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The Brompton is popular with city commuters because of the way it can be carried on public transport and then quickly folded and stored under a desk, so it is surprising that there is currently only one supplier of child seats for the bicycle. The SP Brompton Child Seat clamps around the saddle stem and the child’s saddle is supported by a...

Less than one in two primary school children now walk to school. In the three years to 1991 the proportion of children aged under 10 walking to school in Britain was 62 per cent, but this has now dropped to 48 per cent according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). By contrast, the proportion of children...

It is a marriage intended to spawn a global electric car brand of the future; automotive giant Daimler AG is teaming up with rechargeable battery specialists BYD to produce electric vehicles for Chinese car market. China-based BYD supplies over half the world’s rechargeable mobile phone batteries and already has an electric vehicle...

The latest electric car promises not only to cut emissions and reduce fuel costs, but save on the cost of gym membership; the HumanCar Imagine converts the rowing motion of the driver and up to three passengers into speeds of up to 25mph. The rowing action provides the car’s occupants with brisk exercise whilst at the same time charging a...

Motorcycle couriers who brave the roads come wind or shine have long used handlebar muffs, but they are not readily available for cyclists – the designers of the BarBra are hoping to change that. The BarBra is a waterproof nylon wind guard that attaches to the handlebar stem to shield the rider’s hands from cold air and rain. Yannick Read...

The environmental impact of clearing forests to make way for biofuel crops is such that using fossil fuel in cars is better for the environment than biofuels made from crops such as palm oil. Under the minimum sustainability standard set by the European Commission, biofuel should reduce emissions by at least 35 per cent compared with fossil...

It’s the perfect web tool for aspiring bike fitters, but it’s just as well suited to daydreaming cyclists who want to design their perfect ride; BikeCAD is a parametric computer-aided design (CAD) tool for do-it-yourself bicycle frame design. The Bicycle Forest website has several free-applet versions of the program with which to undertake...

The Department for Transport will from January 2011 provide grants worth £5,000 against the cost of a fully electric or plug-in hybrid car. In order to qualify for the grant, the amount claimed must not represent more than 25 per cent of the cost of the car. Furthermore, the vehicle must have a range of at least 70 miles, a minimum top...

A designer has used off-the-shelf electronics to create a cycling jacket with built-in indicator lights that are operated by a switch on each cuff. The indicators work in exactly the same way as they do on a car by flashing individually or together. The lighting system does not make the jacket cumbersome to wear as the components are...

If traffic congestion was an Olympic discipline then London, with its average speed of around 12mph, would be favourite for gold in 2012. As things stand, the city will need to employ creative solutions to avoid traffic chaos during the Olympics in 2012 according to the Environmental Transport Association (ETA). Warning from Vancouver...