Stellantis NV will convert its lone U.K. car factory to make electric vans, ending months of anguish at an almost 60-year-old plant threatened by the economic fallout from Brexit.
The automaker will spend 100 million pounds ($138 million) retooling its Ellesmere Port plant near Liverpool, which employs roughly 1,000 people. Production of Vauxhall and Opel Astras will end early next year, and output of Vauxhall, Opel, Peugeot and Citroen vans will begin by the end of 2022.
Securing the future of the factory is a boon to local workers and the U.K. government, which has been trying to safeguard the nation’s auto industry amid an accelerating shift to electric vehicles. It’s the latest post-Brexit boost for Prime Minister Boris Johnson after Nissan Motor Co. last week announced plans to create a new 1 billion-pound EV and battery hub in northern England.
Vauxhall Grandland X Hybrid4 (Image: Vauxhall.co.uk)
“It’s a huge vote of confidence in our economy, in the people of Ellesmere Port and in our fantastic post-Brexit trading relationships,” Johnson said in a video message.
As part of the conversion, Stellantis will build a new body shop and on-site battery pack assembly. The carmaker formed from the merger of PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler will shrink how much of the site it uses to reduce inefficiencies and consider redeveloping excess land.
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Electric vehicle designers have a new canvas on which to mark their brand image: the front end.
Since EVs don’t contain hot combustion engines, they don’t need the grilles that have shaped the look of autos for decades, with large air vents to cool what’s behind them.
EVs present the industry with a fundamental change in design because electric motors require far less space, and batteries are placed low on a skateboard platform, leaving room for more flexible interior and exterior designs. Some of the key “hard points” that define internal combustion cars, particularly the engine compartment, are now fair game for experimentation on EVs.
The question facing automakers now is what to do with all the new design space.
Not surprisingly, they disagree.
“With reduced cooling needs, an EV’s grille can be more about form than function,” said Karl Brauer, a veteran auto analyst and executive publisher at CarExpert. “That widens the EV designer’s options, but it doesn’t reduce the importance of a grille’s design, as that area can still make or break an overall look.
“I’ve seen EVs with, essentially, no grille, and I don’t think that’s the smart way to go,” he said. “A grille can provide both character and distinctiveness to a vehicle’s appearance. The lack of any grille squanders the opportunity to enhance those areas.”
Volvo Polestar 2 (Image: Volvocars.com)
The coming Tesla Cybertruck has a flat piece of unpainted metal where a grille would normally go. Besides the concept truck’s geometric weirdness, the front end is too minimalistic, Brauer contends. A blend of old and new probably strikes the best note during the great EV transition.
“Cars like the Audi A6 E-tron or GMC Hummer do an effective job of merging a traditional grille with a minimalist grille design, resulting in a sleek yet engaging front-end appearance,” he said.
Eventually, mimicking internal combustion designs may go away entirely. But the transition is likely to be gradual, over some years, so that consumers don’t recoil from the shock of the new.
Warned Brauer: “We’re not ready to give up our grilles. Yet.”
The first-generation Nissan Leaf had a sloping nose, in body color, with the charge port in the middle. That look was unique but too bland for some critics. The second-generation Leaf went for a more mainstream look, employing Nissan’s signature V-shaped grille.
Hyundai’s first EVs in the U.S., the Ioniq hatch and Kona crossover, were based on gas counterparts, so designers simply covered the grille area with textured plastic. But the coming new generation of Hyundai EVs is more adventurous.
Tesla has projected its EV image by doing away with the idea of a grille almost entirely. The first Tesla Model S sedan did have a rounded black panel that mimicked a grille, but that was later revised in favor of a small T-shaped design also found on the Model X crossover. The Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover have no grille but do have a notable lower air intake.
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The Vauxhall Vivaro-e is the 2021 Auto Express Electric Van of the Year, with the LEVC VN5 and Renault Zoe Van commended
Electrification is big news in the van market, which is why we’ve created this new category. The Vauxhall Vivaro-e is a worthy first winner, because it helps to banish concerns about range anxiety. The Vivaro-e shares its technology with the Citroen e-Dispatch, Peugeot e-Expert and Toyota Proace Electric vans, but unlike those three it also comes as a five-seat Crew Van, which edges it ahead.
