Category Archives: Opinion

Car dealers ‘already seeing drop in aftersales uptake due to increased electric car sales’

November 24, 2023Buying a new car, Electric Cars, FAQ, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

Car dealers are being urged to prepare for increased EV sales
EMaC predicts those without robust processes will risk losing aftersale revenue
It estimates some dealers have already seen aftersales absorption drop 50 to 60%

Car dealers are being urged to prepare for the acceleration of EV sales in 2024 by having processes in place to secure aftersales work.

EMaC, which specialises in automotive retentions, estimates that some car dealers are already seeing 50 to 60% fewer aftersales absorption rates because of increased EV sales.

Manufacturers will be facing pressure next year to ensure that more than a fifth (22%) of their cars sold are electric, which will gradually increase to 100% by 2035 under the ZEV mandate.

However, with fewer consumables in an electric vehicles, car dealers could lose out if they aren’t prepared with processes that can ensure aftersales work from each sale, said EMaC.

Serkan Obuz, EMaC director for maintenance plans, commented: ‘With EVs already accounting for one in six of all new cars sold, franchised dealers run the risk of taking a major hit to their workshop revenues unless they have processes in place ahead of the ZEV mandate.

‘Across the sector, we estimate dealers without strong retention strategies are already seeing aftersales absorption rates reducing to around 50-60% because of increased EV sales.

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Researchers make surprising discovery about lifespan of EV batteries: ‘That was a shock’

November 13, 2023Charging, Electric Cars, Leaf, News, Reviews and Comment, Nissan, OpinionRepost

A dead, irreplaceable battery is often the demise of an otherwise perfectly good piece of equipment, and it can be incredibly frustrating. New research shows, however, that the opposite may be true when it comes to the batteries running electric vehicles.

The Globe and Mail reports that a study done in March by Recurrent Motors Inc. — a Seattle-based battery analysis company — showed that overall, EV batteries are actually very reliable and long-lasting. In fact, they may last longer than the vehicles themselves.

The study took real-world data from 15,000 EVs of various makes and models in the U.S. By linking to the vehicles’ connectivity systems, the company took several battery readings daily, including charging activity, EV battery level, and estimated range.

The data showed that most EVs driven close to 100,000 miles still have at least 90 percent of their original range left.

“I was surprised how well batteries are holding up, and how relatively infrequently batteries are being replaced,” Liz Najman, researcher and marketing manager at Recurrent and the study’s author, told The Globe and Mail. “That was a shock.”

The publication did report, however, that Najman made sure to point out that individual vehicles vary and that Recurrent’s data is constantly evolving. This is mainly because most EVs aren’t that old, with nearly 30 percent currently on the road in the U.S. being sold just last year.

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Shock of the old: the amazing, infuriating history of the electric car – in pictures

November 8, 2023Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

Believe it or not, battery-powered vehicles have been around since Victorian times – everything from private automobiles to taxis, ambulances and tricycles. We’ve got the photos to prove it

The history of the electric car is surprisingly enraging. If you imagine early electric vehicles at all (full disclosure: I didn’t until recently), it will probably be as the quixotic and possibly dangerous dream of a few eccentrics, maybe in the 1920s or 1930s, when domestic electrification became widespread. It’s easy to imagine some stiff-collared proto-Musk getting bored of hunting and affairs, eyeing his newly installed electric lights speculatively, then wreaking untold havoc and mass electrocutions.

The reality is entirely different. By 1900, a third of all cars on the road in the US were electric; we’re looking at the history of a cruelly missed opportunity, and it started astonishingly early. The Scottish engineer Robert Anderson had a go at an electric car of sorts way back in the 1830s, though his invention was somewhat stymied by the fact rechargeable batteries were not invented until 1859, making his crude carriage something of a one-trick pony (and far less useful than an actual pony).

Vintage cars converted to electric power shown at Fully Charged Live (Image: T. Larkum)

It’s debatable whether Scotland was ready for this brave new world anyway: in 1842, Robert Davidson (another Scot, who had, a few years earlier, also tried his hand at an electric vehicle) saw his electric locomotive Galvani “broken by some malicious hands almost beyond repair” in Perth.

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Salary sacrifice drivers choose an electric vehicle to ‘save money’

November 7, 2023BMW, Buying a new car, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

Almost eight out of 10 drivers said that they chose an electric vehicle (EV) in order to save money, according to new research from Tusker.

Furthermore, 89% of EV drivers said that they were satisfied with their car, while two-thirds (66%) of petrol drivers want to order an EV in the next four years with costs a key motivator for drivers to make the switch.

