Vehicles | Popular Science https://www.popsci.com/category/vehicles/ Awe-inspiring science reporting, technology news, and DIY projects. Skunks to space robots, primates to climates. That's Popular Science, 145 years strong. Mon, 27 Nov 2023 14:00:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 https://www.popsci.com/uploads/2021/04/28/cropped-PSC3.png?auto=webp&width=32&height=32 Vehicles | Popular Science https://www.popsci.com/category/vehicles/ 32 32 2024 BMW G 310 R review: A starter bike you won’t outgrow https://www.popsci.com/technology/2024-bmw-g-310-r-review/ Mon, 27 Nov 2023 14:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=591687
BMW G 310 R (K03)
The bike's light weight contributes to corner-carving agility. BMW

The G310 R delivers sophisticated tech you'd expect on a more expensive ride.

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BMW G 310 R (K03)
The bike's light weight contributes to corner-carving agility. BMW

Entry-level motorcycles too often feel like beginner bikes. Even if they don’t have training wheels, they have the vibe of first bicycles that are quickly outgrown and forgotten.

BMW has escaped this trap with the G 310 R, which is an ideal starter bike because of its affordable $4,995 price tag, its rider-friendly low seat that makes it easier to plant both feet on the ground, and its 349-lb. curb weight. The company even trimmed its regular $495 destination fee to $245 to help keep the price within reach for buyers on a budget.

BMW tells me that the G 310 R is a favorite at Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s Basic RiderCourse. It is easy to see why, considering the bike’s combination of racy styling and ease of use.

Credit: BMW
Credit: BMW BMW

But anyone who decides to start out on a G 310 R shouldn’t feel like it is a temporary ride, waiting to be replaced by a “real” bike once the owner gains some experience. That’s because the G 310 R provides “real” big technology like standard anti-lock brakes (ABS) and a sophisticated suspension that includes an inverted fork for the front wheel and a long-wheelbase cast aluminum swingarm for the rear.

Inverting the fork (also called “upside down” forks”) bolts the heavy forks sliders into the triple clamps that secure them to the bike’s steering head, leaving the lightweight tubes to stretch down to the axle. That leaves the lighter tubes as the unsprung mass that has to travel up and down with the road surface while the heavier part is fixed in place. This contributes to more responsive front suspension.

Meanwhile, the lengthy swingarm to the rear axle lends the bike greater stability compared to a short swingarm.

The value of anti-lock brakes should be self-evident, but to recap, the BMW’s computer prevents riders from locking a wheel under heavy braking. In a car, this produces a slide and prolongs stopping distances. On a bike, if the front wheel locks, it tends to immediately slip to one side or the other and pitch the rider to the ground. 

If the rear wheel locks, the bike will start to slide sideways. Riders’ typical response to this is to release pressure to the rear brake. Doing so while the bike is not pointed in the direction of travel when the rear tire regains traction causes the bike to catapult the rider off in a spectacular and painful “high side” crash. 

Credit: BMW
A peek through openings in the bodywork reveals the G 310 R’s rear-leaning single-cylinder engine. This configuration leaves space for the crankcase and transmission to move further forward, improving the bike’s weight distribution. Credit: BMW

ABS is worth its weight in cryptocurrency because it prevents both kinds of crashes by ensuring that the wheels keep turning until the bike comes to a complete stop. It is also important because most riders, when faced with a potential crash, fail to apply the brakes hard enough. Ideally, knowing that they can’t lock the brakes will encourage more riders to brake harder so that maybe more of them will stop short of hitting the obstacle ahead.

Regardless, riding the Cosmic Black G 310 R test bike was enough fun to put such sober considerations in the background. I had the opportunity to test it alongside BMW’s sexy S 1000 R and I can confirm that the smaller bike held its own while slicing through mountain switchbacks, courtesy of its advanced suspension and light weight.

It also highlighted the G 310 R’s user-friendliness. While the S 1000 R has a very abrupt clutch friction point and brakes that grab aggressively with the slightest application of pressure (very much like Ferrari’s brakes), the G 310 R has a wide, easy-to-engage clutch friction point and brakes that grip progressively, making it very easy for even beginning riders to pull away from a stop and then arrive at the curb like pros instead of the amateurs they are.

Like most of today’s generation of starter bikes, the G 310 R has only one cylinder in its 313-cc engine, when earlier small bikes would have had smoother-running twin-cylinder engines. But the BMW’s 34-horsepower single incorporates a counterbalancer, so it revs to its surprisingly high 9,500-rpm redline with unexpected smoothness. This makes it easier to keep the engine spinning out as much power as possible while clicking through the six-speed transmission, letting the G 310 R feel adequately powerful.

The bike’s engine has an unorthodox configuration, with the cylinder tilting rearward like the back half of a Harley-Davidson V-twin. As with the Harley’s rear cylinder, that puts the BMW’s intake system in front, with the exhaust pipe trailing off the rear, which is the opposite of most single-cylinder bikes.

Credit: BMW
The G 310 R’s LCD instrument display relays info on rpm, speed, gear, total mileage, engine temperature, fuel level, remaining riding range, average fuel consumption, average speed, and the time. Credit: BMW

The rear-leaning cylinder lets the bottom of the engine and the heavy transmission shafts that live there slide forward, shifting the bike’s balance onto the front wheel for greater stability. It also clears space behind the transmission for the aforementioned long rear swingarm.

All of this speaks to the benefit of rethinking the engineering challenge from the beginning of a project and dismissing convention to deliver a superior result. The G 310 R is fun to ride for riders of all levels, not just beginners. But it treats them especially well, just as the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s rider’s school. The BMW engineer team should be proud of their clever solutions to creating an affordable bike that is a true BMW.

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Hyundai’s robot-heavy EV factory in Singapore is fully operational https://www.popsci.com/technology/hyundai-singapore-factory/ Tue, 21 Nov 2023 18:15:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=590969
Robot dog at Hyundai factory working on car
Over 200 robots will work alongside human employees at the new facility. Hyundai

The seven-story facility includes a rooftop test track and ‘Smart Garden.’

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Robot dog at Hyundai factory working on car
Over 200 robots will work alongside human employees at the new facility. Hyundai

After three years of construction and limited operations, the next-generation Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center production facility in Singapore is officially online and fully functioning. Announced on November 20, the 935,380-square-foot, seven-floor facility relies on 200 robots to handle over 60 percent of all “repetitive and laborious” responsibilities, allowing human employees to focus on “more creative and productive duties,” according to the company.

In a key departure from traditional conveyor-belt factories, HMGIC centers on what the South Korean vehicle manufacturer calls a “cell-based production system” alongside a “digital twin Meta-Factory.” Instead of siloed responsibilities for automated machinery and human workers, the two often cooperate using technology such as virtual and augmented reality. As Hyundai explains, while employees simulate production tasks in a digital space using VR/AR, for example, robots will physically move, inspect, and assemble various vehicle components.

[Related: Everything we love about Hyundai’s newest EV.]

By combining robotics, AI, and the Internet of Things, Hyundai believes the HMGIC can offer a “human-centric manufacturing innovation system,” Alpesh Patel, VP and Head of the factory’s Technology Innovation Group, said in Monday’s announcement

Atop the HMGIC building is an over 2000-feet-long vehicle test track, as well as a robotically assisted “Smart Farm” capable of growing up to nine different crops. While a car factory vegetable garden may sound somewhat odd, it actually compliments the Singapore government’s ongoing “30 by 30” initiative.

Due to the region’s rocky geology, Singapore can only utilize about one percent of its land for agriculture—an estimated 90 percent of all food in the area must be imported. Announced in 2022, Singapore’s 30 by 30 program aims to boost local self-sufficiency by increasing domestic yields to 30 percent of all consumables by the decade’s end using a combination of sustainable urban growth methods. According to Hyundai’s announcement, the HMGICS Smart Farm is meant to showcase farm productivity within compact settings—while also offering visitors some of its harvested crops. The rest of the produce will be donated to local communities, as well as featured on the menu at a new Smart Farm-to-table restaurant scheduled to open at the HMGICS in spring 2024.

[Related: Controversial ‘robotaxi’ startup loses CEO.]

HMGICS is expected to produce up to 30,000 electric vehicles annually, and currently focuses on the IONIQ 5, as well as its autonomous robotaxi variant. Beginning in 2024, the facility will also produce Hyundai’s IONIQ 6. If all goes according to plan, the HMGICS will be just one of multiple cell-based production system centers.

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Lucid says its new all-electric SUV beats Tesla Model X range by nearly 100 miles https://www.popsci.com/technology/lucid-galaxy/ Mon, 20 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=590698
Lucid Gravity EV SUV
Just-announced Gravity: a seven-seat SUV from emerging luxury EV builder Lucid. Lucid

The Gravity SUV seats seven and claims 440 miles of range.

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Lucid Gravity EV SUV
Just-announced Gravity: a seven-seat SUV from emerging luxury EV builder Lucid. Lucid

The SUV market is big business, especially in the United States. Even supercar manufacturers like Lamborghini are making five-seat SUVs and thriving. Aston Martin’s DBX crossover represents roughly half of its overall sales. And that’s only on the gas-powered side. All-electric SUVs are just starting to find their groove, and vehicles like the three-row Kia EV9 SUV and Volkswagen ID.Buzz “microbus” are on their way to the U.S. market in 2024. Now, emerging luxury EV builder Lucid just announced the Gravity, a seven-seat SUV with an astonishing claim of 440 miles of all-electric range.

The SUV boasts other niceties like acceleration from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than 3.5 seconds, 1,500 pounds of payload (what it can carry inside) and the ability to tow 6,000 pounds. To compare, Tesla’s Model X can tow 5,000 pounds, haul 1,065 pounds inside the vehicle, and can go for 348 miles with the long-range package.

Here’s how Lucid is pushing other EV automakers to increase range and capability.

Gunning for Tesla

Lucid started producing its first model, the Air, in 2021 after more than a dozen years developing battery technology. Launched with 520 miles of EPA-estimated all-electric range and up to 1,111 horsepower, the Air earned rave reviews from users and journalists alike. Luxurious and uncommonly aerodynamic (more about that below), the Air’s starting price is roughly the same as a Tesla Model S. However, the Lucid model gets 115 more miles of range and  91 more horsepower than the Tesla.

If it sounds like an intrastate basketball rivalry, it may be partially attributed to the cross-pollination across the executive level. Before joining Lucid in 2013, CEO Peter Rawlinson spent three years at Tesla as a top engineer. Rawlinson led the engineering team for the Model S; when he left Tesla, he emerged swinging with the Lucid Air sedan. 

The company’s latest accomplishment is the Gravity SUV, and Lucid says “it can achieve 440 miles of range with a battery pack a little more than half the size of some of our battery-hungry competitors.” For context, a GMC Hummer EV’s battery pack alone weighs in at a hefty 2,818 pounds on the GM’s Ultium platform. 

The entire Lucid Air weighs 5,203 pounds and the Gravity is expected to tip the scales north of 6,000 pounds. Sure, it’s relatively heavier than some three-row SUVs such as the Kia Telluride and Lexus GX, but it’s on par with others like the Grand Wagoneer. 

Lucid Galaxy SUV EV towing
The SUV boasts the ability to tow 6,000 pounds. Credit: Lucid Lucid

Advanced battery technology 

Carrying two electric motors, the Gravity is touted as more efficient than its competitors. Rawlinson says the Gravity’s smaller and lighter technology battery pack means consuming fewer precious metals and minerals and results in less energy to charge and less pressure upon the grid. 

The Lucid Air is available with two battery packs–92 kilowatt hours or 112 kilowatt hours–and while Lucid is being vague about its exact specs for now, we expect the Gravity to utilize the larger 112 kWh version. For scale, the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Escalade IQ use packs over 200 kWh. 

Justin Berkowitz, Lucid’s senior manager for technology PR, says the company offers “the most efficient electric motors on the market and ultra-high voltage power electronics (over 900 volts compared to many EVs at 400-500).” All of these are designed, patented, engineered, and manufactured in-house by Lucid, and the company also develops the software powering it all. 

The stellar range is also a result of Lucid’s proprietary winding technique that produces a denser magnetic field along with several other innovations that create a super-compact package. The company holds eight patents related to the motor’s windings and cooling, and continues to find ways to squeeze as much copper into the motor stator as possible to generate big energy in a small package.

Aerodynamics are also a key, and Lucid says the Gravity has a drag coefficient of under 0.24. The lower the number, the more efficient the result. Hyundai’s three-row gas-powered Palisade has a 0.33 coefficient of drag, and the upcoming Kia EV9 hits 0.28. Tesla says its Model X sits at 0.24, so Lucid is sliding just below that with the Gravity. It’s still not as aerodynamic as the five-passenger Hyundai Ioniq 6, which has an impressive 0.21 drag coefficient. Give them time, though. Lucid is poised for major growth. 

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Controversial ‘robotaxi’ startup loses CEO https://www.popsci.com/technology/cruise-ceo-resign/ Mon, 20 Nov 2023 20:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=590754
Cruise robotaxi action shot at night
GM suspended all Cruise robotaxi services across the US earlier this month. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

General Motors suspended Cruise's driverless fleet nationwide earlier this month.

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Cruise robotaxi action shot at night
GM suspended all Cruise robotaxi services across the US earlier this month. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt announced his resignation from the controversial robotaxi startup on Sunday evening. The co-founder’s sudden departure arrives after months of public and political backlash relating to the autonomous vehicle fleet’s safety, and hints at future issues for the company purchased by General Motors in 2016 for over $1 billion.

Vogt’s resignation follows months of documented hazardous driving behaviors from Cruise’s autonomous vehicle fleet, including injuring pedestrians, delaying emergency responders, and failing to detect children. Cruise’s Golden State tenure itself lasted barely two months following a California Public Utilities Commission greenlight on 24/7 robotaxi services in August. Almost immediately, residents and city officials began documenting instances of apparent traffic pileups, blocked roadways, and seemingly reckless driving involving Cruise and Google-owned Waymo robotaxis. Meanwhile, Cruise representatives including Vogt aggressively campaigned against claims of an unsafe vehicle fleet.

[Related: San Francisco is pushing back against the rise of robotaxis.]

“Anything that we do differently than humans is being sensationalized,” Vogt told The Washington Post in September.

On October 2, a Cruise robotaxi failed to avoid hitting a woman pedestrian first struck by another car, subsequently dragging her 20 feet down the road. GM issued a San Francisco moratorium on Cruise operations three weeks later, followed by a nationwide expansion of the suspension on November 6.

But even with Cruise on an indefinite hiatus, competitors like Waymo and Zoox continue testing autonomous taxis across San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, and elsewhere to varying degrees of success. As The New York Times reports, Waymo’s integration into Phoenix continues to progress smoothly. Meanwhile, Austin accidents became so concerning that city officials felt the need to establish an internal task force over the summer to help log and process autonomous vehicle incidents.

[Related: Self-driving taxis allegedly blocked an ambulance and the patient died.]

In a thread posted to X over the weekend, Vogt called his experience helming Cruise “amazing,” and expressed gratitude to the company and its employees while telling them to “remember why this work matters.”

“The status quo on our roads sucks, but together we’ve proven there is something far better around the corner,” wrote Vogt before announcing his plans to spend time with his family and explore new ideas.

“Thanks for the great ride!” Vogt concluded.

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Formula One race car cracks a drain cover during Las Vegas Grand Prix practice run https://www.popsci.com/technology/formula-one-vegas-street/ Fri, 17 Nov 2023 17:15:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=590298
A detailed view of a drain cover on the track as seen from the McLaren VISTA during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 16, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A detailed view of a drain cover on the track as seen from the McLaren VISTA during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 16, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jared C. Tilton - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

The first practice run lasted less than 10 minutes after Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari encountered a literal bump in the road, with the race halted for several hours.

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A detailed view of a drain cover on the track as seen from the McLaren VISTA during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 16, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A detailed view of a drain cover on the track as seen from the McLaren VISTA during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 16, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jared C. Tilton - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

A litany of issues has plagued Formula One’s highly anticipated (and derided) Las Vegas Grand Prix race for months, but the event’s most recent issues are perhaps its most ridiculous yet—the cars on-average 212 mph speeds are too fast for the Vegas Strip.

Credit: PitLine / YouTube

F1 racers can’t bolt down any standard roadway—they require specialized, carefully laid pavement. America’s other two F1 venues in Austin, Texas, and Miami, Florida, were both built specifically for the high-speed races, but the Las Vegas Grand Prix circuit presents a wholly different challenge, as it is located within the city itself. To prepare for this weekend’s competition, workers first removed the route’s top 5-to-10 inches of asphalt before replacing it with 60,000 tons of a base layer followed by another 43,000 tons of intermediate and top layer pavement.

Speaking to The Washington Post on Thursday, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority chief executive Steve Hill estimated the new circuit pavement would last 6-10 years, and only need piecemeal maintenance without requiring extensive road closures.

But according to event organizers on November 16, F1 drivers’ first, late evening practice run barely lasted eight minutes before abruptly being forced to end. Near the track’s final corner, racer Carlos Sainz suddenly stopped, reporting apparent damage to his Ferrari’s flooring. A quick investigation of the track revealed that the race car’s speed and accompanying force put too much stress on a drain cover’s concrete framing, causing it to protrude and significantly damage the Ferrari’s chassis—the main frame to which its engine and suspension are attached. If that weren’t enough, racer Esteban Ocon’s car received a similar blow from the dislodged debris shortly after Sainz.

[Related: How the Formula races plan to power their cars with more sustainable fuel.]

This isn’t the first time grates proved to be an F1 car’s Achilles heel—another vehicle suffered a similar fate at a practice during the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. In that instance, however, F1 organizers welded shut the track’s coverings—a solution unavailable to last night’s crew members since it’s illegal to do so under Nevada law. Instead, repairers raced (so to speak) down the Las Vegas track, applying quick-setting concrete to the remaining 20-to-30 coverings.

It was 2:30am local time before racers could return for a second practice run. By this point, they raced past attendee stands devoid of any fans. Labor laws prevented security workers from continuing to staff the event. Those who attempted to stick it out to see the racers return were forced to leave for the night around 1:3gett0am. The competitors completed their trial runs without further incident.

Both drivers and their team members haven’t minced words since the evening’s debacle. Belgian and Dutch racer Max Verstappen described the Vegas Grand Prix as “99 percent show and 1 percent sport,” while Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur called the incident “unacceptable.”

“The situation is we damaged completely the monocoque, the engine, the batteries. I’m not sure this is the topic for me today,” Vasseur told reporters at the time. “We had a very tough [first practice], it cost us a fortune, we fucked up the session for Carlos.”

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff, however, defended the race and described the issue as a “black eye,” but nothing else. “This is nothing… they’re going to seal the drain covers and nobody’s going to talk about that tomorrow morning anymore,” Wolff continued.

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Bentley’s deluxe seats know you’re about to sweat before you do https://www.popsci.com/technology/bentleys-bentayga-suv-seats-thermal-control/ Fri, 17 Nov 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=590236
Bentley Bantayga seats
Bentley embedded two sensors in the seats, each constantly measuring humidity and temperature levels of the bottoms and backs of the seats. With that data, the car can automatically activate its seat climate system for heating or ventilation to maintain the passenger’s individual comfort level. Kristin Shaw

The extended version of the Bentayga SUV uses sensors and an algorithm to keep passengers at the perfect temperature.

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Bentley Bantayga seats
Bentley embedded two sensors in the seats, each constantly measuring humidity and temperature levels of the bottoms and backs of the seats. With that data, the car can automatically activate its seat climate system for heating or ventilation to maintain the passenger’s individual comfort level. Kristin Shaw

Car seats, like the vehicles themselves, are available in a variety of materials with a wide range of manual and electronic controls. My old 1977 Dodge Aspen, for instance, had a front row bench seat that moved as one, like a faux-brocade couch on rails. It had no ventilation, no heat, and definitely no massaging functions. Automobile seating has come a long way since then. 

The first production car with optional heated seats was the 1966 Cadillac DeVille, and massaging seats came along decades later in 2000 Mercedes-Benz and Cadillac models. Bentley, however, has taken the spa-like cabin to the next level with its available “airline seat specification” setup; the British brand says its super-deluxe airline seat specification is a world first.

This $11,000 option in the extended wheelbase version (EWB) of the Bentayga includes not just heat, but cooling, massage, recline, and small trays that fold out like those on a commercial airline. This SUV’s seats even have sensors that predict that you’re about to start sweating even before you know it yourself and preemptively adjusts the temperature. 

Here’s how they work.

Credit: Kristin Shaw
Credit: Kristin Shaw

First class seats

When travelers on an airplane upgrade to business or first class, they gain a significant amount of legroom and space around their seat. Bentley chose to call this Bentayga EWB setup “airline seat specification” to drive home the message that this is a roomy, first-class experience. As soon as you sit down, the sheer number of positioning options is dizzying: The rear seats can be adjusted 22 ways, not including the rear footrest behind the front passenger seat. 

Steve James, the head of interior design for Bentley, has been developing seating for the luxury brand since 2006. His first task when he joined Bentley was to come up with the initial concept for the seats in Bentley’s then-new flagship model, the Mulsanne. While the uber-luxurious Mulsanne model included heated, cooled, and massaging seats, the Bentayga EWB says “hold my Dom Perignon” and ratchets it up even more to prevent fatigue, not just treat it.   

“High-end cars focus quite a lot on fatigue recovery; if you’re getting tired in the car, the massage function is designed to help after the fact,” James says. “But we thought the real luxury experience is to do something to stop the fatigue in the first place. We saw an opportunity with the Bentayga EWB because we have more room to work with.” 

Science, research, and “perfect posture” 

James explains that Bentley focused on two key metrics during the development of the first-class seats: posture and thermal response. Bentley collaborated with an American chiropractor and Comfort Motion Global (CMG), a company that partners with research universities to test its proprietary technologies. Through its research, it discovered that making small adjustments in the leg and back angles of a vehicle seat–as little as one to two degrees–results in a positive increase of blood flow, increasing alertness and reducing fatigue. 

Bentley’s seats are fitted with 12 electric motors and three pneumatic valve engine control units. Unique algorithms developed in conjunction with CMG apply 177 individual pressure changes, shifting stress points from one area to another to stop the onset of fatigue. And the leg rest feature in the Bentayga is situated at a particular angle to create what James calls “perfect posture” that bends the legs slightly for maximum comfort and blood flow. 

“As you may have experienced if you’re in a plane or sitting statically for a long period of time, fatigue sets in,” James says. “The postural system is a system of pneumatic bladders inside the seat and they make small micro-adjustments that fine-tune the angles of your pelvis, your thighs, they are helping motion constantly happen. Small motions that give the customer the option to regulate them. They really make a difference.”

Credit: Kristin Shaw
Credit: Kristin Shaw

Temperature

Another important element of Bentley’s high-end seats is what it calls “thermal comfort.” (There is a default calibration, but it can be adjusted depending on the average temperature preference of the passenger.)

Bentley embedded two sensors in the seats, each constantly measuring humidity and temperature levels of the bottoms and backs of the seats. With that data, the car can automatically activate its seat climate system for heating or ventilation to maintain the passenger’s individual comfort level. James says that the system detects temperature variations of 0.1 degrees and registers upward and downward trends and the human brain doesn’t notice before the delta is 0.5. So the seats’ constant monitoring heads off perspiration before it even happens.

While the concept started to take shape in 2015, the brand didn’t create a working prototype until 2019 after years of data collection and validation. The team had to do quite a bit of calibration on the thermal comfort side, as different passengers feel comfort at vastly different temperatures depending on a number of factors. And as it turned out, one of the engineers became a real-time case study; he became ill during the development and started feeling hot and sweaty. As designed, the system measured that and calculated the delta in his calibration preferences. 

“The real clever bit of the system is it can sense even to one-tenth of a degree Celsius at all times,” James says. “It can measure how you’re feeling and how your temperature is trending. So if you start feeling a little bit warm or perspire a bit–we can actually see it before you feel it.”

In a mainstream car with heated seats, you might find that activating them to full power feels wonderful in cold temperatures until you start overheating. At that point, the seats hold residual warmth that feels uncomfortable until it cools off. Bentley’s seats are designed for an ideal balance of hot and cool so that you feel consistently content. 

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How do electric cars work? By harnessing the magic of magnetism. https://www.popsci.com/technology/how-do-electric-cars-work/ Sat, 11 Nov 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=588757
a Ford Mach-E electric car parked in front of the woods in autumn
A Ford Mach-E electric car. Rob Verger

From the battery system to regenerative braking, these are the basic technologies that power EVs.

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a Ford Mach-E electric car parked in front of the woods in autumn
A Ford Mach-E electric car. Rob Verger

To understand how electric cars work, it helps to keep in mind the ways in which they’re similar to regular gas-burning vehicles. They’re cousins from different generations, not machines from different universes. If you drive, you know the drill: Press down on the pedal with your right foot to get moving, point the vehicle where you want to go, maybe put on some music, and try not to crash. 

“An EV has four wheels,” says Chad Kirchner, the founder of evpulse.com, a news and information site about electric vehicles. “There’s a start button, there’s an accelerator pedal, there’s a brake. In a lot of ways, an EV—and the EV driving experience—is identical to a gas-powered experience.” 

That said, there are key differences in engineering, design, maintenance, and performance between electric cars and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.   

Electric car battery system 101

To begin with, an ICE vehicle relies on a tank of gasoline or diesel to get the energy it needs. An EV, on the other hand, requires a battery system, which consists of a multitude of individual cells. And just like a gas tank, the battery cells store energy. 

“But [a battery cell] also produces power—and the power is a result of the voltage of that particular cell, and the current it’s able to output,” says Charles Poon, the global director of Electrified Systems Engineering at Ford, which makes the Mach-E, the F-150 Lightning, and the E-Transit electric vehicles. He describes the battery as the car’s heart.

Battery design in EVs will differ between automakers, and one of the main ways is the shape of their cells. To make things a bit more tangible, consider the Mach-E, an electric car that descends from a famous line of gas-burning vehicles that gave birth to the term “pony car.” The cells in the Mach-E are in pouch form, whereas other batteries in the market have cylindrical cells (Tesla uses those) or prismatic cells. A Mach-E battery system has hundreds of cells. 

[Related: This giant bumper car is street-legal and enormously delightful]

The lithium-ion-based electric car batteries can also have slightly different chemistries. For example, a Mach-E can come with nickel, cobalt, and manganese (NCM) batteries or lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. The former are known for being able to hold power for longer and performing well in cold temperatures, while LFP batteries are less expensive and can charge up faster. 

How do electric motors work? 

The term AC/DC is not only the name of an Australian rock band, but also describes two forms of electricity: alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC). Both types of power are important for electric cars to work.

The electricity coming out of your wall outlet at home is in AC form, but batteries store their energy in DC form. Because of this, electric cars have a component known as a charger that takes the AC power flowing into the vehicle and switches it to the more battery-friendly DC. A quicker way to charge up one of these cars is by using a DC fast charger, which provides the car with juice in DC form, so the car doesn’t have to convert it. 

“It bypasses the AC charger [in the car], and goes directly into the battery,” Poon explains. 

[Related: What an electric vehicle’s MPGe rating really means]

So the batteries store power in DC form, but there’s a twist: electric motors work with AC power. This means the vehicle has to transform electricity yet again, which it does using a traction inverter that converts the DC back into AC. “And then that is what actually ends up spinning the electric motor, producing power,” Poon adds.  

There are two key components in an electric motor: a stator and a rotor. The rotor sits inside the stator and rotates using the wonders of magnetism that kick in when AC power hits the motor. 

“We send what we call three phases of alternating current through a stator that has wires that are wound radially, sequentially, around the stator,” he explains. “And we are able to create a rotating magnetic field—so the magnetic field rotates, and it pulls the rotor along with it.” 

And voilá! After passing through some gearing, that rotation turns the wheels on your electric vehicle. 

While an ICE car has one engine, Kirchner, from evpulse.com, notes that electric vehicles in the market can have as many as four motors. For example, the rear-wheel drive version of a Mach-E uses one motor, while the all-wheel drive version uses two—one for the front and one for the back. At the other end of the spectrum, a Rivian R1T can have as many as one motor per wheel. 

[Related: Electric cars are better for the environment, no matter the power source]

The pros and cons of driving an electric vehicle

Could you imagine if taking your foot off the gas pedal in an ICE vehicle magically made more gasoline appear in the tank? Something like that happens in an EV.

This cool trick is called regenerative braking, and allows drivers to start slowing down not by pushing the brake pedal as in regular cars, but by taking their foot off the accelerator. Don’t worry—that brake pedal is still there when you need it. In one-pedal or regen mode, things happen in reverse: the wheels turn the motors so they act like generators and send power back to the batteries. 

“You are actually taking the vehicle momentum and putting it back in as chemical energy into the battery,” Poon says.

Mach-E Chief Engineer Donna Dickson says one-pedal driving still remains an unfamiliar technique for drivers, but notes that it helps prevent wear on the brakes while also adding battery charge.

The power source is not the only difference between electric cars and ICE vehicles. There are other details that set the two apart. For example, Kirchner says that while combustion engines have to rev a little to make torque, EV motors make all of their torque from a complete standstill. This results in great acceleration. “Around town, even electric cars that you would not consider sporty by looking at them feel very quick, which makes them excellent city cars,” he continues. 

Another benefit of driving an electric vehicle is that they need less maintenance. There’s no need for an oil change, although their heavier weight means their tires experience more wear and tear. 

On the downside, you can’t charge up the batteries as rapidly or as easily as gasoline goes into a tank, but if you can charge at home, you have a unique perk: “You start every morning with a full tank,” says Kirchner. But that doesn’t always come as easy as it sounds. 

[Related: How does a jet engine work? By running hot enough to melt its own innards.]

“If you are an EV owner, it’s pretty much imperative at this point to have someplace to plug in and charge overnight,” says Paul Waatti, manager of industry analysis for AutoPacific. However, “there’s a good portion of America that doesn’t live in a single-family home.” People residing in condos, apartments, and other residential setups will have a more challenging time finding a charger to plug in their cars overnight. As for public chargers, Waatti says those networks are “very far off from being seamless at this point,” meaning there are too few and many don’t work properly.

The post How do electric cars work? By harnessing the magic of magnetism. appeared first on Popular Science.

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Rimac’s electric speed demon tore through a world record in reverse https://www.popsci.com/technology/rimac-nevera-reverse-world-record/ Wed, 08 Nov 2023 20:35:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=587960
Rimac Nevera hypercar action shot driving in reverse
170 MPH is pretty fast, regardless of direction. Rimac / Dennis Noten

It’s starting to feel like the world’s most powerful EV is running out of impressive feats.

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Rimac Nevera hypercar action shot driving in reverse
170 MPH is pretty fast, regardless of direction. Rimac / Dennis Noten

To put it very simply: the Rimac Nevera electric hypercar is very, very fast. With 1,194-horsepower, a top speed of 256 MPH, and the ability to accelerate faster than an F1 racer, it’s not just one of the most powerful EVs in the world—it’s one of the most powerful cars, period. The $2.1 million Nevera has dashed past so many world records at this point that its makers are now forced to get creative in setting new ones. And they certainly have, judging from a new video released on November 7.

In addition to all its other feats, the Rimac Nevera is apparently now also the Guinness World Record holder for the “fastest speed in reverse.” How fast did it take to earn yet another laurel? 171.34 MPH—certainly an intense speed in any direction.

[Related: Behind the wheel of the bruisingly quick Rimac Nevera hypercar.]

On Tuesday, Nevera chief program engineer Matija Renić revealed that the new stunt actually began as a joke during the hypercar’s development stage.

“We kind of laughed it off,” Renić said via the company’s announcement. Renić noted its cooling and stability systems, not to mention aerodynamics, simply weren’t engineered for putting the pedal to the floor while in reverse. “But then, we started to talk about how fun it would be to give it a shot.”