Power comes from a 134bhp electric motor, while the van’s long platform means there’s room for 50kWh or 75kWh batteries. Even the smaller pack offers a WLTP-rated range of 133 miles where rivals are struggling to break 100 miles, while the 75kWh version is rated at 195 miles. In addition, the Vivaro-e is more like a car to drive than a commercial vehicle and features the latest safety kit.
Commended
LEVC VN5
If you’re an electric sceptic, then taxi maker LEVC offers its range-extending VN5 plug-in hybrid van. It uses the same running gear as the TX taxi, so has a similarly tight turning circle, a 60-mile electric-only range and a maximum range of 300 miles once the petrol engine cuts in.
Renault Zoe Van
For the Zoe Van, Renault has simply ditched the back seats of its supermini, added a level floor and blacked-out rear windows, and fitted a mesh partition. The running gear and cabin remain unaltered, so you get the same range of 245 miles and all the connectivity you could need.
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Electric vehicles are growing in popularity, but there are frequent claims the batteries in them aren’t up to snuff. Andrea Graves sets the record straight.
The electric vehicle feebate announcement has spurred keyboard warriors to “educate” others on the harms of EV batteries. Environmental and human rights advocates have emerged from unexpected quarters: Winston Peters is concerned about labour conditions in African mines and joins Judith Collins in fretting about a looming stockpile of depleted EV batteries.
These alarming claims deserve more than research via social media. Are they true?
Fiction: EV batteries will form a waste mountain
The worried politicians could turn to New Zealand’s Battery Industry Group (BIG), a stakeholder group of businesses, individuals, organisations and academics from energy, transport, waste and battery sectors. It’s committed to avoiding a large-battery legacy problem and co-designed a circular product stewardship scheme that is now with the Ministry for the Environment.
If the scheme becomes a regulation, all large batteries will have their chain of custody tracked after import. Their life expectancy varies by make, but the life of a Nissan Leaf’s relatively small and faster-degrading battery might look like this: five years with an owner who needs a long-range vehicle, who sells to someone who’s willing to charge up more often, who after another five years sells cheaply to someone who only tootles around town. A few years later, its remaining capacity can remain useful for a “second life” outside a car. Counties Power, for example, will shortly install ex-Nissan Leaf batteries to store electricity to cover outages and voltage fluctuations in remote locations. It’s also working on a battery bank to store off-peak electricity to power EV charging stations.
Fiction: EV batteries aren’t recyclable
BIG proposes collecting a fee when a battery is imported, which would fund the dissemination of batteries for second-life uses or recycling. Dr Peng Cao of the MacDiarmid Institute and the University of Auckland says that EV batteries are completely recyclable – but it’s not profitable and existing methods are polluting. Local recycling options are being explored, and nationwide scrap dealer Metalman hopes to soon offer a recycling service for all common battery types.
Fact: EV batteries (and all electronics) contain toxic materials
All electronic gear, from cellphones to televisions and electric toothbrushes, includes materials that can be toxic. Like oil, the materials are extracted from somewhere on the planet, and the resulting environmental destruction is comfortably distanced from our shopping experience. EV battery metals are no exception, but there is a mammoth push to do better.
“Developing environmentally friendly, less toxic batteries is a really hot research topic globally,” says Cao, who is part of this effort. “The second generation of EVs tried to minimise the use of cobalt. Now producers are trying to move away from it altogether. And the new chemistry batteries should be cheaper.”
A battery based on aluminium, an abundant and less toxic metal, is being developed by Wellington startup TasmanION.
Fact: Children mine cobalt for batteries (and oil refining etc)
This is true and troubling. About 40,000 children are thought to be involved in dangerous, unregulated mining in Democratic Republic of Congo. Poverty drives their families to it. The most valuable metal they unearth is cobalt – the same metal battery manufacturers are trying to retire from their products. International coalitions are working to improve the conditions that drive children to work in the mines and to source less exploitative cobalt from the murky supply chain.
But before you throw stones in a cobalt revolt, check whether you’re living in a glass house. Cobalt is also used in oil refining, the superalloys of aircraft engines and prosthetic joints. And do you own gold, drink coffee, eat chocolate, sugar or bananas or wear cotton? These are some of the products produced by an estimated 160 million children who labour in often dangerous conditions.
