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New technology is always expensive when it first goes on sale, but the £33,699 price announced by Mitsubishi for its i-MiEV electric car seems high, especially when compared to a ‘clean diesel’ such as the 83.1mpg, 90g/km car VW Bluemotion Polo at £14,500. Mitsubishi accepts that the price of the i-MiEV is high, but if a sustainable source...

An all-electric version of the popular Fiat 500 is to be launched onto the American market in 2012. Fiat does not currently have a presence in America so may choose to brand the car as a Chrysler as it owns a 20 per cent stake in the company. The Fiat 500 EV will be on the market in time to provide competition for the Nissan Leaf and BMW’s...

Tyre manufacturer Goodyear hopes to dramatically reduce the 26 litres of oil it takes to make the average car tyre by introducing a new plant-derived substance called BioIsoprene, which can be made from renewable sources such as sugar cane. BioIsoprene will be used to supplement isoprene, a by-product in the production of crude oil, that is...

The world’s best selling electric car, the four-seater GEM, is now available to buy in Britain. 40,000 of the vehicles have already been sold around the world. The car has proved popular with those needing a quiet, clean and cost-effective way of travelling up to thirty miles in a day; police forces, the military and NASA are among the...

A group of MPs yesterday defied the law by riding a convoy of Segways on London roads. The protest aimed to question why the use of such vehicles is currently illegal in Britain on roads, pavements or parks – in other words, anywhere other than on private property. Lembit Opik MP has been lobbying the Government to allow electric personal...

Bamboo has been used to make bicycle frames for more than 100 years, but while the material is lightweight, environmentally friendly and cheap to produce, its use is usually confined to basic models for the developing world or prohibitively expensive designer bikes. The latest range of bamboo bicycles from California bike builders,...

Dramatic footage of a car being pushed along a motorway by tanker lorry, the driver of which seemingly unaware of the situation, is a reminder of the danger posed by vehicles with blind spots. According to police who confirm they attended an incident On January 13 on the southbound A1 near Wetherby involving a blue Renault Clio and a HGV,...

Nissan has announced that its plant at Sunderland is to manufacture the Leaf, the world’s first mass-produced electric car. The company is investing £420m in a new factory at the facility to provide batteries for the estimated 50,000 examples of the car it plans to turn out each year. The Nissan site will start production in 2013 when it...

The Japanese have trumped mass cycle hire schemes such as the Velib in Paris and the forthcoming, but as yet unnamed, London scheme with solar-powered electric bike share stations capable of operating completely independently of the national grid. Following the success of its bicycle hire scheme, Paris plans to offer electric cars that...

Nissan plans to undercut the price of the Mitsubishi i-Miev and sell its Leaf five-seater electric car in Japan for £24,500 – £28,000 (Y3m-Y4m) according to the leading Japanese newspaper, Mainichi Shimbun. The i-Miev is currently priced at around £32,200 (Y4.6m) If the Leaf keeps a price of £24,500 when it arrives in Britain it will cost...