Simulations indicated a Nevera likely would top 150 MPH while driven backwards, but there was no way to be sure just how stable it would remain while blazing down the road. “We were entering uncharted territory,” Renić added—an understatement if there ever was one.

But as these multiple videos attest, the Nevera is certainly up to the task should it ever improbably become necessary. According to the company’s record-setting test driver, pulling off the stunt “definitely took some getting used to.”

“You’re facing straight out backwards watching the scenery flash away from you faster and faster, feeling your neck pulled forwards in almost the same sensation you would normally get under heavy braking,” Goran Drndak said via Rimac’s November 7 announcement. “You’re moving the steering wheel so gently, careful not to upset the balance, watching for your course and your braking point out the rear-view mirror, all the while keeping an eye on the speed.” Although being “almost completely unnatural” to the car’s design, Drndak said the Nevera “breezed” through the stress test.

It’s hard to imagine what’s left for the Nevera to achieve, but if the latest record is any indication, chances are Rimac designers will think of something.

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Volvo’s new EV could include recycled blue jeans, pine resin, or flax https://www.popsci.com/technology/volvo-ex30-materials/ Mon, 06 Nov 2023 23:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=586782
Volvo's EX30 electric car
Volvo's EX30 starts at $36,245. Kristin Shaw

The EX30 costs less than $40,000 and makes use of materials like old denim and flax fiber.

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Volvo's EX30 electric car
Volvo's EX30 starts at $36,245. Kristin Shaw

In Sweden, the word lagom represents the Goldilocks-esque concept of “not too much, not too little, but just right.” Swedish automaker Volvo had this concept in mind when it created the brand’s newest model, the EX30. At the same time, the electric car had to meet a major objective: have the lowest carbon footprint of any Volvo model to date.

Volvo says that the EX30’s “total carbon footprint” is 25 percent less CO2 than the electrified versions of its C40 and XC40 models, in line with the automaker’s stated goal to cut CO2 emissions per car by 40 percent by 2025. To achieve this, they took into account the manufacturing processes, worked to simplify its design, and reduced the materials it needs. Even the exterior colors like Moss Yellow and Cloud Blue superficially reflect Volvo’s Earth-friendly goals. 

What’s more, the vehicle will cost less than $40,000, which in a world of extra-pricey EVs (the average price for an EV was $53,469 in July of this year, according to Cox Automotive), is impressive. Starting at $36,245 (including destination fees), the EX30 is an attractive package.

Here’s how Volvo achieved its sustainability goals while aiming for that “just right” feel.

Sustainable interior ‘rooms’ 

The company integrated recycled PVC collected from house window frames, PET plastic from single-use water bottles, plant materials like flax fibers, and even discarded denim threads from the blue jeans recycling process into the EX30’s interior. 

Buyers of the new EX30 can choose between four interior expressions for the vehicle. Volvo calls the interior themes “rooms” because people spend so much time in their car, Volvo color and materials designer Camille Audra explained to PopSci

Two interior rooms employ recycling themes: they are called indigo, which is made from denim like the blue jeans you may be wearing right now, and breeze, a patterned knit. And two feature natural materials: they are called mist (flax fiber) and pine (tree resin).

“This is inspired from fashion,” Audra says. “People wear blue jeans everywhere in the world.”

Old denim is often recycled into things like pet bed inserts, building insulation, and thermal packaging insulation.  During the process, Audra says, the short fibers that are left over could become waste, but in this case, are instead collected and woven into a new material.

One of the car's interior themes is called "indigo," and makes use of old jeans.
One of the car’s interior themes is called “indigo,” and makes use of old jeans. These vials show steps in the denim recycling process. Kristin Shaw

Combined with cellulose (also a plant-based material) to give strength to the material, the fibers become a durable surface for the dashboard and door panels. Bonus: there are no zippers or button flies to get in the way. 

Along with blue jeans material, flax fiber is lightweight and natural. Also known as linseed, flax is exceedingly strong when woven into fibers. (The flowering plant yields seeds that are pressed to extract oil, or dried and sold as a product in grocery stores around the country. Flaxseed meal—the byproduct of the flaxseed oil-pressing process—has a second life as livestock feed.) Volvo is on track with other automakers, like Kia and Hyundai, that are also using flax fibers inside their cars for sustainability and weight benefits.

“We decided to use flax because it’s used to regenerate soil [between crops] and uses less water than other crops, and still has a nice touch and feel,” Audra says.

In the summer of 2021, Volvo revealed its Concept Recharge, which used flax fibers from a Swiss company called Bcomp. By investing in Bcomp, a company that has also provided products to the racing arm of McLaren or Porsche, Volvo now has a mainline to sustainable materials. 

“Bcomp’s calculations show that compared to regular plastic parts, the natural fiber-based composites are up to 50 percent lighter, use up to 70 percent less plastic and generate up to 62 per cent lower CO2 emissions,” Volvo says

Volvo is also featuring a “room” in a pine theme. The manufacturer uses a material called Nordico, which is made from recycled materials such as PET bottles, corks recycled from the wine industry, and pine resin from sustainable forests in Sweden and Finland. 

Volvo ex30 interior
The paint-splatter theme is in a version of the car that makes use of recycled PET plastics. Kristin Shaw

New colors, natural themes

For one interior trim option, Audra revealed that the design team scanned a piece of granite and then imprinted the granite’s natural patterns onto the recycled plastic. Using a stone grain offers more recycling options later as well, because the texture doesn’t require paint as a finish. 

On the outside, Volvo offers a vibrant hue—probably the brightest color ever seen on a Volvo model—called Moss Yellow, inspired by the lichens that grow on the rocks of the west coast of Sweden. And Cloud Blue looks white in the sunlight but transforms into a soft blue when it’s overcast. 

Even the technology reflects Volvo’s all-in commitment to a low carbon footprint. By keeping parts to a minimum, Volvo creates fewer carbon emissions when manufacturing the EX30. So far, its strategy is working: the brand expects 80 percent of EX30 buyers to be new to Volvo, and overall sales are skyrocketing. 

Correction on Nov. 8, 2023: This post has been updated to clarify that the denim material is used on the dashboard and door panels, not the seats.

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How smart trailers could give trucking a clean, electrified boost https://www.popsci.com/technology/range-energy-electric-trailer/ Sat, 04 Nov 2023 11:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=585958
A Range Energy trailer has a motor, batteries, and other intelligence.
A Range Energy trailer has a motor, batteries, and other intelligence. Range Energy

A special trailer from Range Energy aims to follow the truck tractor "like an obedient dog." Here's how it all works.

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A Range Energy trailer has a motor, batteries, and other intelligence.
A Range Energy trailer has a motor, batteries, and other intelligence. Range Energy

One of the most ubiquitous sights on the road is an 18-wheel truck. These large, loud vehicles are a prolific presence on America’s interstates, and are made up of two big components: the tractor, which does the pulling and is where the driver is, and the trailer, where the stuff goes. 

In an effort to clean up the relatively large emissions that come from this part of the transportation sector, some companies are working on electric tractors that can pull trailers: Freightliner has a model called the eCascadia, Tesla has its Semi, Volvo its VNR, and others are working on it, too. But a relatively new company called Range Energy is focusing on the trailer itself, equipping it with batteries, a motor, and other intelligence. The trailer can be paired with a tractor burning diesel, or an electric one, like one of those eCascadias. 

Currently, there are about 3.5 million trailers in the United States, according to a company called ACT Research.

Range Energy is led by Ali Javidan, an early Tesla employee and veteran of Google and Zoox, the autonomous car company now owned by Amazon. Javidan also brings something else to the table: experience towing things. “I’ve always been around equipment, cars, trucks, stuff like that,” he says. “A few of my uncles had car dealerships, mechanic shops, lots of land in Sacramento. And so growing up, one of my first experiences driving was towing cars from the dealership to the service center, or moving boats around the farm, or things like that.” 

So while he points out that he has “very, very limited time in a class-8 tractor trailer,” which is a big 18-wheeler, he adds that he has “lots of towing empathy.” 

[Related: Futuristic aircraft and robotic loaders dazzled at a Dallas tech summit]

Range’s RA-01 product looks like a regular trailer—typically a big, boxy, and boring presence on the road—but has some key changes. There’s a motor that turns one of the axles at the back of the trailer. That motor gets the power it needs from an onboard battery pack, which isn’t inside the trailer (where it would interfere with cargo space) but is below it. There’s also what Javidan refers to as “smart kingpin.” A kingpin on a big 18-wheel truck is the point where the trailer connects to the tractor. What makes the Range Energy kingpin different from a regular kingpin is that it senses what the tractor is doing. “It’s a real-time measurement of how hard the tractor is pulling,” Javidan says.

Because it gathers this information, the trailer can be “kind of like an obedient dog on a leash,” he says, with the goal of making the trailer feel “essentially weightless” for the tractor. The trailer wouldn’t ever push the tractor, though. 

The result, according to Range, is that if this trailer is paired with a diesel-burning tractor, that tractor could get around 35 to 40 percent better fuel efficiency. And if it were paired with an electric tractor, it could add about 100 miles of range or more. 

Another benefit potentially arises from what happens when a truck towing a Range trailer goes downhill. That’s because of regenerative braking, which uses the motion from the wheels to charge the battery back up and simultaneously slow the whole rig down. That means that the truck’s brakes get less wear and tear, too. “The second-biggest maintenance item on a trailer is brakes,” he says. (Tires take the top slot.) Plus, Javidan says that the system has a stability boost going downhill, “because we’re dragging from the trailer.” 

The most obvious negative tradeoff that comes with electrifying the trailer is weight. “It adds about 4,000 pounds to the total system,” Javidan says. (A tractor-trailer rig has to stay below 80,000 pounds in total, although an electric tractor gets an additional 2,000 pound allowance.) For trucks hauling something heavy, like soda, this could affect the amount of goods they can transport in one load. But many trucks carrying stuff have “cubed out,” Javidan says—meaning that the truck’s interior space fills up before hitting the maximum weight limit. (Just think about an Amazon box filled packaging around something small, like toothpaste, and you get the idea.) 

Javidan says that they’ll start beta testing next year, with deliveries to customers planned for 2025. “You will start seeing these trailers on the roads in real volumes starting in 2026,” he predicts. 

There’s good reason for regulators and companies to work on cleaning up this transportation sector, both from a climate-change perspective and a public-health one. If you consider buses and medium- and heavy-duty trucks, those big rigs make up just 6 percent of vehicles on the roads in the US, but account for sizable portions of greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen oxides (NOx). In other words, they are “disproportionately emitting emissions,” says Stephanie Ly, the senior manager of eMobility Strategy and Manufacturing Engagement at the World Resources Institute. 

The NOx emissions have “major public health impacts,” she says. Exposure to this diesel-heavy industry has serious ramifications for people, with repercussions like “years of life lost” as well as “asthma, cancer, infertility, and so many other negative effects, particularly for those that live nearest to high-traffic truck centers,” she says. And these groups, Ly adds, “are primarily communities of color, and communities that are lower income, or have less access to different types of employment, so they’re especially vulnerable.”

With Range Energy’s plan to electrify the trailer, Ly notes that “it’s absolutely fascinating what they are proposing.” That said, just as there are multiple companies working on creating electric tractors that do the pulling, other firms also are working on electrifying the trailer, too. ConMet eMobility, ZF, and Einride all represent potential competitors for Range. 

“I will say in the trucking sector, there’s quite a bit of brand loyalty within the supply chain,” Ly adds. In other words, any new player might have something of a long haul ahead of them as they try to pull onto the highway, get into the right gear, and travel down that open road.

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A new blue paint color for cars uses nano-pigments to boost its intensity https://www.popsci.com/technology/car-color-science/ Mon, 30 Oct 2023 19:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=584375
Gypsy Modina with the Double Apex Blue Pearl color.
Gypsy Modina with the Double Apex Blue Pearl color. Acura

Way more goes into picking a vehicle's paint color than you might imagine.

The post A new blue paint color for cars uses nano-pigments to boost its intensity appeared first on Popular Science.

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Gypsy Modina with the Double Apex Blue Pearl color.
Gypsy Modina with the Double Apex Blue Pearl color. Acura

The most popular car paint color in America is white. The hue has names like Blizzard White, Snow Quartz, and Wind Chill Pearl. Black, gray, and silver aren’t far behind on the popularity scale, rounding out the vast majority of cars on the road. 

These stats don’t mean that automakers are staying monochrome, though. On the contrary, Italian automaker Fiat thumbed its nose at bland colors and declared earlier this year it wouldn’t make cars in any shade of gray. Jeep likes to debut names for its vehicle finishes that are as colorful as the paint itself: Snazzberry, Hellayella, and Punk’N, for example. And Mazda has established itself as a colorful brand with its ubiquitous Soul Red Crystal Metallic and new Artisan Red, which morphs from a black cherry look in the sunlight to a dark, almost-black tint on a cloudy day or at dawn and dusk. 

Automakers use electrostatic spray guns to apply even layers of paint on the vehicles they produce, and car paint has evolved into a high-tech science that delivers more colors than designers imagined even 10 years ago. 

For example, Honda’s luxury arm, Acura, debuted its new Precision EV concept last year; it sports an arresting blue finish that seems to radiate from the inside out. Gypsy Modina, who leads the brand’s color and materials group, created the Double Apex Blue Pearl tint, which will grace the 2024 ZDX Type S. 

This is how Modina whips up pigments that set Acura apart and how she sees the future of paint and color technology. 

A Mazda CX-90 in Artisan Red.
A Mazda CX-90 in Artisan Red. Kristin Shaw

Color inspiration 

Modina got her degree in fine arts at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, the alma mater of notable automotive designers like Ralph Gilles, chief design officer for Stellantis, and John Krsteski, senior chief designer for Genesis. She started working for Acura 18 years ago, and now mixes colors like a mad scientist for the brand to come up with bespoke paint finishes. 

Her job seems more science than art. She has to understand how light bounces from the vehicle to the eye and how the color accentuates the form and fits the personality and demographic of that car. 

“I don’t think I knew I’d be doing so much science and math [in this field],” Modina says wryly. “It’s funny, because I find it hard to follow a recipe when cooking.” 

She doesn’t sit at her desk dreaming up color combinations. Instead, the process is more exciting: Modina travels the world seeking inspiration and finds it in fashion-forward places like Milan, Italy but also in nature, hiking in locations as far-flung as Kruger National Park in South Africa.

What Modina sees coming down the pipeline is colors and materials that are designed with the goal of minimizing waste and pollution by recycling, and using more natural versus chemical materials. Interestingly, that doesn’t align with what some manufacturers are showing off on the technology side, like the BMW SUV that features a specially developed body wrap stimulated by electrical signals to change color.

“Now you’re seeing concepts that change colors and car bodies that are more like screens,” Modina says. “There are things you can create that can be more solutions to a circular economy. The goal is for circularity, and I do think optimistically that there are material technologies and sciences that can [contribute to that].” 

The topic has a colorful history: Back when cars used to be spray-painted by hand with layers upon layers of pigment, the overspray would build up in the paint bays. Over time, chunks of buildup needed to be removed, and someone along the way discovered the beauty of baked-on layers of color that could be polished into gemlike stones. You’ll find “Fordite” stones (also called “motor agate” or “Detroit agate”) as pieces of jewelry on Etsy and other sites. But the process that created these multicolored polished stones no longer exists.

Color options from Lamborghini. What color do you want your Revuelto supercar to be?
Color options from Lamborghini. What color do you want your Revuelto supercar to be? Kristin Shaw

Car paint that glows even when it’s cloudy

On a cloudy and gray day during Monterey Car Week in August 2022, Acura unveiled its Precision EV in Double Apex Blue. That kind of weather could be an unfortunate backdrop for the high-profile presentation of a new car, but the blue finish looked like it was glowing even through the gloom. Modina and the design team breathed a sigh of relief. 

“We were giving each other high fives,” Modina says. “There aren’t that many colors that do that.”

The glow is a physical manifestation of what Acura’s first all-electric vehicle, scheduled for delivery next summer, represents. 

Modina leads the brand’s color and materials group.
Modina leads the brand’s color and materials group. Acura

“We knew electrification was coming into play and we wanted the blue to go more liquid and more sheer,” Modina says. “There’s something about electrification that has a smoothness to it and we wanted [the paint to appear] more liquid. We also wanted it to be unique; we saw in the US market that people are more open to bold colors.”

The form language (the term refers to design styles unique to each manufacturer) and shape are closely related to the brand, Modina says. She and her team design many different types of hues, but the brand’s Double Apex Blue and Performance Red stand out because they must lay on the body in a way that matches the brand’s personality. Blue, in particular, is a heritage color for Acura, and has been refreshed over the years. This particular blue includes nano-pigments, which are finer particles that load the color with higher saturation, making the tint appear more intense. 

Light, color, and form work together with our emotions to stimulate a response; in Acura’s case, the brand wants us to see its cars as fast and performance-oriented. Even if they’re popular, cars in bland colors just can’t measure up.

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At this epic off-roading event, traditional map skills and an EV win the day https://www.popsci.com/technology/rebelle-rally-2023/ Mon, 23 Oct 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=582613
The Rebelle Rally involves teams spending long days navigating off the grid, without any help from electronic devices.
The Rebelle Rally involves teams spending long days navigating off the grid, without any help from electronic devices. Regine Trias

Modern vehicles and old-fashioned navigation techniques intersect at the Rebelle Rally. No Google Maps allowed.

The post At this epic off-roading event, traditional map skills and an EV win the day appeared first on Popular Science.

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The Rebelle Rally involves teams spending long days navigating off the grid, without any help from electronic devices.
The Rebelle Rally involves teams spending long days navigating off the grid, without any help from electronic devices. Regine Trias

Hundreds of years before Google Maps and other apps like it made navigation as easy as looking at your smartphone, explorers found their way around the planet by the light of the moon and stars, or by shadows cast by the sun. Today, humans rely on electronic devices, not their instincts or the study of celestial bodies. And of course before the smartphone came along, people also used maps printed on dead trees. But kids born recently aren’t using paper maps at all; instead they just punch in an address to receive a route to get where they’re going.

Off-roading champion Emily Miller wanted to teach others what she learned from years of navigating with a ruler, pencil, compass, and topographical map. With that in mind, she created the Rebelle Rally, the longest off-road time-distance navigational rally in the United States. The idea of a navigational rally might not be novel, but this one is: All competitors are required to disable any digital navigational aids on their vehicle and seal up their electronic devices (mobile phones, AirTags, tablets, laptops, and more) for the duration. It’s a test of driving precision and navigation skills, not a speed race pell-mell across the desert. 

Over eight days, Rebelle Rally competitors are shut off from the world, sleeping in tents near ghost towns and rock faces instead of hotels and cities. This year, the rally’s course started in Mammoth Lakes, California, crossed into Nevada, and finished in the southeast corner of California at the majestic Glamis Dunes. The only news participants hear is their daily standings in the competition—there’s no endless scrolling of social media feeds. Plotting latitude and longitude points requires one’s full attention, and by the end of a 10-hour day spent hunting checkpoints, there’s no need for entertainment. The competitors are wiped out physically and mentally, heading for their tents to sleep.

I just completed my second year of the rally; I was sponsored by Hyundai and we operated a Santa Cruz with a 1.5-inch lift in the front and a 1-inch lift in the back. We had off-road accessories (traction boards, shovels, and a spare tire) mounted to a custom Rally Innovations rack to help us along. This is what it’s like to compete at this crossroads of analog and high-tech. 

A team using a Rivian R1T took the top spot.
A team using a Rivian R1T took the top spot. Ernesto Araiza

Analog navigation

Now entering its ninth year, the Rebelle Rally just wrapped up its most recent competition with 65 teams of two women each; the all-female event concluded on October 20. Each morning, the teams were alerted that it’s time to get going by the gentle clanging sound of a cowbell at 5 a.m. Many teams are already up by that point, the sounds of tent zippers tearing the fabric of the silence even before that.

Each day, a race official distributes a list of 20 or more checkpoints to the teams long before dawn. Then teams plot latitude and longitude points along with distances and headings on their paper maps. On-the-ground checkpoints are marked with flags (mandatory green checkpoints, the easiest), or poles (blue checkpoints, which are more difficult to find) or invisible geofenced areas (black checkpoints, requiring precision within 200-300 meters to avoid a penalty). 

Once a team drives to the checkpoint and sees the flag, or sees what they believe to be the spot, one of the competitors clicks on a satellite tracker that displays the exact latitude and longitude point where the signal is traced. A company called YB Tracking and the Iridium satellite network track the competitors to keep them safe; the staff knows exactly where each car is, even if the teams themselves are lost. 

Teams also participate in enduro segments, which are a series of checkpoints that include time checks along the route and require intense focus and concentration to stay at the average dictated speed, which may change frequently. To prepare for these on-time sections, competitors use mathematical formulas to calculate the seconds and minutes of each segment in the precise roadbook based on the distance and speed. 

Using a solar-powered calculator and a basic stopwatch, we found our way. 

No Google Maps allowed; paper maps served as navigational tools.
No Google Maps allowed; paper maps served as navigational tools. Nicole Dreon

Green power takes the gold

After seven days of full-time driving plus the half-day prologue, it was a team called the Limestone Legends that took first place in a Rivian R1T all-electric pickup truck. Not only was it the first time an all-electric vehicle earned the gold medal in the Rebelle Rally, the second place vehicle was a hybrid: a Jeep Wrangler 4xe. Rivian has been a strong supporter of the Rebelle Rally starting in October 2020 with a pre-production model of an R1T, which became the first fully electric truck to ever compete in the event. 

Charging up an EV in the middle of the desert is a challenge. While gas-powered cars are fueled up by a tanker that travels from base camp to base camp with the rally, it’s not as easy to provide a boost for batteries that way. So, the Rebelle Rally partnered with Renewable Innovations to provide hydrogen-powered EV charging to the Rivian and Jeep 4xe models each day. 

Each base camp embraced green energy too, mobilizing a 53-foot mobile Renewable Innovations semi with high-density solar panels combined with “follow-the-sun” smart flowers on each side to collectively deliver 50 kilowatts of peak power for base camp. 

While our phones and navigation systems were unavailable by design, my team did have a Nextbase dash cam in the car so we could capture the beauty of the off-road trails in California and Nevada. It came in handy when we witnessed a crash—a Mitsubishi crossover tried to pass us and the full-size SUV in front of us on the left. We handed over our camera’s memory card to the police, providing an airtight record of what happened. And luckily, no one was seriously hurt. 

The post At this epic off-roading event, traditional map skills and an EV win the day appeared first on Popular Science.

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This giant bumper car is street-legal and enormously delightful https://www.popsci.com/technology/dan-hryhorcoff-bumper-car/ Mon, 23 Oct 2023 12:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=581743
a giant bumper car
Dan Hryhorcoff, who has a deep mechanical background, built the vehicle as a pandemic project. Kathy Hryhorcoff

Dan Hryhorcoff built the 13-foot-long bumper car as a pandemic project. Here's how he made it.

The post This giant bumper car is street-legal and enormously delightful appeared first on Popular Science.

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a giant bumper car
Dan Hryhorcoff, who has a deep mechanical background, built the vehicle as a pandemic project. Kathy Hryhorcoff

“I always build things,” says Dan Hryhorcoff. 

Case in point: Hryhorcoff has constructed an absolutely delightful giant bumper car, a project that he says began during the pandemic. The rest of us may have baked bread as COVID came down the pike, but Hryhorcoff, who lives in northeastern Pennsylvania and has also built a submarine, constructed an enormous blue bumper car. It gets its propulsion from a repurposed Chevrolet engine and is street-legal. 

Before he constructed the big bumper car, Hryhorcoff had made a different vehicle, starting on it around 2013 or so. “When I retired, I decided I kind of wanted to build a car,” he recalls. For that project, he chose to focus on a 1950s pedal car for children called a Murray “sad face.” “I decided to copy that and make a large one.” (Those Murray models have a front that does indeed look like a sad face, but anyone who sees Hryhorcoff’s work will probably smile.) 

Creating that big red vehicle provided him with further experience working with fiberglass, a material he had also worked with when building the submarine. “I had a lot of fun with that [Murray car] at car shows and things, and it got a lot of attention from a broad audience,” he says.

“Then COVID hit,” he adds. He wanted a new project. His thinking? “Another car project would be good.” 

Building the big bumper car

He settled on a bumper car. To get the source material he needed for the project, he turned to an amusement park in Elysburg, Pennsylvania called Knoebels, and the bumper cars they have there. Specifically, he focused on the 1953-model bumper car that was made by a company called Lusse. He liked that it had a “Chevrolet pickup truck sorta look” from the 1950s. 

“I decided to copy one of those,” he says. Spending some eight hours at Knoebels gave him the chance to get the information he needed. “I measured, and took photos, and made templates, and whatever I needed to, to copy the car as well as I can.” He chose to make his version of the car double the size of the base model. As the Scranton Times-Tribune noted in a story about Hryhorcoff in July, the bumper car ride at Knoebels dates back to the immediate post-World-War-II era.

[Related: This Florida teen is making a business out of rebuilding old-school auto tech]

Inside, the big bumper car’s power plant comes from a Chevrolet Aveo. “I took the front of the Aveo, and chopped it off, and put that in the back of the bumper car,” he explains. “And the front of the bumper car is a motorcycle wheel.” That single wheel up front means it can turn very sharply. The exterior is made out of fiberglass. All told, it measures 13 feet long, 7 feet wide, and 5.5 feet tall, making it twice the size of a regular bumper car. A pole in the back mimics the way actual bumper cars get their electricity, except this one connects to nothing. 

A project like this would likely be a bumpy ride for anyone without the experience that Hryhorcoff, 72, brings to the table. “I learned to run a lathe when I was 13 years old, with my dad, and he was kind of a jack-of-all-trades,” he recalls. (A lathe is a tool for forming metal into a round shape, and a wood lathe is the kind of equipment you could use to make a baseball bat.) He built a go-cart, tinkered with lawn mowers, and learned about auto repair in a garage. His interest, as he describes it, was “all around mechanical.” 

He spent four years after high school in the Navy in the early 1970s, where he worked stateside and repaired radios for F-4 jets, and then studied mechanical engineering at Penn State. After working for a drilling company, he started his own machine shop called Justus Machine. 

a giant bumper car on the road
The bumper car measures 5.5 feet high. Kathy Hryhorcoff

Always diving into something new

The submarine he built came from plans for a K350 model purchased from George Kittredge, and is called Persistence. “I knew I was building something that wasn’t gonna kill me, if I build it correctly,” he says. (Watch a video of the sub in action here.) That sub has gone as deep as 540 feet with no one on board, Hryhorcoff says, and he’s taken it down himself to about 150 feet deep. 

[Related: How does a jet engine work? By running hot enough to melt its own innards.]

Hryhorcoff describes himself as an engineer, not an artist, and prefers to follow plans and undertake projects in which he knows any challenges he might face are surmountable. “Any project I’ve ever chose was a project that I knew I can get through it, but I had something new to learn in the process,” he says. “There were always some unknowns.” But those unknowns, he adds, were within the realm of doable for him and his equipment, even if he had to learn new stuff along the way.

“I’d rather big projects, rather than a dozen little ones,” he adds. 

Watch a short video about Hryhorcoff and this project, below:

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Elon Musk says ‘we dug our own grave with Cybertruck’ ahead of its November release https://www.popsci.com/technology/tesla-cybertruck-release-date/ Thu, 19 Oct 2023 19:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=581189
Tesla Cybertruck concept art in warehouse
The Cybertruck is set to finally arrive after a nearly two-year delay. Tesla

Tesla CEO announced the release date during an earnings call this week.

The post Elon Musk says ‘we dug our own grave with Cybertruck’ ahead of its November release appeared first on Popular Science.

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Tesla Cybertruck concept art in warehouse
The Cybertruck is set to finally arrive after a nearly two-year delay. Tesla

First officially unveiled back in 2019, Tesla’s electric Cybertruck impressed and amused the public with its angular, “Blade Runner-inspired” design and purported features including reinforced glass, stainless steel body, and a lack of door handles. Although originally slated to arrive in reservation holders’ driveways in 2021, the EV release faced numerous delays exacerbated by COVID-19 pandemic supply chain issues. This week, however, Elon Musk said Tesla’s long-delayed Cybertruck will finally roll off the company’s Giga Texas lot on November 30, when Tesla is now scheduled to begin delivery. However, the company’s CEO cautioned investors against early celebrations.

During the company’s Q3 earnings call on October 18, Musk stressed that both customers and shareholders should “temper expectations,” particularly for the Cybertruck’s initial profitability. Tesla faced various challenges with scaling and ramping up production. Musk went as far as to say, “we dug our own grave with Cybertruck” during the vehicle’s multi-year hype campaign.

[Related: Tesla’s Cybertruck is the latest lofty promise in the world of electric pickups.]

“Cybertruck is one of those special products that comes along only once in a long while. And special products that come along once in a long while are just incredibly difficult to bring to market to reach volume, to be prosperous,” Musk opined, as reported by The Verge on Wednesday.

The Cybertruck base model was initially estimated at $39,900 in 2019, but Tesla is expected to announce updated pricings during its November 30 release event. No price ranges are currently available on Tesla’s website, but customers can still put down a refundable $100 deposit for a Cybertruck with the promise to “complete your configuration as production nears.”

In the meantime, multiple companies have released their own electric truck options, including the Ford F-150 Lightning and Rivian’s R1T. During this week’s Tesla earnings call, the company stated that it had the capacity to produce more than 125,000 Cybertrucks annually. Musk said he saw a potential for Tesla to produce 250,000 Cybertrucks in 2025. Musk said that more than one million people have reserved the Cybertruck so far.

[Related: Here is what a Tesla Cybertruck cop car could look like.]

The product may not be ready, but the concept keeps iterating itself. In September, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison teased concept art for a Cybertruck cop car including EV’s recognizable design beneath red and blue emergency lights, a bull bar, and multiple Oracle logos. “Our next generation police car is coming out very soon,” Ellison, a “close friend” of Musk, said during his presentation at the data service giant’s CloudWork conference to audible murmurs in the crowd. “It’s my favorite police car. It’s my favorite car, actually. It’s Elon’s favorite car.”

Musk’s desire to release an electric pickup truck dates as far back as 2012, when he tweeted he “would love make a Tesla supertruck with crazy torque, dynamic air suspension and corners [sic] like its on rails.”

“That’d be sweet…,” he added at the time.

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The best tire chains of 2023 https://www.popsci.com/gear/best-tire-chains/ Tue, 07 Mar 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=517417
The best tire chains will help you prepare for the storm.

Protect yourself from getting caught in a snow or ice storm.

The post The best tire chains of 2023 appeared first on Popular Science.

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The best tire chains will help you prepare for the storm.

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more ›

Best overall Peerless Auto Trac Light Truck/SUV Tire Chains are the best tire chains overall. Peerless Auto-Trac Light Truck/SUV Tire Traction Chain
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Peerless Auto-Trac chains offer excellent traction while being one of the easiest sets of tire chains to install.

Best for trucks Security Chain Company Quik Grip are the best tire chains for trucks. Security Chain Company Quik Grip
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These large chains offer maximum durability to support the weight of heavy duty pickup trucks.

Best budget The Security Chain Company SUper Z6 is the best tire chain at a budget-friendly price. Security Chain Company Super Z6 Cable Tire Chain
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These large chains offer maximum durability to support the weight of heavy-duty pickup trucks.

