Dea/ttpa A2715 Transmission Mount on 2040-parts.com

Better Place EV Battery Swap business goes bust

It seemed like a good idea: take the cost of batteries out of the cost of buying an electric car and instead charge EV owners to use ‘Battery Swap’ stations where depleted batteries could be swapped for fully charged ones in the time it takes to fill an ICE car with petrol. But it’s all gone a bit Pete Tong. Better Place – which partnered with Renault in 2009 to make the battery swap technology viable – has failed to find anyone to add to the $750 million already involved in the project and has filed for bankruptcy.

Range Rover Hybrids reach midpoint of Silk Trail route to Mumbai

While cars from other automakers were basking on the soft carpets at the Frankfurt motor show, with fingerprints being wiped almost hourly from their glistening paint jobs, a trio of Range Rover Hybrid prototypes were taking the long way to Mumbai. And not just the long way, but the tough way. Twenty-two days after departing Land Rover's home in Solihull, England, a team of Range Rovers has reached the midpoint of their journey along one of the historic Silk Trail routes to Mumbai, India.

Lamborghini plans LM002 successor

By Georg Kacher Motor Industry 27 November 2006 10:48 Lamborghini has finally cast its new plans in stone, after much heated debate. And the plan is to replace the core supercars, before adding an SUV to the range. Although the Bologna-based sports car maker is now writing its balance sheets in black ink, the modest funds still don't suffice to generate a new standalone model like the proposed Espada - at least not for the time being.