Tag: worn

EV Cars Too Heavy for Road!

UK: EV Design & Tyres Damage Environment – New Research Finds! (8.11.2026)

While EVs wear out their tyres more quickly, experts say increased degradation does not necessarily mean more pollution – but EV-specific rubber could bring its own set of concerns. Andersson said wear and airborne emissions aren’t equivalent: “A tyre with higher overall wear does not necessarily generate proportionally more airborne particle pollution.” Yet as impending Euro 7 abrasion standards compel manufacturers to create longer-lasting compounds, solving wear may simply shift the hazard. Molden said new compound formulations “will affect the toxicity of the particles”. That chemical profile remains a critical blindspot. University of Surrey professor Prashant Kumar, who studies the impact of air pollution on health, said tyre-wear particles can contain metals and chemicals whose long-term health impact “is not very well understood”. Larger rubber fragments stay on the ground and are washed away by rain but finer particles “could become airborne” and pose a risk. Asked to comment, the BTMA pushed back, saying any changes to materials or product design are subject to “extensive technical evaluation and scrutiny”.

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Early on Friday morning, 28 July 1944, a passenger on the 89 bus on Belmont Hill watched as a V1 flying bomb fell to earth behind the Lewisham Clock Tower.

UK: Lewisham WWII Nazi German “VI Bomb” Plaque to be Replaced! (30.7.2026)

My mother’s family were bombed-out of Lewisham in the Nazi German blanket-bombing of Lewisham in September, 1940. Tens of thousands had to fircibly relocate to the Chislehurst Caves (then situated in Kent). They went on foot – walking miles to gain safety as the UK government had nowhere to put them. Eventually, the owner of the caves agreed to this – and the government assisted the people to establish an underground town which lasted until 1948 – when the Labour Party finished building new Council Houses. As for my mother’s family – they were relocated to Oxford on the grounds that one of their relatives already lived there (I think a cousin had moved there at some point before this). Obviously, Lewisham still possessed a working-class population – as the plaque discussed in this article commemorates the 51 people killed when a VI hit the Market Area during 1944. By this time, my family had established themselves in Oxford (the men joining the military) – and a large part of the Lewisham population was now living in the Chislehurst Caves.

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