Category Archives: Electric Cars

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

UK sets out a plan to become the world leader in electric vehicles

July 26, 2018Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentTrevor Larkum

There are currently more than 150,000 ultra-low emission vehicles on British roads.
The strategy sets out a target that at least 50 percent of new car sales be ultra-low emission by 2030.

The British government has unveiled a plan that it hopes will make the country a world leader in electric vehicles.

The Road to Zero Strategy contains a series of proposals to help increase green infrastructure, cut vehicle emissions and “drive the uptake” of zero-emission vans, trucks and cars, the government said in a statement Monday.

The strategy sets out a target that at least 50 percent of new car sales — and “up to” 40 percent of van sales — be ultra-low emission by 2030. The government added that it had already made a commitment to invest £1.5 billion ($2 billion) in ultra-low emission vehicles by the year 2020.

Other measures include plans to install charge points in newly-built homes and lampposts, the launch of a £400 million Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund and a new £40 million program to develop and trial “innovative, low-cost wireless and on-street charging technology.”

Additionally, electric vehicle owners would be provided with as much as £500 to help them install a charge point at their home.

Electric cars: Charge points could be requirement in new build homes

July 25, 2018Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentTrevor Larkum

New homes in suburban England would need to be fitted with electric car charging points under a government proposal to cut emissions.

Ministers also want new street lights to come with charge points wherever there’s on-street parking.

Details of a sales ban on new conventional petrol and diesel cars by 2040 are also expected to be set out.

The strategy comes at a time when the government is facing criticism for failing to reduce carbon emissions.

The government’s target is to reduce the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% of 1990 levels by 2050.

The proposals, announced by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, aim to make it easier to recharge an electric car rather than refuel petrol or diesel vehicles.

They include:

The need to assess if new homes and offices should be required to install charging points as standard
New street lighting columns with on-street parking to have charging points in appropriate locations
More money being allocated to fund charging infrastructure.

Mr Grayling said the proposed measures would mean the UK having “one of the most comprehensive support packages for zero-emission vehicles in the world”.

“The prize is not just a cleaner and healthier environment but a UK economy fit for the future and the chance to win a substantial slice of a market estimated to be worth up to £7.6 trillion by 2050,” he said.

eVolt wins contract to provide electric vehicle (EV) charging units for Cambridge City Council

July 24, 2018Charging, Electric Cars, Evolt, News, Reviews and CommentTrevor Larkum

Cambridge City has selected eVolt UK to supply electric vehicle (EV) charging points across Cambridge for its Ultra Low Emission Vehicle Taxi project, which aims to increase the number of EV taxis used in the historic city.

The project, which is being primarily funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), will see eVolt install 21 of its Rapid and Fast Chargers across the city over the next three years. The first phase is underway, with two chargers already operational in the Adam and Eve Car Park (CB1 1DX). A further six Rapid Chargers will be installed across three other sites, due for completion by the beginning of September.

The three other initial sites include: car parks at Castle Hill and Arbury Court, and one on-street location in Newmarket Road, which initially will only be available for taxis. The Rapid Chargers are capable of providing 80 per cent charge to an EV Taxi in 30 minutes.

Cllr Rosy Moore, Executive Councillor for Environment and City Centre, says: “Installing these new rapid chargers for electric taxis marks a genuinely positive shift away from polluting diesel taxis.

“Work like this is one way the council is aiming to make it much easier for people to use electric vehicles, in order to help improve air quality for all of Cambridge’s residents plus all of those people who work in and visit the city.”

eVolt will work alongside Electric Blue, who are providing the remainder of the funding for the project and will also provide operational support throughout.

Justin Meyer, General Manager of eVolt UK, says eVolt is proud to support the project:

“We are committed to help Councils lower emissions, improve local air quality and provide reliable charging infrastructure where it is most needed. We anticipate that these units will help promote the use of EV taxis in Cambridge and encourage more drivers to make the switch.”

