Electric cars are going mainstream – Elon Musk won’t change that: “When you ride Tesla, you ride with Hitler” according to a reworked second world war propaganda poster that was discovered in Oakland, California last month. When did an electric car brand supposedly become associated with the far right? Perhaps when its CEO, Elon Musk, …
How smaller, more affordable electric cars can accelerate the green transition: New Africa/Shutterstock Norway is set to make history by becoming the first nation to sell only zero emission (electric- or hydrogen-powered) vehicles by the end of 2025. While this doesn’t mean that fossil fuel-powered cars already on the road will suddenly disappear there, it …
Why courts favour cars, not the climate: For planning to block a motorway encircling London, five Just Stop Oil activists were recently sentenced to a minimum of four years in prison. Just Stop Oil wants to end the extraction and burning of coal, oil and gas in the UK by 2030. The group’s demands are …
Driverless cars: stopping dead seems to be a default setting when they encounter a problem — it can cause chaos on roads: Gorodenkoff / Shutterstock While self-driving vehicles are being deployed in numerous cities globally, persistent controversies continue to challenge their deployment. Recently, Tesla recalled more than two million cars after the US regulator found …
How sodium-ion batteries could make electric cars cheaper: Cars that burn petrol and diesel must be replaced with renewable alternatives if the climate crisis is to be overcome. Electric vehicles (EVs) are widely viewed as the best option available. This is because EVs can be powered by renewable electricity from the grid, avoiding the need …
What the decision to curtail HS2 and embrace cars means for the UK’s cities: If you consider the decision by the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, to cancel phase two of the high-speed rail project, HS2 in the context of the government’s growing pro-car stance, the potential ramifications for the country are profound. Steve Tuckwell’s …
Driverless cars could be a revolution for people with disabilities – but they also have good reason to be worried: Scharfsinn / Shutterstock Like it or not, driverless cars will start to appear on our roads in the not too distant future. In theory, fully autonomous driverless vehicles will offer huge advantages to people with …
Why delaying the ban on petrol and diesel cars won’t slow UK’s shift to electric vehicles: Husjur02/Shutterstock The UK has delayed its ban on the sale of new cars which burn petrol or diesel in internal combustion engines (ICE) from 2030 to 2035. In some ways, this is no surprise: the original plan was to …
The Conservatives have seized on cars as a political wedge – it’s a bet on public turning against climate action: “Talking about freedom, sat in Margaret Thatcher’s old Rover” read the UK prime minister’s tweet in July 2023. Earlier that day in an interview with The Telegraph newspaper, Rishi Sunak had declared that the Conservative …
The new technology that is making cars easier for criminals to steal, or crash: Zapp2Photo / Shutterstock There is much talk in the automotive industry about the “internet of vehicles” (IoV). This describes a network of cars and other vehicles that could exchange data over the internet in an effort to make transportation more autonomous, …
Fast X: why cars don’t really explode when they crash: The latest instalment of the Fast & Furious franchise features many exploding cars. LANDMARK MEDI /Alamy Stock Photo Exploding cars may be entertaining to watch in action films. But cars erupting into fireballs when they crash or tumble down a mountainside is one of the …
How dirty old used cars from the US and Europe carry on polluting … in Africa – podcast: Used cars that get exported from places like Europe, Japan and the U.S. are most often shipped to countries in Africa where they are resold. Yanick Folly/Getty Images The typical car will go for its last drive …
Driverless cars: what we’ve learned from experiments in San Francisco and Phoenix: Cruise, owned by General Motors, is one of the "robotaxi" companies operating in San Francisco. Shutterstock / paulaah293 Residents of San Francisco and Phoenix have grown used to witnessing something that, a decade ago, would have seemed magical. In some parts of these …
Ghana wants fewer polluting old cars on the road. But it’s going about it the wrong way: Most Ghanaian cars are imported as used vehicles. Shutterstock Used vehicles contribute greatly to transport emissions, undermining public health and the environment. In the US, Europe and parts of Asia, clunkers programmes – exchanging older, polluting used vehicles …
Why Ghana relies heavily on used cars: Used cars are popular all over Africa Wikimedia Commons The sale of electric cars is growing. Globally, some 2 million electric vehicles were sold in the first quarter of 2022 – 75% more than in the first three months of 2021. Most, though, are sold in high income …
Five human technologies inspired by nature – from velcro to racing cars: Many of humanity's innovations have taken inspiration from the natural world. Alessandro De Maddalena/Shutterstock Nature has, over millions of years, evolved solutions to adapt to an array of challenges. As the challenges facing humanity become more complex, we are seeing inspiration being increasingly …
Five problems that could slow supplies of food, computers, cars and other goods this winter: Global supply chains could experience delays this winter. AppleZoomZoom / Shutterstock The pandemic highlighted how interconnected the world is right now. Multiple bottlenecks have disrupted global supply chains – the networks of people, companies and modes of transport that order …
UK strikes: how industrial action at a major port could disrupt supplies of clothing, cars and canned food: The ability to move products from A to B has been affected by COVID and Brexit-related bottlenecks in recent years, as well as rising concerns about the environmental impact of how companies supply our goods. The unpredictability …