Ring unveils ULTRASTART + AIR – a compact jump starter and inflator

Renowned auto accessory giant, Ring Automotive, has long been dedicated to providing the aftermarket with new and exciting products, and one of its first of 2026 is the ULTRASTART + AIR!

This new product is a powerful, multi‑functional emergency tool combining a jump starter and tyre inflator in one compact unit.

Similar to other products in its portfoilio, this new product from Ring is not limited to being just one piece of equipment, but multiple. The ULTRASTART + AIR is a jump starter, tyre inflator, as well as an LED light and powerbank to ensure the user has everything available to them in an emergency. It is also a compact item that can easily be stored in the glove compartment or anywhere in the vehicle if necessary.

For the jump starter aspect of the tool, its comes with two smart clamps that offer reverse polarity protection and also has a boost function for starting dead batteries. In addition, the ULTRASTART + AIR has integrated hose storage for the tyre inflator element and a storage bag that will hold all of the extra accessories it comes with.

In terms of the engines it can assist with, it’s suitable for up to a six litre petrol and three litre diesel engine. It has a clear display, is easy to use and has an ergonomic body, so is comfortable to hold.

Marketing Director, Henry Bisson, commented: “We are regularly conducting market research on what would be the most helpful to technicians as well as drivers, which is where the ULTRASTART + AIR has come from. Having one piece of equipment that can solve a variety of problems is convenient for all and so, very popular, which is why more of the tools we’re introducing to the market are multi functional.

“The ULTRASTART + AIR is a very powerful tool and due to its suitability for many vehicles, we anticipate this being one of our bestsellers.”

RRP: £100

Certa expands to 25 HVO sites across Ireland

Certa, which is part of DCC plc, is expanding to 25 HVO fuel sites across Ireland as it responds to soaring demand from thousands of diesel drivers who are choosing the renewable fuel to reduce their carbon emissions while they hold back on switching to an electric vehicle (EV).

Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) is produced from waste plant matter and can be used as a direct replacement for diesel without any need for engine modifications to help motorists lower their carbon emissions by up to 90%.

Demand for HVO is being driven by diesel drivers who want to ‘go green’ but who have put off switching to an electric vehicle (EV) for a variety of reasons, including the cost of buying an EV, the lack of charging infrastructure across the country, and not having their own driveway or off-street parking where they can install a home charger.

Certa is expanding its HVO offering at a rapid pace and its new HVO fuel site in Portlaoise, which opens to the public this week, is the 25th such site to open over the past 18 months across 17 counties, marking a significant milestone for the company and the fuel industry in Ireland.

Certa opened Ireland’s first fully fledged HVO fuel station in Liffey Valley in late 2023 at a cost of €1 million. 15 of the 25 HVO fuel sites that Certa currently operates have opened over the past eight months and the company has plans to open five more HVO fuel sites over the coming months.

Certa operates a total of 54 forecourt sites and is now the largest supplier of HVO to motorists across Ireland. Demand for the renewable fuel has also been helped by Certa’s decision to provide the new HVO pumps alongside its diesel and petrol pumps. The fuel is distinguished by a pink nozzle to stand out from the traditional black diesel and green petrol nozzles.

Orla Stevens, Managing Director, Certa Ireland said:

“Certa is delighted to open our 25th HVO fuel site in Portlaoise this week and to continue leading the way in making HVO more widely available to motorists across Ireland. Our goal is to make it easy for motorists to transition to HVO as a renewable alternative to diesel to help them to lower their carbon emissions.

‘Diesel and petrol cars accounts for 84% (2.14 million) of the cars on Irish roads. 17% of all   new cars sold in Ireland so far this year were diesel. Diesel drivers are holding off on making the switch to EV driving for a variety of reasons. HVO provides an alternative solution and diesel drivers are switching to this biofuel where it is available to them.

“The demand for HVO has grown as we have opened each new HVO fuel site across our network and our plan is to complete the upgrading of our entire network into next year as we continue our journey towards a net zero future.”

