One new car per month should arrive on our roads (or maybe not)

1. The £1.2million Aston Martin One-77
2. The new Honda Jazz hybrid
3. Ford‘s new Focus
4. The new Audi A6
5. Kia’s new Picanto
6. BMW 1 Series M
7. Citroen DS4
8. The MINI Coupé
9. The Range Rover Evoque
10. The Vauxhall Zafira
11. Hyundai’s Scirocco-rivalling Veloster
12. Renault’s electric Twizy

(via autoexpress)
What do you think of these cars?

How about the battery life?

Indeed the problem of the battery can be underlined. The actual battery life for an electric car is currently estimated to 150km (approx 94 miles) without using any other devices (heating, lights) which leads to charge the battery regularly.
Battery life isn’t sufficient for individuals. An American firm is currently working on a new revolutionary battery. Using lithium air, this battery should be eleven times more powerful than a battery using lithium air. Thus an electric car should be able to drive up to 805km.
In the meanwhile the firm is also working on a recharging system. To recharge these batteries you need up to 4 and 8 hours. This new model of battery should be able to be charged in less than 10 minutes.

How about the price?

The price for an electric car is about £30.000. Which doesn’t help for its commercialization. But once again the new battery should change everything. Indeed it should be three times less expensive. We can then hope that it should have a direct impact on the pricing of the car. A good news for eco-friendly drivers.
Research on electric cars is in progress in order to tackle price and battery life problems. But a “full electric” car isn’t for tomorrow. The full development of lithium air is still at its beginning. Another problem is about recycling these batteries and the impact on the environment.
Will the government be ready to change the infrastructures developed for lithium ion in order to use lithium air?

Hybrid vehicle

Known for being part of the most innovative changes during the last years. Hybrid cars are much more settled in the electric car market.
To summarize a hybrid car has two engines. An electric one and a heat one. When the car starts up the electric engine is one being used. When the speed reaches 30km/h the heat engines takes the shift.
A hybrid vehicle has several advantages. It doesn’t use as much gas and it produces less of the CO². Unfortunately its main use is in town.
On a short term hybrid cars are a good solution to face the environmental problems. But on longer term it sounds that the electric car will be the best.

According to a French newspaper (20minutes.fr) the motor vehicle fleet should reach an autonomous number of 200 million cars on the road by 2020.
In 2009 china already had up to 76 million motor vehicle (including cars, buses and lorries). China has experienced a growth of 55% on its car sales. This hike is mainly due to the changes the state has done in order to help people buying eco-friendly cars.

With less than 100 million cars taking part in the road traffic China is already struggling with traffic jam. (China traffic jam stretches ‘nine days, 100km’ it is worst than driving on the m25 a Friday evening) It’s hard to imagine how they will handle the problem with more than 200 million cars. It will have a huge impact on the environment.

But google weren’t the first to work on self-driving cars. AutoNOMOS Labs have been working on something even bigger. How about a taxi which would drive on itself to come and pick you up? How about if you could use your ipad to look for a cab?

An application does all of it. Using the ipads’ user, the taxi will geo-locate you. You’ll be able to choose which car comes to collect you. The taxi will then come to pick you up. You can check via your ipad where it is in order to see if it will arrive shortly or not. Once you are inside the cab notice via the app where you want to go and the taxi will drive you there.

The car is fully equipped with radars and laser scanner in order to drive safely with other cars on the road. It basically works the same as the google car.

An application is already available on the app store to book a taxi which will find you thanks to geo-localization once again. But this time someone is driving the car. Using both technologies AutoNOMOS is ahead of google

Here is our selection of the most astonishing cars which could be seen at the “Salon de l’automobile de Paris édition 2010 “:

Renault Fluence ZE 100% electric car: On one hand you have a stylish car with an uncluttered design which could fit in perfectly on the road mixed to other cars. On the other hand you have a 100% electric car which is carbon free with a 77kW motor which gives a driving range of 100 miles. For people who have already been fallen in love with the car. They can go on their website (Renault ZE) to book the car for when it’ll be released. Keep in mind that the launching price will be at 21.300 euros.

Renault concept car DeZir: A prodigious estheticism for a concept car, hopefully we’ll be able to see on the roads soon or later. The design of this car is a subtle mix of sensuality, fluidity shaped as a bee.
Inside of the car the driver will feel safe and secure as if he was in a cocoon.

Kia Pop Concept: Kia is making it clear: Urban driving will be for small cars. What makes the strength of the brand is its price, the 7 years guarantee and finally it’s audacity for such a design. The three meters long car will definitely a major selling point compared to other small cars such as the Toyota FT-EV Concept, the Renault Trizi, the Peugeot Ion or even the Citroën C Zéro. This small urban car surely has an audacious design but that’s what it makes it adorable. On the other hand it’s production won’t be an easy task due to the all the round edges.

