Monthly Archives: December 2022

You’re Being Lied to About Electric Cars

December 22, 2022Electric Cars, FAQ, News, Reviews and Comment, PollutionRepost

Science has repeatedly shown EVs are better for humans, despite the meme you just retweeted.

I’ve heard all the supposed arguments. It seems every time anything even tangentially related to electric cars is published, certain people feel compelled to share their own research. You’ve probably heard it all, too: A Prius is worse for the planet than a Hummer. EVs are coal-powered cars. Electric cars produce more CO2 than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Lithium mining is uniquely bad for the environment. Cobalt mining relies largely on slave labor, if not child slave labor. Actually, that last part is sadly true. But the rest? Lies. And I’m not even going to get into the hypocrisy of posting anti-EV rhetoric from a lithium-ion-battery-powered phone or laptop.

The first thing we should talk about is direct versus indirect emissions. Gas-powered vehicles have both direct and indirect emissions, while electric cars—I’m specifically talking about battery-powered vehicles, or BEVs, but we will just call them EVs—only have indirect emissions. How so? Both types of cars/trucks/SUVs are manufactured, and the process of building cars involves a global manufacturing effort that uses energy from all sorts of sources. This includes everything from the diesel fuel used to mine and transport metal to the electricity used to manufacture tires. A big knock on EVs is that because most battery production is centered in China, itself a notorious coal-burning country, battery-powered cars begin their service lives with more indirect emissions to their credit.

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Lexus: We’re Working on an Electric Manual Transmission

December 21, 2022Electric Cars, LexusRepost

There’s an age-old ritual argument among driving enthusiasts, and Lexus is about to throw fresh wood on its fire. We can’t wait.

It happened with power steering. When everyone got used to the feel of pneumatic power steering, the argument moved on to electric power steering. We’ve even heard folks argue over drum vs. disc brakes.

These days, it tends to revolve around electric powertrains.

Some enthusiasts love the immediate torque of electric cars. Some insist they feel wrong.

Never mind that the quickest gas-powered cars are half-electric vehicles (EVs) these days, with electric power steering and even sometimes brake-by-wire systems. There’s a romance to the smell of gasoline and the knowledge that what’s happening under the hood is humanity’s first technology – fire.

Some insist that anything newer feels wrong.

Others just outrun them with lightning under the control of their right foot instead.

Enthusiasts Love Driving Stick

If there’s one thing electric cars don’t have, though, it’s the visceral feeling of control you get from using all four limbs to drive. Manual transmissions remain the exclusive province of gas-powered cars.

Lexus engineers get that.

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The best electric cars in 2022

December 20, 2022Electric Cars, FAQ, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Sales of electric cars are booming, and no wonder: the best are quiet, cheap to run and smooth to drive. But which are the brightest sparks – and which are the loose connections?…

Electric cars have now entered the mainstream, accounting for around 15% of new car registrations last month. What’s more, their rise is only going to accelerate as rules are introduced to limit the kind of vehicles allowed into major cities and we get closer to the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel models.

The main thing that has traditionally prevented them selling in greater numbers is range anxiety – the fear that you won’t have enough juice to get to where you’re going. However, with plenty of models now capable of covering more than 200 miles between charges, this is becoming less of an issue.

Seat el-Born Concept electric car (Image: Seat)

So, which electric cars should you consider? Here, we count down our top 10 and reveal the ones to avoid. If any of the models on the list take your fancy, just click on the relevant link to find out more or see how much of a discount you could get by using our free New Car Buying service.

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Ford’s Halewood plant set to become electric car factory

December 19, 2022Electric Cars, Ford, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

An investment of £380 million will see the Liverpool plant ramp up EV production to 420,000 units a year

Ford has announced it will be investing heavily in its Halewood factory, creating Ford’s first European electric car component production facility. The transition from manufacturing internal combustion engine transmissions to electric power units will create 500 new jobs in the area.

Ford says the Halewood plant is integral to its European electrification plan, which will follow the EU’s target of manufacturers building only zero-emission vehicles by 2035.

Halewood’s annual production figure of electric powertrains was expected to be around 250,000 units a year, but with investment rising from an initial £230m to £380m, Ford claims 420,000 units per year should be feasible by 2024.

This means that 70 per cent of the 600,000 EVs Ford intends to sell in Europe per year by 2026 will be powered by Halewood-produced technology. Globally, the American giant also plans on selling two million EVs by 2026.

Ultra-low emission registrations up 386% on first quarter of 2014 (Image: OLEV)

Tim Slatter, chairman of Ford UK, spoke on the transition of the Halewood plant: “This is an all-important next step for Ford towards having nine EVs on sale within two years. Our UK workforce is playing a major role in Ford’s all-electric future.”

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Let’s Take A Look Inside The Honda e

December 16, 2022e, Honda, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

The all-electric Honda e has a spacious and comfortable interior, but the impressive technology makes it really stand out from the crowd.

The Honda e is an amazing all-electric vehicle. When Honda presented it as a concept car, it looked like a million dollars. However, in the cold light of day, while trudging to the off-license or running errands, the production version lacks some of that luster.

Even so, it’s a commendable effort and unquestionably more attractive on the exterior than the great majority of other compact EVs now on the market – such as the Renault Zoe, Mini Electric, and Mazda MX-30.

The Honda e was initially offered with either 134 or 152 horsepower, but Honda has since discontinued the less potent type. The remaining model has a 35.5 kWh battery and a modest 137-mile range, which Honda believes will be more than adequate for city dwellers. It takes just 30 minutes to charge it from 10% to 80% using a quick charger, or six hours to charge it from 10% to 80% using a standard 7 kWh charger at home.

