Electric Motor

British automotive engineering consultancy Zytech, who have been making headlines this year for providing the electric drivetrain that will run the DaimlerChrysler SMART EV, have announced a dual-mode diesel hybrid. Billed as the world's first affordable diesel hybrid drivetrain, the low-cost high-efficiency dual-mode system has been built into a DaimlerChrysler SMART 1.5 litre, three cylinder ForFour CDi demonstration vehicle.

For those of you who haven't kept up with radio-controlled car technology since the days of the original RC10 and Tamiya Grasshopper, well, things have changed just a bit. Thanks to lithium-polymer (LiPo) batteries and inexpensive brushless DC motors, RC enthusiasts now have access to more power than we could dream about just a few years ago.