There are also valid concerns about rechargeable batteries’ other metals, particularly lithium. Again, there’s a huge research thrust to address that, with a local company at the cutting edge.
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Last August included an exciting day with the arrival of my first electric car. From an early age I took an interest in cars and in particular their internal-combustion engines. I never expected to see a competing automotive propulsion technology in my lifetime.
At the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2009, Tesla Inc. stunned the world with a prototype of the car that would eventually become the Model S. The first electric car that looked like a car, not a glorified golf cart or something from a Sci-Fi movie set.
In one fell swoop, Tesla silenced all critics with a car that had the style, poise, and range to be anyone’s daily driver. Introduced to the public in June of 2012, by 2016 the P100D version of the Model S boasted a range of over 300 miles and enough horsepower to turn the standing start quarter mile at over 120 miles per hour, making it one of the most powerful mass-produced cars ever made.
The key technology that made the Model S possible is a lithium ion — or Li-ion — battery, a technology that’s been around for years powering laptop computers and cell phones and other devices that benefit from power dense batteries. The Model S became a reality because Tesla had the vision to see all the pieces of a modern electric vehicle put together with 1995 technology, and the audacity to take on the worldwide automotive industry.
Tesla showroom in Milton Keynes (Image: T. Larkum)
Gas cars by default
The fact is the IC, the internal-combustion engine, was never the best propulsion device for a car, it was simply the only propulsion device that 19th century technology had to offer that provided the power and range to meet consumer demand.
The electric motor was always the best propulsion device, but the best electric energy storage at the time (lead-acid batteries) didn’t have anywhere near the energy density needed to compete with IC engines for range. Internal combustion won the day and went on to become the dominant — and then the only — propulsion device for cars for over 100 years.
Internal-combustion engine development progressed in every decade garnering significant research and development budgets. The 130-year effort to develop IC technology for vehicles showed the ingenuity and perseverance that determined people can put forward when challenged. Starting in the 19th century with noisy, smelly and inefficient engines that required constant maintenance, engineers plied their craft to make modern IC engines quiet, power dense, reasonably efficient and remarkably reliable.
Yet all that progress is easily eclipsed with a modern EV.
Future arrives EVs produce zero tailpipe emissions, have significantly fewer moving parts, are as reliable as your refrigerator, and operate at a fraction of the cost of an IC-powered car. EVs don’t require multi-speed transmissions or a reversing gear. To go in reverse, the electric motor simply spins backwards.
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Sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) hit 19,842 in June, beating the 15,027 sales of diesel vehicles recorded in the month.
The BEV sales represent a 122.9% increase compared with June 2020, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
It’s led to BEVs securing 10.7% of the market share in June 2021, compared with 6.1% in June 2020. In comparison, diesel took home an 8.1% market share. It’s not the first time BEVs have overtaken diesel sales, with April 2021 – a month in which diesel sales took a nosedive as a result of the impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown – seeing BEV sales represent 31.8% of the market share, with more sold than diesel cars for the first time.
BMW iX3
Combined, last month BEVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) accounted for 17.2% of new vehicles in the month, totaling 31,981 sales.
New car sales in June were up year-on-year as a whole to 186,128, a jump of 28%. However, when compared with the previous decade average, monthly registrations were down by 16.4%.
Looking at 2021 to date, there have been 73,893 BEV sales compared to 30,957 at the same point in 2020. Market share has risen from 4.7% to 8.1%.
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Plans to significantly bolster the nation’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure were revealed this morning – and it make will plug-in vehicle ownership more feasible for an increasing number of drivers.
Gridserve, the British firm behind the UK’s first dedicated charging forecourt for electric cars opened in Essex, in December, has today announced plans to revolutionise the availability of chargers on the UK’s busiest routes, as part of its new Electric Highway scheme.
It will see every vehicle charging device at motorway services replaced with more dependable and faster-charging technology by September, but also add 50 high power ‘Electric Hubs’ – each offering between six and twelve ultra-rapid 350kW chargers – at the majority of these sites.
