Save money and time

When you look for car selling companies, the first thing you are concerned about is the price. You want to get the best car at a price you can afford and the only way to do that is to visit the internet. You will find many websites that belong to different companies that are eagerly looking for business. This allows you to find one that gives all this at the comfort of your home. You will also save a lot of time since you won’t be moving around looking for these companies.

Find any car

With cars for sale UK you are able to choose from a wide range of cars for sale. This means that you can actually type in the name of the car model you have been eyeing all this while and get it at a good price too. This is usually not the case when you are going round from one car shop to the other. You will get tired quickly and before you know it, you will have settled for less than you had intended.

Read reviews

Having the chance to know what many people think about a particular car selling company’s services and products is one of the greatest gifts that come with looking for cars sale from the web. There are many other people looking for the same thing and will usually talk of a company once they are satisfied or dissatisfied with a company.

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One of the first reasons why used cars are appropriate for new drivers is that they are less valuable than new cars. In the case of an accident, or if the new driver is nervous when in the car, there is a higher likelihood that the car will be damaged, even if it is only in a very minor way. It is clear that until the driver is more established on the road, they should not be in control of a new or expensive car, because it will cost a lot more to fix. Essentially, it will not matter as much if a new driver damages an older car.

It is also possible that the new driver will want to swap their car within a few years, so it is better to have a cheaper used car to start off with. There is no reason why they cannot sell the used car and buy a different vehicle after a while –it is just better to start of with a cheap car, whilst the driver gets experience driving independently on the road.

There is of course also the cost involved with new drivers, especially the issue of insurance. The insurance is much likely to be lower on a used car than it would be on a brand new one. Most obviously is the cost of the car itself –it is much more likely that a new driver will want to spend a small amount of money on a car, so this is another reason why a used car would be a better idea for them.

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Remember the original Mini? It was absolutely tiny compared to the batch of Mini Coopers and Clubmans on our roads today. The current crop of Minis have grown substantially compared to the iconic models of the past, which has left a size void for the company to fill in. To fill in that gap, Mini has kicked off a city car study aimed at increasing company sales by offering lower-priced models. The company describes its city car as a potential Smart ForTwo rival, which is probably a poor comparison choice.

Mini’s city car project is in the early stages right now and the company doesn’t plan to reveal a concept until next year, but Autocar spoke with a company source, who revealed quite a bit of information, including:

Nothing is decided just yet. It is all at an early stage of conception. But there is a lot of momentum behind it right now. We may be ready to show a concept within the next 12 months or perhaps a little longer. The question we’ve asked ourselves all along is: how do we make money at this level?

Many questions still remain: will the city car employ a rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout like BMW’s Megacity, or will we see a front-engine, front-wheel-drive setup like current Mini products? Will it seat two, like the claimed rival ForTwo or will the Mini city car offer seating for four? We won’t know answers to these questions for quite some time, but the Mini Spiritual (pictured) city car concept from 1997 could provide us with some clues.

[Source: Autocar]

Mini kicks off city car project aimed at producing Smart ForTwo rival originally appeared on Eco Cars News on Mon, 31 May 2010 08:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve heard this same story several times before, but it’s worth mentioning yet again. We have here another study that points to the fact that widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EV) could actually increase greenhouse-gas emissions rather than reduce them as we had hoped. This study, conducted by the Argonne National Laboratory and China’s Tsinghua University, specifically focuses on China and concludes that mass EV adoption could lead to tremendously higher emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide due to the country’s widespread use of coal as a power source.

Here’s the skinny from the study:

• China currently utilizes Euro III emission standards throughout much of the nation, though Euro IV is in use in some larger cities and will slowly replace the older standard within ten years. If charged by the current coal-heavy electrical mix displayed in the table above, EVs would double the nitrogen oxide emissions of Euro III gasoline vehicles.
• EVs will not reduce carbon dioxide emissions in China unless coal technologies are improved upon or a shift towards cleaner power generation occurs in the future.
• Mass adoption of EVs in China will cause sulfur dioxide emissions to increase by three to ten times the current level. Even advanced technologies such as coal washing cannot reduce sulfur dioxide emissions of EVs down to gasoline-powered vehicle levels.

