Interiors, Cabins, and Cockpits

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems (HVAC)

Latest Stories

Technology Report
Energy

GM EVs Will Soon Provide V2H Backup Power During Blackouts

General Motors is following Ford into the home power business, using EVs to provide backup power during electric outages.

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Articles
Electronics & Computers

Addressing Thermal Management for EVs

When General Motors unveiled the 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ, the electric sport utility vehicle with a 24-module Ultium battery pack providing more than 200 kWh of energy that contributes to an...

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Articles
Sensors/Data Acquisition

Sensing to Solve EV Thermal Challenges

A common criticism of electric vehicles (EVs) is that extremes of heat and cold adversely affect their performance, particularly range. OEMs have been aware of the issue and have innovated and...

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Technology Report
Energy

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...

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Road Ready
Power

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...

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News
Power

Defrosting Tech Saves EV Battery Energy

Turning on the heater in most EVs can be a range-killing decision due to the power draw of the vehicle’s HVAC. But while cold feet reluctantly is a better option than not arriving at your...

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Articles
Design

Sustainability in Strong Supply

Sustainability no longer is a vague aspiration for OEMs and suppliers looking for a ‘green’ veil. It’s rapidly become a guiding tenet of product innovation, and ESG progress, as the industry pushes toward...

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Editorial
Power

Engineering ‘Electron Guzzlers’

Apparently, ‘gas guzzler’ now encompasses any vehicle that burns hydrocarbon fuels, no matter how efficient. Anything with an exhaust pipe.

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Technology Report
Green Design & Manufacturing

A New A/C Refrigerant Joins the Global Warming Fight

A tri-part blend refrigerant, R-456A, has been introduced as a service replacement for the original refrigerant in R-134a automotive air conditioning systems.

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News
Manned Systems

From Emissions Tech to EV Electronics

A recent visit to Eberspaecher’s North American engineering and manufacturing complex reveals how a global Tier-1 rooted in combustion-engine technology is profitably navigating the transition to the...

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News
Test & Measurement

SAE International Extends Call for Abstracts, Seeks Submissions for AeroTech Conference

Engineering Events staff at SAE International in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, have extended the call for abstracts through September 21 for the...

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Technical Innovation
Manned Systems

Lightning EMotors Adapts to Changing Electrification Market

A growing number of commercial truck fleets are moving to electric vehicles, driven partially by government mandates and support funding. For suppliers like Lightning eMotors,...

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Editorial
Energy

EV, Give Me Heat!

Cabin heating and cooling, and their negative impact on vehicle efficiency and range, are among the challenges still to be solved in battery-electric vehicles. For drivers and passengers, interior comfort — being warm...

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Articles
Energy

Electric Radiant Heat for EV Cabin Comfort

Vehicle OEMs have been steadily increasing the range of their electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEV), but the ranges they claim publicly are in ideal thermal conditions. Now comes the...

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News
Electronics & Computers

GM: Ultium Heat-Pump System Boosts EV Range, Reduces Charge Times

On the same day that General Motors president Mark Reuss confirmed there will be a fully electric version of the company’s Corvette along with a hybrid model, the company...

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News
Power

SAE WCX 2022: Driveline Flexibility Is Key for Electrification

The electrification of light-vehicle powertrains is now not just probable, it is inevitable. OEMs and suppliers around the world are looking at all possible means to reduce the...

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News
RF & Microwave Electronics

Industry Invited to Participate in AeroTech Aerospace and Defense Technical Program

SAE International is inviting global participation in its AeroTech® aerospace and defense technology conference and exhibition, which is for the first time...

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Road Ready
Lighting

2022 Jeep Compass Gets Class-Leading Safety Upgrades

An all-new interior and a significant increase in onboard safety systems comprise the major design and engineering changes made to the Jeep Compass for MY2022. The compact SUV now offers...

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News
Power

Solving the EV Range Vs. HVAC Dilemma

The loss in range from climate control operation on battery electric vehicles (BEV) has become a source of concern among automakers as many of them begin the transition from internal combustion...

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Articles
Power

Pumping EV Heat

The Automotive Career Development Center (ACDC) that I founded over 20 years ago provides training and tech support to the world’s independent electric-vehicle (EV and hybrid) technicians, who will be asked to fix and...

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News
Power

Mahle’s Hydrogen Focus Spans Fuel Cells, ICEs

Hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) technology is gaining momentum in the mobility sector, with substantial volume expected by 2025 to 2030, according to Dr. Marco Warth, director of corporate advanced...

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News
Nanotechnology

Supplier Tech Gets the Germs Out

Confidence in autonomous and rideshare mobility took a significant dive in 2020, as consumers shunned public transport due to the coronavirus pandemic. Technologies to safeguard the health and safety of...

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News
Test & Measurement

EVs Expand the Testing Envelope

In a word-association game, automotive test engineers would likely pair “emissions measurement” with “Horiba.” The Japan-based supplier is an acknowledged household-name in the testing-solutions...

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Articles
Propulsion

Supercharging the Fuel Cell

Management of air has long been a salient aspect of vehicle design. It’s also vital for the operation of hydrogen fuel cells (HFC) as those propulsion systems continue to gain favor for commercial-vehicle use...

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News
Green Design & Manufacturing

Marelli’s COVID-Killing Cabin Purifier

Marelli North America is offering a solution to the problem of interior air quality in shared-use/autonomous vehicles. The upgraded HVAC setup purifies passenger car cabin air, including the...

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News
Materials

How Ford Is Mobilizing Its Engineers in the COVID-19 Fight

The fight against COVID-19 has forced disparate industries to collaborate on a technical level not seen since World War II, in order to boost supply of vital medical equipment....

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News
Test & Measurement

Vehicle Cabin-Air Filters Can Combat Coronavirus, but Effort Is Problematic

On February 4, millions of people across China – some sheltering in place – watched the online-only launch of the Geely Icon SUV. As the China-based automaker...

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News
Materials

Porsche to Use 3D Printing to Customize Seats

Porsche is enacting a pilot program that employs 3D printing to create a customized “comfort layer” in a bucket seat that allows the user to select from several levels of support based on...

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News
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Quadricycle AV Pod Pops Open in London

Mobility “pods” regularly pop up in the automated-driving universe and the latest is a quadricycle prototype called MOTIV, claimed by its creators to “break the mold for future mobility...

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