Category Archives: Electric Cars

News and reviews of the latest electric cars (full electrics and plug-in hybrids).

The Guilt & Embarrassment Of NOT Driving An EV

June 24, 2019Electric Cars, Opinion, SalesRepost

For several years now, I’ve felt both guilt and embarrassment for not driving an EV.

I wonder how many other CleanTechnica readers who don’t own an EV yet, who own an ICE (internal combustion engine) car, feel similarly. This article is intended to bring to the surface a possible undercurrent that may exist for many of us who care about the environment, and the climate crisis, and who support EVs.

My next car will be an EV, but mostly for financial reasons (caused primarily by doing a lot of non-paying community volunteer work), I’m not at the moment in a position to buy a new or even a used EV. This bothers me. Every time I go to a gas station and pay money to the oil industry, it bothers me. It bothers me a lot.

Perhaps one might think that the commitment to EVs is shallow. I read CleanTechnica daily, I have for several years, and watch a number of YouTubers who are focused on EVs, including Zac and Jesse of Now You Know, Ben Sullins of Teslanomics, Sean Mitchell of All Things EV, Gali Russell of HyperChange TV, Fully Charged, Tesla Owners Online, Kyle Field, Frugal Tesla Guy, Sandy Munro on Autoline, Tesloop, and E for Electric. I’m a member of the local EV club, and I run a local Green Community Meetup group.

I love new technology, and I’ve attended a local electric utility event where I got to drive a Tesla Model 3, Model S, Nissan Leaf, and Chevy Bolt. There’s another one this weekend that I’ll be attending where I hope I can drive a Model X. I care about the environment, live vegan in part due to environmental considerations, and have studied and written about climate heating here, here, and here.

In short, while I consider myself a well informed and strong supporter of EVs, I still reluctantly drive a gasoline vehicle.

EU states set binding CO2 limits for trucks and buses

June 23, 2019Electric Cars, Electric Vans, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

The first European CO2 emission standards for trucks and other heavy commercial vehicles have now been set: the European Council’s formal adoption of the regulation was the final step in the procedure after the EU Parliament had passed the CO2 targets in April.

According to the now-binding regulations, manufacturers must reduce CO2 emissions from new heavy commercial vehicles by an average of 15 per cent from 2025 compared to 2019, and by 30 per cent from 2030. “Such a stepwise approach also provides a clear and early signal for the industry to accelerate the market introduction of energy-efficient technologies and zero-and low-emission heavy-duty vehicles. The deployment of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles should also contribute to addressing urban mobility problems,” the paper states.

Emission-free and low-emission vehicles will be credited several times by 2024, with a factor of 2 applying to emission-free, i.e. fully electric vehicles. By 2025, manufacturers must also ensure that zero-emission or low-emission vehicles account for at least two per cent of all new vehicles sold.

Originally, the EU Parliament had called for more ambitious targets. For example, EU parliamentarians wanted to reduce CO2 levels by 35 per cent by 2030 and by 20 per cent by 2025. However, the member states were not willing or able to achieve this.

The European Council has made it very clear that the guidelines are binding – manufacturers who fail to meet these targets must pay a fine in the form of an excess emissions premium. The Council also iterated a number of times that the measuring and monitoring of CO2 emissions will be robust and transparent. Data will be obtained through on-board devices that monitor the actual fuel and energy consumption of heavy-duty vehicles.

Everyone wants to lease a Tesla Model 3

June 22, 2019Electric Cars, Model 3, News, Reviews and Comment, TeslaRepost

Leasing company says 3 is more popular than Jag’s I-Pace and the Audi e-Tron

You lot are all desperately trying to get your hands on Tesla Model 3s. Because why wouldn’t you be – it’s a rather nice thing, after all.

It’s so nice, in fact, Leasing.com tells us that in May, it had more enquiries for the Model 3 in the space of one week than it did for “premium rivals” like the Jaguar I-Pace and Audi e-Tron over the whole month.

The only electrified car that garnered more interest last month was the Toyota RAV4. One place back in the website’s league table is the Hyundai Ioniq, then the Toyota C-HR. The I-Pace is back in 5th, while the e-Tron is down in 7th. Of the non-electric/hybrid stuff, it’s the Mercedes A-Class that’s the most popular, with Mercedes being generally the most popular manufacturer.

BP Chargemaster bolsters charging range with new 150kW unit, confirms roll-out plans

June 21, 2019BP Chargemaster, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

BP Chargemaster has unveiled its new 150kW ultra-fast charger, which is to start being deployed across its Polar network.

Dubbed the Ultracharge 150, the charging point features both CCS and CHAdeMO connectors and will be capable of providing some 100 miles of range in 10 minutes.

The charging infrastructure owner also moved to confirm plans to deploy the chargers at BP forecourts throughout the UK over the next two years.

At an industry event last month, Tufan Erginbilgic, chief executive of Downstream BP, revealed plans to install 400 of the chargers by the end of 2021, with around 100 being installed across 50 forecourts by the end of this year.

The installations are to be financed by BP Chargemaster, which now counts more than 7,000 charging points across its Polar network.

Electric Models To Dominate Car Sales By 2040, Wiping Out 13m Barrels A Day Of Oil Demand

June 20, 2019Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesRepost

It may not seem like it now, but we may now be living in a world where sales of conventional passenger cars have already peaked, a development that will have widespread implications not just for the automotive sector but also oil and gas companies and metals and mining groups.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are set to make up more than half of global passenger car sales by 2040 and completely dominate the bus market according to new research.

Sales of diesel and gasoline vehicles will continue to decline, according to BloombergNEF’s Electric Vehicle Outlook 2019.

The report shows that electrics will take up 57% of the global passenger car sales by 2040, with electric buses dominating their sector, holding 81% of municipal bus sales by the same date.

