Car News

Tesla is constantly making headlines with the small features embedded in its infotainment system. Some are silly, like the inbuilt whoopee cushion, others are very clever. A Model 3 owner has discovered one of the clever ones, posting an image of an automated message about a faulty part on Reddit. "An unexpected condition has been detected with the Power Conversion System on your Model 3. A replacement part has been pre-shipped to your preferred Tesla Service Centre," the message said.

Starting later this year, Fiat Chrysler (FCA) will begin offering cars with an online 'ecosystem' headlined by an infotainment system running Google's Android operating system, and using cloud services from Harman, part of the sprawling Samsung conglomerate. Cars equipped with the new system will have a new Android-based infotainment setup with over-the-air updates, built-in app support, satellite navigation, automatic emergency calling, and smartphone connectivity.

BMW will buy cobalt from Australia and Morocco to ensure the mineral is responsibly sourced, shunning the Democratic Republic of Congo and its questionable mining practices. According to Bloomberg, the decision coincides with a London Metal Exchange review into whether its cobalt is linked with child labour. Andreas Wendt, BMW board member responsible for procurement, told media the decision will affect the next generation of battery-electric models, set to arrive in 2020.

French manufacturer Renault has announced its first large-scale pilot into reversible electric charging, kicking off in the Netherlands and Portugal. In a statement released this week, the company says: "Our alternating-current technology has the particularity of placing the reversible charger inside vehicles, so it just requires a simple, inexpensive adaptation of the existing charging terminals".

Charging your electric vehicle on the run is about to become a little easier thanks to new technology being trialled in Sydney beginning this week. The first of 20 smart street lights, each believed to cost around $30,000, has been installed in Sydney’s Blacktown and offers free – for now – charging points for EVs. Further poles are expected to be rolled out in Blacktown and Canada Bay in Sydney’s inner-west.