The commitment of the biggest French automotive group to assure a better climate and a cleaner environment to future generations by putting on the market innovative “ZerO Emissions” electric vehicles would have failed to consider the possible impact of a car named “ZoE” on the wellbeing of the French couples whose daughters have the same name.

If the future quality of life of the Zoes growing up in France has to be protected, this won’t be the case if the last generation electric vehicle with that same name will be marketed, one should argue following the reasoning of a father whose daughter carries the same name.

The protest is growing (480 Zoe defenders have signed the petition so far), and unexpected by-products might result in the next weeks. For instance, a friend of mine has a small barking nice dog called as the Renault’s new electric car. Is she going to join the protest?

Furthermore, a remarkable group of friends and relatives of mine already drive a Mégane. A fact which has not yet shown relevant consequences on the ladies of the same name.

Should they fear their honest, serviceable automobiles to be banned from the market?

Moreover, no news as of yet have come from Venice about strikes of its citizens against the Renault Laguna. We do hope Genova won’t be the starting point of a global movement against the lexical choices of this innovative French company.

What do you think?

ULTra has recently been introduced in the parking area of Heathrow airport in London.

It is an innovative solution in sustainable public transport, providing on-demand driverless travel. The system is based on small, light and energy efficient vehicles moving  on a dedicated guideway network.

ULTra offers an advanced form of PRT (Personal Rapid Transit), ready for application, giving effective, low cost and sustainable transport for cities, airports and other locations. ULTra was developed by Advanced Transport Systems, an innovative company which spun out of the University of Bristol in 1995.

Applying similar systems in mountain centres might prove difficult. In particular, it is questionable that local administrations are willing to cover the costs of these advanced infrastructures. The experts who are meeting at SWOMM 2009 might help to discover the possibilites of introducing advanced solutions such as ULTra in contexts such as towns in mountain regions.

Other articles you might want be interested in!

The Guardian presents Advanced Transport Systems
The Wikipedia article on ULTra

In SWOMM 2008 a brief summary of the most viable available technological options was presented by Wilfried Klanner of FIA office in Brussels. In this year’s edition the technological aspects of vehicles and the needed infrastructure to ease the dissemination of low and zero-emissions cars will be discussed. A specific focus will be placed on the concrete experience of Nissan-Renault in some European countries, and the process leading to public-private-partnerships and cooperation agreements.

Numerous other car manufacturers have strongly invested in green R&D: on November 4 and 5, the H2Roma “Scientific Workshop with the press” takes place in the city centre of Rome, near piazza Navona. Since 2002 this event aims at bringing to the attention of large audiences the results of technological research to reduce the environmental impact of cars.

Everybody can see and test the low emissions vehicles produced by groups such as Fiat, Honda, Lexus, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Toyota, by booking a test drive on the H2Roma website.

The SWOMM organisers will participate in the Workshop and try to use this occasion to enrich the debate at SWOMM 2009, looking for possible synergies between the latest innovations in automobiles and the specific needs of mountain urban centres.

The H2Roma youtube channel here