Dogs have been found to be more relaxed when travelling in an electric car than in a diesel-powered vehicle.

Online vehicle marketplace CarGurus partnered with the University of Lincoln on a new study, which looked at the effects on dogs of travelling in a diesel car versus an electric vehicle.

The two-day investigation used 20 dogs, each taken on two 10-minute car journeys – one in an EV and one in a diesel. During the trip, their behaviour was analysed.

Led by Daniel Mills, Professor of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine at the University of Lincoln, the study found that dogs were less settled in diesel cars compared with EVs. It also found that signs of car sickness were reduced in electric cars.

The investigation also found that there was no evidence to suggest that EVs have a detrimental effect on dog welfare, with the transition for dogs between travelling in a diesel car and an electric version being ‘smooth’.

While the dogs in the study lay down for around a third of the journey in both cars, in the diesel vehicles the dogs broke their laying position on average 50 per cent more than in an EV. This difference is likely down to the change in vibration levels, says the study.

Daniel Mills, Professor of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine, University of Lincoln, said: “We know most dogs will travel in a car at some point in their life, if not on a daily basis. Yet as EVs become more prevalent with motorists, until now there were no studies of their effect on dogs.

“Our results clearly show that dogs seem to be more relaxed in EVs, particularly when looking at behavioural traits such as restlessness.

“Additionally, an interesting and somewhat unintended revelation from the study came from the dogs that we identified as having potential symptoms associated with travel sickness.”

A Yamaha quad bike once famously toppled by singer Ozzy Osbourne is set to head under the hammer at auction.

The 350cc Yamaha Banshee nearly killed its then-owner in 2003, leaving the Black Sabbath singer with a cracked vertebra, broken collarbone and eight broken ribs when it rolled. Osbourne was also left unconscious and temporarily unable to breathe.

‘Largely untouched’ in the 20 years since the accident according to auction platform Car and Classic, the Banshee still bears some marks of the incident. It’s got damage to the front crash bar and a crack in one of the rear wings, for instance.

The rest of the styling remains as it was originally, with eye-catching red and yellow bodywork and gold wheels. The Banshee is powered by a 350cc engine, while chunky tyres are ideal for charging off-road. Car and Classic say it’s easy to start, too.

The Banshee’s handbook also explains that the vehicle isn’t for beginners, while a handwritten note inside – which Car and Classic believe to be from Sharon Osbourne to her husband – reads ‘be safe’.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a rare and well-documented quadbike,” says Car & Classic Head of Editorial Chris Pollitt. “Regardless of its provenance, the Banshee is already a desirable vehicle, but its nearly-nefarious part in Osbourne’s life makes it all the more special.”

The auction for the Yamaha Banshee is currently live and is set to end on December 1.

Czech firm Praga has released its latest hypercar – the Bohema.

The Bohema is an exceptionally lightweight car, with Praga stating that it is aiming to make the two-seater model ‘sub-1,000kg’ by the time it hits the road. It’s underpinned by a full carbon monocoque chassis and body, yet is powered by a Nissan GT-R-derived six-cylinder twin-turbocharged petrol engine with 700bhp.

The engine is mounted directly behind the cockpit too, with the transmission positioned behind the engine. They’re independently mounted from the carbon chassis as well so that vibrations and resonance aren’t transferred through to the cabin. This helps to make longer journeys more comfortable.

However, despite its lightweight nature, the Bohema still incorporates a fully adjustable driver’s seat, luggage space and air conditioning. The steering wheel can be removed entirely, but it incorporates a large digital display with speed, gear selection and other information. It’s trimmed in Alcantara, while the central leather pad features Praga’s logo.

All cars get independent suspension and pushrod-operated adjustable dampers, while the lightweight centre-locked wheels are 18 inches in diameter up front and 19 inches at the rear. However, the Bohema can accept 18-inch wheels all around so that it can comply with FIA GT3 racing specification tyre dimensions.

IndyCar driver and former F1 racer Romain Grosjean helped with the development of the Bohema, too, and stated: “I was astonished by the Bohema’s amazing performance on track, its accessibility on road, and the ease of transition between the two.”

The exhaust system is made entirely from titanium, while much of the silencing is taken care of by the catalytic converter. All power is sent through a sequential gearbox with a robotic clutch for ultra-fast gearshifts.

Just 89 examples of the Bohema will be available, with each one costing £1.1 million.

Hundreds of thousands more drivers face a daily fee of £12.50 for using London’s roads after mayor Sadiq Khan announced he will expand a pollution charge zone to boost air quality.

Mr Khan said extending the ultra-low emission zone to cover the whole of the capital from August 29 next year is “one of the toughest decisions I’ve taken”.

