Huge storm batters South West

A MAJOR storm has battered southern parts of the UK, with winds of almost 100mph causing flooding and major travel disruption. The Met Office said wind reached more than 99mph on the Isle of Wight at 5am and the Environment Agency has issued 14 flood warnings for the South West, as well as 146 flood alerts for the rest of England and Wales. Both Severn bridges are closed, the A249 Sheppey Crossing in Kent is closed due to strong winds and there are 30mph speed limits on the Dartford Crossing in Kent There are also widespread reports of local roads in Cornwall, Dorset, Hampshire and Sussex blocked or closed due to fallen trees and flash flooding.

2014 Lexus RC Coupe revealed

The new Lexus RC Coupe (pictured) debuts at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show It was back in July that the new Lexus RC Coupe was confirmed for a debut at this year’s Tokyo Motor show and now, with Tokyo just a few weeks away, Lexus has revealed the RC Coupe. The RC Coupe gets an evolution of the Lexus design language – more akin to its recent concept models than production cars – with a heavily contoured shape and the big Lexus spindle grill and lights that look like they’ve taken their inspiration from the LF-LC Concept. There’s also a choice of 18″ and optional 19″ alloys, with the 18″ looking butch and the 19″ elegant.

Better Place Electric Car visitor centre opens

Better Place have opened a visitor centre in Israel to demonstrate their battery swap technology for electric cars Last October we wrote about a start-up company in Israel – Better Place – that had a new way forward for electric cars by taking the purchase of battery packs out of the equation, and was developing a system for ‘Battery Swap’ stations where electric car owners could drive in and swap their battery pack for a fully-charged one in a few minutes. That story first brought to our attention our favourite quote of last year – by Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn – who said “A hybrid is like a mermaid: if you want a fish, you get a woman; if you want a woman, you get a fish.” Which probably explained why Nissan – and its partner Renault – got involved with Better Place. Better Place aims to address the main concerns of electric car drivers by making the battery packs in electric cars ‘swappable’.