Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

Martyn1981

Things are stirring ...... disruption is growing!

UK plans to bring forward ban on fossil fuel vehicles to 2030

The UK is poised to bring forward its ban on new fossil fuel vehicles from 2040 to 2030 to help speed up the rollout of electric vehicles across British roads.

Boris Johnson is expected to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles this autumn with the announcement, one of a string of new clean energy policies to help trigger a green economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The government had hoped to set out the plans as early as this week, according to sources in the energy and transport industries, but the announcement will be delayed until later this year as it focuses on tackling the rising number of coronavirus cases.

The government has previously consulted on plans to bring forward the deadline on sales of new polluting vehicles from 2040 to 2035. It is now expected to take a more ambitious stance following assurances that the UK’s infrastructure will be ready to cope with the shift to electric cars.

I agree with the third, but they seem to have increased UK leccy demand by a whole order of magnitude! Perhaps they are counting demand/consumption all the way to the 2030 finish line.  ;-)

The National Grid estimates that electrifying all road transport, aside from heavy goods vehicles, would require less than a third more energy than Great Britain’s current demand of around 3,000 terawatt hours “which the grid could easily cope with”, according to Cooper.

Martyn1981

Looks like a bad day for Nikola, with the pre-market suggesting a 30%+ drop when the market opens at 2.30pm. Following the fraud claims, Trevor Milton has now stepped down. I'm not sad as I'm not sure they have actually developed anything, and may have reduced some enthusiasm and investment in BEV's, due to their questionable claims about their HFCEV technology. So the transition to cleaner, greener and more efficient transportation probably hasn't lost anything real, but I do fear that Nikola's failures will be seen (or used) by some as a reflection of BEV's, so let's just hope that those tarry brushes don't splash too much.

Head of Nikola, a G.M. Electric Truck Partner, Quits Amid Fraud Claims

Less than two weeks after signing a $2 billion deal with General Motors, the founder of electric truck start-up Nikola Corp. stepped down amid a claim that he had repeatedly lied about the company’s technology.

michaels

Hopefully none of the 2bn has been handed over and perhaps GM get the brand for free now?  Whether it is worth anything....

Martyn1981

michaels said:

Hopefully none of the 2bn has been handed over and perhaps GM get the brand for free now?  Whether it is worth anything....

GM wasn't paying Nikola $2bn, they were being given 11% of Nikola (worth $2bn) for agreeing to build vehicles for Nikola. Nikola was also to pay them $700m to equip the production line, and then buying the GM vehicles at cost+. The alarm bells for me, where that the tech was to be GM's, not the much hyped up 'super technology' that Nikola claimed to have.
So no financial loss for GM, but a massive hit to their reputation if Nikola is a fraud, and they fell for it. Also a hit for their plans to roll out EV's, which they seem to be doing as slowly as possible.

EVandPV

Hmmm, not sure I'm ok with this ......

Energy firms want the right to switch off electric cars charging at home

ttps://www.autoexpress.co.uk/electric-cars/353209/energy-firms-want-right-switch-electric-cars-charging-home

JKenH

EVandPV said:

Hmmm, not sure I'm ok with this ......

Energy firms want the right to switch off electric cars charging at home

ttps://www.autoexpress.co.uk/electric-cars/353209/energy-firms-want-right-switch-electric-cars-charging-home

The issue is not that they want to do it but why they feel they might need to do it. 

EVandPV

JKenH said:

EVandPV said:

Hmmm, not sure I'm ok with this ......

Energy firms want the right to switch off electric cars charging at home

ttps://www.autoexpress.co.uk/electric-cars/353209/energy-firms-want-right-switch-electric-cars-charging-home

The issue is not that they want to do it but why they feel they might need to do it. 

I can just see my boss's face when I phone in on a Monday morning with "won't be in today, the leccy company unplugged my car". 

Martyn1981

Extracts from this weeks carbon Commentary newsletter:

10, Car charging. An EV charging site in the east of England will be able to handle simultaneous charging of 30 cars when it opens later in the year. The park will also contain several retail outlets and an EV education centre (although I would think that most people visiting a charging park would already be pretty well informed). Locations like this, mostly powered by renewable electricity and containing shops and restaurants, will take over a large fraction of total public charging, pushing aside crowded petrol/gasoline stations with single EV chargers. Although industry participants, at least in the UK, continue to press for subsidies for charging installations, this is surely one part of the energy transition that needs absolutely no government intervention. 

silverwhistle

JKenH said:

EVandPV said:

Hmmm, not sure I'm ok with this ......

Energy firms want the right to switch off electric cars charging at home

ttps://www.autoexpress.co.uk/electric-cars/353209/energy-firms-want-right-switch-electric-cars-charging-home

The issue is not that they want to do it but why they feel they might need to do it. 

Can't say this worries me too much. Curtailment is hardly a new concept. It'll only be for certain potential peaks when those who aren't aware enough to charge at cheaper, off-peak times all plug in at 6 in the evening. That's why the requirement for smart charging has been introduced. It probably won't affect anyone here, who by and large are aware people.

EVandPV

silverwhistle said:

JKenH said:

EVandPV said:

Hmmm, not sure I'm ok with this ......

Energy firms want the right to switch off electric cars charging at home

ttps://www.autoexpress.co.uk/electric-cars/353209/energy-firms-want-right-switch-electric-cars-charging-home

The issue is not that they want to do it but why they feel they might need to do it. 

Can't say this worries me too much. Curtailment is hardly a new concept. It'll only be for certain potential peaks when those who aren't aware enough to charge at cheaper, off-peak times all plug in at 6 in the evening. That's why the requirement for smart charging has been introduced. It probably won't affect anyone here, who by and large are aware people.

You could be right there. I didn't notice notice this bit .....

"Cooper added that while “no matter what time you come home and plug your car in at, it will charge when you need it.” He did warn, however, that EV charging “will pause during that evening peak when energy is most expensive and demand on the grid is highest.”