When driving on snowy and icy roads, often the one thing that can keep you from getting stuck is a good set of tire chains. These vehicle accessories consist of metal chains that install around the wheels of your vehicle to maximize traction in snowy and icy conditions, making them a necessity for those who live in regions that see extreme winter weather each year. In fact, some states even require snow chains if traveling in certain mountainous areas during extreme winter weather. Finding the right set can be challenging, as not all tire chains are identical. They come in different sizes, materials, and tread patterns to suit different types of vehicles and varying severities of winter weather. Many models are designed to be easy to install, reducing the time one has to spend out in the cold. Learn what features are vital to consider when shopping for these winter weather vehicle accessories and find out why the models below are some of the best tire chains on the market.

How we chose the best tire chains

In reviewing more than 25 sets of tire chains for this article, we considered what sets best suit vehicles ranging from smaller cars to large SUVs and heavy pickup trucks, keeping the following considerations in mind:

Traction: Although traction isn’t the only thing, it’s clearly the most important factor in tire chains. We chose only models that provided ample traction.

Durability: I only included chains made from steel alloys that could hold up to supporting the weight of a vehicle in difficult weather conditions. This included traditional tire chains and those that use steel rollers or coils.

Installation: Tire chains are typically installed in extreme winter weather on the side of a road or in a snow-covered driveway. With this in mind, we only chose tire chains that one could capably install in these conditions. Tire chains with self-tightening features outranked those that required manual tightening.

The best tire chains: Reviews & Recommendations

Whatever kind of vehicle you drive, you don’t want to go out in the winter without the best tire chains, because even the best heated gloves, socks, and vests (even a battery-powered electric blanket) don’t keep you as comfortable as getting home and out of the storm safely. We’ve rounded up the best options on the market. from heavy-duty to budget-friendly picks.

Best overall: Peerless Auto-Trac Light Truck/SUV Tire Traction Chain

Peerless Auto Trac

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Why they made the cut: This pick eliminates the major headache with tire chains—putting them on—with an innovative design that essentially automates the installation process, making them one of the most user-friendly options on the market.

Specs

  • Material: Manganese alloy chain
  • Shape: Diamond
  • Size options: 14 to 20 inches

Pros

  • Easy to install
  • Excellent traction with a diamond-shaped pattern
  • Durable steel alloy construction

Cons

  • A little on the heavy side

Tire chains generally aren’t user-friendly. Most require you to jack the car up to properly tighten them to the wheel, which often involves paying someone else to do the work. That’s not the case with Auto-Trac’s Peerless tire chains, which use a tensioning system that automatically tightens the chains to the wheel. To install, simply attach the internal cable to the tighteners that run around the outside sidewall of the tire and begin driving to activate the ratcheting system that tightens the chains.

The diamond pattern of this set of chains not only facilitates the automatic ratcheting system, creating a tight grip around the tires, but it also makes for better performance by creating more surface area and improving traction.

In addition to being easy to install, this set is durable, thanks to its manganese steel alloy construction and heavier gauge chain links. Of course, that gauge also makes these chains on the heavy side at 15 pounds for the set. With sizes ranging from 14 to 20 inches, this set of chains is one of the more versatile options on the market, capable of fitting light trucks, SUVs, and cars.

Best heavy-duty: AutoChoice 6 Packs Car Snow Chains

AutoChoice

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Why they made the cut: The thickness and coverage of these chains take the traction one can get from a set of tire chains to another level. And while the installation may take longer, it’s less complicated.

Specs

  • Material: Steel
  • Shape: Squares
  • Size options: 14 to 20 inches

Pros

  • Heavy-gauge chains provide optimal traction
  • Separate pieces make them easier to install
  • Fits a wide variety of tire sizes

Cons

  • Installation is more time-consuming
  • Expensive

One look at this set of tire chains from AutoChoice, and one can see that they are much beefier than other models, thanks to sets of six thick chains for each tire. With their thicker gauge and square design, these chains dig into snow and ice to provide ample traction. The chains are divided into six separate pieces per wheel—a six-pack—which attach independently. The chains have thick straps that consist of tendon material that thread through the rims and tighten to the wheel in a similar fashion to ratcheting tie-down straps.

This design has both positives and negatives. By having separate pieces, they’re easier to install, as there is no need to untangle and line up a single stretch of chain or jack up the wheel. Simply apply one set, then move on to the rest. On the flip side, attaching six separate sets of chains to each wheel is time-consuming.

While this set of tire chains is on the pricier side—you’ll need to buy a set of six per wheel—it does include some useful extras, including two pairs of gloves, a long hook to help with mounting, and a fiber-absorbent towel.

Best low-profile: Glacier Passenger Cable Tire Chain

Glacier

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Why they made the cut: Although there is a trade-off in traction, we love the low-profile design of this set of chains, which makes them suitable for most cars.

Specs

  • Material: Steel rollers
  • Shape: Square
  • Size options: 14 to 20 inches

Pros

  • Fits type S low-profile vehicles
  • Lighter weight makes them easier to install
  • Affordably priced

Cons

  • Traction isn’t as good as standard tire chains

Tire chains can be tricky with passenger vehicles with S clearance, which means there is limited space between the wheel well and the tire. Adding the additional thickness of snow chains can damage the car as the chains scrape against the wheel well when the suspension flexes. In fact, some car manufacturers will even void warranties if they find that a car has used chains that are too bulky for the wheel well.

Glacier solves that problem by creating tire chains that aren’t really chains at all. Glacier’s tire chains actually consist of a set of hardened steel rollers that run perpendicular to the tire treads and secure to a thick gauge wire cable that runs the circumference of the tire’s outer sidewall.

The result is a tire chain with a low enough profile that it can fit S-clearance passenger vehicles. And, at 6 pounds, these chains are also easier to install than heavier sets. Keep in mind that there is a trade-off. While these roller-style chains will improve vehicle traction for snowy weather, they don’t provide the same traction as a set of traditional tire chains.

Best for trucks: Security Chain Company Quik Grip

Security Chain

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Why they made the cut: Though they may be tougher to install, you can’t argue with the fact that these chains offer the superior traction and durability that heavy-duty trucks driving on snow-covered roads require.

Specs

  • Material: Alloy steel chain
  • Shape: Square
  • Size options: 15-20 inch

Pros

  • Durable all-chain construction
  • CAM tightening system makes installation easier
  • Thicker gauge chains provide superior traction

Cons

  • Harder to install than other types
  • Won’t work with low-clearance vehicles

Larger trucks and SUVs require heavy chains that won’t break under intense weight or extreme conditions. Thanks to their durability, these thicker steel alloy manganese chains are one of the best options for full-size trucks. They’re even rated to work with farm equipment and dual-wheeled trucks.

Security Chains’ tire chains have a square configuration design, which provides maximum start-up traction. We like this set in particular because of the integrated CAM tightening system that eliminates the need to use tensioners to tighten the chains. The Quik Grip chains that don’t have this feature are less expensive, but we think it’s worth the additional cost to save the hassle of purchasing tensioners separately.

Even with the CAM tightening system, these chains are more difficult to install than other options, but the superior durability and traction they offer make them a must-have for heavy-duty trucks that face severe winter weather. Remember that these chains won’t fit trucks with S-class clearance requirements.

Best budget: Security Chain Company Super Z6 Cable Tire Chain

Security Chain

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Why they made the cut: These tire chains are inexpensive and versatile, capable of fitting most cars, trucks, and SUVs. We also like the design, which makes them easier to install than other tire chains by eliminating the need for manual tightening.

Specs

  • Material: Alloy steel coils
  • Shape: Diagonal
  • Size options: 14 to 20 inches

Pros

  • No need to manually tighten
  • Low profile makes them compatible with most vehicles
  • Affordably priced

Cons

  • Steel coils do not provide as much traction

This versatile set of tire chains from Security Chain is easy to install, affordably priced, and will fit vehicles with restricted clearance around the wheels. They consist of alloy steel traction coils thinner than standard chains, making them compatible with most cars. They only require a quarter-inch of sidewall clearance, so they’re suitable for most cars and SUVs as well as trucks.

These tire chains are also easier to install than other models thanks to rubber connectors that hold the coils taught, eliminating the need to tighten the chains manually.

This set of chains also preserves handling better than bulkier chains while preserving such important safety features as anti-lock brakes, traction control, and all-wheel drive. Keep in mind there is a trade-off. The low profile and limited coverage of the coils do provide less traction than larger sets of tire chains.

Things to consider before buying tire chains

Traction

Perhaps the most important trait to consider is how well the chains will keep you from getting stuck. The rule of thumb is rather straightforward when it comes to traction. The thicker the chain and the more coverage on the tire tread, the better the traction. Chains with heavier gauge steel links will dig into snow better than coils or rollers, providing better traction. Keep shape in mind as well: Square-shaped chains may provide better traction for getting started but diamond-shaped chains provide better directional traction, which means better handling.

Material

Please pay attention to what the chains are made from, which will determine their durability. Generally speaking, a steel alloy with manganese is considered “high strength” steel, which can better withstand the pressures exerted on it when functioning as a tire chain. While chains may have superior strength, steel alloy rollers and coils are also quite strong. In addition to the chains, pay attention to other materials they use to hold them in place. While rubber and thick nylon straps may be durable enough for cars and light trucks, heavy-duty trucks require all-chain construction.

Size

Size is important because the tires must be compatible with the size of the tires on your vehicle. Tire chains are not one size fits all. Most models of tire chains come in a broad range of sizes to suit different tire sizes. Tire chain manufacturers include size charts that correspond to the model numbers of their products. Check the size of your tires (printed on the sidewall of each tire) and match that size to the right model tire chain.

Installation

Most likely, you’ll be installing tire chains in inclement weather, so it’s important to purchase chains that you can install as quickly as possible. If you have a car or small truck, consider purchasing a set of tire chains that are self-tensioning. Self-tensioning chains take a little more work to install initially, but they don’t require you to tighten (and retighten) the chains manually.

FAQs

Q: Do you need tire chains for all four tires?

Legally, you only need to have one set of tire chains to travel in mountainous areas during the wintertime. However, if you have a 4×4 vehicle, it’s a good idea to have two sets. Even with a two-wheel-drive vehicle, two sets of chains can improve traction.

Q: Do chains damage tires?

When there is ice and snow, tire chains dig into them and don’t put pressure on your tires. However, driving on bare roads for long stretches can cause the chains to dig into your tires and damage them (as well as the road itself). Chains can also damage tires if they are not properly installed.

Q: Is it hard to drive with snow chains?

Although snow chains will improve traction and help prevent your car or truck from getting stuck, it is still hazardous to drive in snowy conditions. When driving with snow chains, you should never exceed 30 miles per hour.

Final thoughts on the best tire chains

Choosing the right tire chains requires finding a product balancing good traction and easy installation. The Peerless Auto-Trac Light Truck/SUV Tire Traction Chain excels on both fronts, making it one of the best all-around tire chains you can put on your car or truck. If you’re looking for a set of chains to outfit your heavy-duty pick-up truck, then consider going with Security Chain Company Quik Grip, which offers superior traction and durability.

Why trust us

Popular Science started writing about technology more than 150 years ago. There was no such thing as “gadget writing” when we published our first issue in 1872, but if there was, our mission to demystify the world of innovation for everyday readers means we would have been all over it. Here in the present, PopSci is fully committed to helping readers navigate the increasingly intimidating array of devices on the market right now.

Our writers and editors have combined decades of experience covering and reviewing consumer electronics. We each have our own obsessive specialties—from high-end audio, to video games, to cameras, and beyond—but when we’re reviewing devices outside of our immediate wheelhouses, we do our best to seek out trustworthy voices and opinions to help guide people to the very best recommendations. We know we don’t know everything, but we’re excited to live through the analysis paralysis that internet shopping can spur so readers don’t have to.

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The Opt Out: Cars are spying on us, and we’re letting them https://www.popsci.com/diy/car-data-privacy/ Thu, 19 Oct 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=580441
Car with a license plate saying "data hog"
When buying a new car you probably check for features like milage and size, but never privacy. Lauren Pusateri for Popular Science

Your ride is definitely not the private sanctuary you think it is.

The post The Opt Out: Cars are spying on us, and we’re letting them appeared first on Popular Science.

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Car with a license plate saying "data hog"
When buying a new car you probably check for features like milage and size, but never privacy. Lauren Pusateri for Popular Science

You are more than a data point. The Opt Out is here to help you take your privacy back.

AMERICANS SPEND A LOT of time in cars. Whether you have a long commute, enjoy riding with friends as they drive around, or just like sitting in the parking lot for a bit of solo time, a car might feel like an extension of your home—an intimate space for you to sing out of tune or seek silence in the middle of your day.

Unfortunately, if you’re in a car that was manufactured within the past few years, that environment isn’t as private as you think it is. Carmakers have been adding sensors, cameras, and microphones to their vehicles to improve safety and usability, but these bits of tech are also collecting a hefty amount of data that the automotive industry and other companies are selling and sharing. And don’t think this applies only to car owners: Your privacy is also at risk if you rent a car or are simply sitting in a passenger seat.  

These newer cars know what you say, where you go, and possibly even whom you’re sleeping with and how often. It’s scary, but what’s scarier is that consumers currently have little choice but to consent. 

More than computers on wheels

Cars have been equipped with onboard computers and sensors for a while now. The tools’ applications have always been rather practical—letting you know when your fuel tank is close to empty or when your machine is due for an oil change, even allowing you to get full system diagnostics via Bluetooth. But as technology advanced, so did the role of electronics within every vehicle. Now cars can help you master parallel parking, respond to your voice commands, and even alert you to the presence of other drivers as you change lanes.

“A lot of this can be used as safety features, but [car companies] are not going to let the opportunity to collect data and make money off of that slip away. They’re not just doing it for safety,” says Jen Caltrider, program director for Privacy Not Included, a series of privacy-focused consumer product reviews, at the Mozilla Foundation. 

The same navigational tool that guides you to your destination, for example, is collecting your location data, and the sensors that show which passenger hasn’t buckled up can tell if you’re alone or not, where people are sitting, and if there’s any movement. Those capabilities alone provide hundreds, if not thousands of data points every day that go straight to the car manufacturer’s servers. It’s hard to tell if any of that information is encrypted or not, Caltrider says.

Other than what your car’s sensors and cameras track, manufacturers also learn about you from other sources. If you’re buying a car, the data harvesting starts with every visit to the dealership or the brand’s website, and it continues when you enlist the help of a bank or some other type of financial institution to pay for your car. Then, when you drive home in your new ride, manufacturers keep gathering data through the car’s app. You can choose not to use the app, but it’s likely you’ll lose access to any vehicle features that require it, such as remote ignition. And then there’s what Caltrider and her team call “connected services,” including insurance companies and navigation and entertainment apps like Here and Sirius XM, which have basically become data brokers in the vehicle data industry. The bad news is that it’s unclear exactly how the information flows, how it’s shared, and where and how it’s stored. 

Your car might know too much about you

In September, Caltrider and her research team at the Mozilla Foundation launched an in-depth analysis of the privacy policies of 25 car companies doing business in the US, including the most popular ones: Toyota, Ford, Chevrolet, and Honda. The results? The Mozilla team labeled cars the worst product category it has ever reviewed for privacy.

When you read the privacy policy for any app or device, it’s common to feel confused. Tech companies have been writing privacy policies for decades, and they generally include broad or vague terms that make you feel as if they care about your data—or at least don’t make it obvious that they don’t. Car privacy policies are different: way more explicit and entirely absurd.

“Car companies are moving into the tech company world,” Caltrider says. “But they’re so inexperienced at it and it really shows.”

One of the wildest privacy policies in the Mozilla Foundation’s report is Nissan’s, which requires users to consent to the collection of sensitive information including sexual orientation, sexual activity, health diagnosis data, and genetic information. The document also says this data can be sold or disclosed to third parties for targeted advertising. It’s not clear how exactly Nissan is collecting this data or if it’s currently capable of doing so, but the fact that you’re agreeing to all of this by simply buying a Nissan is problematic enough. 

And these requirements don’t affect only drivers and car owners, as consent is murky territory in the land of vehicle privacy policies. For one thing, cars don’t grant the same control over data collection that your phone does. Most of the time, car owners will see a request for permissions on a single screen that pops up when they first set up their new car, and they may not be able to go back to it and revoke those permissions later on. 

That also means there’s assumed consent from anybody who steps inside the vehicle. Privacy policies like that of Subaru make it clear that terms and conditions affect everyone on board, regardless of whether they’re the vehicle’s registered owner or not. This means that the company burdens Subaru owners with the responsibility of informing all their passengers about the privacy policy and assumes that people are agreeing to it just by stepping into the car. It’s a safe bet that no ride-share driver or courteous coworker has ever read you a long list of types of data collection you needed to consent to before they’d give you a ride home. 

Car manufacturers, vehicle data hubs, and other actors in the industry, like insurance companies, calm concerned drivers and passengers by promising that the data they collect and save is anonymized, meaning it cannot be traced back to specific people. While anonymizing data is a common practice that’s meant to protect individuals’ privacy, research has shown that it’s not always effective and that the owner of any anonymized data can be easily re-identified when the information is combined with other datasets. This is especially true when location data is involved, Caltrider says. 

As we’ve mentioned, targeted advertising is one of the main uses car companies and third parties have for collecting data with vehicles, but it’s not the only one. More than half of the manufacturers analyzed in the Mozilla Foundation’s report say they can “share your information with the government or law enforcement in response to a ‘request.’” This leaves a lot of room for abuse, as there are no details about whether this request can be as informal as a call or an email to the right person, or if it must be a powerful document, like a court order. 

Unlike with home security cameras, it’s hard to tell exactly how many times these companies have responded to requests from police and other law enforcement agencies. But a 2021 Forbes investigation revealed that both Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had been requesting information from three companies in the vehicle data industry, including General Motors, which is the parent company of Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC. 

Regulation is the answer

The automotive industry in the US is huge—it brought more than $156 billion to the US economy in 2022, and more than 75 percent of Americans own a car. You’d imagine that such a rich market would include several car brands privacy-savvy users can choose from, but the Mozilla Foundation report is categorical: When it comes to data protection, they’re all bad

This leaves people who need to buy a new car with little choice but to consent to data collection. And it leaves their passengers with even less choice. Because it’s not only luxury vehicles that come equipped with sophisticated sensors and cameras—classic sedans like the Toyota Corolla and family SUVs like the Ford Escape also have them. As much as we’d like to say there’s an individualistic DIY way to snatch back your privacy, there’s not. You’ll have to appeal to the powers that be.

“Get mad and contact your elected officials,” says Caltrider. “It’s past time the US had a strong federal privacy law.”

She also recommends not using your car’s app, but acknowledges that this is a bandage solution and might not be an option for some people. Some of the features people need, like being able to warm the car in cold weather by turning it on remotely, require the use of the software. 

Using our power as constituents and asking our elected officials for laws that protect our data is the best chance we have of taking back the intimacy we once found inside our vehicles. Car companies simply aren’t going to change on their own—just like tech companies, they have no incentives to do so.

“And it’s not like they have a long history of ethical behavior,” Caltrider says. “They have quite the opposite.”

Read more PopSci+ stories.

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The new electrified E-Ray is the quickest Corvette ever https://www.popsci.com/technology/chevrolet-corvette-e-ray-review/ Tue, 17 Oct 2023 17:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=580341
2024 Chevy Corvette E-Ray driving down the road
The 2024 Chevy Corvette E-Ray. Chevrolet

The car's smart software knows exactly how to employ the Vette's new electric motor. Here's how it all works.

The post The new electrified E-Ray is the quickest Corvette ever appeared first on Popular Science.

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2024 Chevy Corvette E-Ray driving down the road
The 2024 Chevy Corvette E-Ray. Chevrolet

There used to be a joke that if Microsoft made cars, your car would crash twice a day for no reason at all. But the reality of software-defined cars (that is, vehicles in which clever coding has as much say as masterful machining in determining a car’s characteristics) is demonstrated by the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray, whose smart software lets the car’s new electric motor deliver supplemental power to the front wheels so imperceptibly that the driver would have trouble guessing that the latest version of America’s sports car has all-wheel drive.

That’s because the Corvette’s signature 6.2-liter, overhead-valve, LT2 small block V8 is still roaring, powering the rear wheels with its 495 horsepower, just like in the base Stingray model. But now there’s that 160-hp electric motor up front, running off a 1.9 kilowatt-hour array of LG lithium-ion batteries deftly tucked into the car’s central tunnel.

This $104,295 vehicle is a regular hybrid-electric, with no external power plug, so the battery is small and gets its juice entirely from the gas engine and from regenerative braking that turns the electric motor into a generator when the car slows. Having that extra 160 hp and 125 lb.-ft. torque on tap is “like having a nitrous oxide tank that fills itself,” remarked chief engineer Josh Holder, referring to the “NOS” gas made famous by The Fast and the Furious movie franchise for giving combustion engines a burst of extra power.

The quickest Corvette ever

But rather than the explosive power delivery from NOS, the E-Ray’s omnipresent electric motor “torque fill” just makes the car constantly more muscular. This power, combined with the traction of all-wheel-drive, makes the E-Ray the quickest Corvette ever, with a 0-60 mph acceleration of 2.5 seconds and a 10.5-second quarter mile time.

Those times are achieved using the E-Ray’s Performance Launch mode, which uses the car’s various software-controlled systems to optimize power delivery from the gas and electric motors to deliver the fastest possible acceleration.

The driver can keep the E-Ray’s battery topped off so that it is ready to deliver that boost by pressing the Charge+ button. If you ever watch Formula 1 races, you’ll see a car’s rear light flashing when the driver is building the state of charge in its battery in preparation for a passing attempt on a car ahead. The E-Ray’s Charge+ button on the center console, down by the driver’s right thigh, ensures that the battery’s virtual NOS tank is fully topped off with electrons.

The Corvette Z06 we tested last year is nearly as quick, but that car produces its power with more noise and drama. The E-Ray appeals to the enthusiast who wants a comfy ride that also happens to be ludicrously fast. And if you need to sneak out of your neighborhood in the morning without annoying the neighbors, let the small block V8 sleep late and cruise out on electric power alone using Stealth mode to reach speeds as high as 45 mph.

Other driving modes with pre-set performance parameters include Tour, Sport, Track, and Weather. Each of those optimizes the car’s sound, power delivery, stability control, traction control, and dynamically adjustable magnetic suspension damping to match those conditions. Additionally, drivers can select their own preferences in My Mode and Z Mode.

Driving the Corvette E-Ray on and off the track

The E-Ray rolls on the same wide wheels wrapped in meaty Michelin rubber and enclosed by the same 3.6-inch wider fenders as the Z06, but the rubber on those wheels is Michelin’s Pilot Sport all-season tire to make the E-Ray compatible with rain and snow. I didn’t encounter those conditions on the roads around Denver or during my track drive at Pikes Peak International Raceway, but I could feel the E-Ray’s stability and surefootedness.

In addition to the all-weather tires, the E-Ray is also available with the same Michelin Pilot Sport 4S summer tires as are used on the base Stingray version. And as on that car, these excellent tires provide the consistent grip, comfort, and durability drivers want in everyday driving. And as I found track testing the Stingray, these tires are really not at home on the track, where they quickly turn hot and greasy compared to true track tires, losing their grip after thrashing through just a few hard corners.

No matter, that’s not the E-Ray’s purpose. Yes, it is fast, but the similarly priced Z06 ($111,295) is the weapon of choice for track rats. The E-Ray is for drivers who want that kind of speed in a car they can enjoy every day in comfort.

Even with its all-wheel-drive traction, the E-Ray is not penalized by sluggish steering response on corner turn-in, as is typically the case with cars that route power through the front wheels. That’s because the computer is smart enough to know when and how much power to send from the electric motor to the front wheels.

It can even let the driver induce a drift in corners, spinning the rear wheels without the front-drive power interfering with the sideways-sliding fun. That car-straightening front power is welcome when driving home from work in bad weather, but it can spoil the fun on the track, so the E-Ray knows when to have the electric drive step back and let the V8 do the work.

A weighty issue 

Just as the E-Ray rolls on the same wide wheels as the Z06, it also packs the same Brembo carbon ceramic brakes inside them to help slow the car. This is in addition to the E-Ray hybrid-electric regenerative braking, which does much of the car’s stopping. 

But the big brakes are important, because while the hybrid system adds braking power, it also adds mass. Chevrolet says the E-Ray weighs 3,774 pounds as a coupe and 3,856 pounds as a convertible, which means that it is about 350 pounds heavier than the Z06 and 400 pounds heavier than the Stingray.

This is in spite of a huge effort by the car’s engineering team to minimize the weight penalty of the electric motor and battery pack. “We put the highest bounty on weight of any car we’ve ever done,” recalled Holder. Even with that effort, electric motors and batteries are still heavy. “It is the heaviest Corvette we’ve ever done,” Holder acknowledged, adding, “but it is the lightest hybrid we’ve ever done.” 

The E-Ray matches the slower Stingray’s EPA fuel economy rating of 19 mpg in combined driving, with a score of 16 mpg city and 24 mpg highway. The Z06’s rating depends on the exact equipment, but it is either 14 mpg or 15 mpg in combined driving. City driving in either case is a dismal 12 mpg.

The added mass is low in the chassis, with the electric motor between the front wheels and the battery pack in the central spine running between the seats in the cockpit, so the center of gravity is low. Engineers mask that weight with savvy chassis control with the magnetically controlled adaptive dampers and the aforementioned massive brakes, so the E-Ray never feels heavy on the road.

As with the seamless power delivery, credit the brainy calibration by the Corvette team’s programmers in creating the reality of their choice rather than the one suggested by physics. It turns out that software-defined vehicles are far better than the old Microsoft joke predicted.

Take a look at my track drive, below:

The post The new electrified E-Ray is the quickest Corvette ever appeared first on Popular Science.

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How seriously can we take Tesla and Rivian’s right-to-repair pact? https://www.popsci.com/technology/tesla-rivian-right-to-repair/ Tue, 17 Oct 2023 10:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=580020
Tesla steering wheel
Tesla and Rivian signed a right-to-repair pact. Repair advocates are skeptical. DepositPhotos

Despite a “landmark” agreement, automakers and the repair industry are still fighting over who controls car data.

The post How seriously can we take Tesla and Rivian’s right-to-repair pact? appeared first on Popular Science.

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Tesla steering wheel
Tesla and Rivian signed a right-to-repair pact. Repair advocates are skeptical. DepositPhotos

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.

Leading American electric vehicle makers Tesla and Rivian are supporting a controversial pact between carmakers and automotive repair organizations that critics say is an attempt to undermine legislation that would make it easier for Americans to fix their cars.

For several years, the American car industry has been feuding with automotive service groups and right-to-repair advocates over who should control access to telematic data, information about speed, location, and performance that cars transmit wirelessly back to their manufacturers. Many in the automotive repair industry say this data is essential for fixing today’s computerized cars, and that it should be freely available to vehicle owners and independent shops. Increased access to telematic data, repair advocates argue, will drive down the cost of repair and keep vehicles on the roads for longer. This is particularly important for EVs, which must be used as long as possible to maximize their climate benefits and offset the environmental toll of manufacturing their metal-rich batteries.

These arguments have led members of Congress from both parties to introduce a bill called the REPAIR Act that would grant car owners, and the mechanics of their choosing, access to their telematic data. But the auto industry, which stands to make billions of dollars selling telematics to insurers, streaming radio services, and other third parties, contends that carmakers should be the gatekeepers of this data to avoid compromising vehicle safety. 

In July, ahead of a congressional hearing on right-to-repair issues, an automotive industry trade group called the Alliance for Automotive Innovation announced it had struck a “landmark agreement” with repair groups regarding telematic data sharing — an agreement that ostensibly preempted the need for legislation. A few weeks later, Tesla and Rivian, neither of which is a member of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, announced their support for the agreement. The only problem? Major national organizations representing the automotive aftermarket and repair industries weren’t consulted about the agreement, don’t support it, and claim it won’t make cars easier to fix.

The new agreement “was an attempt by the automakers to distort the facts of the issue and create noise and confusion in Congress,” Bill Hanvey, president of the Auto Care Association, a national trade association representing the aftermarket parts and services industry, told Grist. The Auto Care Association is among the groups that was not consulted about the agreement.

This isn’t the first time the auto industry and repair professionals have reached a voluntary agreement over right-to-repair. 

In 2002, the Automotive Service Association, one of the signatories on the new agreement, struck a pact with vehicle manufacturers to provide independent repair shops access to diagnostic tools and service information. Then, shortly after Massachusetts passed the nation’s first right-to-repair law focused on vehicles in 2013, manufacturers and organizations representing the aftermarket, including the Auto Care Association, signed a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, nationalizing the requirements of the law. That law granted independent mechanics explicit access to vehicle diagnostic and repair information through an in-car port. 

Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of the right-to-repair advocacy organization Repair.org, believes automakers signed the 2014 MOU “in order to prevent more legislation—and particularly more legislation that they would not like.” Automakers objected to including telematics in the 2014 MOU, according to Hanvey. “Because, at the time, the technology was so future-looking, the aftermarket agreed to get a deal in place,” he said.

Telematics is no longer technology of the future, however. Today, manufacturers use telematic systems to collect reams of real-time data related to a vehicle’s activity and state of health, potentially allowing manufacturers to evaluate cars continuously and encourage drivers to get service from their dealers when needed. Independent mechanics, meanwhile, need drivers to bring their vehicles into the shop in order to read data off the car itself—if the data is accessible at all.

In 2020, Massachusetts voters passed a ballot measure called the Data Access Law requiring carmakers to make telematic repair data available to owners and mechanics of their choosing via a standard, open-access platform. Shortly after voters approved it, Alliance for Automotive Innovation sued Massachusetts to stop the law from going into effect, arguing that it conflicted with federal safety standards. The federal judge overseeing the lawsuit has delayed ruling multiple times, keeping the requirements in legal limbo for nearly three years. In June, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell decided to begin enforcing the law, lawsuit notwithstanding. 

While fighting Massachusetts’ Data Access Law in court, automakers were also negotiating their own rules on data sharing. The agreement that the Alliance for Automotive Innovation announced in July included the imprimatur of two repair groups: the Automotive Service Association, a not-for-profit advocacy organization that lobbies states and the federal government on issues impacting automotive repair, and the Society of Collision Repair Specialists, a trade association representing collision repair businesses. 

Dubbed the “Automotive Repair Data Sharing Commitment,” the new agreement reaffirms the 2014 MOU by requiring carmakers to give independent repair facilities access to the same diagnostic and repair information they make available to their authorized dealers. In a step beyond the 2014 MOU, the new agreement includes telematic data required to fix cars. But carmakers are only required to share telematic repair data that “is not otherwise available through a tool,” like the in-car port used today, “or third party-service information provider.”

Because of those caveats, critics say, the agreement effectively changes nothing about telematic data access: Carmakers are still able to decide what data to release, and in what format. Independent shops may still be forced to read data off cars that manufacturers and their dealers have immediate, over-the-air access to, or they may have to subscribe to third-party services to purchase data that dealers receive at no charge. 

What’s more, the qualification about dealerships suggests Tesla and Rivian wouldn’t have to provide any telematic data whatsoever, since neither company works with dealers. That’s especially problematic, Hanvey said, considering both companies make cars that rely heavily on telematic systems. In a pair of class action lawsuits filed earlier this year, Tesla customers alleged that the company restricts independent repair by, among other things, designing its vehicles so that maintenance and repair work rely on telematic information Tesla exclusively controls. 

“The EVs are much more technological, much more reliant on code, and the repairs are much more complicated,” Hanvey said. “It’s difficult enough getting them repaired today, and if you take out the aftermarket, it’s going to be even more challenging for consumers.” 

Neither Tesla nor Rivian responded to a request for comment.

The voluntary nature of the agreement weakens it further, critics say. The Massachusetts Data Access Law and the REPAIR Act under consideration in Congress—which would also require manufacturers to give vehicle owners direct, over-the-air access to telematic repair data via a standard platform—would carry the force of law. By contrast, “there’s no distinction about what happens if this MOU is violated,” Hanvey said. 

