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Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla seeks Gigafactory architect, Uber hails carpools

Tesla is looking for an architect to help design its proposed Gigafactory battery manufacturing facility. According to the Palo Alto-based job listing, which is titled "Architect - Gigafactory," the applicant must have, among other qualifications, over five years of experience with "high-tech infrastructure and operational facilities (semiconductor, solar, battery, waste water treatment plants, etc.)." The job also includes being away from home quite a bit, as it the listing states, "This full time role requires the flexibility of traveling when needed (up to 70 percent) and doing whatever it takes to achieve project objectives." Think you've got what it takes? See the listing for yourself, here, or read more at Silicon Valley Business Journal. Tesla has appointed Robyn Denholm of Juniper Networks to its board of directors. Denholm is Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Operations Officer at Juniper Networks. Denholm replaces Brad Buss as chair of Tesla's Audit Committee and a member of the company's Compensation and Nominating and Corporate Governance committees. Buss will remain a member of Tesla's board as he joins SolarCity as CFO. Denholm is Tesla's first female director. Read more at Bloomberg, or in the press release below. Uber, the company behind the now famous ride-hailing app, is introducing its carpooling service, UberPool. The service matches drivers with (hopefully multiple) passengers going to similar destinations, with users paying just a fraction of the cost of a normal taxi, or even an Uber ride. If a rider can't get matched with a driver, they can enjoy a discounted Uber ride. As the company points out in its blog, "At these price points, Uber really is cost-competitive with owning a car, which is a game-changer for consumers." UberPool is currently running a private beta program, which it plans to expand on August 15. Read more in-depth about the UberPool at Forbes, or learn more at Uber's blog. For a few reasons why this new expansion might run afoul of archaic laws (put there to keep entrenched interests in play), check out Engadget. Plug-in hybrids are encouraging an evolution of transmission technology. Companies like Schaeffler and ZF Friedrichshafen are adapting their transmissions to include electric motors within them for use in plug-in hybrids. For example, the electric motor in ZF's eight-speed powers the transmission when the internal combustion engine is shut off.

Audi Q3 Camping Tent is der neue Aztek

The annual Wörthersee festival is much more than a land of ridiculous one-off concepts for fans of the Volkswagen Group to ogle over. Brands like Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and SEAT actually showoff some real stuff, including accessories for existing vehicles.
While we don't normally cover this (are you really interested in new floormat designs for a Skoda Rapid?), one item on this year's list caught our eye. It's for the Audi Q3, the compact crossover from the Quattro people, and well, it's something we've seen before.
Yes, that's a tent. Much like the Pontiac Aztek before it, Audi debuted a tent kit for the Q3. Now, it's not exactly like the detestable Pontiac. This tent can easily be attached and separated from the car, and it's even rated for wind speeds of up to 43 miles per hour (but not while driving, we'd guess). According to Audi, the inflatable tent can be erected in a mere seven minutes (unlike most tents, which require five hours, seven people and a degree in mechanical engineering).

Audi Sport is actually a thing, and it's set to fight BMW M, Mercedes-AMG 

"Essentially, the name Audi Sport positions an enterprise already used to become better-recognized by the public and sets itself up to grow as a result." BMW has its M performance subsidiary. Mercedes-Benz has AMG. So what does Audi have? Some would say "nothing," a few would answer "Quattro," while many others would respond to that by saying, "Don't be stupid, Quattro's their all-wheel drive system." Well, it is, but Quattro GmbH is also the name of the company that has been tasked with creating Audi's highest performance cars, plus special-order customization, customer racing, and the Audi Collection of merchandise. Trouble is, nobody really knew that, as it was in no way a public-facing brand. That all changes with the entity now rechristened as Audi Sport. It doesn't stop there. "We wanted to have recognition for the R8 and RS models on a broad level," said Filip Brabec, vice president of product development. Audi Sport allows those models to be more easily identified as something different and special, much as AMG models are. "It's not just a piece of marketing material, but it'll also be recognized at a dealership." Around half of Audi dealers in the United States have signed up to be Audi Sport dealers, granting them unique training, access to track events and signage. The dealer buildings themselves will have special areas devoted to Audi Sport. So essentially, the name Audi Sport positions an enterprise already in use to become better-recognized by the public and sets itself up to grow as a result. But be it called Quattro GmbH or Audi Sport, what is it that they exactly do? Besides the R8, which it completely developed and manufactures, all its RS models are done in concert with Audi AG. Yet, that "done in concert" process has changed a bit over the years and head of Audi Sport product development Stefan Reil has been there from the RS cars' beginning 19 years ago. "When we started, our cars were launched in the last one or two years of the base Audi cars," Reil said. "We started development when the base cars were already in development or on the road. Now we have a much closer interaction with the people at Audi AG. Even when they start the concept work for the new car, we are right there in that process." View 23 Photos In the beginning, his small team would work on developing one car, finish it, and then move onto the next. Now, his much larger team is running multiple projects at the same time.