Protean Electric will show its in-wheel electric drive in a Brabus Hybrid at the SAE World Congress.
As the Auto China Motor Show is generating global headlines from Beijing, the SAE 2012 World Congress is opening in Detroit at Cobo Center. While a much smaller show than in decades past when the Detroit Three dominated what was then the world’s largest auto market, the SAE World Congress remains arguably the world’s largest gathering of engineers. Simply put World Congress remains an important stop on the global automotive information highway.
This year’s theme “Get Connected,” can be taken literally or figuratively. Topics under discussion – backed by dense technical papers – will include the thorny problems new technology vehicles – such as EVs, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen cars – face with the existing infrastructure, fluctuating government policies, electrical grid limitations, consumer resistance and even how the internet can ease the introductions of the latest vehicles.
On a more fundamental, data driven basis, engineers, who are developing the next generation of vehicle technologies, will provide sober assessments of where they actually are in increasing fuel economy, decreasing emissions and combating global warming, as opposed to the sometimes farcical claims in gushing press releases from politicians and automaker p.r. departments.
SAE International is a global association of more than 133,000 engineers and related technical experts in the aerospace, automotive and the commercial-vehicle industries.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
Excellent no-BS analysis of the Congress and its importance. Thanks. Few journalists bother to sit in on the tech sessions. Fewer still understand anything that’s discussed.