Category Archives: Electric Cars

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

All-electric Kia e-Niro sold out after a month on sale

February 20, 2019Electric Cars, Kia, News, Reviews and Comment, Niro EVRepost

The initial UK production run of 900 Kia e-Niros has already sold out, and new orders will be delayed due to a supply chain bottleneck

Kia has sold all 900 e-Niros allocated for the UK market in 2019 in a matter of weeks. Lead times are set to increase for future orders, with the next batch of e-Niros not being set to land in the UK until 2020 due to a manufacturing bottleneck.

Demand for the all-electric Kia e-Niro, as well as its sister-model the Hyundai Kona Electric, has been greater than expected. As a result, the firms’ battery suppliers (which include Samsung and LG) have been unable to cope with the e-Niro’s production volumes, despite doubling their outputs.

Deliveries for the new Kia e-Niro were supposed to commence in April. However, as a result of the e-Niro’s popularity and the production bottleneck, buyers who managed to snag one of the initial 900-model run may have to wait until the end of 2019 before taking delivery.

Electric cars are already cheaper to own and run

February 19, 2019Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesRepost

Petrol and diesel vehicles cost more over four years in UK and four other European nations

Electric cars are already cheaper to own and run than petrol or diesel alternatives in five European countries analysed in new research.

The study examined the purchase, fuel and tax costs of Europe’s bestselling car, the VW golf, in its battery electric, hybrid, petrol and diesel versions. Over four years, the pure electric version was the cheapest in all places – UK, Germany, France, Netherlands and Norway – owing to a combination of lower taxes, fuel costs and subsidies on the purchase price.

Researchers from the International Council for Clean Transportation (ICCT) said their report showed that tax breaks are a key way to drive the rollout of electric vehicles and tackle climate change and air pollution.

Carbon emissions from transport are a big contributor to global warming, but have been rising in recent years in the European Union. Vehicles are also a source of much air pollution, which causes 500,000 early deaths a year in the EU.

Electric cars offer the biggest savings over diesel in Norway (27%) as the battery-powered vehicles are exempt from a heavy registration tax. The ICCT analysis was updated for the Guardian after recent cuts in the UK’s grants for electric car purchases. It shows British drivers see the smallest saving – 5%. In Germany, France and the Netherlands, the saving varied from 11% to 15%.

Could an electric car work for your business?

February 18, 2019Electric Cars, Model S, News, Reviews and Comment, TeslaRepost

We meet the businesses who’ve taken the plunge by buying Teslas to deliver goods – and find out how they’ve never looked back since

We hear a lot about electric cars being the future of transport, but it’s easy to forget there are over four million vans on the UK’s roads, delivering vital goods to homes, businesses and institutions up and down the land.

But while the number of electric vans on sale continues to grow, there has been a wider choice of electric cars for some time. Similarly, although early EV vans had limited ranges, often of 100 miles or less, Tesla’s Model S could travel up to a claimed 300 miles from launch in 2012.

Now the likes of the Jaguar I-Pace and Audi e-tron have caught up, but for years if you wanted a large EV with a long range, the Tesla was the only real option.

Small wonder, then, that instead of a van, some forward-thinking business owners saw the financial and environmental advantages a Tesla could offer, and took the plunge. Auto Express met the owners of two such businesses to see how an EV works as a delivery vehicle.

Amore Bakery

For seven years, Amore Bakery has been selling personalised cupcakes on a business-to-business basis from its rural Buckinghamshire HQ. And the company’s in-house delivery service has been a tremendous success for owner, Paulo Benfeito.

“Cupcakes are quite delicate,” he says. “If you use a courier service, they often end up getting damaged on their way to the customer. What sets Amore apart from our competitors is that we deliver all of our goods ourselves.”

But Benfeito wondered if there were a way of streamlining the cost of running the delivery side. So, in 2014, he bought a Tesla Model S to join his conventional diesel delivery van. He admits this sounds extravagant, joking: “Often, when we want something, we tell ourselves we need it.”

