Engineering Stack Exchange
Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [car]

71 questions
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6 answers

What limits the speed of a car?

From an engineering perspective, what limits the maximum speed you can reach with a regular car? I understand that some of the faster cars are for safety reasons limited to not run faster than say 250 km/h, but that's not my question. I can think of…
user1583209
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When a car with an open differential turns, why does the inner wheel slow down and the outer wheel speed up?

I asked this in the physics stack but hopefully will get more interest here. So I understand that when driving on a curved path, the inner wheel must travel a shorter distance than the outer wheel. But why? As the car begins to turn, both wheels…
Reese
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5 answers

Why do electric cars claim "instant torque?"

I was at a well-known electric car company today and they claimed "instant torque." The quote was something like the following: Driving this car is very different from a gas-powered vehicle. For example, it has instant torque when you press the…
Mowzer
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1 answer

Is there a way to estimate whether the driver or co-driver picks up the smartphone?

First of all, as I am new in this very corner of stack exchange please help me by selecting the correct tags! I'm interested in finding an alorithm, that estimates wether a phone is picked up from the center console by a driver or by his co-driver.…
Dennis Heinig
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3 answers

What are those large cylinder "tanks" attached to the outside of trucks for?

I've noticed this a few times, the last time today: It's a big cylinder-shaped "tank" (for water?) outside of the front part of the truck. What's the purpose of this thing?
Maiko
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Proccess of a 4-wheeled vehicle taking turn

I have observed that when a 4-wheeled vehicle takes a turn, one of it rear tire moves with more speed as compared to the other. For example A car is taking right turn, its right rear tire will be slower as compared to left rear tire. How is that…
Nouman
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How does my automatic car shift without complete temporary loss of acceleration

When my car shifts gears, the car's acceleration never goes to 0. I feel that there is constant torque to the wheels throughout the entire shift. How is this possible during a gear change? Transmission is Ford's 10R80
Ardalan G.
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Is it true that four-wheel drive is less efficient and if so, why?

I have heard many times that four-wheel drive is less efficient than two-wheel drive. Many car producers have a normal drive mode where only two wheels are powered, and turn the four-wheel drive on only when needed, to "save energy". I have never…
Honza Zidek
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Does the speed of Heavy Vehicles make more potholes

Should Heavy Trucks drive more slowly on weak (bitumen) roads to reduce potholes in the road surface? I am discussing with a feasibility engineer what causes more potholes. He says it is simply the 'Weight' on the road (ie of the vehicle touching…
Grantly
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Six-Wheeled Mousetrap Car [Concept]

My classmates are making mousetrap cars to go 10 feet, and whoever goes the fastest wins. How a mousetrap car works is by attaching a lever arm to the snapper (the part of the mousetrap that shoots forward). The lever arm has a string attached to…
Mister_Maybe
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Is the Stop-Start technology detrimental or good for the car?

I found a lot of articles on internet about how bad the stop-start technology is for your car and how it contributes to the faster wear of multiple parts, or how superb the feature is for the Sacred Environment and how it is Saving the Planet.…
Honza Zidek
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Why rear wheels of the bus are covered?

There is an airport bus (Germany) which has it's rear wheels covered by the fender. Even front wheels have strange shape of fender around them (tilted toward front). What purpose of that?
R S
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What is the percentage of direct workers in an automotive production plant compared to all the employees?

I am not asking for specific numbers of any production plant. I want to know the general direct worker/employee ratio of a plant. Example: if there are 1000 employees working usually 700 of them are direct workers etc. I am looking for estimates…
Working Student
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Friction clutch and the force required

I recently learned the basics of automotive clutches, more specifically friction clutches. Here is a simplified version of their operation explained to me (the car starts at rest): The engine and the transmission are connected via friction plates.…
S. Rotos
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Why does "Google self-driving car"'s roof camera rotate?

I'm intrigued by this video in which the roof camera rotates continuously. One reason could be to capture 360 degrees around, but then again two cameras or more could do the same job capturing different parts of the landscape. It seems to me a waste…
Santropedro
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