Gone are the days when a car breakdown would result in a long walk to a telephone box or pleading with a nearby homeowner to borrow their phone. Today, you simply call the breakdown company using your smartphone. Or do you?

According to research conducted by the RAC Foundation, there are 5,540 stretches of road in Britain where drivers would find it impossible to call for help because there is no mobile phone voice coverage from any network provider.

This represents two percent of the length of Britain’s road network, with a further 44,368 miles of road (18 percent) having only partial voice coverage. Maybe that dilapidated telephone box you pass on a daily basis might come in handy after all.

Unsurprisingly, it’s Britain’s rural extremities that fare the worst, with the Highland local authority area containing 910 miles of road with no voice coverage. If your car breaks down in Powys, Argyll & Bute, Cumbria or Dumfries & Galloway, be prepared for a walk in search of a signal.

In total, 90 local authority areas have one or more stretches of road where there is no voice signal available, making a call for help impossible. If, however, a motorist is in a location where their phone network provides no coverage but another network does, an emergency call can still be made.

‘Still work to be done’

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “The good news is that mobile coverage has improved a great deal across our road network. On our motorways, which carry around a fifth of all traffic, every mile should now have voice and basic data coverage plus a 4G signal for all but a couple of miles.

“As rapidly as the technology has advanced, so too have our expectations of enjoying uninterrupted connectivity. Hopes are high that autonomous and connected vehicles will make our roads safer and help cut congestion, but that is dependent on those vehicles being able to communicate with each other and the infrastructure around them.

“This analysis shows that there is still work to be done to make constant and comprehensive coverage a reality.”

The local authorities with the most miles of road with no voice coverage

• Highland (910 miles of road with no voice coverage)
• Powys (411 miles)
• Argyll & Bute (388 miles)
• Cumbria (296 miles)
• Dumfries & Galloway (266 miles)
• North Yorkshire (219 miles)
• Gwynedd (213 miles)
• Na h-Eileanan Siar (207 miles)
• Scottish Borders (192 miles)
• Devon (190 miles)

Read more:

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Williams Advanced Engineering and Unipart are teaming up to open Britain’s largest independent vehicle battery factory in Coventry. The new site will open for business in 2019 – and Aston Martin will be its first customer.

Called Hyperbat Limited, the new electric car battery plant will create 90 jobs. The first vehicle to use batteries built there will be the Aston Martin Rapide E.

The collaboration will build upon Williams Advanced Engineering’s experience of supplying batteries to FIA Formula E racers, and Unipart’s expertise in manufacturing, logistics and supply.

Fittingly, the battery factory will be housed in a 100-year-old building, which until recently produced vehicle exhausts.

Business secretary Greg Clark said the factory “will develop new vehicle battery technologies and create high-skilled jobs in Coventry.

“Through the Industrial Strategy, the government us building on our world leading strengths in auto manufacturing and clean growth, making the UK the go-to place for these technologies.”

It’s not just electric cars that Hyperbat Limited is targeting. “Hyperbat will also look into high performance battery applications beyond automotive,” said Williams Advanced Engineering MD Craig Wilson, “delivering innovative technology and high value manufacturing, as well as jobs for the next generation workforce”.

The factory will specialise in high performance, low volume and fully flexible batteries and, said Unipart MD Carol Burke, “be highly adaptable to meet the changing requirements of future demands”.

Production will begin in Q1 2019 – and additional customers for Hyperbat Limited will be announced “in due course”.

Prime Minister Theresa May is to set the country an ‘ambitious mission’ to become a world leader in low emission vehicle technology in Birmingham today.

Speaking at the first Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Summit, May will call for Britain to be “at the forefront of the design and manufacturing of zero-emission vehicles”.

The PM will also reconfirm the ambition for all new cars and vans to be “effectively” zero-emission by 2040. Earlier today, Aston Martin announced plans for its new St Athan plant in Wales to become the home of its electric cars. 

A £106 million package of funding for research and development of green vehicles, batteries and low carbon technology will be the centrepiece of May’s speech. This is being backed by another £500 million from industry, including companies such as Aston Martin, Williams Advanced Engineering and Cummins.

Also announced at the summit will be what’s described as “a new, international declaration that will forge the way for the worldwide deployment of green vehicles, and the introduction of smart, zero-emission infrastructure”.

This week's #ZEVsummit will bring together industry and politicians from around the world to speed up the transition to zero emission vehicles, part of our modern #IndustrialStrategy https://t.co/T9pCSJvru1 @transportgovuk pic.twitter.com/LfoBj6DE6j

— Dept for BEIS (@beisgovuk) September 11, 2018

Part of plans to develop an international strategy for the launch and use of green vehicles, it will be known as the ‘Birmingham Declaration’. Denmark, France, Italy, the UAE, Portugal, Belarus and Indonesia have already signed up.

“I want to see Britain, once again, leading from the front and working with industries and countries around the world to spearhead change,” May will say at the ZEV Summit.

