Category Archives: Electric Cars

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

Smart charging mandated by law as Automated and Electric Vehicle Bill passes

August 5, 2018Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentTrevor Larkum

The UK has taken ‘a major step’ towards the electric vehicle revolution according to the government after the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act completed its passage through parliament.

First published in its draft form in October 2017, the AEV Bill constitutes the government’s main route to greater provision of charging infrastructure, which it sees as the main barrier to uptake of EVs in the future.

Upon receiving royal assent, a series of measures around deployment and access to charge points are set to become enforceable by law once transport secretary Chris Grayling selects a date for implementation.

Speaking on Thursday when the bill passed, roads minister Jesse Norman said:

“The UK is becoming a world leader in the roll-out of low-emission transport. Today we have passed a significant milestone in that journey.

“This act will ensure that the UK’s infrastructure and insurance system is ready for the biggest transport revolution in a century.”

Take a look around the ‘globally impressive’ new electric car hub in Dundee

August 4, 2018Charging, Electric Cars, Evolt, News, Reviews and CommentTrevor Larkum

The transformation of a once-vacant Dundee yard into a site dedicated to electric vehicles is “globally impressive” and could inspire cities across the globe, it has been claimed.

A new Princes Street facility complete with with solar canopies, charging points and electrical infrastructure, designed to meet all the needs of those taking to the roads in eco-friendly cars, was officially opened on Friday morning.

The city site was once a petrol station but had lain vacant until a £1.86 million investment from the Office of Low Emission Vehicles made the development possible.

Dundee has been hailed for leading the way in the use of electric vehicles – with 100 taxis in the city now running on electricity.

Visitors from as far afield as France, Germany, the US and New Zealand – in the city for a low emissions conference – were among those in attendance at Friday’s opening ceremony.

The most impressive car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed is electric

August 3, 2018Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentTrevor Larkum

Sometimes you see a car do something so incredible that you can’t quite believe what your eyes are telling you.

These are moments you never forget; the first time it happened to me was when I saw a Top Fuel dragster launch itself from zero to 300mph at Santa Pod. Almost 20 years later, I still find my jaw dropping a few millimetres at the recollection.

Such moments are rare, but today at the Goodwood Festival of Speed I experienced another, thanks to a lucky break that put me in the right place at the right time – and it could be telling for the future of the car industry.

Heading to an interview for a future Autocar story, I was stood by the Gurney Pavilion, located at the second turn of the course, which leads onto a long straight past Goodwood House, as the Nio EP9 arrived at the corner.

At first, and against the context of exotica from Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin et al that had run around it, it was more curious than striking. It arrived at the corner, it turned and then…

I’ve spent a fair bit of my working life reporting on racing and rally cars, but I don’t think I’ve seen much, perhaps anything, that compares with what happened next. The back of the car sat down, there was a whoosh from the electric motors and a small squeal from the tyres and then the full brunt of the car’s claimed 1360bhp was unleashed.

The spec sheet says this is a 2.7sec car for the 0-62mph sprint, but as it rolled through the corner and sprinted off, the Nio looked even more impressive than that suggests as it accelerated off into the distance. It was a sensational sight. My jaw was in the same place as when I watched that dragster all those years ago.

Electric car registrations grow 25% in first half of 2018

August 2, 2018Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesTrevor Larkum

Sales of pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles have risen every month so far this year, with one being registered every nine minutes in the UK.

The first half of 2018 saw 28,054 registered to drivers, a 25% increase on the same period in 2017 – which was the most successful year-to-date for the plug-in car market.

Plug-in hybrids delivered the highest volume of registrations, with more than 21,000 having arrived on UK roads in 2018 so far.

Electric cars can be a very effective way to save you money on motoring (Image: Go Ultra Low)

The figures, released by Go Ultra Low, show Nissan’s Leaf continues to be the most popular pure electric car. A further 1,501 took to the roads in Q2, taking the total number of new Leaf registrations in 2018 to 3,511.

The latest figures reveal an increasing appetite for pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles among private and business motorists. Following a strong performance in the first three months of the year, the second quarter of 2018 saw a further 14,655 cars find homes, a 10% increase on Q1. This takes the total number of pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars registered to date to 161,409.

Smart charging to enable 11 million EVs by 2030 with limited impact on grid

August 1, 2018Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentTrevor Larkum

The increased peak demand from as many as 11 million electric vehicles on UK roads by 2030 could be just 8GW thanks to the use of smart charging technologies, according to National Grid’s latest forecasts.

The much-anticipated Future Energy Scenarios 2018 was launched today, outlining a range of four potential scenarios for the future of the UK energy system.

Figure 4: Charging on Christmas Day (Image: T. Larkum) — Home Charging a Renault ZOE (Image: T. Larkum)

Across all of them, electricity demand is expected to grow significantly by 2050, particularly from 2030s onwards, driven by increased electrification of transport, with heat contributing to this in some cases.

However, National Grid revealed that the emergence of smart charging will mitigate the impact on the grid of these millions of vehicles by shifting demand out of peak periods.

Survey: Half of young people want electric cars

July 31, 2018Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesTrevor Larkum

Half of young people in the UK would like to own an electric car – compared with just a quarter of their parents, a survey suggests.

The research comes from motoring group the AA, which says myths about electric vehicles are putting off many drivers.

This matters because cleaning up air pollution and tackling climate change both depend on mass acceptance of electric vehicles (EVs).

Young people seem to be more accepting of the technology than older people.

But too many still hold needless fears, the AA says.

It comes as the government has announced a target for 50% of all new vehicle sales to be in the ultra-low emissions category by 2030.

The opinions were revealed in an AA/Populus poll of 10,293 drivers.

