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Volvo Polestar reveals new V8 Supercars engine

Volvo may be better known for turbo fives and inline fours, but in 2005 it launched the XC90 with a new eight-cylinder engine built for it by Yamaha. Fast forward to this past June when Volvo announced its intention to enter Australia's V8 Supercars series, where it would compete with the likes of Ford, Holden, Nissan and Mercedes-AMG. This is the engine with which it intends to do so.
Revealed this weekend at the Sydney 500, this competition-spec powerplant is based on the same B8444S that powered the XC90 and S80 (not to mention the Noble M600), but tuned for racing duty to be shoehorned into the new S60 touring car. The 60-degree aluminum block has been bored out from 4.4 liters to 5.0, its compression ratio boosted to 10:1, modified to run on E85 bio-ethanol and its redline increased to 7500 rpm. Volvo also promises a unique engine note from its new racers.
While Volvo and its racing partner Polestar haven't released official output numbers, regulations call for outputs between 620 and 650 horsepower - in any event, a whole lot more than the 311 hp it produces in stock form. (Noble managed to squeeze that much out of the same block, but that required twin turbochargers while this unit remains naturally aspirated.) Scope out the details in the press release below and the photos from the reveal in the gallery above.

Recharge Wrap-up: Green Car award for Volvo XC90, MN air better from biodiesel

The Honda CR-V could return with a plug-in hybrid option. Expected to debut in the fall of 2017, the PHEV could use a 2.0-liter I4 plus an electric motor. It's possible that the new CR-V is being developed in North America, and will borrow design cues from the Honda Civic. There also could be a seven-seat version. Beyond that, details are pretty scarce. Read more at Hybrid Cars, and from Response JP. UC Davis will present findings from a CARB-commissioned study on customer valuation of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs). Dr. Ken Kurani of the university's Institute of Transportation Studies will report on consumer attitudes toward ZEVs, and the differences between those valuations and market behavior. In Kurani's survey, respondents had the opportunity to design their own car with an in-survey game. Almost a quarter of people designed some sort of EV, including plug-in hybrids and fuel cell vehicles. Read more from CARB, or at Green Car Congress. Minnesota's biodiesel efforts have improved air quality. According to the American Lung Association in Minnesota, summer and winter blends of biodiesel have prevented the emission of 130 tons of particulate matter, 319 tons of hydrocarbon and 2,634 tons of carbon monoxide every year, as well as a total of 3.7 million tons of CO2 over the last 10 years. Minnesota requires a B10 biodiesel blend during the summer months, and B5 throughout the winter. Read more from Biodiesel Magazine. The Volvo XC90 has received the Canadian Green Car Award for Most Efficient Three-Row Family Vehicle. Beating out the Ford Explorer 2.3-liter EcoBoost and the Honda Pilot, Volvo's seven-seat crossover was chosen for its mass market appeal, and a variety of qualities both practical and green. Judges look at value, fuel economy, emissions, performance and technology among other features. The XC90 is available as a plug-in hybrid with about 17 miles of all-electric driving range. Read more in the press release below. Volvo XC90 Wins Canadian Green Car Award The Most Awarded SUV Named Most Efficient Three-Row Family Vehicle RICHMOND HILL, ON. (April 7th, 2016.) The judges of the 2016 Canadian Green Car Award announced their category winners today, with the Volvo XC90 winning the Most Efficient Three-Row Family Vehicle category. The other finalists in the category were the Ford Explorer 2.3-litre EcoBoost and the Honda Pilot.

Why this could be the perfect time for Apple to make a car play

While the automotive and technology worlds have been pouring billions into autonomous vehicles (AVs) and preparing to bring them to market soon as shared robo-taxis, Apple has mostly sat on the sidelines. Of course, Apple is the last company to ever make its intentions known, and the super-secret tech cult giant hasn't been totally out of the AV game based on the clues that have slipped out of its Cupertino, Calif., citadel over the past few years. Related: Apple self-driving cars are real — one was just in an accident News first broke in 2015 that it had assembled an automotive development team, in part by poaching high-profile talent from car companies, to work on a top-secret self-driving vehicle project code-named Titan. (Thank you very much, Nissan.) Apple also subsequently broke cover by making inquiries into using a Northern California AV testing facility and receiving a permit to test AVs on public roads in California. But then as the AV race started to heat up in the last few years, Apple reportedly began scaling back its car activities by downsizing team Titan. More recently, Apple's car project has shown signs of life with the hiring a high-level engineer away from Waymo and luring one Tesla's top engineers and a former employee back to Apple. It also inked a deal with Volkswagen to provide a technology platform and software to convert the automaker's new T6 Transporter vans into autonomous shuttles for employees at tech company's new campus. That is a far cry from giving rides to Wal-Mart shoppers, like Waymo is doing as part of its AV testing in Phoenix. But this could be the perfect time for Apple to enter the AV market now that ride-sharing is reaching critical mass and automakers and others are planning to deploy fleets of robo-taxis. Apple could easily establish a niche as a high-end ride-sharing service – and charge a premium – given its cult-like brand loyalty and design savvy. The growth of car subscription models could also play in Apple's favor since is already has many people hooked on paying for phones in monthly installments – and eager to upgrade when a new and better model becomes available. To achieve this, some believe Apple will fulfill co-founder and CEO Steve Job's dream of building a car. And as the world's first and only $1 trillion company it's sitting on a mountain of cash that certainly gives it the means. But other tech darlings like Tesla and Google have discovered how difficult it can be to build cars at scale.