All posts by Repost

Inside the industry: Why rule of origin is a Brexit time bomb

January 26, 2021Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesRepost

EV batteries sourced from abroad could be subject to a 10% tariff, spelling trouble for cars assembled in UK

Feet up, mug of tea in hand and… breathe. Time to tick Brexit off your worries list? Don’t you believe it, because among the devilish details (most of which present more difficulties than impossibilities, thereby still eating time and expense) lurks a ticking time bomb that threatens to destabilise the UK car industry unless urgent action is taken.

It relates to a requirement for the UK or EU content of cars to ramp up between now and 2027, with a particular emphasis on the entire battery in any EV being sourced from either of the regions by that date. Failure to meet these ‘rules of origin’ will result in 10% tariffs being added that would threaten the value of assembling cars in the UK.

If you judge on EVs’ UK market share of 6.6% last year, you might well see it as an issue gladly kicked down the road, but the trajectory of uptake is heading only one way to 2030 and beyond.

Some 200,000 today work in vehicle manufacturing and its supply chain, many in jobs, most notably engine-related, that are on a path to no longer existing.

The choice is between encouraging battery makers to invest here (gigafactories cost billions, take around two years to build and need very complex supply chains) or giving away the skills and employment opportunities and importing from the EU, as Mini does on a relatively small scale for the Electric (proving that the objections over complexity and cost are surmountable, at least).

At present, the latter looks more likely than the former. Today we have one battery facility – in Sunderland, built by Nissan to support Leaf EV production, now sold but still supplying the factory – and a second at the late planning stage, being set up by Britishvolt, a start-up that’s set to launch in 2024 to supply a currently unknown customer base.

Sunderland makes about 2GW of batteries per year, and Britishvolt will take that figure to 15GW, or enough to make around 250,000 EVs. In normal times, the UK makes around 1.3 million cars annually, so the need to scale up again if we want homegrown production beyond 2030 is clear.

Yet for now, there’s no visible queue of willing investors or government encouragement to make the UK look more enticing to investors. Meanwhile, EU nations are fast-tracking their plans and getting a headstart on developing the infrastructure that will be at the heart of the industry in the future.

Our place in the car-making hierarchy right now drives huge amounts of employment, revenue and investment. But without long-term planning, a large slice of its competitiveness is going to come back into the spotlight in just a few years.

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Tesla’s Dominance Could Be Under Threat Sooner Than You Think

January 25, 2021Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, TeslaRepost

Tesla currently has a very clear technological lead over its competitors. One teardown in 2020 estimated it to be six years ahead of Toyota and VW. There seems no stopping the share price of the company either. In fact, Tesla doesn’t just have a higher market cap than Toyota, it’s nearly four times as much now and recently passed Facebook to become the fifth most valuable US company. But although Tesla is awash with investor cash and producing cars that have significantly more range and performance than other vendors, there are signs already that its market lead is eroding, and competitors are starting to catch up.

One of the first indications is just how well Volkswagen is already doing with its new ID.3 compact car in Europe. It was the best-selling EV in Europe in October. The Tesla Model 3 is still way ahead as the best-selling EV globally and has now sold more units than the Nissan Leaf, despite the latter just reaching its tenth anniversary where the Model 3 isn’t even four yet. But in Europe in November 2020 the Renault Zoe came top, with the ID.3 second and the Hyundai Kona Electric third. The Tesla Model 3 was fourth, and the Model S and X weren’t even in the top 20, whereas the technically inferior Audi e-tron was. This is causing some concern with European investors.

Part of the problem is that Tesla is still targeting a relatively premium end of the EV market, with its cheapest vehicles in the USA still around the $40k mark, and more expensive in Europe. To hit much higher volumes, it sorely needs a smaller, cheaper car for greater mass market appeal. The Model Y is in the crossover / SUV format, which is more popular than “mid-sized sedans” like the Model 3. But it’s no cheaper and still won’t compete in the same segment as the Renault Zoe, VW ID.3 or Hyundai Kona.

