engine

The emptied rural Spain has been revealed as the great energy engine of the State

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Spain is a State full of contrasts. At a demographic level, the population density is concentrated in Madrid and coastal cities, that is, 30% of the territory concentrates 90% of the people. It is “tight Spain.” The rest, approximately five million people, occupy 70% of the territory, in the interior of the peninsula. More people consume more resources, which puts two realities on the table: Madrid consumes more and generates less energy than anyone else and that emptied Spain is the energy engine of the State, as the report summarizes “The energy transition in the Spanish rural environment” prepared by Monitor Deloitte. The most striking fact: 84% of renewable energy generation comes from rural environments. Context. In the collective imagination we associate energy production with large nuclear or fossil fuel installations, but nothing is further from current reality. Spain is carrying out an energy transition collected in the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan with the objective of reaching 81% electricity generation from renewables. And it’s on the right track: the report of the Spanish Electrical System of Red Eléctrica for 2023 It showed that it had already exceeded the 50% quota. At specific moments, has reached 100% supply. Listing renewable sources by their importance, we find wind energy prominently, followed by photovoltaic and hydraulic energy. Where. In rural territory, in that sparsely populated place where natural resources and space abound. The report highlights regions such as Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León and Aragón as hubs precisely because of their availability of soil and climatic resources (radiation and wind). Why is it important. Because the State needs that emptied Spain and its resources to successfully carry out its energy transition. Without that territory or its available resources, there is no decarbonization or energy sovereignty. Obviously a paradox occurs: that the most populated places are those that produce the least energy and vice versa, which generates a territorial imbalance. However, this deployment of infrastructure can become an opportunity to promote local employment and thus establish the population. Finally, agrivoltaics is revealed as a way to modernize the agricultural sector, making it possible to make cultivation for food compatible with energy supply, all on the same soil. In figures. In addition to this substantial share of 84% of renewable energy from rural areas, the report reveals other interesting figures: There are 15 provinces with critical population density (

50 years ago, an inventor introduced the first water engine. He was Spanish, a visionary and a complete fraud

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“Of my patent, the license for Spain is transferred free of charge to the State for the benefit of all Spaniards.” Loud and clear, this is what Arturo Estévez Varela, the inventor of the water engine and, without a doubt, a great Spaniard. At least that’s what they must have thought. NODE viewerswhich in the early years of the 1970s included the words of this man from Extremadura. “That died with my father and we haven’t bothered to move it either,” said Arturo Estévez Jr. in a report for RTVE in 2009. Perhaps due to lack of knowledge or, probably, due to having too much knowledge. Knowledge that the invention, in reality, was completely unrealizable and that the patents shown to the journalist from the public entity have no value. But who was that man in a suit who drank from a jug before filling the tank of a motorcycle with water and made it work? Behind the name of Arturo Estévez Varela there was an inventor, an enormous visionary and, why not say it, also a scammer. Before his water engine, this Extremadura native born in Valle de la Serena (a small town of just over 1,000 inhabitants in the province of Badajoz) had already devised a chicken roaster with infrared and the “wing plane”, a device that allowed rockets to be recovered. Space X in Franco’s Spain. Arturo Estévez Varela in a demonstration of his invention With four liters of water, 900 kilometers of autonomy But if Arturo, who perhaps at this point we should start calling Don Arturo, became famous for something, it was for his water engine. An invention that, according to what he said, allowed you to travel by car 900 kilometers with just four liters of water. Statements included in the press of the time. It was October 1970 and, evidently, it seemed like magic. How did good old Don Arturo get a motorcycle he was taking around Spain running? Yes, with water, but also with hydrogen. Water was only one of the pillars of his invention. The third was hydrogen. And the second, a mystery. Town to town and city to city, Don Arturo traveled throughout Spain, generating a stir as he went, capturing the attention of the press and, as we have seen, also of the NODO. What this Extremaduran inventor did not reveal was what was hidden in that substance that, together with water, allowed the combustion engine of his motorcycle to work. In theory, the water reacted with a mineral that Arturo did not want to reveal. This reaction produced hydrogen which, when burned in the combustion engine, made the motorcycle work. That is, the procedure was similar to that have tried in Toyota. It is not a motor fuel cellis a combustion engine that burns hydrogen, a much more inefficient process. If we consult different sources on the Internet, many agree that the Francoism came to order a technical report to check if what that unknown inventor said was true. Obviously, everything was left in water, yes, but borage. missing These same sources end their story at the same point. Don Arturo was tireless in making himself heard, in convincing people and strangers that his invention worked and that it was the solution to many of Spain’s problems. However, it disappears. Nothing else was heard of him and the fables begin. Since the Franco regime tried to hide the invention until the oil companies decided to silence it. It seems that the secret, however, was not so secret. In this blog They recover a large part of press clippings from the time. Shortly after making himself known and without being listened to by the Government, Don Arturo managed to get someone to trust him. That someone was José Carrera Rey, a businessman who bought half of the rights to the invention at a price of six million pesetas. It is at that moment that Don Arturo loses track of him. José Carrera Rey then discovers that he has in his hands an invention that is useless. What it doesn’t have are six million pesetas and he doesn’t have a partner either. In desperation he denounces Don Arturo but nothing is heard from Don Arturo again. Only an indictment, in 1974, for an alleged crime of fraud, managed to get Don Arturo to appear in court. However, in December 1977 the magistrates were clear: Justice matters were already going very slowly in Spain and Don Arturo had not committed any crime of fraud because he believed in his invention, so there was no type of deception. Due to the dates on which the Spanish Television report was recorded and what his son says, Don Arturo died on the border of the 80s and 90s and took his secret to the grave. A secret which, according to the scientists who have studied the case, was boron. He boron It is a chemical element that, in reaction with water, produces hydrogen that, even, can become inflamed due to the enormous heat released. Hence, Don Arturo always warned that his “secret mineral” and water had to be mixed in controlled quantities. As collected The Vanguard last summer, the water engine, therefore, is perfectly functionalbut very little useful. To obtain 5 kg of hydrogen, with which a fuel cell Toyota Mirai (more efficient than burning hydrogen) travels about 600 kilometers, 45 liters of water and 19 kg of boron are needed. The problem is, basically, the 68,000 euros that 19 kg of boron would cost, according to what was reported in the Catalan newspaper. Was it functional? Of course, but, at its side, the first liter of synthetic and emissions-neutral fuel at 2,800 euros It no longer seems so expensive to us. Image | Commons In Xataka | The 194 kilometers that changed the history of the automobile have a first and last name: Bertha Benz In Xataka | The history of the first traffic light in Spain, installed in 1926: six lights … Read more