The scheme, which operates at all times except Christmas Day, is currently limited to the area within the North and South Circular roads.

Transport for London (TfL) estimates that on an average day about 160,000 cars and 42,000 vans that use London’s roads would be liable for the £12.50 Ulez fee.

But transport officials believe that by the end of next year the expansion of the scheme will have encouraged tens of thousands of those drivers to switch to vehicles that comply with the minimum emissions standards or use other modes of getting around such as walking, cycling or public transport.

Whether or not a vehicle is liable for the charge depends on how much nitrogen dioxide it emits.

For diesel cars and vans to avoid the charge they must generally have been registered from 2016, while most petrol models registered from 2006 are exempt.

Drivers can check the status of their vehicle by entering its registration number on TfL’s website.

Mr Khan said air pollution is making Londoners “sick from cradle to the grave”, with illnesses such as cancer, lung disease, dementia and asthma.

He described the Ulez as “transformational” and claimed extending it will mean “five million more people will be able to breathe cleaner air and live healthier lives”.

The mayor insisted that the rising cost of living was a “key consideration” in his decision on whether to implement the proposal, which was featured in a public consultation between May and July.

This led to him introducing measures such as a £110 million scrappage scheme to support Londoners on lower incomes, disabled people, small businesses and charities to scrap or retrofit their non-compliant vehicles.

There will also be a major expansion of bus services in outer London.

Mr Khan added: “Expanding the Ulez London-wide has not been an easy decision.

“The easy thing for me would have been to kick the can down the road.

“But in the end, public health comes before political expediency.”

Billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg, who is the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy on climate ambition and solutions, claimed Mr Khan’s leadership is “helping to clean London’s air and set an example for cities around the world”.

But RAC head of roads policy Nicholas Lyes said the announcement will be “a hammer-blow for desperate drivers and businesses already struggling with crippling fuel costs”.

Michael Lloyd of the Federation of Small Businesses said a “heavy-handed” Ulez expansion will “leave many small firms in a precarious position”.

He added that a recent survey of affected small businesses suggested 18% planned to shut down if the extension went ahead, and 25% intended to pass the extra cost on to customers.

A new study has looked at the best and worst places to charge up an electric vehicle in the UK.

To find out which of the UK’s 12 largest electric car charging providers was best, WhatCar? spoke to 2,800 electric and plug-in hybrid car drivers and asked them to rate networks according to accessibility, charging speed, ease of payment, reliability and value for money.

After this, WhatCar? staff visited at least one charging point for each of the 12 companies to gain a ‘snapshot’ of what they were like and rated them on the same criteria as the EV owners had used.

Gridserve came out on top with an overall rating of 85.2 per cent, with its Electric Forecourt stations proving a real hit with drivers. Owners rated it a full 100 per cent fo ease of payment, as well as 90 per cent for value-fo-money. It fell behind slightly in terms of reliability, scoring 67.6 per cent .

Instavolt came in second place, scoring highly for its reliability and value for money, while returning an overall rating of 85.1 per cent. Fastned took the bronze medal with its 84 per cent overall rating and 90 per cent score for charging speed.

Steve Huntingford, What Car? editor, said: “Our investigation highlights how vastly different the quality of service can be at different public charging networks. Enabling electric car owners to connect and pay quickly and easily are vital ingredients for a satisfactory experience. Sites that also provide somewhere warm and dry, with shops and other facilities where you can wait in comfort for your car to charge are best of all.

“As more people switch to electric cars, demand for convenient, pleasant public charging locations will only increase, and our research shows that you need to plan ahead and pick the best providers to find the best charging solutions.”

At the other end of the scale came Charge Your Car in twelfth place with an overall rating of 55.5 per cent, while Geniepoint and Charge Place Scotland didn’t fare much better with ratings of 65.2 and 69.4 per cent respectively.

US researchers said they have successfully used artificial intelligence (AI) in a group of wirelessly connected cars to help ease rush hour traffic on a major road.

During an experiment in Nashville, Tennessee, 100 test cars sent traffic information back and forth on the Interstate 24 route (I-24).

Their adaptive cruise control was modified to react to the overall flow of traffic using AI, in a bid to reduce so-called “phantom” traffic jams with no obvious cause.

Researchers are still examining the data, but say the experiment was a success. In addition to easing driver frustration, less stop-and-go driving means fuel savings and less pollution.

Professor of civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University Daniel Work is one of a group of engineers and mathematicians from universities around America who have been studying the problem of phantom traffic jams after a simple experiment in Japan a dozen years ago showed how they develop.

Japanese researchers put about 20 human drivers on a circular track and asked them to drive at a constant speed.

Before long, traffic went from a smooth flow to a series of stops and starts.