Tesla is rumored to be gearing up to build a new car in China already, which some have mooted could be the much-anticipated $25,000 Model 2. But where a $25,000 car sounds like decent value in the West, there are already plenty of cars on sale in China for less than this, and not just tiny urban-only vehicles like the infamous Wuling Hong Guang Mini EV. The BYD e2 is close to $20,000 before any subsidies, yet still offers a very respectable 190 miles of NEDC range.

Last week, I highlighted some of the Chinese cars that we are likely to be seeing come out of China into the US and European markets in 2021 – a couple of which have arrived already like the Polestar 2 and MG5 EV. These will not only be competitively priced but extremely well specified as well. There’s a good reason for Chinese EVs to be looked upon as the biggest competitor in the market, too. The huge range of increasingly capable EV models is there to fulfil a local need. A big explosion in the size of the Chinese EV market is expected in 2021, which will become larger than the rest of the world put together by unit volume, if not value.

Whatever the value of Tesla as a company, it could have had its day in the sun already as biggest EV gorilla in the room. Green and high technology hedge fund Snow Bull Capital has made some very telling predictions about the future of EV sales. In 2020, Tesla just fell short of selling its target of half a million cars, which is incredible considering the youth of the company. Snow Bull expects its sales to peak at just under 7 million cars by 2031. But then it will decline, and more tellingly, the estimate is that Tesla’s market share of EVs has already peaked in 2020 at around 23% and will reduce to 8% by 2040, as other vendors pick up volume.

I already argued a month ago that 2020 was the year EVs came of age, and lots of big players are taking notice. Apple appears to have resuscitated its plans for an autonomous EV, Sony has teased some more details and videos of its Vision-S concept, and NIO recently launched its ET7, which could really take the battle to Tesla thanks to a 150kWh solid-state battery that allegedly will provide over 1,000km (620 miles) of NEDC range. Then there’s the Lucid Air, due to arrive this year, which could be a Tesla Model S killer, particularly as its CTO was formerly the chief engineer at Tesla behind the Model S.

One of the many areas where Tesla currently has a very clear lead over the competition is battery technology and the efficiency it can extract from its power packs. As an example, the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus manages 267 miles out of a 54kWh battery, whereas the VW ID.3 requires 58kWh to go 263 miles – and the ID.3 is over 100kg lighter, too. At Tesla’s Battery Day last year, the company announced a host of technological developments, but in particular a new cell type called 4680, which will see limited initial delivery in the Tesla Model S Plaid this year.

Although batteries are becoming inexorably cheaper, the 4680 will accelerate that greatly once it enters mass production. The battery cost of $100 per kWh has long been considered the magical point where EVs start being cheaper than internal combustion engines. Tesla’s current Panasonic 2170 cell technology isn’t expected to hit that point until 2022/23, and being new tech, the 4680 will take a bit longer. By 2024 it will significantly undercut the 2170 per kWh.

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Analysis: Demand for plug-ins rose, while fossil fuels dipped

January 22, 2021Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesRepost

That’s the precis of the sales story for new cars in 2020 but the devil is in the detail

New car registrations fell by around 29.4% in the UK last year, with the 1,631,064 cars sold the lowest total since 1992, as the industry was hit hard by the effects of Covid-19 lockdowns. But new sales of both electric cars and plug-in hybrids both rose sharply, with plug-in cars now accounting for more than 10% of UK sales.

Data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reveals 680,076 fewer new cars were sold in the UK last year than 2019, the largest year-on-year fall since 1943.

The bulk of the sales decline in 2020 was attributed to the first lockdown, from March to June last year, when many dealerships were shut. Although sales fell during the second lockdown, in November, dealerships were able to continue offering ‘click and collect’ online sales – which will also be allowed during the current lockdown introduced in England by the UK government.

Before the pandemic began, the SMMT estimated around 2.2 million cars would be sold in the UK last year. The final figure represents a loss to the industry of around £20.4 billion and a £1.9bn loss to the UK government in VAT receipts.

“There’s no surprise it was a very, very difficult year,” said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes. “These are unprecedented levels and it’s challenging the industry continuously.”