The Earth turned on its great geological engine billions of years earlier than we estimate. We know it from a microscopic crystal

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For a long time, textbooks They have painted the primitive Earth like a ball of infernal and static magma, being a “lid” of inert rock where life or complex geological movement was impossible. Specifically, it was thought that the plate tectonicsthe engine that shapes the continents and recycles our planet’s nutrients, had taken much longer to start. However, we were wrong. How he did it. Science, in a recent article, has just put on the table the definitive evidence that indicates that the Earth began to move much earlier than we believed: at least 3.3 billion years ago, and most likely, more than 4 billion ago. And the key is not in the gigantic mountains under our feet, but in small fragments of glass smaller than a grain of sand. And if we want to travel in geological time, you have to go to jack hillsin Western Australia, where the oldest known fragments of terrestrial rock are found. The protagonists of this story are zircon crystals, extremely resistant minerals that act as authentic geological hard drives. The interesting thing is that, when they form, they trap isotopes and tiny amounts of other elements inside that tell us exactly what the environment was like at the time of their crystallization. The results. According to detailed analysis that collects Natureand supported by key works such as those published in the prestigious magazine PNASthese S-type zircons hide unmistakable geochemical signatures. Specifically, they reveal that, instead of a static and dead Earth’s crust, subduction processes already existed. That is, the oceanic crust was already colliding and sinking under other plates, melting back into the Earth’s mantle. A double life. But researchers have not limited themselves to looking at a specific era, but have traced the proportions of trace elements such as uranium, niobium or scandium in different zircons from Australia, Greenland and South Africa. Here they observed that during the Eoarchean, the Earth did not have a single geological behavior. Instead, it had two tectonic regimes. The first of these, known as a ‘stagnant lid’ with areas of crust dominated by plumes of oceanic magma that simply pushed upwards. On the other hand, it also had the ‘moving lid’ zone, which were active zones where volcanic arcs were already forming and there was subduction, very similar to modern plate tectonics, recycling the Earth’s crust. But there is more. As if that were not enough, other published studies in Science and Geology have contributed even more pieces to the puzzle, such as the transform faults in the Pilbara Craton of Australia that show horizontal movements 3,000 million years ago, and even inclusions of fresh water in zircons from more than 4,000 million years ago, which suggests that there were already emerging continents interacting with the atmosphere and the water cycle. It changes everything. Knowing that plate tectonics started so early is not a mere geological whim, since tectonics is the Earth’s thermostat: it regulates the carbon cycle, releases fundamental gases into the atmosphere and creates the necessary environments for the chemical breeding ground. In this way, if more than 4,000 million years ago our planet was already recycling its crust, having primitive continents and fresh water, it means that the conditions for life to emerge occurred much earlier than what science books dictated. Once again, the Earth shows us that, from its most remote beginnings, it has always been a living world. Images | Javier Miranda In Xataka | There are scientists deliberately causing earthquakes in the Alps and they have a good reason for it

