If you thought electric cars have become a bit commonplace, how does the idea of an electric van strike you?
Meet Nissan’s e-NV200, an all-electric van that uses a modified version of the same powertrain as the best-selling Nissan LEAF, but with all the practicality of a much larger vehicle.
With seven seats, a surprisingly entertaining drive and running costs that cost as little as just 2p per mile, the e-NV200 certainly looks attractive on paper, so what’s it like in the metal?
The What Car? Car of the Year Awards 2016 saw prizes awarded to the Renault Zoe and Volkswagen Passat GTE in the electric car categories.
The Passat Estate GTE scooped the overall Best Electric Car prize, along with winning the Best Buy £20,000-£40,000 category. Meanwhile, Renault’s Zoe Dynamique Nav Rapid Charge took the Best Electric Car for less than £20,000 title for third year running.
The judges said of the Passat GTE:
“This really is the kind of hybrid you could use every day without even thinking of it as an EV. The Passat GTE mixes a 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine with an electric motor and VW’s six-speed DSG automatic gearbox, and it shifts between the two power sources smoothly.
“The interior quality is every bit as good as on other Passats, there’s enough room for five adults to sit in comfort, and our preferred edition, the Estate, has a boot that’ll take all but the largest loads. Best of all, the Passat Estate GTE makes a great potential company car choice thanks to its official CO2 emissions of just 39 g/km and a benefit-in-kind tax rate of 5 per cent. It’s easily the best family hybrid we’ve seen to date.”
Commenting on the decision to give ZOE the award for a third consecutive year, Jim Holder, Editorial Director, What Car? said:
“The Renault Zoe was our favourite electric car for less than £20,000 a year ago, and tweaks to the specification and the added ability to go further have only increased its appeal. The Zoe’s main strength is that it feels like a conventional, stylish, nippy small car that happens to cost pennies to run.
“The electric motor has enough shove for the Zoe to lead the charge away from traffic lights, and the cabin seats four in reasonable comfort. Even the boot is larger than you’ll find in many regular small cars – easily big enough for a week’s shopping.”
Read more: Next Green Car
World Health Organisation describes new data as ‘health emergency’, with rising concern likely to influence decision over Heathrow expansion
The World Health Organisation has issued a stark new warning about deadly levels of pollution in many of the world’s biggest cities, claiming poor air quality is killing millions and threatening to overwhelm health services across the globe.
Before the release next month of figures that will show air pollution has worsened since 2014 in hundreds of already blighted urban areas, the WHO says there is now a global “public health emergency” that will have untold financial implications for governments.
The latest data, taken from 2,000 cities, will show further deterioration in many places as populations have grown, leaving large areas under clouds of smog created by a mix of transport fumes, construction dust, toxic gases from power generation and wood burning in homes.
The toxic haze blanketing cities could be clearly seen last week from the international space station. Last week it was also revealed that several streets in London had exceeded their annual limits for nitrogen dioxide emissions just a few days into 2016.
“We have a public health emergency in many countries from pollution. It’s dramatic, one of the biggest problems we are facing globally, with horrible future costs to society,” said Maria Neira, head of public health at the WHO, which is a specialist agency of the United Nations. “Air pollution leads to chronic diseases which require hospital space. Before, we knew that pollution was responsible for diseases like pneumonia and asthma. Now we know that it leads to bloodstream, heart and cardiovascular diseases, too – even dementia. We are storing up problems. These are chronic diseases that require hospital beds. The cost will be enormous,” said Neira.
Read more: The Guardian
We set three Netmums bloggers challenges to see if ultra low emission vehicles worked for them. In this video, we gave Penny, who blogs at Parent Shaped, a Renault ZOE and asked her to find as many local chargepoints as she could in an hour. Watch to see how easy Penny found it to charge on the go. Watch all our bloggers take the #EVChallenge: bit.ly/1ZMS1CC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0KUkt_2h68
The past twelve months have been exciting for many reasons, from new EV model releases to exciting events such as our #FollowTheSuitcase competition; but for us, the highlight has to be seeing a record number of plug-in vehicles on the road.
Last year over 28,000 electric cars were registered across the country. That’s more than the combined totals of electric cars sold every year since 2010, and marks a phenomenal 94% annual rise compared to the previous year.
Plug-in power is fast becoming a mainstream option for drivers alongside petrol and diesel, and EV popularity shows no sign of slowing.
We saw every region in the UK record improve year-on-year registrations for plug-in cars. Ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs) proved to be the most popular in the South East of England, closely followed by the South West and the West Midlands.
Read more: Go Ultra Low
More than 3,000 plug-in cars were sold during December 2015, taking 1.7 per cent of new car sales in the UK, representing a record breaking month for green cars.
