

We spoke to Wendy Adam who has a long career in transport, planning, and management and has given much to the industry, including being AITPM branch president in New South Wales and Queensland.

In regard to the Coronavirus, we must be totally committed to limiting travel and washing hands and so on. But some people will still have to travel. Is there still a role for public transport? And if so, what are or should the service providers be doing?

Yale Wong is from the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies at Sydney University. He has been looking at this situation around the world.

Hello and welcome to Overdrive, where we stay at home and luxuriate in our dreams of cars and transport.

• Coronavirus keeping your car virus free (1:19)

• Ways to use your caravan while self-isolating (2:18)

• Car companies’ equipment for Coronavirus patients (3:15)

• The need to collect data (4:24)

• Hyundai’s Exoskeleton Wins Design Award (5:19)

• We talk to an Australian start up about an exciting new way to recycle tyres (6:28)

• Just before the shutdown we took two utes out onto the farm (14:30)

• Quirky news – with Brian Smith (20:21)

You can find more information at Driven Media or previous programs are available as podcasts on iTunes or Spotify. or our Facebook site OverdriveCity

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKyx5sv6cgF4URRmNq2JiXg/videos

So, let’s start with the news

Originally broadcast 4 April 2020

Hello and welcome to Overdrive, a program where we put the world of motoring and transport under the microscope.

• World-first study tests distraction and fatigue in drivers (1:29)

• New Battery Technology (2:20)

• Car industry helps fight Coronavirus (3:19)

• Truck Changes because of Coronavirus (4:06)

• How insurance we reflect modern technology (4:51)

• Two interviews on transport lessons from Coronavirus

• What measures we can take to reduce the risk on public transport (5:44)

• Does this catastrophe show the limitations of private ownership (12:56)

• Quirky news – what sort of cars do angry men drive? (20:50)

You can find more information at Driven Media or previous programs are available as podcasts on iTunes or Spotify. OR our Facebook site OverdriveCity

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKyx5sv6cgF4URRmNq2JiXg/videos

So, let’s start with the news

Originally broadcast 28 March 2020

World-first study tests distraction and fatigue in drivers

A vehicle crash is rarely due to just one factor. Australian research has highlighted the combined impact of distraction and fatigue in truck drivers and what the industry is doing about it.

Using Australia’s first Truck Simulator, Monash University researchers conducted tests on 74 truck drivers under different conditions.

The drivers were sleep deprived and then intentionally distracted during driver simulation for two-hours. Researchers recorded 29 crashes in the simulator, with 72% in fatigue condition and 28% of the crashes while drivers were alert. Drivers were twice as likely to crash when fatigued, but 11 times more likely to crash when fatigue and distraction were both present.

Researchers were also able to accurately detect a driver’s level of fatigue while the driver’s eyes were still open, in real-time, and before a safety critical event such as a micro sleep occurs.

Samsung All-Solid-State Battery Technology

There was once a time when improvements to cars obviously had to come from the existing car industry and be first reported in motoring magazines. But now other manufactures and reporting avenues are getting into the act.

Researchers from Samsung have presented the results of a study on high-performance, long-lasting all-solid-state batteries to Nature Energy, one of the world’s leading scientific journals.

The batteries have a larger capacity, a longer cycle life, and enhanced overall safety.

The prototype pouch cell would enable an electric vehicle to travel up to 800km on a single charge, with a cycle life of over 1,000 charges. That means your vehicle could travel 800,000 kilometres with little battery degradation.

It has also meant that the prototype is approximately 50 percent smaller by volume than a conventional lithium-ion battery.

A solid-state battery uses solid electrodes and electrolyte, instead of the liquid or polymer gel electrolytes found in lithium-ion or lithium polymer batteries.

Car and race companies to build ventilators

Fighting the Coronavirus is not just about medicines. Respirator are critical to help sick people breath and the car manufacturing and racing industries are stepping in to help the fight.

When Apollo 13 had its mishap the engineers on the ground had to apply their skills to get a quick solution.

The motor industry thinks it has skills that can help the Coronavirus situation.

They can’t produce a vaccine but can help expedite the building of respirators for those who have caught the virus and are having trouble breathing.

