November 2009

No Electric Car Fleet For London Olympics

Has the Eelectric Car movement missed their biggest chance of having a world audience to view their wares?
News today, 18th. November, is that the Olympic committee will not be opting for a fleet of up to 4,000 cars powered by electric batteries, the reason being given is there was never a commitment to do so by them.
But what of car manufacturers, did not one of all the car makers have their eyes on the Olympic games as the perfect venue to advertise to the world?

What Goes Up Must Not Come Down

Throughout the history of roadside speed cameras the police and local authorities have always maintained that the cameras are positioned to deter accidents and not solely for revenue purposes.
That claim has now been shot to pieces.

Bilingual Road Signs. Kernow a’gas dynergh

Well done Cornwall Council for adopting a bilingual road sign policy.
As a Celt I am well used to dual language signage in Wales and also in Southern Ireland. Even in the days of pre Sat-Nav there was no problem in finding your destination in either country, you just read a map.

The “Road Train” Is A Late Arrival At The BBC

Today, Monday the 9th. November the BBC news website has features on both its Technology and Science and Environment pages which relate to “Road Trains”

Ford’s Inflatable Seatbelts

Ford of America will have a “world first” next year (2010) when they introduce their new inflatable seatbelts.
Testing has been carried out for using the new belts on rear seat passengers, these are most likely to be children or parents.
One big advantage of the new seat belts is in the increased body area they will cover which will be 5 times that of a normal belt, therefore spreading out the pressure when the air bags are inflated.

A Silent Success, but Unsafe?

The Electric Car, A Silent Success.
The pure electric car is with us now, albeit with limited range and performance, for average road cars, which illustrates the success motor engineers have achieved to date.
The benefits of electric cars are well known, the two main ones being non-dependence on fossil fuels and secondly their green credentials in the non-production of carbon gas emissions.

A Meaningless Green Test

Once again we have the results of another, quite meaningless, so called Green Challenge to discover which car is the so-called most fuel efficient.

What the Sat-Navs Didn’t See Coming

Stand by for a first by Google and Motorola. Between them these two companies have effectively put the skids, so to speak, under the whole car Sat-Nav business, and also to a degree (sorry about the pun) GPS devices.
Up to the present Tom-Tom and Garmin have carved up the markets but the release of the link up with Google and Motorola has seriously undermined their markets and share values.