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59Study: Modern li-ion batteries have little effect on life cycle impact of electric cars

By now we're all aware that the environmental impact of cars and trucks goes well beyond the emissions produced during operation. There is the energy used to produce and dispose of the vehicles and their components, for example, and the cost of getting the fuel for the vehicles out of the ground and into the tank. The impact of making nickel metal hydride batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs) was the center-piece of a controversial study published by CNW several years ago. That study

18Report: Four-year product lifecycles will allow Ferrari to unveil new model every year

With the 458 Italia, Calfornia, 612 Scaglietti, 599 GTB Fiorano and numerous derivations thereof, Ferrari's juggling more distinct models than it has since the days of the 328, Mondial, 412 and Testarossa. So while updating its line-up on an ad-hoc basis has worked for the company previously, Maranello has now revealed a solid product life-cycle scheme that will see a new model revealed every year.

50REPORT: Honda could stretch out product cycles to save costs

In the '80s and '90s, the typical product life-cycle for Japanese vehicles was four years and out. During that time, the bodies typically got a full refresh and most of the underpinnings received evolutionary updates. Automakers based in North America and Europe would typically build essentially the same cars for 6-8 years before a major redesign. Over the last decade Honda and Toyota have stretched out the life-cycles of their mainstream models to five years and other lower volume cars and truc

2Volvo Trucks create Environmental Product Declaration website

Volvo has created what they term an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) website which covers two of their best-selling truck models, the Volvo FH and Volvo FM. The intention of the world-first EPD is to provide Volvo customers with materials, specifications and statistics to enable them to understand the how particular Volvo truck models fare environmentally. The information and on-line application enables customers to calculate the environmental impact of a single transport operation or the

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