Monthly Archives: April 2022

Brighton to Glasgow: 500 miles in the Kia EV6

April 29, 2022Electric Cars, EV6, Kia, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

We pit Kia’s electric SUV against a petrol Proceed and throw ourselves at the mercy of the UK’s charging network

It’s a balmy Monday morning on Brighton’s pebbly seafront. The walkers, cyclists and desperado electric scooterists are out in force, soaking up some unexpected February vitamin D. The cafe proprietors are sweeping floors, laying tables and getting ready for a brisk lunchtime trade. The weather is ideal – except if you were hoping for the sort of cold, wet, foreboding environment to set a tough challenge for an electric car on a long drive.

Thankfully, where we’re heading, we’re almost guaranteed some wintry smirr. It’s somewhere between 450 and 500 miles north from here to Glasgow, depending which way you go – and today we’re going in a Kia EV6, mostly just to find out how long it takes to cover that kind of distance on the UK road network in an EV in 2022.

It’s Time to Go Green!

If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:

If 800-Volt Architecture Is the Holy Grail of EVs, Why Do So Few Carmakers Use It?

April 28, 2022Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, UncategorizedRepost

Electric vehicles will take over the world, but before they do this, they need to convince a lot of people they are a viable alternative to ICE cars. One of the biggest issues is range anxiety and EV makers have offered several solutions to the problem. One of them is installing bigger batteries to improve the range, with all the downsides that derive from this. Among them are the high costs, but also the higher weight and the lower efficiency that comes with it.

Another way is to shorten the charging time, which will effectively allow an EV owner to spend less time at the charger. If this time is low enough, an EV could be charged pretty much the same way as an ICE is refueled, in a couple of minutes. This makes the range less important, as long as

the density of fast DC charging stations is high enough to not worry about running out of battery. It turns out that most EV makers have chosen this path or a combination of both.

Reducing the charging time is considered the holy grail of EVs and scientists are scrambling to get there using different technologies. The perspective of having your EV topped up in the time it takes the driver to drink one coffee is enticing enough. Scientists have tried lowering the charging time by improving battery technology or by adopting quantum charging. These are still years in the making, so don’t expect an EV to benefit anytime soon.

It’s Time to Go Green!

If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:

I test-drove the all-electric Hummer. Can it win over America’s EV skeptics?

April 27, 2022Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, UncategorizedRepost

A climate-friendly version of the macho, gas-guzzling pickup is aimed at obdurate devotees of US’s supersized car culture

It is the weight of an elephant, can move like a crab and in a previous life was reviled by environmentalists. The Hummer, that avatar of gas-guzzling machismo, has returned as an electric vehicle with an unlikely billing as an ally in the effort to avert the worsening climate crisis.

Cheapest Electric Cars UK (Image: Fuel Included) — Cheapest Electric Cars in the UK (Image: Fuel Included)

The reincarnation of the hulking pickup truck, test-driven by the Guardian in the searing heat of Arizona, has been lauded by manufacturer General Motors (GM) as proof that electric vehicles (EVs) can now reach even middle America’s most obdurate devotees of supersized car culture.

GM hopes to crush, under a brawny Hummer wheel, the notion that green cars must look like a Prius. “We want to turn EV skeptics into EV believers,” said Mikhael Farah, a GM spokesperson. This Hummer has even been endorsed as a climate boon by the White House – in November, Joe Biden screeched around GM’s Detroit plant in a Hummer EV. “This sucker is something else!” the president, a self-confessed “car guy”, exclaimed.

It’s Time to Go Green!

If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:

Electric cars prices will be ‘driven down’ by new govt plans, but environmentalists want more ambitious targets

April 26, 2022Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, UncategorizedRepost

Environmentalists say the target should be more ambitious still, while industry is calling for purchase incentives too.

Plans to ensure half of all new cars sold in the UK are fully electric by 2028 will drive down electric vehicle (EV) prices “further and faster,” experts have said.

Under Department for Transport (DfT) proposals, 22% of cars rolling off forecourts would have to be fully electric-powered from 2024, increasing to 52% of all cars by 2028. The targets for vans are 8% in 2024 and 34% in 2028.

