Category Archives: FAQ

Most efficient electric cars

October 16, 2023Buying a new car, Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, Kia, Model 3, News, Reviews and Comment, Niro EV, Opinion, TeslaRepost

We crunch the numbers on the electric cars on sale today to see which come closest to hitting their advertised figures

Plenty of electric cars have impressive claimed range figures but managing to achieve them is another story. With the increasing number of EVs to choose from, buyers are hunting for the most energy-efficient electric cars to really make the most of their batteries between charges.

Electric car efficiency is measured by calculating its miles per kilowatt hour used, shortened to mpkWh. For example, a Volkswagen ID 3 with a 77kWh battery would require an efficiency of 4.5mpkWh to achieve its officially rated 347 miles of range.

A vehicle’s efficiency is affected in several different ways, with aspects such as weight proving to be a key factor in positively or negatively impacting range.

The Audi Q8 E-tron, for example, is powered by a 106kWh battery, but weighs a staggering 2585kg, meaning it can deliver only around 2.9mpkWh.

Larger, SUV-style electric cars are also usually impacted more by drag, which reduces their range compared with sleeker, more aerodynamic sports cars and hatchbacks.

The range and efficiency of electric cars are also heavily influenced by the weather conditions and outside temperatures. Warmer temperatures mean a battery’s chemical reactions can occur faster and offer higher range, whereas colder weather requires more energy, reducing range.

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Why delaying the ban on petrol and diesel cars won’t slow UK’s shift to electric vehicles

October 13, 2023Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

The UK has delayed its ban on the sale of new cars which burn petrol or diesel in internal combustion engines (ICE) from 2030 to 2035.

In some ways, this is no surprise: the original plan was to ban them from 2040, a deadline brought forward by the previous prime minister, Boris Johnson, in 2020. The new delay, confirmed this week by Rishi Sunak, had been rumoured in August.

But the decision still sends a confusing message from Sunak’s government, particularly for carmakers who on average take six-to-seven years to develop new vehicles, and need time to invest in new factories and train workers, as well as make the cars themselves.

For these manufacturers, certainty is key to their business. If they gear up to produce an all-electric fleet and suddenly buyers still want ICE vehicles and they haven’t produced enough, they will have stockpiles of unwanted cars which may have to be sold at a loss.

However, the good news is the switch to electric vehicles (EVs) is already well under way in the UK. Research suggests it may now be unstoppable – regardless of what the government does.

How new technologies replace old ones

Any new technology follows a cycle of adoption that is difficult for government intervention to interrupt. The exception is for fast-acting bans, which attempt to immediately remove products deemed dangerous or harmful from a market.

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Van drivers reckon they could save nearly £3,000 a year – by switching to electric vehicles

October 12, 2023Buying/Leasing, Electric Vans, Fleet, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Over half plan to go green within the next two years – and six in ten feel it will give them a good opportunity to do business with a more socially conscious clientele

Britain’s “white van men” are going green – with millions eyeing up an electric vehicle or a plug-in hybrid, according to research.

The average van driver reckons they could save more than £2,720 a year in fuel by moving away from petrol and diesel – and 55% predict they will be behind the wheel of an electric vehicle within the next two years.

Cllr Dermot Bambridge and Facilities Manager Stephen Wright

Six in ten also believe that driving an EV could even open up new opportunities to do more business with a socially conscious clientele.

A spokesman for GRIDSERVE, which commissioned the poll of 500 van drivers to highlight its Sun-to-Wheel EV charging solutions, said: “It’s great to learn today’s van drivers are also following the trend, and switching to electric.

“Vans are vital to the everyday running of the UK, delivering parcels and getting tradespeople to their next job – so it is essential this group sees the benefit of going green, and is adopting the technology.

“These drivers are a key part of the electric road revolution, and will make a huge impact as more and more switch to cleaner vehicles. Our calculations estimate that switching the UK’s fleet of vans to electric could save 15 million tonnes of CO2 every year.”

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UK EV market entering ‘new phase’, says SMMT

October 10, 2023Buying a new car, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has said that the UK electric vehicle (EV) market has now left the ‘early adopter’ phase.

The trade association stated that the UK EV market is now “entering a new phase” as it is anticipating the clean mobility solution to reach an almost 18% market share by the end of 2023.