Although it saves on fuel costs (because it’s all-electric) it’s a bit expensive compared to EVs of the same size. However, that’s beside the point. Instead, let’s have a look at the Honda e’s remarkable cabin.

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IONIQ TRICKS The Hyundai Ioniq 6 is a sleek electric saloon with class-leading charge times and an impressive range

December 15, 2022Electric Cars, Hyundai, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

I’M guessing you’ve seen Hyundai’s pitch-side advertising at the World Cup.

They’ve got animations of Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 nudging footballs along the touchline and munching the word Hyundai as they go.

Reminds me of Pac-Man. But then so do the cars.

Every Ioniq model has pixel lights inspired by Eighties video games. Very cool.

Now check out the steering wheel. It has four square dots in place of the usual H logo which glow red, green or white depending on whether you’ve selected Sport, Eco or Normal mode. Also very cool.

When Hyundai launched the all-electric Ioniq family almost two years ago, it promised “no more boring clones”.

Ioniq 5 is an angular hatch, 6 an arc-shaped saloon and 7 a big, boxy SUV coming in 2024.

New longer range Hyundai IONIQ Electric (Image: Hyundai)

Nothing copy and paste here, then, except for those pixel lights and the cutting-edge battery tech under the skin.

We’ve just tried Ioniq 6 as part of judging for the 2023 World Car of the Year awards.

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Dogs are happier travelling in EVs than ICE: science says so

December 14, 2022Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

A “first of its kind” study by the University of Lincoln in the UK, in partnership with British car sales website CarGurus, has concluded that dogs are more relaxed in electric vehicles (EVs) than internal combustion engine (ICE) diesel ones; diesel presumably chosen to represent the extreme opposite in electric in terms of noise and vibration.

The study was carried out in part as a response to “anecdotal concerns that the differences in vibration and/or noise experienced in an EV may cause dogs to be unsettled or have increased car sickness.”

The two-day study used 20 dogs. Each was taken on two 10-minute journeys, one in an EV followed by the same route in a diesel, before a range of scientific measures were used to analyse the dog’s behaviour.

In the findings of the study, led by Daniel Mills, Professor of Veterinary Behavioural Medicine at Lincoln, the dogs were less settled in diesel cars compared to EVs.

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The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is Esquire’s Car of the Year

December 13, 2022Hyundai, Ioniq 5, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

The all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 5 is like an eight-bit fever dream that will make you wonder why all everyman cars can’t

It’s just the sad truth: many cars look the same these days. Handsome enough but, you know, just another collection of artful swoops on wheels.

Which is why when you roll down the street ina Hyundai Ioniq 5, people do a double take as if they were seeing a glitch in the matrix. It’s one of the most delightfully distinctive everyman cars on the road today. Whereas most electric vehicles tend to resemble an inflated dolphin or a frog that’s swallowed another frog, Hyundai’s $42,745 electric vehicle is unabashedly angular; it wouldn’t look out of place in the Roblox metaverse. The playful shape harks back to sporty hatchbacks from influential Italian design maestro Giorgetto Giugiaro—in particular, the Lancia Delta Integrale and the Hyundai Pony, one of the first South Korean cars made for export.

That rare combination of utility and original design in a car made for the masses is the reason we designated the Hyundai Ioniq 5 our Car of the Year. And while it exudes small-car styling, the Ioniq 5 is actually longer than the Hyundai Palisade SUV, which means plenty of trunk space as well as massive legroom and headroom for all passengers. It’s extremely quiet even at high speeds, and it has the impeccable build quality and driver-assistance technology usually reserved for cars at a steeper price. Yet this is not a luxury vehicle. The Ioniq 5 embraces clean design and simplicity over opulence in a world where many cars seem to have gone through a maximalist design-by-committee machine. It feels just right.

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EV charging: Saving the environment or breaking the bank?

December 12, 2022Away From Home, Charging, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

There’s no doubt that electric vehicles can be beneficial for the environment. In fact, one electric car can save up to 1.5 million grams of C02 every year. We all know EVs are good for the planet, but are they economically viable?

The true cost of electric charging is the question on everyone’s mind, but the answer is anything but simple. This can depend on multiple things, including whether or not the charging station is public or private.

Here, with the help of Northern Powergrid, we take a closer look at the price of charging an EV.

How much does it cost to use public charging stations?

Let’s start with public charging stations. These are spread across the nation, but you might be able to use some of the standard charging stations for free, whereas Rapid or Ultra Rapid might require a fee for use.

Free public charging stations

According to figures collected at the end of April 2022, there are a reported 5,715 free public charging points in the UK. These are placed in a number of handy spots, such as supermarkets. In fact, Tesco is home to 600 free charging stations across 300 locations. The National Trust also offers several free electric chargers, and a two-hour top-up on their 7kW chargers takes you about 56 miles. Not bad!

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Oxfordshire’s charging network for electric vehicles finished

December 9, 2022Charge Your Car, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

A network of 250 electric vehicle (EV) charging points has been completed in Oxfordshire.

The hubs in 20 car parks which allow people to park and charge their vehicle can also be booked overnight to aid residents without off-street parking.

The £5.4m scheme to install the chargers county-wide started in May – they have been installed by Bicester-based firm EZ-Charge.

It was funded through government grants.

An online map shows the locations of all the council-owned car parks with chargers.

The scheme has been supported by the University of Oxford, Oxfordshire county and district councils.

In July, a £41m energy hub with 42 EV charging points opened at the Redbridge Park and Ride in Oxford.

The Pivot Power site can recharge a car in as little as 20 minutes.

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