Yamaha Superjet 701 61x Exhaust Manifold Gasket on 2040-parts.com

Better Place EV Battery Swap business goes bust

It seemed like a good idea: take the cost of batteries out of the cost of buying an electric car and instead charge EV owners to use ‘Battery Swap’ stations where depleted batteries could be swapped for fully charged ones in the time it takes to fill an ICE car with petrol. But it’s all gone a bit Pete Tong. Better Place – which partnered with Renault in 2009 to make the battery swap technology viable – has failed to find anyone to add to the $750 million already involved in the project and has filed for bankruptcy.

New baby Jaguar saloon to be shown this summer

The new small Jaguar saloon out testing in ill-fitting XF camouflage Jaguar has made huge strides in the last few years and is now on the brink of being recognised, once again, as a major force. But so far Jaguar has been producing great cars in not the biggest-selling sectors, but that’s set to change with the new small Jaguar saloon (perhaps the Jaguar XS) which will be first shown this summer ahead of a 2015 launch. The new baby Jaguar will be entering a very competitive market place, taking on cars like the BMW 3-Series, Mercedes C-Class and Audi A4, so Jaguar are going to have to work hard to produce not only a credible car, but one that uses its ‘Britishness’ as its USP.

‘New GM’ address by CEO Fritz Henderson

Fritz Henderson By Tim Pollard Motor Industry 11 August 2009 12:51 Chief executive and president of General Motors Fritz Henderson is making a product announcement this lunchtime. Join us at 1.00pm BST for the latest news from GM in our live blog below. NB start from the bottom and work your way up for the real-time blog!