News

Rail commuters at Waterloo now have the use of a super-sized docking station designed to house 126 Boris Bikes – the first to be opened at a mainline railway station. There had been concerns that docking stations sited near to railway stations would empty or fill too quickly, but Transport for London says it is reacting to an...

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV is the only electric car eligible for a £5,000 grant that can be bought and driven away when the scheme launches next month, according to a list released by the government this week. The remaining cars on the list are available only to lease or have yet to go on sale. The government has committed £43m towards the...

A punitive import tax imposed on Chinese bicycle makers is adding 30 per cent to retail prices, according to Zhang Peisheng, senior commissioner from China Chamber of Commerce. The EU is deciding whether to extend the so-called anti-dumping duty on bicycles made in China to protect European bike brands. The EU has extended the duties twice,...

No one knows what type of bicycle will become the default choice for style conscious urban bikers when the craze for fixed gear bikes has run its course, but a good candidate would be the utilitarian Dutch bikes that have this week gone on sale in London. Online bicycle retailer anddutch.co.uk is the brainchild of Gert-Jan Baan, a Dutchman...

Bicycle accessories such as lights, computers and GPS devices could soon be powered by the heat generated by a cyclist’s body heat thanks to technology unveiled today by Fujitsu Laboratories. There is nothing new about solar-powered cycling devices, but the amount of power harvested is limited. Fujitsu Laboratories has been developing ways...

The electric car pioneers who buy the world’s first mass-produced car, the Nissan Leaf, in Britain next year can choose to pay less than £100 a week. The low residual value of current electric vehicles placed a question mark over the estimated running costs of the Leaf, but used-car experts have predicted it will retain a 47 per cent of its...

Mercedes cars will from next year have the ability at night and in poor visibility to detect cyclists and pedestrians long before the driver and pick them out with a spotlight. The Active Night View Assist Plus uses an infra-red camera to detect cyclists and pedestrians at a distance of up to 80m. They are then illuminated by one of the...

The early onset of freezing weather this year is likely to result in many new candidates for the dubious title of ‘Britain’s biggest pothole’ according to the Environmental Transport Association (ETA). Andrew Harmsworth earlier this year reported a mega-pothole 3-metres long, a metre wide on average and up to 6 inches deep, which he...

A kit that transforms any bicycle into a caterpillar track-driven snow bike has been imported from Canada by the Environmental Transport Association (ETA). The ETA was the first organisation to offer breakdown recovery for cyclists in Britain and now includes the service for free with its cycle insurance. The £600 K-Trak system is believed...

With overnight temperatures expected to plunge to well below zero across the country tonight and the harsh conditions expected to last until Friday at the earliest, drivers are being warned to prepare for potentially hazardous driving conditions. If you drive an older vehicle, cold temperatures can play havoc with your car – battery failure...