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The German sportscar maker Porsche AG is following a rather unorthodox method of cutting the average emissions of its fleet. Where most other producers of large-engines niche vehicles are looking at alternative fuels (like an ethanol powered Koenigsegg) or scaling down engine capacities (like the Ferrari Millechili concept), Porsche is hoping that another manufacturer’s green […]

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Internal combustion engines may not be around forever but they’re certainly going to be the most common propulsion systems on our roads for many years to come, so it’s always good news to hear that automakers are making good progress in terms of ICE efficiency and emissions reductions. Recently, Mazda has announced the exciting […]

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Volkswagen / Audi and BMW are just some of the companies that are looking towards using smaller forced-induction engines to reduce fuel consumption and emissions while keeping performance at current standards. This is done by the use of turbo or super chargers, or a combination of both. BMW recently won the World Car of the […]

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Take a look at the hybrids currently on sale in the world, from Toyota, Honda, General Motors (in the US only) and Ford, as well as concept hydrogen powered cars. Almost all are equipped with automatic transmissions, most of which are of the continuous variable transmission (CVT) kind found locally in a few Audi’s and […]

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Decades ago cars were produced with gear boxes offering only three or four forward gears. These days, high-end models can offer up to seven or eight gears. Volkswagen is following suite, and is upgrading its Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG) from a six speed to a seven speed. This implies many fuel saving opportunities for the […]

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Australian-owned Rainbow Nation Renewable Fuels (RNRF) is in the final stages of securing a government license to manufacture biodiesel at Coega-based plant. RNRF has secured an 80-year lease from the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) for 40 hectares of a new industrial development zone near Port Elizabeth.

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The two questions behind viable biofuel production have always been: Can we make it and can we sell it? At present, the answer is a double YES! Tremendous technological developments, both in producing the fuels and developing applications therefore, as well as global oil prices heading above $100 for a barrel, this is the time […]

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A new biofuel plant has just been opened 15km north of Harare. It was funded by capital from Zimbabwean and South Korean companies and is estimated to save the country about 80 million barrels of foreign oil each year.
The plant will use soy, wheat and sunflower seeds. <sarcasm>Good thing there’s a food surplus in Zim, […]

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A former top SAP executive, Shai Agassi, has just launched a very exciting startup company called Better Place, which is aiming to drastically altar the electric vehicle landscape in the near future.
The company has already raised $200 million to develop their plan of launching a viable recharging network to support the growth of the electric […]

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You might not have heard of a strange little 3-wheeled vehicle called Aptera, but if the claims being made by its creators are true, this might change because it seems to be a very revolutionary piece of automotive engineering indeed. The Aptera is made by a small California-based company called Accelerated Composites and it […]

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