News

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...

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...

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...

Mobile phone manufacturers may get away with making a different type of plug for every design of handset, but this would not be acceptable where electric cars are concerned. With this in mind, Toyota and Nissan have set up a working group to establish an international standard for electric car fast-charging stations. The group calls itself...

The Shadow e-bike is the first electric bicycle to feature wireless throttle and brakes. The wireless brakes are applied like any other system, but when the brake lever is squeezed, a signal is sent to a controller to stop the motor. In common with a Segway, the Shadow is slowed using its motor – a process that provides a charge to the...

Bicycle parking spaces at the Palace of Westminster have been scrapped to make more room for ministerial cars. Covered bicycle racks in the Star Chamber Courtyard have been removed and replaced by parking for Government ministers’ cars, many of which are left with their engines running for hours while they wait for their passengers,...

The planned £17.4 bn high-speed railway between London and Birmingham is unlikely to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 0.3 per cent of current emissions from transport. The Department for Transport describes the London-to-Birmingham route as ‘carbon neutral’. The London to Birmingham route is planned to open in 2026 and is part of a larger...

Two designs of future aircraft publicised this week illustrate contrasting visions for the future of flight. The first is a petrol-powered personal jetpack that manages 5mpg, whilst the other is a concept design zero-emissions electric airship able to carry multiple passengers. The Zep’lin is a result of crystal ball gazing by industrial...

The European Commission is being taken to court by a coalition of environmental groups over its refusal to release data on the negative impact of widespread biofuel use in the EU. European member states are required by law to use renewable sources to meet 10% of their transport needs by 2020, which will be met in large part through the use...