Car Tech

Suppose you could take an old engine concept discarded in the 1970s, add modern fuel metering and injection control hardware and software, and offer a compact powerplant that cuts the fuel consumption of today's diesel truck engines by a third.. That's the promise of Achates Power, which has been...

A German firm says it's halfway toward a dramatic reduction in the cost of carbon fiber.

An influx of high-strength steel could take away aluminum's weight advantage, the steel industry hopes.

Start-stop systems have finally started to arrive on U.S. new cars in noticeable numbers. The systems, which simply turn off a car's engine when it's sitting stationary and then switch it back on as the driver's foot starts to lift off the brake, are now fitted to 7 percent of new cars sold in the...

Prototype Volvo engine produces impressive power with help from three turbochargers, one of which is electric.

Start-stop systems, which switch off a car's engine while it's stopped to boost fuel efficiency, are now entering the U.S. market in serious numbers. Many European makers, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and MINI, are fitting them as standard on 2015 models, and there are more to come: By 2022, some...

Ford's police cars get a spiffy new, Tesla-like touchscreen.

Autonomous vehicles have become a hot talking point in recent years, as major firms like Google continue high-profile development of the technology. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] has also expressed an interest in recent years, and now tells Nikkei that the firm could introduce...

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...

There are many routes to improving fuel efficiency in modern cars, but one route in particular seems to be resonating with automakers, automotive engineers and designers: Shedding weight. A survey of 900 automotive engineers and designers conducted by Wards Auto and sponsored by DuPont showed that...

Several manufacturers now offer gas-saving hybrid versions of their vehicles but it's surprisingly rare to find two companies who have gone about it in the same way. The early pioneers, Toyota and Honda, fielded completely different systems at launch--and well over a decade down the line Honda has...

Time was when mid-size sedans routinely came with V-6 engines of 3.0 to 3.6 liters. But these days, those are rare and expensive high-end options--if they're even offered at all. The 2015 Ford Fusion sedan now has a simplified lineup of engines, and all of them continue to have just four...

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...

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 word "hack" is a little over-used in today's lexicon, but in the general sense it refers to the process of cracking the software system of a computer, a smartphone--or a car. Many electric cars roll those three categories into one, and now the organizers of a computer security conference have...

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...