"..owns the rights to use the old Austin Motor Company logo"

[Tony Griffiths]

Will we see lots of new "Austins" on the road?  "Austin Electric, an engineering firm based in Essex, which now owns the rights to use the old Austin Motor Company logo". Comments, please!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...stReadNews

[Stuart Giles]

All a bit surprising. I wonder how long it takes to charge a battery that gives a 1500 mile range.

I thought that BMW kept all the old BMC/BL/Rover Group brands except Rover and MG when they sold the company to the so-called Phoenix Consortium for £10

[Henry Harris]

I trust the Daily Mail rather less than Google. For what it's worth Google says SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) currently own the Austin trademark.

[Tony Griffiths]

I trust the Daily Mail rather less than Google - me too!
The badge on the current Mini is based on the original Austin design - but so far removed that perhaps it gets around the legal trademark bit?

[Tony Press]

"All a bit surprising. I wonder how long it takes to charge a battery that gives a 1500 mile range. "

That is the interesting point - as I understand it is not a re-chargeable battery but a fuel cell, something like a 
LeClanche cell

[Robert Leigh]

The LeClanche cell is the basis of most cheap 'dry' batteries, and used to be known as a 'primary' cell, being non-rechargeable, although some charge can be recovered by using a suitable charger. 'Secondary' cells are such as lead/acid and nife types which can be fully re-charged until their chemical components degrade. I suspect that the new 'battery' is a primary cell rather than a fuel cell, but I look forward to reading more about it.
Robert Leigh

[Reckless Rat]

If something sounds too good to be true it usually is.

[Mr Pharmacist]

This bit about the fuel cell is rather surprising:

'In a Tesla, Jackson says, the battery costs about £30,000. An aluminium-air fuel cell that would power the same car for longer would cost just £5,000.

Drivers with cars that depend on lithium-ion have to charge their batteries from the mains when they are spent – a process that takes a long time, often overnight. But when an aluminium-air cell became exhausted, the driver would simply exchange it for a new one.

An average British family – whose car will travel 7,900 miles annually – would need to change their fuel cell only a handful of times each year.'


Surely drivers wouldn't be expected to pay £5000 several times a year? Even if the cells are refurbished they might not be £5000 but its seems like the replacement cost might be substantial.

[Mark Dymond]

The technology is well described here
https://www.metalectrique.com/blank-page
No mention of energy efficiency of the cycle, but Aluminum has a high energy content in its production (I guess thats what makes it a good candidate for an electrochemical storage media)
I wouldn't be betting my farm on this one working out economical though!

[Martin Prior]

Going back to the original question, I don't know about the logo, but I was slightly surprised when I searched Companies House to find that "Austin Motor Company Limited" is now the name of a garage business in Essex. One might have thought that it would have stayed with the successor companies.