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Volvo strikes deal for plug-in hybrid cars

Volvo Plug-in hybrid By Peter Adams Motor Industry 01 June 2009 17:15 Volvo has taken its next step towards green motoring, launching a joint venture with Swedish energy company Vattenfall to introduce plug-in hybrid cars to the market – sporting CO2 emissions as low as 50g/km. The cars, which will role out across Sweden in 2012, will be manufactured by Volvo, with Vattenfall developing the charging systems and supplying the cars with electricity. Vattenfall will be offering customers the chance to sign an agreement for renewable electricity sourced from windpower or hydropower.

Art Center Summit 2009

The Art Center Summit, now in its third year, has finally seen the rest of the world catch up with its preoccupations. Initially conceived in 2006-07 to bring government, academic, and business leaders to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, to discuss issues related to mobility and sustainability, the summit has benefited from the financial turmoil that has recently gripped the world. Previously, the event was highly speculative and appealed mainly to designers working in the advanced mobility community; this year, the summit occurred against a backdrop of meltdown in the US auto industry, chaos in the global financial sector, and a growing realization - supported by the incoming Obama administration - that energy and transportation policy will form a key part of a Green future.

Rear-end collisions increasing, says study

REAR-END shunts on the road are getting more common despite the advance of new anti-crash technology, according to new research by accident management firm Accident Exchange. Rear-end shunts – when one car drives into the back of another – have risen by 7% in the last three years as a proportion of all accidents. Each accident causes damage costing an average of £2,000 to repair.