While this study takes into account the emissions created while generating electricity for EVs, it fails to include the emissions created by extracting, transporting and refining crude oil, which actually makes the comparison between emissions from EVs and gasoline-powered vehicles unfair from the get-go, right?

[Source: Environmental Science and Technology]

Study: Mass adoption of EVs in China will lead to tremendously higher emissions originally appeared on Eco Cars News on Sun, 30 May 2010 19:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just a few short days ago, we got word that Fisker Karma production would be delayed once again and a new target date for full production now sits at February 2011. The delay gives Fisker ample time to secure even more funding, and that’s exactly what the company is doing. Fisker reports that it just wrapped up its latest funding round by securing $189 million in additional capital, bringing its total private equity funding thus far to around $339 million.

This latest round of founding is about much more than just money though. The additional funds ($115 million of which came in back in January), mean Fisker can trigger its $528.7 million loan from the Department of Energy. The loan will be used to re-open a General Motors plant in Delaware which the company will eventually utilize to develop a line of lower-cost, family oriented models under the Project NINA program. The company estimates that 2,000 new jobs will be created at the site, and that 5,000 more will be saved or created at domestic suppliers and that more plug-in hybrids will be on the roads soon.

[Source: Green Car Advisor]

Fisker adds $189 million in latest funding round originally appeared on Eco Cars News on Sun, 30 May 2010 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just a few days ago, we learned of the Tesla-Toyota-NUMMI deal and many immediately rejoiced. It was one of the most exciting moments we’ve written about in quite some time, and we were admittedly head over heels about it. Now that the initial excitement has waned and some additional details slowly begin to trickle in, we’re not quite as ecstatic any more. Why not? It turns out that the deal has lot of contingencies and there’s even a possibility that part of the deal might fall through.

Green Car Advisor reports that Tesla Motors has updated its regulatory filing to include information about the Toyota-NUMMI deal. The filing had to be updated for Tesla’s initial public offering, which is expected by the end of the year. It’s from this regulatory filing that we learned that the $42 million investment by Tesla will only go towards purchasing the NUMMI facility and does not include some 200 acres of land adjacent to the site, nor does it include the equipment found within the plant. Without all of that equipment, the price that Tesla paid for NUMMI is not quite the bargain we once thought it was.

In addition, the filing reveals that Toyota’s $50 million Tesla stock purchase is only guaranteed if Tesla goes public before the close of the year. If Tesla fails to go public by the end of 2010, Toyota can completely back out from its proposed investment in Tesla stock or renegotiate a new agreement.

Now, none of this implies that the deal will fall through. It simply means that there are some important details to work out before everything is finalized. Tesla’s vice president of communications, Ricardo Reyes, put it best when he told Green Car Advisor, “That’s how you do a deal like this. You agree to do do it, then you work out the details.”

[Source: Green Car Advisor]

More details emerge on Tesla-Toyota-NUMMI agreement – it’s far from a done deal originally appeared on Eco Cars News on Sat, 29 May 2010 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In case you haven’t heard yet, there’s a bill sitting in the House and Senate aimed at promoting the develop of electric vehicles. The bill is called the Electric Drive Vehicle Deployment Act of 2010. All sorts of measures are found within the bill which will undoubtedly help drive electric vehicles (EVs) toward widespread adoption. Right now, the House and Senate have separate versions of the bill. They are very similar right now, but one odd stipulation in the Senate version immediately caught our attention.

It appears that the Senate version contains a measure that will award a $10 million prize to the first company to develop a commercially viable battery with a range of 500 miles or more on a single charge. To us, this stands out as a ridiculous waste of money because nobody seems to demand this type of range from an EV and studies have suggested that many people would be willing to sacrifice range in order to get a lower-priced EV. 100 miles seems like a good start to us and maybe there’s reason to push for 200 or so at a later date. Also, many gasoline-powered vehicles fail to approach 500 miles on a single tank, so what’s the need for an EV that can eclipse that number? Just imagine how much an EV with that type of range would weigh and cost, not to mention how long it would take to charge. But hey, $10 million is a lot of money, so someone’s sure to shoot for the goal.