General Motors is offering its logistics, purchasing and manufacturing expertise to help Ventec Life Systems build more of its ventilators.

Some formula 1 teams have offered to use their skills in rapid development in a similar way while Ferrari is to contribute help in providing machinery needed for intensive care such as fans and respirators.

Interview with Stephen Lester – MD Nissan Australia

• Hero cars, like the N-Trek Warrior are important across the range

• Nissan would still like to have some sedans but there are none available at the moment

• Electric cars offer a much different canvas for car designers

• They are well on the way to getting bi-directional charge approved for the Leaf (use you car battery for a period to run your house, outdoor machine, camping site etc)

• Thirty percent of the range should be electric by 2022

• There is a necessity for change in how we've motored for the last 100 years and how we will plan to motor for the next 100 years.

Hello and welcome to Overdrive a program that plays around a bit with cars and transport.

1. $2m funding to an Australian Electric veh company (1:32)

2. 140 countries pledged to eliminate traffic deaths. (2:22)

3. Mitsubishi ASX (3:32)

4. Stubborn, angry men are more likely to own luxury cars (4:31)

5. Diesel Brothers hit with big fine (5:37)

6. Motoring Minute – Audi A5 (6:41)

7. Hyundai’s new Elantra has a big launch in NY (8:13)

8. Motoring Minute – Peugeot 508 (16:54)

9. Motoring Minute - Mazda 3 (17:65)

10. Quirky news - bicycle shop owner who opposes bicycle priority measures. (19:26)

11. Motoring Minute - (25:20)

You can find more information at Driven Media or previous programs are available as podcasts on iTunes or Spotify. OR our Facebook site OverdriveCity

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKyx5sv6cgF4URRmNq2JiXg/videos

So, let’s start with the news

Originally broadcast 21 March 2020

Welcome to Overdrive, a program where we put the world of motoring and transport under the microscope.

1. Future mobility - who is calling the shots? (1:17)

2. Safeguards to keep drivers focused with semi-autonomous vehicles (2:12)

3. Ford Puma SUV (3:10)

4. Audi SQ8 TDI (4:09)

5. VW Amarok 580 (5:15)

6. How will the Coronavirus affect transport? We talk to transport planner Brian Smith (6:07)

7. Road testing the VW ute in a tough family situation (17:15)

You can find more information at Driven Media or previous programs are available as podcasts on iTunes or Spotify. OR our Facebook site OverdriveCity

So, let’s start with the news

Originally broadcast 14 March 2020

Hello and welcome to Overdrive a program that broods over the world of cars and transport

1. A paradigm shift brough about by EVs (1:26)

2. Holden Sales Crash (2:15)

3. Are old Holdens worth more now that the brand is going? (3:02)

4. Plug-in Electric Vehicles (3:52)

5. Feedspot’s top 10 transport podcasts (4:44)

6. Extended interview with Stephen Lester from Nissan Australia about car image and future directions (5:42)

7. And we hear from Dean Oliver and his early motoring experiences including buying a performance car and getting a stern lecture from his bank manager (16:40)

You can find more information at Driven Media or previous programs are available as podcasts on iTunes or Spotify. OR our Facebook site OverdriveCity

So, let’s start with the news

Originally broadcast 07 March 2020

Hello and welcome to Overdrive, a program that practices what it preaches, most of the time, on the subject of cars and transport.

This week we concentrate on Holden, that famous Australia car brand that will soon cease to exist.

In the news

1. From Craft to economies of scale (1:22)

2. General Motors did the holden name well (2:32)

3. Was the first Holden that good (3:37)

4. Button plan (4:32)

5. Did Holden build the wrong type of cars (5:39)

6. And we hear from a range of people whose families owned holdens from the first model.

• Fred Brain and 1969 350 Monaro (6:52)

• Terry Thompson owning old Holden (15:53)

• Alan Finlay – racing and EH (21:02)

You can find more information at Driven Media or previous programs are available as podcasts on iTunes or Spotify. OR our Facebook site OverdriveCity

So, let’s start with the news

Originally broadcast 22 February 2020