OVO Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) charging (Image: T. Larkum/Fuel Included)

Electric car prices could be about to plummet – here’s why

Electric vehicle (EV) prices have fallen significantly in recent years thanks to cheaper batteries and a growing market, but plans to mandate all carmakers to meet targets should “have quite a positive impact on price,” experts predict.

“More manufacturers trying to sell more EVs, trying to get us to buy them is going to be a more competitive and therefore better market for the consumer,” said Richard Allan from New AutoMotive, a research group aiming to accelerate the switch to EVs.

Economies of scale, competition and penalties for carmakers who miss targets make EVs much more affordable, he said.

The mandate is designed to accelerate the shift away from petrol and diesel vehicles, sales of which will be banned from 2030.

It’s Time to Go Green!

If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:

Renault CEO Pushes On With Electric Split As Russia Bill Looms – Report

April 25, 2022Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, RenaultRepost

Renault chief Luca de Meo wants to press ahead with plans to create separate divisions for electric (EV) and combustion engine vehicles despite potentially costly uncertainty over its interests in Russia

Renault chief Luca de Meo wants to press ahead with plans to create separate divisions for electric (EV) and combustion engine vehicles despite potentially costly uncertainty over its interests in Russia, three sources told Reuters.

Playing catch-up with rivals like Tesla and Volkswagen, the French automaker first outlined its strategy shift in February, days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying its turnaround plan was ahead of schedule.

An internal assessment on progress will be made in three months, two of the sources said. The Renault group’s top selling EVs are the Dacia Spring and the Renault Zoe – long a market leader but becoming an ageing model.

“Despite the Russian x-factor, Luca de Meo wants to move quickly on the creation of the two entities,” one of the sources told Reuters.

Several working groups are actively working on the creation of two separate legal structures, codenamed “Ampere” for the electric and “Horse” for the thermal and hybrid assets, two of the three sources said.

Renault declined to comment.

It’s Time to Go Green!

If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:

Hyundai develops V2X technology to stabilize the power grid

April 22, 2022Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, UncategorizedRepost

With V2X, BEVs can feed electricity back into the public power grid

At IAA Mobility 2021, Hyundai announced that it will become climate-neutral by 2045. From 2035, the South Korean brand will only offer zero-emissions vehicles (ZEV, zero-emissions vehicle) in Europe. The cornerstone of this company’s strategy is to develop clean mobility solutions and technologies. This also includes “combined to everything” technology, or “V2X” for short. It summarizes a number of technological innovations that could stabilize the power grid and support the use of renewable energy sources – using power from pure battery electric vehicles (BEV, Battery Electric Vehicle).

Stabilizing the electricity grid and supporting renewable energies

An applied example of V2X is Vehicle to Network (V2G). This technology enables electricity from BEVs to be fed into the public power grid (English: grid). The energy landscape benefits from the use of BEVs as electricity suppliers, because e-model owners can actively contribute to the stability of their local electricity grid.

It’s Time to Go Green!

If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:

‘Informed consumers are vital to a mature electric car market’

April 21, 2022Electric Cars, Leaf, News, Reviews and Comment, Nissan, UncategorizedRepost

Andy Palmer thinks motorists need to learn more about electric cars with the 2030 petrol and diesel new car ban looming on the horizon

Over a decade ago, when I began developing what became the world’s first mass-market electric car, the Nissan Leaf, it was considered an oddity. EVs back then were treated with scepticism and intrigue in equal measure. Why? Largely because the understanding of what they were, how they were made and how they benefit motorists (and the planet) was non-existent. In fact, one rival auto exec said I was crazy for pioneering an electric vehicle and I may as well have taken the cash invested in it and chucked it into the Pacific. Thankfully, I didn’t take his advice.

Today, we are a better-informed audience. But by how much? There are around 395,000 battery electric vehicles on UK roads right now. That’s certainly a lot more than when I first began work on the Leaf, but compared to the 32.7 million total passenger cars on the road, it still barely registers. I have no doubt that’ll change and that in the near future, there will be more EVs than combustion engine vehicles. It’s as inevitable as death and taxes. But to get to that point and for the market to truly mature, we need an informed audience of motorists.

