Electric cars

Martyn1981

There's nothing like a good, clear, co-ordinated government policy on EV's, no there really isn't!

Energy watchdog accused of stalling electric vehicle rollout

The Guardian revealed earlier this year that Ofgem’s remit as regulator has remained unchanged since 2011, despite the growing public concern over the climate crisis and new legislation to establish a carbon neutral economy by 2050.

The regulator refused to allow Scottish Power to invest an extra £42m in upgrading its networks in Scotland and the north-west of England to prepare for rising demand for electric vehicles chargers.

Ofgem said customers should not have to foot the bill for the company’s plans because the proposal does not offer enough evidence for how much car charging capacity will be used in future.

The decision has reignited concern that Ofgem’s existing mandate, which aims to protect energy customers, does not factor in the need for long-term investment to cut carbon emissions.

AdrianC

PSA have confirmed EV versions of their mid-size vans will be in production next year, and given battery capacity and range figures.

Citroen Jumpy/Dispatch - Peugeot Expert - Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro - Toyota ProAce (plus the people-carrier versions of each)
50kWh giving 200km combined WLTP range, 75kWh giving 300km.

These are a chunk larger than the Nissan e-NV200 (40kWh/200km) - the Renault equivalent, the old Vivaro, is badged by Nissan as the NV300. There's a much wider range of body sizes available - 5.3-6.6m3 cargo volume rather than the Nissan's single 4.2m3. They're also available as crewcab plus 3.2-4m3 cargo, and as chassis-cabs.

No word on the price/weight/payload yet - c.1450kg payload as diesels compared to 800kg for the e-NV200.

Could this be the start of mainstream EV light commercials?

https://media.groupe-psa.com/en/groupe-psa-launch-all-electric-versions-its-compact-van-range-2020

AdrianC

Martyn1981 wrote: »

There's nothing like a good, clear, co-ordinated government policy on EV's, no there really isn't!

Energy watchdog accused of stalling electric vehicle rollout

August - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ofgem-to-reject-funding-plea-for-electric-car-support-nqmpfqh9x
...and August OFGEM press release - https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/ofgem-consults-electricity-distribution-funding-requests

Martyn1981

Nice little vid on the Uniti !

It's a small, very small BEV, 3 seater, 12-24kWh batt, and after incentives would cost approx £15k on the road.

Obviously this is at the city car end of the BEV market, but it would certainly help to lower emissions, and take up less space on (and off) the road.

Could The Uniti One Crowd-Funded Car Start An Electric Car Revolution?

AdrianC

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Nice little vid on the Uniti !

It's a small, very small BEV, 3 seater, 12-24kWh batt, and after incentives would cost approx £15k on the road.

Obviously this is at the city car end of the BEV market, but it would certainly help to lower emissions, and take up less space on (and off) the road.

Could The Uniti One Crowd-Funded Car Start An Electric Car Revolution?

Or, if you don't want to fight through some vlogger waffle...
https://www.uniti.earth/uk/uniti-one/

Oh, great. Somebody's cloud-funding to reinvent the G-Wiz, electric Aixam, and all those other battery San Permis that don't sell currently because buyers don't actually want them any more than they want the diesel versions - unless they're forced into it by incompetence and/or alcoholism in countries that give them that big break...

https://www.aixam.com/en/e-aixam-range

Martyn1981

AdrianC wrote: »

Or, if you don't want to fight through some vlogger waffle...
https://www.uniti.earth/uk/uniti-one/

Oh, great. Somebody's cloud-funding to reinvent the G-Wiz, electric Aixam, and all those other battery San Permis that don't sell currently because buyers don't actually want them any more than they want the diesel versions - unless they're forced into it by incompetence and/or alcoholism in countries that give them that big break...

https://www.aixam.com/en/e-aixam-range

You OK hun?

Martyn1981

News for the BEV'ers .... BEV'sters .... BEV'ees .... whatever.

Electric cars to get green number plates under government plan

Green coloured number plates will be issued for electric cars under government plans to encourage drivers to buy zero-emission vehicles.

The government said the new licence plates would make the least polluting cars easily identifiable and help their drivers benefit from incentives such as free parking or access to clean air zones.

AdrianC

Don't get too premature - it's only the consultation that was promised last September, closing in January.

Consultation: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/introduction-of-green-number-plates-for-ultra-low-emission-vehicles
Original announcement: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/green-number-plates-for-clean-vehicles
There's quite a lot of political uncertainty even before that date, let alone before anything would actually be introduced.

Note on page 6, point 8, that the government preference is not the whole green plate used in the media pieces, but just a green "flash" on the side, where the blue EU flash is currently.

gfplux

Martyn1981 wrote: »

News for the BEV'ers .... BEV'sters .... BEV'ees .... whatever.

Electric cars to get green number plates under government plan

Now that is clever. I come from a marketing background and anything that can make the user feel superior is a win.
Witness Apple AirPods.
I have always been surprised that the car makers have not written ELECTRIC large on their cars.

Martyn1981

gfplux wrote: »

Now that is clever. I come from a marketing background and anything that can make the user feel superior is a win.
Witness Apple AirPods.
I have always been surprised that the car makers have not written ELECTRIC large on their cars.

Great marketing in Beijing too, where there is no waiting list for an EV number plate, but ICE plates have a roughly 8yr waiting list.