Monthly Archives: June 2023

Britain left eating France’s dust after Macron’s Tesla PR coup

June 9, 2023Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, TeslaRepost

After partying into the early hours of Sunday morning, Elon Musk boarded his GulfStream jet to cross the Atlantic for meetings with a European head of state.

He was not heading to Berlin, where Tesla has its one and only European gigafactory. Nor was he on the way to London, despite hopes that he will build his second facility in Britain.

Instead, Musk was flying to France to meet Emmanuel Macron.

Paris rolled out the red carpet: first, the Tesla and SpaceX boss was whisked to the Elysee Palace for a private audience with French president Emmanuel Macron.

Tesla Supercharging Station at Westfield, London (Image: Tesla)

Musk then had a tête-à-tête with Bruno Le Maire, the finance minister, before dinner with 200 other business executives at the “Choose France” summit in the spectacular Palace of Versailles.

It would be easy to dismiss Musk’s visit as unserious: hours earlier he was pictured partying at electronic music events in both Los Angeles and Cabo, Mexico. While the billionaire donned a suit for his meeting with Macron, he was unshaven and joked that he had slept in the car.

Yet the tycoon’s visit was an undeniable boost for Macron and their meeting ended with Musk hinting at “significant investments in France” to come.

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UK Drive: Hyundai’s Ioniq 6 arrives to turn heads in the EV market

June 8, 2023Electric Cars, Hyundai, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

The Ioniq 6 might look like nothing else on the road, but what else does it have to offer? Jack Evans finds out.

What is it?

Boy, that electric car segment doesn’t stop growing, does it? We’ve got new models cropping up from manufacturers across the board, while companies that have already established a solid foothold in the market are now taking things further and pushing the envelope wherever possible.

Take Hyundai, for example. It has already wowed the sector with its futuristic Ioniq 5, but is it stopping there? No way. We’re here with the new Ioniq 6, which is an EV that looks like nothing else on sale today. Is it all show and no go, though? We’ve been driving it in the UK to find out.

What’s new?

Dubbed a ‘streamliner’ by Hyundai, the Ioniq 6’s design has been shaped by its need to be bar-as-soap slippery through the air. Less drag means more range, after all, which is why the 6’s look is as smoothed-out as it is. It’s underpinned by Hyundai’s E-GMP modular platform which you’ll find tucked under a variety of the groups’ EVs, too, such as the Genesis GV60 and, of course, the Ioniq 5.

Inside, we’ve got some clever tech – including ‘digital’ wing mirrors which replace mirrors with screens – and super-speedy charging that means a ten to 80 per cent charge can be conducted in as little as 18 minutes.

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Do electric vehicles really cost less than ICE cars to maintain?

June 7, 2023Cost of ownership, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

While many organisations are electrifying their fleets with the main aim of reducing carbon emissions, cost still matters.

Traditionally, the typically higher purchase or lease rates of a battery electric vehicle (BEV) compared with an internal combustion engine (ICE) model have been mitigated by factors such as lower fuel and/or charging costs.

However, this advantage has been eroded significantly through the soaring cost of electricity.

Another traditional benefit for BEVs has been lower service, maintenance and repair (SMR) outlay.

It has been widely supposed they will deliver uniform SMR benefits over petrol and diesel vehicles because they have fewer mechanical parts, minimising the likelihood of breakdown and requiring less routine maintenance.

But with growing numbers of BEVs on the road giving more data in this area, does this expectation still hold true?

Yes, says Vincent St Claire, managing director of Fleet Assist, which has a network of 5,200 franchised and independent garages, but with a caveat.

“All the indicators are strong that SMR for BEVs will continue to be less than that for ICE vehicles,” he adds.

“However, while we are now in a period after the pandemic where BEVs are in proper real world use and we are seeing vehicles doing higher mileage than they’ve ever done, it is still a small sample and until we get a bigger data set in terms of numbers of BEVs, we can’t say with a high degree of conviction the issue is settled.”

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10 Advantages Of Electric Cars

June 6, 2023Cost of ownership, Electric Cars, FAQ, Fiat, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

As EV technology continues to improve, electric cars are become more and more viable, and here are some advantages to owning one.