While the overall figures are grim, there are some positive signs for the industry. Sales of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) both increased substantially. Those rises will be viewed against a backdrop of the UK’s intention to ban sales of all non-zero-emission cars, with the exception of certain hybrids, by 2030.

How Covid-19 impacted the UK industry in 2020

Hawes said the UK car market outperformed Spain but fared worse than Germany, France and Italy, adding: “It’s notable that those countries had some form of incentive [for buyers, to boost new cars sales], sometimes confined just to PHEVs and battery-electric vehicles.”

The sales decline was particularly sharp in the fleet and business sectors. While sales of private cars fell 26.6%, fleet sales dropped 31.1% and business sales slumped 43.3%.

Aside from specialist sports cars (up 7.0%), every sector of the market declined in terms of total sales last year, but some performed better than others. Sales of superminis showed the smallest fall in total sales and their overall market share grew from 29.7% to 31.2%.

EV and PHEV sales increase dramatically

The rise in the number of BEVs and PHEVs on sale in the UK helped to significantly increase sales of both last year. A total of 108,205 EVs were sold, representing a 185.9% year-on-year increase and rising from 1.6% of the overall UK car market to 6.6%. Meanwhile, PHEV sales rose 91.2% to 66,877, increasing from 1.5% of the market to 4.1%.

This means that 10.7% of all new cars sold in the UK in 2020 had some level of zero-emission running capability and could be plugged in. With standard hybrids included, 17.5% of cars registered in the UK last year were electrified. Sales of mild-hybrid petrol and diesel cars both increased.

Although that’s encouraging, Hawes noted that these figures will need to continue rising, given the UK government’s target of banning most internal-combustion-engined cars by 2030. He added that meeting this date requires “a strong industrial strategy from government that really ensures the UK remains competitive, attracts investment and remains a strong market [for EVs].” He also said “massive investment” is needed, both to develop battery manufacturing capability and the infrastructure required for mass EV uptake.

“We need an investment in infrastructure of something in the tune of £16bn, with a lot of that going into public on-street charging because not everyone has a driveway or designated parking spot with access to their own charging infrastructure,” said Hawes.

Although they remain the two most popular fuel types, the market share of both petrol and diesel cars declined in 2020. Sales of diesels fell 55.0%, from 581,774 in 2019 to 261,772, while mild-hybrid diesel sales rose from 33,931 to 60,953. Combined, diesel-engined cars now account for 19.7% of the UK market. That compares with 25.2% in 2019 and represents their lowest market share since 2001, when they accounted for 17.8%.

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The Zoe Led Renault’s Electric Climb Up The Sales Charts In 2020

January 21, 2021Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOERepost

Renault claims it is now the EV leader in Europe. The French carmaker announced as much as it wrapped up sales figures for 2020.

The carmaker’s worldwide sales figures are down due to the pandemic, but its EV sales have been buoyed by the little Renault Zoe, which moved in big numbers across the region. Really, Renault’s EV figures have not been buoyed by the Zoe so much as surged on. Renault sold 115,888 electric vehicles in Europe. This is an increase of 101.4 percent over 2019. Of those EVs sold, 100,657 were Zoes.

Clearly, it’s because of the Zoe that Renault is claiming the EV crown in Europe, and we would tell the French multinational to mind its victory lap, with competitors like the Volkswagen ID.3 and the MG ZS EV at the Zoe’s heels. But there’s no denying that the Zoe is enjoying unprecedented success.

And even though the Zoe is Renault’s EV heavy-hitter at the moment, making up roughly 86 percent of Renault’s entire EV sales, the carmaker expects its other BEV and PHEV models — such as the Clio, Captur and Megane Estate — to round out the sales stats. And Renault is looking forward to its upcoming E-TECH hybrids like the Arkana and Megane sedan.

Try saying that last model name fast five times — it’s actually not that hard, but it is fun. The Dacia Spring Electric and the Renault Twingo Electric will join the Zoe this year, too, and this gives us a clear look at the Groupe Renault’s EV lineup into the new year. Those three models cover the crossover, mini, and supermini segments, so Renault is placing itself in a good position to take on the likes of Volkswagen and Honda.