It’s Time to Go Green!

If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:

InstaVolt launches ‘one of the UK’s largest’ EV charging hubs with Banbury expansion

April 20, 2022Away From Home, Charging, Charging, InstaVolt, News, Reviews and Comment, UncategorizedRepost

InstaVolt has said its electric vehicle (EV) charging hub in Banbury, Oxfordshire is now one of the UK’s largest following the installation of eight new 150kW chargers.

The Alpitronic chargers have been installed alongside an existing eight 125kW chargers at the site, with work on the new chargers beginning in January 2022.

InstaVolt said this is in response to increased demand for rapid, easy to use chargepoints across the country, with the company aiming to grow its network to 10,000 rapid chargers by 2032. By this summer, it is hoping to have 1,000 rapid chargers on its network.

The company said that in the 12 months to March 2022, it has grown its network by 45%, with deals for EV charging rollouts with companies such as Costa Coffee, McDonald’s, Bannatyne Health Clubs and Booths Supermarkets forming part of its “active efforts” to improve EV charging infrastructure.

Alongside the new chargers, the overall services at the hub have also been upgraded, with additional lighting, wider access spaces and two longer spaces to accommodate the increasing number of electric vans and fleet vehicles.

There are also plans for seating on site and a small wildflower meadow to increase biodiversity and create a habitat for pollinating insects.

It’s Time to Go Green!

If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:

Britons buy more electric cars in March than in whole of 2019

April 15, 2022Buying/Leasing, Charging, Charging, Electric Cars, Model 3, News, Reviews and Comment, Tesla, UncategorizedRepost

Overall new car sales slump as petrol and diesel prices soar in Ukraine crisis

British drivers bought more electric cars in March alone than in the whole of 2019 even as the broader market slumped, according to figures that underline the accelerating pace of the UK’s transition away from internal combustion engines.

There were 39,315 new battery electric vehicle registrations during the month, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a lobby group. In 2019 there were 37,850 electric sales.

Evidence of soaring demand for battery electric cars – which will become the most popular fuel type as soon as 2025 according to some analysts – has provided a bright spot for the car industry at a time when it has struggled for more than a year with computer chip supply bottlenecks.

Across electric and fossil fuel cars in total, the number of sales in the UK in March was the lowest for the month in 24 years.

March is an important month for the UK car industry, when buyers queue up for the latest number plates – a status symbol that can also help sustain secondhand values for a few months longer.

The slump in new car registrations, down 14% compared with March 2021, follows two months of year-on-year sales increases. The industry is concerned that it has missed a period of strong demand – buoyed up by household savings during pandemic lockdowns – and will be under pressure as household finances are squeezed by rising prices across the economy.

It’s Time to Go Green!

If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form:

More battery electric vehicles sold in March than entirety of 2019 – SMMT

April 14, 2022Charging, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, UncategorizedRepost

March 2022 was the best ever month for sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

In the month, there were 39,315 sales of new BEVs, a 78.7% increase on March 2021, when there were 22,003. This represented a 16.1% market share compared to 7.7%.

These figures mean that in March 2022 there were more BEVs sold than during the entirety of 2019, the SMMT said.

To date this year, there have been 64,165 sales of new BEVs, compared to 31,779 for the same period in 2021- a change of 101.9%.

The SMMT said that with grants for BEVs ongoing until at least next March, with interest rates being low and EVs benefitting from lower running costs, there are “significant benefits” for drivers who order new vehicles now.

“With increasing household and business costs, government must do all it can to support consumers so that the growth of electric vehicles can be sustained and the UK’s ambitious net zero timetable delivered,” Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said.

Earlier this year, the SMMT called for VAT on electricity used for public chargepoints be cut to match that for home use, as well as for binding targets for the rollout of public chargepoints to help meet demand in light of surging BEV sales.

It’s Time to Go Green!

If you would like to know more about Solar Panels and the PowerBanx range of home battery systems, and get a free instant quote, please complete our online form: