Monthly Archives: October 2018

Electric cars are set for explosive growth, but it’s not all smooth runway ahead

October 31, 2018Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesRepost

The need for energy in transport is determined by the basic laws of physics. Improvements in efficiency will happen, but there are limits as to what can be achieved

The switch to electric cars is speeding up. There are two forces driving this. One is legal or regulatory controls, the other the falling cost of batteries. Some words about each, and then some conclusions.

The spate of legal moves against petrol and diesel vehicles has become an avalanche. Here are just a handful of them. There is a move in parliament to bring forward the date in the UK when all new vehicles will be zero emission from 2040 to 2032 – Norway has pledged to do so by 2025 and India by 2030. In Germany older diesel cars are to be banned from the centre of Hamburg and, more remarkably, from Stuttgart. Stuttgart is Germany’s motor town, home to Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Porsche. True, these are older cars, but the signal is clear: regulations will tighten up on polluting vehicles. In the UK the City of London plans a zero-emission zone as part of an effort to improve air quality. A vote will be taken on this at the end of this month.

In the US, regulatory progress has been slow but earlier this year the governor of California, Jerry Brown, set a goal of having 5 million electric cars in the state by 2030. The US is, however, a pioneer in that most of its electric vehicle sales are pure plugins rather than hybrids – a tribute to Elon Musk and his Tesla brand.

But the largest and most important car market in the world is China. Here things are moving very fast indeed. All manufacturers will have to have at least one electric vehicle by 2020, and forecasters see this as a trigger for explosive growth.

If it were simply regulation that was pushing the shift it would happen quite slowly. But economics are now reinforcing it. In a nutshell, electric vehicle batteries are expensive but the drive trains are cheap. They simply have electric motors. Internal combustion engine vehicles, by contrast, don’t have the huge batteries but they have extremely complex (and expensive) drive trains – the engine, the clutch, the gearbox and so on. A Tesla has about 150 moving parts, whereas a typical internal combustion engine has several thousand. The batteries in a pure electric car are still the most expensive item. It is estimated that those in a Tesla Model 3 cost $13,000 (£9,950) to make.

Renault’s Electric ZOE Wins CarWow Eco Award

October 30, 2018Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOE, ZOE Z.E. 40Repost

Renault ZOE wins carwow Eco Award at carwow’s annual award ceremony, held today in London
All-electric ZOE is the flagship of Renault’s diverse Z.E. electric vehicle range
ZOE is priced from £17,420 on the road, after Plug-in Car Grant and excluding battery hire

Renault’s all-electric ZOE has won the carwow Car of the Year Eco Award in a presentation that took place today at The Shard in Southwark, London.

Commenting on the Renault ZOE, carwow presenter Mat Watson said:

“The carwow Eco Award goes to a pure electric car – the Renault ZOE which is affordable, gives decent range and is now nippier thanks to a new uprated motor. And if you charge it from renewable sources it’s truly zero emission.”

Vincent Tourette, Managing Director of Renault UK, said:

“The ZOE is at the forefront of electric driving across the UK and the car showcases Renault’s leadership in electric technology. It’s highly equipped and the latest R110 motor makes the ZOE even more responsive to drive. We thank carwow for presenting us with the carwow Eco Award today.”

The ZOE is available with an easy choice of two motors and two trims. In March this year the new R110 motor went on sale, giving more power but with the same range as the electric motor it replaced. The R110 motor is two seconds faster when accelerating from 50mph to 75mph compared to the previous motor, with a real-world range of 186 miles.

ZOE is also available with the Q90 motor, which includes a rapid charge function. With a 43kW connection a ZOE equipped with the Q90 motor will charge from zero to 80 per cent in one hour. While the R110 motor is well suited to driving around town, the Q90, with its rapid charging functionality, is perhaps better suited to driving longer distances.

Both motors are available on the Dynamique Nav and the Signature Nav trims. ZOE Dynamique Nav has, in addition to its comprehensive list of standard equipment, rear parking sensors, cruise control and Renault’s 7-inch R-Link infotainment system.

Renault’s R-Link infotainment system utilises Android Auto to link the driver or passenger’s smartphone to the ZOE and mirrors the phone display onto the vehicle’s seven-inch colour touchscreen to enable easy use of the smartphone’s functionality in the car.

Signature Nav offers premium leather upholstery, a BOSE® audio system, heated front seats, electrically folding door mirrors and a rear parking camera.

ZOE continues to be available to purchase in two ways. First, under a battery hire scheme, where ZOE pricing starts at £17,420 (OTR) after the Government Plug-in Car Grant, with battery leasing from £59 per month. In addition, Renault offers retail customers who purchase a ZOE, a free 7kW wall box charger fully-installed at their home to ensure the best possible electric experience.

Source: Renault Press

My First Jaguar I-PACE Experience

October 29, 2018Electric Cars, I-PACE, Jaguar Land Rover, News, Reviews and CommentTrevor Larkum

On Friday I had my first taste of the new Jaguar I-PACE as I took my family for a test drive.

