A Current Affair

Already used in computers and other electronics, the e-fuse is finding a home in automotive applications, kicking the classic blade-style fuse to the curb.

- David Gluckman

LIKE ODOR-EATERS in workout shoes, a fuse doesn't call attention to itself until it stops working. These circuit breakers have two states: letting power flow or abruptly interrupting that flow due to a spike in current. To fix your car in the event of the latter, you must first find the fuse itself and then attempt to remove the thing with the often uncooperative small tweezers an automaker provides for such extractions. But it doesn't have to be this way.

Enter the e-fuse. All fuses deal in electricity, but here, the "e" prefix refers to the device's connected nature. E-fuses, which are placed into a computer chip, function like a mash-up of a fuse and a relay (basically an electrically powered switch) but with way more brains.