Cambridge was one of 10 councils in the UK to be awarded funding by OLEV in its competition for EV Taxi Infrastructure. The project aims to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions across the UK and provide cleaner air for a more sustainable and eco-friendly future.

Source: eVolt/Gravity London

Electric vehicles alone could cause peak oil demand within decade

July 23, 2018Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Oil, Peak OilTrevor Larkum

In an aggressive scenario, electrified transportation could displace 8 million barrels of oil per day.

When Tesla announced that it had built 7,000 cars in a week, I got excited. Even though electric vehicles (EVs) make up only a small percentage of new car sales in most countries, those sales are growing rapidly.

But how long before they really start to take a bite out of oil demand?

Norway offers some clues, where years of generous—some would say unsustainable—incentives saw EVs and plug-in hybrid sales grow to 55% of the new car market in March. And the cumulative impact of those sales may have FINALLY translated into a drop in overall demand, with gasoline in particular seeing a 2.9% drop in sales.

Of course 2.9% is not exactly groundbreaking, but it’s important to remember that change is rarely linear. If it really is due to electric vehicles, then that figure should grow each year as adoption rates increase and older model gasoline cars retire from the fleet. And that, in turn, could lead to further drivers like gas stations closing, or lower resale value for fossil fueled vehicles.

Similar dynamics will be at play on a global scale, albeit many years behind. Now the carbon/finance geeks at Carbon Tracker have launched an interesting EV Demand Displacement Tool that allows users to explore how rates of EV adoption, mileage and efficiency gains in internal combustion engine (ICE) cars might interact to displace oil demand, and how that in turn could lead to major disruption for investors and volatility in oil pricing.

Electric vehicle sales promise shock for Big Oil

July 22, 2018Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Oil, Peak Oil, SalesTrevor Larkum

If motor manufacturers are right about the prospects for electric vehicle sales, an oil price crash won’t be far behind.

LONDON, 5 July, 2018 – Oil and gas companies have underestimated probable electric vehicle sales and the effect they will have on their own businesses and profits, a new report says.

If the car manufacturers’ projections of future sales of electric cars are correct, then demand for oil will have peaked by 2027 or even earlier, sending the price of oil in a downward spiral as supply exceeds demand, says Carbon Tracker (CT), an independent financial think-tank carrying out in-depth analysis on the impact of the energy transition on capital markets.

It says fossil fuel companies have taken into account some engine fuel efficiencies and the effect they would have on oil demand, but not the expected increase in electric vehicles themselves. There is a big mismatch between forecasts of EV market penetration from vehicle manufacturers and from oil majors, says Laurence Watson, a CT data scientist.

“The oil industry is underestimating the disruptive potential of electric vehicles, which could reduce oil demand by millions of barrels a day. Increases in fuel efficiency will also eat into oil demand and the industry’s profits. The oil majors’ myopic position presents a serious investor risk,” he told the Climate News Network.

Women will drive transition to electric cars, study finds

July 21, 2018Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesTrevor Larkum

Men generally want speed, acceleration, style. Women want there to be a planet when their children grow up. That’s pretty much the findings of a University of Sussex study into who will buy electric vehicles and why, writes BRENDAN MONTAGUE

A rapid and comprehensive transition to electric mobility will require a combination of technological, regulatory, institutional, economic, cultural and behavioural changes that together transform the sociotechnical systems that provide energy or mobility services.

More focused marketing of electric cars to women could be more effective in creating the required revolution away from more polluting vehicles than universal government intervention, a new study has said.

Highly educated women are an untapped but potentially lucrative market for electric vehicle sales because they have greater environmental and fuel efficiency awareness than men, says a new study by researchers at the University of Sussex and Aarhus University in Denmark.

The research also recommends the newly retired be targeted for electric vehicle promotion, even though they as a group have less interest in more environmentally friendly vehicles. Pensioners have high car ownership, drive short distances, have high budgets for car purchases and are less interested in design – all characteristics that could make them ideal electric vehicle owners.