EO Charging partners Bulb for UK’s ‘first fully open’ EV charging network

February 17, 2019Charging, Electric Cars, EO Charging, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

EO Charging has partnered with energy supplier Bulb and Suffolk County Council to launch what the trio claim to be the country’s first “fully open” charging network.

Plug In Suffolk, as the programme has been called, is said to be the country’s first fast charging network that allows EV drivers to charge simply through using contactless payments with no need to register or become a member of any organisation.

The first installation under the Plug In Suffolk scheme has been unveiled at the Urban Jungle Plant Nursery and Café in Beccles, near Lowestoft, comprising two 7kW chargers supplied by EV charge point manufacturer EO, as well as an EO Pay kiosk.

Slow Charging the ZOE at Highgate (Image: T. Larkum) — (Image: T. Larkum)

Up to 400 individual charge points across 100 locations and businesses are to be installed under the scheme once complete.

In addition, businesses participating in the scheme will be offered the chance to sign up to renewable energy supplier Bulb in order to ensure their power supply is green.

How to charge electric fleets

February 16, 2019Electric Cars, Fleet, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOE, ZOE Z.E. 40Repost

With reduced taxes, well-proven technology and expanding infrastructure, it is now becoming more and more convenient to run electric vehicles when compared with running petrol or diesel vehicles

Electric vehicles are already looking cheaper to run for individual drivers compared with petrol or diesel but, when it comes to fuelling a fleet, businesses will still want to arrange preferential rates to make the numbers work at scale.

There are huge savings to be made by drivers who switch to electric vehicles (EVs) from petrol or diesel, according to Ben Fletcher, of Renault UK.

The Renault ZOE hatchback, for example, is 100pc electric, has a WLTP driving range of 186 miles and costs just “2p per mile whereas an equivalent petrol or diesel would typically be around 12p”, says Mr Fletcher, head of electric vehicles in the UK for the French manufacturer.

The amount of electricity it takes to charge an EV costs around a third as much as buying petrol for a normal car
Not only is the cost lower, drivers can also have peace of mind about where their electricity comes from, with far greater control “over who provides their energy, whether it comes from a renewable source and what tariff they are on, than they would do if they fill their cars with petrol or diesel on a forecourt”, he adds.

Both considerations are important for individuals, but when it comes to corporate approaches to transport they take on even greater significance.

Renault’s electric cars, for instance, are mirrored by a range of Renault Pro+ electric vans, demonstrating the opportunities for companies to switch to electric even on multi-tonne light commercial vehicles.

Fleet managers with multiple EVs will see considerable fuel savings and a large reduction of tailpipe emissions. Jon Lawes, managing director of Hitachi Capital UK’s vehicle solutions business, says: “If all of Britain’s vans and heavy good vehicles [HGVs] were to switch to electricity, businesses could save around £14bn a year in fuel costs alone.”

Networks commit to cut EV charging red tape

February 15, 2019Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

The UK’s distribution network operators (DNOs) have committed to cut the red tape surrounding EV charger installations, aiming to help facilitate more mass installs.

Today the UK’s six DNOs have responded to calls from the parliament, enacting reforms that will make it easier for charging network operators to install charge points.

These reforms include a new, standardised process for all types of properties and businesses to apply for grid connection approval. As it stands, installers need to complete a range of different forms and meet different requirements in order to inform them of a new installation.

But as a result of these changes, the process will be streamlined and paperwork slashed. In addition, there is further work in the pipeline to digitalise the entire process, simplifying it further still.

Last month the government responded to a business, energy and industrial strategy select committee report into EV charging that sought to identify and highlight, as well as a perceived lack of real ambition on the government’s side, a raft of potential barriers that could hamper the adoption of EVs and rollout of associated infrastructure.

Putting Electric Vehicles on the Fast Track

February 14, 2019Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Pollution, VolkswagenRepost

Three years ago, the world’s largest car manufacturer made global headlines for deliberately evading emissions standards.