Tusker says that oil prices have risen in the UK in 2023, driving the cost of petrol up to its current average of £1.56/ litre across the UK.

The current uncertainty in the Middle-East could drive prices even higher in the coming months.

Conversely, the cost of EV charging has dropped by up to 19% at peak times, and 15% for off-peak charging, says Tusker.

In a like-for-like comparison a driver of a VW Golf 1.5 TSI driving 10,000 miles per year would pay £1,491.39 in fuel. A VW ID3 driving the same distance would cost just £741.35 in charging, says Tusker, equating to a saving of £750.04.

Even if the ID3 driver charged exclusively at more expensive public rapid charging stations, the ID3 driver would still enjoy £255.39 in savings at the end of the same period, it added.

Paul Gilshan, CEO of Tusker, said: “Our survey has shown that our drivers value the cheaper running costs of EVs, and that value for money is a priority for many.

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Opinion: the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N’s fake gear shifts are… actually quite fun

November 2, 2023Electric Cars, Hyundai, Ioniq 5, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

The electric hot hatch prototype came to Speed Week and won over the cynics

When I drove the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N on ice earlier this year, a crucial element was missing. Actually, several were. Friction, for one thing. I gained no meaningful knowledge of how the car rode, stopped or handled. I couldn’t see how it looked, because it was still wrapped in disguise.

But mainly, the noise was missing. ‘Noise, in an EV? Course there wasn’t any,

you fool’ shouts the corner of the internet which comments before engaging brain.

The Ioniq 5 N is a very noisy EV. In N mode, it summons various soundtracks, from one imitating a modern turbocharged hot hatch roar to more futuristic spaceshippy tones. N mode also brings up a ‘rev counter’ on the instrument readout, complete with wavering needle, redline, and the re-gen adjustment paddles behind the chunky steering wheel have all of a sudden become ‘gearchangers.’

So, you can hit an imaginary redline. You can bang up through the imaginary gearbox or blip some imaginary downshifts. The noise barks and crescendos. The revs flare and blip. And though the cynical part of your brain is screaming ‘this is all fake, rendered purely for my entertainment’, the petrolhead part of your brain won’t care. Because it’s having more fun than it could in a silent EV.

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How China’s EV Boom Caught Car Companies Napping

October 31, 2023Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Opinion, TeslaRepost

Auto execs in the US, Europe, and Japan never thought Chinese EVs were a threat. Now they’re coming to wipe the floor with their Western counterparts.

“You won’t believe what’s coming,” warned the title of a January 2023 video from the Inside China Auto YouTube channel. “Europe’s premium car makers aren’t ready for this,” warned another video from the same channel, uploaded in July.

Produced by Shanghai-based automotive journalist Mark Rainford, a former communications executive for Mercedes-Benz, the channel is one of several by China-based Western commentators agog at what they are seeing—and driving.

The channels tell salivating viewers that the tech-heavy yet keenly priced Chinese electric vehicles that have appeared on the domestic market since the end of the global pandemic will soon wipe the floor with their Western counterparts.

After a rough start, Tesla’s sales in China are booming. It may soon manufacture in Shanghai for the world’s biggest EV market

Auto executives in Europe, America, and Japan “didn’t believe China’s car companies could grow so fast,” Rainford told me. “That’s an easy mistake to make from outside the country. You see a lot of stories about China—they don’t hit home until you live here and experience it.”

Rainford worked at Mercedes-Benz for eight years—in the UK, Germany, and latterly China—and has lived in China, in two stints, for five years. He started his YouTube channel to cater to the growing interest in Chinese cars from overseas. His most popular video—“Think You Know Chinese Cars? Think Again.

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“Electric cars must not become pawns in a divisive culture war”

October 27, 2023Electric Cars, FAQ, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

Andy Palmer sees the incorrect reporting of the Luton Airport fire as yet more evidence of the politically charged debate around electric vehicles

Those of us who have been in and around the automotive industry for long enough have witnessed the evolution of cars from mere means of getting from A to B, to symbols of innovation, status, and, more recently, pawns on a political chessboard.

The transition towards electric vehicles marks a significant development, not just technologically, but socio-politically too. The recent fire in a car park at Luton Airport, which was widely attributed as starting in an electric vehicle without any solid proof or evidence, is a prime example of the dangerous misinformation that underpins the political dialogue surrounding EVs. It was later reported by a number of media outlets that the fire was, in fact, caused by a diesel vehicle.

