Category: Tech & How To
Up or down, where the tailgate for better pickup truck areodynamics?
It’s an age old conundrum: What’s better for aerodynamics, driving a pickup truck with the tailgate up or tailgate down? Redneck or rocket scientist, it’s probably not what you think, and it’s definitely counterintuitive. Of course, if you have a 750-foot-long tunnel through which a 43-foot-diameter fan powered by a DC electric motor with the [...]
Volvo KERS carbon fiber flywheel hybrid successful, feasible for production
A Volvo flywheel hybrid system, or flywheel KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), has the potential to out save hybrids now on the market with a new application of a concept earlier considered but not adopted. Batteries have been the conventional—if hybrid technology of any kind can be conventional—route to storing kinetic energy by converting it [...]
Motor-in-wheel urban electric vehicle packs radical space efficiency and agility
What could you do if you didn’t have to put a motor under the hood of a car? Well, for starters you could get rid of the hood, not to mention the space underneath it. Or you could simply expand what would otherwise be a two-seater into four. That’s the idea behind the Schaeffler eWheelDrive, [...]
New seatbelt design works for Rinspeed microMAX concept, but how about your car?
The seat belt buckle has been around so long that it’s almost a joke when a flight attendant’s safety instructions include how fasten one. TRW would change that, however, at least for some applications, with a new “semi-automatic” seatbelt attachment system. The belt system is part of a semi-standing seating arrangement in the microMAX concept [...]
‘Noise-reduction wheels’ help keep Lexus LS-series sedans quiet
Noise-reduction wheels? Wheels that actually make a car quieter? Lexus engineers worked hard, no doubt, to make wheels for the 2013 Lexus LS-series lightweight and for all the usual reasons. Lighter wheels don’t take as much energy to start turning, and that gives the LS better acceleration and fuel economy. And lighter wheels, because of [...]
Volkswagen Test Center California: an air of purity
It’s remarkable how few people know the amount of work required to build the most complicated piece of machinery they own. And it’s a real wonder cars don’t cost three times what they do, mainly because of the mountain of regulations heaped upon automakers. While the government, with all its rules and requirements, pretty [...]
Range Rover Evoque Terrain Response System: Get a grip
There’s no question Range Rover and Land Rover vehicles are the most capable off-road SUVs on the planet. If you’ve ever seen a Camel Trophy competition, you know we speak the truth. And while every Range Rover vehicle easily can tackle the mud, snow, sand and grit of the rugged outback, they are equally at [...]
What is Polestar? Volvo’s speedy partner
What is Polestar? Well, unless you’re an astronomer or a Boy Scout, it’s Volvo’s official high performance and racing partner and has been since 1996. The reason you probably have never heard of them is because (a) Polestar has raced in European touring car series that receive little coverage or attention in North America, and [...]
Chevrolet Volt: It’s what’s inside that counts
The Chevrolet Volt is more than just a car: some call it a true electric vehicle; others call it a plug-in hybrid. To many, it’s a political hot potato, being discussed and dissected by everyone from Rush Limbaugh to NHTSA to every journalist in the country — automotive and otherwise. It’s also been anointed as [...]
What is the 2012 Buick Regal’s eAssist™ all about?
Automotive technologies are appearing on new vehicles faster than customers can absorb them. Hybrids, electric power, handling dynamics, lane departure warning systems and more rapidly are replacing mechanical systems that we all loved and easily understood. Which means now you need to do even more research before spending your hard-earned cash on a new [...]