[Source: Green Car Advisor | Image: AMagill - C.C. License 2.0]

EV bill offers $10M award to developer of battery with 500-mile range originally appeared on Eco Cars News on Sat, 29 May 2010 13:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EnerDel Inc. announced plans to open li-ion battery plants in both China and Europe in an effort to triple its battery production by the end of 2011 and meet the expected demand of new partnerships. Though the company currently holds deals with just two automakers (Think and Volvo), it plans to announce two additional customers by the end of the year, one hailing from Europe and the other from Asia.

From building electrodes and cells on up to assembling fully functioning battery packs, EnerDel will do it all in-house at its future Chinese plant. Once completed, this facility should have enough capacity to produce 20,000 battery packs per year. The European plant will operate in a different way. This plant will take cells built at another location and assemble them into fully-functional battery packs. The European site is also expected to have an annual capacity of 40,000 packs by the end of next year. Both sites should be functional by the end of 2011.

Once these new plants are completed, EnerDel will be able to produce 60,000 packs per year around the world, three times its current output. Back in January, EnerDel began to expand its U.S. operations by investing $237 million to open a new plant in Indiana.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req.]

With new plants in China and Europe, EnerDel to triple li-ion production by end of 2011 originally appeared on Eco Cars News on Sat, 29 May 2010 09:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ll admit, the Segway may not be the one of the most well-thought-out products of all time, but it serves its purpose for those that like to draw attention at California beaches or those who just need to scoot around in New York City without moving their legs. So it comes as quite a surprise that TIME magazine lists the Segway amongst the “50 Worst Inventions” of all time.

The list includes some things that we would definitely consider to be the worst creations, products or ideas ever. For example, leaded gasoline. Whose amazing idea was it to stuff that toxic material into gas. Likewise, the Pontiac Aztek makes the list and we all know how hideous that thing was. Or how about the Mizar flying car, which was part Ford Pinto, part Cessna, and as a whole, a disaster.

As we glanced over the list, we found a few things that were an everyday part of our lives years ago – Betamax, hydrogenated oils and asbestos, for example – but understand why they are considered awful now. Look over the full list of the 50 worst inventions after the jump, but be warned that it may take you down the part of memory lane better left forgotten.

[Source: TIME Magazine]

Continue reading TIME magazine posts 50 worst inventions of all time: includes Segway, flying car, leaded gas and more

TIME magazine posts 50 worst inventions of all time: includes Segway, flying car, leaded gas and more originally appeared on Eco Cars News on Fri, 28 May 2010 19:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gordon Murray has long been considered one of the most innovative engineers and designers in the automotive world. The latest project from the mind that created the McLaren F1 supercar is the new T.27 electric city car. The T.27 is the battery-powered variant of the T.25, a model that will debut shortly with a gas engine. Both models use the same basic architecture, and, like the seminal supercar, they feature a three-seat layout. That’s where the similarities end, however.

Murray’s firm is collaborating on the T.27 project with Zytek Automotive, a UK-based engineering consultancy with vast experience in electric and hybrid powertrains. The 7.9-foot long car has a 12 kilowatt-hour battery pack mounted under the seats and a 25 kilowatt electric motor driving the rear wheels. Zytek has managed to package the motor, single-speed transmission and power electronics into one tidy little unit. The system is claimed to give the car a range of 80-100 miles and, with the current UK electricity generation mix (mostly coal), the CO2 emissions are a combined 48 grams / kilometer.

The T.27 is claimed to have a turning circle of just 19.7 feet and, with its width of just 4.3 feet, three of them can fit into a single parking space perpendicular to the curb. The development program started in November of 2009 and the first running prototype is due to be completed in April 2011.

[Source: Gordon Murray Designs]

Continue reading Gordon Murray’s forthcoming electric T.27 city car in detail

Gordon Murray’s forthcoming electric T.27 city car in detail originally appeared on Eco Cars News on Fri, 28 May 2010 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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