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12. 04. 12. - 08:00

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12. 04. 12. - 08:00

Hot Rod

Kathryn Quinn

Fed up motorist Zhu Zhenlin has managed to beat the soaring petrol prices by creating his own home-made solar powered car.

The 19-year-old engineering student from Ningbo, in east China’s Zhejiang province, spent just 1500 knocking his solar powered car together using mostly old parts from a local scrapyard.

He said: "I had to work out how to keep the weight down low so I took of anything that wasn't really necessary like some of the panels at the side – it weighs just 400 kilos. I didn't feel I needed the regular panels anyway because I've replaced them with a total of 22 solar panels.

"The car is quite short – 3.2 metres – which means it's easy to park in the city and although I've kept down to bare necessities it still has everything a regular car has."

He said the car only needed four hours to be completely recharged if it was parked in full sunshine – and on a cloudy day he plugs into the electricity at home just like a regular electric bike.

He added: "once fully charged it will go around about 50 miles powered by the six factories are fitted inside. It's not enormously fast – I can get 30 miles an hour out of it but not much more."

The student said everything in the car built by himself up scrap parts with the exception of the dynamo, the batteries and the measuring metres which had been done by a local factory.

Tragic Ski Girl Dies
A 10-year-old British schoolgirl has died after skiing into a tree at high speed during a family holiday tragedy in the Austrian Alps.

Peak Performance
Police chiefs in Hamburg, Germany, are celebrating after new crime figures showed there wasn't a single bank robbery in the city last year.

Chinese Fakeaway
Chinese property developers who've been thwarted in a bid to buy up an entire Austrian village have settled on the next best thing - an entire life-sized replica.

Austrian children help Romanian kids
A charity project run by the middle school in Hippach has been recognised with an award for its social work by officials in Tyrol.

Mother kills disabled daughter because she couldnt take care of her any longer
A Romanian woman killed her 8 year-old disabled daughter on Wednesday (yesterday)because she couldn't pay for her care, Libertatea newspaper reports.

Policeman accused of sex with the son of his girlfriend
A Policeman from Vulcan, Western Romania is currently being investigated for having sex with a minor, the son of his girlfriend, Cancan newspaper informs today (Thurs).

Serial killer survivor walks away alive after fall
An 85 year-old woman who survived the most cruel and notorious serial killer in Romania some 40 years ago, recently fell from the first floor of her apartment building and she walked away safe and sound, Cancan newspaper reports today (Thurs).

The son of Qatar Airlines BA beaten up in Romania
The son of the Board of Administration of Qatar Airlines Akbar Al Baker, was beaten up over the weekend at the launching party of a posh club in Mamaia, at the Romanian Black Sea shore, Cancan newspaper reports.

Majority starts president’s suspension procedures
A day after the Social Liberal Union (USL) legislators dismissed with a large majority of votes the two Speakers of the Parliament, the Union started today the procedures for the suspension and possible impeachment of President Traian Basescu. This is the second time when the Parliament asks for Basescu’s suspension.

Some 177 Roma repatriated by French authorities to Romania
Some 177 Romanian citizens of Roma origin were repatriated on Tuesday night from Lille, France, Romania TV news channel informs today (Weds).