It has taken years of development to give them a V6 engine

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“The Quadrifoglio is the most authentic expression of sportiness at Alfa Romeo and our cars are designed by true driving enthusiasts, we always put the focus on the driver” The words are from Santo Ficili, CEO of Alfa Romeo, who confirmed With them the Italian company once again put on sale the most special versions of the Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio. And the company has resurrected the Quadrifoglio version, the one with a four-leaf clover on the side, four exhaust pipes at the rear and a brute V6 under the hood. The movement is the consequence of another mistake at the time. Stellantis has decided to put the sportiest and most special versions of its brand’s flagships back on the streets. The problem is that this movement is only the visible part of the iceberg. The one that is submerged is a real problem. A problem. The trees that don’t let you see the forest Yes, Alfa Romeo will bring the Quadrifoglio versions of its Giulia and Tonale to its European configurators. The sedan and the SUV will once again have specific sports versions, with all the aesthetic features but, above all, with an engine 2.9 liter V6 520 HP and 600 Nm. We are the first to celebrate it. But although the company has emphasized that the focus is once again placed on the most passionate about the brand and those seeking pure driving sensations, the truth is that the movement is simply a concatenation of errors. Just a year ago, Alfa Romeo confirmed that stopped selling the more performance versions and the 280 HP gasoline engine of its Giulia and Stelvio. A stage was closing. A few months before, Carlos Tavares had resigned (or had been resigned) from Stellantis. Another stage was closing. The Portuguese had become a kind of Carlos Ghosn in tiny A new “cost killer” had taken the reins at Stellantisthe largest automotive group in the world by number of brands in its portfolio. Brands that, since the company was born, have had to demonstrate their profitability. And Alfa Romeo was one of those that had the most complicated role. Tavares made decisions that, over time, are considered more than controversial. The first was to keep the brand portfolio intact. Of course, forcing companies to demonstrate how far they were capable of going and confirm for themselves that they were profitable. His inflexible hand ended up sending cars to the United States for which there was no outlet despite the fact that from the other side of the pond they already told him that there was no way to sell, for example, an electric Fiat 500. Solution? Little less than giving them away. The second was to bring the entire group into line. Same platform for what was to come, with a clear focus on electrification. The immediate result was a brutal cost reduction. The consecutive was a total loss of identity. Believing that the same plan could be equally successful for Citroën, RAM, Alfa Romeo or Maserati did not bode well. And so it has happened. The company has seen how billions were thrown away of euros in development. And how its sales have suffered until assume an impact on the accounts of 22,000 million of euros. The European Union has left a loophole open to combustion, has made medium-term objectives more flexible, The United States has lifted any environmental restrictions. Along the way, many of its brands have lost their identity. Maserati has run into a problem: the rich don’t want electric sports cars. And they have had to cancel a project in which They had invested more than 3,000 million euros. In the United States They had retired their well-known HEMI V8 engine and they have also had to back down because the path to complete electrification of brands like RAM was up in the air. Now, the same has happened with Alfa Romeo. Stellantis opted to completely electrify it and he made the same mistake as with Maserati or RAM, he lost identity. Alfa Romeo has generally had worse finishes than its premium rivals but was supported better or worse by a loyal public that accepted risky and different designs, a distinctive driving feel and engines like the V6 Busso which was, among other incentives, the company’s assets. Strip Alfa Romeo of any identityfrom any minimally aspirational halo to shoehorn it onto the same platform that all Stellantis’ small or medium-sized cars mount and make a Opel Frontera with the Italian brand’s bodywork it didn’t seem like the best idea. Especially if the ultimate intention is to sell cars. The results are being calamitous for Alfa Romeo. Junior doesn’t sell much and Tonale He is almost missing in action. The Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio are cars with a decade behind them, which makes them anticompetitive in the market. Giving them back their V6 engine is a small marketing exercise to boost sales of two cars that seem to have left the collective imagination when looking for a new car. The company, at least, once again has those halo cars that can attract the public and, at least temporarily, put the brand on the market. But if they are with us it is because Stellantis has thrown away the development of the future fully electric models that were going to replace them. These Quadrifoglio versions are also born with an expiration date. In a few months they will have to comply with Euro 7 and nothing confirms that with pure combustion they can be sold without making any adjustments. In 2027, if the plans end up being fulfilled, a completely renewed Stelvio should arrive with a new generation. Considering that they should ride the same platform, the same should happen with the Giulia. Yes, we welcome that both cars can be available. But it’s just a band-aid to stem the bleeding from a much deeper wound. Photo | Alfa Romeo In Xataka | Europe has been filled with Stellantis … Read more

