fruganomics
0-60 in 1.85 seconds. No one’s gonna be rude about electric cars again
You won’t be able to kick sand in it’s face. It will be in a neighbouring country before you’ve even filled your bucket with sand.
Not to mention a top speed of 258 mph – no idea what I’d do with that speed though. I hate to think. Other interesting features are four motors, a 400-mile range and an 80% charge time of less than 30 minutes.
That – and a beautiful exterior – are some of the main features of the Rimac C_Two electric supercar.
If you want to be one of 150 people who will own this car, talk to these people:
http://www.rimac-automobili.com/en/supercars/c_two/
Nine major cities ban diesel cars: This week Rome’s mayor Virginia Raggi announced the city will ban them from 2014, following a ruling in Germany allowing cities to ban heavily polluting diesel cars.
About 2/3 of new cars sold in Italy last year were diesel. Other cities planning to ban diesel cars on some or all of their roads are Paris, Madrid, Athens, Mexico City, Oslo, Madrid and London.
Research examining “real world” emissions tests has found new diesel cars produce more than twice as much nitrogen oxide as the latest diesel lorries and buses.
Stuttgart in Germany already bans high emissions cars on high-pollution days. Oslo in Norway plans to ban cars from its city centre by 2019 and to replace 35 miles of road with bike lanes.
Madrid plans to ban cars from much of its city centre by 2020 and to create a walking-friendly city.
Fast-food deliverers commit to reduce plastic
Deliveroo has committed to giving away 250,000 eco-friendly straws through its restaurant partners as well as taking action to cutting plastic packaging and cutlery use.
Measures include an ‘opt in for cutlery’ feature in the app and online which asks customers whether they want to receive cutlery with their order. A trial in the UAE saw a reduction of over 50% in 85% of restaurants.
Deliveroo is also introducing a 50-product packaging eco-range into its in-house packaging store .
Just Eat has also announced it will immediately stop selling all single-use plastic items in its shop. The delivery giant has also pledged to establish an innovation platform to invest in the research and development of practical alternatives for single use plastics.
Partnering with Skipping Rocks Lab Just Eat will trial edible seaweed-based sauce sachets which decompose in six weeks.
74% of takeaway-eaters would prefer their takeaway to arrive without plastic cutlery, according to consumer research.
Lithium-free battery could be another “Power Wall”
RMIT University researchers have demonstrated a working rechargeable “proton battery” that avoids the use of Lithium, a scarce natural resource.
The rechargeable battery is environmentally friendly, and has the potential, with further development, to store more energy than currently-available lithium ion batteries. Potential applications for the proton battery include household storage of electricity from solar photovoltaic panels, as done currently by the Tesla ‘Power wall’ which uses lithium ion batteries.
Proton battery technology may also be adapted for medium-scale storage on electricity grids as well as powering electric vehicles.
Powering batteries with protons has the potential to be more economical than using lithium ions, which are made from scarce resources. “Carbon, which is the primary resource used in our proton battery, is abundant and cheap compared to both metal hydrogen-storage alloys, and the lithium needed for rechargeable lithium ion batteries” says lead researcher Professor John Andrews.
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