Bookended - 5 October 2021

FOLLOW UP: ROLLS ROYCE 102EX CONCEPT CARIn response to Alan’s query about the wireless charging for the 2011 102EX concept car, from Rolls Royce, Dave Monks has got in touch. He confirmed that the wireless charging did work and in fact he designed it to deal with a wide range of voltages, grid frequencies and types of charging interface. There was only one model and they drove it around the world to show it working. Thank you Dave, for putting us straight! NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES SEPTEMBER 2021SMMT has released the UK’s September New Car Registration figures and they are the lowest since September 1998. On the upside, it is the best month for battery electric vehicles. Tesla is the most registered, so a boat must have docked, with the Vauxhall Corsa being the top registered car year to date. The Spreadsheet of Doom is predictably doomy. To find out more, click here for the SMMT article. FISKER APPOINTS ASTON MARTIN ENGINEER David King, the former Aston Martin engineer who was head of their Special Vehicle Operations, will head up Fisker’s new UK-based special vehicles division. He is tasked with showcasing the use of specialised materials and technologies. To find out more, click the Autocar story here. FORD DITCHING MORE DIESEL OPTIONSThe Mondeo, Galaxy and S-Max will no longer be offered with a diesel engine option, joining the Fiesta. They will, instead, have a petrol hybrid choice which is very close to the same efficiency and better with the emissions. The Kuga and Focus retain diesel engines, for now. To find out more, click here for the Autocar article. BIRMINGHAM LOW-TRAFFIC PLANBirmingham has proposed making the centre of the city a low-traffic area. Using existing roads, the idea is instead of funnelling cars through the centre of the city but turn them back to the ring road and travel to another of the seven zones that will be created. To read more, click The Guardian article here. ABB LAUNCHES FASTEST EVE CHARGERABB has released information on their Terra 360 modular charging station, which will be able to charge four different vehicles at the same time but is also flexible in the charging rates it can deliver that to each of the vehicles. Added to this, they claim that an EV can be fully charged in 15 minutes. To find out more, click here for the Business Motoring article. WARRINGTON INSTALLING ON-STREET CHARGERSConnected kerb, in partnership with Warrington Council, are installing 30 on-street charging stations for houses without off-street parking. To find out more, click the Connected Kerb article here. ——————————————————————————-If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST——————————————————————————-WRC FINLAND Elfyn Evans won the Rally Finalnd event, clawing back 20 points on championship leader Ogier, in the process. Tanak and Breen were second and third, for Hyundai. To learn more about this brilliant win, click the DirtFish article here. For the amazing on-board footage of Evans, click the WRC link here. For DirtFish’s ‘What We Learned’ article, click the link here. NEW NEW CAR NEWSWhy the Chip Shortage Is So Complex There is no New New Car News, this week, but we have this topical article from Jalopnik that helps to explain the situation, from both sides of the negotiating table. Think of this as an additional Lunchtime Read. To find out more, click the link here. DESIGNERS MOOD BOARD: NIO APPOINT TWO DIRECTORSNIO, the Chinese EV company, has appointed Alister Weaver, from JLR, and Joaquin Garcia, from SEAT and Cupra, as studio directors. This is another loss for Jaguar Land Rover’s design team. To read more, click here for the Autocar article. LUNCHTIME READ: PICTURE PERFECT Hagerty has a wonderful interview with Paul Howse, who’s design work helped bring the P1, 570, 720 and Artura to fruition for McLaren. Paul was signed off with stress in 2020 and then was one of 1200 who were made redundant by McLaren, as a result of the impact of the Covid pandemic. However, this is a positive tale. By reading the article you will learn how well he is now doing and what he is doing, by clicking the link here. LIST OF THE WEEK: BIGGEST ESTATE CARS EVER BUILTYou know we like and estate, on this show, well here is a list of the biggest that have been made. Have a listen to Andrew and Alex’s choices, then click this Autocar link here, and see if you agree or would pick something else. AND FINALLY: SILVER GHOST RE-ENACTS LONDON TO EDINBURGH RUN Bored of hearing how priceless classic cars are kept undercover in warehouses? So are we, instead you can hear about an original Rolls Royce Silver Ghost re-enacting the run it made in 1911 from London to Edinburgh, as close to the original run as possible. To find out more, click the Rolls Royce article here.