Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

Coastalwatch

A great product when used appropriately, sadly it's not always the case as the situation below describes. Other than a cycle lane I'm not convinced they are appropriate for use on the road, at least I wouldn't feel safe aboard one, or on the pavement where they prove to be a hazard to pedestrians. I wonder what the future holds for them!

Paris considers ban on electric scooters after pedestrian’s death

Some 15,000 devices are available for rental across the city, where they are supposed to travel no faster than 20 km/h with one rider only, and only on streets or bike paths.

Critics say those rules are hardly enforced, and abandoned scooters are often seen scattered on sidewalks and squares.

“Either the situation improves significantly and scooters find their place in public areas without causing problems, in particular for pedestrians, or we are studying getting rid of them completely,” deputy mayor David Belliard, in charge of transportation, told AFP late on Tuesday.

“Other cities have done it,” he said, citing the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux as well as New York and Barcelona.

https://www.thelocal.fr/20210630/paris-considers-ban-on-electric-scooters-after-pedestrians-death/

Grumpy_chap

Well the issue with E-Scooters is that the product is ahead of the rules keeping up.  If there were some rules, then suitable constraints could be put in place to make their use safer (for riders and others).  Having no rules (other than not allowed to be used full stop) is too far behind the curve and it means that individuals are breaking the law whether using the scooter safely or recklessly, so might as well be reckless.

QrizB

Grumpy_chap said:

Well the issue with E-Scooters is that the product is ahead of the rules keeping up.

I can't speak for Paris but there are relevant rules in the UK. If an e-scooter meets the requirements to be a bicycle (pedals etc.), it's an electrically-assisted cycle; if not it's a motorbike.

https://www.gov.uk/electric-bike-rules

The problem is that the VCs seeing big profits in e-scooter rental don't want all the hassle that goes with motorbikes (insurance, registration, licences, helmets).

michaels

I don't see that e-scooters (at least if with sensible limits on speed and power) should be regulated any differently to bicycles.

Martyn1981

Lots of good BEV numbers in Europe (again) for the last months sales, but a particular standout seems to be Sweden, where the impressively high PEV figure is starting to swing from PHEV's towards BEV's (24.1%) for June, and a total teasingly close to 50%.

Sweden Hits Record Plugin EV Share Of 49.4% In June

Sweden saw plugin electric vehicle market share reach a record high of 49.4% in June 2021, up almost 2x from 25.7% share in June 2020. Thanks to recent policy re-weightings, full electrics are now as popular as plugin hybrids, and may soon overtake them after July’s additional policy change. The best selling full electric in June was the MG ZS EV, a first for the brand. Overall auto sales showed strong recovery, up some 9% from even June 2019’s pre-Covid result.

PS - Tesla deliveries for Q2 2021 exceeded 200k for the first time.

Martyn1981

Have I missed this, don't remember it being mentioned?

Vauxhall owner in plan to produce new electric van at Ellesmere Port

The Vauxhall owner Stellantis is poised to announce plans to build a new electric van at its Ellesmere Port plant, securing the immediate future of the site.

The company has been in talks with the UK government over financial support for further investment in the factory on the Wirral in north-west England, which has been considered in jeopardy since the Brexit vote.

Stellantis, formed this year by the merger of Peugeot and Chrysler, has decided to invest in switching the plant from producing the Astra to a new model of electric van. An announcement could come as soon as next week.

Martyn1981

Norway continues to lead the charge as it electrifies the PEV market. They've hit 65% BEV's in June, and around 20% of the whole fleet now has a plug.

Norway’s Plugin EV Share Hits 85% In June, Combustion Vehicles Falling Rapidly

By 2030, Norway could be down to as little as 10% of the vehicle kilometres driven being powered by fossil fuels, compared to pre-electrification. The exact figure will depend on how quickly Norway gets to effectively 100% of fleet additions being full BEVs, or whether PHEVs stick around at 5% or 10% of new sales for a longer time.

Either way, a 90% drop in fossil fuel use by 2030 is a welcome trend, and is now being followed (a few years behind) by Sweden, Netherlands, and, later, the larger European markets of Germany, France and the UK, and ultimately all of Europe and elsewhere too.

michaels

An EV is best selling car in the UK again this month:
UK new car registration data, UK car market - SMMT

Martyn1981

Loads of numbers jumped out at me in this article, which may be important to the psychological acceptance / domination of EV's ...... or irrelevant, but still fun.

So we have BEV's looking solid at 10%+ of sales now going forward.
Then there's PEV's just about hitting 25%.
Diesel slips below 20%.

Germany At 23.6% Plugin EV Share In June, Tesla Model 3 Bestselling EV

Germany, Europe’s largest auto market, saw plugin electric vehicles take 23.6% share in June 2021, up almost 3x from 8.6% share in June 2020. The bestselling EV in June was the Tesla Model 3, at over 4,400 units, though the diminutive Volkswagen e-Up! led H1 2021 as a whole. Overall auto volumes in June were some 15% down compared to June 2019.

I wrote in last month’s report that May or June 2021 should be the last time in Germany that plugins see less than 25% market share, and I’m still confident that the next month (or three) will see 25% as the new baseline, certainly before the end of Q3. The next 3 months are the ones to watch; the rate of acceleration in Q3 usually dictates the overall trend for the year.

Coastalwatch

When it comes to BEV thread topics this is a little unusual but no less significant. Sacha Dench is one brave lady taking on this challenge, not something I'd fancy, but having had her home in Aus destroyed by the ever threatening seasonal fires she is set to do all she can to raise attention to the growing spectre of climate change.

The two vids linked below are worth viewing if only to grasp the enormity of the task she has set herself ahead. All with the intention of raising awareness in time for the COP26 event in Glasgow.

ROUND BRITAIN CLIMATE CHALLENGE

Sacha Dench, Ambassador for the UN’s Convention on Migratory Species (aka ‘the human swan’) will fly around Britain in a wind and green electricity powered paramotor, attempting two Guinness World Records.

3,000

Mile circumnavigation in electric paramotor around Britain

https://www.conservation-without-borders.org/rbcc-expedition72df38b4/1

https://www.conservation-without-borders.org/rbcc-expedition72df38b4/2