All posts by Repost

Britain gets back in the driving seat with more than a million electric vehicles on the road

May 11, 2023Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

One in 32 cars driving in Britain now comes with a plug, amounting to 1,089,241 vehicles – a rise of more than half over the last year

MORE BRITONS are getting back into the driving seat following the pandemic, according to new annual Motorparc data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), with the number of cars in use on UK roads in 2022 rising by 124,393 units to a total of 35,148,045.

This has returned the number of cars on the road to levels last seen in 2019, while the overall number of vehicles has risen to a record 40,723,974 units as supply shortages begin to ease and scrappage levels decline.

Businesses are also getting into gear to help deliver the UK’s post-pandemic recovery, with 615,570 trucks and 4,887,593 vans in service, up 1.9% and 1.7% respectively. Britain’s HGV parc is now at record levels, while vans make up almost one in eight vehicles in use, the largest proportion ever recorded.

The UK’s bus and coach fleet, however, has fallen again, by -2.3% to 72,766 vehicles – the lowest since records began, with 16,608 going out of service over the last decade. More than one in four buses have been in use for more than 15 years, demonstrating the need for support to encourage operators to invest in the latest zero-emission buses given the essential role these vehicles play in providing mobility for millions of people and in road transport decarbonisation.

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:

Review: Hyundai Ioniq 6

May 10, 2023Electric Cars, Hyundai, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

The South Korean company’s new electric ride is a triumph in design and drive tech—and it’s just the beginning of an unbelievable brand turnaround.

AT THE START of 2023, the good people at the Department of Experimental Psychology at University College London surveyed 200 men between the ages of 18 and 74, and supposedly discovered scientifically what we all knew already: Men driving fast cars likely have small dicks.

Put more precisely, the authors stated that there was “a casual psychological link between fast cars and small penises.” The thinking, according to their paper, is that men who believe they are somehow lacking in the trouser department are more likely to rush out and buy, say, a Porsche 911 or a Ferrari.

It gets worse for older gentlemen. The experiment, which has not yet undergone peer review, found that “males over 30 in particular rated sports cars as more desirable when they were made to feel that they had a small penis.”

One suspects the academics could hear the cries of “Quelle suprise!” even before they finished their study.

Car design is, sadly, still almost exclusively a male space. But now, thankfully, the nature of EVs and the need for range-extending slippy aerodynamics has at least started to shift new car forms away from todger-compensating tropes such as power bulges, aggressive haunches, and ridiculous spoilers, instead bringing in subtler, aero-friendly lines.

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:

Here’s 10 electric coupe crossovers on sale now or in the near future

May 9, 2023Audi, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, SkodaRepost

They might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but they just keep on coming

Audi Q4 Sportback e-tron

Audi’s first ground-up electric SUV, the Q4 e-tron, spawned a coupeified variant back in 2020, as the trend for sportier coupe crossovers started to gather momentum. No, we’re not sure why either.

At time of writing, it’s available in two flavours. The two-wheel-drive 40 Sportback e-tron gets a 77kWh (usable) battery mated to a rear 201bhp motor and electric range of up to 328 miles, while the 50 e-tron Sportback quattro gets the same battery but with an extra front motor for four-wheel drive, boosting power to 295bhp but reducing the official range to 318 miles.

As ever with coupeified crossovers, it sacrifices a little headroom and bootspace in favour of style compared to its full-size SUV sibling, while you can expect to pay around £1.5k extra.

Skoda Enyaq iV Coupe

Skoda’s five-seat electric SUV has won plenty of plaudits for its affordability, practicality, and family friendliness (not least from us), so it was only natural that a coupeified variant would follow.

The Enyaq Coupe iV 80 gets a 201bhp electric motor powering the front wheels and 77kWh battery for an all-electric range of up to 345 miles, while the 80x model gets a dual motor 261bhp set-up for four-wheel drive and the same-sized battery for up to 322 miles of electric range.

