Around the Industry

The call is made from Willson’s Drive the Future green motor show held this week at Motorexpo in London’s Canary Wharf. A World first, Drive the Future is the only motor show where ordinary motorists can ride and drive in electric, hybrid and high mpg cars, absolutely free.

The Cholmondeley Pageant of Power is the UK’s biggest celebration of power and speed, but that doesn’t mean that new, green technology will go ignored. The Trident Iceni, a brand new British Grand Tourer, promises 200 mph and 100 mpg and will be officially launched at Green-Car-Guide Live!, the area dedicated to green motoring at the Pageant.

Liberty Electric Cars has been able to secure the entire engineering team formerly employed at Modec – the Coventry based electric commercial vehicle manufacturer which entered administration in March of this year.

The IMI (Institute of the Motor Industry) has today emphasised the importance of raising skills in the industry to ensure employees meet the challenges caused by technological change.

Following the success of Peugeot's two RCZ race cars at the 2010 ADAC 24-hour endurance competition at the Nürburgring, Delphi Automotive and Peugeot have extended their motorsport cooperation.

UK automotive manufacturing output for the first quarter of 2011 was up across the board though the global impact of Japan’s earthquake was felt sharply here during the course of April. Car output fell 12.2%, commercial vehicle fell 19.9% and UK engine production dropped 4.7%.

Microsoft Corp. announced today that it signed a patent licensing agreement with Volkswagen Group’s software supplier e.solutions, giving the Germany-based company access to Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT) technology — the latest generation of Microsoft’s file system.

A123 Systems today announced a production agreement with Smith Electric Vehicles to supply battery modules for Smith's portfolio of zero-emission all-electric commercial vehicles. A123 expects to begin shipping its 5kWh automotive-class prismatic modules to Smith for integration into battery packs in the second half of 2011.

It is possible to achieve major environmental improvements. This is the conclusion drawn following the challenge that Volvo Trucks had earlier issued, namely ‘To cut its transport-related emissions from their transport operations by 20% before the end of 2010.’

Mitsubishi Motors in the UK are today delighted to support the launch of the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson’s scheme to implement electric charging points across London. The scheme, Source London, developed in conjunction with Transport for London, is set to deliver at least 1,300 public charging points across the city by 2013. This is part of the Mayor’s plan for London to become the electric vehicle capital of Europe, in-line with his commitment to improve air quality by introducing low and zero emission transport. Interestingly, once implementation is complete, it will mean that there will be more electric vehicle charging points in London than petrol stations.