Nissan Leaf electric vehicle headed for U.S. market in 2010

Nissan has taken the wraps off its production-bound electric vehicle, named Leaf, that is plans to sell in Japan, the United States and Europe. The Leaf seats five and measures 175 inches long--about the same size as a Versa sedan. It uses an 80-kilowatt AC electric motor and draws from a laminated lithium-ion battery pack--the same type of batteries used by cellular telephones and laptop computers.

2011 Mazda2 Facelift revealed

The Mazda2 gets tweaked for 2011 Well, it’s sort of the 2011 facelift for the Mazda2, but that rather depends on what direction you come at this from. If you look at the UK and Euro offerings for the last year this is definitely a new nose and interior tweaks for the Mazda 2, but if you read our report in October 2009 about Mazda 2s coming off the production line in Thailand you’ll see that our ‘New, Facelift Mazda 2′ looks exactly the same as the Mazda 2 Facelift the Thai car got almost two years ago. But we have to be sensible and look at this from a domestic point of view – even if we do find it off that Mazda has taken two years to give the UK and Europe the updates coming out of Thailand two years ago.

The Technology Behind F1 Cars: Aerodynamics [w/Video]

Ferrari's latest video in its ‘Discover the technology of Formula 1' YouTube series sees Scuderia Ferrari's deputy design chief Simone Resta focusing on the chassis and side pods' design and its effect on the aerodynamics. This video follows two episodes, the first of which introduced viewers to the concept of aerodynamics – which is the subject of the series' first part – while the second took a look at the design and effect of the car's front wing and nose. The great thing about this series is you don't have to be a genius – or even know your way around an F1 car – to get to grips with the concepts or terminology.