The U.K. government plans to invest more than 800 million pounds ($1 billion) in new driverless and zero-emission vehicle technology as it seeks to boost its economy while leaving the European Union.
Investment in research and new recharging infrastructure is intended to make Britain a “leader” in electric and autonomous vehicles, Queen Elizabeth II said in a speech marking the state opening of Parliament in London on Wednesday. The technology may be worth 28 billion pounds to the economy by 2035, the government estimates.
In order to deliver on that goal, the government will:
Extend mandatory vehicle insurance to cover the use of automated vehicles
Set a target for almost every car and van to be zero emission by 2050
Allow government to require motorway service areas and large gasoline stations to install electric vehicle recharging points
Require a set of common standards for charging points so they can be used widely across all vehicles
Invest 200 million pounds in researching and testing driverless car infrastructure and 600 million pounds during the course of this Parliament in supporting the ultra-low emission vehicles, sums which had been previously announced
The measures were welcomed by businesses, which had been concerned that Prime Minister Theresa May’s focus on withdrawing Britain from the European Union would push issues like air pollution down the agenda.
“It is encouraging to see the government’s desire to make the U.K. a leader in new industries and enhance its role on the world stage,”
said Nick Molho, executive director of the Aldersgate Group, an alliance of business leaders, politicians and non-profit groups that’s pressing the Treasury on environmental policies.
Morgan Stanley is betting that electric cars will corner 70pc of the European vehicle market by the middle of century, leading to a drastic upheaval for the power sector and scramble for dominance of lucrative new technologies.
After a rough start, Tesla’s sales in China are booming. It may soon manufacture in Shanghai for the world’s biggest EV market
Global banks in London and New York are no longer debating whether the switch-over will occur. Research reports have shifted to granular analysis over what this means for large swathes of the economy, and who will be the winners and losers as the old edifice crumbles.
A report this week from Nicholas Ashworth and Carolina Dores at Morgan Stanley says a ratchet effect is underway. It is becoming more costly each year to develop petrol and diesel cars that comply with tightening rules on emissions of CO2 and particulates (NOx), yet the cost of EV batteries keeps falling. The crossover point will arrive in the mid-2020s.
Somewhere along the way, throughout the history of the automobile, car interiors started to all replicate each other. Go back five or six decades and car cabins were all remarkably different, with unique ideas and ways of doing things.
However, modern cars are all very, very similar on the inside. Across brands, segments and price points, car cabins are mostly the same, in terms of overall layout, shape and technology. But there is one outlier in the industry and that’s the BMW i3.
Step into the BMW i3 and it’s almost like a different world, compared to other cars. It’s so different from anything else on the market that it’s almost unnerving. Whereas you can pretty much get in any car these days and immediately understand how to control and operate it and its systems, the i3 is different. There’s a learning curve and that throws people at first. And it isn’t even just because it’s an electric car, therefore lacking the need for conventional powertrain, as it differs greatly from every other electric car as well.
It’s sort of funny, as there have been quite a few modern cars that try and attempt a retro look with their cabins. The current Mustang, with its classic dials and dash layout, is one of them. Yet, the BMW i3 takes you twenty years into the future. There’s so much negative space, so much interior room that’s it’s almost shocking. In front of the funky two-spoke steering wheel is a single screen that displays the simplest of information and nothing more. The iDrive screen sort of floats above a section of negative space that’s often covered in eucalyptus wood and surrounded by exposed, unfinished carbon fiber reinforced plastic.
There’s nothing else like the cabin of the BMW i3 on the market. It’s fascinating and charming in a way that nothing else can come close to managing. Like it or not, there’s no denying its departure from the current car norms. This makes it one of the coolest cabins on the planet and the most interesting.
Nearly 100 plug-in cars and a stack of second-life EV batteries successfully responded to dozens of demand response calls.
The concept of using electric vehicles as a grid resource is no longer just theory. A pilot program recently conducted by BMW and Pacific Gas & Electric successfully demonstrated that electric vehicles can serve as reliable and flexible grid assets, which could eventually save money for both utilities and EV owners.
The BMW i ChargeForward Project is one of the best examples to date of a utility and an automaker working together to develop new technologies and use cases for electric vehicles (EVs) and their batteries.