The Certa and Emo forecourts selling HVO include Liffey Valley, Finglas (Clearwater), Dundrum, Clarehall, Tallaght and Greenogue in Dublin; Lee Tunnel in Cork, Corofin in Clare, Letterkenny in Donegal, Ballinasloe in Galway, Maynooth in Kildare, Killarney in Kerry, Portlaoise in Laois, Moyne in Longford, Dundalk in Louth, Ballyhaunis in Mayo, Trim in Meath, Kilcormac in Offaly, Clonmel in Tipperary, Waterford city in Waterford, Athlone and Mullingar in Westmeath, and Castlebridge, Gorey and Wexford town in Wexford.

Telco company Circet boosts Irish & UK fleet safety and sustainability with Geotab and Lytx

Circet, a European leader in telecommunications infrastructure services, has improved safety, reduced emissions and cut operational costs by adopting a fully integrated telematics solution from Geotab Inc. (“Geotab”) and Lytx® Inc. (“Lytx”). In just three months, Circet and Geotab partnered to connect 3,000 vehicles across Circet’s mixed fleet in Ireland and the UK, representing the biggest deployment of its kind in such a short installation window.
Circet’s fleet, which includes diesel and electric light and heavy commercial vehicles, required a solution capable of handling wide variability in makes, models and drivetrains. The combination of Geotab’s global telematics data platform integrated deeply with the Lytx Surfsight™ video safety platform has given the Circet operations team full visibility into its entire fleet, delivering immediate impact.
Within the first three months of this year, Circet recorded a 16% improvement in its company-wide driver safety score. Key safety metrics such as harsh braking, acceleration and cornering all improved, contributing to an average driver score 42% better than industry benchmarks. These improvements are largely due to the use of Geotab’s Driver Safety Scorecard and near real-time driver feedback from the Lytx Surfsight dash cams, which alert drivers to risky behaviours and send incidents to the operations team for review.
Fuel efficiency has also improved. Circet’s diesel vehicles are now operating at an average efficiency of 10 litres per 100 kilometres, 10% better than peer group leaders. Circet’s transition to electric vehicles is delivering further savings. Over the first three months of 2025, electric vehicles (EVs) accounted for 3% of total fleet trips, covering more than 263,000 miles (424,000 kilometres). According to Geotab’s Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment (EVSA), Circet stands to save approximately €450,000 annually by expanding its electric fleet and swapping ICE vehicles for EV where appropriate.
 
Based on results across all vehicle types so far this year, the Geotab and Lytx Surfsight solution could deliver over €2.7 million in fuel savings each year.
Ray Verschoyle, Head of Transport Compliance at Circet said: “The combined Geotab and Lytx Surfsight solution has transformed how we manage our fleet. We now have the data we need to improve safety, cut fuel use, lower maintenance costs and operate more sustainably. Their focus on innovation and ability to integrate with our systems made them the perfect partners for our needs.”
Aaron Jarvis, Associate Vice President, EMEA at Geotab, added; “Circet chose Geotab because we offer more than just an off-the-shelf solution. Our continuous investment in product development, combined with strong local service and support, gave them confidence in our long-term value. Our partnership with Lytx allows us to deliver fully integrated safety solutions, and our open platform meant we could align closely with Circet’s internal systems and processes. It’s another example of how Geotab’s ecosystem can support a customer’s needs today while future-proofing business operations.”
 
