Are you ready for an electric car?

[pekem]

Good news for small van buyers

Vauxhall has come to an agreement with the Government that will see the future of its Ellesmere Port car plant through production of a new electric van.

Sltellantis, which owns the firm, have been locked in talks with ministers for months and the BBC reports the deal has now been signed off.

It is believed the company is investing hundreds of millions of pounds in the Cheshire plant in a move that will safeguard around 1,000 jobs.

Many plumbers and painters have bought in to Nissan’s ICE van and with the above news the deals that will be on offer for the electric version will surely be very tempting.

[phildawson (Sorry, I will have to escalate this.)]

I can see the UK gov doing this.

Victoria passes road-user tax for electric vehicles, industry reacts

Owners will have to submit odometer readings to state authorities annually, and will be at risk of having their vehicle registration suspended for non-compliance.

[HoldenCarver (Nick)]

Are they going to make cyclists pay as well?

It’s a stupid move, and I can’t see the UK government making the same mistake. They can put up taxes on alcohol or gags to compensate instead. Or just make big businesses pay some of their tax bills.

[pekem]

Probably inevitable that U.K. government will impose a tax of one kind or another at some point.
The loss of VED in future years will need to be replaced.
I think it is an astute move by the Victoria government bearing in mind that they recently introduced $3000 grant on new EVs which is on top of the non imposition of stamp duty and free registration.
Those perks will surely be the focus of buyers and not the new tax.
After a few years EV owners will have got used to the tax which will probably increase over the years as the incentives drop away.

[DaveJ (Dave)]

@HoldenCarver

They can put up taxes on alcohol or gags to compensate instead.

That’s right penalise the sex workers and those who like the kinky side of life

[pekem]

@michaelw90

I’ve been looking with a lot more intent recently at getting an EV as my next car, my current lease is up in a year, so I’ll be looking (hopefully) at an Audi E-Tron or Q4.

The problem at the moment is, the lease deals aren’t there so much on some comparable cars I’m sure this’ll change over time.

Depending of course on your personal circumstances a salary sacrifice scheme may be the way to achieve your aim.
Certainly many E-Trons on the road today are there thanks to such schemes.

[pekem]

Fingers crossed for a change of view over the next year then

[pekem]

Diesel anyone

Extraordinary growth of AFVs in June.
Pure electric cars overtook diesel’s market share in June, imagine the position in September when many existing leases mature.

[FirstRulez (David I)]

@pekem

The loss of VED in future years will need to be replaced.

In the grand scheme of things, VED does not contribute a massive amount to the UK budget:
£6.5 billion in 2019-20

Vehicle excise duty - Office for Budget Responsibility

[pekem]

You are quite right.
Fuel duty is declining and that is why the move by the Victoria State in Australia to road pricing offers a lasting remedy for them and us.
VAT on electricity used for car charging would be another tool available.

[pekem]

@michaelw90

This would be tough to enforce on people who are charging at home, so would have to be a charge on companies providing charging at service stations etc. Not unlikely, but also probably not comparable.

Priorities for the government are grid protection and cyber security and a year or so ago they launched a consultation to discover attitudes to their proposed solutions.

Chief among them was smart meters which have the ability to enable grid demand management and consumption metering.

Mention was made of “smart cables” which would provide similar functionality in the absence of a smart meter.

The BSI were tasked to provide a new standard which by now may be described to allow manufacturers to prepare for legislation.

In essence it will be possible to measure energy in to a vehicle and using the VTG ( vehicle to grid) energy out.

In the same way that I can enjoy free parking, immunity in a bus lane, exemption from VED, congestion and low emission zone charges and free electricity etc I have no doubt that all of these benefits will be gradually be lost to a regime that will in my view mean higher VAT on energy.

[davidwalton (Award Winning Hot Coral Analyst)]

In slightly electric car related news, Rimac just bought Bugatti from VW! Didn’t see that coming

[pekem]

I wonder if the Bugatti would need a different platform which VW didn’t want to develop

[pekem]

@pekem

I think that Vauxhall won’t be allowed by the competition to run on their own with that Corsa.
By the end of the year other makers, particularly those in the same stable, will have similar offers.
It is interesting how makers dropped their prices in order to qualify for the OLEV grant.