And to zoom out and look at the broader European market, overall sales of EVs — again, both PHEVs and BEVs — reached 1.33 million units last year, according to Schmidt Automotive Research. That figure amounts to 12 percent of all new cars sold across Europe in 2020. Even though that is a relatively small slice, it’s still a significant number.

Though, it’s important to note that the delta in ICE vs. EV sales could have skewed slightly in favor of electrics due to the pandemic affecting sales overall. Meaning, EVs got a bigger percentage this year as overall sales were down; fewer cars were sold, but more of those that were sold were EVs.

But the big EV push is just beginning, and as of right now, in Europe Renault is pushing hardest.

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Inside the industry: Will electric early movers reap dividends?

January 20, 2021Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Firms like Nissan, Renault and BMW have plugged serious money into electrification but a coherent vision is key

It’s hard to look ahead when you are fighting fires, but for years now, across the automotive industry, yesterday’s crisis has been merging into tomorrow’s crisis, every perfect storm somehow becoming yet more perfect. The pattern is set to continue.

Take a step back and it’s interesting to note which manufacturers have had the foresight, resources and brain capacity to invest in communicating their strategy out to the theoretical furthest point, whatever it may be: electrification, certainly; autonomy and connectivity, too; but also as far out as modelling worlds in which we don’t own cars but hire them, or potentially don’t even allow cars into city centres – or anywhere at all.

You might argue that all this change is unimportant until it becomes a money-making reality. A live case study to ponder is whether Nissan, Renault or BMW will enjoy any long-term benefit from moving early on electrification. The investment in the Leaf, Zoe and i3 – plus spin-off vehicles – runs to billions, but it’s hard to pinpoint any advantages, either in brand perception or profits. Maybe in time.

Perhaps the key to success here is offering a singularly distilled vision. In some cases, that’s simple: Tesla is the world’s most desired electric car brand because all it does is make desirable electric vehicles. Most rivals are beholden to profits from ‘legacy’ combustion-engined cars, their heritage suddenly a millstone. Mixed messages abound.

But even then, a coherent vision can reap dividends, and Volvo is the most prominent example of the quantum leap that can be made with such forward thinking. Back in 2014, when the XC90, the first of its new-generation cars, was launched, Volvo was marooned somewhere between premium and mainstream brands, a fringe player with a set of unfocused objectives selling around 400,000 cars a year.

A succession of new, quality cars has been central to its renaissance but so, too, has its ability to colour in its own road map. Its claims in 2017 to make its entire range electrified by 2020 – neatly overlooking that this included mild-hybrid systems – landed it perception-shifting headlines. Likewise, its oft-stated vision to ensure that nobody is killed in or by one of its cars. Today, it is selling around 800,000 cars a year.

People don’t just buy cars for what they can do for them today, but rather what they will say about them into the future. It’s remarkable how few car makers are willing to tell that story – but just as clear that the smartest car makers are doing just that.

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Electric car sales soar amid turbulent year

January 19, 2021Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesRepost

Battery and plug-in hybrid electric cars together accounted for more than one in 10 registrations last year – up from around one in 30 in 2019, amid a turbulent year for the new car market.

Overall, the new car market fell by almost a third (29.4%) in 2020, with annual registrations dropping to 1,631,064 units – their lowest level since 1992, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Against a backdrop of Covid restrictions, an acceleration of the end of sale date for petrol and diesel cars to 2030 and Brexit uncertainty, the industry suffered a total turnover loss of some £20.4 billion, the SMMT said.

Private vehicle demand fell by 26.6% overall, amounting to a £1.9 billion loss of VAT to the Exchequer.

The year saw also saw 31.1% fewer vehicles joining large company car fleets.

It was, however, a bumper year for battery and plug-in hybrid electric cars.

Demand for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) grew by 185.9% to 108,205 units, while registrations of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) rose 91.2% to 66,877.

Analysis from the RAC shows that twice as many BEVs were sold last year compared to the year before, and a total of more than 200,000 have been registered since 2010.

December alone saw more zero-emission vehicles registered than ever in a single month (21,914, a fraction higher than September’s figure of 21,903).