The change of Google’s search engine with AI was a mystery about its monetization. Finally it will be another subscription

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For months, the technology industry has been closely watching how Google resolves its particular dilemma: how to integrate artificial intelligence into its search engine without destroying the advertising business that supports its empire. The doubts are being cleared up little by little, and everything indicates that the company has already solved it: through AI Plusa subscription with a cost of 7.99 euros per month. Dilemma. The results of traditional search with blue links They generate billions in advertising, being one of the company’s most lucrative businesses and also one of the reasons why it is where it is. On the other side we have his foray into the AI ​​careera business in which they are burning money on infrastructure in the hope that it will be profitable in the long term. This last business also clashes with the traditional advertising system, with which Google also takes great advantage. Embracing the new potentially means burying what feeds you. The company is looking for a solution to this dilemma with Google AI Plus. What does the 8 euro subscription include? AI Plus has recently reached 35 new countriesamong them Spain. For €7.99 per month, users get enhanced access to Gemini 3 Prothe image generator Nano Banana Prothe research tool Deep Research200 GB of cloud storage and the possibility of using Gemini directly in Gmail, Docs, and other Google apps. Also includes 200 monthly credits for flow and Whiskthe company’s AI video creation platforms. Duel with OpenAI. The price is tight and even lower than the offer. ChatGPT Gowhich is found in Spain at a price of 9.99 euros per month. Both companies are fighting to attract users who want more than the free version, an opportunity to obtain more financing for their AI operations and, over time, attract even more customers who want to immerse themselves in more complete and higher-cost plans. Limitations to justify the price. The version of Gemini 3 Pro included in AI Plus has significant restrictions compared to the AI ​​Pro subscription of 22 euros per month. For example, the context window is drastically reduced from 1 million tokens to 128,000, which means that the model will “forget” information much sooner in long conversations or when analyzing long documents. Monthly credits for creation tools are also five times lower: 200 versus 1,000 in the Pro version. Google gives away AI to its storage customers. The company is adding all AI Plus features automatically to existing subscribers of Google One Premium (2 TB for 9.99 euros per month) at no additional cost. This avoids the absurd situation where paying more would result in having fewer features, but it also shows Google’s commitment to getting its users who pay for storage familiar with Gemini without them having to think twice. A change for the media. Google is building a monetization strategy around AI, and that affects the media. In this way, the media goes from being the user’s final destination to becoming data providers to train and feed AI responses. When Gemini responds directly instead of displaying blue links, traffic to the original sites evaporates, along with the advertising revenue they generated. The issue is somewhat tricky and it is still unknown how all the parties involved are going to agree. Subscriptions. Google is betting on a freemium model that allows it to make its investment in AI profitable without completely abandoning its traditional advertising business. The question is whether users will be willing to pay for something that until now they considered free. Unlike Netflix or Spotify, AI subscriptions They are still a relatively new concept to the general public. We will have to wait to find out if this tightrope walk balancing exercise by Google ends up convincing in the long term. In Xataka | The number of new apps coming to the App Store has skyrocketed. We have a culprit: “vibe coding”

