materials
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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 big, unfortunate, and somewhat ironic problem with carbon fiber, though: You need to use oil to make it. DON'T MISS: Carbon Fiber In Cars: More Energy To Make, Lower Lifetime Emissions That's where a team of researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory comes in. According to Popular...
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Mainstream media on electric cars: more thoughtful on their growth
As with any innovation, coverage of plug-in electric cars by mainstream media has been, shall we say, variable. Seven years after the first Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt were delivered to their buyers in December 2010, misconceptions and misinformation abound. Technology is often not a strong suit...
John Voelcker -
Hyundai believes electric-car battery prices will stop falling by 2020
The automotive business is one that turns raw materials into highly complex finished goods. When the prices of key commodities—especially raw materials—rise, everything downstream in that process becomes more expensive. That's Hyundai's concern over battery prices from 2020 onward, as...
Mark Stevenson -
BMW battery-sourcing ethics highlight cobalt-mining issue for electric cars
Electric cars provide a zero-emission driving experience, but one of the most important raw materials for their batteries—cobalt—has a supply chain that needs some work. About half of the world's cobalt supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a country with high rates...
Sean Szymkowski -
Rare-earth metals in magnets for electric-car motors: what you need to know
It's not surprising that the powertrains of electric cars differ quite a bit from traditional internal-combustion engines. Although they have fewer moving parts, the rare-earth magnets that help power electric cars can be quite complex to fabricate. So, what is there to know about rare-earth...
Sean Szymkowski -
Tesla Model X Now Offers Synthetic Leather, For Vegan Appeal
The Tesla Model X is now available with a full synthetic-leather interior.
Stephen Edelstein -
An inventor pitches his iron-based material as an alternative to cement-based concrete.
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Advances In Lithium-Sulfur Batteries Offer Promise For Electric Cars
Commercial uses of the element sulfur date back centuries, but it may be the key to a new generation of batteries with high theoretical energy density and relatively low cost. The principles of a lithium-sulfur battery have been known for decades, but practical solutions to the chemical challenges...
John Voelcker -
Graphene May Double Solar Cell Power, Harvest Hydrogen From Air
Graphene could have a major impact on green cars.
Stephen Edelstein -
Electric Car Life-Cycle Analysis: Renault Fluence ZE Vs Diesel, Gas Models
The environmental impact of plug-in electric cars is a source for much debate these days. They use less energy on a wells-to-wheels carbon basis than the vast majority of new cars sold in North America, even if they're recharged on coal-heavy electric grids. But the manufacturing impact is...
John Voelcker -
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 -
Aluminum Vehicles Save More Energy Than It Takes To Build Them
So, you've done the right thing: You've decided your next car will be considerably more fuel-efficient than the one you drive now. That's great news. But, have you considered how it's built--and more to the point, what it's built out of? A new peer-reviewed paper from the Oak Ridge National...
Antony Ingram -
Nissan has put a lot of investment into the battery and all-electric powertrain technology in its all-electric Leaf. Yet outside of that, the Leaf is a pretty ordinary small car in materials and layout. Meanwhile, the somewhat more expensive BMW i3 takes a radically different approach to materials and construction; from its carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic body to its aluminum structure, it's a completely different kind of car. Will Nissan step up with its own new approach to materials and construction, perhaps in a premium electric car? And are carbon-fiber materials something the automaker...
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Lighter Composite Wheels Cut Weight Of New 2015 Audi A8
Lighter wheels could help improve this big luxury sedan's fuel economy.
Stephen Edelstein -
Green Sound Insulation Inside Doors Quiets 2013 Ford Escape
Ask about green cars and most buyers think only of gas mileage. But there are other ways to make vehicles greener, including the use of renewable materials to replace petroleum-derived synthetic components. For its all-new 2013 Escape crossover, Ford has created door bolsters from a plant called...
John Voelcker -
Researchers Turn To Plants And Animals To Fuel Sustainable Car Development
Edible car contests are a fixture at college campuses and grade school science classes, where whacky fun combines with an exercise in engineering and imagination, but it seems that foodstuffs are no longer confined to scale models. But as illustrated by Ford's newly announced use of soybean oil to...
Talking Points Memo -
Ford: Era Of EVs Calls For Closer Eye On Conflict Minerals
Increasingly, in production electric vehicles such as the 2012 Ford Focus Electric and 2011 Nissan Leaf, automakers are turning to recycled and repurposed materials. But the rest of a modern car—even an ol' fossil-fuel burner—is no longer just sheetmetal, alloy, and plastics; extruded...
Bengt Halvorson -
Green Materials For Ford Flex: Renewable Canadian Wheat Straw
The overall carbon footprint of a vehicle is more than 90 percent composed of the fuel used to move it around, but manufacturing plays a role too. Many automakers are quietly working to include more renewable materials into a product that's largely made of metal, plastic, and glass. The latest...
John Voelcker -
It's not a particularly new story, these days, but hey, it's also Friday. So we thought we'd revisit one of the more unusual attempts at green cars we've seen. This morning, a friend sent us an e-mail with photos of two taxis commissioned by the Philippine town of Tabontabon, in the province of Leyte, whose bodies are made of indigenous bamboo. More than that, they burn biodiesel fuel made from locally available nut oils. The ECO taxis built by Tabontabon Organic Transport Industry [TOTI] come in two sizes: ECO1 seats 20, whereas ECO2 carries eight passengers. Each is said to run for eight...
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Your New Car Is Made Of Old Carpet, Milk Jugs, and Ripped Jeans
When you think of a brand-new, gleaming, 2010 model car rolling out of your driveway, what materials come to mind? Steel, chrome, soft-touch interior plastics, maybe even supple leather upholstery? Well, how about some old carpets, ground-up milk cartons, and shredded, faded, raggedy blue jeans?...
John Voelcker