Cars & Transportation

The revelation that Volkswagen deliberately circumvented emissions tests on many of its diesel vehicles has provoked a huge storm of controversy. This diesel deception has understandably angered car owners. And some have suggested that VW’s management either must have known about the scandal, or effectively lost control of the company. The allegations are severe. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, VW deployed a “defeat device” enabling its cars to meet emissions standards under of

Besides their affordable and stylish furniture, IKEA might soon also start selling electric bikes to eco-friendly commuters in their 303 stores around the world. At least that’s what the Swedish company, most known for their flat-packed pieces of furniture, is hoping for. But for now, the electric bike is only sold in one IKEA store – the first one they opened – located in Älmhult in Sweden. The electric bike is being sold as a test product to see if it’s popular enough to become a viable produc

Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia, a small country located in northern Europe with a population of around 1.3 million people. The capital itself has around 400 000 inhabitants. But despite its size, the country and its capital is moving towards a cleaner and more progressive approach towards transportation. In the summer of 2012 Estonia started to work on a public charging network for electric vehicles – with an easy subscription-based payment method for its users. After buil

Kiruna is a small town with less than 20 000 inhabitants located in the most northern parts of Sweden. It's a typical mining community, with iron ore extraction being the key industry of the area. In fact, Kiruna has been an important seat for iron ore extraction and mining industry in Sweden since the early 20th century. So it's not the typical city you would expect to introduce free public transportation for all its inhabitants. But the city of Kiruna did just that in 2011, and the results hav

Results from a study done by a research group at the Skövde University in Sweden might surprise cyclists. Their research project, named Urbanist 2, have looked at how well reflexes helps motorists’ spot cyclists in the dark. Their conclusion is that it is dangerous to rely on the bright, and among cyclists, popular reflective vests. “What we have seen in our research is such that the reflective vest provides a false sense of security at night, when it in no way helps the motorist to interpret

Cutting greenhouse gas emissions will throw millions of people out of work! That claim has made many working people reluctant to support action to slow climate change. But is it true? Our Jobs, Our Planet, a report written in 2011 by Jonathan Neale for the European Transport Workers Federation, argues the opposite, that changing the ways that goods and people are moved can reduce emissions from the transport sector by 80% while creating over 12 million new jobs – 7 million in transportation a

Venezuela has the world’s cheapest gasoline prices – where a refueling of your car cost you as little as 5 cents for nearly 4 liters. But now the Venezuelan government might raise them for the first time in 16 years. The extra revenue generated would help finance social projects and help encourage the use of more fuel-efficient vehicles. The Venezuelan government calculates that the country’s gasoline subsidies cost up to $12.5 billion every year and has called for a national debate to discus

The opening of the San Francisco Bay Area bike share on August 29, 2013, brings the combined fleet of shared bikes in the United States above 18,000, more than a doubling since the start of the year. The United States is now home to 34 modern bike-sharing programs that allow riders to easily make short trips on two wheels without having to own a bicycle. With a number of new programs in the works and planned expansions of existing programs, the U.S. fleet is set to double again by the end of 201

When New York City opened registration for its much anticipated public bike-sharing program on April 15, 2013, more than 5,000 people signed up within 30 hours. Eager for access to a fleet of thousands of bicycles, they became Citi Bike members weeks before bikes were expected to be available. Such pent-up demand for more cycling options is on display in cities across the United States - from Buffalo to Boulder, Omaha to Oklahoma City, and Long Beach in New York to Long Beach in California - whe

A new bicycle index has ranked the 20 most bicycle-friendly cities in the world. Already world-renowned bike-friendly cities such as Copenhagen and Amsterdam are of course on the list. But there are several newcomers as well, such as Malmö in Sweden and Seville in Spain. Unfortunately, there is still no US city on the top 20 list. The new Copenhagenize Index has ranked the 20 most bicycle-friendly cities in the world. The index, which ranks a total of 150 cities, has been compiled by Copenhag

Politicians, lobbyists, and tourists alike can ride bicycles along a specially marked lane between the White House and the U.S. Capitol, part of the 115 miles of bicycle lanes and paths that now crisscross Washington, DC. In Copenhagen, commuters can ride to work following a “green wave” of signal lights timed for bikers. Residents in China’s “happiest city,” Hangzhou, can move easily from public transit onto physically separated bike tracks that have been carved out of the vast majori

In 2011, President Obama challenged the U.S. Department of Energy, and the rest of the nation to put one million electric cars on the road by 2015. The Department of Energy has since eased off the deadline, according to Mercury News, but says it's still committed to the President's goal. And they're not the only ones. Now more than ever, the country is dedicated to the idea of hybrid and electric vehicles on U.S. roads across the country. Forbes estimates that roughly 56,000 electric and plug-

