Why the Atom electric car was made by gamers, not engineers
- January 30, 2023
- 0
Making an electric car is easier than making a real car. To make an electric car, you don’t need an engine or a gearbox, you can even do
Making an electric car is easier than making a real car. To make an electric car, you don’t need an engine or a gearbox, you can even do without cardan and half shafts. It is enough to start a body from a sudden look, come up with a little superfluous and give an ambiguous shape to every familiar detail. At the same time, you can not be shy of fantasies, since there will be no “electric train” and there will be no one to seriously start production in Russia.
The Atom electric car project only made sense for a few months, while Sergey Kogogin, general manager of KamAZ, personally boasted about it. From a quiet official, he immediately turned into John DeLorean, who declared himself the main character and owner of the project. And he even sighed in the media at the cost of 30 million personal rubles. But when Mr. Kogogin was prodded into the Criminal Code and explained that the appropriation of the Kama-1 project, created with budgetary resources, has a specific qualification under Article 159 and Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, he immediately returned it to KamAZ and boasted about his personal contribution in the domestic auto industry. After that, the Atom was no longer needed, as there is a ready-made and equally superfluous Kama electric car.
But in Russia everything is with acceleration, scope, without brakes, so neither the country nor its officials know how to stop in time. And Atom continued its unpromising development, acquiring details and participants. However, despite ongoing talks, there is no Atom electric car. Although it has been painted several times and displayed as a picture on the wall. But there is a description and several presentations. On the last of them, the authors of the idea revealed their cards.
It turns out that Atom was created by Minecraft gamers. Among those who watched offline, they managed to hold a contest. It managed to capture children aged 14 to 20 with a proposal to develop a future electric car. Why didn’t they invite car designers, engineers, designers? After all, it is also safe, since cars in Russia are not obtained from specialists or amateurs. First, because play kids living online are free. Second, they are guaranteed to fail. Third, they don’t know the car and don’t want to. Fourth, they don’t care about the outcome. Fifth, they have not yet tried such a toy.
Of the 1,400 children, 9 made it to the finals, but instead of a reward, they came up with a punishment: they would be taken out of Minecraft and forced to visit the Atom factory. A weak consolation is the assumption that there will be no plant. Otherwise, no tour guides are needed, but psychiatrists who ease the tension caused by the difference between online and offline. From nine entries, the jury chose the winner, who received a grandiose prize – a non-mutable NFT token. In the event that life suddenly ends online and suddenly begins in the Atom factory, the prize can be exchanged for a real electric car and get acquainted with the deed in reality. And who are the judges? What kind of people have chosen another picture on the wall and are going to make a fairy tale come true? There are three.
The first is Igor Povarazdnyuk, General Director of Kama JSC. The head of the Kama-1 project that Sergei Kogogin tried to usurp and for which state money was spent. As a result, the project was nevertheless appropriated. The second is Italian Roberto Piatti: an elderly hapless car designer known for three of the ugliest cars in Bertone’s history. But Piatti made an electric Opel Filo in 2001, in which the steering wheel, engine, brakes and gearbox are controlled without rigid mechanical connections, only with wires. In 2002 he painted a creepy Bertone Novanta, eventually ruining Bertone’s reputation with the most unacceptable Cadillac Villa concept, creating something pot-bellied and glassy that destroyed the image of American prestige. The third grade in the jury is the most appropriate. This is Maria Boyko, a 25-year-old girl from the village of Zakhonye-2. She sings and she’s a blogger, which is to say almost on the same wavelength as Minecraft’s online denizens.
And to us, who remained offline, Igor Povarazdnyuk, general manager of JSC Kama, gave a detailed explanation: Atom is not just an electric car, an explosive mixture of a car and software.
Minecraft photo.
The Atom electric car project only made sense for a few months, while Sergey Kogogin, general manager of KamAZ, personally boasted about it. From a quiet official, he immediately turned into John DeLorean, who declared himself the main character and owner of the project. And he even sighed in the media at the cost of 30 million personal rubles. But when Mr. Kogogin was prodded into the Criminal Code and explained that the appropriation of the Kama-1 project, created with budgetary resources, has a specific qualification under Article 159 and Article 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, he immediately returned it to KamAZ and boasted about his personal contribution in the domestic auto industry. After that, the Atom was no longer needed, as there is a ready-made and equally superfluous Kama electric car.
But in Russia everything is with acceleration, scope, without brakes, so neither the country nor its officials know how to stop in time. And Atom continued its unpromising development, acquiring details and participants. However, despite ongoing talks, there is no Atom electric car. Although it has been painted several times and displayed as a picture on the wall. But there is a description and several presentations. On the last of them, the authors of the idea revealed their cards.
It turns out that Atom was created by Minecraft gamers. Among those who watched offline, they managed to hold a contest. It managed to capture children aged 14 to 20 with a proposal to develop a future electric car. Why didn’t they invite car designers, engineers, designers? After all, it is also safe, since cars in Russia are not obtained from specialists or amateurs. First, because play kids living online are free. Second, they are guaranteed to fail. Third, they don’t know the car and don’t want to. Fourth, they don’t care about the outcome. Fifth, they have not yet tried such a toy.
Of the 1,400 children, 9 made it to the finals, but instead of a reward, they came up with a punishment: they would be taken out of Minecraft and forced to visit the Atom factory. A weak consolation is the assumption that there will be no plant. Otherwise, no tour guides are needed, but psychiatrists who ease the tension caused by the difference between online and offline. From nine entries, the jury chose the winner, who received a grandiose prize – a non-mutable NFT token. In the event that life suddenly ends online and suddenly begins in the Atom factory, the prize can be exchanged for a real electric car and get acquainted with the deed in reality. And who are the judges? What kind of people have chosen another picture on the wall and are going to make a fairy tale come true? There are three.
The first is Igor Povarazdnyuk, General Director of Kama JSC. The head of the Kama-1 project that Sergey Kogogin tried to usurp and for which state money was spent. As a result, the project was nevertheless appropriated. The second is Italian Roberto Piatti: an elderly hapless car designer known for three of the ugliest cars in Bertone’s history. But Piatti made an electric Opel Filo in 2001, in which the steering wheel, engine, brakes and gearbox are controlled without rigid mechanical connections, only with wires. In 2002 he painted a creepy Bertone Novanta, eventually ruining Bertone’s reputation with the most unacceptable Cadillac Villa concept, creating something pot-bellied and glassy that destroyed the image of American prestige. The third grade in the jury is the most appropriate. This is Maria Boyko, a 25-year-old girl from the village of Zakhonye-2. She sings and she’s a blogger, which is to say almost on the same wavelength as Minecraft’s online denizens.
And to us, who remained offline, Igor Povarazdnyuk, general manager of JSC Kama, gave a detailed explanation: Atom is not just an electric car, an explosive mixture of a car and software.
Source: Avto Vzglyad
Donald Salinas is an experienced automobile journalist and writer for Div Bracket. He brings his readers the latest news and developments from the world of automobiles, offering a unique and knowledgeable perspective on the latest trends and innovations in the automotive industry.