less than fixing the gasoline engine

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What if your car’s engine breaks after 10 years? What are you doing with the car? With how expensive it has to be to change an entire engine… do you throw the car into the scrapyard? And if you don’t, do you invest thousands of euros in it? It is very likely that when you have told a friend, a cousin or a co-worker that you are thinking of buying a gasoline car, they have never asked you these questions. What if it were electric? Would they ask you what happens if your battery breaks when the car is 10 years old? In that case, the questions are not so strange anymore. Now, the answer will be less uncomfortable if you are one of the latter, one of those who are thinking about jumping into the electric car. At least not so much if you compare it with a combustion car. As expensive… as a combustion one How much does a serious gearbox breakdown cost? How much does a serious breakdown caused by the timing belt cost? How much does a serious engine cylinder head breakdown cost? These questions, and many others, are answered by RACE. Whether due to the amount of time that has to be invested, either because the replaced parts are expensive or due to a combination of both, the three aforementioned breakdowns can easily cost over 5,000 euros. An electric car, most commonly, does not have a gearbox. It will also not have a timing belt or an engine with cylinder heads, connecting rods or injectors. In fact, its maintenance is so simple that there are those who were wondering If electric cars have oil and if it is necessary to change it. However, there is a large public that continues to worry about the health of the battery and how much the bill may increase in the event of a forced change. This question was already answered by Recurrent study supported by Goldman Sachs. In it it was stated that in 2030 Changing an electric car battery will be as expensive as facing a serious breakdown of a combustion engine. According to his calculations, collected by Hybrids and ElectricsIn less than five years, changing batteries will cost between 3,200 and 4,800 euros for larger batteries. For lower battery cars, the forecast is for it to be below 3,000 euros. The bulk of the calculation to make these estimates is based on the price of its minerals and their impact on battery cells and packs. According to the data of Bloomberg NEFthe total cost of the battery in 2025 stood at $108/kWh. That is, a car battery with an 80 kWh accumulator (for which a highway range of between 350 and 450 kilometers is usually expected) would cost $8,640 right now, just over 7,200 euros. The number, however, has plummeted in a decade. In 2015 they calculated that the cost was $475/kWh and in 2013 it was $827/kWh. The evolution is promising. That Recurrent report already anticipated a price of $65/kWh cost for a complete battery replacement in 2030. That is, a car with the aforementioned 80 kWh battery would cost about $5,200 (about 4,380 euros). The study mentions the chemistry used (NMC are predictably more expensive than LFP) but it does not indicate whether there would be any additional cost between the cars that use CTC or CTB batteries. The first are batteries that are installed on the chassis of the vehicle but in the second the chassis itself is used as the vehicle’s casing and the cells are attached to it. In this way, energy density is increased and, therefore, there is a greater amount of electrical energy available in the same space. What is certain is that the price of changing batteries should fall over the years. The economy of scale itself will lower what remains the main cost of an electric vehicle. To this we must add that firms like Toyota They are already offering guarantees of ten years or one million kilometers if maintenance is carried out in their official workshops. To the above we must also add that some studies suggest thatOnly 2.5% of electric cars replace the battery due to breakdowns. Of course, it must be taken into account that the figure may have been distorted by the high cost that, until now, this operation has had. Photo | seat In Xataka | Toyota’s weapon to dominate the electric car is 1,200 kilometer batteries. And he has already set a date for them

Europe’s passenger car industry, in a revealing map that makes it clear who is the real “engine” of the EU

