Car Tech

There's a reason people like big, multi-cylinder engines and it isn't just about the noise they make or how much power they produce. It's also to do with smoothness. And it's one reason some people are worried about the latest trend for downsized four-cylinder units, as they begin appearing in...

The term "hacker" conjures up images of shady individuals stealing your personal details through loop-holes in your internet security, but in the modern world a professional hacker can actually provide a valuable skill. Tesla Motors, for example, recently attended the Def Con security conference in...

In recent years we've finally seen a reversal of the trend towards heavier cars, but Jaguar will take that a step further when it launches the 2016 XE sedan. Long-awaited replacement for the unloved X-Type, the XE's body structure is 75 percent aluminum, the highest of any in its class. READ: Tesla...

At the Geneva Motor Show in March, German firm Quant revealed a car powered by what it called 'nanoFLOWCELL' technology. Now, the flow-cell vehicle will make its road-going debut, as the car has been approved for real-world testing by the TÜV or Technischer Überwachungsverein, Germany's...

Last month, electric car maker Tesla Motors took the unusual step of opening up its patents to other automakers. Automakers usually guard their patents very closely, ensuring them as much competitive advantage as they can get away with before someone builds something better. Open Tesla's patents...

The fastest, most expensive sports cars and supercars must constantly boost performance to stay competitive--and now they're also having to cut their carbon emissions at the same time. Ferrari, possibly the best-known among sought-after supercar brands, plans to cut average carbon emissions across...

As anyone with a smartphone, laptop or indeed a whole electric car will know, lithium-ion batteries degrade over time. Each time you charge and discharge the batteries, they lose a little capacity. Day to day you don't really notice, but over a year, or two, it means being able to use your phone...

It's a statement of the obvious, but solar panels do their best work during the day, specifically noon and early afternoon when the sun is at its strongest. The trouble is, this rarely tallies with when energy use is at its highest--typically in the evening, when everyone gets home from work. The...

Audi's "e-boost" electric turbocharger could debut on the next Q7 SUV.

Aston Martin Racing is collaborating with Chinese solar-panel maker Hanergy on a green air-conditioning system.

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...

Parking is one of those maneuvers that we all screw up now and then, no matter how experienced we are at driving. And there's nothing worse than having an audience just as you're trying to squeeze into a space. Even professional athletes can't experience that much pressure, surely? But what if your...

Could your car seats become large, comfortable batteries? If experiments by scientists at Fudan University in Shanghai, China become reality, perhaps they could--as the group has developed battery technology that can be woven into fabrics. According to Phys.org, researcher Wei Weng and his...

"Turbo" was the word to have on your car in the 1980s. Preferably in huge, bright script, completely out of correlation with the car's actual performance. Now, it's more often used as an indication of efficiency--take Ford's Ecoboost brand, for example. Audi has used them for many years on its...

If you're reading this in North America, the vehicle sitting on your driveway probably has an automatic transmission. So do around 95 percent of other new vehicles on the U.S. market right now, though the Canadian figure is slightly lower. The numbers don't lie: Drivers just aren't buying cars with...

Bamboo is light and strong, but also renewable and more environmentally-friendly than carbon fiber.

Stop-Start systems are the low-hanging fruit of city gas mileage, but like many fruits, they can be an acquired taste. General Motors has attached such a system to its 2015 Chevrolet Impala with the base 2.5-liter Ecotec engine, and has worked hard to ensure it's actually a system drivers will want...

BMW answers criticism of its carbon-fiber commitment.

New information on updates for 2015 to the Chevrolet Impala full-size sedan range note that a start-stop system will be fitted to the four-cylinder model as standard equipment. So the 2015 Chevy Impala LS model with the base 196-horsepower 2.5-liter four-cylinder will now switch off its engine when...

Toyota has revealed it's developing a new design of semiconductor that could improve the fuel efficiency of its hybrid vehicles by up to ten percent. Developed with in-house technology partner Denso, it plans to test the semiconductor's real-world gains in road trials within the year. The pursuit...