“One of the things that we really wanted to test here was, how can we work closely with an automaker?”
said David Almeida, electric vehicle program manager at PG&E.
“We are an old company, and we’re a large company. Automakers are old companies, and they’re large companies. We both have our own internal bureaucracies. And so, one of the challenges I wanted to understand when we were setting this up was, how do we make those two independent entities work well together?”
“By and large, we didn’t have any of those institutional challenges that I was [worried about],” he said. “We ended up working very closely, I think partially because we’ve got this common shared goal of increasing electric transportation.”
With the i ChargeForward pilot, BMW was required to provide PG&E with 100 kilowatts of grid resources when called upon, through a combination of delaying charging for nearly 100 BMW i3 vehicles in the San Francisco Bay Area and drawing from a second-life stationary battery system built from reused EV batteries, for the duration of 1 hour. The grid services demonstrated in the pilot included day-ahead and real-time signals that were modeled after existing proxy demand resources from the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), in order to test whether these resources could eventually participate at the wholesale level.
The global market for electric vehicles has not grown as fast as Renault expected when CEO Carlos Ghosn announced a bold investment of 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion) six years ago to develop the technology, said Gilles Normand, the automaker’s senior vice president for electric vehicles.
Although most EV buyers are in cities or suburbs, increasing numbers of people in rural areas are choosing battery powered cars, Normand says.
However, electric vehicles are “clearly” the future of the automotive industry, Normand told attendees of the 2017 Automotive News Europe Congress here on Wednesday.
In 2011, Ghosn had predicted that the Renault-Nissan alliance would have the ability to produce half a million electric vehicles by 2013. Last year, total sales of electrified vehicles including pure electric and plug-in hybrids from all automakers were about 465,000.
While overall sales figures have not hit Ghosn’s early target, the alliance is the global leader with its Renault Zoe and Nissan Leaf electric cars.
Normand pointed to a number of technological and regulatory trends, including stricter clean air and emissions regulations. In China, Normand said, the “airpocalypse” is a real fact and is driving government regulations that aim to have 5 million zero emissions vehicles on the road by 2015. In India the government has announced “massive” investments and wants to see 100 percent electric vehicle use by 2030.
“Electric vehicles are a good short term answer for particulate emissions, and a long term solution for climate and CO2 emissions, together with cleaner energy generation,”
he said.
The spread of fuel economy standards around the world — 83 percent of the global automarket is bound by such standards, Norman said — is forcing automakers rethink their product offerings, he said.
The first of 33 electric vehicle charge points has gone up as the council looks to have them placed in 24 different locations throughout Brent
Brent’s first Electric Vehicle Charge Point is up and running on Dudley Road (Photo: Brent Council)
Brent council has erected its first electric vehicle charge point in the borough as it looks to tackle poor air quality.
Dudley Road is the home to the first of 33 charge points for electric cars in the area as the council aims to set them up in 24 locations.
Cabinet Member for Environment, Councilor Eleanor Southwood, said:
“This is a really proactive step forward in the move towards greener energy sources in the borough.
“We want to make it easier and more convenient for existing owners of electric vehicles in the borough and create the infrastructure so that more people are able to switch to electric vehicles in the future.
“Poor air quality is one of the biggest issues facing London and we will work hard to find innovative ways to improve air quality in Brent.
“Everyone has a part to play when it comes to reducing air pollution and we will continue to work with residents, schools and businesses to improve things in all parts of the borough.”
Volvo is to turn its Polestar unit into a global standalone brand for higher-performance electric vehicles (EVs) as it sets its sights on creating a Tesla rival.
With its product and commercial plans to be revealed in the autumn, Polestar’s brand will now be placed at the same level as that of Volvo, and its cars will no longer bear the Volvo logo. This places the brand alongside high performance, high-margin EV brands such as Tesla, and could therefore give it a marketing edge over EV sub-brands such as BMW’s i and VW’s ID. Its motorsport credentials will also likely gain new momentum, which will probably see it entering Formula E.
The brand previously was a sub-brand for Volvo’s high-performance models, acting in a similar way to sub-brands such as Mercedes’ AMG and BMW’s M. Establishing Polestar as a full brand alongside Volvo forms part of Chinese Volvo parent Geely Automotive’s ambitions to create a vast portfolio of brands to rival that of global sales leader Volkswagen Group.
Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson said:
‘With Polestar, we are able to offer electrified cars to the world’s most demanding, progressive drivers in all market segments.
Polestar will be a credible competitor in the emerging global market for high-performance electrified cars.’
Volvo veteran design chief Thomas Ingenlath, who helped realise Volvo’s sales renaissance through leading the design of models including the XC90, will be the new CEO of Polestar.
Samuelsson said:
‘Thomas heading up the Polestar organization shows our commitment to establishing a truly differentiated stand-alone brand within the Volvo Car Group.’
Ingenlath added:
‘I am really excited to take up the challenge of establishing this exciting brand, developing a fabulous portfolio of bespoke products and channelling the passion we have throughout the Polestar team.
‘The next chapter in Polestar’s history is just beginning.’
Smart has announced UK prices for its electric drive range, with the EV model line-up starting from £16,420 including OLEV’s Plug-in Car Grant (PiCG).
The smart fortwo, forfour, and fortwo cabrio are all available to order as EVs
The smart fortwo electric drive is the entry point to the range, with the larger forfour electric drive starting at £16,915, and the fortwo cabriolet electric drive starting at £18,650 – both including PiCG.
On sale now, smart is the only brand that has an entire portfolio with a choice of internal combustion or fully electric drivetrains. Powering the rear wheels, a 60kW (81hp) electric motor is used in all three models, with an official range of 99 miles for the fortwo electric drive and 96 miles for the other two models.
All versions have a top speed of 81mph, and complete the 0-62mph sprint in 11.5 seconds. A standard 7 kW on-board charger will be able to charge the 17.6 kWh battery used in all three models in around two and a half hours, or six hours from a three-pin plug.
Standard kit includes heated front seats, cruise control, leather seats, 15-inch alloy wheels, rear parking sensors, and sat-nav with infotainment system. EV specific elements include a sound generator for pedestrian safety at low speeds, cables for home and public charging, and use of the smart control app for pre-conditioning and charging use through a smartphone.
The smart electric drive range is on sale now, with deliveries expected from July.
New Bill unveiled in Queen’s Speech to require charging points to be fitted at services and fuel stations, support driverless cars and keep insurance claims simple
Renault ZOE
Motorway services and petrol stations may be forced to install electric charging points as part of Government plans to ensure the UK
“remains a world leader in new industries”.
An Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill will be introduced to encourage the use of electric and self-driving cars, the Government announced in the Queen’s Speech.
The first all-electric car to be built in the UK rolled off of the production line in 2013, and the Government wants
“almost every car and van to be zero-emission by 2050”.
Of more than 36.7 million licensed vehicles in the UK, just over 100,000 have been purchased with help from a government plug-in car grant.
Registrations of electric vehicles are increasing, with 13,800 being registered in the first quarter of 2017, a 17% rise on the same period the year before.
Plans to fund the additional electric charging points have not yet been announced, although the Government said it was committed to spending £600m during this Parliament to support the ultra-low emissions market.
The new law also aims to support British manufacturing and innovation by allowing self-driving cars to operate in the country.
Volkswagen (VW) is to send its microbus-styled minivan, previewed at the Detroit Auto Show early in 2017 as a concept named the I.D Buzz, into production as an electric vehicle (EV).
The news comes as part of the German manufacturer’s push to market a wide range of EVs under the I.D electric car sub-brand.
The concept is based around an update of the classic VW Transporter, and VW brand chief Herbert Diess told UK magazine Auto Express:
‘Emotional cars are very important for the brand. We are selling loads of Beetles still, particularly in US markets. But we will also have the Microbus that we showed, which we have recently decided we will build.’
The production version will be based on the company’s Modular Electric Drive (known as MEB) platform, which was first shown at the Paris Motor Show in 2016, where the I.D branding was launched with a compact car. The Buzz concept features an electric motor at each axle, which produced around 369bhp total, with a claimed range of 372 miles and an 80% recharge time of 30 minutes. It is unknown how these figures will hold up in the production version.
The concept version also featured extensive autonomous technology, which is currently not ready for use on roads in Europe, but is under development. The model is expected to arrive in showrooms by 2022, with multiple versions likely to be offered, and could include a camper and pickup truck version to tie in with the original Bus model of the 1960s. It will join the I.D CROZZ, an electric SUV planned for launch in 2020.