And today VW announce they are also lowering prices to allow buyers to benefit from the OLEV grant😊

"In the UK, Volkswagen`s ID.3 and ID.4 models are now offered with configurable trim levels and a range of option packs across all derivatives. Under the new pricing, two more variants have become eligible for the Government’s Plug-in Vehicle Grant.

The new pricing strategy significantly affects the ID.3. Under the new pricing, two more variants have become eligible for the Government’s Plug-in Vehicle Grant, which brings the total to six. The ID.3 Family Pro and Family Pro Performance are now both priced just under the £35,000 threshold for the £2,500 grant. These models, now priced at £33,640 and £34,960 respectively. Of course now with their new grant eligibility, these prices fall to £31,140 and £32,460 OTR. In total, seven ID. models are now eligible for the grant including the ID.4 Life Pure.

The ID.3 range has also seen a drop in UK prices with the more kitted-out versions: the highly-equipped Max and range-topping Tour have been reduced by £3,800. The Tour boasts a 77 kWh battery and 340-mile range (WLTP, combined) and is priced from £38,800.”

[pekem]

How attitudes to electric cars has changed

Tesla’s Model 3 was the Best Seller in the U.K. last month !

[pekem]

Cars/vans/taxis on the road
Battery electric and plug-in hybrid​cars/vans/taxis on the road, GB​(up to Q3 '14), UK (Q4 '14 to​date

This table shows all the plug-in hybrid and pure battery-electric cars, vans and taxis that are licensed in the UK as at the end of each of the last five quarters for which data is available.

And one reason why sales of electric cars are taking off is the cost of petrol and diesel.

The RAC Foundation have reported:

" The price motorists are paying at the pumps for petrol has hit an eight-year high.

According to government data, petrol now costs an average of £1.32 per litre across the UK.

This is is the most expensive petrol has been since the end of September 2013.

The price of petrol has risen for 32 consecutive weeks.

The price of diesel is averaging £1.34 per litre, a slight fall on the previous week.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said:

“It looks like our staycations have just got that bit more expensive.

“On top of huge hikes in the cost of holiday accommodation across the UK, motorists filling up the car for their family getaway will be faced with petrol prices at an eight-year high.

“There’s also the chance of worse to come with oil prices continuing to nudge upwards.”

Mr Gooding added that the rise in petrol prices means it was “no surprise” that more than one in 10 new cars sold in June were pure electric.

He continued: “With the oil price continuing to rise, and pump prices not far behind, it seems more and more people are doing the sums and finding that despite high purchase prices, the running costs of battery-powered vehicles really are too low to ignore.”

Average fuel costs were just £1.05 per litre of petrol and £1.12 per litre of diesel in May 2020, when the global shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic led to a collapse in the value of oil.

Since then, the cost of filling up a typical 55-litre car has risen by around £15 for petrol and £12 for diesel.”

[pekem]

Will this story in the German press be something other than a rumour

Google translation:

"AMG and Aston Martin build joint electric car platform

In addition, AMG is to bring 4 electric cars onto the market together with Aston Martin.
The first of these will be a brand new AMG GT Coupé (although this will be new in 2022), there will probably be an electric GT Coupé in 2025.”

[phildawson (Sorry, I will have to escalate this.)]

Yeah I wouldn’t be surprised either, they have a nice partnership. I mean Aston Martin are the secondary Mercedes team in F1 with the AMG engine.

[phildawson (Sorry, I will have to escalate this.)]

Talking of AMG have you see they have supplied their engine as an option in the Emira?

It’s the 2L M139 one from the A45S

Looks ace for £60k

[phildawson (Sorry, I will have to escalate this.)]

@phildawson

Gridserve announced they are upgrading and installing chargers

BBC have caught up with that story. Added a bit of cat stuck up a tree section about Toddington and brother Heston being named after Motorway services.

Electric cars: Man named after service station plans motorway ‘revolution’

More interesting the Ioniq 6 has been spied

"무조건 주문하세요" 현대 아이오닉 6 실내외 완전포착!! 버튼은 어디로?! 디자인, 예상도, 출시일, 제원, 유출부터 가격까지!