Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series on 2040-parts.com

Electric cars must get noisier, ICE cars must get quieter

Electric cars will have to make a noise to protect pedestrians It’s four years since the Lotus solution for making electric cars noisy raised its head, since when the US has had a go at the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act in 2010 to do the same thing, the Japanese are playing too, and Toyota revealed the Prius Vehicle Notification System, and now the EU has decided its time to act to make EVs emit ‘noise’. Despite the most appealing part of an EV being that it makes our cities quieter, legislators worry about the blind, partially sighted and distracted pedestrian (think earphones and a Smartphone) being mowed down by a stalking electric car and feel the need to act. So the European Parliament has decided that by 2019 new models of electric vehicle will have to make a noise in cities, and that by 2021 all new hybrids and electrics must be noisy too.

Tweaked 2012 Toyota Prius starts at £21,350

2012 Toyota Prius - on sale in March The mildly revised 2012 Toyota Prius arrives in the UK. Starting at £21,350 it offers a mild cosmetic tweak and better specification. It’s hard to get too excited about the tweaks to the 2012 Toyota Prius, as Toyota hasn’t exactly pushed the boat out to overhaul the Prius for the new year. But tweaks there are and the new Prius is ready for the UK market.

Art Center College of Design - Next Lunar Rover

Students in their fifth and sixth terms at Art Center College of Design created their visions for the 'Next Lunar Rovers' in a project sponsored by NASA. The design brief, which tasked students with designing the optimal lunar rover for the next moon mission, called for the designs to support the unique functional challenges of such a vehicle while inspiring everyone that sees it to want to go for a drive on the moon. The designs were also meant to serve as an icon to jumpstart interest of the public in lunar expeditions.