Gordon-Byrne told Grist in an email that carmakers haven’t universally complied with the 2014 MOU. “And outside of Massachusetts there isn’t any statute to force compliance,” she said. 

“The problem,” Gordon-Byrne continued, “is lack of enforcement. If the parties don’t like the arrangement—they can talk about it once a year.” Indeed, the new agreement includes a yearly review of the terms by the signatories, as well as the establishment of a panel that will meet biannually to discuss any issues parties have raised regarding repair information access and to “collaborate on potential solutions where feasible.”

The Automotive Service Association and the Society of Collision Repair Specialists don’t represent all of the stakeholders who care about telematic data, which in addition to carmakers, dealers, and mechanics, includes companies that sell and distribute aftermarket parts. In fact, these two signatories appear to represent a small slice of the auto repair industry, which included more than 280,000 U.S. businesses this year, according to market research firm IBIS World. The Automotive Service Association did not provide membership numbers when Grist asked, but there were 1,243 U.S.-based businesses listed in its online directory as of this week. (Several major carmakers are also affiliated with the group, including Nissan, Ford, and Audi.) The Society of Collision Repair Specialists, which didn’t respond to Grist’s request for comment, includes approximately 6,000 collision repair businesses, according to its website

The Auto Care Association, meanwhile, represents over half a million companies that manufacture and sell third-party vehicle parts, and service and repair cars. And it’s not the only group that feels the new agreement doesn’t go far enough: So does the Tire Industry Association, which represents roughly 14,000 U.S. member locations that make, repair, and service tires, MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers, representing several hundred aftermarket parts manufacturers, and the Auto Care Alliance, a group of state and regional auto service provider networks with 1,200 members across the country. None of these groups was consulted in advance about the new agreement.

The data sharing agreement “is history repeating itself once again,” Ron Turner, director of the Mid-Atlantic Auto Care Alliance, said in a statement, referring to the voluntary industry agreements of 2002 and 2014, which the organization claims stymied national legislation and have not been adequately enforced. The groups promoting it, Turner said, “are slowing down much-needed legislation and enforcement the automotive industry has needed for decades.”

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation feels differently about voluntary agreements. Brian Weiss, vice president of communications at the trade organization, told Grist in an email that the 2014 MOU “has been working well for almost a decade” and the new data-sharing agreement builds off it. Weiss declined to respond to specific criticisms of the agreement, offer examples of telematic data that carmakers would have to release as a result of it, or explain why the Auto Care Association, a signatory on the 2014 agreement, wasn’t included in the new one.

Robert Redding, a lobbyist for the Automotive Service Association, told Grist that voluntary agreements have worked for its members, too, citing the service information agreement the group negotiated with carmakers in 2002. (The Automotive Service Association was not a party to the subsequent 2014 MOU.) The new agreement, Redding said, was the result of a yearlong negotiation process, and he believes parties came to the table “in good faith.”

“We feel very good about the agreement,” Redding said. “This worked for service information, and we believe it’ll work for vehicle data access.” 

The groups backing the new agreement are already using it to argue that further regulation is unnecessary. In a September 22 court filing in the lawsuit concerning the Massachusetts Data Access Law, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation touted the agreement as evidence of the car industry’s “ongoing effort to ensure that consumers enjoy choice with respect to the maintenance and repair of their vehicles.” 

Several days later, at a September 27 hearing of the House Energy Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce, Automotive Service Association board of directors chairman Scott Benavidez testified that the new data sharing agreement “nullifies the need for the REPAIR Act.” It was similar to an argument the group made nearly 20 years earlier when it opposed a national right-to-repair act for vehicles, arguing that the voluntary agreement it negotiated with carmakers in 2002 rendered legislation unnecessary.

Dwayne Myers, CEO of Dynamic Automotive, an independent auto repair business with six locations in Maryland, was disappointed to see the Automotive Service Association publicly oppose the REPAIR Act. Myers has been a member of the organization for about a decade, but he says he wasn’t consulted about the new agreement in advance of its release and he doesn’t believe it should be used to undermine laws guaranteeing access to repair data.

“They could have just remained quiet and let their MOU sit there—they didn’t have to oppose the right to repair,” Myers said. “To me it just felt bad. Why as an industry aren’t we working together, unless you’re not on our side?”

This article originally appeared in Grist at https://grist.org/transportation/tesla-and-rivian-signed-a-right-to-repair-pact-repair-advocates-are-skeptical/

Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org

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Watch this new Canada-made troop transport pass its explosive tests https://www.popsci.com/technology/senator-mrap-vehicle-tests/ Mon, 16 Oct 2023 11:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=579549
The Senator MRAP.
The Senator MRAP. Roshel

Military transport vehicles have to withstand a range of tests to show they can protect their occupants. Take a look at how that happens.

The post Watch this new Canada-made troop transport pass its explosive tests appeared first on Popular Science.

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The Senator MRAP.
The Senator MRAP. Roshel

On May 30, Canadian defense company Roshel Defence Solutions officially launched its new armored troop transport, the Senator model Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle. Part of the launch was surviving a series of tests to prove that the vehicle can protect its occupants. 

The testing was conducted by Oregon Ballistic Laboratories and done to a standard called NATO “STANAG 4569” level 2. (STANAG means “standard agreement,” and 4569 is the numbering of that agreement.) What that means in practice is that the Senator MRAP is designed to withstand a range of the kinds of attacks that NATO can expect to see in the field. These include bullet fire from calibers up to 7.62×39mm at roughly 100 feet (30 meters). Why 7.62×39mm caliber bullets? That’s the standard Soviet bullet, which has outlasted the USSR itself and is common in weapons used across the globe.

In addition, STANAG 4569 dictates that the vehicle must survive a 13 pound (6 kg) anti-tank mine activated under any of the vehicle’s wheels, as well as survive a mine activated under the vehicle’s center. Beyond the bullets and mines, the vehicle also has to withstand a shot from a 155mm high explosive artillery shell burst landing 262 feet (80 meters) away. 

All of this testing is vital, because a troop transport has to advance through bullet fire, keep occupants safe from mines, and travel through an artillery barrage. That NATO standards are designed to withstand Soviet weapons is a convenience for any equipment exports aimed at Ukraine, but also means the vehicles are broadly useful in conflicts across the globe, as an abundance of Soviet-patterned weaponry continues to exist in the world. 

To showcase the Senator MRAP in simulated attack, Roshel released two videos of the testing. The first, published online on May 29, features a bright green checkmark in the corner, “all tests passed” clearly emblazoned on the video as clouds of destruction and detonations appear behind it.

A second video, released June 16, shows the Senator MRAP in slow motion enduring a large TNT explosive hitting it on the side. The 55 lbs (25kg) explosive is a stand-in for an IED, or Improvised Explosive Device. IEDs were commonly used by insurgent forces in Iraq against the United States, and in Afghanistan against the NATO coalition that occupied the country for almost 20 years. While anti-tank mines tend to be mass-produced industrial tools of war, IEDs are built on more of a small scale, with groups working in workshops generally assembling the explosives and then placing them on patrol routes.

It was the existence of IEDs, and their widespread use, that prompted the United States to push for, develop, and field MRAPs in 2006. Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles were not a new concept. South Africa was one of the first countries to develop and field MRAPs in the 1970s, putting essentially a V-shaped armored transport container on top of an existing truck pattern. The resulting “Hippo” vehicle was slow and cumbersome, but could protect its occupants from explosives thanks to the V-shaped hull deflecting blasts away. 

MRAPS did not guarantee safety for troops on patrol, but they did drastically increase the amount of explosives, or the intensity of attack, needed to ambush armored vehicles.

“The presence of the MRAP also challenged the enemy, since the insurgents had to increase the size of their explosive devices to have any effect on these more survivable vehicles. The larger devices, and longer time it took to implant them, increased the likelihood that our troops would detect an IED before it detonated,” Michael Brogan, head of the MRAP vehicle program from 2007 to 2011, told the Navy’s CHIPS magazine in 2016.

The Senator MRAP features, like its predecessors, a V-shaped hull. It also benefits from further innovations in MRAP design, like mine-protected seats, which further reduce the impact of blast on their occupant. Inside, the Senator can transport up to 10 people, and Roshel boasts of its other features, from sensor systems to weapon turrets. For as long as IEDs and mines remain a part of modern warfare, it is likely we can expect to see MRAPs transporting soldiers safely despite them.

Watch one of the tests, below:

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Lamborghini’s new supercar is the most powerful plug-in hybrid on the market https://www.popsci.com/technology/lamborghini-revuelto-first-drive/ Mon, 09 Oct 2023 17:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=577787
The Lamborghini Revuelto is a hybrid with a V12 engine, three motors, and six miles of all-electric range.
The Lamborghini Revuelto is a hybrid with a V12 engine, three motors, and six miles of all-electric range. Lamborghini

The Revuelto has three electric motors and the lightest V12 of any Lamborghini ever made. We took it for a spin in Rome.

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The Lamborghini Revuelto is a hybrid with a V12 engine, three motors, and six miles of all-electric range.
The Lamborghini Revuelto is a hybrid with a V12 engine, three motors, and six miles of all-electric range. Lamborghini

Lamborghini, the brand that started making supercars to compete with Ferrari 60 years ago, is starting a new era. Steeped in a history of loud and powerful V8, V10, and V12 engines, the Raging Bull has launched its first “high performance electrified vehicle,” a hybrid called Revuelto

While watered-down performance may be a possibility for some mass-produced cars, that’s not going to fly for Lamborghini. Instead of backing down to a smaller engine and tacking on an electric motor, the brand opted to attach two motors to the front and one to the back and matched them to a new V12, the lightest one the automaker has ever built. Then Lamborghini whipped up a recipe for a battery that regenerates so quickly that it never gets all the way down to zero, and added a plug-in port for good measure.

All in, the system adds up to an astonishing total of 1,001 horsepower and more than 800 pound-feet of torque. That officially makes it the most powerful plug-in hybrid on the market. Lamborghini started from the ground up for this car, fashioning a new carbon fiber structure (picture a Lego base plate upon which brick houses are built) made to be as light as possible. And then it went to work making sure the Revuelto was as technologically advanced as it could be with its electronics.

To top it off, the Revuelto is also registering a significant emissions reduction, which Lamborghini says tops 30 percent over its predecessor, the Aventador. For a supercar, this is a big deal. The Revuelto is capable of about 6 miles in all-electric range, which loud-engine-averse neighbors will appreciate as the car pulls away in silence. 

Can the Revuelto still carry the brand’s name with pride, even as a hybrid? Here’s what we think after driving it on the Autodromo Vallelunga track in Rome, Italy.  

Melding design and engineering

Hybrids are hot right now, as are EVs. But Lamborghini has not gone soft and bent to the market, says the brand’s chief technical officer, Rouven Mohr. The small-batch automaker has created a hybrid that harnesses electric power without diluting the car’s core power, and that’s no small feat.

“To us, hybrid doesn’t mean sacrificing performance,” Mohr says.

Mohr, along with his team and the stylings of head of design Mitja Borkert, started with the V12 engine as a centerpiece. Lamborghini fans equate the sound of its iconic powerplant with the full experience, and erasing that part of the brand’s DNA wasn’t an option, Mohr emphasizes. 

Borkert also went to work creating a body shape that evokes ghosts of models past. After commissioning 17 exploratory models that filled up his studio, Borkert took inspiration from Lamborghini’s Countach and Diablo, along with elements from fighter jets and Ducati superbikes. He raised the roof and added more legroom than the Avendator, the Revuelto’s predecessor, making it easier to get in and out.

[Related: The new Lamborghini Revuelto is a powerful hybrid beast]

Along with a riot of Y-shaped designs repeated throughout the car on the headlamps and on the dash, Borkert suggested an opening that leaves the engine bay exposed. Not only does it look cool, he says, it serves an important purpose: natural engine cooling. Lamborghini also opted to implement a long, skinny battery that is easily cooled from the outside to the center; heat management is a key factor for performance.

The vehicle's exposed engine bay.
The vehicle’s exposed engine bay. Kristin Shaw

Tire-maker Bridgestone contributed to the Revuelto by creating bespoke performance Potenza Sport tires with wide footprints and grippy tread, especially the top-level option that is equally capable on the road as they are on the track.

“It’s not an easy car to fit tires,” Mohr says. “It weighs more [than the Aventador] and the power profile is huge.”

Lamborghini zooms in on technology

Lamborghini may have been seen more for its muscle and brawn than its brains in the past, but that’s changing, as well. The new Revuelto features intelligent torque distribution that balances the weight precisely from side to side and front to back so that cornering feels planted.

Aventador enthusiasts may say the Revuelto loses the raw edge of its older sibling, but after a day on the track, I say the new setup polishes the diamond. Even hurling the car toward the corner after a breathtaking straightaway, I never felt as though I could lose control. The massive carbon ceramic brakes gave the hybrid the stopping power it needed and gave me the confidence to push it. 

Plus, the infotainment system upgrade is the best I’ve seen in a Lamborghini, equipped with Alexa connectivity and a set of widgets on the modest screen that can be rearranged and shared with the passenger on their own screen.

The real test is on the road and the track. While Lamborghini says it isn’t pursuing the crown for the fastest car on the planet (Mohr wryly says the race for best lap times in the supercar world is a “little bit crowdy” at the moment), it’s still lightning quick. But the best part is the feel of the drivetrain, which is completely seamless between the V12 and its electric helpers. Pressing the accelerator down in Corsa (track) mode and getting to 150 miles per hour on a straightaway is ridiculously smooth and quick. Top speed in the new supercar is 350 kilometers per hour (about 218 miles per hour).

Lamborghini is looking toward the future with the Revuelto, and it’s looking very good. The brand has been logging record sales, and with an all-electric concept—the Lanzador—on the table and a plug-in Urus SUV confirmed, it’s not looking back.

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How Audi designed its densest EV battery yet https://www.popsci.com/technology/audi-stacking-battery-technology/ Mon, 02 Oct 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=576574
audi car body and battery being assembled in the factory
Audi

The new 'stacking technology' makes better use of physical space per cell, leading to increased capacity.

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audi car body and battery being assembled in the factory
Audi

It has been more than two years since former Audi CEO Markus Duesmann announced that after 2026, the automaker will develop only battery-powered models. Audi’s plan is to have more than 20 fully electric models in its portfolio by 2025. The carmaker has already started down this road by investing about 18 billion euros ($19 billion and change) in electrification and hybridization.

In the process, Audi is pursuing battery technology that optimizes energy efficiency. Its primary focus for innovation is solid state batteries, which use solid electrolytes instead of liquid. The brand designs, develops, and checks battery cells and battery components on its own at its battery testing center in Gaimersheim, Germany. It recently transitioned its battery packs from winding to a stacking configuration, where the cells are stacked neatly, like a layer cake, to increase the overall capacity. 

More capacity means greater range. And better range makes these vehicles more marketable in a competitive, burgeoning market. Any advantage between today and the sometime-in-the-future implementation of solid state batteries is a coveted position. 

Here’s how it works.

Stacking adds density, thus energy

The German brand is known for agile, sleek vehicles that consistently earn high marks for performance and handling. As part of the Volkswagen group along with Porsche and even Lamborghini, Audi is in good company. Audi (along with the other brands in the group) has ratcheted up its EV goals, seeking the best ways to leap ahead of its competitors, and battery stacking is the latest mark of progress.

[Related: Why solid state batteries are the next frontier for EV makers]

In new EVs like the Q8 e-tron, electrodes in lithium-ion cells are thin foils which are traditionally wound into a structure called a jelly roll, Audi explained to PopSci. These jelly rolls can be either round for cylindrical cells or flat for prismatic cells. In prismatic cells, the utilization of the inner volume is limited due to the rounded edges.

By stacking single electrode sheets into larger stacks, more of the cell’s inner volume can be used, increasing the cell’s capacity. This allows Audi’s EVs to make better use of the physical space per cell, as was previously the case with winding technology.

Imagine it this way: in winding, the cell material is wrapped around a roll and squeezed together into a rectangular shell. During stacking, the electrode layers are superimposed to completely fill the rectangular space so that the cell has about 20 percent more active material, which increases the capacity. Cramming more electrons into the space equals overall improved range. A total of 12 battery cells form a module and 36 modules make up a battery system, protected by cube-shaped aluminum housing.

For the Q8 e-tron SUV and Sportback, Audi engineers created a battery pack that delivers about 20 kilowatt hours more gross capacity over 2023 models. Now, the battery offers 114 kWh instead of the 95 kWh on the previous battery tech. And incredibly, it doesn’t take up any more space than the old battery pack. As a result, 2024 Q8 e-tron owners can get 30 percent more range. The Q8 Sportback S-Line e-tron with the ultra package gets 300-plus miles. Even the standard Q8 e-tron SUV is good for 285 miles (296 for the Sportback) so it’s pretty close. 

The 2023 model served up a 222-mile EPA-estimated range for the standard SUV and 218 miles in Sportback form. For the 2024 Q8 e-tron, the EPA estimates it’s good for 285 miles for the SUV and 296 miles for the Sportback model. An optional Ultra package, available only with the Sportback, features a smaller wheel and tire package with low-rolling-resistance rubber and retuned suspension that gives it a lower ride height for added efficiency, and this setup delivers the magical 300-mile EPA estimate.

Pros and cons to stacking 

Like most new technologies, there are advantages and disadvantages to consider, Audi says. The advantage of this new stacking method allows for more active material to be implemented into lithium-ion cells, resulting in greater capacity, energy, and power. The disadvantage is a slower production process, resulting in higher cost.

Ultimately, Audi opted to prioritize the advantages over the disadvantages, a brand representative shared with PopSci.

Audi cell technicians had a dual goal of packing as much energy as possible into the stack while still having the ability to recharge it as quickly as possible. However, more density requires more time to charge compared to previous, less-dense batteries. This latest achievement also comes with a side of improved battery chemistry that Audi says has a better charge curve, which allows it to hold higher charging rates for longer.

At its battery testing site in Gaimersheim, Audi also runs a construction facility for prototype batteries. Here, employees build the high-voltage batteries from the ground up all the way to pre-series production. The goal for the next iteration will involve greater integration of the cells into the battery pack, reducing overhead, optimizing the battery’s design, and increasing the overall vehicle’s efficiency with the newest cell technologies.

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This new Polaris off-roader is the ultimate vehicle for rugged adventures https://www.popsci.com/technology/polaris-xpedition-utv-review/ Tue, 26 Sep 2023 19:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=574686
The 2024 Polaris Xpedition vehicle crossing a river
The 2024 Polaris Xpedition vehicle. Mike Emery/Align Media

The machine will eat rocks for breakfast while ensuring a smooth ride for its driver. Here's how.

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The 2024 Polaris Xpedition vehicle crossing a river
The 2024 Polaris Xpedition vehicle. Mike Emery/Align Media

As I’m riding through the wilds of southwest Colorado, up through Cinnamon Pass at over 12,000 feet in altitude, I’m thinking about the suspension on the Polaris Xpedition UTV (utility task vehicle) I’m piloting.

Yes, of course I’m also intently focused on the dirt road as we navigate across narrow cliffside paths and splash through mud puddles. But the premium Fox shocks in this off-road vehicle keep my tires planted as they flex with the ground beneath me, absorbing the dips, bumps, and rocks at an impressive rate. The all-new Xpedition, launched this May, seems to eat rocks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Here’s how it does that. 

Machined shocks 

Outdoorsy people—those who like camping, fishing, hunting, hiking, biking, and more—occupy Polaris’ sweet spot. The company says the 2024 Polaris Xpedition is best described as an “adventure side-by-side” as opposed to the utility vehicles used on ranches and farms or the recreational vehicles you might see tearing across sand dunes in California. Side-by-side in this case means it has at least two seats, which you don’t see in some all-terrain vehicles like quad bikes or snowmobiles.

This vehicle has a flat roof made for carrying kayaks, fishing poles, traction boards, and rooftop tents, all available as accessories. After driving the Xpedition all day and then testing out the rooftop tent to camp out next to a waterfall, I concur that it checks all the boxes. When carrying just two people, the vehicle’s second row can be folded down to hold even more stuff, or the Xpeditioncan accommodate five people and less cargo. It’s also now available as a completely-enclosed UTV with both warm and cool climate control, the only side-by-side on the market to do so.  

A flat roof means you can camp up high.
A flat roof means you can camp up high. Mike Emery/Align Media

“We started from the ground up with a one-piece frame, which is going to make it a lot stronger,” Polaris sales manager Eric Borgen says. “Our older products had frames that would bolt together in the middle; having that one piece frame is obviously going to make it a lot more rigid, which is also going to help make sure that our roll cage doesn’t flex.”

Layered into the new frame, the FOX Podium QS3 shocks are one of the key factors for a smooth ride. The shocks use “position sensitive spiral technology,” and that means two things. One, the equipment uses damping force, which controls vibration; and two, spiral grooves inside the shock body allow fluid to flow around the piston assembly, refining the movement.

“If you look inside of the actual shock body and you take it apart and you look down the barrel, it’s very similar to what people do to rifles,” Borgen explains. “They’ve machined a groove—a corkscrew—in the body. So when the piston is going up and down inside the shock body, it allows the fluid to bypass the valving.”

What that means is when driving 20 miles an hour through rocky trails, or over a washboard road, a typical passenger vehicle would toss your head around inside the cabin uncomfortably. With these shocks, the ride in the Xpedition is smoothed out in a noticeable way. Instead of a handful of zones that get progressively stiffer, the UTV’s shocks are machined for a consistently composed ride for the passenger at various speeds and road conditions. Indeed, the only time I felt a significant impact across 100 miles in the San Juan mountains was when a rock got loose under me and hit the underside. The Xpedition crunched along and left it in the dust.  

GPS off the grid

One thing that can strike fear into the heart of a new off-roader is getting lost. As more and more people explore the great outdoors (the trend has ticked noticeably upward in the last several years) they’re looking for ways to do it safely, and Polaris’ contribution to that is its Ride Command technology. 

Ride Command provides a built-in GPS navigation and wayfinding system that works even if you’re out of cell coverage zones. It includes a million-plus miles of verified trails and allows riders to plan a route before heading out. Even more importantly, it can be set up as a group ride so the vehicles can band together and see each other on the map as a color-coded dot. 

As Borgen, a desert-racing champion himself, led our group on a pre-established route, I could see at a glance on the map display in front of me how far ahead he was and what speed he was going. As a result, if I saw that he was slowing way down to let vehicles pass from the other direction (riders going uphill have the right-of-way on the trails) I could adjust even before I could see him through my windshield.  

There is one thing Borgen tells our group before we set out, and it’s the most important thing we need to know above and beyond all of the technology and engineering: how to be a considerate off-road driver. Some drivers have sparked animosity by going too fast on the trails and creating an uncomfortable environment for others, squarely placing a spotlight on the industry. 

The Polaris representative stresses the magnitude of being a considerate consumer, watching out for those who don’t like the noise and the dust off-highway vehicles carry with them. In that vein, the company is working toward more electric vehicles, like its new 2024 Ranger XP Kinetic. 

“Hikers are trying to enjoy the public land too,” he says. “So slow down; don’t dust ’em out, please. We don’t want to ruin our places to ride, because even though Jeeps and dirt bikes and side-by-sides are all different, we’re all doing the same thing and we all need to work together to maintain our lands.” 

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EVs have a tire particle problem https://www.popsci.com/environment/problem-evs-tires/ Tue, 26 Sep 2023 01:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=574186
6PPD is added to virtually all tires to prevent rubber from cracking.
6PPD is added to virtually all tires to prevent rubber from cracking. Deposit Photos

Heavier cars' tires release more tiny fragments into the environment.

The post EVs have a tire particle problem appeared first on Popular Science.

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6PPD is added to virtually all tires to prevent rubber from cracking.
6PPD is added to virtually all tires to prevent rubber from cracking. Deposit Photos

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.

As gas-guzzling cars are replaced by their electric counterparts, tailpipe emissions are on the decline. But cars have other negative impacts on environmental health, beyond what comes out of their exhaust pipes.

One of the bigger, and lesser known, problems is tire pollution—or “tire and road wear particles,” in industry terminology.

Tires shed tiny particles with every rotation. Tire wear happens most dramatically during rapid acceleration, braking, and sharp turns, but even with the most conservative driving, particulate pollution is an unavoidable consequence of car use. And it’s a problem that’s poised to get worse as drivers transition to EVs.

“We’re pushing for decarbonization by going to battery electric vehicles, and in doing so we’re pushing up tire wear emissions … which is going to prove difficult to solve,” said Nick Molden, founder and CEO of Emissions Analytics, a London-based company that performs independent tests on cars’ real-world tailpipe and tire emissions. Molden pointed out that tailpipe exhaust is dramatically reduced by filters and catalytic converters, which use chemical reactions to reduce pollution. Meanwhile, tires are a fundamentally open system, so there is no viable way to capture the polluting particles that fly off of them.

Emissions Analytics found that a single car sheds almost nine pounds of tire weight per year, on average. Globally, that amounts to six million metric tons of tire pollution annually, with most of it coming from wealthier countries where personal car use is more prevalent.

The amount of tire pollution emitted per vehicle is increasing as more electric cars hit the road around the world—some 14 million of them this year, according to the International Energy Agency. EVs tend to be significantly heavier than gas-powered or hybrid cars due to their larger, heftier batteries. The average battery for an EV on the market today is roughly 1,000 pounds, with some outliers approaching 3,000 pounds—as much as an entire gasoline-powered compact car. Emissions Analytics has found that adding 1,000 pounds to a midsize vehicle increased tire wear by about 20 percent, and also that Tesla’s Model Y generated 26 percent more tire pollution than a similar Kia hybrid. EVs’ more aggressive torque, which translates into faster acceleration, is another factor that creates more tire particulate mile for mile, compared to similar internal combustion engine cars.

Tire particulate is a toxic slurry of microplastics, volatile organic compounds, and other chemical additives that enter the air, soil, and water around trafficked areas. The rubber, metals, and other compounds coming off tires settle along roads where rain washes them into waterways. Smaller bits of tire particulate linger in the air, where they can be inhaled, and the smallest of this particulate matter—known as PM 2.5, because each particle is 2.5 micrometers or less — can directly enter the bloodstream. A 2017 study estimated that tire wear is responsible for 5 to 10 percent of oceanic microplastic pollution, and 3 to 7 percent of airborne PM 2.5 pollution. 

One particularly concerning chemical in tires is 6PPD, which is added to virtually all tires to prevent rubber from cracking. But in the environment, 6PPD reacts with ozone to become 6PPD-quinone, a substance that has been linked to salmon die-offs in the Pacific Northwest. A 2022 study confirmed the compound is also lethal to rainbow trout and brook trout.

Further research has shown that the chemical is absorbed by edible plants like lettuce and has the potential to accumulate in them. A study in South China found both 6PPD and 6PPD-quinone in human urine samples. The human health effects of the chemical are not yet understood, but other chemicals found in tires have been linked to problems ranging from skin irritation to respiratory problems to brain damage.

Given the intensifying realities of climate change, phasing out gas-powered vehicles rapidly is a must. But experts say the U.S. and other wealthy countries can accomplish this while also mitigating the environmental and health problems caused by EVs’ increased tire wear—namely by curbing car use overall.

Foremost, local policymakers can take steps to make U.S. cities less cripplingly car-dependent. Although that might sound like a daunting task, there’s historical precedent: The Netherlands used to be dominated by cars and experienced a higher rate of traffic fatalities than the U.S., until activist groups like Stop de Kindermoord (“Stop Child Murder”) mobilized in the 1970s to let policymakers know that they wanted less traffic on their streets. According to Chris Bruntlett, the co-author of Building the Cycling City, policymakers created the low-traffic, bike-friendly Dutch cities we know today by instituting traffic-calming measures. “Officials started with speed-limit reductions, parking restrictions, through-traffic limitations, and lane narrowings and removals,” Bruntlett told Grist.

David Zipper, a mobility expert and a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, says that city leaders can also remove subsidies for car ownership, such as free residential parking on public streets. “Once car subsidies are removed, fewer people in cities will choose to buy and own them,” Zipper said.

Of course, measures to reduce car use only work in tandem with investments in alternative transportation. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 provided some federal funding for transit and pedestrian and bike infrastructure, but making the most of these funds will require political will from state and local lawmakers. Zipper said that policymakers in some U.S. cities have begun to take positive actions—like Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who has committed to expanding her city’s bike lane network until 50 percent of the population lives within a three-minute walk of a bike lane.

Another way to reduce tire pollution is to trade big, heavy cars for smaller and lighter ones. Especially in the U.S., cars have grown significantly in size and weight in recent decades. Automakers began promoting SUVs in the 1980s, because a legal loophole allowed vehicles designated as “light trucks” to skirt fuel-efficiency regulations. Nine out of the 10 best-selling cars in the U.S. last year were trucks or SUVs, and the International Energy Agency has found that SUVs were the second largest cause of the global rise in CO2 emissions between 2010 and 2018.

One legislative solution to car bloat is introducing weight-based vehicle taxes, which encourage consumer interest in lighter cars and can be used to offset the cost of increased wear on roads caused by heavier vehicles. France implemented a weight-based car tax in 2021, charging consumers a penalty of 10 euros (about $10) for every kilogram above 1,800 (about 4,000 pounds) that their car weighs. This year, Norway also extended its weight-based vehicle tax to include EVs at a rate of a little more than a euro per kilogram above the first 500 kilograms (about 1,100 pounds) for EVs. Norway also taxes vehicles on their carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions. Taken together, these three taxes have the combined effect of dramatically incentivizing small electric vehicles

In the U.S., some states already prorate vehicle registration fees based on weight, and Washington, D.C. recently overhauled its registration system to more heavily penalize larger cars. In D.C., owners of cars heavier than 6,000 pounds now have to pay $500 in annual fees. New York state lawmakers also recently introduced legislation that would similarly incentivize smaller cars.  

Regulators can also take steps to minimize the harm caused by tire pollution — and in California, the process has already begun. In October, a new regulation implemented by the state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control, or DTSC, will require manufacturers of tires on the California market to research safer alternatives to 6PPD. Manufacturers that sell tires in the state are obligated to notify DTSC about products containing 6PPD by the end of November. 

Karl Palmer, deputy director of safer consumer products at DTSC, believes that making tire makers conduct an “alternatives analysis” will ultimately result in products that are safer for the environment.

“We’re using California’s market strength to say, ‘If you want to park here, you’ve got to comply with our rules,’” Palmer told Grist.

This article originally appeared in Grist at https://grist.org/transportation/evs-are-a-climate-solution-with-a-pollution-problem-tire-particles/.

Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org

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Driving a McLaren at 200 mph is a thrilling, dangerous experience https://www.popsci.com/technology/mclaren-artura-200-mph/ Mon, 25 Sep 2023 11:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=573617
Mclaren artura
The hybrid McLaren Artura is a $289,000 mid-engine supercar. McLaren

The McLaren Artura is a 671-horsepower supercar. Operating it at top speeds is not something you do without a helmet and a closed course.

The post Driving a McLaren at 200 mph is a thrilling, dangerous experience appeared first on Popular Science.

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Mclaren artura
The hybrid McLaren Artura is a $289,000 mid-engine supercar. McLaren

Here’s a fast fact you may not know: the Brits have dubbed driving 100 mph “doing the ton.” So it is perhaps appropriate that the British supercar-maker McLaren provided me with the opportunity to go two tons—yes, that’s 200 mph—in the company’s Artura hybrid-electric V6 model.

You remember the Artura from my test drive; it’s a $289,000 mid-engine supercar with 671 horsepower and 531 lb.-ft. torque. McLaren says it’ll accelerate to 60 mph in 3.0 seconds and through the quarter-mile in 10.7 seconds. For reference, if a car can do that run in less than 10.0, drag strips require a protective roll cage.