The hubs, which are part of a new £100million investment, will spark a significant improvement to charging on motorways, which has until recently been riddled with complaints about unreliability issues under the monopoly of Dale Vince’s Ecotricity firm.
Concerns about a lack of public chargers, especially on motorways when attempting long journeys, have been one of the biggest for motorists contemplating making the switch to an electric car before the Government outlaws the sale of new petrol and diesel cars at the end of this decade.
However, Gridserve confirmed today that it will add some 300 rapid chargers in total to 85 per cent of the UK’s motorway service stations, which will allow drivers of the latest EVs to add 100 miles of range in charges taking just five minutes.
Users will be charged on a price-per-kWh basis, though there will be a premium to pay at some service stations – as is the case when drivers of conventional cars fill up with petrol and diesel.
While it costs 24p per kWh to top up an EV at Gridserve’s first Electric Forecourt in Braintree, the price to charge at one of the new Electric Hubs is 30p per kW. This will enable a typical battery car to add 200 miles of range for as little as £15.
SWARCO eVolt is supplying 45 charging units, including 11 of its Rapid Chargers capable of charging two vehicles simultaneously in 30 minutes, across 28 sites in East Lothian (Image: eVolt)
Contactless payments can be made at all of the devices, rather than having to register and subscribe to the service.
The new hubs will be extensions to existing chargers that are already at sites – all of which will be upgraded by the end of the summer – and are separate from the 100 Gridserve Electric Forecourts that are set to be built across the country in the coming years.
Those behind the plans say the huge upgrade will provide drivers of plug-in cars with a ‘UK-wide network they can rely on, without range or charging anxiety, wherever they live in the UK, and whatever type of electric vehicle they drive’.
The news comes just weeks after Gridserve announced the acquisition of the Electric Highway from Ecotricity, after the Government announced plans to improve its under-performing network.
In March, the Department for Transport announced plans to break green industrialist Dale Vince’s Ecotricity monopoly on electric car charging at motorway services with legislation by 2023 that demands that all devices provide quick charge times, are reliable and can be accessed by anyone via contactless payment.
Ecotricity, until now the lone supplier of chargers at motorway service stations – has been heavily criticised by early adopters of electric cars for its unreliable and outdated hardware that has caused huge headaches for EV owners, in some cases resulting in drivers being stranded at services.
For years it has been rated the worst electric vehicle charging network in Zap-Map’s annual satisfaction rankings, including a two-out-of-five-star rating in the most recent poll – the lowest score of 16 providers, with Tesla’s Supercharger network topping the results with a 4.8 score out of five.
Commenting on the performance of the Ecotricity motorway network in the 2020 study, one electric vehicle owner said: ‘They kickstarted the market, but now they are out of date and unreliable.’
In the six weeks since Gridserve has taken responsibility of the motorway network it has installed new chargers with a minimum capacity of 60kWh at over 50 locations – an installation rate of around two new charging locations every day.
The entire network of almost 300 old Ecotricity devices at more than 150 locations on motorways and Ikea stores is due to be replaced by September, according to the British firm’s schedule.
It will mean that drivers of any type of electric vehicle will be able to charge and use contactless to pay for their charging sessions.
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If you’re after a practical, well-equipped electric car that offers great value for money, then look no further than the MG5 EV
The MG5 is a no-nonsense family estate that offers decent practicality with the efficiency benefits of all-electric drive. It won’t suit buyers looking for any sparkle and shine on their driveway, as the MG5 lacks any pretension or showy, extravagant character.
Instead, it delivers on what matters most: plenty of space, good levels of standard equipment, a usable range and low running costs. The MG5 isn’t going to set your pulse racing, but if you can get past the humdrum image you’ll find a car that just gets the job done – at a price that makes it hard to resist.
About the MG5 EV
Electric cars are often criticized for being too expensive to buy. With stylish city runabouts such as the Fiat 500 priced at well over £20,000, and superminis like the MINI Electric and Honda e nudging £30,000 and above, buyers with an eye on practicality and value for money might be put off making the switch to a new EV
Enter the all-electric MG5. With its functional estate bodystyle, impressive kit list and £25k starting price (after the PiCG government grant), it brings a no-frills approach to challenge the latest models in the burgeoning electric car market.
