Antonov's 3-speed transmission for electric vehicles boosts efficiency by 15 percent

Electric vehicles have been a reality for more than 100 years, but it's only in the last decade or so that the world has truly woken up to their potential as a viable, cleaner urban transport alternative to their combustion engined cousins.

During this EV renaissance much of the focus has been on developing improved power sources like batteries and fuel cells in order to deliver the range and performance consumers have become accustomed to during the age of oil.

Transmissions on the other hand, despite being so important in the ICE space, hardly rate a mention because the wide torque curve of electric motors makes them largely irrelevant. It could be time to rethink that approach according to U.K. based engineering firm Antonov.

The company has produced a 3-speed transmission designed specifically for electric vehicles that promises to bring significant efficiency gains and a better driver experience.

The company's Business Development Manager Dave Paul outlined these benefits in a presentation at the IDTechEX Electric vehicles conference this week in Stuttgart.

ESA spacecraft performing well in orbit

The European Space Agency's Proba-2 spacecraft platform is in its second week in orbit and scientists say its operational health is excellent.

The mini-spacecraft and the ESA's SMOS satellite were launched aboard the same rocket Nov. 2 from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia. Proba-2 is designed to demonstrate 17 advanced satellite technologies while observing the sun and the plasma environment in orbit, the space agency said.

The next step for Proba-2, which is expected to reach operational status within two months, is the commissioning of its many new technological payloads. The mini-satellite is among the smallest ever flown by ESA.

SMOS, ESA's full-sized Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity spacecraft, will require more time to check and calibrate its equipment, the ESA said.