Kawasaki G31m Centurion Cylinder Centurian on 2040-parts.com

Volvo makes breakthrough in battery tech

Volvo has developed a new way of ‘storing’ energy for its future electric vehicles. The Swedish firm is exploring the concept of lightweight structural energy storage components made from carbonfibre, containing “nano structured batteries and super capacitors.” This technology is said to offer a lighter, more compact solution to the problem of energy storage, potentially removing the need for the heavy, bulky batteries used in current electric vehicles. On Bing: see pictures of the Volvo S80 Find out how much a used Volvo S80 costs on Auto Trader The investigation into the new technology is part of an EU-funded research project, undertaken by Volvo – the only major car manufacturer involved – and nine other organisations.

Now it’s the turn of Hyundai to take a swipe at GM’s marketing

Hyundai's 2012 Super Bowl Advert (video below) With the news that General Motors are to pull out of Super Bowl advertising Hyundai steps up to tell GM they’re wrong. It’s really not been GM’s week. Last week they came out and told the world that ads on Facebook aren’t worth the advertising cost and that they were pulling their spend from the (now) newly floated social media site.

Fiat 500L – Production version of Elle-Zero at Geneva 2012

The Fiat ElleZero becomes the Fiat 500L for production Fiat has confirmed that the Elle-Zero will debut at the Geneva Motor Show as the Fiat 500L Compact MPV. Earlier this month we reported that Fiat were heading to the Geneva Motor Show in March with a new compact MPV – the Fiat Elle-Zero, which they are. But instead of using the code name for the new mini MPV as the production moniker, they’ve decided the new car will join the 500 family as the Fiat 500L.