Automotive

Digest

Everrati Porsche 911

The consumer EVs sector is welcoming a constant tide of all-new electric cars, often designed from blank sheets. However, this approach neglects not only the many existing IC-engined cars on the road now, but the countless classic car designs that remain some of the automotive world’s proudest and most cherished examples.

Web exclusive

Ricardo shows Steel E-Motive Level 5 concept EVs

Keen to show off what the latest generation of advanced high-strength steels can do, WorldAutoSteel, the automotive arm of the World Steel Association, has chosen Ricardo to design an EV family that could be offered in the nascent market for mobility as a service from around 2030 (writes Peter Donaldson). The first two designs created under this Steel E-Motive (SEM) initiative were revealed at the recent Battery Show Europe and Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo in Stuttgart, where WorldAutoSteel’s technical director George Coates and Ricardo’s chief engineer for vehicle attributes Neil McGregor outlined the progress with them so far.

New Products

Honda to start battery-sharing service for electric rickshaws

Honda has announced plans to begin a battery-sharing service for electric rickshaws in India in the first half of 2022, using the Honda Mobile Power Pack e: (MPP e:), its new portable and swappable battery. There are more than 8 million auto rickshaws in India, and they are an essential means of daily transportation for people. In urban areas, they are powered mainly by compressed natural gas and have been a key challenge for electrification.

Grid

Flat chassis chosen for axial motors

Saiettta has used its AFT140 axial motor for a flat chassis for urban vehicles (writes Nick Flaherty). Mounted on the corners of the chassis, the AFT 140 in-wheel electric motors provide a torque of up to 140 Nm for controllable power at low speeds in urban stop-start journeys. The chassis is a flexible platform that […]

New Products

Webasto batteries power innovative e-shuttle

French trucking company Lohr Industries will be launching a fully electric and modular e-shuttle system called the Cristal in four French cities before the end of 2021. The vehicles will be powered by batteries from Webasto, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers. Some German cities have also signalled their interest.

Web exclusive

Silver Power Systems and partners develop ‘world’s most advanced’ battery digital twin

An established concept in other areas of industry, a digital twin is a high-fidelity software model of a real system to which it is linked in as close to real time as possible. With that goal in mind, EV battery analytics specialist Silver Power

New Products

Actia Group sets up Power division

Vehicle electronics supplier Actia has announced it has set up a Power division to consolidate the various activities of the wider Actia Group relating to the design and manufacture of onboard batteries, power electronics and electrification systems for electric and hydrogen hybrid mobility. It says its experience in vehicle electronics and power management means the […]

Deep Insight

EV dynamics

How a car moves in response to the forces acting on it is a fundamental determinant of safety, comfort, energy efficiency and driver engagement, and electrification of the powertrain profoundly affects that dynamic behaviour. This influence results from differences in the vehicle’s overall mass and its distribution, when compared with IC-engined vehicles, along with the speed and precision of response inherent in electrical machines.

Focus on...

Battery recycling

Recycling batteries from e-mobility platforms, particularly lithium-ion and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells, is an area of increasing focus for the e-mobility industry.

PS

Towards a 1000-mile range

One thousand miles is a nice, round number, and as a range for a battery EV it is a marketing department’s dream. However, there is real value in such a long range if it can be achieved by a production roadcar in representative trim rather than niche vehicles and technology demonstrators.