1964-1981 Corvette Washer Shifter Rod Swivel Pair on 2040-parts.com

Better Place EV Battery Swap business goes bust

It seemed like a good idea: take the cost of batteries out of the cost of buying an electric car and instead charge EV owners to use ‘Battery Swap’ stations where depleted batteries could be swapped for fully charged ones in the time it takes to fill an ICE car with petrol. But it’s all gone a bit Pete Tong. Better Place – which partnered with Renault in 2009 to make the battery swap technology viable – has failed to find anyone to add to the $750 million already involved in the project and has filed for bankruptcy.

CAR interviews BMW design chief Adrian van Hooydonk (2009)

By Guy Bird Motor Industry 03 November 2009 09:22 CAR: Chris Bangle once told a great story about sending BMW designers to study with an origami master to gain influence. Judging by the Vision EfficientDynamics concept it looks like you were on that trip? Adrian van Hooydonk: I didn’t go along but in the recent past our designers have experimented with a lot of things – folded metal, folded paper, even plywood – and on this concept car maybe all of that came to fruition.

McLaren tease the New F1 (P12)

With a debut at the Paris Motor Show on 27th September, McLaren releases the first teaser photo of their new hypercar. We’ve been anticipating the reveal of the new McLaren F1 – the McLaren P12 – for some time, and expected it to appear at Pebble Beach last month. The new car at Pebble Beach turned out to be the McLaren X-1 (although McLaren did take an iPad presentation of the new F1 for the delectation of the privileged few) but now we know for certain that the new McLaren will get its public debut at the 2012 Paris Motor Show.