Finding the chase and cutting to it

I like winter, from when the leaves start to drop from the trees to when the  rain is sheeting down and when you wake up and the snow has decided to stay beyond the rising of the sun. It is no where near that cold outside yet (this is a picture from Dec 2010), though […]

As part of the Adastral Park Electric Vehicle showcase, I borrowed a Vauxhall Ampera as a demonstrator for the day. At first glance, on paper, the Ampera looks like a hybrid, yet the petrol engine included with the Ampera does not drive the wheels of this great looking car.  Instead, the “engine” acts as an […]

In April, I got a phone call from Glyn Hopkin, Ipswich.  They asked me how we were getting on with the Leaf? Great, I said. Would I like them to bring some of their electric vehicles to my work place and show my colleagues what it was all about?  NIssan were doing a road show […]

One of my earliest memories was a “Watch” TV programme about the future of automation, in the late 1970s.  It discussed coal and gas powered generation of electricity for national consumption, petrol and diesel generation for automation and nuclear power.  It recognised acid rain and particulate pollution from vehicles and stated that we needed cleaner […]

Of course, the BBC must have had a slow news day yesterday as they finally broadcast the summary from the report studying the latest state of the ozone layer. As I hit my teens, research had shown that not only was the ozone layer thinning but it was most likely caused by the use of […]

There are many small jobs there are to do on a vehicle, nothing separates cars and motorbikes like replacing the “tax disc”. Actually, the circular piece of paper that demonstrates that you have paid your vehicle excise duty not the vehicle tax, although, confusingly, the portal for paying the duty is called the tax disc site. […]

The Leaf has come into its own this summer, not least because of the heat.  Many people think high summer is the perfect time to be on a motorcycle but for short journeys through urban areas it’s a recipe in self roasting.  There are some leathers that provide armour with excellent air conditioning, of course, […]

Of course: how much are you saving? Not how is it to drive, what’s it like on a long journey or how comfortable is it in traffic. Actually, that’s not quite true, there is one other question that pops up from time to time.  The whole quietness of the experience is a major concern for […]

  To be absolutely honest, we were not seriously looking to buy a car in Nov 2013.  We’d moved into the largest town in our area and found that the journeys I was doing every day were not great for the cars.  I have a 5.4 mile journey to work now and 97% is in […]