The sales mix is the highest ever seen in the UK and is a significant step forward on the previous best of 1.3 per cent seen in November 2015 and December 2014, according to the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ (SMMT) figure
The news is especially good considering that overall December sales were the best ever – up 8.4 per cent – saw more than 180,000 vehicles registered. Almost 1,000 more Plug-in Car Grant (PiGC) vehicles were registered in December 2015 than in the same period the previous year with total sales at 3,090 – compared with December 2014’s 2,149. This represents one in every 60 cars sold was an ultra low emission vehicle.
Now with the end of the 2015 calender year complete, the figures show that 28,188 PiGC eligible cars were sold in 2015, almost double the 14,532 sold in 2014. This now puts the total number of PiCG eligible cars sold since the start of the grant at 47,690 – and this excludes commercial vehicles. Add in non-grant eligible plug-in cars and vans, the UK electric fleet now numbers almost 54,000 vehicles.
Read more: Next Green Car
The popularity of more sustainable transport among Milton Keynes residents continues to grow, boosted by record numbers of plug-in electric car sales in the run up to Christmas.
That’s according to Westcroft based dealership, Brayley Renault, which reported more than 30 sales of the 100 per cent electric Renault ZOE in December alone, a record for a single month.
The surge in electric cars on the roads of Buckinghamshire reflects the national demand for more environmentally friendly motoring.
Plug-in electric car registrations in the UK totaled 20,992 units during the first nine months of 2015, consisting of 6,951 pure electric cars and 14,041 plug-in hybrids.
Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show that total registrations during this period increased by 140 per cent from the same period in 2014, with all-electric car registrations growing 55 per cent year-on-year.
One of eight national pilot projects set up by the Government to explore and encourage the take-up of electric vehicles, the Milton Keynes Plugged-In Places Scheme now consists of more than 200 charging points in Milton Keynes and across the county.
A quarter of these are rapid charging stations, enabling a full charge in just 20 minutes. A number of local rail stations have also installed charging points and offer discounted parking fees for electric vehicles.
Paul Brayley, managing director of Brayleys Cars, said:
“Our Renault dealership in Westcroft has seen significant growth in enquiries and sales of all-electric vehicles as people become more aware of their environmental credentials, low running costs and excellent driving characteristics.”
Source: One MK
Road test reveals cars emit seven times the permitted level of exhaust emissions when tested in real-world conditions
Nine out of 10 new diesel cars break new EU pollution limits when tested on roads rather than test tracks, according to a new report.
On average, the cars emit seven times the permitted level of NOx gasses, with the worst car producing 22 times the legal limit. Models from every major motor manufacturer breached the limit when they were evaluated in real-world conditions.
From 1 September, new diesel cars in the EU have had to comply with emissions rules called “Euro 6”. However, carmakers can use a whole range of techniques to ensure that their cars perform far better under test conditions than when driven by ordinary drivers.
These include stripping components from the car to reduce weight, using special lubricants, over-inflating tyres and using super-smooth test tracks. The same techniques are used to boost the apparent fuel efficiency of vehicles.
Read more: The Guardian
Campaign groups are calling on the Government to do more to tackle ‘breathtaking’ air pollution levels
Diesel exhaust fumes are causing the biggest health catastrophe since the Black Death, a campaign group has claimed, as new figures show air pollution limits for the whole year have been breached in just eight days in London.
European Union limits demand that maximum hourly nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations are not exceeded for more than 18 hours a year – yet Putney High Street, in west London, had recorded its 19th hour breaching the limits during Friday morning’s rush hour, the London Air Quality Network said.
Oxford Street, where legal limits for the toxic gas for the whole of 2015 were breached in just two days, has almost certainly broken the limit again but the monitoring equipment is currently being repaired. Campaigners say that the Government must do more to tackle air pollution which has been linked to respiratory and heart problems.
Simon Birkett, founder and director of campaign group Clean Air in London, said it was breathtaking that toxic air pollution in the capital had breached the legal limit for the whole calendar year within the first few days of 2016. Mr Birkett also called on all the candidates in the mayoral elections to pledge to ban diesel exhausts from the most polluted areas by 2020.
He said:
“Worse, several air pollution monitors have been vying for the dubious honour of recording the first officially monitored breach of the nitrogen dioxide (NO2) legal limit in the world in 2016.”
Read more: Independent
Simultaneous slowdown in Brics economies would jeopardise chances of pick-up in global growth this year, report says
The risk of the global economy being battered by a “perfect storm” in 2016 has been highlighted by the World Bank in a flagship report that warns that a synchronised slowdown in the biggest emerging markets could be intensified by a fresh bout of financial turmoil.
The Bank said the possibility that Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – the so-called Brics economies – could all face problems simultaneously would put in jeopardy the chances of a pick-up in growth in the coming year.
It added that the impact would be heightened by severe financial market stress of the sort triggered in 2013 by the announcement by the Federal Reserve that it was considering reducing the stimulus it was then providing to the US economy.
Launching its annual Global Economic Prospects, the Bank said activity in 2015 had failed to live up to its expectations – the fifth year in a row that growth has undershot the forecasts made by the Washington-based institution, which lends to the world’s poorest countries.
Read more: The Guardian