Illegal levels of air pollution linked to child’s death

July 20, 2018Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, PollutionTrevor Larkum

A nine-year-old girl’s fatal asthma attack has been linked to illegally high levels of air pollution.

Ella Kissi-Debrah lived 25m (80ft) from London’s South Circular Road – a notorious pollution “hotspot”.

She experienced three years of seizures and hospital stays before her death in February 2013. During that time, local air pollution levels breached EU legal limits.

No individual death has previously been directly linked to air pollution.

According to a report by one of the UK’s leading experts on asthma and air pollution, Prof Stephen Holgate, there was a “striking association” between Ella’s emergency hospital admissions and recorded spikes in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and PM10s, the most noxious pollutants.

His report said there was a “real prospect that without unlawful levels of air pollution, Ella would not have died”.

The evidence will be submitted in an appeal to the attorney general to re-open an inquest in to Ella’s death.

Ella often walked to school along the South Circular Road and Lewisham High Street, a journey that would take 30-40 minutes. Or she would be driven and have to sit for lengthy periods in traffic jams.

Renault Launches Electric Car-Sharing Service in Paris

July 19, 2018Electric Cars, Electric Vans, Kangoo Z.E., Master Z.E., News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, Renault, ZOE, ZOE Z.E. 40Trevor Larkum

The automaker and city officials will also collaborate on future mobility services

Many European countries are considering ending sales of new gasoline and diesel cars, but the city of Paris isn’t waiting around. The French capital has already tested a “day without cars,” and has discussed banning internal-combustion cars by 2030. That makes Paris the perfect place to launch an electric car-sharing service.

The Renault Electric Z.E. Range (Image: Renault)

Renault has teamed up with the city government to give Parisians access to electric cars. The automaker hopes the to continue working with Paris officials on future mobility services. For now, Renault is deploying a fleet of electric cars in Paris that residents will be able to access 24/7.

Cars set aside for longer journeys will be kept in designated parking lots and accessed via special stations. Other cars, designated for shorter journeys, will be accessible without the stations. Available cars will include the Renault Zoe hatchback, the Twizy neighborhood electric vehicle, and the Kangoo ZE and Master ZE vans. Renault hopes to have a fleet of 2,000 vehicles in operation by the end of 2019.

As a next step, Renault and city officials will initiate a “working group,” open to other cities and companies, “whose aim will be to think collectively about the integration of changes in mobility in the city,” a Renault press release said. The automaker hopes to involve the C40 network, a coalition of some 100 cities chaired by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.

Global Plug-In Electric Car Sales Booming – Market Expands 75%

July 18, 2018Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesTrevor Larkum

Globally, plug-in electric car sales in May exceeded 159,000, which is second best result ever. A new all-time record is now expected in June.
The 159,346 deliveries reported for May translates into an outstanding growth rate of 75% year-over-year. 63% of sales came from BEVs, compared to 37% for PHEVs.

After the first five months of 2018. sales almost hit 600,000 (estimated 597,757, up 71%) at an average 1.5% market share.

The BAIC EC-Series, thanks to 12,624 sales in May, managed to move back into first place in the YTD rank with nearly 40,000 deliveries.

With such a strong contender in China, the second-generation Nissan LEAF (7,069) was left behind at #2.

Big Oil, Utilities are Lining Up for an Electric Vehicle War

July 17, 2018Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Oil, Peak Oil, PollutionTrevor Larkum

BP and Shell have bought electric-car charging companies
Power utilities are boosting sales to homes, chargers on roads

A red-hot electric vehicle market has triggered a face-off between Big Oil and utilities.

Oil majors, who’ve sold fossil fuels to cars for a century, are now moving into an electricity sector that’s preparing for exponential growth. The problem is that utilities, the primary power suppliers for a century, have the same idea.

BP Plc predicts electric vehicle sales will surge by an eye-watering 8,800 percent between 2017 and 2040, making it an attractive business for oil companies as demand for gasoline and diesel are forecast to slow. Big Oil will have to battle the traditional utilities for charging at people’s homes, on the road and even offices of green-car owners.