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Recharge Wrap-up: U of M wins Solar Challenge, family attempts record-breaking e-bike ride

The University of Michigan Solar Car Team has won the 2014 American Solar Challenge. It is the team's eighth national championship, its fifth in a row, and its first using Siemens' product lifecycle management (PLM) software. The race took place over 1,722 miles and seven days traveling across eight states. The team's car, called "Quantum," outpaced the nearest competitor by four hours. Looking forward, Michigan Solar Car Project Manager Pavan Naik says, "The switch to Siemens tools will give us the ability to model and simulate everything and truly allow us to optimize the performance of our new vehicle. As we start on our quest to win the World Solar Challenge in 2015, we'll be leveraging a full complement of PLM solutions." Read more in the press release below. The EcoCar3 competition, in which teams will convert Chevrolet Camaros into hybrid electric cars, begins in September. The various college teams will have four years to lessen the car's environmental impact as much as possible while maintaining performance and, of course, that cool Camaro design. EcoCar3, which is put on by the US Department of Energy and General Motors, kicks off with a workshop in Novi, Michigan from September 16 - 18. Read more at the DOE website at the dedicated EcoCar3 site or watch the announcement video at our previous post. Zap and Jonway Auto are shifting to a high rate of EV production. Zap already has two lines creating the Urbee EV to met demand, and is switching over a third to make electric minivans and SUVs. The company aims to produce 30,000 EVs by 2015 for the Chinese market. Zap says it has a backlog of 25,000 Urbee orders. Read more in the press release below. A family of four hopes to make a world record-breaking, 6,000-mile electric bike journey this fall. The family, which recently drove from Argentina to Montana in a pickup with a camper, will ride from Montana to Maine, then down the East Coast to Florida in an attempt to break the record for longest electric bicycle ride. They'll use two bikes. The Father, Thomas, will ride one of the bikes carrying one of the children, while the rest of the family rides in a support vehicle, with the mother, Dylan, riding the second bike when they can find others to drive. They have started a crowdfunding campaign for some of the equipment needed to document the trip. See the video below or read more at Treehugger.

New Chevy Small Block crate engine has 405 hp, endless possibilities

With decades of history, the Chevrolet Small Block V8 has definitely stood the test of time, and the company has kept finding ways to make it better. At this year's SEMA Show in November, Chevy Performance is unveiling the latest upgrade to that legacy with the new ZZ6 350-cubic-inch (5.7-liter) crate engine. Offering 405 horsepower and 405 pound-feet of torque, the mill should add a big dose of power to any project car. For the ZZ6, Chevy is working to improve the Small Block's high-rpm performance. To make that happen, the engine has Fast Burn aluminum cylinder heads and an updated valvetrain inspired by the LS family of powerplants. Large intake runners help with the airflow, and the valve springs use a tapered design that allows for less reciprocating mass. The mill also packs a forged steel crankshaft and high-silicon aluminum pistons inside of a cast iron block. Chevy is offering the engine in two versions depending on what the builder needs. The Base configuration comes with an intake, distributor, water pump, and a few other parts but lacks carburetor and accessories. Conversely, the Turn Key option has everything, including the carb, air cleaner, starter, alternator, and more. More details about their availability will be announced at SEMA. NEW ZZ6 CHEVY SMALL BLOCK ADVANCES CRATE ENGINE LEGACY Revised Fast Burn heads with LS-inspired valvetrain enhance high-rpm performance 2015-10-02 DETROIT – Developed with contemporary technologies, including a high-rpm valvetrain, Chevrolet Performance's new ZZ6 crate engine offers builders a modern twist on the classic Chevy Small Block 350. It uses updated Fast Burn cylinder heads with beehive-style valve springs inspired by the LS engine family – a feature that enhances high-rpm capability, enabling the new high-performance engine to achieve 405 horsepower and 405 lb-ft of torque. That's more power than any factory produced 350 engine ever installed in a Chevrolet production vehicle and it's one of the most powerful 350 Small Block-based crate engines in the nearly 27-year history of the "ZZ" lineup. "The new ZZ6 is the ultimate ZZ 350-based crate engine from Chevrolet Performance," said Jim Campbell, GM U.S. vice president of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports.

Three automotive tech trends to watch in 2018 and beyond

Every year, technology plays a bigger and bigger role in the auto industry. To put things in perspective, 10 years ago iPod integration and Bluetooth were cutting-edge in-car innovations, and smartphones and apps weren't yet a thing since the first iPhone was only about six months old. And I can't recall anyone talking about autonomous cars. Compare that to today, with mainstream coverage of the auto industry dominated by autonomous technology, along with electrification and almost every move made by Tesla. These three topics were the most significant trends of car tech in 2017 and I believe they will continue to shape the auto industry in 2018 and beyond. Let's examine them. Full Autonomy Gets Closer to Reality While there were many developments this year that indicate we're inching closer to fully autonomous vehicles, I was behind the wheel for hours to witness one of them. In October I had the chance to test Cadillac Super Cruise on a 700-mile, 11-hour drive from Dallas to Santa Fe – and had my hands on the wheel for maybe 45 minutes max throughout the entire trip. Super Cruise is far from making the Cadillac CT6 or any GM vehicle fully autonomous, and has limitations such as functioning only on pre-mapped main highways. While it simply adds a layer of lane centering to adaptive cruise control, the technology will go a long way in making mainstream drivers more comfortable with letting machines take over. On a separate front, GM is pushing ahead with fully autonomous vehicles and announced last month that it plans to launch of fleets of self-driving robo-taxis in several urban areas in 2019. While most automakers are also in the race to make autonomous cars a reality, GM's turbocharging of its efforts appeared to be in response to Waymo, which announced just weeks earlier that its Early Rider Program in the Phoenix area would go completely driverless. The Early Rider Program launched last April, offering the public a chance to ride in Waymo's autonomous Chrysler Pacifica minivans. In this new phase of testing, Waymo is using its own employees as guinea pigs instead of the public while the vehicles operate without a human behind the wheel, and takes another giant step forward for fully autonomous driving.