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Editorial

Manufacturing & Prototyping

EV Confidence

EVs are not for everyone. Not yet, anyway. But despite the headlines, there’s no reason to lose confidence in the overall EV trajectory that’s been underway for the last dozen years or so.

News

Energy

LA Auto Show 2023: Revenge of the Hybrids

Electrification was still a thing at mid-November’s 2023 Los Angeles Auto Show, but there was no lack of ICE and hybrid powertrains sprinkled throughout the various debuts and unveilings. The...

News

Propulsion

2024 Lexus TX Has Three Powertrain Options – ICE, Hybrid, PHEV – and It Shows

Despite its considerable size, the new Lexus TX does not lumber. It does not struggle. Instead, Lexus’ latest three-row SUV provides surprisingly smooth...

News

Power

Toyota Still Favors Nickel-Metal Hydride Batteries for HEVs

Toyota has no immediate plans to drop its decades-long history of using NiMH (nickel-metal hydride) batteries, a stark contrast to other automakers solely offering electrified...

News

Power

2023 Battery Show North America Opens as Automakers, Suppliers Intensify Battery Investments

As the world’s major auto markets begin an inexorable shift to EVs and hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), any discussion of the engineering behind...

Technology Report

Electronics & Computers

Fully Charged in Six Minutes?

Battery technology company Nyobolt and UK-based design and engineering consultancy Callum are collaborating on a demonstration of new lithium-ion battery tech that would permit the full charge of a vehicle in...

News

Propulsion

2024 Land Cruiser Returning to Roots

After three years away from the U.S. market with its range-topping SUV, the Land Cruiser, Toyota unveiled the redesigned 2024 Land Cruiser in Salt Lake City on Aug. 1. The model, long known around the...

News

Power

Mazda’s Revived Rotary Engine Starts Production

Mazda, the automaker with the longest and richest history of using the Wankel rotary engine announced on June 22, 2023 that it resumed mass production of rotary engines for a new variant of...

News

Imaging

VW Introduces Singular ID.Buzz in Three-Row Layout

As automakers keep rolling out new EV models, a kind of sameness has crept into the proceedings. Put a four-door sedan or crossover on a skateboard platform with a 90-kWh-or-so battery, a...

News

Imaging

New Lexus SUVs: GX for Show, TX for Dough?

Normally, automakers launch models one at a time. It generally ensures media, dealer and fan focus. Introducing more than one comes with the risk of one model getting more attention. That’s what...

Technology Report

Energy

Toyota to Add Battery Lab at Michigan R&D Campus

Toyota will invest nearly $50 million for a new automotive battery lab at its R&D headquarters in York Township, Michigan. The lab is expected to be operational in 2025, the same year...

Road Ready

Propulsion

Dodge Ready with a Sting for the Compact-SUV Market

If you accept that the oddball and odd-sized Journey never was a legit rival for the likes of the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 and Ford Escape — and it wasn’t — Stellantis’ Dodge brand...

Articles

Regulations/Standards

Fuels to Transition the Global Legacy Fleet

Put the promise of mass vehicle electrification and its myriad challenges aside for a moment, and consider: What if most IC-engine vehicle owners don’t switch to EVs as the industry and...

Articles

Regulations/Standards

Europe’s Dust Buster

In a proposal submitted in November of 2022, the European Commission detailed its new Euro 7 vehicle emissions standard, which is widely expected to be approved by the European Parliament and Council and begin...

Road Ready

Energy

Toyota Launches Longer-Range 2023 Prius Prime

Toyota’s rollout of the 2023 Prius is a two-phase affair. Although the company didn’t say it outright, the launch seems targeted to address two distinct Prius customers. Those who just want...

News

Power

Spelling Ford with an ‘E’

One year ago, Ford Motor Co. kicked off a new era in its long history when it bifurcated into two strategically interdependent auto businesses. Ford Blue, the “traditional” business, is responsible for the...

Road Ready

Transportation

Toyota Stretches SUV Line-Up with World Debut of Grand Highlander

The new Grand Highlander is a three-row midsize SUV, just like Highlander. So it’s not surprising that the Toyota siblings share two powertrains.

News

Power

Deere Pursues Electric Construction Machines and Charging Infrastructure

John Deere revealed its first electric excavator, the 145 X-Tier, at CES 2023 in January and used the CONEXPO Show in March to continue showcasing its electrification...

Technology Report

Connectivity

SAE Launches New Standards Document to Rate Power of Electrified Vehicles

In late February 2023, SAE International announced the release of a standards document to provide a common testing procedure to rate the maximum power of electrified...

Technology Report

Manned Systems

Brunswick Launches All-Electric Marine Outboard

Brunswick Corp. made several product announcements at CES 2023 in Las Vegas. The company showcased their electrification efforts for recreational boats under their Mercury Marine brand with...

Technology Report

Mechanical & Fluid Systems

BMW Takes Multi-Modal Route to Manufacturing

BMW’s Munich factory remains the fertile root of a century of manufacturing, including its first R32 motorcycle in 1923. But the Bavarian automaker’s oldest assembly site is transforming...

Road Ready

Automotive

Mazda’s 2024 CX-90 Offers Turbo I-6, PHEV Propulsion

With crossover SUVs now the backbone of its North American sales volume, Mazda this week revealed the CX-90 SUV, a fullsize 3-row model to serve as the brand’s flagship when it goes...

Application Briefs

Design

Electric Hybrid Propulsion System

Allison Transmission has introduced the new eGen Force electric hybrid propulsion system for tracked combat vehicles.

News

Transportation

Time for Hydrogen

After decades of R&D, some false starts, and a smattering of low-volume production vehicles, hydrogen has emerged as a vital enabler for carbon reduction across the transportation sector. In gaseous form, our lightest...

News

Power

Tuning the 2024 Corvette E-Ray for Exceptional Drivability

The challenge with any hybrid-electric vehicle is programming two propulsion sources to provide seamless response in every driving mode—acceleration, braking, cruising, etc. And...

News

Power

BMW Previews an HMI Future Without Dashboard Screens

The BMW i Vision Dee is an electric tease, dialed up to Las Vegas wattage for a provocative unveiling at CES 2023: A novel digital grille, wrapped with Kindle-style “E-ink” material,...

Road Ready

Power

High-Performance Hybrid Headlines Lexus’s Re-Engineered RX Lineup

Electrification is a pillar of Lexus’s “next chapter.” The fifth-generation Lexus RX progresses this objective, offering four new powertrains including a...

News

Manufacturing & Prototyping

The Haters Go After Toyota

Want your company to be the target of haters? Here’s a sure way to do it, as proven in 2022.

Articles

Regulations/Standards

Tension and the Electric Takeover

Something happened in September 2022 that can be seen as emblematic of the auto industry’s accelerating transition to electrification: Tesla’s Model Y was Europe’s best-selling vehicle. An EV as an...