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Even though it is submerged in a deep crisis of competitivenessIt’s no secret that The automobile industry is one of the driving forces of the European Union. Thus, it is responsible for 8% of its GDP (figures collected by CCOO) and employs 13,000 million people, including direct and indirect jobs. Of course, the EU is large and the distribution of its factories presents enormous divergence. Although there are things that don’t change. The European Automobile Manufacturers Association has an interactive map which is quite good to see what the distribution is like quantitatively, insofar as it shows even the few electric battery plants on the old continent, but if you are more interested in the qualitative and only passenger cars, there is a clearer map: that of World Wide Mobility. And beyond a barrage of concentrated icons that are difficult to distinguishshows in general terms the main brands that are produced or assembled there, production volumes and the percentage they represent of the total. Which countries are the engine of Europe in the automobile industry The data on the map dates back to 2024 and shows a figure of 11.4 million passenger cars manufactured in the European Union, which are essentially concentrated in three states in a non-uniform manner: Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic. World Wide Mobility Germany, 12 points. The leading country in the old continent when it comes to motors is, of course, Germany: it is not only the largest producer by volume with more than four million passenger cars and a 35.7% share, but also the one with the densest network of high-tech factories. Own brands stand out such as Volkswagen and its five factories that include the headquarters in Wolfsburg, BMW with four factories, the three of Mercedes – Benz or the two of Audi, Porsche or Opel (Stellantis). But it also has plants from foreign companies, such as Tesla in Grünheide (Berlin) or the North American Ford in Cologne. Much lower but still outstanding silver is Spainwith a share of 16.4% and almost two million cars assembled in the state. With the high efficiency per flag (in the words of the Spanish Minister of IndustryJordi Hereu), has fewer of its own brands but in exchange it is the nerve center for foreign groups. Thus, in addition to Martorell’s own SEAT/Cupra, legendary highlights include the Volkswagen factory in Landaben in Navarra, Stellantis distributed in three plants, both of which are Renault, Ford in Almussafes, and the Mercedes-Benz manufacturing plant in Alava. And be careful because it does not take into account the reactivation of the old Nissan factory for Chery/Ebro EV, already operational. Third place belongs to the Czech Republic with 12.7% and almost 1.5 million passenger cars, which together with Slovakia (fourth with 8.7% and almost a million cars) form “the Detroit of Central Europe“. A bronze achieved thanks to the importance of Škoda and the growing impact of Hyundai and Toyota. In fact, Slovakia It has the highest car production per capita on the planet: over there Large SUVs in the most premium segment are manufactured of the Volkswagen group in its factory in Bratislava, but it also houses manufactures of Kia, Stellantis or Jaguar and Land Rover. Romania and Hungary below demonstrate a reality: the strength of the Central European axis in this industry. France deserves special mentiona country with historically mythical brands that have been relocating production, but which still houses five plants of the Stellantis group and four of Renault, as well as foreign brands such as Fiat. And if we go to luxury, Italy and Sweden appear on the map, with high-end brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Koenigsegg or Volvo, although their figures are lower. In Xataka | There is a Europe that is suffocating to pay for housing and another that lives in peace. And this map shows the differences In Xataka | All the car plants in Europe (including the few battery-electric ones), on a map Cover | World Wide Mobility

Mercedes has the engine that wants to revolutionize electric cars

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Developing an engine, founding a startup and being bought by a company like Mercedes must be the dream come true of any engineer. Precisely, this is what happened when British manufacturer YASA. In 2009, members of the University of Oxford founded the company with one goal in mind: to create axial flux electric motors. After gaining clients like Ferrari, Mercedes saw potential and bought the company in 2021. Now they have created a “tiny” engine capable of delivering 1,000 HP. In this type of motor, a magnetic field and the force that rotates the rotor occur in a system parallel to the axis of rotation. Parts such as the rotor or stator are arranged in the form of flat, facing discs. In a traditional radial engine we have the classic cylinder with the stator outside, the rotor rotating inside and the magnetic field goes from the center to the outside. A axial flux electric motor It is a type of motor in which the magnetic field and the force that rotates the rotor run parallel to the axis of rotation. In a radial one, that happens from the center outwards. The radial is the one worn by the current hybrids and electricsbut the axial flow one arrives as a contender to revolutionize the interior of new energy cars thanks to a key advantage: space. The axial ones are smaller because all the elements are plates on top of each other, which allows them to be much flatter and lighter, as well as capable of developing a lot of power. By polishing its design process, YASA affirms who have achieved a latest generation engine capable of achieving 1,000 HP. The 1,000 HP engine to revolutionize electric vehicles It was a few months ago when the Mercedes-Benz subsidiary announced a prototype of an axial engine thatwith just 12.7 kg of weight, is capable of delivering a peak power of 750 kW. That translates into the aforementioned 1,000 HP and the power ratio is 59 kW/kg. The equipment surpasses the record they also held, that of the density of 42 kW/kg with a total of 55 kW which, in addition, weighed a few grams more, reaching 13.1 kg. Of course, that is the peak power, since YASA itself assures that the objective is for this new engine to be able to offer continuous power between 350-400 kW (about 530 HP). According to the team, they have achieved this increase in power thanks to improvements in both design and thermal dissipation, making the motor more efficient and constant and without using “exotic materials” to achieve those improvements in dissipation and performance. Tim Woolmer, CEO and founder of YASA, claims that his creation “will change the game in the high-performance automotive sector.” Because… yes, this engine is not focused on the electric street car at the moment. It is in the world of high performance where an engine this compact and powerful makes perfect sense. The less it weighs and takes up less space, the more the mass and volume are reduced. of the propulsion system, allowing more efficient chassis and larger batteries that improve final autonomy. Examples of cars that already have YASA engines? He Ferrari SF90 Stradale with three YASA engines that add up to 217 HP and serve as support for the thermal V8 to achieve 987 total HP, the Ferrari 296 GTB with a 165 HP YASA engine on the rear axle, the Koeningsegg Regera with three YASA engines that provide 700 HP or the Lamborghini Revuelto two YASA on the front axle. Mercedes-AMG itself also takes advantage of its technology in the GT four-door coupe. Now, the interest that this has for the average user is that these innovations They have the potential to end up reaching utility vehicles. At the moment, we drive cars with legacy technologies both competition and supercars, and scalable engines that are easy to mass produce and have a good relationship between weight, the power they deploy and the space they occupy is something attractive for the automotive industry. The problem? Precisely, the great virtue of this engine: that it represents a paradigm shift. The build platforms have been optimized for radial motor manufacturing processes and changing everything to accommodate an axial flux motor would involve a considerable investment. For the world of high performance, these engines are already a reality, but for the everyday car they still feel a bit far away. Images | YASA In Xataka | While Europe is thinking about what to do with the electric car, China already knows how to remain a leader in 2040. This is its plan

