Carbon Fiber
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A Danish bicycle and e-bike company, Biomega, has shown an open-wheel concept car that takes the sculpted, less-is-more ideas of Scandinavian design to new extremes—to what may be a regulatory impossibility in the U.S. The four-seat four-wheeler, called SIN, for Singapore, appears to be aimed at some of the most congested cities in Asia. It’s a futuristic, bare-bones urban warrior, with a flat floor, seating for four, and a windshield that wraps up and over the occupants—with an additional windshield (which the company calls a “fascia window” at the footwell...
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Could carbon-fiber electric-vehicle bodies double as ‘mass-less’ batteries?
Automakers seem to be in agreement that the ‘skateboard’ location for heavy battery packs—low and wide beneath the passenger floor—is the ideal layout for electric vehicles. Decades from now that might not be the case. Researchers in Sweden have examined the possibility of...
Bengt Halvorson -
Carbon fiber from plants close to carbon-neutral? Scientists hopeful
When it comes to materials with the most promise in automotive applications, carbon fiber and graphene each rank high on the list. Unlike graphene, however, real-world carbon fiber applications exist today—and they're helping automakers reduce the weight of cars coming tomorrow. There's one...
Mark Stevenson -
Yamaha Sports Ride: Carbon-Fiber Structure From Designer Gordon Murray
The Yamaha Sports Ride is a concept car that uses Gordon Murray's iStream construction with carbon fiber.
Stephen Edelstein -
Wheels Combine Carbon, Aluminum For Strength, Lighter Weight
Two German companies plan to market carbon-aluminum hybrid wheels.
Stephen Edelstein -
Ultra-Efficient BMW Four-Seat Plug-In Hybrid For Research Only, Not Sales: Report
The limited-production Volkswagen XL1 ultra-economy two-seater gets astounding fuel efficiency from its two-cylinder diesel plug-in hybrid powertrain. It's well over 100 miles per gallon if you use the European test cycle (which differs from U.S. tests). But at a six-figure price and a production...
John Voelcker -
The 2016 BMW 740e xDrive debuts with a plug-in hybrid powertrain borrowed from the X5 xDrive 40e SUV.
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BMW i3 Tear-Down Videos Show Electric Car's Radical Design
New tear-down videos expose more of the BMW i3 electric car's secrets.
Stephen Edelstein -
Next BMW 7-Series To Use 'Carbon Core' Based on i3 Electric Car Body
The BMW i3 electric car and i8 plug-in hybrid sport coupe are audacious examples of advanced technology in many ways. Not the least of it are body shells made of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) mounted atop an aluminum rolling platform carrying the powertrains and crash structures. BMW has...
John Voelcker -
Research Backed By BMW Halfway To Carbon-Fiber Cost 90% Lower
A German firm says it's halfway toward a dramatic reduction in the cost of carbon fiber.
Stephen Edelstein -
Carbon Fiber Wheels Proposed To Cut Weight, Boost Efficiency
You probably don't think about your car's wheels that much, but to state the exceedingly obvious they're an essential part of every car. They're also surprisingly heavy, as you'll know if you've ever rotated your tires or had to change to a spare at the side of the road. Heaviness is a quality...
Antony Ingram -
Ford Fusion Lightweight Concept: How To Make A Car 25 Percent Lighter
Light weight will soon be big business at Ford. The company's F-150 truck, going aluminum for the first time with the 2015 model, sheds 700 lbs over its predecessor, thanks to its new construction. Ford sells over half a million F-Series every year--big business indeed. This technology and other...
Antony Ingram -
BMW answers criticism of its carbon-fiber commitment.
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Next Rolls-Royce Phantom Cuts Weight, Offers Plug-In Hybrid
Rolls-Royce is known for many attributes. Luxury. Expense. Cars with performance wryly described as "adequate". Light weight and frugality are two attributes you won't often find in cars assembled by the British luxury marque, though the next-generation Phantom flagship could offer both--by...
Antony Ingram -
BMW Says It Will Triple Production Of Carbon Fiber For Electric Cars
BMW plans to produce up to 9,000 tons of material per year at its Washington-state plant.
Stephen Edelstein -
Do The BMW i3 And i8 Electric Cars Pose A Threat To Tesla?
With the 2014 BMW i3 battery-electric car now being delivered to its first buyers, and the range-extended i3 REx version to follow within several weeks, BMW is at last in the business of selling electric cars in volume. And that, argues one financial analyst, may pose the most direct threat yet to...
John Voelcker -
2014 BMW i3: Cheaper To Repair, Insure Than You'd Expect
Carbon fiber is not a cheap material. If it was, we'd all be driving around in cars made from it--rather than it being limited to a few supercars and high-end sports cars. And the BMW i3, of course. The expense of its carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) chassis might lead you to assume repairing...
Antony Ingram -
Volvo Develops Structural, Supercapacitor Nanobatteries For Future Electric Cars
Batteries in electric and hybrid cars--and this may not come as much of a surprise--are large, and they're heavy. Reducing the size and weight of these vital components is priority number one for scientists all over the world, and Volvo is among them with its latest technological development. Using...
Antony Ingram -
With the global unveiling of the 2014 BMW i3 less than three weeks away, BMW has revealed a few more details on its radical new electric car. The i3 battery-electric five-door hatchback's 125-kilowatt (170-horsepower) electric motor can generate peak torque of 184 lb-ft. The motor will accelerate the car from 0 to 60 mph in "approximately 7 seconds", BMW says, and the critical stop-light dash from 0 to 35 mph takes just 3.5 seconds. In sales-ready form, the 2014 BMW i3 will offer a slew of new connectivity features that BMW has described in considerable detail. (We'll cover those in a...
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2014 Volkswagen XL1: First Drive Of Wolfsburg's 261-MPG Car
Look out, owners of 200-mph testosterone-supplement poster cars. If there ever was a real hypercar, it's the Volkswagen XL1. Although in recent years the term hypercar has been distorted—to include cars that are faster (and often even thirstier) than those supercars from Lamborghini, Ferrari...
Bengt Halvorson -
2015 VW Golf Sheds Even More Weight With Optional Carbon Roof
Volkswagen has made large strides in most areas with the 2015 Golf, but largest of all is the car's weight reduction. Some models are over 200 pounds lighter than their equivalent in the current Golf range, thanks to clever use of stronger steel, lighter components and other weight-saving measures...
Antony Ingram -
DoE Dings Loans For Startup Carbon Motors' Police Cruisers
Log one more startup car company the U.S. Department of Energy has declined to fund. The latest entry on the lengthening list that includes Virtual Vehicles Co. (renamed NextCar), Aptera Motors, and Bright Automotive is Carbon Motors of Connersville, Indiana. The five-year-old startup proposed to...
John Voelcker -
BMW To Use Carbon Fiber In Next 7-Series Luxury Car
Not too long ago Mercedes-Benz announced they would be making a carbon-fiber derivative of the next E-Class sedan, and now BMW has also announced it will use the material in its future models. The BMW 7-Series luxury car will use carbon fiber and other light-weight materials, to reduce weight in a...
Antony Ingram -
Mercedes-Benz E-Class Top Model Goes Carbon Fiber In 2015
The launch of a new Mercedes-Benz E-Class is always important, given the influence the car has in the luxury sedan sector. We'd be hard-pressed to call it exciting though, rapid AMG models excepted. That could be about to change however, as one example of the model's next generation will be very...
Antony Ingram