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This car can refuel itself – once it’s parked in the sun

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Under the skin of this ordinary looking people-mover is what its developers label as extraordinary – 248 solar cells that can fully recharge its lithium-ion battery pack or, in other words, effectively refuel itself. That is as long as it’s parked under the sun. It’s the Sion, a five-seat, 4900mm-long, battery-electric MPV built by German start-up Sono Motors at the former … [Read more...] about This car can refuel itself – once it’s parked in the sun

Diesel dilemma: appeal of LPG Ram truck and Ssangyong petrol ute

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A builder in Auckland has run into the same problem owners of diesel vehicles, especially utes, have: exhaust filters so clogged with soot that they can send the vehicle into limp-home mode. So he got out of his 3.0-litre diesel Volkswagen V6 Amarok and into an all-American Ram 1500 – and promptly installed a dual-fuel system to enable the Ram’s 5.7-litre Hemi V8 engine to … [Read more...] about Diesel dilemma: appeal of LPG Ram truck and Ssangyong petrol ute

Following route the house of Jack built for businesses

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The senior executive of a top 10 motoring nameplate in New Zealand is planning to exit the coronavirus lockdown with the words of hard-charging American business leader Jack Welch as a guiding light: “Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.” The reality the motoring industry faces is a world of hurt, more damaging long-term than the Global Financial … [Read more...] about Following route the house of Jack built for businesses

Thinking differently: which way do the hands of a clock turn?

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Code-breakers at Bletchley Park, the British World War II facility tasked with cracking Nazi Germany’s Enigma system, encouraged new recruits to think differently. One senior man always asked the question: ‘Which way do the hands of a clock turn?’ The answers always came back ‘clockwise’ or ‘right to left.’ The instructor would pause for effect: ‘Not if you’re the clock,’ … [Read more...] about Thinking differently: which way do the hands of a clock turn?

Ford and Samsung get together to help workers stay apart

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Workers at Ford factories in the USA will wear wristbands made by South Korean tech giant Samsung – and similar to the one above – that buzz to help maintain social distancing, Bloomberg news agency reports. The ‘fitness-like’ devices are supposed to vibrate when employees come within about 1.8m of each other. The experiment will initially be trialled by 12 employees, a Ford … [Read more...] about Ford and Samsung get together to help workers stay apart