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:

Best electric car discounts: how to save money on a new EV

May 5, 2023Buying/Leasing, Congestion Charge, Cost of ownership, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

It’s currently possible to save up to £4188 on a new electric car. And you don’t even have to haggle, thanks to our free New Car Buying service…

Electric cars have been hugely popular and demand has traditionally been so strong that discounts on them were virtually impossible to find. That has started to change, though, with the average saving on an electric vehicle (EV) now standing at 3.1% or £1805 per car. That’s up more than 25% year on year.

The catalyst for the discounting was Tesla’s big price reduction of its models in January 2023. A number of other factors have also had an influence on prices, including the slowing of new car sales due to the cost-of-living crisis, a drop in resale values of EVs, and the impending Government directive that 22% of all cars sold by manufacturers must be all-electric from next year.

Even though electric car sales are growing more rapidly than those of other fuel types – with registrations up 18.8% compared with 18.4% for petrol models – the discounts available on them are also increasing, according to data compiled by What Car?’s Target Price team.

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:

Autocar Awards 2023: the Hyundai Ioniq 6 is our Best Company Car

May 4, 2023Electric Cars, Hyundai, IONIQ Electric, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

Ioniq 6 is an impressive EV with good efficiency, a long range, generous rear seat space – plus, those BIK rates…

It ought to be unsurprising that Hyundai’s second flagship EV, the Ioniq 6, surprises with its looks.

Thanks in part to the firm’s design director SangYup Lee, who received last year’s Design Hero award, Hyundai has in recent years become one of the most innovative car companies when it comes to styling. It has built up a mainstream range of good-looking cars, but its EVs are where it really stretches out.

The Ioniq 6’s streamliner looks won’t please everyone, but no one could ever accuse it of being bland.

Hyundai Ioniq Electric Handover (Image: T. Larkum)

First came the Hyundai Ioniq 5, which questioned whether an SUV actually needs to look like an SUV, and introduced a new brand of retro-futurism that has clearly struck a chord with buyers.

But while most of Hyundai’s range (and most other manufacturers’ model ranges) becomes ever more SUV-heavy, the Korean manufacturer has decided to embrace the traditional saloon and has done so with un-traditional means.

In some ways the Ioniq 6 is quite old-fashioned, being a four-door saloon with a boot lid that is laser-focused on streamlining and aerodynamics. At the same time, it is a cutting-edge EV offering 800V architecture, ultra-fast charging, a large battery, good mechanical efficiency and a class-leading range as a result.

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:

The Guardian view on the electric car revolution: targets are not enough

May 3, 2023Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Opinion, PollutionRepost

The government must do its bit to make new electric vehicles more affordable if mass adoption is to be achieved on the road to net zero

When the government controversially scrapped its discount on the purchase of electric cars last summer, the move was justified on the grounds that its work was done. After 11 years of subsidies, said ministers, the electric vehicle revolution had been “kickstarted”. As Britain strives to meet a 2030 target to end the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles, that judgment is beginning to look a little complacent.

Amid ongoing economic headwinds, data has emerged that suggests a drop-off in current demand for electric cars, despite notable public enthusiasm for their adoption in principle. Auto Trader, which hosts the country’s largest car sales website, reported this month that inquiries in relation to new electric vehicles had fallen significantly compared with last year.

A number of factors are likely to be involved. As interest rates and inflation remain high, the upfront cost of a new electric car makes it more expensive in the short term than a petrol or diesel one. Falling oil prices may have diminished the immediate incentive to switch. At the same time, despite repeated pledges by Whitehall, the rollout of charging infrastructure continues to be too slow and is not keeping pace with 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:

EV designers can move the industry forward by invoking radical notions of the past

May 2, 2023Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

The electric vehicle transition is a generational opportunity to rethink personal transportation design, but few automakers are stepping up. Is there a modern-day Ransom Olds or Henry Ford of EVs waiting in the wings?

