News

A device has gone on sale that allows almost any small electrical appliance to be powered by a bicycle. The Cycle Charger clips onto any bicycle and will power or charge any device that can plug into the cigarette lighter outlet found in a car. The charger allows all manner of after-market devices to be fitted to a bicycle including an iPod...

Despite a recent drop in overall recorded crime, the latest statistics show that the number of bicycle thefts reported to the police has increased. The quarterly crime figures have revealed that in the three months to September 2009 there was a 7 per cent increase in bicycle theft; 34,600 bikes were reported stolen over this period. A...

If you spend the winter months on a turbo trainer (the cycling equivalent of a treadmill) or simply want to lower your home’s energy bills and carbon footprint, you may be in the market for the Pedal-a-Watt bicycle generator. If your bicycle has a 10-inch, or larger, rear wheel, it will fit into the generator’s stand. The rest is up to you....

If you spend more buying your car than the price of a house you may well be unconcerned by day-to-day running costs, but according to car valuation specialists Parkers Guides, the owner of a £300,000-plus Maybach 62 will in their first year of ownership lose an eye-watering £127,000 in depreciation. Parkers based its calculations on a...

The Aston Martin Cygnet, a concept city car that shares its running gear with the Toyota iQ, has taken another step towards production amid speculation that the finished article could be a battery-powered electric vehicle. The prototype features a striking re-working of the stock iQ, with modified bodywork and luxury interior, but little...

A new study by the University of Oxford predicts that the number of cars on the world’s roads in twenty years will double to 2 billion, but that electric vehicles will account for only a small percentage of the overall fleet in the medium to long-term. The study suggests that car companies are raising false hopes of emission-free motoring...

An eight-mile bicycle wheelie completed this week by Aaron Stannage, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire is likely to earn the 14-year-old a place in the record books. It will take Guinness World Records officials a few weeks to determine whether Aaron has established a new record, but it is thought that this is the first time anyone had...

A 7.5-mile section of road in east London, which is to be permanently monitored by average-speed cameras, is likely to earn the enviable reputation of being the only road in Britain on which speeding is not endemic. Average-speed cameras work by capturing the details of a vehicle at numerous points and then calculating its average speed...

With much of the talk at this week’s Detroit Motor Show focused on electric-only vehicles, the new Volkswagen Compact Coupe Concept gave a tantalising glimpse of the performance and fuel efficiency possible from a hybrid car driven by a petrol engine working in tandem with a battery-powered electric motor. Sub 100g/km motoring The VW...

If you can overlook its three-wheel configuration, its lack of a conventional steering wheel and the absence of any doors then the £4,000 BugE on display this week at the Detroit Motor Show is a good candidate for the title of cheapest electric car in the world. There is now a range of electric cars on sale that is indistinguishable in...