Though starting from a lower base, the growth in electric car sales is impressive, the RAC said, with 6.6% of all new vehicles registered in 2020 being zero-emission, up from just 1.6% in 2019 and 0.7% in 2018.

This means that getting on for a fifth of all cars registered last year (17.5%) were zero-emissions capable – up from just 7.4% in 2019.

RAC data insight spokesman Rod Dennis said: “The end to an unexpected and, from the motor industry’s perspective, unwanted 2020, saw record sales of battery-electric vehicles, providing evidence that, from small beginnings, momentum is now gathering pace.

“There’s a long way to go, with only a tiny fraction of the total 31.2 million cars on the UK’s roads fully zero-emission, but the direction is becoming clear.

“The sight of more electric vehicles on our roads, many sporting number plates with the new ‘trademark’ green flash, might begin to make drivers who are considering changing their car look into whether ‘going electric’ makes sense for them.

“While petrol car registrations will likely recover somewhat in 2021, the question is how many drivers are prepared to switch to an EV at the expense of conventionally fuelled vehicles?

“As the impact of the pandemic continues to be felt the inclination of drivers and businesses to continue acquiring new cars will be critical, as will the effectiveness of dealers in being able to conduct new car sales entirely online during lockdowns.

“But there is surely little doubt that 2021 will shape up to be a very exciting year for the UK’s electric car market.”

More than 100 plug-in car models are now available to UK buyers, and manufacturers are scheduled to bring more than 35 to market this year – more than the number of either petrol or diesel new models planned for the year.

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Renault doubles EV sales in Europe

January 18, 2021Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, SalesRepost

Renault has presented its electric car sales statistics for 2020. According to the figures, the French automaker was able to sell 115,888 electric vehicles in Europe, around twice as many as in 2019. The company’s most successful electric model by far was, once again, the Renault Zoe.

In relative terms, Renault’s electric car sales increased by 101.4 per cent compared to 2019. In the process, the Zoe cracked the 100,000 sales mark (100,657) as the manufacturer’s most successful electric vehicle model by far in 2020, up 114 per cent year-on-year. In the electric commercial vehicle segment, the Kangoo Z.E. was the best-selling vehicle. So while the crisis year, with its increased subsidies in many places, gave a huge boost to electric car sales at Renault, the French company’s overall sales slipped – by 21.3 per cent, much more sharply than the average for the global car market (down 14.2 per cent).

In 2021, the Renault Twingo Electric and the Dacia Spring will expand Groupe Renault’s all-electric range. They will be joined by further hybrid and plug-in hybrid variants of existing vehicles under the E-TECH label. For example, the Group is announcing the Arkana E-TECH hybrid, the Captur E-TECH hybrid and the Megane E-TECH plug-in hybrid in the sedan variant for the first half of 2021.

In the past year, the E-TECH vehicles already positioned on the European market (Clio E-TECH hybrid, Captur E-TECH plug-in hybrid and Megane E-TECH plug-in hybrid in the station wagon variant) sold more than 30,000 units, according to Renault. That represents 25 per cent of the order volume for these vehicles, the company says.

Group CEO Luca de Meio says that Groupe Renault is aiming for a turn around: “We are now focusing on profitability rather than sales volumes, with a higher net unit margin per vehicle in each of our markets. The first results are already visible in the second half of 2020, especially in Europe where the Renault brand is making progress in the most profitable sales channels and strengthening its leadership in the electric segment.” Renault said it is starting the young year with a higher order backlog than in 2019, lower inventory levels and higher price positioning across its range.

Incidentally, in addition to its strong position in the battery electric vehicle market, Renault is also aiming to pave the way for fuel cell-powered light commercial vehicles in Europe and position itself early on this market: To this end, the French have decided to set up a joint venture with fuel cell specialist Plug Power based in France, aiming for a share of over 30 per cent of the market for fuel cell-powered light commercial vehicles in Europe.

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Best used electric cars 2021

January 17, 2021Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Want to get in on the electric car revolution, but have a lower budget? Here are our best used electric cars 2021

Millions of car buyers are now considering if an electric car could work for them. These models are all the rage – they produce no emissions at the roadside, are ultra-quiet and performance can be incredibly impressive. There are more and more electric cars available these days but new models are expensive – so why not consider one of our best used electric cars instead?

A used electric car could be an even better buy than a used petrol or diesel car, as EVs are proving to be very reliable so far, with fewer moving parts and less to go wrong. They also tend to do fewer miles in the same amount of time, so there are some used electric cars out there that are like new even at a few years old.

An electric car needs to work for you. If you can charge up at home and don’t tend to do lots of motorway trips, they’re perfect. Charging at home can mean ultra-low running costs that no petrol or diesel car can dream of getting close to, and of course there are plenty of environmental benefits as well.

If you’ve never tried an electric car, take a test drive in one of our examples below. Every car we’ve picked is a great example of the electric car breed, with punchy performance that could change your mind about this new kind of transport.

Read on to find out our picks of the best used electric cars for 2021…

Best used electric cars to buy:
Volkswagen e-Golf
Tesla Model S
Renault Zoe
Kia e-Niro
BMW i3
Nissan Leaf
MG ZS EV
Volkswagen e-up!

1. Best used electric car: Volkswagen e-Golf
Electric cars have come a long way in a short space of time, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be looking at used examples, because cars like the Volkswagen e-Golf will be perfect if your annual mileage is low and you want to seriously slash your motoring outgoings.

The 24.2kWh battery gives an official range of 118 miles on a full charge, which takes around 22 minutes on a 50kW DC rapid charger. This increases to six hours and 45 minutes using a home wallbox, which means a full top-up overnight shouldn’t be a problem. If you rarely travel more than 50 miles a day – and not many of us do – then an early e-Golf could be for you.

Of course, the same great qualities as every other Golf are present here, so the cabin is well built and the materials feel upmarket. The infotainment is good, the car is refined and comfortable, and there’s plenty of room. The only slight sacrifice comes in boot space, but its 341-litre capacity is still very usable.

Compared to EV competitors of a similar age, such as a Nissan Leaf or a Renault Zoe, as good as those cars are, the e-Golf offers more usable range and higher quality.

2. Tesla Model S
You’ll pay around £30,000 for a used Tesla Model S, which might sound like a lot – but a used Model S is a fantastic choice. This is the car that made electric motoring premium, and forced rival manufacturers to build their own upmarket EVs. It’s a desirable machine with amazing tech, great usable range and superb performance for the price. There are a few different versions to pick from, but you’ll see mostly 85 models at this budget, which has a range of over 260 miles. That’s plenty for most users, and the Tesla Supercharger network around the country means long trips are no bother.

The Tesla is good to drive, and while build quality could be an issue – even new models suffered from this, let alone cars with over 100,000 miles on the clock – the Tesla powertrain should prove to be reliable.

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Laggards, electric vehicles and energy storage: The outlook for the climate transition in 2021

January 16, 2021Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Investors must not take eyes off the ball

Pressure on oil and gas companies
Oil and gas companies are under even more pressure to define their future and what role they want to play in the energy transition.
After initially slow progress with the global climate agenda, 2021 feels as if it could be an important turning point. While the effects of the distinctive weather patterns brought by La Niña will fade after the early months 2021, meteorologists believe that could pave the way for another year of record-breaking temperatures.
On the corporate agenda, a key focus will be how oil and gas companies define the role they plan to play in the energy transition. More companies chose to put their cards on the table in 2020, with companies such as BP declaring plans to target net zero carbon in oil and gas production on an absolute basis by 2050, and to cut the carbon intensity of products sold.
But the vast majority – those controlling around 90% of oil and gas output, according to the International Energy Agency – have made no such commitment. Are they going to buy into the vision for net zero or not?
There will be more scrutiny of saying and doing. In a lagging sector, those choices could have implications, in terms of the cost of finance for companies and the risk of future asset stranding.

Electric vehicles gain traction
Demand for electric vehicles (EVs) continues to grow, with total cost of ownership reaching parity with internal combustion in more markets.
Despite the short-term impact of Covid-19, which caused sales of EVs to drop sharply in the early part of 2020, overall appetite continues to grow.
Prior to the pandemic, sales of battery EVs and hybrids had been rising, but they still make up just a small part of all new vehicle sales – at less than 3%.
One of the key factors inhibiting consumers is cost: the total cost of ownership of an EV has tended to be higher than a car with a conventional internal combustion engine.
In 2021, we expect more markets to reach that important crossover point, where an EV holds the cost advantage.
More generous subsidies are part of the story. In France, for example, support for EV buyers was increased to €7,000 as part of the national Covid-19 recovery plan announced in June.
There are also plans to make the tax treatment of conventional cars with high fuel consumption and high emissions much tougher. In Germany, for instance, the Climate Protection Surcharge is expected to be lifted substantially for high emitters.
Meanwhile, practical challenges are gradually being addressed. The UK has committed to speed up the transition to EVs by prohibiting sales of new conventional vehicles to 2030, and several governments have committing to spinning out new charging infrastructure as part of their stimulus programmes.
Ultimately, this will make the experience of sourcing and owning an EV easier.

Energy storage
Developments in energy storage mean the prospect of grid stability from renewables is becoming a reality.
The lack of viable, large-scale energy storage has long been a critical issue inhibiting the scaling up of renewables. Recent developments in storage technology suggest part of the problem could be overcome by bridging the inevitable peaks and troughs that arise during day-night cycles.
By coupling renewables with large-scale energy storage, excess energy can be absorbed in peak periods, retained for a period, and then fed back into the grid.

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Electric vehicle sales double year-on-year thanks to fleets

January 15, 2021Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Twice as many electric vehicles (EVs) were registered in 2020 compared to the previous year, with new company car tax rates driving uptake.

Analysis of the latest sales data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) by the RAC, shows more than 200,000 pure EVs have now been registered since 2010.
In December alone, 21,914 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were registered – the highest ever recorded in a single month, beating September’s figure of 21,903.
Overall, there were 108,205 BEVs sold in 2020, significantly more than the 66,879 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) registered during the year.

In terms of non-plug-in mild hybrids, the SMMT data shows that 110,087 cars were registered.
Rod Dennis from the RAC says that there’s still a long way to go, with only a “tiny fraction” of the total 31.2 million cars on the UK’s roads fully zero-emission, but the direction is becoming clear.
“The sight of more electric vehicles on our roads, many sporting number plates with the new ‘trademark’ green flash, might begin to make drivers who are considering changing their car look into whether ‘going electric’ makes sense for them,” he said.

“Issues around charging infrastructure aside, it’s the cold hard economics of buying or leasing a car that might yet hold them back with pure electric cars continuing to command a premium list price over their petrol and diesel equivalents.”
Incentives for fleets and company car drivers, however, have helped drive the record-breaking year for EV registrations, thanks to new benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax rates, introduced last spring.
Most of these registrations for BEVs and PHEVs (68%) were from fleets.

Gerry Keaney, chief executive of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), says that 2020 has been a “tipping point” for EV uptake and demonstrates what can be achieved when Government works closely with fleets to develop a set of powerful grants and tax incentives and invest in a robust public charging network.
“The latest BVRLA data shows that the fleet sector continues to lead the charge towards zero emission motoring, with battery electric vehicles responsible for 21% of company car registrations in the three months to October 2020,” he said.

The growth in EV registrations is impressive, with 6.6% of all new vehicles registered in 2020 being zero-emission, up from just 1.6% in 2019 and 0.7% in 2018.
It means that getting on for a fifth of all cars registered last year (17.5%) were zero-emissions capable – up from just 7.4% in 2019.
Dennis said: “While petrol car registrations will likely recover somewhat in 2021, the question is how many drivers are prepared to switch to an EV at the expense of conventionally fuelled vehicles.
“As the impact of the pandemic continues to be felt the inclination of drivers and businesses to continue acquiring new cars will be critical, as will the effectiveness of dealers in being able to conduct new car sales entirely online during lockdowns. But there is surely little doubt that 2021 will shape up to be a very exciting year for the UK’s electric car market.”

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