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Ecclestone faces £4 million bill

MOTORSPORT boss Bernie Ecclestone must pay lawyers' bills adding up to about £4 million despite winning a High Court fight with a German media company, a judge has ruled. In February, Mr Justice Newey had dismissed a claim for around £80 million in damages by Constantin Medien - which had said it lost out after Mr Ecclestone entered into a "corrupt agreement" with a banker to facilitate the sale of the Formula 1 Group to a buyer chosen by him. But, despite ruling against Constantin after a High Court trial in London, the judge had described 83-year-old Mr Ecclestone as not "reliable or truthful".

Mind-powered ‘Emotiv’ car safety system tested

c Mind-controlled car (c) Getty-Ford ‘Neuroengineering’ company Emotiv has created a ‘mind-powered’ headset that can detect when a driver is distracted and automatically slow down the car, in an effort to improve safety. The Australian firm has already brought its most recent mind-controlled device to market – the Epoc headset. It’s this high-tech brain activity monitor that has now been adapted to determine how hard a driver is concentrating on the road ahead.

Better Place Electric Car visitor centre opens

Better Place have opened a visitor centre in Israel to demonstrate their battery swap technology for electric cars Last October we wrote about a start-up company in Israel – Better Place – that had a new way forward for electric cars by taking the purchase of battery packs out of the equation, and was developing a system for ‘Battery Swap’ stations where electric car owners could drive in and swap their battery pack for a fully-charged one in a few minutes. That story first brought to our attention our favourite quote of last year – by Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn – who said “A hybrid is like a mermaid: if you want a fish, you get a woman; if you want a woman, you get a fish.” Which probably explained why Nissan – and its partner Renault – got involved with Better Place. Better Place aims to address the main concerns of electric car drivers by making the battery packs in electric cars ‘swappable’.