National Cycle Speedometer Cowl N7840 on 2040-parts.com

Feds researching fire risks from EV batteries, regulator says

Federal safety regulators have begun an $8.75 million study of whether lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles pose a potential fire hazard, officials said Thursday. Kevin Vincent, chief counsel of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said researchers are looking at whether the high-voltage batteries can cause fires when they are being charged and when the vehicles are in an accident.

Who's Where: Richard Ferlazzo appointed GM Australia design director

Richard Ferlazzo has been appointed General Motors Australia design director. Taking up the position from 1 September, he will report directly to executive director international operations design Michael Simcoe and also GM Holden chairman and managing director Mike Devereux. Ferlazzo will be responsible for Advanced, Production and Global Contract programs and replaces Andrew Smith who left Holden this month to take up the position of executive director of global Cadillac and Buick design at GM's technical center in Warren, Michigan.

Infiniti M35h Hybrid revealed

The Infiniti M35h Hybrid We’ve had the regular Infiniti M saloon launched recently and this month has seen the release of prices and specs for the Infiniti M30d, the much needed diesel version of the Infiniti M. Much needed because without it Infiniti are probably dead in the water in Europe. But this is 2010 and car makers are obsessed with all things green.