Automotive

How vehicles go, stop, turn — and are going electric. Mechanical engineering on wheels. Learn IC engines, transmissions, braking, steering and suspension systems, electric and hybrid powertrains, and vehicle dynamics — with the calculations used to size, compare and tune real cars.

• IC Engines — Internal combustion engines turn fuel into shaft power. Learn the four-stroke cycle, SI vs CI engines, displacement and compression ratio, torque, power and BMEP, fuel consumption (BSFC) and efficiency, turbocharging and emissions control.
• Transmission — Transmissions match engine or motor speed to wheel speed. Learn gear ratios and final drive, tractive force, road speed per gear, manual, automatic, DCT and CVT designs, differentials and gradeability.
• Braking — Vehicle braking systems convert pedal force into stopping power. Learn hydraulic brake circuits, pedal ratio and servo boost, weight transfer and brake-force distribution, ABS/ESC, regenerative braking and stopping-distance limits.
• Steering — Steering systems turn the front wheels precisely and give the driver feedback. Learn Ackermann geometry, turning radius, steering ratio, rack-and-pinion and electric power steering, caster, camber, toe and kingpin geometry, and steer-by-wire.
• Suspension — Suspension keeps tyres on the road and occupants comfortable. Learn springs, dampers and the quarter-car model, ride frequency, wheel hop, damping ratio, motion ratio, suspension types (MacPherson, double wishbone, multilink), anti-roll bars and active systems.
• EV — Battery electric vehicles replace the engine with batteries, inverters and motors. Learn EV architecture, road-load and energy consumption, battery packs (cells, series/parallel, kWh), motors and inverters, charging, thermal management and range estimation.
• Hybrid Vehicles — Hybrids combine an engine with electric motors and a battery. Learn micro, mild, full and plug-in hybrids, series, parallel and power-split architectures, regenerative braking, engine-operating-point optimisation and energy-management strategies.
• Vehicle Dynamics — Vehicle dynamics explains how cars accelerate, brake and corner. Learn tyre forces and slip, longitudinal performance limits, cornering and lateral load transfer, understeer and oversteer, the understeer gradient and characteristic speed, rollover threshold and stability control.