2013 10 Best and Most Promising Auto Technologies

Ten latest automotive technologies to look for in 2013 and beyond. Read more at autocarbazar.

Now carbon-fiber composites are getting popular day by day, dealers are probing other hybrid materials capable of improving collision performance and saving weight. BASF, Beaker, and Voest­alpine are collaborating on thermoplastics strengthened with steel cable. Bumper beams, body members, and interior trim made of injection-molded, steel-reinforced plastic mix excellent energy-absorption and structural-integrity traits with low manufacturing complexity and cost. Clever car manufacturer will certainly add chrome or faux wood grain finishing touch.

RANGE-ANXIETY RELIEF

Range-Anxiety Relief Fear of running out of electrical charge on road might prove a deal-killer for prospective electric-car buyers. Improved charging infrastructure will facilitate to relieve range anxiety but electric automobiles could also benefit from onboard fuel-efficient extenders. Many auto behemoths such as Audi, BMW, Lotus, Mazda and two European engineering firms including AVL and FEV have experimented with compact, engine-driven generators (less and smaller than engine of Chevy Volt) that hum to enlarge electrical energy on roll. Ultimate solution, not yet under development, is a portable hydrogen fuel cell you load with your cargo and fasten to battery, enabling highway range comparable to gas-powered cars. 

  

WHEELING AND DEALING

Wheeling And Dealing Ferdinand Porsche’s idea of manufacturing a hybrid’s electric motors into wheel hubs leaves more space for occupants and batteries but car giants have hesitated to approve this arrangement, fearing that major increases in unstrung weight will harm rough-road ride and handling. Challenging that assumption, Protean Electric signed pact with Lotus Engineering to organize extensive tests ­comparing a sedan car with one powered by wheel-hub motors. Lotus Auto’s surprising results: Mediocre drivers would not notice performance degradation attributable to extra unstrung weight and normal development tuning should overcome most steering, ride and handling sick effects. Protean hopes to start wheel-hub-motor manufacturing in the year of 2014.

GETTING THE LEAD OUT

Getting The Lead out Engine stopping at stoplights to improve mileage is becoming a popular process though this strategy requires improved electrical systems. Nickel-zinc based battery, patented by Thomas Edison in the year of 1901, is an option to replace traditional lead-acid batteries because it can handle intense stop-start duty cycles without losing performance or life. Maker of this battery is PowerGenix who claims that compared with lead-acid batteries Nan batteries serves twice in terms of life, weigh 60% less and are convenient to recycle.

WIRELESS CROSSING GUARD

Wireless Crossing Guard Around 3000 Ann Arbor, Michigan, motorists are engaged in a Department of Transportation study using wireless car-to-car connectivity to avoid crashes. Depending on results, Wi-Fi could be mandatory in-car equipment by 2020. Taking concept further, General Motors wants to help drivers avoid mowing down people or roads. The underlying technology, called Wi-Fi Direct, allows a smartphone in car to communicate with phone carried by a person on road without routing dialogue through cell-phone towers. Direct connection cuts time needed to recognize risk from eight seconds to one.

DIMENSIONAL DISPLAYS

Dimensional Displays Now 3D images have leapt from megaplex screen to living-room television, 3D is bound for cars. Using thin-film transistor technology, Johnson Controls created an experimental three-dimensional instrument cluster which displays critical information in foreground with secondary data located deeper in driver’s field of view. This technology could add realism to navigation displays and action-movie thrills to emergency lane changes.

FREE JUICE

Free Juice IKEA, Kohl’s, Macy’s and ­Walgreens have set-up free charging stations for EVs in their parking lots. After successful operation in California State, Walgreens now boast 385 hookups across country and expects of double the number in near future. Government subsidies cover most of the expenditures while electricity to charge an electric-running or hybrid car costs only coins per hour. Tesla Motors joined the club with 6-solar-power supercharger stations capable of adding 50% of a Model S’s charge in 30 minutes. Tesla Motors says it will have more than 100 stations in 2015.

RECYCLED MOMENTUM

Recycled Momentum a key contributor to a hybrid’s efficiency is regenerative braking. Beginning with 2010 5-series Gran Truism, BMW Motors has provided alternators programmed to charge mainly during deceleration, a fuel-saving measure called Brake Energy Regeneration. Mazda’s variant, called “i-Eloop” (intelligent energy loop), stores caught momentum in a capacitor. 2013 Mazda 6’s climate control and entertainment systems draw electricity from capacitor instead of engine-driven alternator.

NOT THAT H2

Not That H2Efforts to store hydrogen for fuel-cell cars as a 10,000-plus-psi gas or as a cryogenic (-423 degrees Fahrenheit) liquid have been disappointing. What’s left is hydrogen stored in molecular (H2) form at rational temperatures and pressures but greater density. California’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is studying how to do that, using metal-organic framework (MOF) storage materials. These lightweight 3D lattice structures entice and hold hydrogen like microscopic sponges. So far, each potential storage site holds but one H2 molecule but United States Department of Energy is betting $2.1 million that Berkeley team can manufacture MOF materials capable of adsorbing three or four times as much.

RAIN AND SHINE

Rain And Shine Driving through a heavy downpour or snowfall can be struggling, in part because precipitation can cause light from your headlamps to reflect back at you. To part the curtain of impaired vision, researchers of Carnegie Mellon University invented headlamps capable of looking between individual drops or flakes. In sync with a camera tracking motion of falling particles, multiple LED light sources flash on and off to cut reflection by 70%. Flickering is very frequent that driver observes a continuous beam of light. At this stage of development, lab systems can vary the illumination 77 times per second but quicker flashes will be necessary for these headlamps to be effective at highway speeds.