Search Results for: cars

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN IMPORTANT step has been made towards guaranteeing the safety of electric and hybrid cars, with the adoption by the UN’s World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations of a new technical standard on this subject – a global first.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE SWEDISH and Austrian governments have been given an additional year to spend the Euro 15.6 million in earmarked European Union (EU) subsidies for the auto sector previously announced by the European Commission.

These payments – Euro 9.8 million for Sweden and Euro 5.7 million for Austria – come from the EU’s Globalisation Adjustment Fund, which is designed to help industries hit by unavoidable international competition.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

MAJOR European Union (EU) research projects have last week (March 24) been trialling ‘talking’ cars communicating with each other and road infrastructure, such as traffic signs, lights and congestion management centres. These vehicles can receive information from nearby cars on hazards ahead, such as accidents, oil spills, debris and potholes.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

THE ACCEPTANCE by European Union (EU) politicians of a common standard for hydrogen vehicles should make it considerably easier for manufacturers to sell vehicles to a continental rather than a national market.

It has now been more than two years since the EU executive – the European Commission – proposed a technical standard for manufacturers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AFTER-SALES services maintaining electric and hybrid cars should in future receive better protection from shocks from the 500 volts coursing through their circuits. The UN’s World Forum for Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations has adopted the first technical standard on electric/hybrid car safety.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UN World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations has adopted a technical standard guaranteeing electric and hybrid car safety. This will enter European Union law, and probably regulations in Japan, South Korea and other European countries. The standard details protection from high voltage parts; mandates indication displays showing electric engines are on; and brakes preventing movement during recharging.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FREE trade agreements struck between the European Union (EU), Peru and Colombia offering significant benefits to the clothing and textile sector, the European Commission has said. Once ratified, the deal will remove duties for finished textile products traded between the EU and these two medium-sized Latin American markets – populations 28 and 43 million respectively.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

PIRACY has increased exponentially off the coast of Somalia in recent years, with ships hijacked deep into international waters despite the presence of a multi-national naval task force, and pirates demanding ever higher ransoms from shipping companies. But while the spoils of piracy are evident in coastal Somali towns, tracking down where the remaining millions of dollars disappear to is hard to pin down, with allegations circulating of ransom money entering the real estate markets of Kenya, to money laundering in Yemen and Dubai.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A MAJOR effort of public intervention to pump-prime European demand for electric vehicles has been proposed by the Spanish government, which currently holds the European Union’s (EU) six month rotating presidency.

Despite the appointment of a permanent president of the EU Council of Ministers (which represents the 27 member states), national governments will still take turns in being the lead country for the EU every six months.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A MAJOR effort of public intervention to pump-prime European demand for electric vehicles has been given broad approval by an informal meeting of the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers. It backed a paper tabled by the Spanish government, which currently holds the European Union’s (EU) six month rotating presidency.…