Category Archives: FAQ

Investigation: Who’s driving the anti-electric car agenda… and why?

August 14, 2023Buying a new car, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

If you read the newspapers, it’s been hard to miss the negative electric car commentary that has gained plenty of column inches.

A distinct anti-EV agenda has dominated news pages recently – in the Daily Mail, The Sun and the Daily Telegraph – but is the rhetoric justified?

The negative media coverage of electric vehicles was led by a week-long series of articles in the Daily Mail.

It included front pages with headlines including ‘Put Brakes On Damaging 2030 Petrol Car Ban’ and ‘Proof Politicians Are Out Of Touch On Electric Cars’.

Even yesterday the Mail ran an article about why ‘electric cars are not as green as you think’.

The coverage has led some to question the motivations behind the papers’ headlines, with EV lobby group Fair Charge UK’s spokesman Quentin Willson describing it as ‘an incredible tirade’ and openly questioning what had triggered such ‘relentless negativity’.

In a series of exclusive interviews for this article, Car Dealer spoke to protagonists from all sides to ascertain their motivations.

Ray Massey, Daily Mail motoring editor, pointed Car Dealer to an editorial column he had written explaining his position when asked for comment.

He wrote: “The government’s blind insistence on banning new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 – and all hybrids by 2035 – is nothing short of bonkers.

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InstaVolt submits plan for ‘largest’ ultra-rapid charging hub in Brentford, London

August 10, 2023Away From Home, Charging, Charging, Electric Cars, InstaVolt, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

UK public charging network InstaVolt has announced plans for London’s largest ultra rapid charging hub in Brentford.

The site, at Syon Park, is close to the A4 and M4, will provide rapid charging for people travelling into and out of the West of London.

InstaVolt is aiming to install 10,000 rapid chargers by 2030. InstaVolt operates an open charge model allowing any EV driver to use their charging points.

The company says their new hub will be the largest ultra-rapid charging hub within the M25. The site will feature 14 160kW BYD chargers, according to the planning application on the London Borough of Hounslow website.

Ecotricity rapid charger with LCD display (Image: T. Larkum)

Adrian Keen, chief executive of InstaVolt says: “The location of Syon Park is pivotal to engaging those who live on the commuter belt and providing them with an option to charge at a site where they themselves can switch off and recharge.”

“Being able to launch a large hub with reliable charging and access to amenities Syon Park offers, is key to encouraging a change of sentiment when it comes to charging in the UK. We want EV drivers to see charging as an opportunity to rest, take in nature, or stop for a bite to eat,” Keen said.

Earlier in July, InstaVolt announced plans to build what it says will be the UK’s largest electric vehicle (EV) charging ‘Super Hub’ near Winchester.

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Tata Group confirms plans to build gigafactory for batteries in the UK

August 9, 2023Autonomous Driving, Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, Jaguar Land Rover, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

The company says the £4bn investment will create up to 4,000 new direct jobs and thousands more in the wider supply chain.

The owner of Jaguar Land Rover has unveiled plans to build an electric car battery factory in the UK.

Tata Group says it’s planning to invest more than £4bn, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declaring that the new plant in Somerset will create thousands of skilled jobs for Britons across the country.

Jaguar I-PACE Electric Car (Image: T. Larkum)

The deal is the culmination of months of talks with the government over taxpayer subsidies to fend off reported competition for the investment from Spain.

It marks a step in the right direction for UK ministers amid mounting challenges over the transition to electric powertrains, as the clock ticks down to the 2030 ban on the sale of new cars using petrol or diesel.

According to Tata Group, this marks one of the largest-ever investments in the British automotive sector, and the gigafactory will deliver half of the battery production needed by 2030.

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ELECTRIC CARS – CLIMATE SAVIOURS OR ECO-VILLAINS?

August 7, 2023Buying a new car, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Opinion, PollutionRepost

As electric car sales skyrocket, there are some tough questions to answer, writes Danny Chivers.

Owning an electric car could double your chances of getting a date.

This eye-catching claim – from car dealers Big Motoring World – gives a sense of the buzz around electric vehicles (EVs) right now. And whether or not they can ignite your love life, EVs are definitely on the rise.

Global sales of fossil-fuelled cars have been falling since 2017 – down from 86 million to 69 million in 2022. In contrast, electric car sales increased by 60 per cent in 2022 and are projected to rise further in 2023 to conquer almost 20 per cent of the global car market.

