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

New Peugeot 308 SW (Estate) revealed

New Peugeot 308 SW (Estate) revealed The new Peugeot 308 has only just gone on sale in the UK, but Peugeot are ready with its load-lugging sibling – the Peugeot 308 SW Estate – revealed this morning ahead of a debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March. Peugeot aren’t telling us what the boot capacity of the new 308 SW is with the back seats down, but with the back seats up it offers 610 litres – more than rivals like the Golf and Focus Estates can manage – and Peugeot say the load space is particularly uncluttered too. The extra space is thanks to an increase in length of the Estate over the Hatch of 327mm – all in the boot area as the wheelbase stays the same as the hatch – with the same EMP2 platform as the Hatch making the Estate up to 140kg lighter too.

Gibbs launches new high-speed amphibian vehicles

Michigan-based Gibbs Technologies has released two new high-speed, commercial-grade amphibian vehicles, named the Phibian and the Humdinga. The Phibian is a 30-foot-long, nearly 12-foot-tall craft capable of highway speeds on land and more than 30 mph (26 knots) in the water. Constructed mainly of carbon fiber, the Phibian can hold up to 15 people, including a crew of three.