article thumbnail

Ford displays prototype Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic hood

Green Car Congress

At the Composites Europe event in Dusseldorf, Ford Motor Company displayed a prototype carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) hood. Carbon fiber offers a very high strength-to-weight ratio; it is up to five times as strong as steel, twice as stiff, and one-third the weight.

article thumbnail

DOE to award up to $137M for SuperTruck II, Vehicle Technology Office programs

Green Car Congress

Most of the projects will support the goals of EV Everywhere, an Energy Department program that aims to make PEVs as affordable and convenient as gasoline-powered vehicles by 2022. Demonstrate the joining of steel to aluminum and aluminum to carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites using the existing spot welding infrastructure.

Vehicles 150
article thumbnail

Ferrari’s Plug-in Hybrid One-Ups the Combustion Engine

Cars That Think

You switch the mode on by dialing it up on the Ferrari’s dramatic steering wheel, which integrates a cool arc of LED lights on its carbon-fiber rim to cue drivers to shift. That front-drive mode gets the car a green light in cities like London and Rome as they begin to bar polluting cars from their downtown areas.

Plug-in 96