BBC News: Rolls-Royce says its all-electric aircraft ‘is world’s fastest’.
Sending an apprentice for a bag of sky hooks was a common trick to play but now I realise that they may well come in very useful to hang battery chargers on for passing aeroplanes.
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Autocar: Renault Zoe given zero stars in Euro NCAP safety tests.
Not good Renault!
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Seems to be a combination of some regression on the Zoe’s part post face-lift together with increased expectations for safety equipment.
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Happily my Little Evie scores 5 stars….
a relief…
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It’s a bit of a worry really. Manufacturers make the least on these entry level vehicles and to make them safer will make them more expensive. Fiat have withdrawn models rather than try to meet the standards. Still getting zero must require some effort.
Always have done back to the Mini, they will have to buck up their ideas as Dieter of VW realised when he saw the Tesla factory and the haven’t started with the gigapress yet which streamline production considerably
The Chinese are ready to take the business, the MG zs ev is a good car with good range.
Daily Express: Musk ‘definitely considering’ UK Tesla gigafactory as Brexit Britain’s EV market ‘strong’.
Bring it on!
Suggestions for location Mr Musk, Kent, got a nice big runway at Manston airport. Couple of good ports Ramsgate and Dover. Two motorways to London and high speed train links. Great big space and good roads, the government can kick out Pfizer and use that space, Kent has plenty of workforce displaced when Pfizer closed a lot of its operations down.
I think the northern powerhouse project is much more deserving and certainly more central to the UK as a whole which is the intended market.
Hows that for constructive input to a topic @Corona ? But of course it is only my opinion.
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About time 
Well the northern powerhouse has already been given the nod via Nissan so dont be too greedy. Kent is also pretty run down and deprived (Thanet) for work.
Aw come on. This is the Daily Express after all. Vapid, sensationalist and lacking any substance. This is the paper that regularily has articles about hurricanes and 5 feet of snow when the weather looks like it may get bad. It’s no better than a sensationalist tabloid. If you find any other, more reliable source for this I would be surprised.
Edit: There are more sources for this, going back to June for a battery factory.
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Completely agree re D Express. Just looked quickly for a link to show Nissan are investing quite heavily in the North and yes other sources re Tesla, Elon walked away and built in Germany but is looking around again as the red tape and VW are making life hard for him.
Who knows but we can hope. Probably just talking up the UK post brexit.
Er…well it would take supporting governmental finance to get built, I suspect and this may be the opening hint
Deffo, There was information in another rag that Boris was trying to do a deal with Rivian, Big mistake, Huge, Rivian shares make them worth more than Ford! But Rivian haven’t made a car yet!!! 
Not a done deal but…
I’m not sure how well the current Rivian models would sell in the UK - their spec is awesome but huge US style SUVs or Pickup trucks are not all that popular here or in the EU.
Nissan got an undisclosed government bung to stick around although by some accounts the amounts were not huge.
As to whether Tesla will choose to set up shop here - signs are good but it will doubtless include some “incentives” from the government, I’m not making any predictions either way on that one.
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Interesting report on a new tesla with the lithium ion phosphate battery. (No cobalt)
Great technology but I’m not convinced by the build quality. Panel fit etc.
So after deliberating and discussing the odds and sods about buying or not, how about this for food for thought
Government transport ministers have backed calls to end private ownership of vehicles in a major overhaul.
Instead, they have asked for “greater flexibility” over vehicle use with experts believing “shared transport” is the way forward. Transport minister, Trudy Harrison, said any new proposals would be “fit for the future” of road travel. It could spark the beginning of the end of petrol, diesel and electric car ownership as the pressure rises to meet pollution targets. She said the country needed to move away from its “20th-century thinking centred around private vehicle ownership”.
She added it was “staggering” almost two-thirds of trips were conducted by lone drivers .Ms Harrison also added the UK was now at a “tipping point” where shared transport would soon be a “realistic option” for many. She made the comments to delegates at the Collaborative Mobility UK transport conference
She said: “[It will soon be a] realistic option for many of us to get around. Where mobility hubs become a familiar part of our street architecture, and where all these options will be available to book and pay for at the touch of a smartphone.
“The challenge is to move further and faster to make shared mobility less of a novelty and increasing the norm to make it as easy, as convenient and as accessible as possible.” She added: “I think the benefits are really significant.
“From clean air to healthier populations to greater connectivity for more people, no matter where they live. ”The Government has repeatedly stressed the need to switch from a reliance on cars to other forms of transport. Back in March, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said public transport would soon become the “natural first choice” instead of vehicles. He said: "Public transport and active travel will be the natural first choice for our daily activities. “We will use our cars less and be able to rely on a convenient, cost-effective and coherent public transport network.”
The Government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan claimed journeys below five miles represented 58 percent of all private car journeys in 2019. They said this was one of the “biggest opportunities” to switch short car journeys to cycling and walking. The Transport Decarbonisation Plan also called for the development of more shared mobility schemes. A natural first choice for our daily activities.
I seem to recall a similar report from Transport sub-committee in 2010, or maybe even 2005.
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