Prof Work said: “Phantom traffic jams are created by drivers like you and me.”

He explained that if one person taps the brakes, for whatever reason, then the person behind them takes a second to respond and has to brake even harder. Then, the next person has to brake even harder. The wave of braking continues until many cars are at a standstill.

However, as traffic clears, the drivers accelerate too quickly, causing more braking and yet another jam.

“We know that one car braking suddenly can have a huge impact,” Prof Work said.

The experiment showed that a few cars driving slowly and steadily could have an impact as well – for the better.

The experiment utilised 100 cars that travelled in loops on a 15-mile section of I-24 from about 6am to 9.45am each morning.

Working on the premise that if 5% of the cars on the road were acting together, they could lessen the prevalence of phantom traffic jams, the researchers equipped those 100 cars to communicate wirelessly, sending traffic information back and forth.

They also took advantage of the adaptive cruise control that is already an option on many new vehicles.

This technology lets the driver set a car to cruise at a certain speed, but the car automatically slows down and speeds up as needed to keep a safe distance from the car in front.

In the experiment, the adaptive cruise control was modified to react to the overall traffic flow – including what was happening far ahead – using AI.

The cars’ decision-making occurred on two levels, Prof Work said. At the cloud level, information about traffic conditions was used to create an overall speed plan. That plan was then broadcast to the cars, which used AI algorithms to determine the best action to take.

The researchers were able to evaluate the effect the connected cars had on morning traffic flow using a special four-mile stretch of I-24 outfitted with 300 pole-mounted sensors.

The experiment is a project of the Circles consortium, a group that includes several car makers and the US Energy and Transportation departments. Other lead researchers are based at the University of California, Berkeley; Temple University; and Rutgers University-Camden.

Liam Pedersen is deputy general manager for research at Nissan, a Circles consortium partner who was in Nashville last week for the experiment. He said one of the exciting things about it is that it builds on technology that is already in many new cars.

“This is not autonomous driving,” he said. “This is something we could realise very soon.”

The driver of a Mini decorated in 3,000 twinkling lights hopes to “bring little moments of joy to people’s lives” this Christmas and raise over £10,000 for charity.

Nicholas Martin, 33, is celebrating his fifth year behind the wheel of his “Festive Mini” but has gone to new lengths to create an illuminative show with thousands of app-controlled, battery-powered lights – each one customisable to generate different light patterns, messages, and animations.

With each individual light available to sponsor for £2, Mr Martin will take to the streets of his local town Bracknell, in Berkshire, in the run-up to Christmas with an aim to support The Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Trust and Duchenne UK.

“The Festive Mini actually has a purpose and its purpose is to bring joy to as many people as possible,” Mr Martin, a software engineer, told the PA news agency.

“People just get blown away when they see it.

“They have an expectation of what it might look like but when they actually see it, their jaw just drops.

“It brings little moments of joy to people’s lives.”

Mr Martin first started driving his decorated Mini in 2018 “as a bit of fun,” when he wrapped his red car in around 600 supermarket-bought LEDs.

It garnered attention on a local Facebook group and when people were asking for its return in 2019, Mr Martin wanted to go “bigger and brighter and a lot more festive”.

He drove around public spaces and near shops but did not do any street visits – until he was invited to the home of then-11-year-old Marcus Rooks, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a genetic condition that causes degeneration of muscles.

“With a muscle wasting disease, you lose the ability to walk and stuff like that – it’s a really horrible thing,” Mr Martin explained.

“So he wasn’t able to go out to all of these wonderful places to see Christmas lights because he’s wheelchair-bound.

“Somebody invited me and said, ‘Why don’t you surprise Marcus with a visit from The Festive Mini?’ So I did just that.

“When I saw his face light up, it hit me with so many emotions.”

Mr Martin continued to spread festive cheer throughout the Christmas Covid lockdowns for the next two years, raising £6000 and £8000 in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Mini UK were in touch to provide him with an electric Mini in 2021, keeping the project “economically friendly” as Mr Martin gives the British public an opportunity to have their say in the appearance of The Festive Mini – even allowing them the chance to draw a design on the car via an iPad.

“People haven’t seen the finished product yet, (but) it’s amazing,” he said.

“You can actually draw on the Mini, which is fantastic, you can put writing on it as well.

“In terms of the effects, there (are) two stand-outs for me – there’s one which is a Christmas cracker, a green and red striped pattern which I love.

“And then the favourite, of course, is the rainbow pattern… It just shows off all the colours, it’s beautiful.”

Mr Martin is raising money for two charities close to his heart – The MS Trust and Duchenne UK, the country’s leading DMD charity.

His mother lives with MS, which he said has made hearing other people’s stories “really hit home”.

