Future Cars
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Not to be judgemental, but getting people interested in a vehicle that looks like the Sim-CEL probably won't be the easiest of tasks. Beauty is more than skin deep, but it's still the first thing you notice--and the slug-like vehicle above is a vehicle to appreciate on engineering, rather than aesthetics. Created by Japanese firm Sim-Drive, the CEL (Cool Energy Link) is the third in a series of quick, efficient electric prototypes. And maybe we are being unfair on the Sim-CEL's looks. It's certainly unusual, but like Sim-Drive's other prototypes the bodywork is optimized for aerodynamic...
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What 2013 Looked Like For Greener Cars, Back In 1988The rate at which technology develops makes predicting the future incredibly difficult, but people get it right sometimes. They get it wrong sometimes too, and you'd have found a mixture of both in the April 3, 1988 issue of the Los Angeles Times Magazine, which peered 25 years into the future--to...
Antony Ingram -
Vehicles In 2050: No Petroleum Required, DoE Says
It's both exciting and frustrating living in the current automotive age. Exciting, because we're truly seeing an eclectic mix of powertrain technologies being developed, the fruits of which we're increasingly able to drive. And frustrating, because there's still no surefire way of knowing what...
Antony Ingram -
Five Things Carmakers Will Never Do That Would Boost Gas Mileage
The auto industry gets plenty of attention for its environmental impact, but it's clear to see that fuel efficiency has made huge strides even in the last five years. It could be even better, though. Ultimately, a carmaker has to sell cars to survive--and it does that by creating products that...
Antony Ingram -
2016 Toyota Prius Rumor Roundup: 60 MPG, AWD, Lithium-Ion Battery
Over the next 14 months, you can expect leaks, rumors, suppositions, spy shots, and outright guesses about the 2016 Toyota Prius to proliferate. The fourth generation of Toyota's quintessential hybrid car is a crucial model for the company. If Toyota sticks to its model cadence, we expect that...
John Voelcker -
Visteon Fills Nissan Leaf With 2020 Tech: Meet The e-Bee
It isn't mentioned anywhere in the press release, but it isn't hard to tell what Visteon's latest technology concept car is based on--the Nissan Leaf electric car. However, the electric drivetrain is only one part of the Visteon e-Bee concept. Instead, it's designed to showcase technology we could...
Antony Ingram -
Yesterday, we revealed the news that the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for 2025 have been confirmed after a long political battle. Essentially, the standards will require a carmaker's range of cars and trucks to meet an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. That sounds like a difficult target to hit--after all, the most efficient hybrid-electric cars on sale at the moment average around 50 mpg, and getting large sedans and sports cars to meet that target won't be an easy task. For most cars and light trucks, it will require efficiency to double. The expected benefits are...
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GM Exec Confirms 2014 Chevrolet Cruze Plug-In Hybrid Model
The Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan is an important car for General Motors. It's hugely outselling its lackluster predecessor, the Chevy Cobalt, and the EPA rates the special Cruze Eco model at 42 mpg in the highway cycle, giving it gas-mileage bragging rights. Plug-in hybrid to join diesel model But...
John Voelcker -
Littlest Lincoln Likely To Be Luxurious Compact Crossover
Lincoln plans to roll out an onslaught of seven new products over the next three years, each designed to underscore the luxury brand's separation from the mass-market Fords on which they're based. The smallest Lincoln yet will be a compact crossover, using the same underpinnings--but none of the...
John Voelcker -
Buick Verano Hybrid Coming--But Not Until 2015
Remember The Purloined Letter, the classic Edgar Allen Poe story where a letter is hidden by storing it in plain sight? General Motors may not have realized it, but the industry trade journal Automotive News seems to have published a previously unannounced piece of its future model plans--right out...
John Voelcker -
Audi Urban Future Initiative: Smaller, Smarter, Autonomous, Linked Cars
Put a group of urban planners, architects, and sociologists on a panel to discuss transportation in the cities of the future, and you may find they don’t spend much time talking about cars. Instead, you get statements like, “The megacity of the future desires to be a generous knowledge...
John Voelcker
