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Privacy Policy | Your California Privacy Rights | Interest-Based Ads | Terms of UseThe active rear wing on new Porsches (such as the 718 Boxster pictured above) may soon be joined by a rear diffuser that automatically deploys itself in similar fashion. That’s if a recently published patent filed by Porsche with the United States Patent and Trademark Office makes the transition from idea to reality.
According to the patent, the active rear diffuser mounts to a part of the vehicle’s body (presumably the rear bumper cover) and will be activated by one or more motors. Porsche’s patent further reveals that the device is theoretically designed to be able to span either the full width of the vehicle it’s attached to or only a portion of the vehicle’s rear end. It also notes that the technology can be designed to fit vehicles with or without an internal-combustion engine.
A diffuser is an aerodynamic device used to generate downforce. It works as an expansion chamber, lowering the air pressure underneath the car by channeling it out the rear through a cavity that is largest at the tail of the car. Vertical strakes fitted to the rear of the diffuser further assist in the evacuation process. The net result of a functional rear diffuser is an increase in downforce, which helps keep the car’s rear tires firmly planted to the tarmac. Porsche isn’t the only automaker looking to employ a trick active rear diffuser, either; a recent patent filing by General Motors reveals that the Chevrolet Corvette is likely to see a host of active aero tricks added to its body, including an active rear diffuser.
While Porsche’s active rear diffuser is, as far as we know, merely a patent design at this point, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the technology make its way to a forthcoming Porsche model such as the next Cayman GT4 or even the production version of the all-electric Mission E concept. After all, the Mission E will need to walk a delicate line of EV efficiency and Porsche-worthy performance, a feat that active aero technology could help achieve.
Take some of the tweed-jacket, traditionalist design character of the original Land Rover Series 1 and mix in some of the modern features and comforts of the Jeep Wrangler and the Toyota FJ Cruiser, and you’re probably not far from what New York State upstart Bollinger Motors hopes to build. Except it intends for it to be purely electric.
Most automakers—including fledgling electric-vehicle makers—have started out with a commuter car, a flagship sedan, or a racy sports car for their first EV. But for Bollinger Motors, it makes a lot of sense to apply its electric-vehicle know-how to a rugged, traditional SUV first.
Bollinger Motors started in 2014 out of a renovated car-repair shop and is led by Robert Bollinger, a newbie to the auto industry with a varied résumé that includes having worked on an organic hair- and skin-care business. The automaker isn’t looking for outside funding, but it won’t discuss how it plans to raise the staggering amounts needed for all the steps from proper vehicle development through sourcing, certification, and production.
So far, Bollinger has teased only a partial side-angle shot of its SUV ahead of its anticipated reveal this July. But in the meantime, the company has revealed a few other details including some locked-in dimensions as well as a preview of the rolling chassis it has engineered that will underpin the SUV and, perhaps, a longer-wheelbase pickup to follow.
An Off-Roader at Its Core
The 295-pound chassis is built of aluminum but has a high-strength-steel rollover structure. The truck houses all of its core electric components within the chassis rails—with lithium-ion-battery storage under the driver and passenger, high-voltage systems at the middle of the vehicle, and motor systems at the front and rear.
The truck rolls on BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain 285/70R-17 light-truck tires with high-offset, eight-lug alloy wheels and geared axle hubs that permit the whole suspension to be raised on the chassis. An adjustable, self-leveling four-wheel independent suspension permits 10 inches of wheel travel, and the anti-roll bars can be disconnected to allow full articulation for off-roading. The steering is hydraulically assisted.
It’s a good size for off-roading. The wheelbase is just 105 inches—about the same as the Toyota FJ Cruiser, which is much loved by off-road enthusiasts, but nearly 10 inches longer than the wheelbase of the two-door Jeep Wrangler. Approach and departure angles are also impressive, at 56 and 53 degrees respectively, while the breakover angle is 33 degrees.
Based on the rolling chassis and the placement of the steering column, we’d venture to say that the production vehicle will have an extremely upright—and perhaps refreshingly retro—driving position.
Who’s the target buyer?
“Because it will have class-leading off-roading credentials, we think that the vehicle will be well suited for outdoor enthusiasts as well as various government agencies with clean-fleet initiatives,” said chief marketer and spokesman Jeff Holland. The company can reach a break-even point with only modest sales, he argued, adding that it’s “a very standard back-to-basics SUT from a materials and packaging standpoint, which also saves cost.” Pricing is to be competitive with comparable SUVs available today; Bollinger said the company will ask for $1000 deposits, fully refundable, when it begins taking orders.
