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Electric cars to be powered by AA-style batteries

A NEW COMPANY is claiming its new design of battery could see future electric cars powered by batteries no bigger than the current AA size. LipraLoof Techologies Ltd, a new start-up, has teamed up with City Car Club to trial the new technology in its fleet of vehicles. The new batteries use a complex mix of metal hydrates to create a quad, or 4A battery, which produces far more power than a standard battery.

Chris Bangle Associates announces 'Illustrate the Future' design competition

Chris Bangle Associates has announced a new design contest called 'Illustrate the Future.' The competition is open to all design students across all design disciplines and coincides with the launch of Managing Director, Chris Bangle's new book. "I have written a fiction book about Car Design and the prologue takes place 25 years in the future," says Bangle. "It contains some concepts I have been working on, and this contest is to see what YOU would make of them." Bangle's novel explores the state of affairs in the car design field and also expresses his concerns about the culture future generations of designers will inherit.

2012 Mercedes A-Class revealed in patent filings

The slightly drab 2012 Mercedes A-Class Car makers must hate filing for patents on new cars, because it means trusting images of their new and secret car to a third party. Basic images, admittedly, but the real-deal nonetheless. So Mercedes must be spitting feathers today as the images they sent with their patent applications on the 2012 A-Class leak out of every open window, door and PC and straight on to the interweb.