Spotlight

Weight has always been the enemy of vehicle performance and efficiency.No-one knew this better than visionary French engineer Ettore Bugatti, who in the early 1900s, while still in his early 20s, was stripping weight out as his rivals were adding it. It was the motor racing equivalent of David and Goliath, Bugatti's hulking adversaries sneering at the tiny French voiture.

A person who has recently had solar panels installed at their house is someone you should avoid at social gatherings. Indeed, they should probably be forced to wear a warning sign of some kind, or at least a t-shirt that says "I'm about to bore you silly by showing you the app on my phone that shows how much I'm saving on my power bills, RIGHT NOW!"

The world stands on the brink of an electric revolution, with the internal-combustion engine set to suffer the same fate as the dinosaurs, the landline and the LaserDisc.

Sure, most people do a bit of research when they buy a new car, but Dr Anthony Hancock is not most people, and when it's time for him to step up to a new model, he's the kind of bloke who really wants to get into the detail.

If you've been paying attention on the road, while listening to the news, you'll have noticed the automotive industry is in the midst of an exciting electric revolution.

There are times in one's life when you just need to treat yourself. For Perth small business owner and grandmother Karen Keeffe, her reward came on a grand scale in the shape of a spacious and spectacular Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid EV. And for her it wasn't just another new car, it was the first time in her life she had ever bought a brand-new vehicle straight from the showroom floor.

The continued existence of camping is an enduring mystery. Surely, as soon as mankind had invented such wondrous technologies as the roof, its days should have been numbered, and the incredible arrival of electricity and then, best of all, hotels, should have seen tents everywhere folded up and thrown away. And yet it persists.

There are people who like their cars and others who profess to love them, and then there's Melbournite Allan Frith, who speaks about his beloved set of wheels as though it's certain to be written into his will and given a seat at the head of the dinner table each night. His wife might well be wise to keep an eye on his Subaru, too.

Kermit the Frog famously serenaded us all with the sentiment that "it's not easy being green", but the times, unlike Kermit's ageless and fuzzy physical features, they are a changing.

Planning an eco-friendly road trip can be a challenge in a fully electric vehicle, where navigating between public charging stations can add time and stress to what should be an entirely relaxing experience.