Don’t get spooked by the pro-fossil fuel lobby: when we abandon petrol and diesel, our whole world is going to change.

When it comes to cars, I had a bit of luck this summer. No, I wasn’t loaned the new Tesla Model 3. My street underwent a pavement improvement scheme. All the parking bays were suspended and minicabs no longer idled their engines during the night. I found myself living in an accidental Low Emissions Zone. It was wonderful.

Yet despite research telling us that even very low levels of air pollution can shorten our lives, there are plans for just six Clean Air Zones across the UK by 2019. Instead, our dreams of breathable air lie with the Electric Vehicle (EV) revolution. It’s coming to save us in, um, 23 years (new petrol and diesel cars will be banned in 2040).

Can EVs really save the day? When it comes to decarbonising, yes. Growth in electric vehicles alone could save 2m barrels of oil per day by 2025. Impressive. But there are concerns over limitations of battery technology and the rare earth minerals needed to produce them.

Those who tried to save the planet last time around by buying a diesel car and have been left with a particulate-spewing monster are obviously feeling tender. At the extreme end of EV bashing is Dirty Secrets of Electric Cars, a video from a pro-fossil fuel advocacy group connected to the global-warming-denying Koch brothers. The best I can say is that it lacks imagination.

And you need imagination when buying into the promise of electric power. This is not just swapping cars, it’s about a whole new decarbonised power structure, one that takes periodic giant leaps forwards, in battery technology, in grid and storage innovation.

Read more: The Guardian

The number of Go Ultra Low Companies has reached the century mark, as the number of the UK’s leading organisations and companies that have committed to ultra low emission (ULEV) fleets reaches 100.

One of the main criteria of GUL Company status is a declaration that at least 5% of an organisation’s fleet must be made up of electric vehicles by 2020.

New companies to sign up include OVO Energy, Santander, and Gatwick Airport, whilst organisations are also able to get involved in a project that is proving popular in the public and higher education sectors.

Swansea University and Oxford City Council have both been granted GUL Company status, all joining the likes of the London Fire Brigade, Britvic, Microsoft, Cambridge University, POD Point, and Chargemaster.

A number of those organisations listed have committed to making more than 5% of their fleet electric by 2020, with Santander wanting EVs to make up 10% of its fleet by that date – it currently runs 57 electric vehicles out of a 1,400-strong fleet. Oxford City Council has said that 7% of its fleet will be electric by the end of the decade.

Claire Perry MP, Minister of State for Climate Change and Industry, said:

“The UK is the third best country in the world at tackling climate change and we’re investing in innovative clean technologies to support the move to a low-carbon economy through our ambitious Industrial Strategy.

“This Government backs companies that make the switch to low emission vehicles through grants and incentives – it’s good for business, good for the air we all breathe and good for reducing the amount of greenhouse gas we produce.”

Read more: Next Green Car

A new study shows they can help the grid without being degraded.

One of the hottest questions among energy nerds these days has to do with the interaction of electric vehicles and the electricity grid. Will EVs remain passive consumers of electricity, like toasters or refrigerators, the way they are now? Or will they be able to communicate with the grid and send power back to it when needed?

The answer depends on both technology and economics. A new study contains reason for great optimism.

First, some quick background.

Grid nerds hope EV batteries will talk to the grid

If recent forecasts are accurate, the electric vehicle market is about to take off. The latest research on EVs from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) — which gets more optimistic every year — now estimates

“that EVs will account for 54% of new car sales by 2040, not 35% as previously forecast,” which means that “a third of the global light-duty vehicle fleet will be electrified by 2040.”

That means tens of millions of batteries floating around, storing electricity while the cars aren’t in use and releasing it when they are.

Theoretically, all that energy storage could be very useful to the grid, which needs all the storage it can get in order to integrate more variable renewable energy. It needs big, steady, long-term storage, for monthly or yearly variations in sun and wind, but it also needs fast, responsive, short-term storage, to smooth out smaller variations of seconds, minutes, or hours — to provide “voltage regulation,” “frequency response,” and other grid services (many of which are now typically provided by natural gas plants, which will have to go soon).

Read more: Vox

British roads could stand on the verge of a revolution in personal transport, according to a new study.

With the UK government becoming the latest to name 2040 as the cut-off point for petrol and diesel fuelled transport, manufacturers are finally beginning to prioritise the next generation of electronic vehicles (EVs), presenting new challenges for companies, governments, and drivers themselves.

With the EU collectively in danger of failing to meet various climate targets at present, a number of the community’s largest member states have announced measures aimed at weaning citizens off the direct consumption of petrol and diesel. Following a ban on petrol and diesel fuelled cars in France recently being scheduled for 2040, the United Kingdom has followed suit.

The governmental pushes away from petrol and diesel mean that large car producers like Volvo have an ultimatum to work toward – create electronic vehicles worth consumers’ whiles, or face becoming by-standers in the future automotive market. Change in public perception had previously pushed large manufacturers, most notably Toyota with their infamous Prius hybrid line, putting their money and brand influence behind partially electronic vehicles, however, with greater public awareness around the environmental impact of petrol and diesel, a growing variety of electric vehicles have come to the fore, enabling governments to put their trust in the industry to continue to profit in spite of their intervention.

However, while the market is moving steadily toward electrified transport, the uptake of electric vehicles could be double government estimates as early as 2020, according to new research by Baringa Partners. Researchers at the consulting firm, who called on policy makers to address issues around the integration of potentially soaring levels of EVs into the energy system, found that 18% of people said they would consider buying an electric vehicle for their next car, well above the governmental projection of a mere 9% of the UK’s road fleet by 2020.

Read more: Consultancy UK