Evergreen electric rivals such as the Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe can’t compete on price, and don’t come close on interior space, while the MG5’s significantly lower running costs could persuade buyers away from the more typical options of the Ford Focus estate and Volkswagen Golf estate. In fact, the 5 even undercuts its ZS EV sibling on price, while also offering a better overall range.
The MG5 has a 52.5kWh battery which gives a claimed range of 214 miles, while a single 154bhp motor drives the front wheels. With 50kW on-board charging capability, it’ll take just 50 minutes to charge the battery from 0-80 per cent, while topping up (to 100%) from a 7kW home charger requires around 8.5 hours.
There are just two trim specifications available for the MG5: Excite and Exclusive. The former includes enough kit for most, with sat-nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, a DAB radio and Bluetooth, while the latter adds luxuries such as heated seats, leather upholstery, keyless go and extra USB ports.
MG5 (Image: mg.co.uk)
MG has already announced a facelifted version of the 5 EV for other European markets, due later in 2021. It includes an increase in power, range and 100kW on-board charging, along with slight cosmetic changes, although it’s not been confirmed for the UK as yet.
Engines, performance and drive
The MG5 is more than quick enough for a family estate, but the ride isn’t perfect.
As with most electric cars that have a single motor, the MG5 uses a single-speed fixed gear to send drive to the front wheels. The car’s soft suspension set-up doesn’t translate into a flawlessly smooth ride however, with the typical pockmarked roads around town too easily felt through the cabin. Things improve when on the motorway, although the doughy steering could be better, with inputs not feeling particularly precise.
The MG5 probably won’t suit keener drivers as, despite a decent turn of straight line speed, the estate’s dynamic deficiencies are again highlighted with lots of body roll through corners. There are three levels of brake recuperation on offer, but none are effective enough to allow ‘one pedal’ driving – a function which helps easier driving in stop/start town traffic.
Three individual drive modes are also available: Eco prioritises range, still allowing for a decent turn of speed, but taking a little longer to get up to motorway pace. In Normal you benefit from full power, while Sport mode adjusts the throttle response to unlock a slightly unexpected level of performance – although the trade-off is you’ll drain battery power more quickly.
Engines, 0-60 acceleration and top speed
With 154bhp and 260Nm of torque, the front-wheel-drive MG5 is able to dispatch the 0-62mph benchmark in 7.7 seconds, but probably more relevant to buyers in terms of real-world driving will be the sprightly 0-30mph time of 3.2 seconds. In comparison, the 181bhp MINI Electric posts a time of 3.9 seconds from 0-37mph, so the MG5 can definitely hold its own if you need to get off the line quickly.
Range, charging and running costs
Decent range and charging ability will appeal, although the MG5 is more expensive to insure than you might think.
The MG5 will be attractive to business users due to its claimed 214-mile maximum range, and zero CO2 emissions attracting the lowest possible Benefit-in-Kind rate: 1 per cent for 2021/22, and 2 per cent for 2022/23. Competitive list prices, starting from £25,000, will appeal to private buyers, while some determined haggling should secure a decent discount.
Insurance
Both MG5 versions sit in group 32 for insurance, so premiums will be a little more expensive than a typical combustion-engined estate. For example, the Ford Focus range is rated from group 10 to 23, with only the standalone 276bhp ST version in a higher group 34. The MINI Electric ranges from group 22-23, while the Honda e is in group 25-29.
Depreciation
Data suggests that, after a typical three-year/36,000-mile ownership period, the MG5 will hold onto around 44 per cent of its original list price, which isn’t quite as good as its ZS EV sibling at nearer 51 per cent, and lags even more behind the MINI Electric with 54% of its value retained over the same period.
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Although General Motors will build Honda’s first two fully electric vehicles for North America, the Japanese automaker plans to change course and manufacture its own later this decade.
Company officials say they’re developing their own EV architecture, and after two GM-made EVs go on sale in 2024, Honda will start building its own.
“It’s absolutely our intention to produce in our factories,” Honda of America Executive Vice President Dave Gardner said, adding that Honda has developed battery manufacturing expertise from building gas-electric hybrids. “We absolutely intend to utilize that resource.”
