I think it is worth noting that Click and Clack from Car Talk on NPR where big proponents of the MA bill.
As with all things, everything is hackable. I previously owned a Subaru BRZ...the tuner community had several options of people who had reverse engineered the entire ECU and made new programming and maps available. They even built new functionality that allowed the cruise control stalk and other secondary controls to change engine settings on the fly.
No one from Subaru/Toyota offered this, although when the car was launched they had promised that they would. But with an Arduino and a CAN shield, and a little patience you can begin to sniff things, they don't bother to secure them.
Now I have a Chevy volt. I wish there was a bigger mod community, but mine is still under warranty. Electric motorcycles like those made by Zero tend to have different 'modes' that allow some customization of things like acceleration profiles and (especially) regenerative braking. I wish I could retune when the volt uses the engine and how...the car is a comprise on many variables. I wish the volt had that, but it will never happen for real mainline consumer products. After the warranty is up...mine may find itself with a bigger battery.
I think it is worth noting that Click and Clack from Car Talk on NPR where big proponents of the MA bill.
As with all things, everything is hackable. I previously owned a Subaru BRZ...the tuner community had several options of people who had reverse engineered the entire ECU and made new programming and maps available. They even built new functionality that allowed the cruise control stalk and other secondary controls to change engine settings on the fly.
No one from Subaru/Toyota offered this, although when the car was launched they had promised that they would. But with an Arduino and a CAN shield, and a little patience you can begin to sniff things, they don't bother to secure them.
Now I have a Chevy volt. I wish there was a bigger mod community, but mine is still under warranty. Electric motorcycles like those made by Zero tend to have different 'modes' that allow some customization of things like acceleration profiles and (especially) regenerative braking. I wish I could retune when the volt uses the engine and how...the car is a comprise on many variables. I wish the volt had that, but it will never happen for real mainline consumer products. After the warranty is up...mine may find itself with a bigger battery.