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Should an electric car go vroom, vroom like its internal combustion ancestors, make a noise like a space ship in Star Wars, or emit the tranquil sounds of birdsong? The EN-V, short for Electric Networked Vehicle, certainly looks like the future. Zero-polluting hydrogen buses that emit only water have begun carrying passengers in central London.

On the outside it appears to be an ordinary convertible Beetle. But this Beetle Bug isn't powered with petrol, nor does it use bio-fuel. This car runs on treated sewage. And bicycle makers in Budapest have unveiled a new, chainless bicycle, the Stringbike, which they hope will consign the oily chain to history.

Restored trains and tracks will provide a credible alternative to road transport along some of China's busiest routes. But renovating the railway was quite an undertaking. And across three countries in Southern Africa, teams of motorcycle riders are challenged with numerous tasks in the Bmw gs Trophy - a seven-day event designed to test both motorbikes and their riders.

A year after the American car industry faced near extinction, a record breaking share offer and bullish future for General Motors set the scene for a revivified Los Angeles Auto Show, as stunning concept cars from the likes of Jaguar, Audi, and Lexus share floor space with plenty of green alternatives and a return to the US of Fiat after 27 years.

Electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt and the Nissan LEAF are about to hit the market, leaving potential customers wondering exactly where they can recharge them. A group of autonomous vehicles that can navigate roads without human intervention have arrived in Shanghai, China, ending a record 15,000 kilometre test drive from their starting point in Italy.

The Continental Supersports Convertible is the fastest, most potent drop-top Bentley ever built - zero to 100 kilometres per hour in just 4.2 seconds and atop speed of 325 kilometres per hour. It's also the fastest four-seat convertible in the world. Consumer car safety body Euro NCAP (PRON en-cap) presented its first Euro NCAP advanced awards for safety innovations at the Paris Motor Show.

A team of engineers in Toronto, are awaiting official confirmation that they have broken an aviation record for the first ever sustained flight in a human-powered Ornithopter. For the first time in the company's history, BMW motorcycles are available with a 6-cylinder in-line power unit. The German company unveiled its new K 1600 GT and K 1600 GTL at a recent motorcycle exhibition in Cologne.

The Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale has made its on-track debut at Italy's Mugello Circuit. Briton Johnny Herbert, one of motor sport's most successful drivers and winner in Formula One, Le Mans and Sebring, was at the wheel of the fastest, lightest, most powerful car in the Maserati range.

Better known for its prestige cars and high-powered motorcycles, German auto manufacturer BMW has looked to the future and moved into the world of electric scooters. And Renault is among those at the forefront of the clean energy crusade, presenting four electric cars at the Paris Motor Show.

An amusement park near Seoul has become the first public venue for the system which provides electric power to buses via recharging strips embedded in the road. The strips transfer energy to an onboard battery through magnets connected to the bus's chassis. Flashback to a hundred years ago, when Dutch aviation legend Anthony Fokker built his first aeroplane.

In recent months, the sun has entered a period of high activity, blasting tonnes of plasma into interplanetary space. The flares are constantly monitored by the European Space Agency or ESA's Soho Mission and other international spacecraft. Kong Pharith, a former teacher in Cambodia has produced the country's first solar car, and is hoping to sell it in his home country.

The team at Horizon fuel cell technologies think they have solved the problem of hydrogen fuel cell storage. The "elevated high-speed bus" is a futuristic concept vehicle which carries passengers above street level, straddling the lanes below and allowing motor vehicles to pass underneath.

A group of high school students from the DeLaSalle School in Kansas City, Missouri and their mentors, including engineers from Bridgestone Americas' Technical Center in Akron, Ohio, have just concluded tests on a student-built electric car at Bridgestone's Texas Proving Grounds - and may have set a world record for efficiency.

German carmaker BMW has revealed its second-generation X3, claiming the luxury SUV will be one of the most fuel-efficient mid-sized off-roaders on the market. Tests carried out in a Mir Deep Submergence Vehicle have revealed a controversial pulp and paper mill is polluting the pristine waters of Lake Baikal in Russia.

Swedish aero giant SAAB showed off its Gripen NextGeneration demonstrator fighter for the first time at the Farnborough International Air show. NASCAR racing is taken very seriously in Charlotte, North Carolina. It generates more 5 billion dollars a year for the local economy and is by far the most popular sporting event.

A car that runs on compressed air, emitting only a breeze of fresh air might seem like a dream. Flashback to the Third Avenue El, the elevated railway that took New Yorkers above and across the city from 1878 to 1973.

Three years in planning, construction of the Bloodhound SSC, or super- sonic car, is about to start, with the record attempt slated for 2012 in South Africa. Korean car giant Kia Motors has upped the ante of its compact sports cars, incorporating a new Dynamax All-Wheel-Drive system into its newly released Kia Sportage.

A small Zagreb-based company, Dok-Ing, has won global recognition with innovative high-tech products, like de-mining robots used by the U.S. army in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is now determined to get a foothold in the nascent electric car market. Plus, a racing car made from vegetables and fueled by chocolate.

With the muffled roar of a jet engine, the test vehicle an Israeli start-up company hopes will prove to be the future of the hybrid electric car, ignites. A Japanese environmental group says it's set a new world-record for the longest running electric vehicle without recharging. Researchers at North Carolina State have written a program that uses algorithms to sort visual data and make decisions.

Scientists are now converting materials like grass and woodchips into cleaner burning biofuel at a similar cost to producing a gallon of gasoline. Any automobile traveling through the air meets the problem of wind resistance, so engineers set about applying the principles of streamlining to the automobile.

Driving full speed through the streets of bustling Taipei City, known as the "Salamander" this electric car operates on Zinc Oxygen Energy (ZOE) fuel cells. The Parrot A.R. Drone, a lightweight quadricopter made of plastic, was launched amid much fanfare in London recently. One New York Company is making cooking oil a valuable commodity in the fight against climate change.

American car company Fisker Automotive has been awarded a half billion dollar loan from the US Department of Energy to create affordable, fuel-efficient plug-in hybrid electric cars. Most people are aware of Volvo's reputation for manufacturing safe cars, but Volvo cars are also successful on the racetrack and in rallying.