The Volkswagen Group spiraled into an unmitigated public relations crisis—now known as Dieselgate—once it became apparent that the company installed “defeat devices” in 11 million vehicles between 2009 and 2015. Those devices enabled VWs to pass emissions tests while emitting far more pollutants than allowed by law.

For years, transportation experts in the environmental community had shown that this practice was far more commonplace than official testing data might suggest. But it was thanks to the investigative prowess of the nonprofit International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), Volkswagen’s deceit was exposed—and from the depths of a $20+ billion corporate scandal rose a clarion call for action against unacceptably high emissions from vehicles. The dust has yet to fully settle from Dieselgate, but the fallout has already generated an urgent demand from corporations, cities and nations to embrace a new path that can provide significantly cleaner, more accessible and more affordable mobility for all.

A race has now emerged to determine the future of transportation and it is increasingly clear that those who invest in electric mobility will come out ahead. It is also clear that philanthropic funding proved instrumental in exposing Dieselgate and has helped amplify the call for increased ambition and action. In this new environment, philanthropy can continue to invest in accelerating innovation and ushering the world toward a zero-emission mobility future. Fast-tracking adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), however, requires tackling four challenges that could stand in the way of success.

The first is initial cost. While battery prices are falling rapidly and EVs are less expensive to operate and maintain than their combustion-engine competitors, the initial cost of EVs is still higher. Overcoming this challenge will require targeted fiscal and non-fiscal incentives that recognize the public benefits of EVs. The good news is that by taking innovation to scale, EVs will eventually become less expensive than combustion vehicles, providing significant economic savings in addition to environmental benefits.

The second challenge is convenience. Transitioning away from internal combustion engines toward EVs requires infrastructure building at scale. While early EV adopters were able to get by mostly charging at home, expanding the market further requires the installation of convenient public, apartment building and workplace charging stations. Once deployed, strategic management of vehicle charging can facilitate greater renewable energy integration and can make more efficient use of the grid, providing a double-win for clean power and transport.

EV100: 31 companies join drive to switch to electric vehicles

February 13, 2019Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesRepost

Global EV100 initiative reports progress among major corporates shifting towards 100 per cent electric fleets as it targets two million EVs by 2030

More than 30 global corporates have now pledged to switch their road fleets to electric vehicles through the EV100 initiative, which has set a target of electrifying two million vehicles by 2030 through its membership.

Published today, The Climate Group’s first annual report on its EV100 initiative reveals 31 companies with a combined revenue of over $500bn have now made EV commitments as part of the campaign, including high profile names such as BT, IKEA, Unilever, EDF, and Heathrow Airport.

The report provides a detailed update on the commitments made by 23 member companies, which have together pledged to switch 145,000 vehicles to electric in 66 markets around the world by 2030.

Collectively, the EV commitments from these 23 firms could help to save an estimated 6.6 million metric tonnes of CO2, the equivalent carbon footprint of 1.9 million UK households, according to the report.

Of these members, 95 per cent cited greenhouse gas reduction as a ‘very significant’ or ‘significant’ driver for switching to EVs, and 80 per cent highlighted tackling air pollution as a key reason. A third also identified financial savings as an incentive for investing in EVs.

However, over 70 per cent of EV100 members also identified a lack of EV charging infrastructure as one of the biggest barriers to increased electric vehicle adoption.

Nevertheless, the report states that collectively EV100 member companies have made commitments that will give access to EV charging to over 630,000 of their employees by 2030.

Helen Clarkson, CEO of The Climate Group, said the report showed how leading corporates are helping to accelerate the wider market shift to electric transport by 2030.

With countries pledging to end sales of the combustion engine and cities bringing in low or zero emission zones, forward-thinking companies are getting ahead of the curve now by switching to electric vehicles, she said. “The private sector has an instrumental part to play in bringing down emissions and cleaning up our air – and there are big opportunities for companies taking action now here in the UK.”