But when people look at a supercar and ask, What’ll it do? they mean top speed. Could the Artura reach the two tons of 200 mph?

It is hard to achieve top speed because, well, it is illegal on public roads outside portions of the German autobahn, and most race tracks don’t have straights long enough to achieve terminal velocity.

Enter the Sun Valley Tour de Force. This is an annual fund-raising charity event in Idaho’s Sun Valley ski region. With a hiatus for Covid, this year’s event was the sixth running of the Tour de Force, which, in exchange for a $2,950 entry fee, lets drivers take a blast along about a mile and a half of state route 75 just north of Ketchum to see how fast they can go. GPS transponders provide official results. The organization raised $1,000,000 this year for the benefit of The Hunger Coalition in Idaho.

I don’t know about you, but when I envision top speed runs, I think of the vast, desolate salt flats in Nevada and Utah. That’s not this. Route 75 is a rural two-lane highway, the sort that adventurous travelers seek out when avoiding the monotony of interstate driving.

[Related: An inside look at the data powering McLaren’s F1 team]

The road is relatively narrow and has little in the way of a shoulder on either side. The surface is old and uneven. The route isn’t even straight. Or flat!

Instead, the cars launch from a start line and drive about half a mile up a slight hill into a fast, gentle left turn that ends with a quick blind crest and then a drive onto the slightly downhill mile straight that is called Phantom Hill to the finish line. The checkered flags marking the finish are in a place called Frostbite Flats, which sounds like where your game piece goes for punishment in Candyland.

The prospect of driving faster than I’ve ever gone before in this setting is daunting. However, the event’s speed record is 253 mph, set by a driver in a Bugatti Chiron, so it is possible to go very fast on this road.

It is the sort of drive I’ve long since decided I wouldn’t do. Cars tend to become like aircraft with no control surfaces at speeds higher than about 150 mph. A generation ago, Car & Driver magazine senior technical editor Don Schroeder was killed during a 200-mph run on a test track, maybe due to a blown tire or seized wheel bearing.

I’ve briefly touched 180 mph at the end of the front straight at Estoril, former site of the Portuguese Grand Prix, in a McLaren Senna and a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. Both of those cars have thoroughly sorted aerodynamics that kept them stable and on the ground at those speeds. The McLaren engineers were similarly thorough with the design of the Artura, which gave me confidence that the car wouldn’t take flight. This, and the chance to hit 200 mph, sealed the deal. I’d do it!

There is no practice run, though I did have the chance to drive on the highway the day before to scout the lay of the land and the condition of the asphalt. Talking it over with retired Formula 1 driver Stefan Johansson, who McLaren has brought in to drive another one of their cars, I set the powertrain mode to “Track” and put the suspension model on “Comfort” for compliance on the bumpy two-lane highway.

Event organizers station spotters along the route to watch for wildlife or spectators getting too close to the route and provide me a radio for reports of any trouble ahead. The police close off the road at both ends of the course long enough for each run. Mine will take 52 seconds.

Sliding into the Artura’s driver’s seat, I realize the benefit of gull-wing doors, which open the space above the seat when the door is open so it is easier to get in and out while wearing a helmet. I struggle to get my helmet-clad noggin under the roofline, but I’m comfortable once inside.

I’ve made sure to drive the car in the battery regeneration mode on the way to the event, so the hybrid-electric drive system’s battery pack stands at an 80 percent state of charge for the run. As a plug-in hybrid-electric, the Artura’s battery pack could have been fully charged ahead of time, but I couldn’t get a place to plug it in in the hotel’s garage. The ambient temperature is 50 degrees, perfect for making maximum power from the combustion engine.

Sitting behind the wheel, I can see spectators watching from the boundary 100 yards back from the road. In the tall grass, they look like wildlife photographers on the African savanna. By tradition, the first car away is the fellow with the vintage Volkswagen Rabbit pickup truck. He gets close to 90 mph every year and keeps coming back for more.

Next away is a woman in a modified McLaren 720S, whose 218-mph top speed proves to be the fastest time of the day, as warmer temperatures later prevent her father, the car’s owner, from topping her speed.

Then is Johansson, in the brand-new McLaren 750S. He hits 200 mph on the official scoreboard. Two tons!

Then it is my turn. Officials wave me off from the start line, and the Artura squirms, fighting for traction on the launch. It is at triple-digit speeds almost immediately and I ease off the gas as I bend into the left turn, looking for a clear view when I top the peak of the blind crest.

As I clear the hilltop and mat the accelerator pedal, I can’t even make out the finish line flags in the distance, out there on Frostbite Flats. But I do steal a glance at the speedometer: 172.

That seems like a solid foundation for building speed over the next mile. In the cockpit, the Artura sounds great. A hundred yards away from the road, McLaren Houston general manger Pablo Del-Gado is watching. After my run he excitedly reports that from the sidelines, the Artura’s 120-degree V6 was the best-sounding car of the day.

Now at serious speed, I place the Artura in the center of the road. Fortunately, as an arid area, Idaho builds very little water-draining crown into their roads, so there is no concern about getting too far from the centerline and having the car tug its way toward the ditch.

The Artura’s suspension absorbs the bumps and the steering tracks true, with the car going exactly where I want, but things have gotten busy. The drive plays out like a scene from the original Mad Max, when budget-limited director George Miller sped up the film for dramatic effect.

Modern sports cars are programmed to deliver maximum performance for the situation, so I’ve left the transmission in fully automatic mode. Most cars do not achieve their top speed in top gear because that takes the engine rpm out of the peak of the power band. I didn’t realize the Artura would shift to top gear when my foot was on the floor, seeking more speed, so in retrospect, I wish I’d shifted manually and left it in sixth gear rather than letting it upshift to seventh.

Hammering down the straight, the Artura pulled quickly from 172 mph to 199 mph on the speedometer. And stayed there. Thanks to what felt like time dilation in my situation, the digital display seemed to sit maddeningly near 200 mph for minutes. Finally, “199” flickered to “200.”

The speedometer stayed at 200 mph all the way through the finish line. That seemed sufficient to ensure the official results captured that outcome.

Coasting down from 200 mph, previously ludicrous speeds now seem pedestrian. Organizers have warned us to make extra effort to shed speed so that when we approach the parking lot at the end of the run, we are at a speed that is actually safe rather than one that seems safe to a driver who is pumped up on adrenaline and whose perception is distorted by having recently hit two tons.

I get to the parking lot, where attendants point me to my parking slot. Heading over to the official timing and scoring display, I get crushing results from the GPS: 194.98 mph. Not two tons. Dammit. Apparently, the Artura’s speedometer is slightly optimistic. By 2.5 percent, it looks like.

But the in-car GoPro captured the dashboard display, which shows “200.” I have photographic proof of having achieved that speed, even if it comes with a really big asterisk.

Weeks later, organizers whimsically sent me an official-looking speeding ticket from the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office, citing me for my official top speed of 194.98 mph. It is the first time I’ve ever wished for a bigger number on a speeding ticket.

Watch a video of my drive, below:

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Here is what a Tesla Cybertruck cop car could look like https://www.popsci.com/technology/cybertruck-cop-car/ Fri, 22 Sep 2023 17:15:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=573563
Tesla Oracle Cybertruck cop car concept art
The Cybertruck has face multiple release delays and production issues. Oracle/YouTube

Concept art was revealed at a Las Vegas conference this week.

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Tesla Oracle Cybertruck cop car concept art
The Cybertruck has face multiple release delays and production issues. Oracle/YouTube

Tesla’s Cybertruck isn’t even available to the public yet, but concept art for a Cybertruck cop-car made its appearance in Las Vegas on Wednesday. During a presentation by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison at the data service giant’s CloudWork conference, a massive screen showed off the EV’s recognizable, angular design beneath red and blue emergency lights, as well as a bull bar and multiple Oracle logos.

But as Inside EVs noted on September 21, the rendering features misplaced bumper lights and rear wheels, while also missing the vehicle’s single, massive windshield wiper. Although this could indicate the project is early on in its development, Ellison promised its imminent debut.

“Our next generation police car is coming out very soon,” Ellison said to audible audience murmurs. “It’s my favorite police car. It’s my favorite car, actually. It’s Elon’s favorite car.” 

[Related: What TikTok’s deal with Oracle could mean for user security.]

“Among other things, it’s very safe, very fast, it’s got a stainless steel body, and we don’t have to add a screen or cameras to it because we can actually use their existing cameras and existing screen to put our application on it,” Ellison continued.

Both Oracle and Tesla already work alongside law enforcement, providing cloud support software and electric vehicles, respectively, for forces in Wisconsin, California, and elsewhere. Ellison has also called Musk a “close friend” in the past, and previously sat on Tesla’s board of directors. According to Ellison’s presentation, the first Oracle-integrated police cars already include voice-activated, retrofitted third-party “Tesla-like” screens, but the company plans to leverage the Cybertruck’s existing camera systems and monitors. 

First unveiled in 2019 and promised to arrive in 2021, Tesla has since delayed the Cybertruck multiple times while also increasing its estimated price tag. At last check, production and delivery were slated to begin by the end of 2023, although that deadline now appears dubious. During the EV’s debut event, Tesla vehicle designer Franz von Holzhausen threw metal balls at a prototype Cybertruck to demonstrate its “Armor Glass” windows, causing the driver side windows to shatter.

“The ball didn’t make it through,” Musk joked at the time.

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How car-sharing programs could make electric vehicles more accessible https://www.popsci.com/technology/evs-car-share/ Tue, 19 Sep 2023 01:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=571663
Los Angeles is among the cities that have brought electric vehicle car sharing to frontline communities. The service provides dozens of cars and a network of chargers throughout the city.
Los Angeles is among the cities that have brought electric vehicle car sharing to frontline communities. The service provides dozens of cars and a network of chargers throughout the city. Mark Ralston / AFP via Getty Images

Car shares not only make EVs more equitable, they reduce the number of vehicles on the road and the resources needed to decarbonize transport.

The post How car-sharing programs could make electric vehicles more accessible appeared first on Popular Science.

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Los Angeles is among the cities that have brought electric vehicle car sharing to frontline communities. The service provides dozens of cars and a network of chargers throughout the city.
Los Angeles is among the cities that have brought electric vehicle car sharing to frontline communities. The service provides dozens of cars and a network of chargers throughout the city. Mark Ralston / AFP via Getty Images

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.

Gloria Huerta remembers the day she spent hours hopping between Chevy Bolts, messing with SIM cards and software while following instructions sent by a German tech firm. She was trying to fix a glitch that kept members of Miocar, the car-share program she helps lead, from unlocking the cars before the service’s formal launch. Troubles like these would make it difficult for her organization to fulfill its mission of providing equitable access to electric vehicles in rural California. 

Much has changed since that frustrating day four years ago. Back then, it wasn’t unusual for Huerta, who is now the nonprofit’s chief operating officer, to spend hours driving across the state’s San Joaquin Valley servicing vehicles and solving members’ problems. Today, Miocar has a dedicated team to service its fleet of three Nissan Leafs and 34 Bolts spread across 10 locations (it plans to add more cars and locations by the end of the year) while offering guidance to anyone interested in establishing a community-based car share.

Zero-emissions vehicles are essential to achieving global climate goals. But climate policy experts warn that a one-to-one shift from gas to electric cars could exacerbate other forms of social injustice. Such a change could, for example, fuel environmental degradation and worker exploitation in the Global South, where most of the metals needed for batteries are mined. Here at home, people with low incomes struggle to afford EVs, even with ample incentives. Others are often unfamiliar with technology that’s typically targeted at the affluent. Those who can afford the cars often have precious few places to plug them in

 “I think it’s great that we’re moving towards zero-emissions vehicles,” Huerta said, “but the communities that are continuously left behind are still being left behind.”

To avoid such potholes, a growing number of programs like Miocar are forging an equitable path to zero-emissions transportation by making battery-powered cars accessible to everyone. (Huerta says Miocar is a play on “the Spanglish of the San Joaquin Valley” that tags the Spanish word for “mine” to the word “car.”) Such efforts have emerged in locations as diverse as Boston’s Roxbury neighborhoodMinneapolis-Saint Paul, and Los Angeles, bolstered in part by state and local assistance. Earlier this year, for example, the Washington state Department of Transportation awarded $2.8 million to spur EV car-share efforts in low-income communities statewide. 

Beyond enabling a just transition and reducing the number of vehicles—and resources—needed to electrify transportation, electric car sharing represents a shift away from an economy of ownership to one of access, allowing people to embrace environmentally conscious mobility without the burden of buying a car.

What sets community-based nonprofits like Miocar apart from international for-profits like ZipCar is its focus on offering zero emissions vehicles to income-qualified users at reduced rates—often just $4 to $10 an hour. Cars are reserved online, charged up, and can be used for as long as 24 or even 48 hours, depending on the program. For some folks, it’s an easy way of running an errand, taking a pet to the vet, or simply getting somewhere beyond the bus line. For others, it’s an opportunity to get comfortable with an EV before buying one of their own.

With most of Miocar’s users having never so much as sat in an EV before signing up, some are uncertain, even intimidated, at first. Huerta says the most common concern is that the battery might die. But Miocar, like other EV car shares, ensures its cars are charged, and provides dedicated parking spaces with chargers. People are expected to plug in when they drop off. If they forget, there’s a warning, and repeated offenses result in small fines. To further alleviate the anxiety of exhausting the battery, Miocar employees, when orienting newcomers to the program, explain how to plan a trip and find chargers that accept the free charge cards provided with each vehicle.

Once they start driving, users tend to love the vehicles for their ease, quiet, and comfort. “I’ve had conversations with a few that are like, ‘Oh my God, I never knew how much I would enjoy driving this,’” Herta said. When that happens, Miocar connects users to organizations that can explain the tax credits and other incentives that defray the cost of buying an EV, which can go for an average of $61,488 new.

Of course, when people rely on car-share programs instead of purchasing a vehicle of their own, traffic and street congestion drops. In 2016, researchers at the University of California-Berkeley Transportation Sustainability Research Center found that for every car-share vehicle deployed, 7 to 11 others were taken off the road or never put there in the first place. Such findings have been repeatedly supported as these programs have grown. 

That said, not everyone can ditch their car. A personal vehicle isn’t so much a luxury as a necessity in rural areas, Huerta said. That’s why Miocar’s mission is guided by the question, “How are we going to be able to do this in an equitable manner where everyone is able to get the same access to resources?”

These programs bridge an essential gap. Low-income communities are not only supermarket and pharmacy deserts; they’re charging deserts, too. Although there is a great need for equitable charging infrastructure, Susan Buchan, the executive director of Good2Go, Boston’s EV car share, said building chargers in frontline communities solves just half the problem. The communities need easy and affordable access to electric vehicles to make the chargers more than just harbingers of green gentrification.

“I’ve heard folks say that it’s kind of a slap in the face to watch somebody pull up in a Tesla, charge, and take off,” she said.

Still, bringing equity-focused car shares online can be a bumpy road. Beyond the technical hassles and occasional vehicle recalls, the economic challenges are formidable. “For public-backed car sharing, one of the biggest barriers is funding,” said Lauren McCarthy, a program director at the nonprofit Shared Use Mobility Center. “They’re not usually profitable operations.” Buchan concurred: “Achieving your mission makes you have a more negative balance sheet in this gig.”

Typically, public funding is available only during the pilot and lasts just a few years. That’s why McCarthy—who oversees a state-backed program in California that provides voucher funding to support shared-mobility initiatives—and the Shared Use Mobility Center offer a year of assistance after initial funding ends to help programs achieve financial sustainability.

Insuring the vehicles is a major hurdle on that path: “Our number one line item,” Buchan said. Despite requiring that drivers be over 21 and possess a clean driving record, Massachusetts places car shares like Good2Go in the highest risk category, driving up premiums. Other states, including California and Minnesota, have more relaxed policies, but McCarthy considers insurance requirements an obstacle to the expansion of shared mobility.

Outreach can be another challenge. In 2021, when Good2Go launched, it struggled with enrollment. The program revamped its efforts the following year, organizing catered events at affordable housing complexes to give residents an opportunity to drive their cars. Membership jumped 300 percent to 160 people, ensuring its fleet of six vehicles gets ample use. Buchan expects the growth to continue as long as the program can continue providing enough vehicles to meet demand.

As more programs like these appear, grow, and become self-sustaining, they have the potential to shift the default means of mobility. “The premise of private car ownership doesn’t need to define our society,” McCarthy said. “There should be multiple options available to you.” In a world of shared transportation, picking up a community-owned car would be one of these options, as would busing, walking, or grabbing a bike or scooter from the sidewalk. As long as our cities are designed to support these programs, an equitable future for clean mobility would look like one in which access takes priority over ownership, and in which we share to show how much we care.

This article originally appeared in Grist at https://grist.org/equity/a-simple-way-to-make-electric-cars-more-accessible-share-them/.

Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org

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The world’s first self-driving ferry is now in service https://www.popsci.com/technology/sweden-autonomous-electric-ferry/ Tue, 13 Jun 2023 19:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=548227
Zeabuz ferry
A self-driving ferry pushes off this week. Zeabuz

The MF Estelle is part of a plan to create environmentally friendly transportation alternatives on the water.

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Zeabuz ferry
A self-driving ferry pushes off this week. Zeabuz

The world’s first self-driving commercial passenger ferry started operating this week in Stockholm, Sweden. The MF Estelle was built by Zeabuz, a Norwegian start up, and will be operated by Torghatten, a Swedish ferry company under the brand name Zeam (Zero Emission Autonomous Mobility). It’s one of the first truly practical, real world examples of autonomous transportation that we’ve seen. 

The MF Estelle is both autonomous and electric. Its electric propulsion system is powered by solar panels on the top of the vessel. In the press release announcing the partnership, Stein Andre Herigstad-Olsen, CEO of Torghatten, said that “Estelle is a sustainable and green pioneer, offering a solution to traffic congestion and inspiring alternative modes of transportation.” It is the first step in the company’s plan to “create a network of virtual bridges, utilizing waterways to alleviate road congestion and promote affordable, environmentally friendly, and safe urban mobility.” 

While the MF Estelle will initially have an operator on board to make sure everything goes smoothly, Torghatten and Zeabuz intend for it to operate fully autonomously with an onshore supervisor by 2024. According to Zeabuz, multiple vessels using its ZeaMaster technology can be supervised by a single onshore supervisor, in much the same way that one of Wing’s pilots can manage multiple delivery drones. During normal operations, each vessel is able to safely navigate itself. When something unexpected happens, the “risk-aware supervisory control algorithm” makes sure the vessel adapts by slowing down, allowing more space in the waterway, stopping in place, and alerting the operator that a decision on how to proceed is needed. Seemingly, Torghatten is confident that the system is sufficient for busy city waterways shared with other vessels, canoes, kayaks, stand up paddle boarders, and even swimmers. 

Starting this week, the ferry will depart twice an hour from each side of the Riddarfjärden bay, crossing between Kungsholmen and Södermalm, two of the major island-districts in central Stockholm. Torghatten intends to extend that to four departures from each side each hour, and operate it for 15 hours a day. That’s a total of 120 daily sailings, each capable of transporting up to 24 passengers. Tickets cost 35 Swedish Krona (~$3.25).

While the MF Estelle is the first commercially operated passenger ferry, it isn’t the only electric autonomous vessel in development. Hurtigruten Norway hopes to have a zero-emission cruise ship in the water by 2030. It would be propelled by 50m-high sail wings (164 feet) as well as an electric engine system. It will also have multiple large batteries that are recharged by solar panels, wind technology, and the electric grid when it’s in port. 

Last summer, in a first for autonomous vehicles, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship successfully crossed the Atlantic Ocean without human crew. The trip wasn’t without issue—it was bound for Virginia but actually had to end its40-day 3,500 mile journey in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

And, of course, militaries are interested in these kinds of vessels too. Both the Colombian Navy and the US Navy have openly discussed how electric unmanned vessels could play a major role in future military operations—and are actively developing them. 

For now though, the MF Estelle still stands in a class of her own. If you’re in Stockholm, you can take a passage on the first autonomous electric ferry with no apps, NDAs, or other hassle. 

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Volvo’s new electric EX30 is cheaper than a Tesla Model 3 https://www.popsci.com/technology/volvo-ex-30/ Mon, 12 Jun 2023 21:30:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=548042
volvo ex30 EV
The EX30 will be delivered to customers next year. Volvo

This stylish new EV comes from an automaker known for safety—and it costs around $36,000.

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volvo ex30 EV
The EX30 will be delivered to customers next year. Volvo

When folks think about Volvo, the first thing that comes to mind is probably the brand’s reputation for safety features. After all, it developed and patented the modern three-point seat belt in 1959 and then shared the design with the world. Inexpensive cars, not so much. 

However, Volvo is making a statement with its newest EV, the EX30. This super-modern compact electric SUV is packaged competitively at $36,145 to start; that’s more than the outgoing Chevrolet Bolt but less than Tesla’s least expensive EV, the Model 3. Sure, the base Nissan Leaf is still priced under $30,000, but that’s with the smaller battery pack and only 149 miles of all-electric range. The EX30 promises a more luxurious feel than Nissan’s EV and offers a huge difference in range, at 275 miles.

Can Volvo’s streamlined five-seat EV compete? If we shake the Magic 8-Ball, all signs point to yes. Here’s why. 

Outlook good

As Inside EVs reported in March, Volvo set a record for sales in February, moving 51,286 cars worldwide that month. That’s 22 percent more than February 2022 and the best February ever for the brand. Even more telling is its numbers in the plug-in electric car segment: Volvo sold 20,678 plug-ins, an impressive 40 percent of total volume.

The timing seems to be spot on. In April of this year, Chevrolet sounded the death knell of its diminutive Bolt EV with no room for resurrection. Like the college kid who comes home for Christmas to find out his parents turned his bedroom into a supersized home gym, GM will soon retool the production line for the Bolt models to make space for the much-larger electric Silverado pickup and its sibling, the GMC Sierra EV. The introduction of electric trucks is important to the US market, and Chevy is pouring its resources in that direction, pushing the smaller Bolt out even as the tiny EV’s sales started to peak.

Now, the Bolt is kaput. Enter, stage right: the Volvo EX30, which is the fourth EV model for the Swedish brand. Volvo debuted its XC40 Recharge EV for model year 2021, the C40 Recharge EV for 2022, and a three-row SUV (the EX90) is on the way. Volvo, it seems, is ramping up for EVs quickly and steadily. 

The EX30 interior.
The EX30 interior comes from an automaker known for simple but luxurious interiors. Volvo

Can the EX30 outsell Tesla? Reply hazy, try again

The EX30 is about three inches longer and three inches wider than the Bolt EV, giving the Volvo a more commanding presence on the road than its Chevy competitor. Volvo’s new EV is 18 inches shorter than Tesla’s Model 3, but it wins in the cargo category with 31.9 cubic feet of available space, significantly more than the Model 3’s 22.9 cubic feet (truck and front trunk). 

From a power perspective, the EX30 comes with a 268-hp rear-drive setup; a 428-hp all-wheel-drive upgrade is available. Compared to the Bolt, which was good for 200 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque, the EX30 is considerably peppier, and Volvo says its Twin Motor Performance model will sprint to 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour in a zippy 3.6 seconds. That’s only a tiny bit slower—0.1 seconds—than the Model 3 Performance. 

Here’s where the EX30 shines over both Tesla and Chevy’s EVs: the inside. Volvo prides itself on simple but luxurious interiors and the EX30 makes the most of its space and price point with a 12.3-inch touchscreen, a full-width sound bar on the dashboard that replaces embedded speakers, and recycled materials throughout. 

Getting more Americans to snap up electric vehicles and reap their environmental benefits means automakers need to produce affordable ones that are accessible to more people. Right now, the EX30’s price tag will make it one of the least expensive on the US market. One forthcoming bit of competition, besides from Nissan and Tesla, may come in the form of the Chevy Equinox EV, which will likely cost around $30,000, and Chevrolet says its range will reach the desired 300-mile mark. 

Every time a new EV hits the market, headlines proclaim “it’s a Tesla killer” and no doubt some will believe that’s true of the EX30 as well. The reality is that Tesla’s legions of fans aren’t going anywhere, and are unlikely to be swayed to the Swedish side. Volvo will likely catch the attention of new EV buyers looking for a solidly built car stocked with technology and safety features in a small luxury package.

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The Pentagon wants to retrofit vehicles to drive themselves https://www.popsci.com/technology/self-driving-military-vehicles/ Mon, 12 Jun 2023 11:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=547654
humvees in Kuwait in 2005
Humvees in Kuwait in 2005. Jason Dangel / US Army

A program called GEARS from the Defense Innovation Unit aims to convert existing vehicles to be self-driving machines.

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humvees in Kuwait in 2005
Humvees in Kuwait in 2005. Jason Dangel / US Army

This post has been updated. It was originally published on June 12, 2023.

The most vulnerable part of a military truck is the driver. The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), tasked with finding and incorporating new commercial technology into the military, has set a deadline of June 13 for ideas about how to roboticize the military’s existing fleet of transport trucks. These vehicles could one day include rides like the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck, or the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, although at first the program will focus on another machine, the PLS.

Under a program called Ground Expeditionary Autonomy Retrofit System (GEARS), DIU wants vendors to prove that they can automate the driving of vehicles, with six converted a year after the contract is awarded and up to 50 or more vehicles converted within two and a half years of the contract.

“Initially, those vehicles would include palletized load systems (trucks) and could move to more multipurpose trucks like the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck, or the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV, also known as a Humvee) if shown to be successful,” a DIU spokesperson notes via email.

GEARS is the latest in what has been nearly two decades of effort by the Pentagon to solve an enduring problem from its recent wars. Deploying troops and equipment in a war zone, be it a whole country or even just a long front within one, means keeping people in places where supply infrastructure is limited, and that requires finding a way to resupply those soldiers. 

When there’s no threat of violence against cargo transport, military supply can mirror logistics in the domestic United States, where truck drivers bring gear as needed. When violence does threaten, as it does in both insurgency and conventional warfare, trucks face threats from ambushes, roadside bombs, or attacks from the sky in the form of missiles, artillery, or bombs. Robiticizing transport doesn’t remove that risk entirely, but it does mean that any vehicle that’s attacked results in just lost supplies and equipment, instead of killed or captured soldiers.

“The Department of Defense (DoD) has an existing fleet of military vehicles for its logistics operations. Today, however, these vehicles require human operators. In deployed situations, this creates unnecessary risk to service members’ lives and introduces limits to operational tactics,” reads the solicitation from DIU. “Human operators also have work-to-rest cycles, resulting in additional time constraints. In a fast-moving conflict, the ability to continuously move supplies from one hub to another will have significant impacts on the abilities to sustain operations while maintaining the safety of troops.”

[Related: The UK is upgrading military buggies into self-driving vehicles]

By replacing human drivers with uncrewed systems, the military can overcome the vulnerability of sending humans on milk runs, and such vehicles can push beyond the limits of humans who need to eat and sleep and rest. Continuous supply allows for cargo to be dispatched to where it is needed as soon as it is ready. 

Early in the US war in Iraq, getting supplies reliably and securely through the country meant deploying convoys, where several cargo trucks would carry guards and be escorted by other vehicles. While convoys allow supplies on the move to be protected, and take advantage of numbers to do so, they also present a juicy target. As the contours of fighting in Iraq changed over what’s now two decades of a US presence in the country, convoys persist as a target of opportunity for groups looking to harm or disrupt the US military in the country.

In 2004, DARPA, the Pentagon’s blue sky projects wing, launched a grand challenge, offering a prize for teams that could make a vehicle autonomously navigate a course in the desert. The 2004 challenge ended in a total bust, but multiple vehicles completed the 2005 version, in a moment widely covered as the start of autonomous driving for both commercial and military needs

[Related: What the future holds for the Army’s venerable Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle]

With GEARS, DIU is looking to bring commercial tools and techniques back into the fold. To that end, the government is providing the vehicles to use as test beds for prototypes, consistent with the military’s existing cargo fleet and part of the Army’s Palletized Load System. In addition, the new add-on systems could eventually work with the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck, or Humvees. By adapting these existing vehicles with new software and sensor hardware in what should be straightforward conversions, the Army can gain a new capability without requiring new advances in vehicle body to accommodate uncrewed operation.

“Solutions must have the ability to operate in environments inherent to military operations,” reads the solicitation. “Desired mission sets include, but are not limited to, convoy operations, waypoint navigation, and teleoperations. Solutions should be built to open architecture standards and be capable of integrating new hardware, software, and features as they become available.”

However the teams get there, the goal is to have vehicles that can run without the need for a human in the driver’s seat, or at least, move the human to a remote seat and have them drive from there. By removing the human operator from the road vehicle, the supply truck becomes essentially a reusable package for goods, instead of a prime military target. Goods may still be lost in attacks, though reliably remote navigation will let the military know when and where such attacks occurred.

In the meantime, the military can supply its bases less like caravans under attack, and more as nodes in a big transportation network.

This story was updated to include clarifications and a statement from the DIU about what types of vehicles will be retrofitted and in what order.

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GM’s new partnership with Tesla could supercharge the EV landscape https://www.popsci.com/technology/gm-tesla-electric-vehicle-charging/ Fri, 09 Jun 2023 17:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=547443
A close-up view of the front fender badge and charge door on a Cadillac LYRIQ parked at a Tesla Supercharger station.
GM's announcement follows a similar strategy from Ford last month. General Motors

Following Ford's footsteps, GM owners can begin using Tesla Supercharger Stations early next year.

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A close-up view of the front fender badge and charge door on a Cadillac LYRIQ parked at a Tesla Supercharger station.
GM's announcement follows a similar strategy from Ford last month. General Motors

Two weeks ago, Ford took a major step forward within the EV market via a new partnership with Tesla. The new plan will soon open up the latter’s charging stations to Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning and E-Transit owners. Following in their tire tracks, General Motors announced a similar alliance on Thursday—beginning early next year, GM owners will also be able to access over 12,000 Tesla Supercharger stations through a special adapter. And starting in 2025, all new electric GM models will come equipped to charge without the need for any external attachments.

“This collaboration is a key part of our strategy and an important next step in quickly expanding access to fast chargers for our customers,” GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra said in a statement. “Not only will it help make the transition to electric vehicles more seamless for our customers, but it could help move the industry toward a single North American charging standard.”

[Related: Ford EVs can soon be charged at Tesla stations.]

The move towards a single standard is a tacit concession to Tesla’s overall industry footprint, says CNBC. Although most EVs in America have long utilized what’s known as Combined Charging System (CCS) ports for fast recharging, Tesla vehicles rely on a proprietary setup known as the North American Charging Standard (NACS), alongside adapters owners could use at third-party stations. Beginning in late 2021, Tesla opened up some of its superchargers to other EVs thanks to a “Magic Dock” adapter, although anyone wishing to use it still needed to download Tesla’s app for access.

Like Ford, GM’s partnership will both simplify charging options for consumers as well as pave the way for more standardized infrastructure that supports the growing EV industry. Beginning in early 2024, owners of vehicles such as the Cadillac Lyriq and Chevy Bolt will be able to recharge at Tesla outlets using a specialized adapter, with new GM EVs featuring a NACS inlet sans adapter aiming to debut in 2025. Additionally, GM aims to integrate the Tesla Supercharger Network into its brands’ mobile apps to streamline location, payment, and charging sessions. GM also eventually intends to make CCS adapters for owners of NACS-enabled vehicles, although has not specified a timeframe for the rollout.

GM isn’t only looking to Tesla to help expand charging access for EVs—last year, the company partnered with Pilot Company and EVgo to add over 5,000 new DC chargers to the almost 13,000 stations already available across North America. An estimated one-fourth of all vehicle sales are estimated to be EVs by the end of 2030, with that number skyrocketing to over 70 percent by 2040. 

