By the time the United States reaches President Obama’s goal of 1 million electric vehicles by 2015, the collective sound generated by all those whisper-quiet electric motors will be substantially louder, thanks to legislation the president recently signed.
The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act directs the Secretary of Transportation to study and establish a motor vehicle safety
Electric vehicles come in many different forms. They range from the microcars that are meant almost exclusively for city driving, to sedans that bear no outward differences to any normal car you would see driving down the road today, all the way to electric powered sports utility vehicles. While electric works its way across a variety of transportation mediums one of the most
The combination of electric motors and diesel engines has worked well in locomotives and heavy trucks for years, but carmakers haven’t been successful in getting beyond the concept car stage for light duty vehicles. Five years after I started writing about the potential for diesel hybrids, the passenger vehicle market is still relatively quiet — but that at last may change.
The premium paid for diesel engines and additional cost of an electric motor has scared off auto manufacturers. However, the two powertrains have compelling complementary performance characteristics. For city driving, electric motors (powered by batteries that recapture energy from frequent braking) provide needed acceleration. Diesel engines thrive in comparison to gasoline engines when hauling heavy loads and maintaining highway speeds.