A little while back, some close friends suggested we use their holiday chalet in Switzerland, as it wasn’t being let outside the skiing season and was obviously not being used by anyone else. So not being ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, we immediately took them up on their very kind [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> An Advertorial Feature

A little while back, some close friends suggested we use their holiday chalet in Switzerland, as it wasn’t being let outside the skiing season and was obviously not being used by anyone else. So not being ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, we immediately took them up on their very kind offer, and wasted little time in going online in search of a hire car. After all, car rental comparison is now so easy with a PC. How on earth did we ever manage before?

Having not driven an environmentally friendly car before, now, I thought, would be an ideal time to try one. So I plumped for the Toyota Prius T3. This is the latest model from the Toyota stable. And I have to admit that this car is an absolute joy to drive. I guess the excellent Swiss roads from Geneva airport helped. But this car feels very smooth and its blend of petrol engine and electric motor works seamlessly in town where the silent battery powered running is very impressive.

Besides the comfortable drive (the kids fell asleep in the back), this car is incredibly clean. Thanks in part to skinnier wheels, it emits 89g of CO2 per km. And according to the AA, the only other car to do better than this is the Smart 42 CDI, but then that’s tiny by comparison.

We stopped off en-route at one of the motorway services, and had a very good meal in the smart dining area. It’s not something you’d ever experience at a motorway service station in the UK. But then, this is Switzerland. And I have to say that you certainly feel better for breathing all that Swiss air.

Morgins is a small development of Swiss chalets and is presumably pretty busy during the skiing season. The ski lifts take you up to the mountains in no more than a few minutes. We did this one fine morning ourselves only to find that you couldn’t see further than your own nose at the top due to mist or clouds or both.

If you love walking, which we do, Morgins is a perfectly good place from which to do some really lovely walks. But if you’re not the walking type, you may find yourself at a loose end if you don’t have a set of wheels. With a car, you can comfortably go and visit places like Evian, which is well worth the visit or Lausanne with its elegant promenade and excellent Olympics museum.  If you don’t mind the journey, Mont Blanc is a fabulous day trip. Take the narrow gauge railway up and then hop on the cable car to the glacier. You won’t be disappointed.

Alternatively, if you don’t fancy driving for hours, pop across the border to Chatel and check out the market. The fruit, vegetables and flowers sold here are fabulous and far cheaper than anything you’ll find in Switzerland. And if you like chateaus, pop next door to Aigle where you’ll discover the very lovely fairy tale turrets of Chateau d’Aigle.

Alex Pearl is a freelance copywriter and author of ‘Sleeping with the Blackbirds’.

http://sleepingwiththeblackbirds.co.uk http://alexpearlmini.carbonmade.com

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Buffett, advised by his legendary partner, Charlie Munger, took a stake in Hong-Kong listed company BYD, a leading Chinese maker of rechargeable batteries [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Back in 2008, the clean vehicle world was given an electric jolt when it was revealed that the world’s greatest ever investor, Warren Buffett, had made his own major investment in low emission cars.

Buffett, advised by his legendary partner, Charlie Munger, took a stake in Hong-Kong listed company BYD, a leading Chinese maker of rechargeable batteries that moved into the car industry several years before.

Warren Buffett’s investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, made what was deemed a “significant” investment in the company.

Now this was somewhat out of character. Buffett more usually invests in out-of-favour, run of the mill type companies, where the value has been beaten down to bargain levels. So this was very much a departure. Perhaps the great investing pair saw the future in electric and hybrid cars?

Whatever the reason, the investment initially fared well, but has since faltered badly.

BYD’s shares have fallen from a peak of HK$80 to a recent low of just HK$10. Buffett is still in profit – he paid just HK$8 for the shares, but so far, the investment hasn’t done as well as most of his others.

That may be about to change though. Recently, the shares have rallied to around HK$15 on news that BYD has opened an American headquarters in Los Angeles. This may be because the company is shifting focus into other areas of business – possibly due to advice by the great man himself. Time will tell.

BYD’S F3 compact car was China’s best-selling vehicle during 2009, but sales fell the following year – along with the company’s profits and share price. BYD is now in eighth position in China’s car makers’ league by sales volume. Also, BYD’s plans to sell an all-electric car by the year 2010, the E6, in the USA have suffered various delays and setbacks. The company now says that the vehicle won’t be on sale to American customers for another 18 months or more, due to the country’s lack of recharging infrastructure for electric vehicles.

But Buffett gets very few investments wrong, so BYD’s plans for world electric car dominance will certainly be interesting to monitor.

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The ordering process is a first step in securing a place on the list to receive the Nissan LEAF, and means Portuguese, Irish and UK customers will be first in line to receive the [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Amid strong global demand for the world’s first affordable mass-produced, zero-emission vehicle, Nissan will open order books in the UK from 1st September.

The ordering process is a first step in securing a place on the list to receive the Nissan LEAF, and means Portuguese, Irish and UK customers will be first in line to receive the car in Europe. Nissan LEAF deliveries begin in Portugal in January, Ireland in February and UK in March 2011. Since March this year, more than 12,000 customers in Europe have signed up for regular updates on Nissan LEAF’s introduction, and in the US and Japan pre-orders have exceeded 23,000 units since online reservations began in April.

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The plans are aimed at shifting procurement behaviour towards [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> As part of the revision of the proposal for a Directive on the promotion of clean and energy efficient road transport vehicles, EU transport ministers are set to strengthen a draft law requiring public authorities across to take energy and environmental costs into account when buying road vehicles.

The plans are aimed at shifting procurement behaviour towards greener vehicles. However, any deal reached by transport ministers would be provisional, since MEPs have yet to vote on the proposals.

More info here

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Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related [...] No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Clean vehicles are fuelled by renewable fuels or fossil fuels that are less pollutant than ordinary fuels, or use a technique which dramatically reduces pollution and energy use.

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