EVs in the UK have been growing in popularity due to a number of incentives and legislation, particularly the 2030 ban on the sale of fossil fuel powered internal combustion engines (ICEs).

The result, according to SMMT, has seen more than 800,000 EVs registered – a staggering 21-fold increase since 2018 when it had a market share of 0.7%.

The electrification of fleets is said to be “leading” the transition, SMMT said, but the end of private consumer incentives is currently undermining mass market demand.

Highlighting this issue, the trade body’s research shows that two thirds of drivers want to go electric but are being held back by lack of incentives and infrastructure. However, when drivers do adopt an EV, nine in 10 state they would “never go back” to a conventionally fuelled vehicle.

One of the biggest issues in the adoption of EVs cited by SMMT is affordability and uncertainty regarding the availability of a nationwide charging network.

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Octopus Energy to double the export rate of its EV tariff

October 9, 2023At Home, Charging, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, OctopusRepost

Octopus Energy has confirmed that it will almost double the export rate of its electric vehicle (EV) tariff ‘Octopus Go’ to 8p/kWh.

The export rate for Octopus Go, which provides cost-effective overnight charging for EVs, was previously priced at 4.1p/kWh for exported electricity via the company’s Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) tariff.

But through the introduction of the new export tariff ‘Outgoing Fixed Lite’, those customers with solar panels and an EV will now receive 8p for each kWh exported back to the grid via vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. Octopus stated that the use of this tariff could see an average household make an additional £66 a year.

“Octopus Energy is the number one EV tariff provider for a reason. Thanks to our customers and their EVs helping balance the grid at night, we’ve continued to unlock savings to pass on to our greenest customers. Octopus Go customers with solar panels will now earn twice as much money for the energy they export back to the grid – it certainly pays to be green,” said Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, chief product officer at Octopus Energy.

Last week, Octopus Energy announced a number of initiatives to support EV drivers, including a new 15p per kWh export tariff, and a community energy EV charging partnership with Co Charger.

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As prices fall, two thirds of global car sales could be EVs by 2030, study says

October 6, 2023Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

LONDON, Sept 14 (Reuters) – Spurred by falling battery prices, electric vehicles could hit price parity with fossil-fuel models in Europe in 2024 and the U.S. market in 2026, and account for two thirds of global car sales by 2030, according to new research.

A report by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) on Thursday predicts battery costs should halve this decade, from $151 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in 2022 to between $60 and $90 per kWh, making EVs “for the first time as cheap to buy as petrol cars in every market by 2030 as well as cheaper to run.”

Batteries are expensive and account for around 40% of an EV’s price tag, a cost that has so far made them unaffordable for many consumers.

But those prices are steadily coming down as carmakers invest in new battery chemistries, materials and software to make more efficient EVs, RMI senior principal Kingsmill Bond told Reuters.

According to RMI’s analysis, the rapid growth of electric models in Europe and China “implies that EV sales will increase at least six-fold by 2030, to enjoy a market share of 62% to 86% of sales.”

EV sales in the European Union jumped almost 61% in July versus the same month in 2022, accounting for 13.6% of all car sales.

The European Union aims to ban the sale of new fossil-fuel models from 2035.

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Is faster always better when it comes to EV charging?

October 4, 2023Charging, Electric Cars, Hyundai, Ioniq 5, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

22kWh home chargers slash your charging time, but for home use they might not be worth the hassle

Power matters when it comes to charging electric cars. Generally, the more Watts, the faster the potentially tiresome business takes place.

The fastest public car chargers offer up to 400kW, nearly 130 times the power you get from a three-pin socket at home. It’s enough to fill even the largest electric car batteries in record time. A long range Hyundai Ioniq 5 for example, on a 350kW charger, can get from 10% to 80% in around 18 minutes. That’s nearly 14 miles of added range every five minutes.

Of course, if you can, it’s vastly cheaper and more convenient to charge your electric car at home. But home chargers, which use alternating current (AC) rather than the direct current (DC) of rapid public ones, are much slower. Getting a full battery is typically an overnight affair.

The slowest home chargers run at 3.2kW, though most are 7.4kW which is about the same power as your home cooker circuit. These will fully charge a car like the long range Ioniq 5 in a rather pedestrian 11 hours or so.

