Category Archives: Buying/Leasing

EU approves 2035 ban on selling petrol and diesel cars

March 3, 2023Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, FAQ, News, Reviews and Comment, PollutionRepost

No more emissions from 2035 for cars and vans sold in Europe

The EU has today voted to approve legislation effectively banning the future sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans. In order to sell vehicles in Europe, carmakers will have to cut emissions by 100 per cent by 2035 compared to 2021 levels, which means that all new cars and vans are going to be CO2-emission-free.

Though carmakers with small production numbers – less than 1,000 cars annually – will have exemption until 2035, mass production manufacturers are being encouraged with some pretty big carrots to create zero-emission and “well-performing plug-in hybrids” between 2025 and 2029. The 2035 zero-emissions standard is more aggressive than originally planned.

EU spokesperson Jan Huitema said: “This regulation encourages the production of zero- and low-emission vehicles. It contains an ambitious revision of the targets for 2030 and a zero-emission target for 2035, which is crucial to reach climate neutrality by 2050.

“These targets create clarity for the car industry and stimulate innovation and investments for car manufacturers. Purchasing and driving zero-emission cars will become cheaper for consumers and a second-hand market will emerge more quickly. It makes sustainable driving accessible to everyone.”

In a campaign entitled ‘Fit for 55’, the EU is aiming to reduce CO2 emissions by 55 per cent by 2030 compared to 2021 levels. To support this, passenger cars and light commercial vehicles sold from 2030 and 2035 respectively will have to comply with new emissions standards by law.

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6 reasons to drive an EV

February 28, 2023Buying a new car, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, PollutionRepost

Sometimes, picking a new car is as simple as seeing a vehicle you just know you want. More often, it’s a complicated decision where you weigh up a range of factors before selecting the best option for you. If you’re in this position, here are six electric car advantages to make you think EV.

You’re helping the environment

One of the main EV benefits is the reduced environmental impact they have on our world. Electric cars aren’t completely free of CO2, though. A lot of the electricity they use comes from non-renewable sources. Plus, they have to be built and transported, which is likely to involve emissions as well.

However, it seems safe to say that they are still a lot better for the environment than petrol or diesel engines. It generally produces less CO2 to create energy in a power station than it does to do it in a car engine. And some of your electricity will likely come from renewable sources as well.

“The response from police drivers to the BMW i3 has been very positive. It’s actually a very quick car.”

On top of that, an electric engine is around **three times for efficient** than a petrol engine in terms of how it uses its. All in all, you can be confident you’re making a difference.

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Fact or fiction: the truth about EVs and fleets

February 22, 2023Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, Fleet, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

When it comes to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), fleet decision-makers tend to be among the best-informed people in the country.

And they need to be: fleets are setting the pace when it comes to electrification as organisations strive to lower emissions and costs and be ahead of the game when it comes to the 2030 ban on the sale of conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans.

However, not all fleets and company car drivers are enthusiastically embracing the technology.

Some of their opposition is rooted in traditional arguments against BEVs, such as cost, insufficient driving range and confusion over types of charging cables and the number of apps needed to charge a vehicle on the public network.

In this feature, we look at six of the most common concerns, in a bid to examine what the truth is and help fleet decisionmakers accelerate their transition to BEVs.

1 EVs are too expensive

When considered purely from the point of the vehicle purchase price, this would be a borderline open and shut case: as a general rule, BEVs typically have a retail price several thousand pounds higher than their petrol or diesel counterpart.

These increased prices are also reflected in their lease rates, making an electric car seemingly more expensive to add to a fleet than an ICE (internal combustion engine) model. The difference in cost for a zero-emission van is even higher.

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Help middle-class drivers make the switch to used EVs, says Auto Trader

February 14, 2023Buying/Leasing, Cost of ownership, Electric Cars, I-PACE, Jaguar Land Rover, News, Reviews and Comment, TeslaRepost

Middle-class households will need incentives to buy used EVs in order to meet climate targets.

That’s according to Auto Trader, which says the government is falling short on making the uptake of used cars, particularly used ones, attractive, unlike abroad.

Used EV demand is said to be dropping thanks to increasing electricity prices, and the cost of used EVs, especially luxury ones, has dropped, with The Times reporting the average price of a used Jaguar I-Pace, pictured, to have decreased by 14.6 per cent in a year, while the Tesla Model X is down by 12.1 per cent.

Meanwhile, the price of a used Nissan Leaf has gone down by 1.6 per cent, while the cost of a Smart ForTwo has dropped by 1.3 per cent.

Jaguar I-PACE at Fully Charged Live show (Image: T. Larkum)

A working group has been set up by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles to look at the used EV market, including how to stimulate demand, and Auto Trader warns in a report that ‘with supply ahead of demand, the used electric vehicle market needs urgent attention to address the imbalance’.

Auto Trader brand director Marc Palmer was quoted by The Times as saying: ‘What we really need is more mainstream demand.

‘We need middle-income households to be able to access electric cars and to be reassured electricity is OK.

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EVs soften car crash

February 10, 2023Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, FAQ, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

BRITISH car production slumped to the lowest level since the 1950s in 2022 with 775,914 vehicles coming off production lines.

The sharp decline was caused by a crippling shortage of semiconductors, factory closures and supply chain issues caused by Covid lockdowns in China.

However, electrified vehicles continued to boom and accounted for almost a third of cars which, according to industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, was worth £10 billion in exports alone.

In 2022, UK factories turned out a record 234,066 battery electric (BEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and hybrid (HEV) electric vehicles, with combined volumes up 4.5 per cent year-on-year to represent 30.2 per cent of all car production.

Total BEV production rose 4.8 per cent, with hybrid volumes up 4.3 per cent, and boosting output of these vehicles will be critical in the attainment of net zero, for both the UK and major overseas markets.

Overall, the annual total was 84,561 units down on 2021 and 40.5 per cent off the 1,303,135 cars made pre-pandemic in 2019, equivalent to a loss of more than half a million cars.

The figures come as fresh SMMT analysis confirms the increasingly important role of electrified vehicle production to the UK economy, especially the value of exports.

Since 2017, the value of BEV, PHEV and HEV exports has risen seven-fold, from £1.3 billion to more than £10 billion.

As a result, electrified vehicles represent 44.7 per cent of the value of all UK car exports, up from a mere 4.1 per cent.

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Mythbusting the world of EVs: are energy prices killing electric cars?

February 9, 2023Charging, Cost of ownership, Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

With electricity prices on the rise, what’s cheaper? And what’s the underlying issue at play here?

MYTH: “Energy prices are killing EVs”

Spiking electricity prices have brought a spate of screaming headlines: “Shock – charging an electric car is as expensive as refuelling a diesel.” Yes, on average, the electricity price has gone skyward. But it’s still easy to travel cheaper per mile than diesel, and actually the public charger price is falling from its peak. Like the diesel price, which you might have noticed also had a convulsion.

Actually you could have done an ‘electricity dearer than diesel’ trip any time in the past three years. Underlying all this is the extreme – and extremely upsetting – variability at any given time of electricity prices. The dearest high power DC chargers, Ionity, have been 69p/kWh since they began trading three years ago. That’s well over 20p a mile, meaning if a diesel is doing better than 40mpg it’s cheaper.

But no one regularly charges at those. If you use public (not home) 7kW AC you’ll probably be around half that Ionity rate. If you plug in at home and have a tariff that responds in real time to local demand, you might still pay perhaps 10p/kWh overnight, or about 3p a mile.

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“Electric cars should make up 1 in 4 sales by next year” – 2023 wish list

January 31, 2023Buying a new car, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

As EVs continue to improve at a rapid rate, Richard Ingram believes that buyer demand should grow even faster

The march of electric cars has begun. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for 16.6 per cent of the market in 2022 – up 40.1 per cent on the previous year. This is a landmark moment as BEVs have overtaken diesels in popularity and are now Britain’s second most popular powertrain. Add in PHEVs and more than one in five cars registered was fitted with a plug.

While supply constraints continue to suffocate the new-car market, demand for new electric vehicles shows no sign of slowing. December alone revealed a zero-emission share of almost 32.9 per cent – a record for the year – suggesting that over the next 12 months, accelerating past one in four is virtually guaranteed.

As editor of Auto Express’s sister site DrivingElectric.com, I’m admittedly a little biased. But having been driving EVs day in, day out for the best part of three years now, I’ve seen just how far these cars have come. Their range and charging are improving at an astonishing rate, and while the public infrastructure needs work, the comfort, convenience and environmental benefits are clear.

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One in three cars sold in December were electric vehicles, says New AutoMotive

January 30, 2023Buying a new car, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) ended the year strong with its highest market share in December as one in three cars where EVs, according to New AutoMotive.

Sales of BEVs for the whole year stayed strong and manage to increase 38% compared to 2021,

despite a decrease in sales of cars in the UK market.

During the month of December there were 39,780 BEVs registered which represented 34% of the total of all cars sold, while 27,605 hybrids were sold during the last month of 2022 and improving on November’s sales which stood at 24,748 BEVs registered.

Electric cars continue to be the fastest growing segment of the market, with 250,407 BEVs registered in 2022 and bringing its cumulative total to more than 610,000 at the end of December.

In contrast is the continued decline of fossil fuel vehicles with petrol market share dropping below 40% in December for the first time since at least 2010. The decline of sales from petrol cars will continue in 2023 as buyers transition to electric options.

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Mythbusting the world of EVs: can we move forwards without arguing?

January 23, 2023Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

Making positive noises about electric cars doesn’t take away from all other cars

MYTH: “We must argue to progress”

If you say anything positive about an electric car, either online or in an actual human conversation, people often get surprisingly agitated, as if you’re ramming electric vehicles down their throats. They say “I couldn’t manage with an electric car”, in a tone that implies, “So all electric cars are fundamentally a bad thing”.

The purpose of this series of articles is to show that a lot of perceived objections to electric cars are actually myths. I believe electric cars are more suitable for more people than many people think. But to be clear I am definitely not saying they’re for everyone. So why the hostility?

Pictured: TRO has designed the first of its kind Electric Vehicle Experience Centre, launching in Milton Keynes in spring

If I turn up in a two-seat car, people don’t harrumph, “I have five kids so two-seaters are a thoroughly bad idea”. Caravan owners don’t get riled up by the simple existence of superminis, it’s just that they buy for themselves something more capable of towing. When I review a petrol car with a 350-mile fuel tank, I don’t get comments saying “My diesel goes 800 miles, so all petrol cars are obviously a conspiracy against ordinary motorists”.

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‘Owning an electric car is now cheaper than a petrol car’

January 5, 2023Cost of ownership, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

That includes the total cost of maintenance, according to new data

In almost all of Europe, owning an electric car is now cheaper than a petrol or diesel one.

That’s according to analysis by LeasePlan, claiming that although electric vehicles (EVs) cost more to buy, this is offset by lower running costs, less maintenance and less to charge up.

The report revealed that “EVs in nearly every segment and European country are now the same price or cheaper on a total cost of ownership basis than petrol or diesel cars.”

The only nations where an EV was still considerably more expensive were the Czech Republic, Italy and Poland.

From a UK perspective, the total monthly cost of running a new EV stood at £790, whilst a petrol car cost £820 and a diesel vehicle £809.

This was even more stark in the nation’s neighbours France – with a cost of £632 for an EV, £778 for diesel and £747 for petrol.

The study also revealed that charging at home was always cheaper than public chargers.

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