Battery electric cars are now outselling diesel cars in the UK, and make up 26 per cent of all car sales in China.

But is this definitely good news for the planet? What about all the extra mining needed for electric vehicles, and the increased electricity demand? Aren’t we meant to be switching to buses, trains and bikes, rather than building more cars?

Ultimately, is there a risk that by electrifying the car market, we’re just swapping one set of problems for another?

ARE ELECTRIC CARS THE LEAST WORST OPTION?

In a direct comparison, a battery-powered car is definitely better for the planet than a fossil-fuelled one.

We’re not just talking about cleaner air and less noise pollution in cities; internal combustion engines are highly inefficient, wasting over 70 per cent of the energy in the fuel.

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Lex Autolease report shows appetite for electric vehicles

August 4, 2023Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Almost two-thirds (60%) of drivers will move away from petrol and diesel vehicles and opt for battery technology when choosing their next car, with two-fifths (40%) set to choose a fully electric vehicle (EV).

That’s according to a new Future of Transport Report, a bi-annual analysis of the UK’s transport sector from leasing giant Lex Autolease.

It includes the Future of Transport Index, a new measure which uses a unique data set to track the level of confidence in different transport technologies and reveal how attitudes towards them are evolving.

The report reveals that drivers are shifting away from traditionally fuelled cars mainly due to the cost of ownership and their environmental impact.

Drivers are keen to go electric to avoid clean air zone (CAZ) charges (35%) and to make savings on overall maintenance and running costs (34%).

Two-thirds (66%) of respondents say it’s important that the vehicle they drive helps them reduce their environmental impact and almost as many (63%) feel that the transition to EVs is important to help the UK reach net zero.

Despite this momentum, concerns remain, particularly when it comes to access to charging infrastructure.

The availability of charging points was a significant concern for more than half of respondents (52%) followed by the length of time to charge (41%) and the logistics of installing charging infrastructure at home (31%).

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Zapmap statistics show EV charge point installation up more than 80%

August 3, 2023Away From Home, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Electric Vehicle (EV) chargepoint mapping service Zapmap has published mid-year statistics showing that the rate of chargepoint installations has increased 82% since the first half of 2022.

Cornwall Insight recently published a report suggesting that the rate of increase in chargepoints had reached 70% over the past year, but now Zapmap says deployment of chargers is taking place even faster.

In the first half of 2022, an average of 891 charge points were installed each month, a figure which has increased to 1,622 in the first half of 2023, an increase of 82%.

Zapmap calculates that there will be more than 50,000 chargepoints across the UK by the end of 2023. At the moment there are around 44,000 public charging devices across the UK, an overall growth of 36% year on year.

Almost 20% of chargepoints are rapid or ultra rapid chargers, with 8,680 of these at the end of June. Ultra rapid chargers showed the biggest year on year growth. There were 1,803 ultra rapid chargers across the UK at the end of June 2022, which has grown to 3,493 at the end of June 2023, a 94% increase.

The statistics show that charging hubs, with six or more rapid/ultra rapid chargers in one location, are also opening at a significant rate. There were 79 hubs in June 2022, which has increased to 170, with another 77 Tesla Supercharger hubs.

Ultra rapid chargers are also well distributed across the UK, with 9/12 geographical regions in the UK seeing more than 100 new ultra rapid chargers installed, with the most in the South East with 269.

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New rules to make it easier to use public electric car chargers

August 2, 2023Away From Home, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

Motorists are currently forced to use multiple smartphone apps or membership cards to access different charging networks.

Electric car drivers will only need one app to pay for public chargepoints operated by different companies, under legislation laid in Parliament.

Motorists are currently forced to use multiple smartphone apps or membership cards to access different charging networks.

BP Chargemaster Rapid Charger at Milton Keynes Charging Hub (Image: T. Larkum)

Mandating so-called payment roaming is among new Department for Transport (DfT) regulations aimed at encouraging the uptake of electric vehicles by making it easier, cheaper and more convenient to charge them across the UK.

Operators will be required to accept contactless payments at newly installed chargepoints at eight kilowatts and above, and at existing rapid chargepoints.

A standardised pence per kilowatt hour price will be mandated to enable drivers to compare the cost of using different networks.

