2007 Chrysler Sebring

Chrysler Sebring

Car Technology

Nav system + DVD player + iPod + phone + hard drive = integration

If you are buying a new car now,it will probably have most of the entertainment formats you enjoy,like,AM,FM,satellite radio,CD,DVD,MP3,etc…But in an ordinary car listening and managing all these stuff will be a hard thing to do.But for $1700 option,Chrysler feels your pain.Sebring sedan bundles players for all those media,plus a cellphone and GPS system into a single package on the dash board and it is called My Gig.Chrysler developed this with the partnership of Harman/Kardon.This new My Gig equipped Sebring can play music or movies to back seat passengers from a 7 inch display at the back of the front seats.All the functions like music,navigation,movies in Chrysler Sebring can be controlled using voice commands (supported languages English,Spanish,French) or by using the touch screen.As Chrysler Sebring supports cell phones,the technology even has a blue tooth integration which enables hands-free calling and it can even record your important calls !!

My Gig does all these with a hard drive which is held tightly to the foundation.This holds the navigation data and can hold 1500 plus mp3s or windows media files,photos,address-book names.The Chrysler Sebring My Gig system can even rip the CD tracks directly from the CD to MP3 format and store it on the hard drive,wow !

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2008 BMW 5-Series

BMW 5-series

Car Technology

Regenerative braking in a non hybrid

Engineers at Bavarian Motor Works,commonly known as BMW,have tried to apply the technology they developed to attain one single goal,superior handling and performance.Now BMW has announced a revised 5-series sports sedan which has regenerative braking-which is used first time in a non-hybrid car.This idea came from an alternator control project show in Paris last year.The basic principle is changing the time at which the alternator charges the battery.Usually it is being charged the whole time,means loading the engine whole time,in spite of whether the car is ascending or descending.

But in the new BMW 5-series car the alternator is connected only when the car is decelerating.So at the other times,the load on the engine is less,the whole power generated is used to move the car,whole of this refers to low fuel consumption.The alternator haven’t changed much.BMW just added an electronically controlled clutch that engages when the car is decelerating.BMW have changed the structure of battery so that it can suit itself to the frequent charge/discharge cycles.

The 3.5 KWs power required to drive the electronic components of BMW 5-series is supplied by a powerful battery.BMW wont release the exact numbers,but they said they are using glass mat technology.In this technology the battery plates are separated using a saturated absorbent glass—boron silicate—rather than the common liquid electrolyte or gel.The microfibers hold the acid electrolyte which improves the energy storage during the frequent charge/discharge cycle.

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