an AI-based search engine

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I am one of those who likes to organize vacations from start to finish and every year the search begins in the same place: flights. Skyscanner is my reference website, but now a tough competitor has just emerged. Google just launched its AI flight search engine worldwide and it does so at a striking moment in which the European Union accuses it of abuse of a dominant position, precisely because enhance your travel tools. Google flight deals The truth is that they haven’t put much thought into naming their new tool. Flight offers or Flight Deals live within the already known Google Flights. If you enter, you will see a notice that tells you “Do you have flexibility? Discover the best flight deals with AI”, from there you can access this new search section. You can do searches like this. Instead of having the classic fields of origin, destination and dates, here we only have a text field where we can do searches with natural language. For example, I have asked you to suggest cheap destinations where you can eat well for a few days of vacation that I have at the beginning of the year. We can also fine-tune with various filters such as passengers, the class in which we want to fly or if we do not want to make stopovers. I find it to be a pretty useful tool if, like me, you have a few days off and aren’t sure where to travel. Instead of looking at destination by destination, you can give it the key information and let it search for you. Of course, there is still room for improvement. In my case, he has not clearly understood the dates on which I can travel (I told him between January 1 and 5 and he suggested flights starting on the 5th). Skyscanner gives us the option to select “anywhere” as a destination and then filter by price. The results are very similar to those we obtain with Google’s proposal, but Flight Offers allows us to make a flexible and at the same time more specific search. In Skyscanner it only allows us to enter the exact date or explore an entire month. Google’s tentacles and dominant position Google entering new market niches is not something new. The company’s strategy involves integrating more and more functions into its search engine and offering specific search and comparison tools, even if it means threatening the business of others. We have the most recent and striking case with the AI Overview integration in the search enginewhich is reducing visibility to the media from which this AI draws to give its answers. The result has been traffic drops of up to 50%but Google keeps going and they have even launched the AI Mode. If we look back, there have been many more similar cases. In the early 2000s there were many websites where we went to make currency or unit conversions, but when Google integrated it directly into the search engine, there was no longer a need to enter those websites. There are cases that have ended in fines for Google. This is what happened when they started showing Google Shopping results at the top, burying the results from other websites. The European Union ended up fining the company for 2.4 billion of dollars for abuse of dominant position. Also They had to pay 465 million euros to Idealoone of the platforms affected by these changes. In the spotlight The announcement of Flight Offers comes at a somewhat delicate time. Google is being investigated for a new antitrust case in the European Union, specifically in the online travel sector. He is accused of unfairly favoring services like Google Flights and Google Hotels in the search results. The fine could reach up to 10% of your annual income. Google responded to the accusations and made changes to their services to comply with the Digital Markets Act, also known as DMA. Among these changes was the inclusion of a box at the top with links to specialized platforms, hotels and airlines. However, Google took the opportunity to show its disagreement, ensuring that these requirements harm European consumers because it forces them to use “cumbersome solutions.” Images | Google In Xataka | Microsoft 365 will have cheaper versions around the world. It is the result of antitrust pressure from the European Commission

characteristics, price, engine, charge, autonomy and technical sheet.

