05-07 08 09 Pontiac G6 Front Bumper Upper Grille Inner Black Coated Metal Net Lh on 2040-parts.com

Best Western Hotels rolling out EV charging points in the UK

We’re electric car sceptics – or at least sceptical about their ability to replace the ICE car as our principal form of personal transport – although EVs do have their place as runarounds in urban areas, where their limited range isn’t really a factor. But taking your EV off for a weekend jaunt does pose logistical problems when the average range is probably no more than 80 miles, and something worth making the effort for a weekend away is almost always going to be further away than that. But a bit of smart marketing by Best Western Hotels – a group of 270 or so independently run hotels round the UK – means EV drivers will soon be able to plot their weekend away on the basis of Best Western Hotels en route, with Best Western planning on fitting EV charging points in their car parks, with half their hotels having free charging points by September.

Renault Megane CC (2010): first teaser photo

Renault today issued the first teaser photograph of the new 2010 Megane Coupe-Cabriolet. It’ll be shown on 2 March 2010 at the Geneva motor show in Switzerland, but we’ll have to wait until then to learn anything of substance about the new Megane convertible. It’ll stick with a folding hard top, but this shadowy teaser shot annoys as much as any restricted pre-publicity hype-up: we can’t really see much at all.

Car buying, minus the dealership

“Test drives delivered” is the motto of Tred, a Seattle-based startup that's taking the car dealership out of the car-buying process -- at least from the shopper's perspective. Wired.com reported Thursday that by accessing Tred via the Web or an iPad app, shoppers will be able to select the cars they want to test-drive and have them delivered to the location of their choice. Each car is then delivered by a Tred staffer rather than a dealership salesperson.