Ambitious Timeline, As Rivals Get Ready
The company is aiming for first deliveries in 2019 and is starting certification and compliance work on the vehicle this spring, yet how or where the company will produce this truck remains a mystery. It will be built in the United States with what Holland described as “a well-known and established partner with deep experience in building on- and off-road vehicles.” You won’t see Bollinger looking overseas for production locations, either. “It is important to us that the design and engineering—which was started and continues in New York—as well as the manufacturing and production stay right here in the U.S.,” said Holland.
The idea of all-electric off-roading might sound good to some but not to others. Conservationists might appreciate how there’s no rumbling exhaust to scare wildlife, no tailpipe to scrape, no oil pan to shear off, and no driveshaft to maim when you’re high centered. On the other hand, off-roading while in need of a charge could bring a whole new meaning to the term “range anxiety”—there are no jerrycans, and there’s no possibility that any AAA charging truck will come to the rescue after you’ve scrambled over a rocky ridge.
Bollinger faces a rather narrow window in which to prove it’s not just peddling vaporware. Its closest rival in the short term could prove to be Workhorse, an Indiana company that is courting the fleet market and has already received a 200-truck order for its all-electric W-15 from UPS. Like Bollinger’s truck, the W-15 isn’t a conversion vehicle and has completely new underpinnings not shared with any other vehicle. There’s also a Tesla pickup in the works—all electric, of course, and anticipated to go on sale in two to three years. And if this proves to be a viable segment, don’t think truck stalwarts Ford, General Motors, and Ram are going to sit idly by. Although now barren, the electric-truck landscape could flourish in just a few years.
The Mazda CX-9 is big even among mid-size crossover/SUVs. At 199.4 inches long, the three-row Mazda overshadows the Honda Pilot by 4.9 inches. While bigger may be better to American consumers, this mentality doesn’t hold true throughout the world. That’s where the Mazda CX-8 steps in.
Mazda has yet to reveal the new model’s exterior, but the interior shot shows the CX-8 to be a three-row crossover SUV; it’s designed for Japanese consumption. Like the CX-9, the CX-8 sits on an approximately 115-inch wheelbase. The CX-8, however, is 6.5 inches shorter and 4.8 inches narrower than its numerically superior sibling. Power comes courtesy of Mazda’s 2.2-liter diesel engine paired to a six-speed automatic, a powertrain that is scheduled to find its way under the hood of the U.S. CX-5 by year’s end.
While the CX-8 will offer seven-passenger seating, the model also will be available with six seats thanks to a pair of comfortable-looking second-row buckets. Mazda is mum on the CX-8’s prospects for the United States, but given the distance between the CX-5 and the CX-9—and the current mania for crossovers—we’d say it’s not outside the realm of possibility.
As many Americans move toward big-city cores and population density surges, housing and infill developments are wedging into every nook and cranny of urban topography—including in long-neglected pockets right next to freeways and busy commuter routes. Going urban is often pitched as a healthier way of living because these infill developments cut commute times and encourage biking, walking, and other transit options. But, as California Air Resources Board (CARB) chairwoman Mary Nichols has cautioned, that might not always be the case.
“The health benefits of denser urban neighborhoods can be reduced if they are built close to congested highways,” she said. That’s why the organization has collaborated with the California governor’s office on a guide regarding how developers and cities can help protect public health next to the highway.
CARB’s suggested strategies, all from peer-reviewed scientific literature and research projects, fall into two categories: reduce the pollution coming from vehicles, and reduce the pollution in the air people breathe.
California is already working on cutting what’s coming from vehicle tailpipes, with the state’s Advanced Clean Cars program and its stringent zero-emission-vehicle (ZEV) standards, which will require increasing numbers of plug-in hybrid, all-electric, and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles by 2025.
Roundabouts and Greenery
Chalk up another victory for those who love roundabouts; they’re cited as a way to reduce pollution from idling vehicles. Other effective methods for cleaning up the air people near highways breathe include building sound walls with vegetation and adding air filters to buildings.
If you commute directly through traffic-clogged areas, keeping your windows closed and using the climate control could be your best bet. A recent study from the University of Surrey, in the U.K., found that those who use walking and mass transit are subjected to more particulate matter—one type of hazardous pollution—than those who commute in vehicles. And a 2014 U.S. study found that levels of nitrogen dioxide—one of the pollutants at the center of Volkswagen’s diesel scandal—could be cut by 75 percent with cabin systems that incorporate an active charcoal filter.
Although it’s one of the smaller parts of the United Kingdom, Wales has bequeathed many gifts to the world, including singer Tom Jones, actor Richard Burton, and a language once likened to a typing accident. But now, along with a list of engineering accomplishments that includes being the location for the modern world’s first suspension bridge, Wales has also become the site of Aston Martin’s new factory.
