The Bavarians aren’t kidding around with turbocharging. Even though BWM refused to have anything to do with it for a very long time, they’ve recently gotten into quite a stride with it. Turbocharged four cylinder BMW engine It has gotten to the point where BMW has reported that all of their future inline four cylinder [...]

Large format battery cells will slowly gain a foothold on the automotive EV market in the coming years.  Companies such as LG Chem, A123 Systems, and EnerDel have been hard at work developing the large format automotive specific batteries, but Tesla still insists that the laptop format, as used in their Roadster, is the best [...]

General Motors is shutting down the Pontiac brand–and now, it’s confirmed the final Pontiac will be built in August 2009. GM said in a press release today that it would build the last Pontiac Vibe in about two months, bringing the history of the 90-year-old brand to a close. The Vibe is listed by GM [...]

The drive for greater mileage often focuses on making engines and gearboxes more efficient, but we often overlook one of the most important areas where savings can be made – the tires. Most of us know that tires that are low on pressure will reduce mileage, and while this is one of the simpler things [...]

That Volkswagen BlueSport roadster concept from the Detroit auto show is looking less and less likely to make it into production. The original plan for the concept, as Drive magazine reports, was to offer both Volkswagen and Porsche flavors of the compact two-seater. VW’s concept version sported a clean diesel engine, which might have been [...]

Exxon Mobil’s Chemical division is currently manufacturing lithium ion battery separator films by a new method which could make batteries lighter, more durable, and smaller.  The thin film is designed to prevent the positive and negative fields within the lithium ion battery from touching. The company has teamed up with an affiliate Tonen Chemical Corporation [...]

So, you’re a die-hard Prius fan eager to get your hands on one of the 500 PHV test lease vehicles Toyota has promised for next year? Hold on to your butt… Toyota has announced they’ll be leasing the third-generation Prius plug-in hybrid by the end of THIS year, months ahead of schedule. There will be [...]

You will soon have more ways to choose which tire is right for you: the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed a new tire label that ranks rubber based on fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas rating, safety (wet traction), and durability. According to NHTSA’s calculations, rolling resistance accounts for up to 7% of “uses [...]