Car Tech

General Motors' Voltec drivetrain, the range-extended plug-in setup used on the Chevrolet Volt and the new 2014 Cadillac ELR, is among the most advanced drivetrains on the roads. That's not to say there isn't room for greater improvement though, and that's exactly what GM is doing. In fact, as...

Most modern concept cars are lightly glitzed-up versions of the cars we'll see on the streets in subsequent years, but every so often an automaker develops a concept simply to show off its future technology. That's certainly the case with the Audi Sport Quattro Laserlight plug-in hybrid concept...

BMW's plug-in hybrid i8 sports car is set to be one of the most exciting cars of 2014, but it'll also be one of the most technologically advanced. As well as the use of a new 1.5-liter three-cylinder turbocharged engine, its part-electric drivetrain and unique styling, it'll also be the world's...

The race to find battery technologies of the future is not one without casualties. The trail left behind Envia, one of the most promising battery startups in recent years, has left something more akin to a warzone--and even huge companies like General Motors have taken shrapnel during their...

A car's mass affects virtually every aspect of its performance, handling and efficiency, and reducing it has become an all-encompassing pursuit for carmakers aiming to meet tough new fuel economy targets. High-strength steels, aluminum and even carbon fiber are now widely used, but the industry is...

You might think that a list of the best engines on sale would be dominated by screaming sports car engines or a muscular V-8 from the latest muscle car. And while it's true that both feature on the Wards Automotive list of its 2014 Ten Best Engines, as well as several other high-performance units...

Three years ago yesterday, the first retail buyer of a brand-new Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car was handed his keys in Denville, New Jersey. Just three days earlier, the first Nissan Leaf buyer had received his battery-electric car in a large ceremony at San Francisco's City Hall...

Stop-start systems have taken much longer to infiltrate the U.S. market than they have elsewhere, but several manufacturers are finally coming around to the idea of the gas-saving technology. One such automaker is Ford, which has announced that 70 percent of its North American vehicle lineup will...

It wasn't so long ago that all-wheel drive was restricted to Jeeps, trucks, and the occasional esoteric supercar. Now, according to data from Polk cited in The Detroit News, it's fitted to almost one third of the vehicles sold in the United States. MORE: 2014 Jeep Cherokee: All The Details From NY...

Researchers and development firms regularly reveal battery-technology breakthroughs. Now, Envia Systems--one company that gained much public attention by promising such a breakthrough--faces two lawsuits. One claims that Envia stole its technology from other companies. And General Motors, which...

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...

Mazda is a relative minnow in the auto industry sea, but for such an independent company it punches above its weight in engineering terms. It's still one of few companies to offer a simple two-seater sports car in a world of more profitable crossovers and hatchbacks. It's developed an entirely new...

Honda's Super Cub motorcycle is one of the most important motor vehicles ever made. With more than 60 million produced since 1958 it's done more to get people moving than any other motorized vehicle in history. Honda's electric Uni-Cub has done none of those things but its ethos is the...

Digital Rights Management, or DRM, is either the scourge of the digital age or a necessary evil to ensure people who create content get paid for it--depending on who you believe. It's essentially a collection of technologies that determines how you can use digital content or technology after you've...

Researchers at MIT say that a benign virus could be the next step in improving lithium-air battery technology. Viruses typically have negative connotations--think seasonal flu or malicious files sent to your computer--but biological technology is an increasingly important research topic and one...

AT&T will support the many Model S functions that rely on wireless Internet connections.

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...

The 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid has no transmission. To be more precise, there's nothing in a form we'd normally recognize as a transmission—no conventional automatic transmission, no automated dual-clutch system, no belt-and-pulley continuously variable transmission (CVT) either. There's no...

The IIHS is now rating systems that autonomously intervene to help prevent crashes.

Lighter wheels could help improve this big luxury sedan's fuel economy.