Despite that, the ‘electric vehicle fire’ narrative quickly became a trending topic in the public debate surrounding the adoption of EVs, with EV sceptics using it as an example of the ‘dangers’ posed by these vehicles. X, once known as Twitter, was pulsing with speculation that the fire had started from an electric vehicle, with some users pointing to previous, unrelated, fires associated with EVs as apparent evidence of this.

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What is the ZEV Mandate?

October 25, 2023Buying/Leasing, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Opinion, PollutionRepost

New legislation being implemented in 2024 will require car manufacturers to meet targets for new electric car sales, which could result in big discounts being available…

In September 2023, the UK Government announced that the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars would be pushed back from 2030 to 2035.

However, at the same time, it confirmed that the Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate that was previously only a proposal would be implemented from 2024. And this could mean that the transition to electric cars still happens quite quickly.

Here’s everything you need to know about the mandate – and how it could potentially save you a lot of money on an electric vehicle (EV).

What is the ZEV mandate?

The ZEV Mandate is a legal requirement for car manufacturers to meet targets for new EV sales in the UK.

This means that in 2024, 22% of cars sold by each manufacturer must be fully electric. This will then rise to 28% in 2025, 33% in 2026, 38% in 2027, 52% in 2028, 66% in 2029 and 80% in 2030.

The Government is still finalising the targets between 2030 and 2035. However, it’s rumoured that the mandate will rise to 84% in 2031, 88% in 2032, 92% in 2033, 96% in 2034 and 100% in 2035.

If car makers exceed their EV annual sales targets, they can bank allowances for use in future years or trade them with other firms that have fallen short. In 2024, manufacturers can borrow up to 75% of their annual target.

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The world needs cheap electric cars. That spells trouble for big carmakers

October 20, 2023Cost of ownership, Economy, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Opinion, PollutionRepost

In 1913, Henry Ford’s moving assembly line transformed carmaking. Ford’s groundbreaking innovation drastically reduced the time it took to assemble a car, enabling mass production and slashing vehicle prices.

More than a century later, carmaking is undergoing a similarly seismic shift. Only this time, Ford Motor Company (F) is scrambling to catch up, rather than leading the charge.

Electric vehicles represent a fundamental shift in the technologies and manufacturing processes that have turned Ford and rivals such as Toyota (TM) and Volkswagen into the biggest car companies on the planet.

Established automakers have been racing to adapt at an enormous financial cost, but are still miles behind Tesla (TSLA) and a crop of new Chinese competitors, including BYD and Xpeng (XPEV).

The world needs affordable EVs more than ever as electric cars will play a big role in hcelping countries cut planet-heating pollution. But can automakers in Europe and the United States — where governments are already planning to ban or limit the sale of new gas and diesel cars — deliver them?

“Ultimately, some of these car companies that have been the cornerstone of how we’ve thought about cars for the last 100 years will be a fraction of their size in future,” said Gene Munster, a managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management.

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New AutoMotive: Why we’re refusing to throw in the towel and get the UK back on track to 2030

October 19, 2023Buying/Leasing, Charging, Economy, Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, Hyundai, News, Reviews and Comment, Opinion, PollutionRepost

Last week, Rishi Sunak confirmed that he will reverse certain green targets. Amongst several policies that Sunak was willing to cut or delay, the phase out of petrol and diesel cars was put on the chopping block, with a confirmed five-year delay despite the [Conservative] government’s original target.

This move is not only unpopular with motorists, industry, and the wider public – it also raises economic concerns and threatens vital aspects of Britain’s industrial strategy moving forward.

From January 2018, no more new diesel taxis will be licensed in London

Electric vehicles are undeniably cheaper to run, contribute to improved air quality due to their lack of tailpipe emissions, and are increasingly preferred by drivers over their combustion counterparts. Our data at New AutoMotive shows that the UK could achieve an 85% electric vehicle (EV) market share by 2028 and is making consistent progress toward the goal of 300,000 public charge points. The UK is also the fifth best prepared nation for the EV transition, thanks to sensible and fact-driven policies implemented by Sunak’s predecessors.

Reacting to the news, the UK motor industry has criticised plans to water down policies. Kate Brankin, the chair of Ford UK, noted that the industry has already made considerable investments to meet the 2030 deadline, with a $50 billion commitment from Ford alone.

We were clear in our response that delaying the 2030 deadline would pull the rug out from under motorists and industry, and would deal a hammer blow to the UK’s leadership on climate change.

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