02 03 04 05 Trailblazer Brake Master Cyl on 2040-parts.com

UK Government to add electric cars to its fleet – but don’t think the PM will be driving a Tesla Model S

The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV – the sort of car the Government will acquire The roll-out of electric cars has not been an exactly overwhelming success, with even the Government’s £5,000 bribe to get you to go electric failing to kick start electric car sales in a meaningful way. So the Lib Dem bit of the coalition has decided that the Government should lead by example and have declared that the Government Car Service – which supplies cars for ministers and ‘government’ use – will start to acquire electric cars from this Autumn and, as part of the £5 million scheme, the wider public sector will be involved with council, police and NHS fleets looking seriously at EVs. But this scheme is aimed at the sorts of government cars that do the daily grind; ferrying junior ministers, getting staff to meetings and making deliveries in commercial vehicles.

Cost of garage labour falling

THE AVERAGE labour rate at both franchised and non-franchised garages has fallen compared to 2012, according to new figures. An annual survey of 12,000 cases conducted on behalf of Warranty Direct has concluded that the average labour rate in 2013 is £74.70, a fall of 9.84% from £82.86 in 2012. Less encouraging is the overall trend of rising labour rates, with the average having increased by 33% over the last ten years.

BMW MegaCity Range Extender option

BMW MegaCity - Range Extender option A year ago, when BMW revealed the BMW Concept ActiveE 1-Series in Detroit we had a big old press release. And inside that press release was the small gem that the MegaCity part of BMW’s project-i would include drivetrains other than electric. We’re not sure BMW ever said that its MegaCity cars would be all electric, although we’re probably not alone in having assumed that.