“There’s one person, in particular, that was really, really emotional,” Mr Martin said.

“It was during lockdown and this woman had unfortunately just lost her husband to MS.

“And she suddenly started crying… And she just held my arm and said, ‘I am so sorry, I’ve just lost my husband to Multiple Sclerosis and what you’re doing is absolutely fantastic, but this is the first time I’ve actually processed the fact that he has gone.’

“That was the most touching thing, with my mother suffering from MS.

“It is just amazing that The Festive Mini can bring out all of these emotions.”

He spent “roughly two weeks, four hours every night,” wrapping the car ready for its official switch-on at The Lexicon shopping centre in Bracknell on November 25 and plans to drive it up until Christmas eve.

Mr Martin’s wife, Rachel Martin, said it has been “amazing to see how happy it makes him”.

“It does look great,” Mrs Martin, a 28-year-old claims advocate, told PA.

“I have to live with him when he’s putting all the lights on, which can be a long task.

“But it’s worth it… Seeing how everyone reacts to it and how much work is put into it, it’s really lovely.”

To find out more about The Festive Mini, go to: www.festivemini.com

Abarth has revealed its first electric model with the new 500e – a hotter version of Fiat’s 500 EV.

Set to be sold alongside petrol versions of the Abarth 595, this 500e signals a new era for the brand and is its first new model in more than half a decade.

Based on the electric Fiat 500, the 500e ‘performs better than petrol’ thanks to improved weight distribution, better torque and a wider wheelbase, says Fiat. Power increases from 116bhp on the Fiat to 153bhp here, although the 42kWh battery remains. No range figure has been given, but expect slightly less than the 199 miles that Fiat claims for its electric 500.

Accelerating from 0-60mph takes 6.8 seconds, with Abarth saying it can pick up speed faster around town and can overtake more quickly than petrol versions.

There are three driving modes depending on how you want to get around – Turismo, Scorpion Street and Scorpion Track – while Abarth says it has engineered an ‘immersive sound experience for those who want to drive electric without giving up on the famous and unmistakable Abarth roar’.

Known as a ‘Sound Generator’, it aims to replicate the noise of a petrol engine, but it can be turned off if drivers don’t want it.

Abarth has also given the model a much more aggressive design than the standard Fiat 500, including dedicated bumpers, side skirts and a rear diffuser insert. Bespoke alloy wheels are also fitted, along with a new Abarth logo.

Like existing models from the Italian firm, the 500e will be offered as a hatchback and a convertible, with Abarth creating a launch edition model known as the ‘Scorpionissima’.

Limited to 1,949 units to mark the year the firm was founded, the model is available in Acid Green or Poison Blue paint. It also comes with exclusive 18-inch alloy wheels, a fixed glass roof and rear privacy glass. Alcantara is used for the seats, dashboard and steering wheel, while the standard equipment includes a 10.25-inch touchscreen with wireless smartphone mirroring, heated front seats and a JBL sound system.

Abarth is yet to announce pricing, although since an electric Fiat 500 starts from £30,645, it’s likely to come in close to £35,000. The 500e is expected to arrive in the UK by June 2023.

Mazda has hinted at a new electric sports car as part of a new confirmation that it was investing $10.6bn (£8.9bn) in its electrification plans.

The Japanese carmaker has revealed further information about its management plan to take Mazda up to 2030, as well as developing its electrification strategy, which will come as part of three phases.

In the first, taking place between 2022 and 2024, Mazda says it will ‘enhance technology development for the age of electrification’, and strengthen its US plant and ‘large product models’, including the new CX-60 and seven-seat CX-80, which is due on sale next year.

In phase two, brought in between 2025 and 2027, Mazda says it will ‘transition to electrification’, still using internal combustion engines as its base for profit, as well as pushing its battery development and technology.

Then in Phase 3, Mazda says it will undertake a ‘full-scale launch of EVs’, though the firm says it expects only between 25 and 40 per cent of its cars sold globally in 2030 to be EVs.

However, the brand stressed its cars’ driving enjoyment, with the last five minutes of the presentation including a video about the importance of ‘emotion’ and the ‘joy of driving’.

Including various clips of past Mazda sports cars, including the classic Cosmo from the 1960s and various generations of the firm’s well-loved MX-5, Mazda then showed a new digital concept car – boasting a design clearly taking cues from the RX-7. The unnamed ‘Vision Study Model’ features a long bonnet and almost supercar-like styling thanks to upwards-opening scissor doors.

While Mazda revealed no information about the car, it strongly hints that a future sports car is in the pipeline, whether it’s as a replacement for the MX-5 or as more of successor to the well-loved RX-7 and RX-8 – something Mazda has hinted at in previous years.