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This concept cruise ship will have solar-paneled sails, an AI copilot, and zero emissions https://www.popsci.com/technology/hurtigruten-zero-emission-ship/ Wed, 07 Jun 2023 17:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=546520
Sea Zero Cruise ship Concept, sails fully extended
The ship's three retractable sails will be covered in solar panels. VARD Design

Hurtigruten Norway hopes to have their sustainable liner hit the high seas by 2030.

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Sea Zero Cruise ship Concept, sails fully extended
The ship's three retractable sails will be covered in solar panels. VARD Design

Today’s cruise ships are environmental nightmares. Just one vessel packed with a veritable petri dish of passengers can burn as much as 250 tons of fuel per day, or about the same emissions as 12,000 cars. If the industry is to survive, it will need to adapt quickly in order to adequately address the myriad ecological emergencies facing the planet—and one Norwegian cruise liner company is attempting to meet those challenges head-on.

Earlier today, Hurtigruten Norway unveiled the first designs for a zero-emission cruise ship scheduled to debut by the end of the decade. First announced in March 2022 as “Sea Zero,” Hurtigruten (Norwegian for “the Fast Route”) showed off its initial concept art for the craft on Wednesday. The vessel features three autonomous, retractable, 50m-high sail wing rigs housing roughly 1,500-square-meters of solar panels. Alongside the sails, the ship will be powered by multiple 60-megawatt batteries that recharge while in port, as well as wind technology. Other futuristic additions to the vessel will include AI maneuvering capabilities, retractable thrusters, contra-rotating propellers, advanced hull coatings, and proactive hull cleaning tech.

[Related: Care about the planet? Skip the cruise, for now.]

“Following a rigorous feasibility study, we have pinpointed the most promising technologies for our groundbreaking future cruise ships,” said Hurtigruten Norway CEO Hedda Felin. Henrik Burvang, Research and Innovation Manager at VARD, the company behind the ship concept designs, added the forthcoming boat’s streamlined shape, alongside its hull and propulsion advances, will reduce energy demand. Meanwhile, VARD is “developing new design tools and exploring new technologies for energy efficiency,” said Burvang.

With enhanced AI capabilities, the cruise ships’ crew bridge is expected to significantly shrink in size to resemble airplane cockpits, but Hurtigruten’s futuristic, eco-conscious designs don’t rest solely on its next-gen ship and crew. The 135-meter-long concept ship’s estimated 500 guests will have access to a mobile app capable of operating their cabins’ ventilation systems, as well as track their own water and energy consumption while aboard the vessel.

Concept art of zero-emission cruise ship sailing in Norway
Credit: VARD Design

Next up for Hurtigruten’s Sea Zero project is a two-year testing and development phase for the proposed tech behind the upcoming cruise ship, particularly focusing on battery production, propulsion, hull design, and sustainable practices. Meanwhile, the company will also look into onboard hotel operational improvements, which Hurtigruten states can consume as much as half a ship’s overall energy reserves.

Hurtigruten also understands if 2030 feels like a long time to wait until a zero-emission ship. In the meantime, the company has already upgraded two of its seven vessels to run on a battery-hybrid-power system, with a third on track to be retrofitted this fall.  Its additional vessels are being outfitted with an array of tech to CO2 emissions by 20-percent, and nitrogen oxides by as much as 80 percent.

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This STEM club for girls turned a real BMW into a sweet racing simulator https://www.popsci.com/technology/club-athena-driving-simulator/ Mon, 05 Jun 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=546087
Loxley Browne (right) CEO and founder of Club Athena in California with Akshaya Koramutla, the Student Advisory Board President.
Loxley Browne (left) CEO and founder of Club Athena in California with Akshaya Koramutla, the Student Advisory Board President. Club Athena

The 1997 BMW 318i convertible is now a life-sized video game.

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Loxley Browne (right) CEO and founder of Club Athena in California with Akshaya Koramutla, the Student Advisory Board President.
Loxley Browne (left) CEO and founder of Club Athena in California with Akshaya Koramutla, the Student Advisory Board President. Club Athena

Teaching a teenager how to drive is often nerve-wracking for parents, and understandably so. Putting a kid behind the wheel of a machine that weighs a ton or more can be daunting, but it’s a necessary rite of passage to get them to that glorious day when they can drive themselves to soccer practice. Some teens take to it immediately, embracing freedom and experience, but others hesitate due to reasons like apathy or even fear.

But an innovative solution to this issue came from Loxley Browne, who is the CEO and founder of Club Athena in California, a non-profit organization that teaches girls aged 12 to 18 about STEM principles via an online platform. Browne works closely with her student advisory board to create hands-on projects for the girls in the program, and one day asked her student board president, Akshaya Koramutla, how her driver training was going.

As Browne recalls, Koramutla flinched and said, “I tried driving my dad’s car in a parking lot and it was really stressful. Another car almost hit me.”

That conversation sparked an idea for Club Athena’s next project: They would take a regular street car and turn it into a driving simulator to get the tweens and teens in the program comfortable behind the wheel.

Here’s how they turned a 1997 BMW convertible into a driving simulator.

Akshaya Koramutla in the simulator.
Akshaya Koramutla in the simulator. Club Athena

Setting the budget

In 2019, Browne kicked off an organization called Athena Racing with the intention of teaching girls go-karting skills with a racing focus. A racing enthusiast herself, Browne wanted to share her passion with girls and help grow their confidence behind the wheel. However, the beginning of the COVID pandemic in 2020 derailed her in-person plan and she pivoted to online classes, as Club Athena.

From that transition came FABcamp, a week-long live virtual forum designed to inspire girls in the program with expert speakers and an afternoon hands-on fabrication session from their individual locations. The BMW-based simulator, nicknamed “Simmie,” was the group’s most recent FABcamp project, starting with that conversation between Browne and Koramutla.

“The girls all play games like Forza and iRacing,” Browne says. “They love it, and the simulator gives them driving experience without an adult in the car screaming at them.”

[Related: An inside look at the data powering McLaren’s F1 team]

First, the members of the club spent a month talking to companies that make simulators, collecting feedback from experts. Motorsports simulation expert and former racer Sean Yoder is on the advisory board for Athena Racing, and he was a key asset for the project. Now CEO of Nemesis Lab, which builds high-performance simulators and gaming hardware, Yoder has an impressive background. On a previous project, he worked with Yale University Medical Research to develop software to help determine how epileptic seizures affect performance using virtual reality driving simulation during video/EEG monitoring.

Starting with an all-in pie-in-the-sky budget, the team of students—led by Koramutla, Browne, and Yoder—narrowed the budget down to a manageable number.

“The spreadsheet allowed the girls to see the different items that we would need to consider as we built Simmie,” Browne says. “It helped to define the project management and for me to talk through the different steps of the build with them.”

The simulator is a fusion of a physical car with tech add-ons.
The simulator is a fusion of a physical car with tech add-ons. Club Athena

Building Simmie

In 2022, they found a 1997 BMW 318i convertible online that was missing a central processing unit (or CPU) and bought it for $1,200, then spent five full days just cleaning it out. They removed the engine, transmission, and gas tank and sold those components. Then they took a sledgehammer to the front dash, which Browne jokingly refers to as “deconstruction therapy.”

“We weren’t able to get some of the parts out of the car easily,” Koramutla says. “Our solution to this problem was getting our safety gear on and using our hammers and crowbars to hack away at the unnecessary materials. The most intense part of the fabrication was concentrated on the dashboard and console area. Because we would be putting gaming components into the car, we needed to create a stable environment to attach them.”

After deconstruction, they reconstructed the interior, building a new dashboard and structure for the gaming components. The BMW received a new windshield, and the team placed monitors outside the windshield for the closest simulation to driving a real car on the street. Where the engine once was now houses the new structure for all the computer components. The steering wheel was replaced by a gaming wheel and a gaming pedal set is where the brake and accelerator used to be. 

“This is an ongoing process,” Browne says. “We’re going to add a butt shaker and air vents so you feel it when you go faster. We’ll add speakers and bass to feel the rumble.”

A look at the simulator's cockpit design.
A look at the simulator’s design. Club Athena

Sharing what they learned

Browne recorded all the segments of Simmie’s build and made it available online for FABcamp participants, like a virtual shop class. Soon, she says, the video segments will be available to the public so more kids can learn.

“Akshaya was up to her elbows in the car,” Browne says. “Now she knows how to use power tools and she’ll be able to think about all of these times we used cardboard and paper to create a prototype and then create something out of metal. She wants to be a doctor, and from this experience she’ll have the confidence to walk into an invention laboratory and tell them exactly what to do to create a new medical device.”

Simmie currently resides in a shop in San Diego, and Club Athena hosts one Saturday a month when the girls can book time to play and practice driving. Sometimes, they even bring brothers or friends with them. The car doesn’t move, but its drivers can still practice cruising.  

Browne’s goal is to create talent pipelines straight out of Club Athena and create paths for girls to go on and start STEM-related careers, guiding them all the way through. Her ultimate dream is to find a visionary philanthropist who wants to take it worldwide and build an “Ironman-type lab with hundreds of acres” to test builds. Just imagine a field of Simmies standing by to help teens get more comfortable with driving. 

Watch a short news segment about this simulator, below:

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The US doesn’t have a law mandating EV battery recycling. Should it? https://www.popsci.com/technology/ev-battery-recycling-law-mandate/ Fri, 02 Jun 2023 01:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=545067
Eventually, a robust circular battery economy could all but eliminate the need to extract rare metals at all.
Eventually, a robust circular battery economy could all but eliminate the need to extract rare metals at all. Alyssa Pointer / The Washington Post via Getty Images

Recycling batteries could reduce the need to mine critical minerals—but only if the packs are properly recovered.

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Eventually, a robust circular battery economy could all but eliminate the need to extract rare metals at all.
Eventually, a robust circular battery economy could all but eliminate the need to extract rare metals at all. Alyssa Pointer / The Washington Post via Getty Images

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.

The race to electrify the world’s vehicles and store energy will require batteries — so many of them, in fact, that meeting the demand we will see by 2040 will require 30 times the amount of critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel that those industries currently use.

That presents an enormous challenge, one exacerbated by the mining industry’s alarming allegations of labor crimes, environmental destruction, and encroachments on Indigenous land. There are ways to mitigate electrification’s extractive impacts, one of which may seem obvious: Recycle every battery we make. 

Doing so would reduce the world’s need to mine these minerals by 10 percent within 16 years, because the critical materials in batteries are infinitely reusable. Eventually, a robust circular battery economy could all but eliminate the need to extract them at all.

Of course, that would require recovering every EV pack at the end of its life, a sizable undertaking as the United States prepares for hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles to retire by the end of the decade. A nascent ecosystem of startups is working toward that goal, and the Inflation Reduction Act includes tax credits to incentivize the practice. But some electrification advocates say those steps do not go far enough. While the European Union recently passed a regulation mandating EV battery recycling, there is no such law in the U.S. Proponents of a federal recycling standard say that without one, batteries that could be recycled might get left behind, increasing the need for mining and undermining electrification’s environmental benefits. 

“We need a coordinated federal response to truly have a large-scale impact on meeting our demand,” said Blaine Miller-McFeeley, a policy advocate at Earthjustice, which favors a federal recycling requirement. “If you compare us to the EU, we are woefully behind and need to move much more quickly.”

That movement would have to come from Congress, according to Miller-McFeeley. Historically, however, regulating recycling has been left up to the states and local jurisdictions. The Biden administration has instead been supporting the country’s budding EV battery recycling industry, mainly by making it good business to recover critical materials. 

The Department of Energy wants to establish a “battery ecosystem” that can recover 90 percent of spent lithium batteries by 2030. It has granted billions in loans to battery recyclers to build new facilities. Automakers are incentivized to buy those recyclers’ products, because part of the federal EV tax credit applies only to cars with batteries that include a minimum amount of critical minerals that were mined, processed or recycled in the U.S. or by a free-trade partner. Manufacturers also get a tax credit for producing critical materials (including recycled ones) in the U.S.

Daniel Zotos, who handles public advocacy at the battery recycling startup Redwood Materials, said in an email that a healthy market for recycled materials is emerging. “Not only is there tremendous value today in recycling these metals, but the global demand for metals means that automakers need to source both more mined and recycled critical minerals.”

Zotos said Redwood Materials agrees with the approach the federal government has taken. “The U.S. has in fact chosen to help incentivize, rather than mandate, recycling through provisions established in the Inflation Reduction Act, which we’re deeply supportive of.”

During a pilot project in California last year, the company recovered 95 percent of the critical materials in 1,300 lithium-ion and nickel metal hydride EV and hybrid batteries. The cost of retrieving packs from throughout the state was the biggest barrier to profitability, but Zotos said that expense will subside as the industry grows.

A tiny but growing secondary market for EV batteries is also driving their reuse. Most batteries will be retired once their capacity dwindles to about 70 to 80 percent, due to the impact on the car’s range. But they’re still viable enough at that point to sustain a second life as storage for renewable energy like wind and solar power. 

B2U Storage Solutions used 1,300 retired batteries from Nissan and Honda to create 27 megawatts hours of storage at its solar farm just north of Los Angeles in Lancaster, California. Photovoltaic panels charge the packs all day, and B2U sells the stored power to the local utility during peak demand in the evening. “There is more value in reuse,” said company president Freeman Hall, “and we’re not doing anything more than deferring recycling another four or five years.” 

Homeowners and hobbyists are embracing second-life batteries, too. Henry Newman, co-owner of the auto dismantler EV Parts Solutions in Phoenix, said customers buy his Tesla and Nissan Leaf batteries to convert classic cars or create DIY power storage at home. Any batteries that Newman can’t sell are picked up by Li-Cycle, a lithium-ion battery recycler with a plant in Gilbert, Arizona. 

Newman said dismantlers and customers seem to want to do the right thing. “I know there will be people who don’t follow regulation, but my experience in the last six to seven years is that the industry is pretty conscious of it and tries to mitigate throwing these things in the trash,” he said. A law could help prevent mishandling, but Newman worries about any overreach or added costs that would come with more regulation. 

But relying on the market to ensure proper stewardship is risky, said Jessica Dunn, a senior analyst in the clean transportation program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “The recycling of cars has traditionally been a market-based environment,” she said. “But we’re dealing with a completely different system now. EV batteries are big and have a lot of critical materials in them that we need to get out of them no matter if it’s economical or not.” 

Transporting EV batteries, which can weigh more than 1,500 pounds, is expensive (as much as one-third of the cost of recycling them), dangerous, and logistically challenging. Packs can catch fire if improperly handled, and they are classified as hazardous material, which requires special shipping permits. If the battery is in a remote location or is damaged, a recycler could deem it too much trouble to retrieve without a mandate to do so.

Dunn also said that not all batteries contain enough valuable materials for it to make financial sense to go through the trouble of recovering them. While most EV batteries currently contain high-value cobalt and nickel, a new generation of cheaper lithium-ion-phosphate, or LFP, batteries don’t use those metals. Tesla, Ford, and Rivian all recently announced they will use LFPs in some models.

“Just because there aren’t nickel and cobalt in them doesn’t mean that the lithium isn’t something that we should be recovering,” said Dunn. Redwood Materials said it collects lithium-ion phosphate batteries and uses the lithium within them to assemble new battery components, and that they collect all battery packs no matter their condition.

Finally, without guidelines in place, viable batteries may not be repurposed before being recycled, which Dunn said undermines their sustainability. “You’ve already put all that literal energy — and the environmental impacts that go along with that — into manufacturing these batteries,” she said. “So if you can squeak an extra five to 10 years out of them, that’s a really good option.” 

With the U.S. poised to see about 165,000 electric vehicle batteries retire in 2030, Dunn said the time to ensure no batteries are stranded is now. “We’re not seeing a big wave now, but that’s coming, and so we need to be prepared for that.”

There has been some federal movement toward a recycling requirement. The 2021 bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act directed the Department of Energy to establish a task force to develop an “extended battery producer responsibility framework” to address battery design, transport, and recycling.

Extended producer responsibility, or EPR, is the approach that the EU took in its battery regulation that passed last December. EPR puts the onus on the manufacturer to ensure that what they produce is properly repurposed and then recycled, either by compelling them to pay for the recycling or to handle it themselves. 

Thirty-three states have such laws, covering 16 products ranging from mattresses to packaging. “It is a paradigm shift for how waste is managed in the United States,” said Scott Cassel of the Product Stewardship Institute. But Congress has never passed such a law. 

EV battery recycling might be the issue that could garner bipartisan support for one. Access to critical materials is a foreign policy and national security issue: China processes more than half the world’s lithium and cobalt, which means a steady domestic supply from recycling would help alleviate dependency on a geopolitical rival. 

Building out the infrastructure to dismantle, recover, and process battery materials could also create thousands of jobs, an accomplishment most lawmakers are happy to align themselves with.  

Republican senators alluded to both benefits when supporting the bipartisan Strategic EV Management Act of 2022, which passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act last year. It requires multiple agencies to work on guidelines for “reusing and recycling” batteries from vehicles retired from the federal fleet. 

Republican Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee said in a statement that the bill would ensure agencies could “reap the full economic benefits of EV investments … and do so in a manner that lessens our dependence on communist China.” 

These laws set in motion efforts to design recycling frameworks, but the timelines to develop them span years. In the meantime, a few states are weighing their own mandates. “The states don’t want to wait for any of these bills to move,” Cassel said. “They’re ready to act right now.”

In California, a Senate bill would require battery suppliers to ensure that all “vehicle traction batteries” be recovered, reused, repurposed, or recycled. The bill passed unanimously this week and is headed to the Assembly. Senator Ben Allen, who introduced the bill, said there is bipartisan political and industry support for creating a framework. “You need a system in place,” he said. “That’s like saying, ‘Oh, the people will drive just fine to and from work. We don’t need traffic laws.’” 

As it has been with other clean-vehicle targets, California could be a bellwether for a standard that would eventually take hold nationally.

“We’d love to create a system that could help to inform national policy,” said Allen. “And in this case, with this industry support and bipartisan backing, there actually may be a blueprint here.”

This article originally appeared in Grist at https://grist.org/technology/the-u-s-doesnt-have-a-law-mandating-ev-battery-recycling-should-it/. Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org

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The Dallas airport is testing out EV charging bots that roll around like suitcases https://www.popsci.com/technology/ziggy-ev-charging-robot-dallas-airport/ Wed, 31 May 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=544933
ZiGGY mobile EV charger connected to vehicle in parking lot.
ZiGGY will show off its skills this summer at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. EV Safe Charge/YouTube

Mobile EV charging stations may soon juice up travelers' parked cars while they're flying high.

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ZiGGY mobile EV charger connected to vehicle in parking lot.
ZiGGY will show off its skills this summer at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. EV Safe Charge/YouTube

One of the world’s busiest airports will soon showcase an innovative, undeniably cute way to speed up travelers’ entrances and exits. First announced earlier this month, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) is partnering with EV Safe Charge to demonstrate how the company’s mobile electric vehicle charging station, ZiGGY, could be deployed in public spaces to economically and conveniently power up consumers’ parked cars.

[Related: Electric cars are better for the environment, no matter the power source.]

Electric vehicles are an integral component of the societal shift towards clean, renewable energy. Unfortunately, battery shortages stemming from supply chain issues alongside a need for evermore charging stations is hampering a wider adoption of green transportation. ZiGGY obviously isn’t a catch-all fix, but it’s still a novel tool that both its makers and DFW hope to highlight over the summer as part of the airport’s series of EV charging solution demos.

“We know that electric vehicles will be a big part of the future of transportation,” Paul Puopolo, DFW’s Executive VP of Innovation, said in a statement, adding their air hub is “leaning into emerging technology now so that we are prepared to meet the needs of the airport community well into the future.”

ZiGGY itself resembles a large vending machine on wheels, which makes a certain amount of sense given it dispenses electric fuel on demand. Using geofencing technology, app-based controls, and on-board cameras, ZiGGY can be deployed directly to the location of your parked EV, where a user can then connect the charging bot to their ride. To court additional revenue streams, each ZiGGY also features large video screens capable of displaying advertisements. Don’t worry about getting stuck behind it if someone is using a ZiGGY, either—its dimensions and mobility ensures each station can park itself behind an EV without the need for additional space.

Speaking with Ars Technica on Tuesday, EV Safe Charge’s founder and CEO Caradoc Ehrenhalt explained that the idea is to deploy ZiGGY fleets to commercial hubs around the world, such as additional airports, hotels, and shopping centers. “What we’re hearing from people… is the common thread of the infrastructure being very challenging or not possible to put in or not cost effective or takes too much time. And so there really is the need for a mobile charging solution,” said Ehrenhalt.

[Related: Why you barely see electric vehicles at car dealerships.]

Of course, such an autonomous vehicle could find itself prone to defacement and vandalism, but Ehrenhalt apparently opts to look on the sunnier side of things. “Ziggy is fairly heavy because of the battery,” they cautioned to Ars Technica. “It has cameras all around and sensors, including GPS, and so there potentially could be [vandalism], but I’m always hoping for the best of humanity.”

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Honda’s electric go-karts pack a race car’s spirit into a tiny EV https://www.popsci.com/technology/honda-electric-go-kart/ Tue, 30 May 2023 22:04:28 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=544614
Honda's eGX go-kart.
Honda's eGX go-kart. Kristin Shaw

These fun vehicles will hit 45 mph—and have more in common with real open-wheel race cars than you might think.

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Honda's eGX go-kart.
Honda's eGX go-kart. Kristin Shaw

At first glance, race cars and electric go-karts have nothing in common except for a vaguely similar shape. Both are open-cockpit vehicles with wide wheels, and they both thrive on sharp turns—and that appears to be it. 

What many don’t realize is that go-karts are often the entry point for future Indy 500 drivers, and competitors also practice in the tiny vehicles to develop muscle memory. Several companies manufacture karts, and the most recent iteration of Honda’s version is the eGX go-kart concept, which is equipped with two 10-kilo (about 23 pounds) swappable battery packs good for about 45 minutes at a time. This battery technology allows the brand to test the dynamics of electric vehicles on a smaller scale before rolling it out to the much pricier race cars (and eventually apply this insight to passenger vehicles as well). 

Honda Accord, Civic, CR-V, and Odyssey owners might not realize it, but Honda’s passion starts with racing, and passenger cars reap the research benefits. Only two manufacturers make IndyCar engines, and Honda is one of them. In the last 30 years, Honda has claimed 18 IndyCar championships and 15 Indianapolis 500 wins. 

PopSci had a chance to pilot one of these eGX karts in the Indianapolis area over Indy 500 weekend. It was heart-pounding, arm-muscle-straining excitement, like a taste of the race itself (minus the yellow and red flags). We also got to speak with engineers to better understand Honda’s strategy for its entire product lineup, from power tools to cars. Here’s what we learned.  

Each battery pack weighs about 23 pounds.
Each battery pack weighs about 23 pounds. Kristin Shaw

Battery packs offer modularity and continuity

Kids interested in racing start with small go-karts and work their way up. If they have enough skill and a little luck, they’ll find themselves behind the wheel of a high-performance IndyCar or F1 machine. As they develop, drivers keep practicing with karts—albeit increasingly high-powered versions—that twist and squeal and mimic the experience of a road course race. 

“Karts are closer to the open-wheel experience than anything else,” says John Whiteman, commercial motorsports manager at Honda Performance Development. (In case you were wondering, an open-wheel car is one that has its wheels outside of the car versus underneath, like a passenger car.)

Honda Performance Development, or HPD for short, was founded in 1993 for the purpose of designing and developing racing engines along with chassis and performance parts for motorsports. HPD has a history of repurposing small engines to make gas-powered karts and quarter midgets (small racers that are about one-quarter scale of a full-size midget race car).

If you’ve ever been to an outdoor recreational karting track with friends and family, you’re familiar with the whine and buzz of the gas-powered version. Gas-powered kart engines are often shared with lawn mowers, made by other companies like Briggs and Stratton as well as HPD, and indoor tracks use electric karts so they’re not filling the air with toxic fumes. 

The eGX takes a typical electric go kart to the next level, employing two saddle packs on either side of the seat to house the lithium-ion batteries that power the kart. That way, the kart is balanced and maintains its grip with the road without adding rear bias or tip-over potential by loading the battery on one side. 

Whiteman says the swappable battery packs offer many upsides, including reduced maintenance costs and environmental benefits. Through this technology, HPD has learned more about energy storage, heat management, and vehicle weights and balances. These battery packs are already in use for small construction equipment like cordless rammers and compact excavators.

Along with reduced emissions and noise pollution, battery-pack-powered vehicles keep the equipment in commission continuously if you have a bank of these batteries that can be charging up while the others are in use. 

How race car research benefits Honda’s passenger cars

Ultimately, Honda and its HPD division are testing new ideas to find out how that translates to performance and customer satisfaction. Rebecca Johnson, HPD director of production and senior manager, says exploring electrification and sharing each division’s findings throughout the company creates opportunities to improve across the board. 

“We’re trying to train ourselves to be better at hybrids and battery packs for electrified racing,” Johnson says. “Let’s build something. Let’s make a car and let’s call it our laboratory, if you will, and let people ‘play’ and iterate on the design or technology. As we strive forward, we can put that together with what customers want.”

In 2024, the IndyCar series will run with hybrid units with 2.2-liter engines; currently, the power is all supplied by renewable race fuel. Honda is getting ready for this change by testing battery packs and a custom concept hybrid built with a tubular cage and sheet metal copied from a production CR-V crossover. It’s mind-boggling to ride in the Beast, as Honda calls it internally, as it looks like an SUV with a giant wing and sounds like a screaming hurricane inside. This is the future, and it’s pretty exciting. 

Johnson is steeped in racing culture, and she has her eyes trained forward as HPD works to maintain the visceral appeal of IndyCar and Formula One races while moving toward drastically reducing emissions.   

“We’re a racing company that happens to sell cars,” Johnson says. “Racing is in our DNA. If we can prove out tough things on a race track, we can surely make a good Civic. If you can do it at [IndyCar] level, then you should be very good at performance for a Civic owner. They want all the things that we want [for race cars] but on a different level.”

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Ford EVs can soon be charged at Tesla stations https://www.popsci.com/technology/ford-tesla-supercharger/ Mon, 29 May 2023 11:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=544152
Tesla supercharging station.
Tesla plans to open its charging stations to other electric vehicles. Tesla

Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning and E-Transit customers can start using adapters to plug into superchargers.

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Tesla supercharging station.
Tesla plans to open its charging stations to other electric vehicles. Tesla

Ford and Tesla have been rivals for years in the electric vehicle market, but a new agreement may change their relationship status. On Thursday, Ford said in a press release that its EV customers would be able to get access to 12,000 Tesla superchargers across the US and Canada by spring of next year. This will broaden the availability of charging stations by adding to the network of ​​10,000 DC fast-chargers and over 80,000 level-two chargers that Ford has been building out for the last decade. 

Most EVs on the market use the Combined Charging System (CCS) ports for fast charging. Teslas have a unique charging port called the North American Charging Standard (NACS), but its vehicle owners can use special adapters to charge at non-Tesla power stations. 

Pre-2021, it meant that Teslas could charge at public power stations, but no other EVs could charge at a Tesla station. However, starting in November 2021, Tesla started making some (but not all) of its superchargers open to non-Tesla EVs through a “Magic Dock” adapter. Drivers who wanted to use this still had to download the Tesla app on their phones in order to make it work. The Ford partnership will change that process, making things easier for people driving vehicles like the Mach-E or F-150 Lightning.  

“Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning and E-Transit customers will be able to access the Superchargers via an adapter and software integration along with activation and payment via FordPass or Ford Pro Intelligence,” the company said. “In 2025, Ford will offer next-generation electric vehicles with the North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector built-in, eliminating the need for an adapter to access Tesla Superchargers.”

[Related: Electric cars are better for the environment, no matter the power source]

As EVs become more commonplace, charging availability and range anxiety become understandable concerns for many owners. The only way to relieve that is to build a charging infrastructure that parallels the distribution of gas stations across the country. The Biden Administration has made building public chargers a priority, and last fall, the Department of Transportation said that it had signed off on the EV charging plans for all US states, as well as DC and Puerto Rico. States like Michigan and Indiana have even come up with ambitious plans to make wireless charging possible through special roadway systems

When it comes to smoothing over the potholes in the way of EV adoption in the US, more accessible chargers are never a bad thing. Tesla, having led the EV game for so long, seems like it’s finally ready to share its resources for the greater good. “Essentially, the idea is that we don’t want the Tesla Supercharger network to be like a walled garden. We want it to be something that is supportive of electrification and sustainable transport in general,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Thursday in Twitter Spaces, as reported by TechCrunch.  

“It seems totally ridiculous that we have an infrastructure problem, and we can’t even agree on what plug to use,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said at a Morgan Stanley conference, CNBC reported. “I think the first step is to work together in a way we haven’t, probably with the new EV brands and the traditional auto companies.”

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Pro tips for teaching a kid how to ride a bike https://www.popsci.com/diy/how-to-teach-a-kid-to-ride-a-bike/ Sun, 28 May 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=544168
An elderly person with short gray hair, wearing a pink shirt and jeans, with their hands on the shoulders of a kid they're teaching how to ride a bike. The child is wearing a red helmet and using a balance bike on a park path.
This kid's got a balance bike and their teacher has the right idea. Kampus Production / Pexels

This advice should make learning to ride a bike easier for you and your fledgling rider.

The post Pro tips for teaching a kid how to ride a bike appeared first on Popular Science.

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An elderly person with short gray hair, wearing a pink shirt and jeans, with their hands on the shoulders of a kid they're teaching how to ride a bike. The child is wearing a red helmet and using a balance bike on a park path.
This kid's got a balance bike and their teacher has the right idea. Kampus Production / Pexels

Learning to ride a bike is a rite of passage in many families and communities, and that means the ability to teach someone how to ride a bike is an equally important skill. The first few tries can be scary for kids, but finding the right balance, and coordination will be easier if they have a confident teacher guiding them. That’s where you come in. 

Now, it’s not entirely natural to perch atop a pair of wheels, and falling is a near-certainty until a child has found their bike legs. Challenges are part of the process, but there are a number of ways that you can help the kid you’re teaching get comfortable on two wheels with limited trouble.

Ditch the training wheels—balance bikes are best

If you’re in your 20s or older, you probably remember learning to ride a bike with clunky training wheels bolted to the back wheel. These two extra wheels got us up on the bike and learning how to pedal. But they do a terrible job teaching the hardest and most important part of riding a bike, which is balance, according to Phil Yip, a certified cycling instructor with the League of American Bicyclists who teaches with Bike East Bay and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. The far superior alternative, he says, is to start on a balance bike. 

Balance bikes are simple. They’re just like small regular bikes, except without pedals. Riders propel themselves forward by pushing with their feet on the ground, essentially running with the bike beneath them. New riders can walk as slow as they want while seated on the bike, and as they get comfortable, start to move faster until they naturally lift their feet and glide farther and farther. Once they’ve mastered staying upright with their feet off the ground and can turn with a combination of the handlebars and leaning, it’s easy enough for them to hop up on a regular bike and learn the nuances of pedaling, starting, and stopping. There’s often no need for training wheels at all. One study found that children who started on a balance bike learned to ride a pedal bike around 4 years old on average, while those who started on a bike with training wheels didn’t learn until they were closer to 6. 

[Related: The best bikes for kids]

I started my kids on balance bikes when they were about 2 (they’re twins), and in a couple of weeks they were zooming and gliding faster than I could keep up with on walks around our neighborhood. When we introduced pedal bikes a few months before their fifth birthday, they got the hang of riding in two short driveway practice sessions and could easily start on their own without a push a few days later. They used training wheels for a total of 30 minutes, and that was only because we bought the bikes fully assembled and they refused to wait for me to take them off before hopping on.   

