UK Blog

Oil prices are going up and up, people are worried about climate change, and hybrid cars, part electric and part petrol, are starting to make an impact.

But they still have emissions and dependent on oil. So whatever happened to the all-electric car?

One small Silicon Valley start-up is finally putting some fizz into electrics.

The Tesla Roadster has a good pedigree. Its ultra-light carbonfibre body is designed by Lotus, based on the Elise. And thanks to new battery technology it can go three times as far as the EV1.

“The technology has evolved a great deal,” said Mr Rippel. “When we did the EV1 all we had to work with were lead acid batteries. Now we have lithium batteries, and they are evolving and getting better with time.”

The car is powered by ordinary lithium ion batteries, exactly the same kind you would find in laptops or smart phones. However, it needs 7,000 of them, all put into a large battery case, which makes up a third of the car’s total weight.

The Roadster is incredibly simple. It has 12 moving parts. It needs no oil change, filters, spark plugs or clutch. Plug it in overnight and you are ready to go again in the morning.

Electric engines do not wind up the power like combustion engine do. You get 100 percent of the torque from the second you touch the pedal. For the Roadster that means 0 to 60mph (100km/h) in four seconds.

Inside, the car has been stripped down to bare essentials. Two gears take you from 0 to 65 and then on to 130mph (210km/h).

There is good and bad news for your wallet. On the good side the electricity costs about two cents per mile. That’s about 1/10th of the cost of petrol in the US, and 1/20th in Europe.

But the super savings from this supercar come with a super price tag - $98,000 (£49,000).

Honda NSX has emerged with white flames, the Japanese newcomer is preparing to go to war with the Nissan GT-R and the forthcoming Lexus LF-A
The car looks very similar to the Acura Advanced Sports Car Concept unveiled in 2007. The concept’s quad stacked exhaust pipes remain too.

The mid-engined layout of the the previous NSX has gone though, replaced by a front-mid positioned unit for better weight distribution. This setup has also allowed Honda to squeeze two rear seats into the NSX, widening its appeal.

All-new, high-revving V10 engine will power the NSX, producing 450bhp.

Honda hopes its 2+2 layout and a competitive pricing strategy will enable the NSX to lure drivers away from more established rivals. Sales of the previous NSX were small, despite it’s cult status.

Prices for Honda’s new super cars for sale are expected to start at £50,000 when it hits showrooms in late 2009.

British people trying to having a holiday home and who can have their overseas houses for sale as a longterm investment are better off buying in Bulgaria than in the UK.

But Bulgaria has suffered a dramatic change in recent months, with the annual rate of capital growth plummeting from a remarkable 36 per cent in 2005 to 13.9 per cent in September 2006, and possibly set to fall more.

Area like Blagoevgrad district including the Bansko ski region, actually experienced price falls in the second quarter however these are recovered in the third quarter. The oversupply of apartments has created fierce competition for rentals, even in the face of quickly-growing tourist demand, which is being aggravated by reported poor management from local agencies.

Return on cash invested has dropped from 116 per cent in 2005 to just 35 per cent for the year up to the end of Sep2006