Electric models will also make up 56% of light commercial vehicle sales – vans and light trucks in Europe, the US and China within the next two decades, and 31% of the medium commercial market. However, heavy trucks will be a harder nut for electric technology to crack because of their weight, but electric heavy trucks will still comprise almost a fifth of the market, although these will be mostly limited to shorter routes.

Conventional heavy trucks will, however face competition from other alternative fuels such as natural gas and hydrogen fuel cells.

Colin McKerracher, head of advanced transport for BNEF, commented: “Our conclusions are stark for fossil fuel use in road transport. Electrification will still take time because the global fleet changes over slowly but, once it gets rolling in the 2020s, it starts to spread to many other areas of road transport. We see a real possibility that global sales of conventional passenger cars have already passed their peak.”

Tesla Model 3 becomes most popular EV to lease in the UK

June 19, 2019Electric Cars, Model 3, News, Reviews and Comment, TeslaRepost

The Tesla Model 3 was the UK’s the most popular electric vehicle to lease in May, according to the latest Leasing.com League Tables.

It came out ahead of other popular new electric models such as the Audi e-tron and Jaguar I-Pace, generating more personal lease enquiries within seven days than its premium rivals managed to achieve during the entire month.

Interest in the Model 3, I-Pace and e-tron has seen EV enquiries increase 30% year on year during the first five months of 2019.

Paul Harrison, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Leasing.com, said: “The Model 3’s popularity is down to several factors, with cost being one of them.

Monthly prices for the Model 3 start at around £400 per month, which is almost half the cost of Tesla’s larger models. It also undercuts comparable EVs such as the Audi e-tron and Jaguar I-Pace.

Prices are out for Hyundai’s new all-electric Ioniq

June 18, 2019Electric Cars, Hyundai, IONIQ Electric, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Hyundai has now released the prices for the revamped all-electric Ioniq, a few weeks after the hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions.

The upgraded all-electric model will hit markets in the second half of this year.

The Ioniq Electric is priced in Germany at 34,900 euros, in the UK, prices for the all-electric Ioniq start at £27,250. In the USA, the all-electric hatch-back is on sale initially in California, with prices starting at around $30,700 (around $20,700 in California after rebates) with a top price of just over $37,300, making it less expensive than the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Bolt.

In May last year, Hyundai stopped taking orders for the previous all-electric Ioniq, due to battery shortages. A year later, the South Korean company released details of its revamped all-electric model without pricing details. Hyundai’s hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions were revealed in January this year, and cost less than the all-electric version, for example, the Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid is available in Germany from 25,800 euros, and the Ioniq Plug-in Hybrid from 32,000 euros – meaning the fully electric car will cost 1,600 euros more than its hybrid counterparts.

The new all-electric model, which will be hitting markets in the second half of this year, differs optically from its predecessor with the new headlights and above all the pattern on the closed radiator grille (which is reminiscent of the Kona Electric). The LED daytime running lights and the aluminium wheels have also been redesigned.

The most important new feature of the purely electric Ioniq is an increased battery capacity from 28 to 38.3 kWh, which should enable a WLTP range of 294 kilometres. In addition, the onboard charger of the electric motor will be upgraded from currently 6.6 to 7.2 kW. The AC charging process should take around six hours to 80 per cent.

Increase in residual value of electric cars boosted by greater range

June 17, 2019Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesRepost

Sales of fully electric cars are growing rapidly, which in the long term will also lead to a larger supply of used electric cars. ING expects a quarter of the used car market to favour electric cars by 2025.

The demand for used electric cars will outstrip supply, resulting in rising used car prices.

This means that electric cars will keep their value better than petrol and diesel models. ING estimates that new electric cars will keep 40% to 50% of their value after five years – more than petrol vehicles (35% to 42.5%) and diesel vehicles (27.5% to 35%).

Read report: ING

Car industry faces ‘petrolgate’ as CO2 figures don’t stack up

June 16, 2019Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, PollutionRepost

The automotive industry could be facing a new ‘petrolgate’ emissions scandal as Emissions Analytics uncovers discrepancies in new petrol car CO2 figures.

Following the fallout of of ‘dieselgate’, which led to a considerable decline in sales of diesel vehicles across Europe, experts believe the same emissions cheating techniques may be being used on petrol vehicles.

Results from the latest WLTP-certified vehicles show that average CO2 emissions for petrol cars are falling, but real-world testing carried out by Emissions Analytics paints a different picture.

“While our real-world test results for diesel cars are in line with WLTP data, indicating that manufacturers have got their house in order over diesel, the same cannot be said for petrol,” explained Nick Molden, CEO of Emissions Analytics.

New Renault ZOE spotted testing

June 15, 2019Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOERepost

Revised model will feature similar styling but a range of interior and tech upgrades

The upcoming facelifted Renault ZOE has been caught testing by spy photographers. It’s likely to be revealed later this year, and will sport a similar look to the current model but is expected to be refreshed revised styling, and interior and tech updates.

Underneath the camouflage wrap, there appears to be a lot of design details carried over from the current ZOE, like the slim headlights, diamond-shaped tail-lights and the overall body shape. However, there are a few minor changes including a redesigned grille, new plastic mouldings that look like air intakes and a restyled rear windscreen. We would expect the ZOE to keep its kinked rear windows, but the camouflage hides these areas. A more aerodynamic shark-fin aerial will also be fitted to the roof.

No pictures of the interior have surfaced yet, but it’s expected that the revised model will offer a very different cabin to the current car. It’s likely to follow the new Clio by having a large touchscreen in the centre of the dashboard. This would be adapted to show driving range and charging information, and the locations of nearby charging points. Other features carried over from the new Clio should include LED headlights, a digital instrument cluster and wireless smartphone charging.