Electric vehicles have been around for many years, but they have only recently started to gain more traction in the market. They offer a lot of advantages compared to conventional gas-powered cars. They are known for their low operating costs compared to gas-powered cars. In addition to them being cheaper to maintain and more efficient, they also provide an environmentally responsible mode of transportation. And, you can’t deny they look fascinating too with a wide variety of stylish designs, proving that eco-friendliness doesn’t have to come at the cost of great and futuristic design. They help in saving money on fuel costs, reducing carbon emissions (which is particularly important because climate change is rapidly becoming a global concern), and more. The advantages of driving an electric car are hard to ignore. They provide better performances and are more reliable than ever before. As EV technology continues to improve, the benefits of driving an electric car are becoming more and more clear. With a large variety of available technology features, improved charging infrastructure, and more options to choose from, the shift toward electric vehicles is inevitable, and there are many excellent reasons to make the switch.

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‘We tried out driving from Yorkshire to Dordogne in an electric car’

June 5, 2023Away From Home, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Journalist Nick Jenkins reports on how charging stops worked out travelling to his second home in France

The screen told us we had 0% left in our battery as our electric car crawled up to the charger. We had been holding our breath but could finally let out a sigh of relief. We plugged the car in – and disaster… the charger was out of order.

Only kidding.

Nothing at all like that happened on our recent drive to Dordogne, though it might surprise those who believe everything they read on some Brits-in-France Facebook pages.

Electric cars are no longer a novelty, of course.

The Renault Zoe has been around since 2012. All the major manufacturers are now producing electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in cars accounted for a quarter of new sales in France last December – and a third in the UK.

PARIS (Nov. 30, 2015) Ð As the official passenger-car provider for the United NationÕs COP21 climate conference in Paris, the Alliance will provide 200 pure electric vehicles to the annual summit which runs from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11. A network of 90 charge spots has been set up to charge the vehicles using low-carbon electricity provided by French energy supplier EDF.

No doubt many readers already drive one. They are clearly the future, but there is still resistance.

Some people are so attached to the quaint mid-Victorian technology of the internal combustion engine that they cannot accept change is coming.

“I’m not buying a Noddy car that only goes 50 miles,” one Luddite told me.

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Watford Council secures substantial grant for EV charging points

June 2, 2023Away From Home, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Watford Council is pleased to announce that a grant of £592,500 has been successfully secured through the On-Street Residential Charge Point Scheme (ORCS).

The funding will enable the installation of 79 new electric vehicle (EV) charging points across the town, bringing the total number of locations to 112.

The 29 new charging columns will be installed on-street in a mix of 2/3/4 charge points per location, providing residents and visitors with more convenient access to EV charging facilities. This will significantly contribute to our efforts to become a net zero carbon town and promote sustainable transport in the borough.

Elected Mayor of Watford, Peter Taylor, said: “I’m thrilled that we have secured this funding. It will help us expand our EV charging infrastructure, making it easier for people to use of electric vehicles. The council is committed reducing carbon emissions in the borough through a range of initiatives.

Thousands of people already drive electric vehicles in Watford and we know that these reduce pollution and improve air quality locally. It’s important that we have the charging infrastructure needed to support this, so I want to thank the team that worked so hard to secure this grant funding. It will make a real difference.”

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Electric dream? What it’s really like to drive 285 miles to The Lakes in a leccy car

June 1, 2023Away From Home, Charge Your Car, ChargePoint Services / GeniePoint, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

With its rugged landscape, winding country lanes and laidback lifestyle, you wouldn’t necessarily put The Lake District down as being an electrifying hotspot.

However, the folks at BMW have teamed up with 15 UK National Parks – including The Lakes – as part of a three-year initiative called Recharge in Nature, which aims to install electric vehicle (EV) charging points at some of our best-loved beauty spots.

It’s a wise move. With sustainable tourism and off-grid adventures being big business these days, eco-friendly destinations are becoming a must-have on our in our holiday tick list. (Not to mention the boom in staycations due to the pandemic and cost of living crisis.)

Being England’s largest and most visited National Park, The Lakes are the first to be kitted out with charging points in three locations, Windermere and Ambleside, Hawkshead and Coniston.

But just how well will this eco-conscious initiative work in reality?

To find out I was loaned the newly launched fully-electric BMW iX1 and told to head to the Langdale Hotel just outside Ambleside – a mere 285 miles away from my Essex home.

Advised that the car had a range of between 259 and 270 miles on a single charge, and able to recharge up to 80% of the range in less than half an hour, it looked like we’d need just one pit stop along the way, so we were more than excited to jump in our fancy new wheels and head towards the M6.

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