Automotive Diary

Following the success of the SIA 2006 congress 'The Diesel engine: The low CO2 and emissions reduction challenge', the 2008 International Conference on Diesel Engines will focus on developing an understanding of the current situation. It will present the latest developments, as well as quantum-lead innovations, which will contribute to advancing the Diesel engine even further in meeting the challengeof reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and pollutants. The increasing constraints imposed by customers in terms of cost, acoustic and thermal comfort, and vehicle performance will also be covered.

STA (Sociedad de Técnicos de Automoción) hosted the 1st Congress on The Automobile Future: Alternative Powertrain Systems, two years ago in Barcelona in order to review every alternative both from the perspective of energy and the different powertrain systems. The conclusions of that first Congress already put forward the necessity to repeat the assessment of these alternative systems every two years, this period being long enough for technology tomake significantprogress. The 2nd Congress on The Automobile Future: Alternative Powertrian Systems will look both at the current power and environmental needs and asses in greater detail the different alternative systems posed, including biofuels, gas, electricity and hydrogen, as well as their practical implementation.