Space race take two? Putin speeds up building of Russian spaceport September 2, 2014 Russia has upped its game in the race to become a space superpower. Today, President Vladimir Putin announced that he was hastening Russia's efforts to build a multi-billion dollar spaceport in the East of the country. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has relied on the Baikonur cosmodrome in [...]
Tesla lands $200m Panasonic investment in Gigafactory deal July 31, 2014 Japan's Panasonic is set to invest over $200m in American electric carmaker Tesla Motors' lithium-ion battery plant in the US, according to a person familiar with the matter. Panasonic had signed a preliminary agreement to be involved in the project back in May. In a joint statement the companies said Tesla would be responsible for [...]
Which books do the giants of business read over the summer? July 29, 2014 You might be surprised how many older volumes make the cut. Most of us look at our summer holiday as reading prime time. Indeed, research from TripAdvisor found that, for nearly one in four of us, it’s the only time we manage to read a book. And even if you read more regularly, a [...]
Tesla to share its car patents June 12, 2014 ELON Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur behind leading electric car company Tesla and private space travel firm SpaceX, has announced Tesla will allow others to use its intellectual property in hopes of boosting development of electric cars. Musk said on the company’s website that the industry would benefit from open-source sharing of technologies. “If we clear [...]
Elon Musk: “I didn’t think SpaceX or Tesla would work” June 9, 2014 Billionaire tech titan Elon Musk – the brain behind Tesla electric cars, a project to colonise Mars and Hyperloop – has more ideas in a year than most people in a lifetime. But speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, the serial entrepreneur admitted that he hasn’t always had faith that things will come [...]
3 electric car myths debunked February 20, 2014 If Tesla Motors' results are anything to go by, it looks like electric cars are taking off. Yesterday, the firm revealed a gross profit of $156.6m (£93.7m) – over six times higher than than a year earlier. The forward-thinking company, which is headed by PayPal and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, saw record transactions of its [...]
The market’s already come up with something that makes Nick Clegg’s electric car plan totally irrelevant January 30, 2014 Nick Clegg’s on a drive to make Britain the world leader in electric cars. Today, he announced that the government will invest more than £9m to up the number of charging points across the country. The government’s partnered up with major car manufacturers who are backing the suspectly-named Go Ultra Low campaign – which they [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 22 November 2013 November 21, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Independence could lose sterling Scotland will be forced to quit the sterling currency union if it votes for independence next year, a cabinet minister has said, in the starkest warning yet for Scottish voters to remain in the UK. Speaking to the Financial Times days before the Scottish government releases its vision for [...]
A new breed of super-entrepreneurs could leave HS2 looking antiquated September 8, 2013 FOR A mode of transport that first arrived in the nineteenth century, railways have been remarkably resilient. All three major political parties currently support the creation of a new high speed rail network, High Speed 2 (HS2), a £43bn plan to connect London Euston, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, and the East Midlands in two phases. [...]
Driverless cars show the journey of discovery is a long and winding road May 31, 2012 SOMETHING important happened in Spain this week, and not just the continuing revelations of the depths of its economic crisis. Volvo announced that on a motorway just outside Barcelona a convoy of four driverless cars drove 123 miles on a public road, among other road users, perfectly safely. The vehicles travelled at 53 miles an [...]