1973 Mustang Mach 1 Grill Nos on 2040-parts.com

China to boost electric cars with 30% Government EV fleet

The BYD E6 EV (pictured) will benefit from China’s push on EVs The UK government has just announced its commitment to use electric cars for its own vehicles in an effort to boost the take-up of EVs, but China is going even further. China has ordered government officials to start buying electric cars (that means BEVs, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell cars) in a big way, with instructions that 30 per cent of government cars must fall in to the ‘New Energy’ category by 2017, and an even higher percentage going forward. The aim is to cut pollution, and China expects to have 5 million New Energy cars on the road by 2020 and it is urging it government agencies and some city governments to start buying New Energy vehicles from Chinese makers like BYD and SDAIC, but also instructing them to build more charging stations and supporting infrastructure.

Seat completes industry's largest solar panel installation

SEAT HAS completed construction of the largest solar panel installation in the automotive industry. The huge 'Seat al Sol' array at the firm’s Martorell plant outside Barcelona is the size of 40 football pitches and generates 15 million kilowatt hours of power per year courtesy of the reliable Spanish sunshine. The electricity produced is enough to account for a quarter of the amount needed to build a year’s allocation of Leons, reducing the factory’s energy bills significantly and saving 7,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Chevy Volt, other key GM vehicles remain on track, new product boss says

The Chevrolet Volt remains on track to hit the market in late 2010--and General Motors is still going to invest in developing key products--despite its financial troubles, a top executive said Thursday. The Volt and other new GM vehicles, such as the Cadillac SRX, the Buick LaCrosse and the Chevy Equinox, remain top priorities--even though the company lost $6 billion in the first quarter of this year and is surviving on government loans. "Great cars and trucks are the only thing.