Triumph Tr6 Rear View Mirror on 2040-parts.com

MIT researchers rethink electric-car batteries

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say a new battery design for electric vehicles could be a lightweight and inexpensive alternative. The goal for the team's three-year project, launched in September 2010, is to have a functioning prototype ready to be engineered as a replacement for existing electric-car batteries. At this point in the project, the prototype uses a “semi-solid flow” to separate the two functions of a battery--storing energy and discharging it when needed--into separate physical structures.

First Sight: BMW 4 Series

Within BMW, it was an ongoing discussion for two decades: what to call the coupé version of the 3 Series? With the new model pictured here, the advocates of change got it their way. The proliferation of models most likely tipped the scales – besides the 3 Series sedan, there is the Touring, the 'Gran Turismo' and the China-only long-wheelbase version.

Concept Car of the Week: Nissan NX-21 (1983)

In the early 1980s, with the new millennium still seemingly an age away, Nissan Design America was tasked with imagining the family car of the future, while giving potential buyers a preview of the forthcoming N13 NX and EXA models. The resulting concept would be shown at the Tokyo motor show in 1983. Given confidence by the increasing success and expanding global presence of Japanese cars, including the previous generation N12 NX, Nissan's designers, led by Tom Semple, decided that the NX-21 (for 21st century) was the answer.