Battery electric cars are slowly gaining in popularity among consumers in Europe as mainstream automakers respond to an industry-wide shift away from petrol and diesel vehicles.

Sales of electric vehicles are slowly beginning to gain traction in Europe as mainstream brands including Volkswagen, BMW, Fiat, Opel and Hyundai start to roll out battery-powered models.

Electric cars are rapidly moving from the periphery of the automotive sector in the European Union to the mainstream.

Low-carbon mobility is essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In Valladolid, Spain, hybrid buses use electricity in the city centre and are connected to a smart city platform which monitors how often they charge and how much.

Greenhouse gases decreased by 23% between 1990 and 2016, said the third report on the state of the “Energy Union”, which tracks the EU's transition to a low-carbon society.

Grass could be used to produce biofuels. The advantage of using grass crops is that they can be grown in marginal lands that would otherwise not be used .

Vehicles seats are normally made of polyurethane foam, a thick material that is expensive to recycle and ends up in dumping sites or being incinerated.

Hydro-mechanical diesel multiple units (DMUs), multiple unit trains powered by diesel engines, are needed in regional traffic.

In the last five years 25 European research institutions have joint forces to develop a rechargeable battery which uses lithium nano-particles.

The European HySYS project aims to take stock of the elements needed to manufacture an electric vehicle whose electricity is generated by a fuel cell. The fuel cell on board is powered by air and hydrogen.

The search for a new clean energy increases worldwide as the sources of natural energy diminish. The transport sector is especially vulnerable, by the decline in oil reserves, at the time when number of cars on our roads steadily increases.

The research team has redesigned the batteries which are now also able to store energy during braking and releasing it quickly during acceleration.

Together the engineers worked on the fuel cell propulsion system by upgrading the air supply, integrating a humidification system, redesigning the hydrogen supply line and developing a hydrogen sensor concept.

The new composite material contains double the volume of glass fibres compared to common composites and thus is extremely stabile.

By comparing the weights of latest Volkswagen Golf VI with its predecessor Golf I, built in 1978, the scale shows the difference: Golf I weighs 880 kilograms, Golf VI lets the numbers on the scale rise to 1.

The European Union has set a standard that emissions may not exceed an average of 130 grams CO2 per kilometre. This corresponds to the consumption of approximately 4,5 litres of fuel per 100km.

A delivery van double-parking and blocking the road . This could be a scene of the past according to Werner Schönewolf, who is developing new delivery methods for parcel services.

Fuel cell vehicles (FCV’s) are already in use, but only for demonstration purposes, and a good infrastructure for hydrogen refuelling is not in place yet.

To reduce the vehicle impact on the environment many companies are introducing new technology. Fuel cells came into the spotlight last year when leading vehicle manufacturers said they expect to introduce a few hundred thousand fuel cell vehicles (FCV’s) to the market beginning in 2015.

The cars today - even in their basic configuration - are equipped with many features: air conditioning, electric windows and airbags for example. The price for improved comfort and safety on board has been an increase in weight.