Powertrain

Shell Lubricants energized about heavy-duty engine oils With an eye toward better serving the heavy-duty market, Shell Lubricants is introducing a new Rotella product and improving an existing one as part of a new initiative (including a marketing element) falling under the Energized Protection banner. Read full story

Conductive plastic for a better (lighter) battery “While you can’t change the basics of how batteries work, you can change the materials that are used to create them,” asserted Bill Robinson, the CEO of Integral Technologies Inc. And that is precisely what the Bellingham, WA-based company did; it has developed a moldable conductive plastic called ElectriPlast, a polymer blend that can be used to conduct electricity. Read full story

Runkle joins EcoMotors to develop opposed-piston/cylinder technologies Veteran GM and Delphi engineering executive Don Runkle hopes to lead the upstart company's opposed-piston opposed-cylinder multifuel two-stroke engines and related technologies into production. Military, commercial, and marine applications are targeted first. Read full story

Hill-start smart and quick-shift savvy A Class 8 commercial truck loaded with 159,080 lb (72,160 kg) of concrete and iron was at a standstill two-thirds of the way through a 15% incline, but the upward climb resumed without the tractor-trailer backsliding. Read full story