Latest Stories

News
Propulsion

Bollinger Motors Reveals Second-Gen Class-3 EV Prototypes

Bollinger Motors recently unveiled its second-generation Class-3 EV prototypes. The start-up, based in Ferndale, Michigan, revealed the latest beta of its B1 SUV and B2 truck...

Feature Image

Articles
Energy

Volvo's Tricks of the EV Trade

Volvo first demonstrated its Integrated Starter Generator (ISG) at the 2001 Frankfurt Motor Show. Replacing the starter-motor and alternator with the ISG allows a gas engine to shut off at will — mainly to...

Feature Image

Road Ready
Nanotechnology

Chevy Reveals 2020 Corvette Stingray Convertible, C8.R Racer

Reinforcing the Corvette’s long association with astronauts, Chevrolet unveiled the convertible version of its all-new, mid-engine-layout 2020 Corvette Stingray in Cape...

Feature Image

News
Energy

ACeDrive Consortium Plans More Efficient EV Powertrain

It’s called ACeDrive, which may sound innocuous for an auto-industry project, but the consortium that formed it has announced that it seeks to develop the world’s lightest and most...

Feature Image

Technology Report
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Battery Experts: Solid-State EV Tech Could Be Five Years Out

Solid-state batteries are the “reach” energy-storage technology slated to take electric vehicles (EVs) –and to a lesser extent, other consumer-electronic products – to...

Feature Image

Technology Report
Power

Is the Camshaft Being Timed Out?

The development of electric vehicle motors, power controls and batteries tend dominate today’s industry’s headlines, but R&D of internal combustion engine technologies in its many forms continues....

Feature Image

News
Energy

Mahle Reveals ‘Fits All’ Modular and Scalable Integrated Hybrid Powertrain

Mahle is developing a complete “fits all, off-the-shelf” modular hybrid-drive propulsion system for a wide range of automakers’ models, designed to cut...

Feature Image

News
Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Tesla Cybertruck Takes Styling, Materials Risks

Tesla has unveiled its latest concept electric vehicle (EV), the Cybertruck. Revealed at a post-L.A. Auto Show event at Tesla’s design center just south of L.A. in Hawthorne, California on...

Feature Image

News
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Ford Unveils 2021 Mustang Mach-E Electric Vehicle

With the unveiling of the 2021 Mustang Mach-E electric vehicle (EV), Ford seems to be betting the way to expand mainstream America’s demand for EVs through its collective right foot. The...

Feature Image

News
Energy

Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Optimize EV Batteries

Everywhere you turn these days, there’s news about the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform our lives—from diagnosing cancers to devising better pick-up lines at...

Feature Image

Articles
Robotics, Automation & Control

Toposens 3D Sonar Seeks Objects Overlooked by Lidar

Alexander Rudoy was spending almost every hour of his free time developing a robotic toy fish that could sense its underwater surroundings. At the time he was studying electromechanical...

Feature Image

News
Software

Volkswagen Turns Classic Van into Innovative, Retro-Ride EV

“Hello, Eric,” said the vehicle. “Are you ready to go?” responded Eric Glaser, a principal product designer at Volkswagen’s Innovation and Engineering Center California...

Feature Image

News
Unmanned Systems

2020 Volkswagen Passat GTE

A mid-life update and up-spec for Volkswagen’s Europe-built Passat range brings a plug-in hybrid-electric (PHEV) version – a first for the model – for MY2020. Not for the first time (the Phaeton was one...

Feature Image

Technology Report
Regulations/Standards

A Mirrorless Future? NHTSA Seeks Input on Exterior Cameras

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in early October distributed a notice soliciting industry and public input on whether to allow “camera monitoring...

Feature Image

Articles
Power

Optimizing NVH for EVs

Despite global sales market share stuck at single-digit levels, electric vehicles (EVs) are steadily filling the development pipelines at major OEMs. And as engineers are acutely aware, EVs bring a paradigm shift in the noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) arena.

Feature Image

Articles
Design

Conti Suits Up

The technology of “technical garments” isn’t a topic we typically cover in Automotive Engineering. In fact, this article is a first – and it’s more about how Continental AG is leveraging its engineering depth and breadth across business sectors to engage new markets than it is about fabric denier and thread count.

Feature Image

What We’re Driving
Power

2020 Corolla Hybrid

Will Americans purchase a small, affordable, normal-looking hybrid? That appears to be Toyota’s mission with this new Corolla, which borrows liberally from its world-beating cousin.

Feature Image

Articles
Connectivity

Expanding Fast Charging Faster

There’s a potential speed bump ahead on the road to commercial electric vehicle (EV) adoption that few people are talking about. According to Jeff Wolfe, Tritium’s president of the Americas, by 2030...

Feature Image

Road Ready
Power

2019 Frankfurt Auto Show: Porsche Unveils Taycan Electric Sedan

After four years of teasing and meticulously-metered release of technical details, Porsche unveiled the production version of its Taycan electric vehicle (EV) at this week’s...

Feature Image

News
Energy

Cutting Weight Seen as less Important in Automated and Shared Vehicles

After long demonstrating lightweighting with steel for contemporary passenger vehicles, the Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI) is slightly changing the tune for a...

Feature Image

News
Power

Continental Tire Rolls Towards a Smart and Connected Future

It is difficult to become emotional about tires except when they – literally – let us down. But tires are set to get smarter, communicate more effectively and react to...

Feature Image

Articles
Power

Casting Around for Lightweighting Solutions

“Get more [efficiency] from less [weight, time, cost],” is a mantra that will be chanted sotto voce by many an automotive designer and engineer facing the latest list of a new vehicle’s...

Feature Image

Road Ready
Energy

New-Generation Nissan Versa Breaks for Higher Ground

Subcompact cars hardly are spotlight-grabbers at the moment, but Nissan has nonetheless delivered up an all-new 2020 Versa that notches higher fuel economy, quicker acceleration, tighter...

Feature Image

What's Online
Power

Fuel-Cell Nanoparticle Clusters May Cut Platinum Catalyst Costs

Fuel-cell technology is a big subject with some very small but vital aspects, one of which is the size of atomic platinum clusters. Reduce these and the amount of platinum...

Feature Image

Road Ready
Manned Systems

Mercedes-Benz EQS Concept: The S-Class of Electric Vehicles?

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class for decades helped form the automotive definition for “flagship.” With electric propulsion seemingly set to revolutionize the industry, the company...

Feature Image

News
Power

Protean Electric Aims for Pirouetting Autonomous EVs

Designing and engineering 360º steering capability for a production autonomous electric vehicle (EV) is no mean feat. But Protean Electric also combines this pirouetting capability with...

Feature Image

News
Propulsion

Volkswagen Signals New EV Era with Launch of ID.3

Multi-brand, multinational automotive powerhouse Volkswagen crossed a strategic inflection point when its all-new ID.3 electric vehicle (EV) was revealed at the 2019 Frankfurt auto show....

Feature Image

News
Energy

The New Gas Tank: Constellium Preps Its First OEM Battery Tray

The “gas tank” is about to get a lot more sophisticated. Electric vehicle (EV) battery trays are highly-engineered components that barely existed a few years ago but play a...

Feature Image

Q&A
Power

Engineering Battery Packs for the ‘Underserved’ OEMs

Few battery experts in the mobility industry can match the engineer/entrepreneur spirit of Subash Dhar. In a career spanning nearly 40 years, Dhar is co-inventor of over 45 patents and patent applications in the field of advanced batteries and fuel cell technologies.

Feature Image