Townpod: It’s unlikely to be a mix between a minivan and a car. This car is more likely to be the most flexible car built. The inside of the car is very wide and everything is removable thanks to sliding seats. The dashboard can be connected to the drivers Smartphone if you want to listen to music or use the GPS stored on it. Of course this motor car is also a carbon free.

Citroen & Lacoste: What happens when a car manufacturer and famous cloth brand decide to team up? A minimalist concept-car with incredible details:

• door less
• an inflatable top
• a removable windscreen
• and finaly a LCD screen

This car manages to combine simplicity and lightness in a perfect way. How about riding this car on a sunny day on the coast.

E-scooter: People are always talking about electric cars but motor scooters also have electric motors. Here is a new prototype by Smart: the E-scooter. It’s concept is fairly simple. Plug on your dashboard and it will display all the information you usually get on a dashboard (speed, whether the tank is empty or not). The scooter is powered by a lithium-ion battery.

What did you think of this event? Is there cars we have missed out? Lets us know your point of view.

photo credits : Turbo.fr, Fubiz et TF1

As you might know renting a limo is very expensive. You must be aware of this before starting your search. Indeed insurance is the most expensive when you rent a car. But limos are also considered as luxurious cars. It’s not the same as a “simple” car you rent for the week-end. Usually you will rent the car and a driver which makes it easier for you because you can then party but also much more expensive. During your search be cautious to how much you would pay for a type of car. Do you want a normal limo or hummer style limo? Or would you prefer an old fashion wedding car.Which service will be provided by the company if you hire them (catering, djing, length of the journey). You can then contact them and discuss if the service they provide is appropriate to the event you want to organize. Gather as many pertinent details such as rate, insurance policies, discounts and additional gifts.

When you think you have found the best hiring company, map a plan of the journey for the driver with precise timing starting and ending, have a break somewhere special, picking points this will then determine for long you have to rent the car. You also have to decide how many people will come with you (prices may vary if there are a lot of you). And finally the best part of planning is which car you want to ride. Planning everything will make it much easier for eh hiring company, and also for you. If you are unconfident with all of this you can ask them for some advice as they should be used to organizing this kind of event with previous clients.

You are in your rights to ask to check your drivers’ license or permit. After all you are the customer and you want the best for you event. You can also check if the limos are properly maintained to avoid any accident during the ride. Look for reviews on the internet to have different point from other people who used their services.

Under it’s aluminium foil layer there is a huge framework built out of plastic in order to have the same shape as the Porsche. The framework was made out of cardboard then taken out so someone could take place into it. The chassis was made using an old bicycle. That’s why it’s really slow. If you want to drive you’ll have to peddle.
Have a look at the video for further information :

Here is the process of its building:

(more pictures on TheThrottle)

As Larry and Sergey said when they first founded Google “they wanted to help solve really big problems using technology” And this is their new way of helping everyone. Using technology to build a much safer car which will be able to be driven on its own.

This car has been fitted with cameras, radar sensors and a laser in order for the car to establish a map of the road and it’s surrounding (other cars, pedestrians, bicyclists). Thanks to the DAPRA Challenge (an automated car challenge) Google has been able to contact their best minds to work with them on this car.
During the test the car was driven on 140,000 but a driver and software engineer was always in the car in case something went wrong. Of course the car was driving on a secure road and the local authority knew about these tests.

The main goal of this car is to reduce the number of death up to 50% (more than 1.2 million people die every year on road traffic accident) by helping the driver with more traffic information and making it easier to drive. This car should also have an ecological impact with a reduction of carbon emission

(Via Google Blog)

Here are a few confirmed dates :

• London, Earls Court: 4-7 Nov 2010
• Birmingham, NEC: 11-14 Nov 2010
• Dublin, CityWest Event Centre: 26-28 Nov 2010
• Brisbane, Brisbane Entertainment Centre: 3-6 Mar 2011
• Melbourne, Melbourne Showgrounds: 11-14 Mar 2011
• Jo’burg, Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit: 17-20 Mar 2011
• Oslo, venue tbc: 24-27 Mar 2011

This event is going to be something you haven’t ever seen. Top Gear’s team have decided to push their boundaries even further for this “Prototype Tour”
Jezza added “It’s ambitious, but for once, it isn’t complete rubbish”
I think we can expect some huge show from them.

Tickets can be bought it from £25 to £235 if you want to be a VIP

Get you tickets here but hurry up
(Via Top-Gear)