Deep integration to meet sustainability goals
The Circet deployment includes Geotab telematics devices and Lytx Surfsight dash cameras with road-facing lenses, and the option of driver-facing ones, too. This hardware is backed by software integration with the Geotab platform, allowing Circet to unify vehicle tracking, video footage and safety data in one system. The rollout was supported directly by Geotab’s local project team, who provided in-person training and implementation support to ensure a smooth transition.
Geotab’s data also supports Circet’s sustainability goals. The company is using Geotab’s certified Scope 1 emissions calculation tools to track fuel consumption and emissions reductions across both diesel and electric vehicles. This structured, data-driven approach is essential as Circet prepares for stricter ESG reporting requirements under EU legislation. With EV driving requiring different skills from traditional combustion vehicles, Circet has used Geotab data to inform driver training, aiming to extend EV range and reduce charging demand. This in turn helps lower Scope 2 emissions and manage charging infrastructure more efficiently.
With these results in safety, efficiency, and emissions reduction, Circet is already seeing a return on its investment. The integrated Geotab and Lytx Surfsight solution is not only improving current operations but also positioning the company for long-term compliance, cost control and growth as it shifts to a low-emissions fleet.
The Circet team is now looking to utilise its vehicle data across various business systems and processes with additional integrations into their business reporting tools, internal databases and future plans to feed other key business systems.

Drivers of electric vehicles more likely to be at fault in road traffic crashes than drivers of petrol and diesel cars

Drivers of electric vehicles (EVs) are more likely to be involved in at-fault road traffic accidents than drivers of petrol and diesel cars, a study by researchers at Lero, the Research Ireland Centre for Software, and University of Limerick reveals.

In a paper to be published in November in the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention, the Lero researchers analysed insurance claims and data from onboard sensors and revealed a number of key findings:

  • Electric and hybrid drivers exhibit different behaviours than drivers of traditional vehicles.
  • Electric vehicles record more at-fault claims than traditional vehicles.
  • Electric vehicles are 6.7% more expensive to repair than traditional vehicles.

Lero researcher and co-director of the Centre of Emerging Risk Studies the Kemmy Business School, Dr Barry Sheehan, said EV drivers have a higher chance of experiencing an at-fault claim than drivers of cars with internal combustion engines (ICE).

“Our research finds that despite their lower average mileage than internal combustion engines, lower road exposure for EV drivers does not reduce their risk of experiencing an at-fault insurance claim. When analysing at-fault claims, we find a 4 % increase in crashes from EVs and a 6 % increase for hybrids (HYBs) compared to internal combustion engines.

“However, when tested with statistical models, hybrids do not display any further concerns of increased at-fault claim risk. These results indicate that EVs have a higher risk profile than traditional internal combustion engine vehicles.

“Our research shows drivers’ driving behaviour changes significantly when switching to hybrids or EVs. These results mean EVs are more likely to experience an at-fault claim than internal combustion engines,” added Dr Sheehan, Associate Professor in Risk and Finance at UL.

Lero researcher and lead author Kevin McDonnell said their analysis of each fuel type shows that EVs and hybrids have lower average mileages than internal combustion engines.

“This suggests that internal combustion engines should have a higher probability of incurring an at-fault claim than alternate energy fuel-type vehicles. However, the claims data contradicts this assumption by providing evidence of increased at-fault claim occurrences in EVs through predictive modelling and risk analysis,” he added.

Lero’s Professor Finbarr Murphy, Executive Dean of the Kemmy Business School at UL and co-author said that, given the increased likelihood of incurring an at-fault insurance claim with less mileage, significant first-party damages, and battery costs, alternative energy vehicles are riskier and have a higher financial burden than petrol and diesel cars.

The study used telematic data from 125 million commercial fleet vehicle trips involving 14,642 vehicles recorded from January 2022 to October 2022 in the Netherlands. It also used an insurance claims dataset during the same period.

Lero, the Research Ireland Centre for Software, is based at University of Limerick and funded by Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland, formerly Science Foundation Ireland. 

The paper is co-authored by Lero and UL’s Kevin McDonnell, Dr Barry Sheehan and Professor Finbarr Murphy as well as Professor Montserrat Guillen of Universitat de Barcelona and is available to read in full at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457524003063?via%3Dihub

Tech Review – DIESEL true wireless earbuds.

DIESEL are a brand well known for clothes and fashion they also have really cool watches and now some of those are smart, and this is a new direction for them to take in the TWS market and the thing is people have been asking me is that is this just another bandwagon job into the saturated earbuds market and how good are they.. In short they are a great which I am pleased to report for their first shot.

