News Archives - August 2011

The world’s first all-electric limousine

Hollywood actors and environmentally-aware hen parties have extra cause to celebrate today with news that the Nissan Leaf is to be available as the world’s first all-electric stretched limousine.

Mobile upgrade: the hydrogen car you lease like an iPhone

For the automotive industry, the principle financial drivers are that the car be as expensive as possible, as unreliable and high maintenance as possible, for the customer to keep it for as short a time as possible and that the car have as short a life thereafter. Furthermore, they have no direct interest in fuel consumption or vehicle security. In short, directly the opposite of the interests of the customer.

If apple designed bicycle racks

!>/files/images/IMG_0114.JPG! The hand-knitted cycle rack ‘socks’ I snapped earlier this month encapsulate for me both the joy and frustration of cycling.

The bicycle tyre that is self-inflating

A new design of self-inflating bicycle tyre promises to do away with the need to ever carry a pump. The PumpTire design draws air through a valve into a thin tube, called a lumen, which runs around outside of the tyre. As the wheels turns, the air inside the lumen is forced into the tyre and inner tube. The rider can even alter the tyre pressure with a simple adjustment to a dial on the handlebars.

LED there be light, for bicycle wheels

The advent of LED technology has resulted in bicycle lights that are more compact, efficient and bright than ever before. Not only are lights more powerful – the latest crop of LED, Xenon strobe and high-intensity discharge (HID) bicycle lights are rated at over 2000 lumens, which is more powerful than a car headlamp – they are being used more creatively. Lights are available that can be clipped onto belts or incorporated into “jackets”:/2010/02/24/diy-cycling-jackets-flash-light and even “gloves”:/2011/01/06/gloves-inbuilt-leds-ideal-winter-cycling, and two new designs from America see them built into bicycle wheels.