Six car technologies that will help you go the extra mile

“By 2025, we believe most vehicles will still be driven by internal combustion engines [ICE] and the traditional ICE still has major potential to further reduce emissions,” said Enno Tang, head of chassis and safety technology at Continental, at the 2016 Global Automotive Forum in Chongqing.

Despite US President Donald Trump’s March 15 announcement of a review of fuel efficiency standards, there is a move worldwide, prompted by regulation and consumer demand, to get more mileage out of engines.

The future may be electric. China has proposed that manufacturers need to gain an 8 per cent credit score from new energy vehicles from next year. Sales, however, are simply not approaching the kind of levels required to hit that score. There are few countries – Norway being one exception – where EVs account for a large proportion of car sales.

Here are some new technologies that are either coming soon or are already on the market, which promise to go the extra mile for you.

Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI)

Mazda’s next-generation SkyActiv petrol engine ditches the spark plug for use of HCCI technology. Set to debut next year in the new Mazda 3, it uses pressure to burn the fuel-air mixture rather than igniting it using a spark plug, much in the same way as a diesel engine.