The case alone grabs peoples attention no matter where I had them with me out and about and that is a good start, people thought it was some kind of skincare product until I opened the case and there is a pair of earbuds, the reaction was quite good and everyone shown was impressed but then the next question was do they sound as good as they look? in short the answer is yes they are great which I was hoping being a well know brand they are actually very good..

Design and looks

They are your typical stem design which some might not allure to anymore, they stand out too which for me is fine we are all to custom to seeing airpods in peoples ears and for me their days are numbered you do not need to spend that kind of money on a brand that is not handing up the goods like others, OK you do not get all the same features here but I will delve into that later, these stand out and make a statement and are comfortable to wear too..

DIESEL earbuds in red techbuzzireland

Controls

Controls are simple here and both sides do the work, we go through this in our video review although it is on the side of the box what you have to do, it is a simple affair here and there is access to your voice assistant which I did not find on the manual. The concave design of the earbuds make it simple to change tracks and so on and this is one thing I like, unlike others it is not a flat surface to tap or press.

Sound

These sound great putting is short, there is no app and so no EQ however I found there loud and punchy with nice bass highs lows and mids are fine and doing my ususal test loop they performed really well and for not having app access for EQ and so on they really did not need it in my opinion, they have done a solid job here I have to say.

Battery life is fine and on par with their claims at mid level volumes, on higher volumes like I tend to use you can expect an hour or less off the slated time.

Conclusion

These are great and I was hoping they would be, the looks make a statement and to have the sound to match makes them a win for the company and the consumer who need to wake up to the sheeps call an Airpods, I have said it for some time now and will keep saying it, the cost to performance ratio has come down on phones, there is no need to spend over a grand on a smartphone and the same applies to earbuds now..

Buy at  diesel.com, Amazon, and recognised fashion, telecom and electronics retailers.

Video link 

First Look – DIESEL true wireless earbuds

A new pair of earbuds have dropped in and one I have been looking forward to getting since the announcement and that is the new earbuds from DIESEL who are more known for clothing and so on and also have a range of smartwatches. Called the Diesel True Wireless earbuds, the devices provide for a stylish, enhanced way of listening to music and taking phone calls on the go. With bold hues and premium sound quality, the partnership launched in August 2021. Both black and red colour variations—all with silver logo details – will be available worldwide across multiple distribution channels, including diesel.com, Amazon, and recognised fashion, telecom and electronics retailers.

Today we take a first look of the new earbuds and give you a close up of what to expect and if you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments below or on our rapidly growing You Tube channel.

Unboxing link 

 

 

DIESEL Launches New Wireless Earbuds With Telecom Lifestyle Fashion

Telecom Lifestyle Fashion (TLF), the licensing specialist owned by STRAX AB, has partnered with the Italian fashion brand Diesel, to launch a brand-new set of wireless headphones and enter the highly competitive market

Called the Diesel True Wireless earbuds, the devices provide for a stylish, enhanced way of listening to music and taking phone calls on the go. With bold hues and premium sound quality, the partnership will launch in August 2021. Both black and red colour variations—all with silver logo details – will be available worldwide across multiple distribution channels, including diesel.com, Amazon, and recognised fashion, telecom and electronics retailers.

 

Diesel TWS have a total battery life and playback time of 32 hours (their case double-functions as a charging portal). LED lights indicate the remaining power supply. The multi-functional button on the earbuds allows for a seamless switch between music and answering and ending phone calls.

The case is compatible with wireless charging, and the earbuds function on Bluetooth 5.0. In order to optimise mobility, the earbuds are sweat and splash-resistant, and they are equipped with voice assist. As noted, the case and earbuds are finished with a silver-coloured metallic Diesel logo.

Diesel is a globally recognised fashion brand with a distinct identity and a demographically diverse fanbase. We are excited to launch mobile tech accessories under the Diesel brand and we have no doubt we will see strong demand,” says Morsin Otmani, CEO & Co-Founder at Telecom Lifestyle Fashion.