Honda e Electric Car (Image: Honda.co.uk)
Honda and GM have been partners on hydrogen fuel cell and electric vehicles. Earlier this year they announced that GM would build one Honda SUV and one Acura SUV using its Ultium-branded electric vehicle architecture and battery system. The company said the Honda SUV would be named the Prologue, and that both SUVs will have bodies, interiors and driving characteristics designed by Honda.
But after those two, Honda plans its own manufacturing for most of a series of electric vehicles, although it hasn’t determined if it will use GM components.
Gardner says sales projections for the Prologue are between 40,000 and 150,000 per year, but he didn’t say when those numbers would be reached.
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Electric cars are becoming increasingly popular, and it’s no surprise. They are responsive to drive, cost-effective to run, and very good for local air quality. And if you are a company car driver, they are highly tax efficient. In fact, we think there are few downsides, especially considering the variety of models that are available to lease.
That’s not always been the case. Not so long ago, there were just a handful of cars to pick from. Today, there are electric models in just about every body style you can think of. More than that, EVs are offered with a variety of power outputs and battery sizes, in the same way that there are usually multiple engines available in petrol and diesel models.
So why isn’t everyone in an electric car? Price remains a critical barrier. Yes, they cost less to run than a car powered by an engine, but they carry a higher purchase price to start with. Which is where leasing becomes an ideal choice.
Leasing an EV is the answer
When you consider a vehicle’s costs on a month-by-month basis – rather than a large lump sum required to buy a car – many EVs offer comparable leasing costs; that’s before you start to factor in running costs, where EVs hold a significant advantage.
For example, you can lease a Volkswagen e-Up! 32 kWh with a similar (if not better) specification than a Toyota Yaris 1.5 Hybrid Excel for £193.03 per month against the Yaris at £197.92 per month. It’s a similarly sized car, with both models well suited for urban driving, but the e-Up! will cost you far less to run thanks to the cheapness of home charging and lower maintenance costs.
Looking at an even closer comparison, the popular and stylish MINI Hatch is offered with either electric or petrol power. The Cooper S model – where the electric range starts – sees a monthly leasing cost of £236.91 for the 1.5 litre petrol model.
Turning to the electric MINI Cooper S the monthly lease rental costs starts at £260.22 per month, both on a 48-month personal lease. While the headline rental of the petrol MINI is cheaper, many drivers will comfortably save the £23 difference each month in fuel costs alone, and many could save that each week.
The above comparisons are based on compact cars, so what happens when we look at larger machines? Well, the price difference increases, but not by much. The VW T-Roc 1.5 TSI EVO R-Line – one of the most popular models in the family SUV class – starts at £259.62 per month.
If we look at a comparable Kia e-Niro 2 64 kWh, which has a range approaching 300 miles on a charge, prices start at £286.21 a month. As with above models, to keep comparisons fair, the specifications are similar, as are the physical size of the car and the power/performance figures. As with the MINI comparison, the £27 cost differential in picking a Kia e-Niro over a VW T-Roc can easily be reclaimed in fuel costs each month.
And the list could go on. There are electric cars available as superminis, city cars, family hatchbacks, estates, compact SUVs, mid-sized SUVs, large SUVs . . . everywhere really. Prices are close to that which you might pay for a petrol, diesel, or hybrid model, but with the added benefit that you can charge conveniently at home, and spend a lot less on fuel.
Charge ahead to cheaper running costs
For example, it will cost around £10 to fully charge a Kia e-Niro on a home tariff (based on 16p/kWh – though with smart or off-peak tariffs this can easily be reduced), and that will comfortably get drivers 280 miles in real-world conditions. To cover the same distance in the T-Roc, based on the official fuel economy, it will take 25 litres of fuel. At a broad average of 130p per litre for petrol, drivers will pay more than £32 to drive the same distance.
Many electric cars now have a range of around 200 miles on a charge, which is considerably further than most drivers cover in a day. Even the smallest models will comfortably cover more than 100 miles on a single charge, and recharging those EVs can take as little as 20 minutes.
Larger EVs with longer ranges will double that recharging time, but also be able to travel around 300 miles before requiring a charge. For anyone that claims 300 miles is too short for a reasonable range, sitting at 70mph on a motorway for three hours would see a driver cover 210 miles, by which time it is recommended that they take should be taking a break regardless.
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