Environment

A High Court judge has ruled that BBC’s Top Gear did not libel the Tesla roadster when it showed the electric sportscar run out of charge on a racetrack.Justice Tugendhat decided that no Top Gear viewer would reasonably believe that the Tesla’s performance on a racetrack would be comparable to the American EV’s performance on real roads, under real driving conditions.Despite losing the battle, Tesla is determined to win the war and will continue to sue the Beeb’s most saleable asset for ‘malicious falsehood’ amid claims it made five false claims about the model.The major issue for Tesla surrounding the...

Over 300bhp, 0-60mph acceleration times of less than 3.5 seconds and top speeds over 200mph – welcome to the world of the electric car.The Nissan Leaf may be receiving all the plaudits for being the first mass-produced, family-size electric car to arrive in the UK, but it isn’t the only electric car to make headlines in the past few months.Car makers are pouring money into electric car technology (Nissan alone is investing $5bn into electric technology over the next five years) and one way to get customers and critics onside is to create stunning electric sports cars and supercars capable...

If there's one thing that Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff likes more than getting steaming drunk, appropriating a pedalo and nearly drowning in the sea playing cricket, it's saving up to one litre of fuel per tank from the very first fill, at no extra cost.We know this because Shell has provided this entertaining image of The Flint clearly enjoying a spot of forecourt grunt work. It's promoting Shell's new fuels, Shell FuelSave Unleaded and Diesel, that will replace standard Shell Unleaded and Shell Diesel and are designed to help motorists drive more fuel efficiently.And as part of educating Fred on compression...

Nissan has designed a set of sounds for the Leaf electric car after concerns silent-running cars could be a danger to the visually impaired.In response, the manufacturer has developed a set of sounds to warn pedestrians of the whereabouts of the Sunderland-built model.Nissan says the sound was developed by cognitive and acoustic psychologists to develop theSystem – named in a ‘does what it says on the tin’ style as the Approaching Vehicle Sound for Pedestrians system.The sound will be louder when the car is started and will change when the vehicle is in reverse to an intermittent sound. We’ll let...

Biofuel folly, daring milk float raid foiled, EVs are too quiet, 70-year-old one-man supercar wrecker and Lady Victoria Hervey gets out of a car.Time to think again on biofuelsIt's never been clear to me whether first-generation biofuels offer any advantage over fossil fuels – and the more evidence that comes to light the more that opinion seems to be validated.Any claims for the efficacy of biofuels seem to be predicated on the ability of biofuel crops sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere as they grow, as the actual tailpipe emissions are generally as high, if not higher, than for petrol...

This week opinion turns against scrappage, rubbish car parking spaces, Mazda's new advert for the CX-7 and offensive number plates.Car industry announces scrappage whinge extensionSo, there's been a lot of talk recently about the downsides of the scrappage scheme, following the news that Lord Mandelson has managed to secure a £100m extension to the cash-for-scrap scheme.Whether it's garages or fleet operators, or just car journos having a bit of a pompous rant, it seems like everyone has got an opinion on scrappage - and opinion seems to be turning.Hold on, who's this? Why it's the great British public declaring that...

The news that Nissan is to call its new electric car the Leaf is likely to elicit groans from anyone interested in cars. The attempt to connect the Japanese new electric car with some vague form of ecology is as banal as it is predictable.Believe it or not a lot of thought goes into these names, with well-received names a big factor in purchasing. Ever wonder why Ford and VW have stuck with names like the Fiesta and Golf for decades? And why Vauxhall ditched the Vectra moniker for its new Insignia saloon?A good name is something to hang on...

This week, there's road tax confusion, clamping scams, more unlikely celeb tie-ins and snakes under the bonnet.Fuel duty confusion escalatesThe AA is getting all worked up because the government isn't raking in as much fuel duty as it used to, due to decreased use of petrol and diesel among car owners.There was a two per cent drop in fuel duty revenue in Q1 of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, despite an increase in fuel duty in December 2008, with 212,000 fewer tonnes of petrol and 220,000 tonnes fewer of diesel in the first three months of 2009.“What...

The GM/Segway PUMA seems to have taken the internet by storm today, being proclaimed as the future of urban transportation.A perfect storm of economic and environmental crises and an apparent tipping-point consensus on sustainability and alternative transport seem to be conspiring to consign the humble internal-combustion engine car to the scrapyard of oblivion.All of which seems to pave the way for a new form of transport. Hybrids and EVs seem to be the way things are going, but the sheer size of cars that run on batteries is as much the problem as their traditional counterparts' reliance on fossil fuels.A...

Cow pats, coffee beans, deceased cats and dirty nappies might not sound the sort of stuff you want to fill your car with, but there’s no arguing alternative fuels need some applied lateral thinking as well as logical.The lengths some people go to in pushing the alternate fuel energy boundaries is applaudable. Laughable in some cases, but still worth d’othing your cap of reason to all the same. Although some don’t seem to have immediate implications to cars, delving a little deeper beneath the surface and using your noggin allows us all to see into the future of alternative fuels...