Residents in some English cities will soon be able to zip around town in stylish and environmentally-friendly Smart Fortwo micro-hybrid cars, thanks to a new mobility scheme.
For instance, Car2Go is busily preparing to launch the Birmingham branch of their popular pay-as-you-go car rental service. A fleet of 250 smart cars will be stationed across the city, ready to be taken on long and short journeys by members of the programme.
You may remember the Swiss watchmaker Swatch from 1997 when they co-designed the hugely successful Smart car together with Daimler. Later they decided to pull out of the project and sold the shares in Smart to move on with what they did best – make superb watches.
Now, it seems that Swatch wants to get back into building microcars. According to an interview that Nick Hayek CEO of the company (and the son of the man who designed the Smart forTwo) gave to a Swiss newspaper NZZ, there is a working prototype of Swatch Belenos ELV2.
Most of the changes to the car are to the exterior, designed to freshen it up for another couple of years. The all-new, next-generation ForTwo isn’t expected until 2014 so we can expect further small tweaks and special editions between now and then to maintain customer interest.
Britain is taking a big step towards a future of accessible renewable energy by opening its first electric car centre in the heart of Glasgow. The public will be able to test-drive, hire electric vehicles and to charge their own electric car for free.
The facility openned at the beginning of March close to Glasgow Central train station. It will be especially convenient for commuters who can hire cars, electric scooters and bikes to continue to their journey.
It’ll take some time until the auto landscape is dominated by electric cars. However, the big manufacturers cannot afford not have an electric model, or at least one in the pipeline. Now it’s the Mercedes-Benz‘s turn to announce
In the new era of electric cars, different types of partnerships is a usual sight in the corporate world – “marrying” knowledge and money or two pieces of knowledge (or any other combination) can prove to be a good way forward.
The latest surprise joint venture is that of Daimler and Bosch. Both German giants have the funds and knowledge to drive the electric car inventions forward.
Bosch is especially good with electric motors. I know what I’m saying – my tools are powered by Bosch and although I’ve done an unthinkable amount of
It was revealed that Smart ED, the electric version of the famous two-seater would go into small series production later this year. It doesn’t mean, however, that you would have a chance to walk into your local dealer’s salon and pick up a Smart ED.
The start of production will allow the company to experience a real-life electric car manufacture conveyor and to put more cars on streets for testing. 100 electric cars from this production batch will arrive in