2019 Kia Niro EV First Review

February 12, 2019Electric Cars, Kia, News, Reviews and Comment, Niro EVRepost

New electric Kia Niro has a 239-mile range
64-kWh lithium-ion battery, 201-horsepower electric motor
Full recharge in under 10 hours with 220-volt AC charger
DC Fast Charger gives 80 percent in 75 minutes
On sale by late February
Sold in 12 states
Pricing expected around $37,500

The Kia Niro, when it arrived in 2016, was designed to accommodate a variety of electrified powertrains. The Niro hybrid came first, followed by a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version in 2017 and now the fully electric model. KBB recently drove this 2019 Kia Niro EV, which goes on sale soon in 12 U.S. states and has an EPA-estimated range of 239 miles. Competitors include the Chevrolet Bolt, Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model 3 and the Hyundai Kona EV.

While some people may think of the new Niro EV as Kia’s version of the Hyundai Kona EV, it’s not. Rather, the Niro EV shares its chassis with the Hyundai Ioniq. As such, it has a much roomier back seat than the Kona EV, but as a slightly heavier vehicle it can’t quite match the impressive 258-mile range of the Hyundai, even though it does have the same 201-horsepower electric motor and 64-kWh lithium-ion polymer battery pack.

That Niro EV’s liquid-cooled battery pack — mounted low and flat in the chassis, between the front and rear axles — is huge, so large that one Kia engineer likened it to a queen-size mattress. By itself, it tips the scales at 1,008 pounds, which means it represents more than 26 percent of the Niro EV’s 3,854-pound curb weight. The battery in the Niro PHEV, for the record, weighs only 85 pounds. Ponder that for a few.

How does the new Kia Niro EV drive?

With that big chunk of weight so low to the ground and between the axles (where chassis engineers like it), the Niro EV drives remarkably well. This new electric Kia feels substantial, not the least bit tinny, and it takes corners with minimal body roll and excellent composure thanks to its low center gravity. It’s a quiet car, and there’s plenty of space for a 6-foot-tall passenger to ride behind a driver of the same size.

A rotary-dial controller on the center console is used to engage Drive, and while the front seating position is about an inch higher than that of the standard Niro hybrid, it’s because the whole vehicle is raised, not because the seat has been raised within the 5-seat cabin. The same, though, can’t be said in back, where the battery has pushed up the Niro EV’s floorboard and rear seat a small but noticeable amount.

Power from the permanent-magnet electric motor is good, with enough juice on tap to screech the front tires away from a stoplight and propel the Niro EV to a top speed of 103 mph. Moreover, there are noticeable differences among the four driving modes (Eco, Normal, Sport, Eco+), which tailor the motor response, regen braking, air conditioning, heating and the other systems to satisfy driver tastes.

New flagship Renault ZOE S Edition added to range

February 11, 2019Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOE, ZOE Z.E. 40Repost

Renault has introduced a new flagship S Edition model to its all-electric ZOE line-up, with more equipment and added technology

Renault has updated its all-electric ZOE line-up, adding a new flagship model called the S Edition. Priced from £19,270 (including the government’s £3,500 plug-in car grant), the new trim level replaces the ZOE Signature Nav as the range-topper, adding more standard equipment for a lower price.

The new Renault ZOE S Edition gets a BOSE stereo with DAB radio, a choice of either 16-inch or 17-inch alloy wheels, a reversing camera and leather upholstery with lumbar adjustment on the driver’s seat.

Other features include parking sensors, automatic lights, rain-sensing wipers, climate control, a leather steering wheel, electric windows, electrically folding door mirrors and a seven-inch infotainment system with voice-controlled sat-nav.

A choice of two motors are available for the ZOE S Edition; a quick-charge Q90 unit with 86bhp or a more potent R110 model with 106bhp and 225Nm of torque. Both motors have a range of 186 miles under WLTP regulations, and the Q90 model can be charged to 80 percent capacity in 65 minutes using a 43kWh fast charger.