I was intrigued to see what it’s like as I think it would be fair to say that the motoring press have been raving about it, the first all-electric production car from the Jaguar Land Rover group.

Jaguar I-PACE Electric Car (Image: T. Larkum)

It turns out it is a nice car to sit in and drive; it’s very comfortable, has a decent (though not huge) boot and lots of features. My family particularly liked the rear seat heaters, air conditioning and USB ports.

It accelerates nicely and pretty quietly, and has a decent range – somewhere between 250 and 300 miles (with the usual caveats over driving style, ambient temperature, etc). Overall a pretty good car.

However, I couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed as I was expecting something a little more special. I guess I’m a bit spoilt, driving a BMW i3 and having driven the Tesla Model S a number of times. But it pretty much seemed like just another Jaguar but this time with an electric powertrain.

While almost any car can be improved by going electric, I had hoped for a more ‘clean sheet’ design. For example, it had a huge console between the driver and passenger as though it had a gearbox and transmission tunnel, where on the i3 there is space, and a flat floor.

Anyway, if you are in the market for a Jaguar then do consider the I-PACE as it’s certainly the best Jaguar available. It has good looks, electric performance and a decent range so it’s well worth a look.

My thanks to David at Guy Salmon Jaguar Northampton for giving us the test drive.

Diesel and petrol ban should come much faster, say MPs

October 29, 2018Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Pollution, SalesRepost

A ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars should be brought forward by eight years to 2032, MPs have said.

The government’s current plans to ensure all new cars are “effectively zero emission” by 2040 were “vague and unambitious”, a report by Parliament’s business select committee said.

It also criticised cuts to subsidies and the lack of charging points.

The government said it aimed to make the UK “the best place in the world” to own an electric vehicle.

However, the report from the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committee said the government’s deeds did not match the ambitions of its words.

The committee’s chairwoman, Rachel Reeves MP, said the government’s targets gave “little clarity or incentive to industry or the consumer to invest in electric cars.”

‘Zero means zero’

Earlier this year the prime minister said that all new cars and vans should be “effectively zero emission” by 2040.

The government’s Road to Zero Strategy said it wanted “almost every car and van” in the UK to be zero emission by 2050. However it was unclear which, if any, hybrid models were being included.

The committee said “zero should mean zero” and called for the government to bring forward “a clear, precise target for new sales of cars and vans to be truly zero emission by 2032”.

The UK was among the top 10 countries for electric vehicle sales in 2017, and has around 14,500 public charging points. However, in its report the committee said the country was far from electric vehicle ready.

Reduce emissions or build more electric cars

October 28, 2018Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Pollution, SalesRepost

The European Parliament has approved a draft law to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide from new cars by 20 per cent by 2025 and 40 per cent by 2030.

The proposal, a hard-won compromise between environmentalists and auto industry advocates, would reduce emissions from petrol and diesel cars and an increased focus on electric cars. MEPs set target of 30 per cent of new car and van sales to be electric by 2030.

One amendment passed by the parliament concerned a bonus system, whereby companies would be allowed a lower CO2 reduction target if they produced a certain proportion of electric cars.

However, if manufacturers fail to produce enough electric vehicles to meet the proposal’s benchmark, they would be obliged to reduce emissions beyond the 40 per cent target in order to compensate.

Carbon emissions from cars and vans have been a contentious subject of discussion in Europe since 2015, when Volkswagen was found to have rigged diesel engines to pass emissions tests. Many diesels were subsequently discovered to be more pollutant than had been believed. Some cities recommended banning older diesels altogether; while the Danish government recently proposed a full ban on new petrol and diesel cars by 2030.

How much does servicing an electric car cost – and is it cheaper?

October 27, 2018Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesRepost

A new study by automotive data experts Cap HPI has revealed the average servicing and maintenance costs for electric cars. It shows that EVs cost, on average, 23 percent less to run than petrol vehicles over a three-year/60,000-mile period.

For smaller cars, the gap gets wider still. An electric Renault Zoe will set you back £1,100 in servicing and maintenance over three years, but a Vauxhall Corsa 1.0 90 Design costs nearly £1,500. That’s more than 35 percent extra.

The Nissan Leaf, currently the best-selling EV in the UK, costs just under £1,200 over three years. Compare that to the VW Golf 1.0 TSI at £1,429 and you’re staring at a saving of nearly 20 percent.

The number of electric vehicles on the road has jumped by 128 percent over the past three years, with more than 21,000 drivers taking the leap between April 2015 and April 2018. Purchasing costs are still notably higher than a comparable petrol-powered car, but servicing is where you can potentially claw that back.

We’re Absolutely Screwed Unless We Switch to Electric Vehicles

October 26, 2018Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

A new report from the United Nations offers a terrifying and stark forecast of the immediate consequences of climate change—far worse than previous thought, as The New York Times put it.

One particular noteworthy point offered up is a call for cities to transition to electrification, and fast.

The report, issued on Monday by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said worsening food shortages, wildfires, and more, can be expected as soon as 2040, unless the world dramatically transforms the global economy at a speed and scale that has “no documented historic precedent,” the Times reported. How comforting.