“Already, we are taking significant strides forward. Our electric UK-manufactured cars account for one in five sold in Europe… and our Road to Zero Strategy is the most comprehensive plan globally – mapping out, in detail, how we will reach our target for all new cars and vans to be, effectively, zero-emission by 2040 – and for every car and van to be zero-emission by 2050.”

The PM will also host a round table with car industry leaders to discuss speeding up development of the UK’s zero-emissions market. Attracting more foreign direct investment into the UK will be discussed.

It is expected discussions around Brexit will also be on the agenda: May is expected to brief execs on the pace of negotiations – and the latest planning for a no-deal Brexit.

Aston Martin has announced its future electric cars will be built at its brand-new facility in St Athan, Wales – and the site will also be the hub for its luxury range of Lagondas.

The first all-electric Aston Martin to launch will be the Rapide E, which is coming in 2019. The British carmaker is promising the EV will deliver Aston Martin-like levels of performance.

• Aston Martin will ‘never, ever, ever’ make a diesel says exec

“The Rapide E will spearhead development of Aston Martin’s low- and zero-emissions strategy,” said president and CEO Dr Andy Palmer.

“With the reintroduction of the Lagonda brand, this is a demonstration of how electrification features prominently in our business plan moving forward.”

Lagonda will become, says Aston, the world’s first luxury car brand powered exclusively by zero emission powertrains. Previewed by the Lagonda Vision Concept at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, it will launch in 2021.  

International trade secretary Dr Liam Fox MP said: “I am delighted that Aston Martin has chosen St Athan as its centre for electrification and the home of Lagonda production in a move that will created hundreds of high skilled jobs in the coming years.”

Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones said the news St Athan will become Aston’s ‘home of electrification’ was “another huge win for Wales.

“It is a genuine testament to the reputation, dedication and skills of our workforce, but also an excellent and very tangible example of how Welsh government support can act as the catalyst for further economic growth and job creation.”

Aston Martin St Athan will also make the firm’s first ever SUV, which is due to launch in late 2019.

Silverstone race circuit is to get its long-awaited on-site hotel at last, with Hilton planning to open a 197-room Hilton Garden Inn development in 2020. The news follows Aston Martin’s recent announcement it is opening a new test centre at the British Grand Prix circuit.

The new hotel, which will be located opposite the Silverstone Wing pit and paddock complex, will include balconies so guests can watch the racing from their hotel rooms.

It will also offer direct access to the Silverstone Wing via a footbridge over the circuit.

Hilton is building a rooftop terrace on top of the hotel and is already planning raceday hospitality packages for the hotel. The firm says it will make Silverstone a more alluring visitor attraction outside of the race calendar.

Bosses at Silverstone have long spoken of the importance of a hotel. The Silverstone Wing Conference Centre has space for 3,000 people and 12,500 square metres of events space, but its full appeal to exhibitors has been limited by the lack of hotel facilities within easy access of Silverstone.

With the opening of the new Silverstone Experience visitor attraction in 2019, demand will grow further for accommodation at the circuit.

Hilton is to build a restaurant and coffee shop within the hotel as well, which developers say will “enhance the circuit’s appeal, offering quality hospitality year-round… [it will] elevate Silverstone to more than just a racetrack”.

Developers are targeting a spring 2020 opening date for the new Hilton Garden Inn Silverstone development.

Did you lust after a TVR Sagaris back in the day, but miss the (sinking) boat? Fear not: Blackpool’s last hero has now been resurrected as a kit car. Meet the Grex Sagaris GT.

Yes, TVR is back in business with a new Griffith, but it isn’t to all tastes, or indeed budgets. There’s an appeal to the old, mid-2000s TVRs that hasn’t quite translated for some. It’s those people that the new, sub-£50,000 Grex will appeal to.

First up, this isn’t a straight copy. The quirky and savage old 4.0-litre straight-six engine is gone. The car is designed to house a small-block V8 crate motor from General Motors, which you need to supply yourself. If you really want the old six-pot, you can ask them to build your kit around it.

The Grex does stay true to the Sagaris of old in that there are no electronic driving aids. If you want traction control, ABS or airbags, stick with a showroom-bought Porsche.

The joy of Grex

Much like the old car, it’s going to be very rare, although we doubt that was by TVR’s initial design. Just 10 are mooted for delivery in 2019.

What’s more, any number of those are available to US customers. Unlike the original, the Grex is perfectly legal for sale and use in America. And that also means it’s available in right- and left-hand drive.

When the Sagaris was new, it was £50,000 – around £70,000 in today’s money – and it hasn’t depreciated. You’ll pay as much or well beyond that for a second-hand example. This kit, complete with £10k’s worth of LS3 V8 and transmission to suit, comes in much cheaper.

Obviously, you build it yourself. And there’s a possibility kit car life will come with running complications beyond even the realms of a TVR. But it’s a tempting proposition.

Read more: 

• 1 in 4 new car buyers will crash soon after delivery
• The world’s fastest SUV will be a 200 mph Lister
• Tesla calls reliability survey ‘statistically meaningless’