Trailfx 8713h - Smoke Hood Protector on 2040-parts.com

Electric cars to be powered by AA-style batteries

A NEW COMPANY is claiming its new design of battery could see future electric cars powered by batteries no bigger than the current AA size. LipraLoof Techologies Ltd, a new start-up, has teamed up with City Car Club to trial the new technology in its fleet of vehicles. The new batteries use a complex mix of metal hydrates to create a quad, or 4A battery, which produces far more power than a standard battery.

VW will build small run of XL1 plug-in hybrid

Volkswagen will begin production of its XL1 plug-in hybrid in two years. "We want to go into series production with this car starting in 2013," VW chairman Ferdinand Piech told Automotive News Europe on Tuesday at an event in Doha, Qatar, ahead of the 2011 Qatar auto show where VW unveiled an XL1 prototype. (a href="http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130221/GENEVA/130229972">Read the latest update here announcing the XL1 hybrid's Geneva Auto Show debut).

Honda Jazz / Honda Fit recall – faulty electric window switch

Honda is recalling the Jazz/Fit to replace faulty electric window switches It’s not exactly on the scale of the Toyota recall for a sticking throttle, but nevertheless the announcement by Honda that they are recalling almost 650,000 (MY 2002-2008) Honda Fits (that’s the Honda Jazz in the UK) around the world is another blow to a Japanese car maker just as the worst of the auto industry woes of the last year or two seem to be easing. The European Honda Jazz recall seems only to affect RHD cars, so it looks like it’s just the UK that needs a fix to the master window switch on the driver’s door on 171,00 models here. If the window gets left open for long periods – or if there are long periods of heavy rain – water can get in to the switch and cause it to malfunction and, at worst, catch fire.