Faster, 22kW AC home chargers are available, though. They sound appealing and can potentially slash your charging time to a third. But is the mindset of maximising your charging power at home a fallacy? Should you buy one? Probably not, and here’s why.

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ScottishPower launches new overnight charging tariff for EV drivers

October 3, 2023Away From Home, Charging, Charging, Economy, Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Energy company ScottishPower has launched a new tariff for electric vehicle (EV) drivers with “one of the lowest overnight charging rates available”, it claims.

The EV Saver tariff allows drivers to charge their cars for 7.45p/kWh between midnight and 5am.

The company, a subsidiary of Spanish utilities giant Iberdrola, said that they want to help encourage more drivers to make the switch to electric vehicles. The new tariff adds on to an existing home charging package which comes with free AA support for 12 months.

Andy Mouat, head of smart mobility at ScottishPower, said: “Latest figures show that more than 20% of new cars sold in the UK are now all-electric and we’re here to help lead the electrification of transport by making the transition to EVs easier and more affordable.

“Our new, competitive charging tariff offers clean affordable energy for our EV-driving customers while supporting the UK’s decarbonisation journey.”

The company says it is currently investing £8 million “every single working day” in the UK to support the energy transition.

The new EV Saver Tariff is available to existing ScottishPower domestic customers who have a smart meter and opt to pay by Direct Debit, and new domestic customers joining ScottishPower on its Standard Variable Tariff (SVT) who meet the same criteria.

In August, SocttishPower’s parent company Iberdrola secured a €500 million (£432 million) loan with Citi for the construction and development of the East Anglia III offshore wind farm.

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Peugeot E-3008 is an all-electric SUV crossover with over 430 miles of range

October 2, 2023Buying/Leasing, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Peugeot, SalesRepost

The new flagship EV from Peugeot is the first to use the STLA M platform and is set to banish range anxiety forever

The Peugeot E-3008 combines the best of two worlds. This third-generation SUV crossover model is an established ICE model turned electric. However, as it uses a brand new platform the internals have been completely redesigned for electric use, rather than being a simple engine swap.

Electric versions of existing models give brand-loyal customers some reassurance when making their first move to an electric vehicle. While the use of a dedicated electric platform, like this one from Stellantis, means that the car is optimised for electric power.

The result is something that not only looks great but also offers the best range in its class – and one of the best in EVs generally. The larger 98kWh battery E-3008 promises a range of up to 700km (or 434 miles). That’s certainly enough to not worry about finding electric chargers. Even the smaller 73kWh battery will deliver 525km (326 miles).

There are a few design changes for the third generation of the 3008 that raise the profile of this car. Designed in France and built in its factory in Sochaux, Peugeot talk of this flagship model of having an allure, and you can certainly see that in the changes.

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Will Electric Vehicles Become More Affordable? Exploring the Future of EV Prices

September 29, 2023Buying/Leasing, Cost of ownership, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Electric vehicles (EVs) are gaining popularity as car manufacturers strive to make them more affordable and accessible. The emergence of mid-range EVs such as the Chevrolet Bolt EV, Nissan Leaf, Hyundai Kona Electric, and Tesla Model 3 has lowered the prices on entry-level models. This trend raises the question of whether EVs will become more affordable in the future.

Experts speculate that increasing competition, government incentives, and the drop in raw material prices, particularly lithium and cobalt, may make EVs more affordable sooner than anticipated. Bloomberg’s New Energy Finance Reports suggests that by 2025, electric cars may cost less than traditional gas-powered vehicles. The advancements in battery technology, including the growth of solid-state batteries, have improved energy storage and reduced production costs, making EV batteries more efficient and affordable to manufacture.

Infrastructure also plays a significant role in reducing EV costs. A well-developed and easily accessible charging network alleviates range anxiety and boosts confidence in EV ownership. Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology allows EV owners to return unused electricity to the power grid, providing additional cost savings.

The used EV market also contributes to affordability. As early adopters trade up for newer models, a thriving second-hand EV market emerges. Savvy shoppers can take advantage of this market to purchase electric vehicles at a fraction of the cost of a brand-new one.

Governments worldwide are introducing attractive incentives and policy changes to encourage EV adoption.

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