Archive / Automotive

• A new model for automotive manufacturing

  29 June 2016

  

  Today’s automotive manufacturing processes are refined and highly efficient, but involve extremely high capital costs and lack flexibility for mass customization. In partnership with the United Technologies Research Center, Ricardo Strategic Consulting has been researching how innovation can be unlocked by removing the barriers to disruptive technologies. Anthony Smith reports.
  
  It is self-evident that today’s vehicles are spectacularly better built than those produced fifty years ago. The mechanical properties, the formability and the durability of the materials and finishes used, together with the efficiency of the manufacturing operation itself, have improved beyond ...
  
  

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• Advanced ADEPT 48V affordable hybrid on path to meet future ultra-low vehicle emissions

  29 June 2016

  • Ricardo-led ADEPT programme aims to demonstrate technology capable of providing near full-hybrid equivalent fuel economy at significantly lower cost
  • ADEPT consortium successfully applies advanced mild hybrid technologies with 48V ‘intelligent electrification’ to a Ford Focus project demonstrator
  • Results of almost three years of intensive development and road and laboratory testing of ADEPT technology will be revealed at LCV2016

  

  Following almost three years of intensive testing, development and validation of advanced mild hybrid technologies with 48V ‘intelligent electrification’ applied to a Ford Focus project demonstrator, the ADEPT (advanced diesel-electric powertrain) consortium partners have announced ...

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• Ricardo NVH technology creates the ‘right’ sound for sports cars – and EVs too

  16 June 2016

  • Ricardo’s ‘Realistic Augmentation’ technology allows the optimization of engine sound to enhance market appeal, using software modelling
  • Detailed description will be amongst the Ricardo contributions to the conference The NVH complexity challenge: achieving appealing ‘green’ vehicles, to be hosted in Graz, Austria, on 22-24 June 2016

  The characteristic sound quality of the engine as perceived by the driver, passengers, and other road users, is at the core of the brand image of performance sports cars – and it provides instant feedback to the driver as to the operation of the vehicle. But the advent of increasingly tighter pass-by noise regulations, engine ...

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• PlugVolt and Ricardo to collaborate on automotive battery education

  07 June 2016

  Ricardo will offer a behind-the-scenes look into its automotive battery, hybrid and electric vehicle analysis workshop to attendees of the July 2016 PlugVolt Battery Seminar in Detroit.
  
  While electric cars remain a small fraction of new vehicle sales in the United States and Europe, market analysts are seeing increased global demand for electric vehicles on the short term horizon, primarily driven by the Chinese automotive market. Engineers at the major automakers and their suppliers continue to advance battery and alternative energy storage technologies to remain competitive in a dynamic industry under heavy pressure to reduce costs and innovate. Educational events such ...
  
  

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• Achieving RDE NOx compliance in urban driving is possible, at a price, says Ricardo

  02 June 2016

  A range of aftertreatment technology options are available to automakers seeking to achieve compliance with the impending EU Real Driving Emissions (RDE) regulations – according to the results of a Ricardo research project to be presented today at the SIA Powertrain international conference and exhibition being held in Rouen, France.
  
  Future RDE emissions legislation and fleet average CO2 targets represent a challenge for automakers wishing to provide cost-effective light duty diesel vehicles. But while the costs of implementation can be significant, a range of technologies is available which, applied in a combination and manner appropriate to needs of the vehicle, can deliver compliant performance in terms of both NOx and CO2.
  
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