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Articles
Materials

2018 Create the Future Design Contest: Aerospace & Defense Category Winner

DETECTING PLASTIC LANDMINES Hidden PFM-1 anti-personnel landmines are unexploded ordnance (UXO) devices that pose a difficult challenge to conventional landmine...

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Articles
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Electrifying the Two-Wheeler

Alta Motors did not set out to create a zero-emission vehicle or invent a vital cog in the new landscape of electrified mobility. It wanted to build the best motorcycle it could regardless of powertrain, with products to satisfy the most serious motorcyclists.

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Q&A
Energy

Packaging Honda’s all-new Insight

Honda’s Noriyuki Sato spoke through a translator with Editor-in-Chief Lindsay Brooke about what he calls “the Smart, Green Sedan” development. Read on to learn his, well, insight.

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Articles
Connectivity

Beyond the EV Technology Horizon: Now It’s All About Speed

Speed is absolutely essential for electric vehicles (EVs). Not speed in terms of acceleration and maximum velocity, but the time it takes to conceive, develop and produce...

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News
Electronics & Computers

Air- or Water-Cooling Resistors for EVs: The Case for H2O

The choice between water cooling and air cooling for internal-combustion engines was for decades a very real debate in the auto industry, with Volkswagen and Porsche for years...

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Road Ready
Propulsion

Lexus Soups-Up Seventh-Generation ES Sedan

Sedans and any configuration of a “car” might be a tough sell at the moment, but Toyota’s upscale Lexus division certainly wasn’t going to let that stop it from launching a new, seventh...

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News
Power

Detecting Battery Leaks at Production Speeds

Inficon has launched what it said is an industry-first, robotic-compatible leak-detection system that can use either helium or hydrogen-forming gas to ferret out minuscule cracks in the batteries...

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Technology Report
Green Design & Manufacturing

Mazda Details Electrification Strategy, Confirms Rotary Engine’s Return

In an announcement from Japan this week, Mazda—one of the few established automakers to articulate a comprehensive longterm commitment to hybridization or...

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Technology Report
Manned Systems

Mercedes Doubles down on Electric Vans, Considers Fuel Cells

As the demonization of diesel continues across much of Europe, manufacturers are rushing to introduce a range of options to power tomorrow’s delivery vehicles. While petrol...

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Original Equipment
Manned Systems

eCitaro to Replace Conventional City Buses

Based on the proven Citaro platform but incorporating design elements from the Mercedes-Benz Future Bus concept, the new eCitaro is poised to almost completely replace city buses powered by a combustion engine in just a few years.

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SAE Standards News
Transportation

Battery-Size Standards Technical Information Report Available

With the constantly changing landscape in lithium-ion battery development and more than 130 unique cell sizes in different global standards, the electric vehicle (EV) battery market has become crowded with an array of products.

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The Navigator
Power

Ideas for Multi-Modal Mobility

E-scooters, electric sports cars, hyperloops, ubiquitous wireless connectivity, cloud computing — each on their own are precursor components that offer some benefits, just like lithium-ion cells and Segways.

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What We’re Driving
Energy

What We’re Driving: Bosch EBike Demonstrator

Bosch does not make electric-assist bicycles (ebikes), but is a key supplier in the growing segment. Its electrifying components feature on more than 70 cycling marques, including Bianchi,...

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Articles
Energy

Audi Unveils Production Version of First-Ever EV: E-Tron

It seems safe to say the global shift to battery-electric vehicles now is in full swing, with the Volkswagen Group’s Audi brand unveiling on September 17 its first electric vehicle...

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News
Unmanned Systems

The Case for 48V in Commercial Vehicles

Higher voltage architectures allow for more efficient power generation and distribution, according to Jim Bevan, Mechatronics Power Systems Manager for Daimler Trucks North America. “Making this...

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News
Energy

Demand up for Composite-Grade, High-Performance Plastics Across Aerospace, Automotive

Demand for high-performance plastics (HPPs) is up across the aerospace industry, driven by such key trends as growing performance requirements, increased...

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News
Energy

2018 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid Limited

Don’t know how I overlooked the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid for so long, but it gets my personal award for most pleasant—and pleasingly surprising—vehicle I’ll drive in 2018. Yep, this thing is so...

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Articles
Green Design & Manufacturing

Starship Road Trip

Dubbed the Starship Initiative, the collaboration between Shell and AirFlow Truck Co. on the Starship Class 8 concept truck achieved 178.4 ton-mpg for freight ton efficiency (FTE) in a recent cross-country drive, a nearly...

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News
Materials

Deutz Advances ‘E’ Strategy—prototypes on the Horizon

Deutz previously had indicated that alternative drives will play an increasingly important role in its core segments in the future. Taking the next step in that direction, the...

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News
Regulations/Standards

SAE International Anti-Counterfeit Standards Integral to Obsolescence Management

Obsolescence management is key to the safe, secure, and reliable operation of platforms and systems over a long operational life. Counterfeit parts prevention...

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News
Aerospace

Connected Aircraft Technologies Benefit Manufacturers, Airlines, and Travelers

Connected aircraft means more than just in-flight movies, free texting, and Facebook posting with friends while in flight. In fact, the connected aircraft...

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Articles
Power

Jaguar’s New EV Pacesetter

The state of the art of battery electric vehicles is progressing so quickly that each new vehicle introduction advances it. That is exactly what Jaguar has done with the I-Pace crossover SUV.

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News
Manufacturing & Prototyping

Driver Out, Testing In: AVs Bring New Transmission and Driveline Engineering Challenges, Opportunities

Drawing up a specification for a transmission or driveline may be relatively routine for a conventional vehicle, but for an autonomous...

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News
Propulsion

Mecalac Targets Building Sites in Cities for Fully-Electric E12 Excavator

With a focus on developing and manufacturing construction equipment for urban environments, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Mecalac plans to begin production...

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News
Power

2018 Nissan Leaf SV

Uncoiling the fat-diameter charge cord from its kit bag, I plugged the Nissan’s new Leaf into the 120-V outlet on my garage’s exterior wall. Handling the cord, which was dirty from the previous night’s charging,...

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News
Lighting

2019 Avalon: Toyota Further Refines Its Lexus Alternative

At a time when buyers are increasingly migrating to SUVs, Toyota is launching its all-new 2019 Avalon believing that there is still high-volume life left in the large-sedan segment....

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News
Energy

Nano-Based Ultracap Tech Boosts EV Power Density

French nanomaterials specialist NAWA Technologies is aiming to bring a new dimension to the automotive industry’s use of the word “hybrid.” It is aiming to link high efficiency new...

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News
Materials

Rolls-Royce and Superdielectrics Explore Supercapacitor Technology

Last month, Rolls-Royce signed a collaboration agreement with UK-based technology start-up Superdielectrics Ltd to create next-generation, high-energy storage technology....

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News
Power

Studies Seek to Reduce Range Impact of EV Cabin Conditioning

If the battery-electric vehicle (BEV) is to enter the affordable mainstream, it has to overcome the challenge of 50-60% loss of range from the impact of cabin heating, ventilation...

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