Power Inverter 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.

USED VALUES HOLD STEADY

THERE was no change in the value of the average used car between October and November 2010, according to new figures from BCA. November values were down £111 year-on-year and remained at £5,792 There was a slight increase in the volume of used vehicles reaching the market in November, but not enough to provoke any change. A seasonal lack of interest on the market is to blame for the lack of fluctuation as well as travel difficulties created by the cold weather, according to BCA, and the drop off in demand is likely to remain into December.

Concept Car of the Week: Buick Y-Job (1938)

Welcome to the first in a new, regular, series of features in which we highlight an important, forgotten or just plain cool concept car each week. Concept cars have thrilled and inspired for decades, testing the limits in terms of technology and design and shaping the ways cars are designed today. They're the pinnacle of our art and probably the thing that first piqued your interest in car design.