Arias Pistons 12.5:1 Compression 82mm Bore Honda B-series 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.

Chrysler's new 300C John Varvatos Edition ad

Anybody remember Polocore? That weird little moment in the mid-'90s when a sect of hardcore kids were all decked out in Ralph Lauren finery? What seemed incongruous in '95 was simple, unvarnished fact a dozen years later, when it was announced that former Ralph Lauren designer John Varvatos would open a flagship boutique in the space formerly occupied by CBGB's.

Rolls Royce RR4 spotted

Rolls Royce RR4 (Rolls Royce Ghost?) caught testing before its unveiling at Geneva [ad#ad-1] This is a busy time for testers of upcoming cars in chilly climes. We’ve recently seen the next generation Porsche 911 (998) and Boxster out in the snow, and this time it’s the turn of the new ‘Baby’ Rolls Royce, the RR4. The new Rolls Royce (which is codenamed RR4 internally, but could well be the Rolls Royce Ghost) is based on the underpinnings of the latest BMW 7 series.