News

French newspapers this week claim that professional riders have competed in high-profile races using a bicycle secretly equipped with an electric motor and batteries. Journalist at L’Equipe newspaper, Philippe Brunel, reports that the stealth bicycle weighs little more than a conventional bike and has a motor and electric battery concealed...

It’s big, difficult to manoeuvre and at £500 for a tyre change, expensive to maintain, but what is good for the urban SUV driver must be good for the cyclist wanting to make an impression in the city. The rider of a penny farthing may enjoy an elevated view, but just as with 4×4 cars, the high centre of gravity can result in the machine...

British motorists are paying £440m in unnecessary fuel bills each year because they fail to keep their car tyres properly inflated, according to research by Michelin. A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “Everyone wants to save money, but of greater concern incorrectly inflated tyres in Britain result in...

On Sunday 5th September 2010, an estimated 70,000 cyclists will take to traffic-free streets as part of this year’s London Freewheel, the annual cycling event currently branded as ‘Sky Ride’ as part of a sponsorship deal. The event forms part of London’s ‘Year of Cycling’, the mayor’s £116m-initiative that includes funding for the London...

A group of engineers from Taiwan believes that drink riding is likely to be such a problem in the future that electric bikes will need a built-in breathalyzer. The bicycle built at Chienkuo Technology University includes innovations such as an electric motor to drive each wheel and handlebar warmers, but the most notable feature is a...

The Royal Academy of Engineering has calculated that ten nuclear power stations would need to be built if Britain’s cars were to switch from petrol to electricity. An earlier report by European transport lobby group, T&E, found that the environmental benefits to be had from a switch to electric vehicles were dependent not only on...

An electric car powered by 8,320 laptop batteries this week drove 1000km on a single charge. The Japan Electric Vehicle Club took a stock Daihatsu Mira and replaced its petrol engine with an electric motor powered by Sanyo lithium-ion batteries of the kind normally found in laptop computers. The record-breaking drive took almost 28 hours at...

One day in and my surviving without a car has been quite lightweight – I didn’t set my alarm early enough, and luckily sweet talked a friend into giving me a lift to work. I had a meeting in London, which would usually involve driving to the station from the office and then getting the train to. I got a lift to the station and did my...

A team of French students has built a single-seat diesel-powered car with CO2 emmisions of 0.88g/km – less than one per cent of that produced the most recent Toyota Prius hybrid (89g/km). The car competed in the Shell Eco marathon in Germany earlier this month and achieved an impressive 8,372mpg – the equivalent of driving from London to...

The Meguru electric trike is a low-speed urban runabout built from lacquered recycled iron, bamboo and washi paper – a car that you can throw on the compost heap when it reaches the end of its life. The Meguru is a new breed of electric vehicle intended for use in Japanese towns. It is barely heavier than a cycle rickshaw and has a range of...