Rapid chargepoint networks will be required to function for 99% of the time during a calendar year, and a new helpline will be launched to support motorists when something goes wrong with electric vehicle charging.

Chargepoint data will also be opened up to make it easier for drivers to check their availability.

Transport minister Jesse Norman said: “As demand for electric vehicles continues to grow, the Government wants to make sure that drivers continue to have confidence in the UK’s charging network.

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Used electric vehicle prices down 19% year-on-year

July 31, 2023Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

June marked another month of contracting prices for used electric vehicles (EVs), with the average retail value (£31,430) falling 19.1% year-on-year, new data suggests from the Auto Trader Retail Price Index.

It makes June the sixth consecutive month of year-on-year decline, with average EV prices falling by around £5,000 since January (£36,179) and nearly £9,500 since their peak in July 2022 (£40,728).

Finance and leasing terms of brand-new electric cars bought three-four years ago have ended, which has, as expected, resulted in a very strong increase in supply over recent months, particularly from fleets.

While consumer demand for second-hand EVs has been robust, up 6% year-on-year in June, it’s been unable to keep pace with the sharp increase in availability – supply was up 174% year-on-year last month.

Auto Trader says it is this imbalance that has caused prices to contract recently, as opposed to any loss in consumer appetite.

However, supply growth levels are softening. June was the lowest level in nine months and down significantly on the 303% increase recorded in January.

Used EV values beginning to stabilise

As such, despite June marking the highest rate of year-on-year price contraction recorded by Auto Trader, there are strong signs of used EV values beginning to stabilise, with June also seeing the lowest level of month-on-month price contraction (-0.9%) since August last year.

The drop in average EV prices is rapidly closing the upfront price gap between many electric models and their ICE counterparts, and in some cases, has already made them cheaper.

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Confirmed: Dacia’s tiny cheap EV is springing over to Britain

July 27, 2023Buying/Leasing, Dacia, Dacia Spring, Electric Cars, FAQ, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

Could the Dacia Spring be cheaper and more eco-friendly than walking? Well no. But it’ll be close…

Back in March 2021, Dacia gave us some Bad News. Despite offering the new Spring EV for a hilariously low price in Germany, the company resoundingly kiboshed hopes that the ultra-affordable electric supermini would make the Channel hop to UK shores.

Well guess what… there’s Good News at long last. Dacia has announced with some fanfare that it’s changed its mind. Brits will be able to buy the new entry-level EV from next year. Take that, cost of living crisis.

Prices aren’t confirmed yet, given interest rates are fluctuating more wildly than Glastonbury 2024 headliner predictions, but with a pre-grant price of around €20k in Germany, hopes are high this could be the cheapest five-door EV on British soil.

For not much money, you get not much range. Obviously. The battery is a 27kWh tiddler that manages a mere 143 miles, and with only 44bhp and a 19-second 0-62mph dawdle, it’s more placid than Tesla Plaid.

But when most UK commutes take place at 000.1mph in appalling traffic, do we care? This is like a bargain basement Honda E (with more range!). A Renault Zoe a la Primark. A more practical Fiat 500e outta the middle aisle of Lidl. It could be 2024’s most relevant car.

Why is Dacia so confident that we’ll like it? Well, it’s been watching how people in other nations use their Springs. Big Brother, anyone?

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Off-peak kerbside EV charging costs drop by 10% in one month, says AA

July 24, 2023Away From Home, Charging, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

The AA has revealed that off-peak slow kerbside electric vehicle (EV) charging in residential streets has dropped more than 10% in the past month to 33p/kWh.

According to the May 2023 AA EV Recharge Report, peak slow charging has also dropped by more than a quarter from 72p to 53p.

A reduction in the cost of kerbside EV charging is a positive for many within the industry. Previously, many had highlighted that with the introduction of the Energy Price Guarantee, home charging became significantly cheaper than public charging.

This caused issues when considering a “just transition” with this causing further EV charging disparity in the UK with those that are able to afford a driveway able to benefit from cheaper charging rates.

But with AA declaring that slow kerbside charging rates are now beginning to drop, this is a major boost for the industry and could well support the greater adoption of EVs on UK roads.

“Drivers without a driveway looking to switch to an EV will be happy to see off-peak kerbside charging now cheaper than the Energy Price Guarantee. This means they will feel some of the benefit EV owners with dedicated off-street parking have,” said Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA.

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