Buyers are snapping up electric runarounds – and some are worth 30% more than a year ago

July 30, 2018Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, Sales, ZOETrevor Larkum

New data shows that 11 second-hand cars have increased in value in the last year
That’s despite each one having another 12,000 miles put on the clock
Of the appreciating models, the biggest increases came for old electric cars
The list also includes petrol and petrol-hybrid older vehicles

If you want to buy a car that will rise in value, you usually need to go for something classic or exotic – not a £6,000 runaround.

But new figures reveal a handful of family cars bucking the usual price trend and they all share one attribute, they are electric.

The Renault Zoe is top of a list compiled by price specialist HPI of second hand cars that are rising in value – and someone who bought one this time last year could potentially now sell it for 30 per cent more.

This means that if you had bought an average Renault Zoe in July 2017 for £6,300 and spent the past year putting 12,000 miles on the clock it should now be worth £1,900 more, says HPI.

National Grid set to tackle electric vehicle boom with ‘smart charging’

July 29, 2018Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesTrevor Larkum

There could be as many as 11 million electric vehicles on British roads by 2030 and 36 million by 2040, in what would be a major upheaval for the UK’s energy system.

National Grid’s latest report on the future energy system overshoots the Government’s own targets which call for an end to petrol and diesel car sales by the same year.

The acceleration of the electric vehicle market will bolster demand for electricity, which is already in relatively tight supply, but the dual growth in battery storage will dramatically reduce the amount of new power generation projects which will be needed.

This time last year National Grid data estimated that the electric cars could increase peak demand electricity by as little as 8GW by 2030.

In its latest report the same amount is likely to be needed only by 2040 if consumers charge vehicles at off-peak times and through vehicle-to-grid technology.

OVO Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) charging (Image: T. Larkum/Fuel Included)

Fintan Slye, of National Grid, said the growth of electric vehicles is one of the major trends in the system operator’s scenario planning which is used within the industry to inform decision making.

“We are already operating in an exciting period of change – a trend which is set to continue, certainly up to 2050 and beyond,”

he said, meaning that National Grid’s work balancing energy supply and demand “will become increasingly complex”.

National Grid expects “smart” energy use, which uses digital algorithms to charge and release energy from storage at the most cost effective time, will play a major role in shaping the energy system by the end of the next decade.

Renault prepares to double output of Zoe EV

July 28, 2018Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOE, ZOE Z.E. 40Trevor Larkum

FLINS, France — Renault is preparing to double production of the full-electric Zoe at its factory here outside Paris. The surge in output as part of a billion-euro investment in electric vehicles by the French automaker.

A new version of the Zoe will appear next year, the first substantial change to the small battery-driven hatchback since its introduction at the end of 2012.

Renault ZOE at our test drive event in Milton Keynes (Image: J. Tisdall)

The Zoe was the top-selling EV in Europe from 2015-2017, but so far this year it has been narrowly overtaken by the redesigned Nissan Leaf, from Renault’s Japanese alliance partner.

Last year about 30,000 Zoes were produced at the Flins plant, with a total of 100,000 made since the model’s debut. Renault officials want to increase the rate of production to about 440 per workday from about 220 per day.

The factory will use its traditional August recess to prepare for the increase. This will include upgrading the in-house battery assembly area, officials said earlier this month at an event that included a tour of the plant.

The Flins factory, which opened in 1952, makes Renault Clio hatchbacks, the Nissan Micra hatchback and the Zoe on the same production line. Last year, about 63,000 Clios and 94,000 Micras were produced at the plant.

Recent upgrades to Renault’s EV range, which includes the Twizy, which is an electric alternative to a scooter, and two electric vans, have been focused on range and power, but that is about to change.

In addition to the redesigned Zoe, likely to be on the existing architecture, the company’s Drive the Future strategic plan calls for a total of eight EVs by 2022. Some of those EVs will be on a new alliance platform called CMF-EV set to debut no earlier than 2020. Vehicles on that platform will be built at Renault’s plant in Douai, northern France.

Electric Vehicles: Headed In The Right Direction . . .

July 27, 2018Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesTrevor Larkum

The United Kingdom’s newly published Road to Zero report recommends that all new homes should be equipped with chargers for electric vehicles as part of plans to move toward zero emissions and in line with its objective to eliminate diesel and gasoline vehicles by 2040. The plan includes public charging being incorporated into streetlights, gas stations and freeway rest areas, but no incentives for scrapping diesel vehicles; in fact, the bulk of the money to pay for the plan comes from taxes on diesels.

The outlook for the electric vehicle is changing rapidly, despite the oil lobby’s best attempts to spread misinformation. In countries such as Japan, the number of recharging points has long exceeded the number of gas stations, although obviously, many of them are in people’s homes. Electric buses are increasingly seen as a logical option for public transport by more and more cities around the world, which is hitting the oil companies hard.

The automotive industry will undergo unprecedented change: after weathering Dieselgate, Volkswagen has announced the launch of a car-sharing service for electric vehicles next year as part of a plan to win back the trust of users and regulators, supported by an alliance with a Chinese battery manufacturer that will also supply BMW, which says the deal was a way to accelerate its transition toward the mass manufacture of electric vehicles, which until recently it said would not be possible until 2020.

All of this suggests we’re heading in the right direction, but far too slowly. The U.K.’s announcement of a ban on diesel and gasoline vehicles from 2040 was little more than a gesture aimed at keeping the country in line with the rest of the EU, while avoiding the ire of the automotive industry and the users. In practice, within two years, when electric vehicles will outprice their diesel and gasoline competitors, market forces will take over and the internal combustion engine will be seen for what it is: outdated, expensive, overcomplicated and bad for the environment.