Here’s more from the Times:

The report “is quite a shock, and quite concerning,” said Bill Hare, an author of previous I.P.C.C. reports and a physicist with Climate Analytics, a nonprofit organization. “We were not aware of this just a few years ago.” The report was the first to be commissioned by world leaders under the Paris agreement, the 2015 pact by nations to fight global warming.

The authors found that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, the atmosphere will warm up by as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above preindustrial levels by 2040, inundating coastlines and intensifying droughts and poverty. Previous work had focused on estimating the damage if average temperatures were to rise by a larger number, 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius), because that was the threshold scientists previously considered for the most severe effects of climate change.

How to approach driving in the face of climate change

October 25, 2018Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Opinion, PollutionRepost

Can you be an environmentalist and still drive a car?

The question came to mind last week, when the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report that gave us 12 years to stave off cataclysmic climate change. If the world’s governments, businesses and people don’t act and act dramatically, global warming could rise more than 1.5 C and cause droughts, famine, floods and heat.

It’s a dire prediction.

As a driver, it forces you to think about your culpability. The automobile, after all, is a significant contributor to climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency maintains that cars and trucks account for 14 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. So, you can either draw up a list of “10 Cars You Should Drive Before the Apocalypse”, or you can take a hard look at what you drive, how much you drive and whether you should be driving at all.

I’ve decided to do both. Some dream drives, some environmental action. A little sweet and a little sour.

SAY NO TO THE SUV

Sport-utility vehicles are behemoth gas-guzzlers, and their ever-soaring world-wide popularity is depressing. They’ve never been to my taste. Car makers are supposed to be introducing electric SUVs in 2019. But really, does the world need the SUV that much? Can’t we get by with fewer? Looking at their sales figures, the answer is no.

…

DRIVE HYBRID
I’m in the market for a new car. An electric, or at the very least a hybrid, increasingly seems like the more responsible choice. Of course, the most responsible choice (environmentally speaking) would be to hole up in a cement box and live on insects, water and music. To some people, the very act of owning an automobile is an assault on our climate and the future of the planet. We could shut down the automobile sector entirely, but that would trigger a global economic collapse and social unrest that could cause – you guessed it – Armageddon. I think I’ll go electric or hybrid – maybe a Tesla Model S, Volvo XC, BMW i3 or a Camry Hybrid LE.

Electric vehicles halve drivers’ exposure to toxic emissions says Kings College London

October 24, 2018Electric Cars, Electric Taxis, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, PollutionRepost

Zero emission capable taxis can halve a driver’s exposure to toxic exhaust pollutants, according to new research.

The study into air quality by King’s College London’s Environmental Research Group (ERG) monitored drivers of both diesel and electric taxis, measuring particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide inside and outside of their working environments.

It found that drivers of diesel taxis are exposed to pollution levels 1.8 times higher than those driving an electric model.

The research programme, partly funded by electric taxi firm LEVC, also set out to understand whether there are certain behaviours professional drivers can adopt to minimise their exposure to air pollution.

The release of the Metrocab, a battery-powered taxi capable of zero emissions, is one of the efforts to clean up the city’s transport (Image: Metrocab)

Ten London taxi drivers took part and provided 390 hours of air pollution data.

In-vehicle concentrations were measured over a period of four full working days during summer 2018. Initial analysis found that while cab drivers face the same level of exposure to poor air quality as other commercial vehicle drivers, and experience double the exposure at work compared to outside of work, their choice of vehicle made a very significant difference.

Average exposure to nitrogen dioxide and black carbon during a standard shift was 1.8 times higher for drivers of the older diesel taxis compared to those in all-new electric cabs.

Renault Cements Zoe’s Bestseller Status With “Iconic” Special Edition

October 23, 2018Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOE, ZOE Z.E. 40Repost

It’s no secret that the Renault Zoe is Europe’s best-selling electric vehicle, with more than 110,000 units sold since launching at the end of 2012.

To celebrate that sales milestone, Renault has given its electric supermini a special edition version fittingly called “Iconic.” Unveiled at the Paris Auto Show, the Zoe Iconic comes with exclusive exterior and interior features.

On the outside, the special edition EV sports a Highland Grey paintwork and, 17-inch aluminum wheels, and Iconic badges on the front fenders. Inside, the Zoe Iconic gains a grey-colored upholstery, “Iconic” sill plates, as well as a double bottom accessory for the luggage compartment that frees up loading space by storing the cables.

The Renault Zoe Iconic is available both with the new R110 electric motor or the older Q90 unit (a version of the R90 equipped for fast charging). The former produces 80 kW (109 PS/108 hp) and 225 Nm (166 lb-ft) of torque, while the latter makes 68 kW (92 PS/91 hp) and an identical peak torque.

The added power helps the Zoe equipped with the R110 motor cover the 80-120 km/h (50-70 mph) sprint two seconds faster than with the smaller unit. Conversely, the 0 to 100 km/h acceleration takes 11.6 seconds, and top speed is limited at 135 km/h (84 mph).