Estonia, a small country located in the Baltic region of northern Europe, becomes the first in the world to offer a public and nation-wide charging network for electric vehicles - with an easy subscription-based payment method. The network consists of 165 fast chargers that allows a car's battery to be charged up to 90 percent in less than 30 minutes. The fast charges have been installed in every Estonian town and in the larger villages. Charging stations have also been built along highways w

One initiative that was recently taken up in Paris is something I will be following with great interest. Building on the success of bike sharing schemes near public transport hubs, they are copying the same idea, but this time with electric car rental being offered instead. The system will allow the hiring of electric cars by simply using a special subscription card in a booth (rather than the normal laborious pre-booking and paper work needed in standard car hire situations) which releases and

Greenpeace's new corporate bad guy target is Europe's biggest car company Volkswagen (VW) who is "spending millions" trying to stop stricter climate laws in Europe, the environmental organization claims. In a (cute) two-part spoof video (watch below) of Volkswagen's 'The Force' superbowl ad Greenpeace is trying to put pressure on the automaker to support strong fuel efficiency standards, stop opposing CO2 emission cuts and to actually start producing cars with the latest green technology.

Meet Casey Neistat, a male bicyclist in New York, who got fined $50 for not riding in the bike lane by a police officer. Casey tried to convince the officer that many times it was more safe to ride on the road instead of the bike lane but the officer didn't care. So Casey decided to make a point about the NYPD ticketing bicyclists and show what could happen if you only ride in the bike lane. Despite the numerous objects blocking the bike lane Casey keeps on riding in the bike lane only. And as a

Photo credit: jurvetson French cities such as Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, and Aix-en-Provence are planning to test a ban on gas guzzlers such as SUVs, according to John Voelcker over at Greencarreports. Paris is set to be one of the first cities to experiment with such a car policy. In 2012 city officials will begin to set restrictions on dirty gas guzzlers that emit an high amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilometer. It is still unclear what kind of specific details the French restriction

Here are two videos from Streetfilms and the BBC which shows two cities in Scandinavia where bicycles dominate. You have probably already heard about Copenhagen and the city's great reputation as a bicycle city. But you might not have heard about Lund, a Swedish town where around 60% of the population use bicycles and public transportation. "The Politics Show East has been to a town in Sweden where 60 per cent of people leave their car at home. In the town of Lund the majority of the popu

This past week the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull was officially declared dormant. The volcano, which you almost certainly remember from the news, had a big eruption in the early months of this year effectively grounding flights all over Europe. "This second eruption threw volcanic ash several kilometres up in the atmosphere which led to air travel disruption in northwest Europe for six days from 15 April and in May 2010, including the closure of airspace over many parts of Europe,"

Controversy was sparked recently when Audi aired a new car commercial featuring "green police" arresting polluters for environmental infractions. The ad which ran during last Sunday's Super Bowl, promoted Audi's new car, the A3 TDI diesel. In the imagined green police state, checkpoints were set up to enforce strict environmental regulations. Predictably, the new car with the fuel efficient Audi "green" diesel engine was waved forward with a smile. On the

Photo credit: lammersch The car industry is currently undergoing a green revolution, with a number of exciting new technologies vying to challenge the predominance of petrol and diesel and put an end to the internal combustion engine’s negative effects on the environment. For many years now, private cars have been a favourite target of environmental campaigners, mainly due to the harmful emissions that all internal-combustion engines release into the atmosphere. Their effect was illustrated

Photo credit: Mike Babcock Hybrid cars have well and truly entered the consciousness of the car-buying public in the last few years, as ‘greener motoring’ has become a hot topic. We have all heard that these cars are more eco-friendly than ‘normal’ vehicles and recently it has became trendy to own a hybrid. But how many of us know just what is under the bonnet of a hybrid car? Let’s take a look at exactly how a hybrid works and why it’s a greener option than a regular car. Put simp

Photo credit: Brave New Films The well-known Oscar and Emmy-winning director Michael Moore says goodbye to GM today as the failed auto company files for bankruptcy. Moore says the “big three” auto companies in the USA are responsible for their own demise and that they have created “some of the greatest weapons of mass destruction responsible for global warming”. "We are now in a different kind of war -- a war that we have conducted against the ecosystem and has been conduct

The Robo Taxi is just what it sounds like. A robotic taxi meant to be used in larger cities. The Robo Taxi has no driver, minimal space for luggage and only holds two passengers. It’s powered by two electric motors that are connected on the vehicles back wheels. The taxi will be built with lightweight materials and run for 20 hours before a recharge is needed. The designer Kubik Petr believes the Robo Taxi will be able to reach speeds up to 90kmh. If you want to use

The banners says: "Stop detour Stockholm" And: "A climate catastrophe is being built here. Stop the sham. We want to bicycle.". Photos by: Klimax If the third runway in the UK is the proof of the country's climate hypocrisy then Sweden’s would be the huge new highway projects in Stockholm and Gothenburg. In Gothenburg, the second-largest city in Sweden, climate activists from Klimax and the Friends of the Earth "decorated" cranes with banners, planted trees and even h