Even if your kids are older, or you’re trying to teach yourself as an adult, balance bikes are a great way to start. If you can’t find a larger balance bike or don’t want to buy one, Yip suggests removing the pedals from a regular bike and lowering the seat so the rider’s feet rest flat on the ground.

Create a fun, safe space for learning

Riding can be scary at first, so it’s important that kids start off in a comfortable environment. “Start in a flat, traffic-free area, such as a park or a quiet cul-de-sac, where your child can practice without distractions or dangers,” says Peter Ballin, a former international mountain bike racer, UCI Mountain Bike World Cup mechanic, and bicycle coach out of Morzine, France. “Ideally, start them on grass so it’s softer if they fall.” They shouldn’t have to worry about navigating around dangers or running out of space. Let them focus solely on riding.

It’s also important to remember that learning new skills is uncomfortable, so don’t push kids too hard, Yip says. After all, riding a bike should be fun. If the kids aren’t enjoying it, or are getting stressed from too much pressure, they’re going to have a harder time learning. “It’s better to let the child learn at their own pace,” he says. There’s no set amount of time that it should take. In Yip’s classes, students sometimes move from a balance bike to a pedal bike in a single day, but others might take weeks or months to get comfortable with the transition—and that’s OK.  

Ballin adds that as your child improves, giving them little challenges can be a fun way to keep them engaged and pushing themselves without undue pressure. He recommends setting up simple obstacle courses for your kid to navigate, or racing against a clock to keep them motivated and excited to learn.

Don’t forget to teach safe riding habits, too

Teaching a kid to ride a bike isn’t only about guiding them through balance and pedaling. They also have to learn about safety. First is the importance of wearing a helmet anytime they’re out riding. One analysis found that wearing a helmet could reduce the risk of head injuries by 45 percent, brain injuries by 33 percent, facial injuries by 27 percent, and deaths by 29 percent. I’ve seen the value of a helmet in action—one of my kids took a pretty bad balance bike spill and landed on the road on his face. The rim of the helmet saved him from no more than a split lip. Without the helmet, I’m sure it would have been a trip to the hospital instead. 

[Related: Essential bike maintenance tips everyone should know]

Helmets are most effective when they fit properly. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a clear and detailed document on how to adjust a helmet to an adult’s or child’s head. Basically, you want the helmet level on the head, low on the forehead, the “V” of the straps tight under the ears, and the chin strap snug enough that only a finger or two can fit under it. If a helmet is too loose, or in the wrong position, it may not do its job.  

The other important safety lesson kids need to learn are the rules of the road, both Yip and Ballin say. Make sure to teach them that they should always ride with the flow of traffic rather than against, why we stop at intersections, what stop lights and road signs mean, and who has the right of way in what situations. Even if they’re years away from being old enough to ride alone, it’s good to drill that knowledge into their heads from the start.  

Learning in a group can help kids get over their fear

If your child is struggling, or too afraid to hop on the bike, getting more people involved might be helpful, Yip says. If they have a friend, neighbor, or relative who can already ride a bike, try to get them together so your child can mimic what they’re doing. Sometimes seeing someone close to their age doing a feared activity can be all the motivation a kid needs to try something new.  

Classes are another option. In addition to providing people for your child to watch, sometimes kids need to learn from someone other than a parent or caretaker, particularly if you find yourselves getting frustrated by a lack of progress. Classes can also be a validating experience for kids who might be embarrassed that they don’t know how to ride yet, Yip says. They’ll see people of all ages who are also learning to ride, and realize that there’s no shame in not having mastered the skill yet.

And once your child is up and running on their bike, so to speak, biking groups and classes are a great way to expand their, and your, knowledge about cycling. Whether it’s getting more comfortable with street riding and racing, diving into the exciting world of BMX, or heading up into the hills for some mountain biking, there are a ton of ways to expand their skills and keep them in the saddle.

The post Pro tips for teaching a kid how to ride a bike appeared first on Popular Science.

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Electric cars are better for the environment, no matter the power source https://www.popsci.com/technology/are-electric-cars-better-for-the-environment/ Fri, 26 May 2023 14:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=543822
Ioniq 6 EV
An Ioniq 6 electric vehicle. Hyundai

Experts say that across the board, EVs are a win compared to similar gas-powered vehicles.

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Ioniq 6 EV
An Ioniq 6 electric vehicle. Hyundai

These days, it seems like every carmaker—from those focused on luxury options to those with an eye more toward the economical—is getting into electric vehicles. And with new US policies around purchasing incentives and infrastructure improvements, consumers might be more on board as well. But many people are still concerned about whether electric vehicles are truly better for the environment overall, considering certain questions surrounding their production process

Despite concerns about the pollution generated from mining materials for batteries and the manufacturing process for the EVs themselves, the environmental and energy experts PopSci spoke to say that across the board, electric vehicles are still better for the environment than similar gasoline or diesel-powered models. 

When comparing a typical commercial electric vehicle to a gasoline vehicle of the same size, there are benefits across many different dimensions

“We do know, for instance, if we’re looking at carbon dioxide emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, that electric vehicles operating on the typical electric grid can end up with fewer greenhouse gas emissions over the life of their vehicle,” says Dave Gohlke, an energy and environmental analyst at Argonne National Lab. “The fuel consumption (using electricity to generate the fuel as opposed to burning petroleum) ends up releasing fewer emissions per mile and over the course of the vehicle’s expected lifetime.”

[Related: An electrified car isn’t the same thing as an electric one. Here’s the difference.]

How the electricity gets made

With greenhouse gas emissions, it’s also worth considering how the electricity for charging the EV is generated. Electricity made by a coal- or oil-burning plant will have higher emissions compared to a natural gas plant, while nuclear and renewable energy will have the fewest emissions. But even an electric vehicle that got its juice from a coal plant tends to have fewer emissions compared to a gasoline vehicle of the same size, Gohlke says. “And that comes down to the fact that a coal power plant is huge. It’s able to generate electricity at a better scale, [be] more efficient, as opposed to your relatively small engine that fits in the hood of your car.” Power plants could additionally have devices in place to scrub their smokestacks or capture some of the emissions that arise.  

EVs also produce no tailpipe emissions, which means reductions in particulate matter or in smog precursors that contribute to local air pollution.

“The latest best evidence right now indicates that in almost everywhere in the US, electric vehicles are better for the environment than conventional vehicles,” says Kenneth Gillingham, professor of environmental and energy economics at Yale School of the Environment. “How much better for the environment depends on where you charge and what time you charge.”

Electric motors tend to be more efficient compared to the spark ignition engine used in gasoline cars or the compression ignition engine used in diesel cars, where there’s usually a lot of waste heat and wasted energy.

Let’s talk about EV production

“It’s definitely the case that any technology has downsides. With technology you have to use resources, [the] raw materials we have available, and convert them to a new form,” says Jessika Trancik, a professor of data, systems, and society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “And that usually comes with some environmental impacts. No technology is perfect in that sense, but when it comes to evaluating a technology, we have to think of what services it’s providing, and what technology providing the same service it’s replacing.”

Creating an EV produces pollution during the manufacturing process. “Greenhouse gas emissions associated with producing an electric vehicle are almost twice that of an internal combustion vehicle…that is due primarily to the battery. You’re actually increasing greenhouse gas emissions to produce the vehicle, but there’s a net overall lifecycle benefit or reduction because of the significant savings in the use of the vehicle,” says Gregory Keoleian, the director of the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan. “We found in terms of the overall lifecycle, on average, across the United States, taking into account temperature effects, grid effects, there was 57 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions for a new electric vehicle compared to a new combustion engine vehicle.” 

In terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with operating the vehicles, fully battery-powered electric vehicles were the best, followed by plug-in hybrids, and then hybrids, with internal combustion engine vehicles faring the worst, Keoleian notes. Range anxiety might still be top of mind for some drivers, but he adds that households with more than one vehicle can consider diversifying their fleet to add an EV for everyday use, when appropriate, and save the gas vehicle (or the gas feature on their hybrids) for longer trips.

The breakeven point at which the cost of producing and operating an electric vehicle starts to gain an edge over a gasoline vehicle of similar make and model occurs at around two years in, or around 20,000 to 50,000 miles. But when that happens can vary slightly on a case-by-case basis. “If you have almost no carbon electricity, and you’re charging off solar panels on your own roof almost exclusively, that breakeven point will be sooner,” says Gohlke. “If you’re somewhere with a very carbon intensive grid, that breakeven point will be a little bit later. It depends on the style of your vehicle as well because of the materials that go into it.” 

[Related: Why solid-state batteries are the next frontier for EV makers]

For context, Gohlke notes that the average EV age right now is around 12 years old based on registration data. And these vehicles are expected to drive approximately 200,000 miles over their lifetime. 

“Obviously if you drive off your dealer’s lot and you drive right into a light pole and that car never takes more than a single mile, that single vehicle will have had more embedded emissions than if you had wrecked a gasoline car on your first drive,” says Gohlke. “But if you look at the entire fleet of vehicles, all 200-plus-million vehicles that are out there and how long we expect them to survive, over the life of the vehicle, each of those electric vehicles is expected to consume less energy and emit lower emissions than the corresponding gas vehicle would’ve been.”

To put things in perspective, Gillingham says that extracting and transporting fossil fuels like oil is energy intensive as well. When you weigh those factors, electric vehicle production doesn’t appear that much worse than the production of gasoline vehicles, he says. “Increasingly, they’re actually looking better depending on the battery chemistry and where the batteries are made.” 

And while it’s true that there are issues with mines, the petrol economy has damaged a lot of the environment and continues to do so. That’s why improving individual vehicle efficiency needs to be paired with reducing overall consumption.

EV batteries are getting better

Mined materials like rare metals can have harmful social and environmental effects, but that’s an economy-wide problem. There are many metals that are being used in batteries, but the use of metals is nothing new, says Trancik. Metals can be found in a range of household products and appliances that many people use in their daily lives. 

Plus, there have been dramatic improvements in battery technology and the engineering of the vehicle itself in the past decade. The batteries have become cheaper, safer, more durable, faster charging, and longer lasting. 

“There’s still a lot of room to improve further. There’s room for improved chemistry of the batteries and improved packaging and improved coolant systems and software that manages the batteries,” says Gillingham.

The two primary batteries used in electric vehicles today are NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt) and LFP (lithium-ferrous-phosphate). NMC batteries tend to use more precious metals like cobalt from the Congo, but they are also more energy dense. LFP uses more abundant metals. And although the technology is improving fast, it’s still in an early stage, sensitive to cold weather, and not quite as energy dense. LFP tends to be good for utility scale cases, like for storing electricity on the grid. 

[Related: Could swappable EV batteries replace charging stations?]

Electric vehicles also offer an advantage when it comes to fewer trips to the mechanic; conventional vehicles have more moving parts that can break down. “You’re more likely to be doing maintenance on a conventional vehicle,” says Gillingham. He says that there have been Teslas in his studies that are around eight years old, with 300,000 miles on them, which means that even though the battery does tend to degrade a little every year, that degradation is fairly modest.

Eventually, if the electric vehicle markets grow substantially, and there’s many of these vehicles in circulation, reusing the metals in the cars can increase their benefits. “This is something that you can’t really do with the fossil fuels that have already been combusted in an internal combustion engine,” says Trancik. “There is a potential to set up that circularity in the supply chain of those metals that’s not readily done with fossil fuels.”

Since batteries are fairly environmentally costly, the best case is for consumers who are interested in EVs to get a car with a small battery, or a plug-in hybrid electric car that runs on battery power most of the time. “A Toyota Corolla-sized car, maybe with some hybridization, could in many cases, be better for the environment than a gigantic Hummer-sized electric vehicle,” says Gillingham. (The charts in this New York Times article help visualize that distinction.) 

Where policies could help

Electric vehicles are already better for the environment and becoming increasingly better for the environment. 

The biggest factor that could make EVs even better is if the electrical grid goes fully carbon free. Policies that provide subsidies for carbon-free power, or carbon taxes to incentivize cleaner power, could help in this respect. 

The other aspect that would make a difference is to encourage more efficient electric vehicles and to discourage the production of enormous electric vehicles. “Some people may need a pickup truck for work. But if you don’t need a large car for an actual activity, it’s certainly better to have a more reasonably sized car,” Gillingham says.  

Plus, electrifying public transportation, buses, and vehicles like the fleet of trucks run by the USPS can have a big impact because of how often they’re used. Making these vehicles electric can reduce air pollution from idling, and routes can be designed so that they don’t need as large of a battery.  

“The rollout of EVs in general has been slower than demand would support…There’s potentially a larger market for EVs,” Gillingham says. The holdup is due mainly to supply chain problems

Switching over completely to EVs is, of course, not the end-all solution for the world’s environmental woes. Currently, car culture is very deeply embedded in American culture and consumerism in general, Gillingham says, and that’s not easy to change. When it comes to climate policy around transportation, it needs to address all the different modes of transportation that people use and the industrial energy services to bring down greenhouse gas emissions across the board. 

The greenest form of transportation is walking, followed by biking, followed by using public transit. Electrifying the vehicles that can be electrified is great, but policies should also consider the ways cities are designed—are they walkable, livable, and have a reliable public transit system connecting communities to where they need to go? 

“There’s definitely a number of different modes of transport that need to be addressed and green modes of transport that need to be supported,” says Trancik. “We really need to be thinking holistically about all these ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

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The new Tacoma’s shock-absorbing seats help you keep your eyes on the prize https://www.popsci.com/technology/2024-toyota-tacoma/ Mon, 22 May 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=542738
The 2024 Toyota Tacoma
The 2024 Tacoma. Toyota

Take a look at the fourth generation of a beloved vehicle, which now comes in a new Trailhunter trim.

The post The new Tacoma’s shock-absorbing seats help you keep your eyes on the prize appeared first on Popular Science.

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The 2024 Toyota Tacoma
The 2024 Tacoma. Toyota

Rejoice, Tacoma fans: The fourth generation of the beloved pickup is finally here, and there’s a lot to like. The midsize truck was redesigned from the ground up, retaining its off-road-capable bones and getting new skin, more power, and more options that should please truck buyers of all types. The last time the Taco, as it’s affectionately known, had a full workup was for model year 2016, so this has been a long-awaited update. 

In its popular TRD Pro trim, the new Tacoma includes brand-new seats for the driver and front passenger that ride on a shock absorber system. The purpose of these so-called IsoDynamic Performance Seats is to keep your head—and in turn, your eyes—steady and focused while driving (or riding in the right seat) on rugged terrain. If you’ve ever ridden a horse or performed in a marching band, you understand how important it is to keep your vision intact while moving. 

Let’s take a closer look at this and some of the Tacoma’s other new features. 

Shock-absorbing seats

When driving off-road, your entire body gets bounced around. Depending on the quality of your suspension system, you could be shaken like a James Bond martini. But wouldn’t it be better to float as though you’re moving in tune with the vehicle? Sheldon Brown, the chief engineer for the Tacoma, says the team started by plumping up the bolsters (the narrow pillows that surround your seat) in the seat and seat back, which snugs the occupant into the vehicle securely and comfortably. 

“We were looking to do something and provide better stabilization of the driver and the occupant in those high-speed or even some of the tactical off-road driving scenarios,” Brown told The Drive, which is owned by Recurrent Ventures, PopSci’s parent company. “If you think about, for example, a downhill skier or even if you look to the wild you see a cheetah chasing its prey. The eyes are focused and fixed, the body is moving but the head and the eyes are staying stable, so the goal here is to stabilize the upper torso, particularly the head.”

The Toyota engineering team started with a hot-formed steel tube to create the superstructure of the seats, and surrounded it with a lightweight reinforced resin for the seat pan and back frame. A swivel joint, spring-loaded ball joint, and articulation structure provides the flexibility and movement. The human body’s bone structure works closely with tendons and muscles for full range of motion; the new IsoDynamic Performance Seat is designed to move with those elements for a much less bone-jarring ride. 

Most notably, the seat can be customized to your liking. Airing it up is as simple as using a bicycle tire pump to achieve the level of pressure you like, and Toyota provides a set of recommended pressures based on your unique body mass. From there, you can tweak the comfort as desired. And, of course, you can turn off the adjustments entirely and it becomes a plain old truck seat. 

More power, more torque—and the manual remains

Available in a whopping eight variants—SR, SR5, TRD PreRunner, TRD Sport, TRD Off Road, Limited, TRD Pro, and Trailhunter—the 2024 Tacoma is offered with two different powertrains and myriad shiny new accessories straight from the factory. 

Starting with the base SR, the Tacoma gets a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine making 228 horsepower and 243 pound-feet of torque. Moving up to the SR5 and above, the same engine is tuned for 278 hp and 317 pound-feet of torque. Automatic and manual transmissions are available, and the manual option is largely attributed to Brown’s influence, as he is not just the engineer but a major Tacoma enthusiast. 

The star of the lineup is the i-Force Max hybrid powertrain. Engineers paired the turbo 2.4-liter engine with an electric motor and 1.87-kilowatt-hour battery for 326 horsepower and an impressive 465 pound-feet of torque. Standard on the TRD Pro and Trailhunter models and available on TRD Sport, TRD Off-Road, Limited variants, the i-Force Max is the most potent power combination ever offered on the Tacoma. 

“The great part about the hybrid system, which is what we just launched in the Tundra (and the motor and battery are identical, by the way) is instantaneous torque,” Brown told PopSci. “While we’re waiting for those turbos to spin up, which isn’t too long, it can really supplement the overall drive experience with an instant burst of power, especially when you’re towing or heavily laden.” 

With the i-Force Max, the truck has nearly double the torque numbers of the previous generation’s V6 capabilities. Gas mileage ranges from 19 miles per gallon to 21 miles per gallon for that model year. While we don’t know the EPA mileage ratings for the new Tacoma, Toyota has definitely made efforts to improve those numbers with a massive air dam in front that creates better aerodynamics. Don’t fret, though, off-roaders: it can be removed to increase ground clearance as necessary. 

The new Trailhunter trim.
The new Trailhunter trim. Kristin Shaw

Trailhunter vs TRD Pro

New for 2024 is the Trailhunter trim, designed for the ever-increasing overlanding population. Since 2020, the popularity of overlanding (in basic terms, camping in or near your car over long distances) has exploded, and Toyota is making the most of that trend with the Trailhunter. 

Before this trim debuted this year, the TRD Pro was the top of the line for ruggedness, but it’s built more for driving fast in the desert. The Trailhunter fills a need for go-everywhere adventurers with a whole catalog of accessories available straight from the factory, all of which can be rolled into a monthly payment versus purchasing piece by piece. Two years ago, the Trailhunter was teased at the Specialty Equipment Market Association annual trade show as a concept, and enthusiasts will be excited to see it in production. 

Toyota chose custom shocks from an Australian company called Old Man Emu to cushion the ride for both on- and off-road comfort. It’s also key for carrying a heavy load with lots of gear, which is what overlanders tend to do with on-board refrigerators from Dometic, rooftop tents, hydraulic lifts, and spare tires. For the uninitiated, Old Man Emu shocks were created Down Under, and are a popular choice to replace factored suspension components for other outdoors-focused brands like Land Rover

“In the Australian outback, Old Man Emu is the OG of overlanding,” Brown says. “They have a reputation for building good, reliable solutions for the aftermarket and we wanted to partner with them to work on the development together. This is a custom-tuned set that you can’t buy off the shelf.” 

The Trailhunter also boasts an onboard air compressor for airing up tires after an off-roading session, plus a fuel tank protector, mid-body skid plate, front bash plate, and rock sliders all designed to safeguard the truck from damage. 

Stay tuned, because the 2024 Toyota Tacoma is scheduled for dealerships later this year. As soon as we can get behind the wheel, we’ll tell you more about how it performs. 

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An inside look at the data powering McLaren’s F1 team https://www.popsci.com/technology/mclaren-f1-data-technology/ Tue, 16 May 2023 19:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=541361
McLaren's F1 race car
McLaren’s F1 race car, seen here in the garage near the track, belonging to driver Oscar Piastri. McLaren

Go behind the scenes at the Miami Grand Prix and see how engineers prep for the big race.

The post An inside look at the data powering McLaren’s F1 team appeared first on Popular Science.

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McLaren's F1 race car
McLaren’s F1 race car, seen here in the garage near the track, belonging to driver Oscar Piastri. McLaren

Formula 1, a 70-year old motorsport, has recently undergone a cultural renaissance. That renaissance has been fueled in large part by the growing popularity of the glitzy, melodrama-filled Netflix reality series, “Drive To Survive,” which Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff once said was closer to the fictional “Top Gun” than a documentary. Relaxed social media rules after F1 changed owners also helped provide a look into the interior lives of drivers-turned-new-age-celebrities. 

As a result, there’s been an explosion of interest among US audiences, which means more eyeballs and more ticket sales. Delving into the highly technical world of F1 can be daunting, so here are the basics to know about the design of the sport—plus an inside look at the complex web of communications and computer science at work behind the scenes. 

Data and a new era of F1

Increasingly, Formula 1 has become a data-driven sport; this becomes evident when you look into the garages of modern F1 teams. 

“It started really around 60, 70 years ago with just a guy with a stopwatch, figuring out which was the fastest lap—to this day and age, having every car equipped with sensors that generate around 1.1 million data points each second,” says Luuk Figdor, principal sports tech advisor with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is a technology partner for F1. “There’s a huge amount of data that’s being created, and that’s per car.” Part of AWS’ job is to put this data in a format that is understandable not only to experts, but also to viewers at home, with features like F1 Insights.

There was a time where cars had unreliable radios, and engineers could only get data on race performance at the very end. Now, things look much more different. Every car is able to send instantaneous updates on steering, G-force, speed, fuel usage, engine and tire status, gear status and much more. Around the track itself, there are more accurate ways for teams to get GPS data on the car positions, weather data, and timing data. 

“This is data from certain sensors that are drilled into the track before the race and there’s also a transponder in the car,” Figdor explains. “And whenever the car passes the sensor, it sends a signal. Based on those signals you can calculate how long it took for a car to pass a certain section of the track.” 

These innovations have made racing more competitive over the years, and made the margins in speed between some of the cars much closer. Fractions of seconds can divide cars coming in first or second place.

F1 101

For newbies, here’s a quick refresher on the rules of the game. Twenty international drivers from 10 teams compete for two championships: the Driver’s Championship and the Constructors’ Championship.

Pre-season testing starts in late February, and racing spans from March to November. There are 20 or so races at locations around the world, and each race is around 300 km (186 miles), which equals 50 to 70 laps (except for the Monaco circuit, which is shorter). Drivers get points for finishing high in the order—those who place 10th or below get no points. Individuals with the highest points win the Driver’s Championship, and teams with the highest points win the Constructors’ Championship. 

A good car is as essential for winning as a good driver. And an assortment of engineers are crucial for ensuring that both the driver and the car are performing at their best. In addition to steering and shifting gears, drivers can control many other settings like engine power and brake balance. Races are rain or shine, but special tires are often required for wet roads. Every team is required to build certain elements of their car, including the chassis, from scratch (they are allowed to buy engines from other suppliers). The goal is to have a car with low air resistance, high speed, low fuel consumption, and good grip on the track. Most cars can reach speeds of around 200 mph. Certain engineering specifications create the downward lift needed to keep the cars on the ground. 

Technical regulations from the FIA contain rules about how the cars can be built—what’s allowed and not allowed. Rules can change from season to season, and teams tend to refresh their designs each year. Every concept undergoes thorough aerodynamic and road testing, and modifications can be made during the season. 

The scene backstage before a race weekend

It’s the Thursday before the second-ever Miami Grand Prix. In true Florida fashion, it’s sweltering. The imposing Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens has been transformed into a temporary F1 campus in preparation for race weekend, with the race track wrapping around the central arena and its connected lots like a metal-guarded moat. Bridges take visitors in and out of the stadium. The football field that is there normally has been turned into a paddock park, where the 10 teams have erected semi-permanent buildings that act as their hubs during the week. 

Setting up everything the 10 teams need ahead of the competition is a whole production. Some might even call it a type of traveling circus

AI photo
The paddock park inside the football field of the Hard Rock Stadium. Charlotte Hu

Ed Green, head of commercial technology for McLaren, greets me in the team’s temporary building in the paddock park. He’s wearing a short-sleeved polo in signature McLaren orange, as is everyone else walking around or sitting in the space. Many team members are also sporting what looks like a Fitbit, likely part of the technology partnership they have with Google. The partnership means that the team will also use Android connected devices and equipment—including phones, tablets and earbuds—as well as the different capabilities provided by Chrome. 

McLaren has developed plenty of custom web applications for Formula 1. “We don’t buy off-the-shelf too much, in the past two years, a lot of our strategy has moved to be on web apps,” Green says. “We’ve developed a lot into Chrome, so the team have got really quick, instant access…so if you’re on the pit wall looking at weather data and video systems, you could take that with you on your phone, or onto the machines back in the engineering in the central stadium.” 

AI photo
The entrance to McLaren’s garage. Charlotte Hu

This season, there are 23 races. This structure that’s been built is their hub for flyaway races, or races that they can’t drive to from the factory. The marketing, the engineers, the team hospitality, and the drivers all share the hub. The important points in space—the paddock, garage, and race track—are linked up through fiber optic cables. 

“This is sort of the furthest point from the garage that we have to keep connected on race weekend,” Green says. “They’ll be doing all the analysis of all the information, the systems, from the garage.”

To set up this infrastructure so it’s ready to transmit and receive data in time for when the cars hit the track, an early crew of IT personnel have to arrive the Saturday before to run the cabling, and get the basics in order. Then, the wider IT team arrives on Wednesday, and it’s a mad scramble to get the rest of what they need stood up so that by Thursday lunchtime, they can start running radio checks and locking everything down. 

“We fly with our IT rig, and that’s because of the cost and complexity of what’s inside it. So we have to bring that to every race track with us,” says Green. The path to and from the team hub to the garages involves snaking in and out of corridors, long hallways and lobbies under the stadium. As we enter McLaren’s garage, we first come across a wall of headsets, each with a name label underneath, including the drivers and each of their race engineers. This is how members of the team stay in contact with one another. 

AI photo
Headsets help team members stay connected. Charlotte Hu

The garage, with its narrow hallway, opens in one direction into the pit. Here you can see the two cars belonging to McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri being worked on by engineers, with garage doors that open onto the race track. The two cars are suspended in various states of disassembly, with mechanics examining and tweaking them like surgeons at an operating table. The noise of drilling, whirring, and miscellaneous clunking fills the space. There are screens everywhere, running numbers and charts. One screen has the local track time, a second is running a countdown clock until curfew tonight. During the race, it will post video feeds from the track and the drivers, along with social media feeds. 

McLaren team members work on the Lando Norris McLaren MCL60 in the garage
McLaren team members work on the Lando Norris’ McLaren MCL60 in the garage. McLaren

We step onto a platform viewing area overlooking the hubbub. On the platform, there are two screens: one shows the mission control room back in England, and the other shows a diagram of the race circuit as a circle. “We look at the race as a circle, and that’s because it helps us see the gaps between the cars in time,” Green says. “Looking through the x, y, z coordinates is useful but actually they bunch up in the corners. Engineers like to see gaps in distances.” 

“This is sort of home away from home for the team. This is where we set up our garage and move our back office central services as well as engineering,” he notes. “We’re still in construction.”

From Miami to mission control in Woking

During race weekend, the mission control office in England, where McLaren is based, has about 32 people who are talking to the track in near real time. “We’re running just over 100 milliseconds from here in Miami back to base in Woking. They will get all the data feeds coming from these cars,” Green explains. “If you look at the team setting up the cars, you will see various sensors on the underside of the car. There’s an electronic control unit that sits under the car. It talks to us as the cars go around track. That’s regulated by the FIA. We cannot send information to the car but we can receive information from the car. Many, many years ago that wasn’t possible.”

For the Miami Grand Prix, Green estimates that McLaren will have about 300 sensors on each car for pressure taps (to measure airflow), temperature reading, speed checks across the car, and more. “There’s an enormous amount of information to be seen,” Green says. “From when we practice, start racing, to when we finish the race, we generate just about 1.5 terabytes of information from these two cars. So it’s a huge amount of information.” 

[Related: Inside the search for the best way to save humanity’s data]

Because the data comes in too quickly for any one person to handle, machine learning algorithms and neural networks in the loop help engineers spot patterns or irregularities. These software help package the information into a form that can be used to make decisions like when a car should switch tires, push up their speed, stay out, or make a pit stop. 

“It’s such a data-driven sport, and everything we do is founded on data in the decision-making, making better use of digital twins, which has been part of the team for a long time,” Green says. Digital twins are virtual models of objects that are based off of scanned information. They’re useful for running simulations. 

Throughout the race weekend, McLaren will run around 200 simulations to explore different scenarios such as what would happen if the safety car came out to clear debris from a crash, or if it starts raining. “We’ve got an incredibly smart team, but when you have to make a decision in three seconds, you’ve got to have human-in-the-loop technology to feed you what comes next as well,” Green says. “It’s a lot of fun.” 

[Related: Can software really define a vehicle? Renault and Google are betting on it.]

Improved computing resources and better simulation technology has helped change the sport as a whole too. Not only does it reduce the cost of testing design options (important because of the new cost cap rule that puts a ceiling on how much teams are allowed to spend on designing and building their cars), it also informs new rules for racing.  

“One of the things pre-2022, the way that the cars were designed resulted in the fact it was really hard to follow another car closely. And this is because of the aerodynamics of the car,” Figdor says. When a car zooms down the track, it distorts the air behind it. It’s like how a speedboat disrupts the water it drives through. And if you try to follow a speedboat with another speedboat in the lake, you will find that it’s quite tricky. 

“The same thing happens with Formula 1 cars,” says Figdor. “What they did in 2022 is they came up with new regulations around the design of the car that should make it easier for cars to follow each other closely on the track.”

That was possible because F1 and AWS were able to create and run realistic, and relatively fast simulations more formally called “two-car Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) aerodynamic simulations” that were able to measure the effects of various cars with different designs following each other in a virtual wind tunnel. “Changing regulations like that, you have to be really sure of what you’re doing. And using technology, you can just estimate many more scenarios at just a fraction of the cost,” Figdor says. 

Making sure there’s not too many engineers in the garage

The pit wall bordering the race track may be the best seat in the house, but the engineering island is one of the most important. It sits inside the garage, cramped between the two cars. Engineers from both sides of the garage will have shared resources there to look at material reliability and car performance. The engineering island is connected to the pit wall and also to a stack of servers and an IT tower tucked away in a corner of the garage. The IT tower, which has 140 terabytes of storage, 4.5 terabytes of memory, 172 logical processors, and many many batteries, keeps the team in communication with the McLaren Technology Center.  

McLaren engineers speak in the garage
McLaren engineers at the engineering island in the middle of the garage. McLaren

All the crew on the ground in Miami, about 80 engineers, make up around 10 percent of the McLaren team. It’s just the tip of the iceberg. The team of engineers at large work in three umbrella categories: design, build, and race. 

[Related: Behind the wheel of McLaren’s hot new hybrid supercar, the Artura]

AI photo
McLaren flies their customized IT rig out to every race. McLaren

The design team will use computers to mock up parts in ways that make them lighter, more structurally sound, or give more performance. “Material design is part of that, you’ll have aerodynamicists looking at how the car’s performing,” says Green. Then, the build team will take the 3D designs, and flatten them into a pattern. They’ll bring out rolls of carbon fiber that they store in a glass chiller, cut out the pattern, laminate it, bind different parts together, and put it into a big autoclave or oven. As part of that build process, a logistics team will take that car and send it out to the racetrack and examine how it drives. 