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“The Cayenne Electric marks the beginning of a new era for Porsche.” This is how it starts release that the German company has shared to detail the characteristics of its new SUV. And although it is a speech that sounds familiar to us from any presentation of any type of product, in this case it could not make more sense. On Halloween, Porsche presented its resultsand the figures were not good: losses of 967 million euros when, in 2024, they had had profits of 4,000 million. What has happened in these twelve months is that China has revolutionized the car scene with their electric. The Taycan has not been enoughwe had to react, and the answer is this Porsche Cayenne Electric. Why does an electric car have less autonomy than advertised? And it combines three elements that work: it is an SUV, it is electric and it is Porsche’s best-selling model. The new 100% electric Cayenne It has rained a lot since Porsche will launch the Cayenne in September 2002. It became the dream of many as it was one of the cars that James Bond could drive in the video game ‘all or nothing‘, and also the one preferred by the masses. The SUV has maintained its visual identity throughout the generations, and the electric one does not change too much a formula that has been proven to work. It is a little bigger: 55 millimetersto be exact. It measures 4,985 mm long, 1,980 mm wide and 1,674 mm high. The difference between the previous model and the electric one is greatest in the wheelbase, which is now 3,023 mm (13 millimeters longer than the previous one). And the trunk has a capacity of 90 liters for the front and between 781 and 1,588 liters in the main one, depending on how we configure the seats. If some sensations of the brand’s sportiness were already transmitted in the fuel models, in the new Cayenne Electric Porsche points directly to the Formula E. Before we get into that, it will arrive in two versions. On the one hand, the Cayenne Electric as access to the range: All-wheel drive. 408 HP (300 MW) in normal mode. 442 HP (325 MW) in Launch Control mode. Acceleration 0-100 in 4.8 seconds and maximum of 230 km/h. On the other hand, the Cayenne Electric Turbo: All-wheel drive. Up to 1,156 HP (850 MW) with Launch Control and 1,500 Nm of torque. In normal mode, 857 HP (630 MW) with ‘Push-to-Pass’ function that activates another 176 HP for 10 seconds. Acceleration from 0-100 in 2.5 seconds, from 0-200 in 7.4 seconds and maximum of 260 km/h. In addition to the power that each one delivers, there are important differences in both cooling and regeneration. The Turbo model, to withstand that power, has a direct oil cooling system for the rear axle motor. The goal is to ensure continuous high power. The ‘normal’ Electric model wants to be more efficient, and for that it has an energy regeneration system that returns charge to the battery with a power of up to 600 MW during braking. They claim that, in daily driving, around 97% of braking operations can be managed solely by electric motors. To get that one-pedal drive, wow. Both have adaptive air suspension as standard, but then there is the universe of extras. Both can be equipped with rear axle steering, something that turns the rear wheels 5º. Screens to power Inside, as it could not be otherwise, LEDs and screens reign. Even Mazda has given up on this and Porsche has ambient LEDs, a panoramic roof with variable light control and the aforementioned screens. On the front we have what they called Flow Display: a curved OLED panel integrated into the center console. It is complemented by a 14.25-inch fully digital instrument panel and a larger 14.9-inch instrument panel for the passenger. On the moon we have a head-up display that projects an effective 87-inch screen, showing information about what we have up to ten meters in front of the vehicle. Now, they have made an effort to comment that the most used controls, such as the climate control and the sound system volume controls, are physical. These screens are customizable using widgets, and we can also control some options using voice commands. They ensure that the software has a system of AI that “understands complex and interrelated queries, recognizes context and responds like a real interlocutor.” Arrives with ‘MagSafe’ Let’s go with the battery. This is a newly developed 113 kWh battery that allows a combined WLTP range of up to 642 km for the Cayenne Electric and up to 623 km for the Turbo model. For charging, it incorporates 800 volt technology with direct current charging capacity of up to 400 kW. According to the company, in these ideal conditions, it allows you to go from 10% to 80% in 16 minutes. In 10 minutes, you should have a range of 325 kilometers in the Cayenne and 315 km in the Cayenne Turbo. Now, the most peculiar thing is its inductive charge. It’s another extra, and one they focused on during the presentation at the IAA in Munich in early September. It is a platform on which we align the car so that it begins to charge with a power of up to 11 kW. You simply have to attach the plate to the ground and, when we park on it, the process begins. Price and launch of the Porsche Cayenne Electric Once the presentations are made, it’s time to look at the portfolio. The company has commented that orders are now accepted for the new model, which will arrive in the two aforementioned versions at the following price: Cayenne Electric: 108,296 euros. Cayenne Turbo Electric: 169,124 euros. And if you don’t want an electric one, Pôrsche assures that they will continue developing the Cayenne with hybrid and combustion propulsion systems “well into the next decade.” Of course, without additional details. … Read more

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