Why are Cars HEAVY and Complicated? - TST Podcast #831

Want to understand cars better? This is the show. David Twohig is an automotive engineer, journalist, and author. He was an engineering lead for the Nissan Qashqai, Alpine A110, Renault Zoe, and BYTON. On this episode he explains why cars are so hard to build; why focusing on weight isn't the priority of most OEMs; how expensive it is to change a button; the rising popularity of '90s Japanese cars in Europe; and so much more.
His book, "Inside the Machine: An Engineer’s Tale of the Modern Automotive Industry" is a great insight into how difficult it is to build a car. The book gives some insight into why car companies do what they do and make the decisions they make. If you've ever asked "Why did they do that?" this book might give you some understanding.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/59522165

https://www.the-intercooler.com/library/writers/david-twohig/ https://www.cargroup.org/person/david-twohig/
Recorded May 26, 2023

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0:00 Sponsors
2:45 Show contents
4:03 Start - Inside the Machine
7:28 David’s career
13:30 Developing a car vs enthusiast cars
18:00 Fractions of pennies
23:34 Factor sponsor
26:16 Shelby GT500
27:12 Biggest spend, smallest return
30:36 90’s cars popularity
32:38 Sponsor Caldera Lab
35:17 Sponsor Bird Dogs
36:48 Why cars are heavy- Alpine A110
40:44 Relaunching Alpine brand
43:50 NOT having a rear wing
47:13 Curves are expensive
48:20 Nitty gritty engineering
51:33 EV car’s biggest surprise
53:15 Standardizing EV chargers
1:00:15 Testing every charger in Paris
1:02:49 Alpine project support risks
1:08:42 Competitors to Alpine A110
1:11:00 Becoming a writer
1:16:20 Patreon
1:16:45 Low volume cars getting around crash testing
1:20:04 How to become an automotive engineer
1:23:15 Engineer bench-marking
1:25:10 Building around an engine?
1:26:20 Why Nissan loves CVTs
1:27:45 Lessons learned about management
1:28:55 Business case for killing small EVs
1:32:44 Time consuming tasks
1:34:28 Why EVs have more bugs
1:39:17 Repairability engineering
1:40:05 Lotus and Alpine not joining up
1:41:05 Buy “Inside the Machine”
1:42:18 What does David drive?
1:46:30 Thanks David!

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Видео Why are Cars HEAVY and Complicated? - TST Podcast #831 канала TheSmokingTirePodcast