Formula 1 cars can change dramatically from the first race of the season to the last. 

“If you were to do nothing to the car that wins the first race, it’s almost certain to come last at the end of the season,” Green says. “You’ve got to be constantly innovating. Probably about 18 percent of the car changed from when we launched it in February to now. And when we cross that line in Abu Dhabi, probably 80 percent of the car will change.” 

There’s a rotating roster of engineers at the stadium and in the garage on different days of race week. “People have got very set disciplines and you also hear that on the radio as well. It’s the driver’s engineers that are going to listen to everything and they’re going to be aware of how the car’s set up,” Green says. “But you have some folks in aerodynamics on Friday, Saturday, particularly back in Woking. That’s so important now in modern F1—how you set the car up, the way the air is performing—so you can really over-index and make sure you’ve got more aerodynamic expertise in the room.”

The scene on Sunday

On race day, the makeup of engineers is a slightly different blend. There are more specialists focused on competitor intelligence, analysis, and strategy insight. Outside of speed, the data points they are really interested in are related to the air pressures and the air flows over the car. 

“Those things are really hard to measure and a lot of energy goes into understanding that. Driver feedback is also really important, so we try to correlate that feedback here,” Green says. “The better we are at correlating the data from our virtual wind tunnel, our physical wind tunnel, the manufacturing parts, understanding how they perform on the car, the quicker we can move through the processes and get upgrades to the car. Aerodynamics is probably at the moment the key differentiator between what teams are doing.” 

As technology advances, and partners work on more interesting products in-house, some of the work is sure to translate over to F1. Green says that there are some exciting upcoming projects looking at if Google could help them apply speech-to-text software to transcribe driver radios from other teams during the races—work that’s currently being done by human volunteers.

The post An inside look at the data powering McLaren’s F1 team appeared first on Popular Science.

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There’s something magical about driving Alfa Romeo’s first hybrid https://www.popsci.com/technology/alfa-romeo-tonale-hybrid/ Mon, 15 May 2023 20:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=541223
alfa romeo tonale
The Alfa Romeo Tonale is the brand's first hybrid. Kristin Shaw

The Tonale can cruise on battery power alone for 30 miles. Plus, a brake-by-wire system saves weight and boosts its stopping power.

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alfa romeo tonale
The Alfa Romeo Tonale is the brand's first hybrid. Kristin Shaw

Dressed in a glorious shade of green called Verde Fangio Metallic, the all-new Alfa Romeo Tonale slalomed through the city streets of Milan. After dodging pedestrians and cyclists in a dance that seemed natural to Italians and startling to visitors, we drove it onto country roads leading to Alfa Romeo’s prime proving grounds at the Circuito di Balocco test track. It was time to test out the brand’s first hybrid and its first compact crossover: the Tonale.

Alfa Romeo has a 113-year history of building beautiful, powerful cars with an abundance of style. Can its new hybrid pass the test with both established and new fans of the brand? We drove one in Alfa Romeo’s homeland to find out.

The two-tone Tonale: one engine, one motor

The brand’s first all-new vehicle in five years, the Tonale is a follow-up to the popular Stelvio SUV. Situated squarely in the popular compact SUV class, the Tonale competes with gas-powered luxury models like the BMW X1 and Mercedes-Benz GLA as well as the Volvo XC40 plug-in hybrid.

Equipped with a 1.3-liter gas engine up front and a 90-kilowatt electric motor at the rear, the Tonale boasts 285 horsepower and 347 pound-feet of torque. Whether driving on twisty roads or straightaways, I found the Tonale has plenty of vigor, and the responsive steering made for a great drive. The crossover also has a generous sprinkling of Italian charm, which sets it apart from others in the category. 

Drive mode selections include Alfa Romeo’s traditional D, N, and A options, which stands for Dynamic, Natural, and Advanced. Each has its own distinctive personality. Spin the dial to Dynamic for access to the full suite of power and to the highest level of brake regeneration, which sends juice to the battery. Natural is the middle-of-the-road option for daily driving, and Advanced offers a more fuel-efficient choice by running the Tonale in battery-only mode for about 30 miles.

The driver can drill down even further for more options to customize the ride. Choosing Comfort is the default suspension partner to Natural and Advanced mode, providing a softer feel. Sport mode (the preset calibration for Dynamic mode) stiffens the ride, meaning better control when you want more of a track-like experience. Alfa Romeo calls it a “dual stage valve electronic suspension” and says it’s intended to offer the driver a choice between performance and comfort.

On the track, I put it through its paces myself, and also slid into the passenger seat with a professional driver behind the wheel. That’s an unusual twist; most crossovers are marketed for staid comfort, not necessarily adventurous, quick turns and acceleration. 

Alfa Romeo Tonale
The Alfa Romeo Tonale in Verde Fangio Metallic. Kristin Shaw

Maximizing energy from the Tonale’s battery 

Driving the Tonale, I noticed that it was regenerating the battery quickly as I coasted downhill from the mountain passes on the drive route in Dynamic mode. Domenico Bagnasco, head of high-performance vehicles for Alfa Romeo, told me that the vehicle never depletes the battery completely. When the battery starts to run low, the Tonale automatically defaults to Natural mode to recharge it. If you start in Advanced to experience the all-electric range, it will switch over silently and seamlessly. Also, a touch of the e-Save button under the gear shifter helps preserve the battery’s energy by prioritizing the gas engine. 

Bagnasco has a history in performance and engineering for both Fiat and Alfa Romeo, serving as the Abarth racing model chief engineer and product development manager for Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. That means he had a hand in the delightful Fiat 124 Spider Abarth, a Miata look-alike with a spunky ride. With the Tonale, he’s putting that experience to use and expanding upon what he’s learned from previous iterations of a long list of Italian models. 

He also shared the details of the Tonale’s brake-by-wire system, which means stepping on the brake pedal triggers an electronic signal that activates a microprocessor. Brake-by-wire systems utilize electronic sensors and actuators instead of the mechanical and hydraulic components of traditional braking setups. As a result, braking is designed to be smoother and more predictable instead of predicated solely on the uneven pressure of your foot. For the Tonale, brake action also helps recapture energy. 

Brake-by-wire systems are fairly standard fare, especially on hybrid vehicles like the Audi e-Tron and Porsche Taycan. This technology takes stopping power to the next level, compiling input from your surroundings and anticipating braking needs. For instance, if the car senses that you’re headed for a collision based on your speed and that of the car in front of you, the brake-by-wire system can apply maximum braking power for you. And it’s lighter: Dominique says the electronic brake saves 10 pounds overall.

alfa romeo tonale
This plug-in hybrid will go 30 miles on its battery alone. Kristin Shaw

The serpent is a plug

The crossover also includes a generous suite of driver-assist features, including adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, lane departure assist, and more. It’s also equipped with over-the-air software update capacity, Amazon Alexa, and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. All of that gilds the performance aspects of this new plug-in hybrid. Even the storied Alfa Romeo logo tells the tale in a version that’s etched onto the driver’s side rear window; the head of the biscione serpent has been stylized into a plug. 

Starting at $44,590 (including destination charges) and ranging up to nearly $60,000 with all the options on the top-level Veloce trim, the Tonale is available in dealerships now. 

The Tonale, up against its competitors, feels like the difference between a pony ride at a county fair and a pedigreed mare at a steeplechase. Sure, the Tonale could be just another compact crossover on the market. But it’s an Alfa Romeo, and there is something magical about it.

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Why the CEO of Ferrari doesn’t care about self-driving cars https://www.popsci.com/technology/ferrari-self-driving-car/ Mon, 15 May 2023 01:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=540948
Self Driving photo
Ferrari

The automaker is developing an electric vehicle, though.

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Self Driving photo
Ferrari

This article was originally featured on The Drive.

Ferrari is perhaps the most well-known supercar manufacturer in the world because it has a long history of making cars people want to drive—not necesssarily be driven in. During a discussion at the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit, Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna, did not mince words about how the automaker feels about self-driving cars. “There are four kinds of software. There is performance software, there is comfort software, there is infotainment software, and there is autonomous,” Vigna said. “The last one, we don’t care.”

This isn’t the first time the brand has said no to AVs. Previous executives have made many similar statements to the media. The automaker is developing an electric vehicle, though, and it says it has the in-house expertise to make it happen. In the case of AVs, it’s likely the company was not only uninterested in developing the idea as a matter of principle, but it also doesn’t have the resources to do so independently.

<em>Ferrari</em>

Business Insider reports Vigna referenced the “soul of the car” in conversation. Indeed, a Ferrari without a driver wouldn’t be much of a Ferrari at all. The brand is its own master after not taking part in the merger of FCA and PSA that created Stellantis. That means it isn’t getting high-up directives to develop AVs and it has other companies in its porfolio with which to easily share advanced technical resources.

Most other exotic car manufacturers are under the umbrella of a larger automaker. In most cases, it’s the Volkswagen group, which owns Porsche, Lamborghini, and the newly merged Bugatti-Rimac. These companies could create AVs, or at least use technology from their parent to create them. Others like McLaren—which is struggling financially—and Koenigsegg, which is very low volume and focuses most of its resources on vehicle engineering, are unlikely to independently create self-driving cars. Driver assistance systems may be independently developed or licensed from other companies, but self-driving seems farfetched, to say the least.

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Get ready for the world’s first permanent EV-charging road https://www.popsci.com/technology/sweden-electric-highway/ Fri, 12 May 2023 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=540828
Blurry shot of cars commuting on highway at dusk
Sweden will use one of three different charging methods on a stretch of one of its highways. Deposit Photos

A roughly 13-mile span of Swedish highway could charge mass transit vehicles, and maybe commuters' EVs, as early as 2025.

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Blurry shot of cars commuting on highway at dusk
Sweden will use one of three different charging methods on a stretch of one of its highways. Deposit Photos

A road capable of charging electric vehicles en route to their destinations could power up as soon as 2025 in one of the world’s most eco-friendly nations. As the Amsterdam-based tech site The Next Web explains, Sweden is well on track to electrifying a roughly 13-mile portion of its E20 highway spanning between Hallsberg to Örebro, both of which are located between Sweden’s two largest cities, Stockholm and Gothenburg.

The electric road system (ERS) project is overseen by the nation’s transport administration, Trafikverket, who are still determining which of three specific technologies could be best suited for the task: overhead conductive, ground-based conductive, and ground-based inductive charging. The first format utilizes an overhead pantograph design similar to those seen atop traditional trolleys and streetcars, but would be limited to large vehicles capable of reaching the tall power lines, i.e. public commuter vehicles.

[Related: Car owners: here’s when experts say you should switch to an EV.]

The other two options, however, could hypothetically also support smaller vehicles and private EVs. In a ground-based conductive format, power would transfer from specialized tracks installed either on top or below the pavement via a mechanical arm. Inductive charging would require conductive coils installed in both the roads and vehicles.

As futuristic as these ideas may sound, Sweden has already successfully tested all three ERS methods in various areas around the nation, including the towns of Gotland, Lund, and Sandviken. While much of that work has pertained to mass transit options, designers also tinkered with systems capable of supporting smaller and private vehicles as far back as 2018.

There are immense benefits to expanding ERS capabilities, beyond just the immediate convenience. According to one recent study from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, increased reliance on ERS installations alongside at-home EV charging could lower electrical grid demands during peak usage times, as well as potentially reduce vehicle battery size by as much as 70 percent. Those smaller batteries would mean less rare earth materials are harvested, leading to potentially cheaper, more accessible EV options for consumers.

[Related: Why you barely see electric vehicles at car dealerships.]

“After all, many people charge their cars after work and during the night, which puts a lot of strain on the power grid,” author Sten Karlsson, an energy efficiency researcher and professor at Chalmers, said in a release in March. “By instead charging more evenly throughout the day, peak load would be significantly reduced.”

Sweden isn’t alone in its aim to electrify portions of its roadways. As the electric transportation industry site Electrive notes, similar projects are also underway in the UK, Germain, Italy, and Israel. Here in the US, the Norwegian company ENRX recently announced plans to install a one-mile ERS prototype section within a stretch of four-lane highway near Orlando, Florida.

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Why you barely see electric vehicles at car dealerships https://www.popsci.com/technology/car-dealership-electric-vehicle/ Tue, 09 May 2023 19:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=540040
There are already 1.9 million reservations or pre-orders for recently released EVs.
There are already 1.9 million reservations or pre-orders for recently released EVs. DepositPhotos

Wanting an EV is one thing—buying one is another.

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There are already 1.9 million reservations or pre-orders for recently released EVs.
There are already 1.9 million reservations or pre-orders for recently released EVs. DepositPhotos

In the news, it seems like electric vehicles are everywhere—from new tech developments to changing policies to increasingly interesting designs. And while the road to electric vehicles may be bumpy, reports show that it’s absolutely crucial to electrify our transportation sector in order to reach critical climate change goals. But unfortunately, the feeling of EV omnipresence doesn’t currently extend to the dealership.

According to a new study released this week by the Sierra Club, 66 percent of car dealerships nationwide did not have a single electric vehicle for sale. And out of those dealerships, only 44 percent reported that they would offer an EV for sale if they could get their hands on one. While this is a step up from previous reporting done by the Sierra Club in 2019, it’s still low considering the massive EV goals set in place by businesses and certain state legislation.

[Related: EV companies call out their own weaknesses in new clean energy report.]

“To help avoid the worst impacts of climate disruption and protect our communities, it’s important that we accelerate the transition to all-electric vehicles,” Sierra Club Clean Transportation for All Director Katherine Garcia said in a release. “Enough empty promises: The auto industry must step on the accelerator and get electric vehicles on dealership lots now.”

One of the major problems getting EVs to the dealership lots is supply chain problems involving semiconductors and batteries, but some major manufacturers are also part of the problem themselves. Major manufacturers often don’t have many EV options in the US—for example, Honda’s first EV to sell in the US won’t be available until 2024, with Toyota only starting to sell the BZ4X stateside last year

For dealers, selling EVs just isn’t the same money making machine as selling combustion cars. A decent chunk of a dealership’s income is from parts and service, something that just isn’t as necessary for electric vehicles, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association.

“All else equal, an electric car has fewer mechanical parts than a gasoline or diesel car, which directly means that the revenue a car dealer makes from an electric car is much lower than what the dealer will make from a gas or diesel counterpart,” Vivek Astvansh, an assistant professor of marketing at Indiana University, told Vox.

Plus, investing in infrastructure can represent a huge cost, from purchasing chargers and infrastructure to retraining staff on the ins and outs of EVs. Some manufacturers, such as Chevrolet, are enacting EV standards for their dealerships, according to reporting by Vox

[Related: Here’s when experts say you should switch to an EV.]

It’s not all bad news, however—the ability to buy directly from EV makers such as Rivian and Lucid can put the pressure on dealerships to get the electrification started. States where policy allows for direct sales account for 615,724 EVs sold in 2022, representing 65 percent of all EVs sold nationwide, according to the report. 

And if you’re looking to find a dealership that has an EV in stock, your best bet is to try locations in the Southeast (which have a 41 percent rate of dealers with EVs) or look around for Mercedes-Benz dealerships which above 75 percent of offer EVs. 

But for dealerships, the time to act is now. There are already 1.9 million reservations or pre-orders for recently released EVs, and the percentage of EVs in new vehicle sales has tripled since 2020.

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You can unlock this new EV with your face https://www.popsci.com/technology/genesis-gv60-facial-recognition/ Mon, 08 May 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=539829
If you've set up facial recognition on the Genesis GV60, you won't need to have your key on you.
If you've set up facial recognition on the Genesis GV60, you won't need to have your key on you. Kristin Shaw

We tested the Genesis GV60, which allows you to open and even start the car using facial recognition and a fingerprint.

The post You can unlock this new EV with your face appeared first on Popular Science.

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If you've set up facial recognition on the Genesis GV60, you won't need to have your key on you.
If you've set up facial recognition on the Genesis GV60, you won't need to have your key on you. Kristin Shaw

If you have Face ID set up on your iPhone, you can unlock your device by showing it your visage instead of using a pin code or a thumb print. It’s a familiar aspect of smartphone tech for many of us, but what about using it to get in your vehicle?

The Genesis GV60 is the first car to feature this technology to unlock and enter the car, pairing it with your fingerprint to start it up.

How does it work? Here’s what we discovered.

The Genesis GV60 is a tech-laden EV

Officially announced in the fall of 2022, the GV60 is Genesis’ first dedicated all-electric vehicle. Genesis, for the uninitiated, is the luxury arm of Korea-based automaker Hyundai. 

Built on the new Electric-Global Modular Platform, the GV60 is equipped with two electric motors, and the result is an impressive ride. At the entry level, the GV60 Advanced gets 314 horsepower, and the higher-level Performance trim cranks out 429 horsepower. As a bonus, the Performance also includes a Boost button that can kick it up to 483 horsepower for 10 seconds; with that in play, the GV60 boasts a 0-to-60 mph time of less than four seconds.

The profile of this EV is handsome, especially in the look-at-me shade of São Paulo Lime. Inside, the EV is just as fetching as the exterior, with cool touches like the rotating gear shifter. As soon as the car starts up, a crystal orb rotates to reveal a notched shifter that looks and feels futuristic. Some might say it’s gimmicky, but it does have a wonderful ergonomic feel on the pads of the fingers.

The rotating gear selector.
The rotating gear selector. Kristin Shaw

Embedded in the glossy black trim of the B-pillar, which is the part of the frame between the front and rear doors, the facial recognition camera stands ready to let you into the car without a key. But first, you’ll need to set it up to recognize you and up to one other user, so the car can be accessed by a partner, family member, or friend. Genesis uses deep learning to power this feature, and if you’d like to learn more about artificial intelligence, read our explainer on AI.

The facial recognition setup process

You’ll need both sets of the vehicle’s smart keys (Genesis’ key fobs) in hand to set up Face Connect, Genesis’ moniker for its facial recognition setup. Place the keys in the car, start it up, and open the “setup” menu and choose “user profile.” From there, establish a password and choose “set facial recognition.” The car will prompt you to leave the car running and step out of it, leaving the door open. Gaze into the white circle until the animation stops and turns green, and the GV60 will play an audio prompt: “facial recognition set.” The system is intuitive, and I found that I could set it up the first time on my own just through the prompts. If you don’t get it right, the GV60 will let you know and the camera light will turn from white to red.

After the image, the GV60 needs your fingerprint. Basically, you’ll go through the same setup process, instead choosing “fingerprint identification” and the car will issue instructions. It will ask for several placements of your index finger inside the vehicle (the fingerprint area is a small circle between the volume and tuning roller buttons) to create a full profile.

Genesis GV60 facial recognition camera
The camera on the exterior of the Genesis GV60. Genesis

In tandem, these two biometrics (facial recognition and fingerprint) work together to first unlock and then start the car. Upon approach, touch the door handle and place your face near the camera and it will unlock; you can even leave the key in the car and lock it with this setup. I found it to be very easy to set up, and it registered my face on the first try. The only thing I forgot the first couple of times was that I first had to touch the door handle and then scan my face. I could see this being a terrific way to park and take a jog around the park or hit the beach without having to worry about how to secure a physical key. 

Interestingly, to delete a profile the car requires just one smart key instead of two.

Not everyone is a fan of this type of technology in general because of privacy concerns related to biometrics; Genesis says no biometric data is uploaded to the cloud, but is stored securely and heavily encrypted in the vehicle itself. If it is your cup of tea and you like the option to leave the physical keys behind, this is a unique way of getting into your car. 

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Australia wants a laser weapon powerful enough to stop a tank https://www.popsci.com/technology/australia-anti-tank-laser-weapon/ Tue, 02 May 2023 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=538555
An armored vehicle in Australia in 2016.
An armored vehicle in Australia in 2016. Mandaline Hatch / US Marine Corps.

Existing laser weapons focus on zapping drones out of the sky. Taking on an armored vehicle would require much more energy.

The post Australia wants a laser weapon powerful enough to stop a tank appeared first on Popular Science.

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An armored vehicle in Australia in 2016.
An armored vehicle in Australia in 2016. Mandaline Hatch / US Marine Corps.

On April 4, Australia’s Department of Defence announced the award of $12.9 million to defense giant QinetiQ for a laser weapon. The move followed years of work and interest by Australia’s government in developing lasers for the battlefields of tomorrow. What is most ambitious about the Australian research into laser weapons is not the modest funding to QinetiQ, but a powerful goal set by the Department of Defence in 2020: Australia wants a laser weapon powerful enough to stop a tank.

Laser weapons, more broadly referred to as directed energy, are a science fiction concept with a profoundly mundane reality. Instead of the flashy beams or targeted phasers of Star Wars or Star Trek, lasers work most similarly to a magnifying lens held to fry a dry leaf, concentrating photons into an invisible beam that destroys with heat and time. Unlike the child’s tool for starting fires, modern directed energy weapons derive their power from electricity, either generated on site or stored in batteries. 

Most of the work of laser weapons, in development and testing, has so far focused on relatively small and fragile targets, like drones, missiles, or mortar rounds. Lasers are energy intensive. When PopSci had a chance to try using a 10-kilowatt laser against commercial drones, it still took seconds to destroy each target, a process aided by all the sensors and accouterments of a targeting pod. Because lasers are concentrated heat energy over time, cameras to track targets, and gimbals to hold and stabilize the beam against the target, all ensure that as much of the beam as possible stays focused. Once part of a drone was burned through, the whole system would crash to the ground, gravity completing the task.

Tanks, by design and definition, are the opposite of lightly armored and fragile flying machines. That makes Australia’s plan to destroy tanks by laser all the more daring.

Tanks for the idea

In the summer of 2020, Australia’s Department of Defence released a strategy called the 2020 Force Structure Plan. This document, like similar versions in other militaries, offers a holistic vision of what kinds of conflicts the country is prepared to fight in the future. Because the strategy is also focused on procurement, it offers useful insight into the weapons and vehicles the military will want to buy to meet those challenges.

The tank-killing laser comes in the section on Land Combat Support. “A future program to develop a directed energy weapon system able to be integrated onto [Australian Defence Forces] protected and armoured vehicles, and capable of defeating armoured vehicles up to and including main battle tanks. The eventual deployment of directed energy weapons may also improve land force resilience by reducing the force’s dependence on ammunition stocks and supply lines,” reads the strategy.

The latter part of the statement is a fairly universal claim across energy weapons development. While laser weapons are power-intensive, they do not need individual missiles, bullets, or shells, the same as what a chemical explosive or kinetic weapon might. Using stored and generated energy, instead of specifically manufactured ammunition pieces, could enable long-term operation on even field-renewable sources, if available. This could also get the shot per weapon use down below the cost of a bullet, though it will take many shots for that to equal the whole cost of developing a laser system.

But getting a laser to punch through the armor of a tank is a distinct and challenging task. A drone susceptible to melting by laser might have a plastic casing a couple millimeters thick. Tank armor, even for older versions of modern tanks, can be at least 600 mm thick steel or composite, and is often thicker. This armor can be enhanced by a range of add-ons, including reactive plating that detonates outward in response to impact by explosive projectiles.

Defeating tank armor with lasers means finding a way to not just hold a beam of light against the tank, but to ensure that the beam is powerful and long-lasting enough to get the job done. 

“One problem faced by laser weapons is the huge amount of power required to destroy useful targets such as missiles. To destroy something of this size requires lasers with hundreds of kilowatts or even megawatts of power. And these devices are only around 20% efficient, so we would require five times as much power to run the device itself,” wrote Sean O’Byrne, an engineering professor at UNSW Canberra and UNSW Sydney, in a piece explaining the promise and peril of anti-tank lasers.

O’Byrne continued: “We are well into megawatt territory here — that’s the kind of power consumed by a small town. For this reason, even portable directed energy devices are very large. (It’s only recently that the US has been able to make a relatively small 50kW laser compact enough to fit on an armoured vehicle, although devices operating at powers up to 300kW have been developed.)”

April’s announcement of a modest sum to develop a domestic laser weapon capability in Australia is a starting point for eventually getting to the scale of lasers powerful enough to melt tanks. Should the feat be accomplished, Australia will find itself with an energy-hunger tool, but one that can defeat hostile armor for as long as it is charged to do so.

The post Australia wants a laser weapon powerful enough to stop a tank appeared first on Popular Science.

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How John Deere’s tech evolved from 19th-century plows to AI and autonomy https://www.popsci.com/technology/john-deere-tech-evolution-and-right-to-repair/ Tue, 02 May 2023 19:00:00 +0000 https://www.popsci.com/?p=538366
John Deere farm equipment
John Deere

Plus, catch up on what's going on with farmers' right to repair this heavy equipment.

The post How John Deere’s tech evolved from 19th-century plows to AI and autonomy appeared first on Popular Science.

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John Deere farm equipment
John Deere

Buzzwords like autonomy, artificial intelligence, electrification, and carbon fiber are common in the automotive industry, and it’s no surprise that they are hot topics: Manufacturers are racing to gain an advantage over competitors while balancing cost and demand. What might surprise you, however, is just how much 180-year-old agriculture equipment giant John Deere uses these same technologies. The difference is that they’re using them on 15-ton farm vehicles.

A couple of years ago, John Deere’s chief technology officer Jahmy Hindman told The Verge that the company now employs more software engineers than mechanical engineers. You don’t have to dig much deeper to find that John Deere is plowing forward toward technology and autonomy in a way that may feel anachronistic to those outside the business.  

“It’s easy to underestimate the amount of technology in the industries we serve, agriculture in particular,” Hindman told PopSci. “Modern farms are very different from the farms of 10 years ago, 20 years ago, and 30 years ago. There are farms that are readily adopting technology that makes agriculture more efficient, more sustainable, and more profitable for growers. And they’re using high-end technology: computer vision, machine learning, [Global Navigation Satellite System] guidance, automation, and autonomy.”

PopSci took an inside look at the company’s high-tech side at its inaugural 2023 John Deere Technology Summit last month. Here’s how it’s all unfolding.

John Deere cab interior and computers
John Deere

Where it started—and where it’s going

John Deere, the OG founder behind the agricultural equipment giant, started as a blacksmith. When Deere, who was born in 1804, moved from his native Vermont to Illinois, he heard complaints from farmer clients about the commonly used cast-iron plows of the day. Sticky soil clung to the iron plows, resulting in a substantial loss in efficiency every time a farmer had to stop and scrape the equipment clean, which could be every few feet.

Deere was inspired to innovate, and grabbed a broken saw blade to create the first commercially successful, “self-scouring” steel plow in 1837. The shiny, polished surface of the steel worked beautifully to cut through the dirt much more quickly, with fewer interruptions, and Deere pivoted to a new business. Over 180 years later, the company continues to find new ways to improve the farming process.

It all starts with data, and the agriculture community harnesses and extrapolates a lot of it. Far beyond almanacs, notebooks, and intellectual property passed down from generation to generation, data used by the larger farms drives every decision a farm makes. And when it comes to profitability, every data point can mean the difference between earnings and loss. John Deere, along with competitors like Caterpillar and Mahindra, are in the business of helping farms collect and analyze data with software tied to its farm equipment. 

[Related: John Deere finally agrees to let farmers fix their own equipment, but there’s a catch]

With the uptake of technology, farming communities in the US—and around the world, for that matter—are finding ways to make their products more efficient. John Deere has promised to deliver 20 or more electric and hybrid-electric construction equipment models by 2026. On top of that, the company is working to improve upon the autonomous software it uses to drive its massive vehicles, with the goal of ensuring that every one of the 10 trillion corn and soybean seeds can be planted, cared for, and harvested autonomously by 2030.

Farming goes electric

In February, John Deere launched its first all-electric zero-turn lawn mower. (That means it can rotate in place without requiring a wide circle.) Far from the noisy, often difficult-to-start mowers of your youth, the Z370R Electric ZTrak won’t wake the neighbors at 7:00 a.m. The electric mower features a USB-C charging port and an integrated, sealed battery that allows for mowing even in wet and rainy conditions.

On a larger scale, John Deere is pursuing all-electric equipment and has set ambitious emissions reduction targets. As such, the company has vowed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030 from a 2021 baseline. To grow its EV business more quickly, it will benefit from its early-2022 purchase of Kreisel Electric, an Austrian company specializing in immersion-cooled battery technology. Krieisel’s batteries are built with a modular design, which makes it ideal for different sizes of farm equipment. It also promises extended battery life, efficiency in cold and hot climates, and mechanical stability.

Even with a brand-new battery division, however, John Deere is not bullishly pushing into EV and autonomous territory. It still offers lower-tech options for farmers who aren’t ready to go down that path. After all, farm equipment can last for many years and tossing new technology into an uninterested or unwilling operation is not the best route to adoption. Instead, the company actively seeks out farmers willing to try out new products and software to see how it works in the real world. (To be clear, the farms pay for the use of the machines and John Deere offers support.)

“If it doesn’t deliver value to the farm, it’s not really useful to the farmer,” Hindman says.

See and Spray, launched last year, is a product that John Deere acquired from Blue River Technology. The software uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to recognize and distinguish crop plants from weeds. It’s programmed to “read” the field and only spray the unwanted plants, which saves farmers money by avoiding wasted product. See and Spray uses an auto-leveling carbon fiber boom and dual nozzles that can deliver two different chemicals in a single pass.

john deere see and spray tech
Kristin Shaw

Another new technology, ExactShot, reduces the amount of starter fertilizer needed during planting by more than 60 percent, the company says. This product uses a combination of sensors and robotics to spritz each seed as it’s planted versus spraying the whole row; once again, that saves farmers an immense amount of money and supplies.

Right to Repair brings victory

Just one machine designed for farmland can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Historically, if equipment were to break down, farmers had to call in the issue and wait for a technician directly from John Deere or an authorized repair shop for a repair. Many farms are located far away from city centers, which means a quick fix isn’t in the cards. That could be frustrating for a farmer at any time, particularly in the middle of a hectic planting or harvest season. 

At the beginning of this year, John Deere and the American Farm Bureau Federation signed a memorandum of understanding stating that farmers and independent repair shops can gain access to John Deere’s software, manuals, and other information needed to service their equipment. This issue has been a point of contention for farmers, and a new law in Colorado establishes the right to repair in that state, starting January 1 of next year. 

However, that comes with a set of risks, according to John Deere. The company says its equipment “doesn’t fit in your pocket like a cell phone or come with a handful of components; our combines can weigh more than 15 tons and are manufactured with over 18,500 parts.”

In a statement to DTN, a representative from John Deere said, “[The company] supports a customer’s decision to repair their own products, utilize an independent repair service or have repairs completed by an authorized dealer. John Deere additionally provides manuals, parts and diagnostic tools to facilitate maintenance and repairs. We feel strongly that the legislation in Colorado is unnecessary and will carry unintended consequences that negatively impact our customers.”

The company warns that modifying the software of heavy machinery could “override safety controls and put people at risk” and creates risks related to safe operation of the machine, plus emissions compliance, data security, and more. There’s a tricky balance that both benefits farmers who want control over their investments and potentially puts those same farmers—or anyone in the path of the machinery—in peril if the software is altered in a way that causes a failure of some kind. Of course, that’s true for any piece of machinery, even a car. 

[Related: John Deere tractors are getting the jailbreak treatment from hackers]

Farming machinery has come a long way from that first saw blade plow John Deere built in 1837. Today, with machine learning, the equipment can detect buildup and adjust the depth on its own without stopping the process. Even in autonomous mode, a tractor can measure wheel slip and speed, torque and tire pressure, and that helps farmers do more in less time. 

In the life cycle of farming, technology will make a big difference for reducing waste and emissions and offering better quality of life. Watching the equipment in action on John Deere’s demo farm in Texas, it’s clear that there’s more bits and bytes on those machines than anyone might imagine.

The post How John Deere’s tech evolved from 19th-century plows to AI and autonomy appeared first on Popular Science.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

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