There is an interesting styling trend happening in the design studios of European manufacturers. Retro cars harking back to a simpler, happier car culture are showing up with electric powertrains. There is the VW ID Buzz, Fiat 500e, Renault 5e, the Mini electric, and the outrageously cute Microlino.

The iconic “people cars” of the European post-war era used simple, inexpensive-but-elegant design criteria to pull the auto industry (and Europe in general) out of a hole. Now it is the world that needs that pull. This challenge and opportunity is calling out to automakers: their EV designs should target the underlying essence of those wonderful retro creations, not merely replicate their shape.

The basis of great automotive design is to find that perfect balance between form and function. In a nutshell, form is what we see, and hopefully makes us smile. Function is what moves the car along in a safe and comfortable and (hopefully) environmentally friendly manner.

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:

Under the skin: How robots can be used to charge electric cars

May 1, 2023Electric Cars, Fleet, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

With high-current cables becoming heavier, Hyundai’s ACR project provides hands-free charging

Charging EVs, and particularly how fast EVs can be charged, is seen as a major barrier to their uptake.

Speed is going to become an ever more pressing problem because, unlike petrol and diesel cars, EVs need a dedicated parking spot for a significant period when charging, so the less time they spend doing it the better.

A MINI chassis receives a polish at BMW’s Oxford plant. Source: BMW

However, faster charging and higher power being transmitted will mean cables become heavier, thicker and more cumbersome. That will make conventional handling difficult or impossible, especially for people with mobility problems.

It may also make things trickier in the dark, simply in terms of presenting a charger plug to the charge port and plugging it in. Hyundai’s answer to all this is the automatic charging robot (ACR).

The ACR was revealed in CGI videos last year but the real thing was on display at the 2023 Seoul mobility show in March. The ACR is installed at the side of a parking bay. The driver of the car (which in the demo is an Ioniq 6) pulls up in front of the bay, hops out and presses a button on the key fob, which instructs the Ioniq 6 to self-park and charge.

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:

G7 countries agree to accelerate the phaseout of fossil fuels

April 28, 2023Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

G7 ministers have collectively agreed to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels during last week’s meeting on Climate, Energy and Environment in Sapporo, Japan.

The nations – consisting of the UK, US, France, Japan and Canada – agreed “to accelerate the phaseout of unabated fossil fuels so as to achieve net zero in energy systems by 2050”.

Published yesterday (16 April), the ministers’ Communiqué recommitted the parties to the Paris Agreement, “keeping a limit of 1.5 °C global temperature rise within reach through scaled up action in this critical decade,” and to “recognize the importance of promoting an efficient diversification of supply sources to enhance energy security and energy affordability.”

The UK is seeking to pivot its trade focus to the Pacific after it joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and British energy companies like Octopus have also recently expanded their involvement in the Japanese market.

The agreement also aims for “a collective increase in offshore wind capacity of 150GW by 2030 based on each country’s existing targets and a collective increase of solar PV to more than 1TW by 2030 estimated by the IEA and IRENA through means such as each country’s existing targets or policy measures.”

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:

Climate change: Fossil fuel emissions from electricity set to fall – report

April 27, 2023Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Wind PowerRepost

The world will likely use fewer fossil fuels to produce electricity this year in a “turning point” for planet-friendly energy, a new report says.

It would be the first ever annual drop in the use of coal, oil and gas to generate electricity, outside of a global recession or pandemic.

As a result, fewer warming gases would be released during energy production.

The authors attribute the expected change to a boom in renewable energy led mainly by China.

Wind and solar now produce 12% of global electricity with enough wind turbines added in 2022 to power almost all of the UK.

Renewables are set to meet all growth in demand this year, the study from energy analysts Ember says.

Making electricity is the single biggest contributor to global warming, responsible for over a third of energy-related carbon emissions in 2021.

So phasing out coal, oil and gas in this sector is seen as critical in helping the world avoid dangerous levels of climate change.

This new study looks at data from countries representing 93% of global electricity demand.

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: