Zap-Map in the UK focuses on electric mobility. People can visit its website or use its app to find EV chargers near them but Zap-Map does more. It lets drivers see in advance how much it will cost to recharge their cars using a particular public charger and calculates the cost of charging at home based on local electricity rates and time of use.

In November, it asked 2,000 EV drivers — the group included owners of battery electric and plug-in hybrid cars — in the UK whether they would consider going back to driving a car powered solely by a gasoline or diesel engine. 91% said no way, about 9% said they weren’t sure, and less than 1% reported they couldn’t wait to once again ride around exclusively in a cloud of exhaust gases. 73% of those who took the survey said the electric car they were driving was their first EV. 52% had purchased their EV with the last year. 91% of EV drivers reported they were satisfied

Owners of several electric cars — Volkswagen ID.3, KIA Niro PHEV, BMW 3 Series PHEV — reported they were 100% satisfied with their vehicles. The Tesla Model 3 got a 96% satisfaction rating as did the battery electric KIA Niro. The Hyundai Kona electric scored a 94% satisfaction rating while the Renault Zoe came in at 92% satisfied and the Nissan LEAF at 90% satisfied. Year to date, 9.7% of all new car sales in the UK are electric or a PHEV. In 2019, the number was 3.2%. Back in 2015 it was a barely discernible 1.1%.

Commenting on the latest survey, Zap-Map co-founder Melanie Shufflebotham, said “Our latest poll shows the strong and enduring impact of switching to a clean car. The evidence in favor of electric vehicles grows more compelling with each one of our surveys, even in a year as disruptive as 2020.”

She added, “The challenge for the automotive industry is to take advantage of the opportunities that EVs present, not only in terms of the rapidly expanding range, but also ensuring that sales staff are knowledgeable enough to present the benefits to their customers. At Zap-Map we monitor the growth of the charging network and it’s clear that many of the historical challenges of owning and running an EV have fallen away. The dramatic growth in EV sales in 2020 is one of the good news stories to come out of this difficult year for the car industry.”

RAC spokesperson Rod Dennis had this to say. “While the challenge is often convincing owners of petrol and diesel vehicles to switch to an electric vehicle in the first place, this data shows that once people have done so they seldom look back — which is also positive news for manufacturers that are investing heavily in electric vehicles and cleaner technology. While would-be electric car drivers might worry about range anxiety, they should also be aware that the number public charge points is increasing rapidly and infrastructure continues to improve. They should also remember that the vast majority of their journeys are unlikely to be over several hundred miles, meaning that for day-to-day travel, operating an electric vehicle is a clean and cost-effective option.

“These figures show the momentum that is behind getting drivers into electric vehicles, something that is likely to build as we move closer to the end of the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. We are doing our bit in giving drivers confidence they can make the switch, with 80 of our patrol vans now fitted with mobile emergency charging units, and half our fleet fitted with All-Wheels-Up recovery systems, removing the need for drivers to wait for a flatbed if they need a tow.”

Read more: CleanTechnica

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Automakers have already begun to abolish ICE.

This year has made clear that the internal combustion engine’s (ICE) days are numbered. 2020 saw explosive growth in the automotive industry’s EV segment, with nearly every major manufacturer and brand group announcing, unveiling or debuting new and upcoming electric vehicles. Tesla managed to retain its position at the head of the market this year but its lead over rivals is shrinking as automotive stalwarts like GM, Fiat Chrysler, Hyundai Motor Group and the Volkswagen Group all jump into the EV fray. 2020 saw more than just new EV models, though: The battery technologies that power them and the transportation infrastructure that leverages them enjoyed some impressive advancements of their own.

Though it did not meet as many historic milestones as SpaceX did in 2020, Tesla still managed to get itself onto the S&P 500 market index, set quarterly vehicle delivery records (and is on pace to meet its year end goal of 500,000 deliveries), as well as make founder Elon Musk an obscene amount of money.

Among the company’s notable accomplishments, Tesla extended the range of this year’s Model Y to more than 400 miles per charge — that’s a 20-percent improvement over the 2019 model — as well as increasing its acceleration and lowering its price. Tesla also began delivering its new Model Y in March (including the company’s millionth vehicle) and rolled out a three-row, seven-seat option in early December. Unfortunately, the company’s long awaited electric Semi won’t see the light of day in 2020; Musk announced in April that its release has been delayed until 2021. However, Semi production is already beginning to ramp up in advance of that goal.

“It’s time to go all out and bring the Tesla Semi to volume production. It’s been in limited production so far, which has allowed us to improve many aspects of the design,” Musk wrote in a leaked email seen by CNBC.

Tesla made additional headlines in September during its Battery Day event when the company announced plans to develop a new generation of less expensive, more capable batteries within the next two years or so, which could lead to Teslas costing as little as $25,000. Even more exciting, Musk took the opportunity to unveil a new 1,100 HP “plaid” Model S as well. It goes on sale in 2021.

2020 has also seen a number of pricing shenanigans for some of Tesla’s more popular features. For example, In May, Musk announced via Twitter that the company’s forthcoming “full self-driving” package would become available in July for a whopping $7,000 — a grand more than the company had initially quoted. And, true to Musk’s word, that price increased again in October to a cool $10,000 once the feature entered beta. Musk claims that once completed the FSD package could be worth as much as $100,000 — despite its capabilities being panned by Consumer Reports and earning mediocre scores from Europe’s New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). Tesla also kneecapped its used car warranty and eliminated its long-standing seven-day return policy for new vehicles without any real explanations as to why. That’s due in part to the fact that Tesla also axed its entire PR department this year, opting instead to just have Musk tweet through it.

Tesla also helped found the Zero Emission Transportation Association, or ZETA, a 26-member lobbying group tasked with promoting and advocating the further adoption of EV technologies and services to lawmakers. We’ve already seen some significant movement towards EV tech at the state level with California moving to ban the sale of new ICE vehicles by 2035.

“This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said at a news conference in September. “For too many decades, we have allowed cars to pollute the air that our children and families breathe. You deserve to have a car that doesn’t give your kids asthma. Our cars shouldn’t make wildfires worse and create more days filled with smoky air. Cars shouldn’t melt glaciers or raise sea levels threatening our cherished beaches and coastlines.”

Read more: engadget

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Manufacturers’ share prices will be dependent on their ability to avoid losses on ‘stranded assets’, says analyst

Carmakers will increasingly find themselves in a race to shut, switch or sell factories producing vehicles with internal combustion engines to avoid being left with “stranded assets”, as regulators set a course for a decade of electrification to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Traditional manufacturers are currently playing a “zero sum game” because growth in electric car sales eats into the value of internal combustion engine factories, which “are effectively stranded assets”, a leading analyst has warned.

Philippe Houchois, an analyst at Jefferies, an investment bank, said carmakers’ share prices will be in large part dependent on their ability to avoid losses on fossil fuel assets. “If you want to be a better valued carmaker you need to find a way to shrink your assets faster than a gradual transition to electric vehicles would suggest,” he said.

The industry has already made significant steps away from fossil fuels. The year 2020 will be seen as key for electric cars because of new EU regulations that mandated a limit on average carbon dioxide emissions of 95g/km across all cars sold. The UK has committed to carrying on its emissions regime at an equivalent or stronger level after the Brexit transition period ends on 1 January 2021.

The regulations have prompted a rapid increase in electric car sales as carmakers scrambled to avoid fines worth hundreds of millions of euros – although Volkswagen has already conceded that it will miss its 2020 target, incurring a fine estimated at around €270m (£248m).

BMW announced on Sunday it would build 250,000 more electric cars than it had previously planned between now and 2023. Oliver Zipse, the company’s chief executive, said he wanted roughly 20% of cars it sells to be electric by 2023, up from 8% this year.

More than 560,000 battery electric cars were sold in the year to November in western Europe, according to figures from Matthias Schmidt, a Berlin-based automotive analyst. Battery electric vehicles accounted for 8.7% of total car sales in November, up from just 2.7% the year before. Despite missing its emissions target, Volkswagen’s ID.3 became Europe’s most popular BEV, with 10,500 sold in October – although that still represented about a third of the sales of the internal combustion bestseller, the Volkswagen Golf.

The EU regulations will become slightly tougher during 2021 but carmakers already have their eye on two key milestones in the next decade. Carmakers will have to cut carbon emissions by 15% between 2021 and 2025, and by 37.5% from 2030, a requirement that will lead to the rapid decline of mass-market internal combustion engines.

However, tougher rules are expected as the EU aims to produce net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. In the autumn EU officials floated halving car emissions within a decade.

Transport & Environment, a Brussels-based campaign group, has called for a final date of 2035 for the sale of all fossil-fuelled cars in the EU, a move that would match the UK’s ban. T&E’s forecasts suggest that the current targets allow carmakers to slow their rollout of electric cars, which the group argues would represent a missed opportunity for Europe to retain its lead over rivals including China.

Julia Poliscanova, T&E’s senior director for vehicles, said: “The current electric momentum risks fizzling out as soon as 2022 unless stricter CO2 rules are put in place.”

David Bailey, a professor of business economics at the University of Birmingham, said the likelihood of even tighter regulations raised the risks of stranded assets particularly for German carmakers, who were paying the price for taking the “wrong path” of investing heavily in diesels. The diesel industry was then rocked by costly emissions-cheating scandals, albeit related to harmful nitrogen oxides rather than carbon dioxide.

“You’re going to see the massive investment by the German makers in EVs, but they’ve got a huge sunk asset in diesels,” he said. “They’re trying to eke out some sort of profit from their existing lineup while investing in new technologies.”

Read more: The Guardian

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2020 has proved to be a big year for electric vehicles. With increasing demand, the production of EVs has increased significantly and newer and more innovative models have come onto the market.

It means that 2021 looks set to be an even bigger year for battery-powered cars. Needless to say, there are some exciting new electric vehicles on the horizon, but we’ve picked out some of the key ones you should be getting excited about.

Ford Mustang Mach-e
Ford’s new Mustang Mach-e is by far one of the most exciting EVs due to arrive next year. As the firm’s first standalone electric vehicle, the Mustang Mach-e is how the Blue Oval will properly announce its entry into the battery-powered world.
With more than 330bhp on tap and a 0-60mph time of just over five seconds, the Mustang Mach-e looks set to have the performance boxes ticks, too.

Skoda Enyaq
Electric models are cropping up thick and fast across the entire Volkswagen Group and Skoda looks set to become the next to debut its own electric vehicle with the new Enyaq. With a range of up to 316 miles, the Enyaq is expected to cost from £33,340 – excluding the Government’s plug-in car grant.
It’ll be available with two battery size options, too, as well as rapid charging capabilities.

Mazda MX-30
Mazda’s striking MX-30 looks set to shake up the EV segment, bringing striking looks and a classy cabin alongside that all-important electric powertrain. Though its range is on the shorter side of things at 124 miles, as a rival to the likes of the Honda e and Mini Electric the MX-30’s practicality shines through.
Plus, it features clever suicide-style doors which are likely to get a conversation going.

BMW iX3
Though BMW’s i3 has been a key contender in the EV segment for many years now, the German firm has yet to elongate its range of electric vehicles – until now, that is. The iX3 enters into the flourishing electric SUV area of the market, bringing a high ride height and imposing looks, which are part and parcel in the segment.
It’s got a decent 285-mile range, too, and will deliver a 0-60mph time of 6.5 seconds.

Cupra el Born
Cupra has really come on song since announcing itself as a standalone brand from Seat, introducing smart and performance-orientated models. In 2021, Cupra will be switching its focus to electric vehicles with this – the el Born.
Based on the same platform as the Skoda Enyaq, it too will bring a range of over 300 miles as well as fast charging capabilities.

Read more: EveningExpress

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Don’t look now, but we’re officially a decade into the modern electric vehicle era. So how’s it been going anyway?

Exactly 10 years last week, Jeffrey Kaffee of New Jersey got the keys to the very first Chevrolet Volt sold. The handover came just four days after Olivier Chalouhi took delivery in San Francisco of the very first Nissan Leaf sold in the U.S.

The Volt had an EPA-rated electric range of 35 miles, and the Leaf’s all-electric range was only a bit more than twice that: 73 miles. But the Volt was marketed as a “range-extended electric car,” just as hard to understand back then as the idea of a plug-in hybrid—and the Leaf was distinctly odd-looking. Still, no matter how compromised, they represented the cutting edge of automotive technology at the time.

Back then, the Tesla Model S had been announced in April 2009, but wouldn’t struggle into production until 18 months after the Leaf and Volt launched—two years after Tesla’s original launch date. The auto industry viewed it as a desperate long-shot idea by an arrogant Silicon Valley startup that had sold a few novelty $100,000 electric roadsters to rich tech bros, a niche player at best.

What a difference a decade makes.

This month, there’s an electric Ford Mustang landing at dealers. An electric Hummer is coming next year, which should permanently reset the image of EVs from polar bears to badass, intimidating, military-inspired off-road monsters. Ford and General Motors will offer additional EV pickup trucks within a couple of years.

Tesla has become profitable for successive quarters, it now builds cars in the U.S. and China and it will open two more plants—one in Austin, Texas, the other in Berlin—next year. Today it debuted on the S&P 500 index after a more than 700 percent increase in price this year alone. It is valued higher than the world’s eight largest car companies, put together. It doesn’t sell as many cars globally as, say, Subaru, but it’ll build roughly half a million EVs this year. (And just for good measure, Tesla may launch a semi-tractor for freight hauling as well.)

Not bad for a company in only its ninth year of mass production.

From Climate Concerns to Badass Pickups
It’s all because the world’s regulators and even politicians accept the science of climate change, and understand that electric vehicles massively reduce the carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions from wheeled vehicles in every sector—especially in China, the world’s biggest car market and arguably the biggest driver of this shift to EVs.

Plus, cost reductions and performance improvements in lithium-ion battery cells soared over the last decade, at a rate far speedier than predicted when the Leaf and Volt got the green light in 2008 or so.

It’s now clear the world will transition to electric vehicles over the next several decades. It’ll take a long time, given 1.2 billion vehicles on the planet’s roads today. But the progress over the last 10 years has been breath-taking.

Think back 10 years, to the very first zero-emission vehicle that launched in volume, the one that heralded hybrids’ demise as the most advanced-technology vehicles on the road. That would be the 2011 Nissan Leaf.

Consider how it compares to the specs of today’s electric cars—which require us to generalize, because there are so many across so many different categories—and to the charging infrastructure then available.

Read more: The Drive

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