Euro and green NCAP

A few thoughts about New Car Assessment Programmes. Euro NCAP is the long-running European car safety testing scheme initiated in 1997, which the UK still recognises, since Brexit. The 2001 Renault Laguna, with four airbags, was the first car given five stars for occupant safety, yet the car would fail to get a single Euro NCAP […]

Post Brexit angst

I came across some rather disturbing facts recently, in Diesel and Eco Car, indirectly relating to the EU and its ecological policies. As a previous “Remainer”, I began to have second thoughts, and doubts, as the so-called Brexit negotiations dragged on and on. I began to detect a strong vein of nastiness within the EU, particularly […]

The solid-state electric vehicle battery

Current lithium-ion (Li-ion) electric vehicle battery technology and production is continually being refined, and has progressively reduced battery costs over recent years, but rising raw material costs now threaten that progress. Projections of data showing falling Li-ion battery costs over a decade are being made when there’s no certainty of past performance being replicated. With […]

The future of British service stations

Possibly some of our readers have seen the recent short television series about the M6 northbound and southbound motorway service stations at Tebay, in the Lake District. It’s a real eye-opener, and you can’t help thinking when the credits are playing out “Why can’t all motorway services be like that?” Fortunately, they are not alone, […]

A classic denied diesel

Something recently resparked my interest and admiration for the 1955 Citroën DS, the first mass production car with disc brakes, and so many other engineering firsts that made it a totally ground-breaking design. Aside from the engineering, the innovation in styling alone is stunning in comparison to its immediate predecessor, the much-admired Citroën Light 15, […]