The quintessentially English carmaker has crossed the border, thanks in part to some generous subsidies, to open its second production facility in Saint Athan, a former Royal Air Force base located near the splendidly named villages of Llanmihangel, Llanbethery, and Llantwit Major and about 15 miles west of Cardiff, the Welsh capital. To mark the occasion in a suitably Aston fashion, the company has released this video of three of its most talented drivers being allowed to—with apologies—whale on some of its greatest hits.
Works drivers Darren Turner and Nicki Thiim are joined by chief engineer Matt Becker, formerly Lotus’s chassis development boss, the trio hooning a variety of classic and recent Astons around the vast hangars that will shortly be fitted out to start producing the new DBX crossover ahead of its launch in 2019.
Highlights include a variety of race cars, a Bond-spec DB5 facing off with one of the DB10s built for 007’s last outing, and the unlikely sight of an Aston Vulcan and a One-77 performing donuts around one of the Toyota iQ–based Cygnets the company normally tries to forget. Pay attention, and you’ll also see the 1980 Aston V8 that we got the chance to drive last year. It’s the personal property of company CEO Andy Palmer, who also gets a cameo—full credit to him for letting his pride and joy get treated with such an entertaining lack of respect.
Automakers and tech companies are closer than ever to delivering self-driving technology to the masses. The urban areas that will host these vehicles, by contrast, aren’t quite up to speed. With many companies firming up deployment plans within the next two or three years, cities are still figuring out how to brace for the first wave of autonomous vehicles. That’s troublesome, cautions a new report from the National League of Cities.
“We know it’s happening, we know it’s coming, we just don’t know how to prepare,” said Nicole DuPuis, principal associate for urban innovation for the NLC and co-author of the report. “It’s happening at a much more rapid pace than we all imagined.”
The report, Autonomous Vehicles: A Policy Preparation Guide, draws insights from the Federal Automated Vehicles Policy published in September 2016 and provides guidance for city managers and local governments.
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“The big takeaway here is that this is all happening much more quickly than we anticipated.”
– Nicole DuPuis, National League of Cities
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Proposed preparations may be geared toward policy wonks, but they should earn the attention and consideration of industry executives as well. While much autonomous development lies with the technology itself, that’s only half the path to deployment. The successful rollout of these vehicles is intertwined with the ability of consumers and cities to accept them.
From a city perspective, planning for their arrival involves everything from the pragmatic—determining how a network of autonomous vehicles might complement existing public transportation, for example—to considering unexpected developments, such as a massive loss of municipal revenue resulting from a long-term decline in parking-enforcement fines.
NuTonomy’s driverless car, the first to launch in Boston, takes a spin around Drydock Avenue in South Boston.
On that particular point, the report mulls the adoption of a tax on vehicle miles traveled, the proceeds from which could both offset lost city revenues and help restore solvency in the Federal Highway Trust Fund. But recalibrating revenue streams remains one small component of a much larger transformation in the way cities operate in an autonomous era. In short, they need to rethink the fundamental nature of how people get around.
The National League of Cities represents more than 1600 cities and municipalities from across the country, and its report comes on the heels of others focused on the readiness of cities to accept autonomous vehicles and new mobility plans. A report issued in March by INRIX, a real-time traffic data and analytics provider, examined which U.S. cities are best positioned to let self-driving vehicles replace miles driven by conventional cars.
A report released this month by the U.K.’s Centre for Economics and Business Research Exploration, commissioned by Qualcomm, warned that U.S. cities are falling behind in a global race to prepare for urban-mobility changes. The crux of the report is focused on increasing use of low-emission vehicles, but the same roadblocks for greener driving may further hamper the adoption of autonomous vehicles.
“Progress of North American cities is weakened by a reluctance to fully embrace change,” the report says. In addition, a “tangled federal, state, and city legislative framework” threatens the incentives many might have to change habits or policies.
All the concern for readiness comes at a time that the president’s announced intention for a $1 trillion infrastructure infusion could ostensibly help cities accelerate their readiness. Or maybe not. Administration officials have indicated the President favors “shovel ready” projects on which work could begin within 90 days after an infrastructure bill’s signing into law.
An infrastructure bill may not arrive until summer at the earliest. In the meantime, Waymo is testing driverless minivans with members of the public in Arizona; California is paving the way for truly driverless testing with a regulatory overhaul that could take effect by the end of the year; and Uber is picking up passengers in Pittsburgh, among other locations, in vehicles that still have safety drivers.
“The big takeaway here is that this is all happening much more quickly than we anticipated,” DuPuis said. “We’re rapidly approaching mixed-traffic environments, where there will be automated vehicles and non-automated vehicles on the road at the same time. Cities need to start planning for this and not waiting for the inevitable peak of all this.”
