01 Porsche 986 911 Boxster Top Motor Drive Bosch 986.624.117.00 36,628 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.

Top Gear Series 21: The tease begins, but when does the new series of Top Gear start?

Top Gear Series 21 – the tease begins (video below) The new series of Top Gear – Series 21 – is due to start some time soon, although exactly when is still a little in doubt as the BBC are staying tight-lipped. That said, they have released the first – very short – tease video (below) for the new series with Jeremy Clarkson sitting in what looks like a VW up! moaning about the number of lorries he’s encountering.

Jaguar XF Sportbrake: Geneva 2012

Jaguar XF Sportbrake at Geneva The Jaguar XF Sportbrake – Jaguar’s new XF Estate – has debuted officially at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. After an age of expectation that Jaguar would build an XF Estate, we finally got the XF Sportbrake revealed in its Twitter camouflage last year, and a full reveal (finally) about a week ago. But now we get the chance to see the XF Sportbrake in the flesh at Geneva - and it doesn’t disappoint.