Original Vintage Allison Engine Company Rare Gold Metal Glass Coffee Mug on 2040-parts.com

Feds researching fire risks from EV batteries, regulator says

Federal safety regulators have begun an $8.75 million study of whether lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles pose a potential fire hazard, officials said Thursday. Kevin Vincent, chief counsel of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said researchers are looking at whether the high-voltage batteries can cause fires when they are being charged and when the vehicles are in an accident.

‘Selfie’ drivers risking their lives

ONE IN 14 drivers admits taking a ‘selfie’ photo on their mobile phone while driving, despite official figures showing that one in ten (9%) of drivers have had an accident while using the phone at the wheel. Young drivers are the most likely to use their mobile phone to take a selfie, which is a picture of the phone user taken by themselves. A further one on 20 drivers also owns up to using a social media app on their smartphone while driving to send photos they have just taken friends.

Last Lexus LFA leaves Motomachi Plant

The very last Lexus LFA – LFA #500 – has left the Motomachi Plant in Japan two years after production started and three years after the LFA was revealed. The idea of a Lexus supercar that cost so much seemed barking mad, but the LFA turned out to be a very special car indeed, not just for its build and performance but for what it meant for Lexus and Toyota – a future that would encompass many of the LFA’s design cues and DNA in future mainstream models. But three years after the LFA debuted, and exactly two years after the LFA went in to production at the TMC dedicated production facility at the Motomachi Plant, Aichi Prefecture, the last LFA – a white LFA Nurburgring Package #500 – has left the building.