In this post, I want to examine the state of the art for braking the worlds’ most popular electric vehicles, 2 wheelers. I would like to compare the technical options for 2 and 4 (or more) wheelers, and review some of the lessons learned from 4 wheelers. Finally, we can speculate as to what comes …
iPhones on Wheels Modern road vehicles are full of computers, and getting fuller. In fact, the factors driving the digitisation of vehicle systems are familiar for many other technology developments, namely safety, efficiency and power. A brief look at the second century of automotive brakes shows the digitisation of braking systems has been with us for nearly …
In September 2015, the automotive world learned a powerful new phrase. The phrase came to embody a damaging lack of transparency and trust in multinational OEMs as well as weakness in gatekeeping. In Europe, particularly, the scale of the problem was so widespread that it was clear a systemic reset was urgently needed. While OEMs …
In this article, I will revisit the topic of brake dust, in order to update the latest developments in this crucial area, review some timely legislative activity in this area relevant to braking and other vehicle technology areas. An informative point to start this journey is to look at the inquest into the death of …
In this article, we will revisit the topic of brake dust, and look at some of the devices that are in the public domain that hope to solve the issue. We will see growing evidence of testing activities, as well as commercialising new concepts, and review the surge in new intellectual property in this area. You …
Ceci n’est pas une pipe In this post, we shall spend some time exploring the topic of brake by wire, and look at the various flavours of decoupled brake systems already in the market, as well as the prospects for Brake-by-Wire using electrical energy as the energy transmission system. We will also discuss the advantages …
This St. Patricks’ Day, we will continue our series looking at some important Irish transport engineers throughout history. Previously we’ve examined the work of Henry Ferguson and James Drumm, but this year the focus will be on John Phillip Holland, one of the most influential figures in maritime innovation. Like all great historical romps, the story of John Holland …
Empty streets have shown how clean our air can be, but what will happen when we go back to work? In recent days, as much of the world has adopted to working from home, social distancing, cocooning and a general slow down in transport intensity, there has been a marked uptick in air cleanliness in …
This St. Patrick’s Day, lets’ take a look back at a pioneering electric vehicle project, built around a breakthrough battery technology that allowed the nascent Irish government to open a whole new frontier of green transport. In preparing this entry, the support and contributions of The Irish Railways Records Society have been invaluable, and the …
The job of a brake system is to slow a vehicle by converting kinetic energy into other forms – typically heat and electricity. To do this job repeatedly and reliably, the brake system relies on its thermal capacity to soak up and subsequently dissipate the vehicles’ maximum kinetic energy at the limit of available grip …