Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

Solarchaser

As well, most EVs have an app which you can simply enter and tell the vehicle to charge or stop charging.

shinytop

Quite a positive BEV story concerning the USA

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58123729

Exiled_Tyke

Interesting. Thanks everyone. So I'll need to get a Zappi.  I presume this can co-ordinate with the house battery ok? 

EVandPV

Exiled_Tyke said:

Interesting. Thanks everyone. So I'll need to get a Zappi.  I presume this can co-ordinate with the house battery ok? 

Yes, there are settings to give the Zappi priority over the house battery or vice versa.
You'll need one of the Zappi CT clamps around the battery ac live wire for this.

EVandPV

Vauxhall offers 30,000 miles of free charging with EV models

The offer is already available to Vauxhall Corsa-e buyers, but the marque is now extending the deal to its Mokka-e SUV, Combo-e Life MPV and Vivaro-e Life van. The scheme operates in collaboration with British Gas, with Vauxhall crediting each customer’s account to cover charging costs.

https://www-autoexpress-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.autoexpress.co.uk/vauxhall/355760/vauxhall-offers-30000-miles-free-charging-ev-models?amp_js_v=a6&amp_gsa=1&amp&usqp=mq331AQIKAGwASCAAgM=#aoh=16288631134613&csi=0&referrer=https://www.google.com&amp_tf=From %1$s&ampshare=https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/vauxhall/355760/vauxhall-offers-30000-miles-free-charging-ev-models

Heedtheadvice

EVandPV said:

Exiled_Tyke said:

Interesting. Thanks everyone. So I'll need to get a Zappi.  I presume this can co-ordinate with the house battery ok? 

Yes, there are settings to give the Zappi priority over the house battery or vice versa.
You'll need one of the Zappi CT clamps around the battery ac live wire for this.

I assume it is an AC supply going to the battery, if so as above. DC supply from panels not so.

Given you have solar and you will probably want to optimise the solar output (as well as see all the info on the Zappi app) I would suggest a ct clamp on your solar output too. i.e. three all together (two optional extras). It makes sense to have these installed at the time of the Zappi installation though any 100/5 ct can be used.

You need to make sure you have space in your consumer unit for an extra breaker (32A assuming you buy a 7kW single phase Zappi) and if not you might need a new consumer unit. Space in there is the best place to put the extra CTs, the grid CT will fit over one of the supply tails.

The full complement of CTs allow for optimisation, prioritisation and best use of your solar output and minimising grid input.

Martyn1981

OK, here's a bit of a shocker. An article on Cleantechnica referring to this one from Bloomberg: 

At Least Two-Thirds of Global Car Sales Will Be Electric by 2040

that suggests (as per the title) 2/3rds of car sales will be electric by 2040. The reason I was shocked, and searched for the original article, is because the main graph has a linear growth of BEV's! The article talks about price parity of BEV's v's ICE, even suggests BEV's being cheaper in Europe in the mid/late 2020's.

There's no cliff edge in Bloomberg's graph, suggesting people will pay more, for a less efficient and more expensive to operate vehicle, long after BEV's are 'better'. It must also assume that Gov's and manufacturers are OK with this too. Falling sales of ICEV's will push up costs due to diminishing returns of scale, and falling resale values will push up the cost of lease payments too.

All a bit weird, and whilst at first glance quite promising, it seems to miss the true scale of disruption, that some countries are already starting to see.

Sales Of Fossil-Fuel Vehicles Have Already Peaked, Bloomberg Predicts

A recent article in Bloomberg makes the bold assertion that sales of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles have already peaked, so the future of the global auto industry belongs to EVs.

The article outlines some of the trends that underlie this prediction, illustrated with a series of graphs.

EVs may still be more expensive than fossils, but that won’t be the case for much longer. Bloomberg finds that, in Europe, battery EVs are approaching purchase-price parity with ICE vehicles. On a total-cost-of-ownership basis, driving an EV is already cheaper than driving a comparable legacy vehicle. In fact, Loup Ventures concluded in 2019 that Tesla’s Model 3 was slightly cheaper to own and operate over a five-year period than Toyota’s mass-market Camry. [Editor’s note: We have conducted several such analyses ourselves here on CleanTechnica showing the same.]

shinytop

I didn't think we were anywhere near parity for purchase price of BEVs vs ICE in Europe if grants are discounted.  That's just an impression, not a proper analysis. 

I think something that is often overlooked in Europe is the huge subsidy BEVs get over their ICE counterparts, i.e. the lack of fuel tax  and full VAT on electricity to power EVs.  From the consumer point of view it doesn't matter (for now) but that subsidy won't last forever.  

 

QrizB

Martyn1981 said:

There's no cliff edge in Bloomberg's graph, suggesting people will pay more, for a less efficient and more expensive to operate vehicle, long after BEV's are 'better'.

My father has pretty strong green credentials - he's looking into solar PV and a heat pump for his retirement property, for example - but he's remarkably cold on BEVs. I think it's just range anxiety but I could see him continuing to run ICE vehicles long after a BEV would make more economic sense.

shinytop said:

I didn't think we were anywhere near parity for purchase price of BEVs vs ICE in Europe if grants are discounted.  That's just an impression, not a proper analysis.

At £2500, the current UK grant is roughly 10% of the purchase price of a cheap BEV. And somewhere upthread we compared the PCH/PCP prices of Vauxhall Corsas; the ICE and EV versions were pretty much the same price, due (I think) to the higher residual value of a 3-year-old BEV vs. the ICE version.

shinytop said:

I think something that is often overlooked in Europe is the huge subsidy BEVs get over their ICE counterparts, i.e. the lack of fuel tax  and full VAT on electricity to power EVs.  From the consumer point of view it doesn't matter (for now) but that subsidy won't last forever.

I look forward to discovering how the Powers That Be plan to dye non-road-fuel electricity red, to let them distinguish it from Excise-paid electricity   (More seriously, I can see how this is a problem but I can't think of and obvious like-for-like solutions. The best I can come up with of is a per-mile charge of some sort.)

michaels

Martyn1981 said:

OK, here's a bit of a shocker. An article on Cleantechnica referring to this one from Bloomberg: 

At Least Two-Thirds of Global Car Sales Will Be Electric by 2040

that suggests (as per the title) 2/3rds of car sales will be electric by 2040. The reason I was shocked, and searched for the original article, is because the main graph has a linear growth of BEV's! The article talks about price parity of BEV's v's ICE, even suggests BEV's being cheaper in Europe in the mid/late 2020's.

There's no cliff edge in Bloomberg's graph, suggesting people will pay more, for a less efficient and more expensive to operate vehicle, long after BEV's are 'better'. It must also assume that Gov's and manufacturers are OK with this too. Falling sales of ICEV's will push up costs due to diminishing returns of scale, and falling resale values will push up the cost of lease payments too.

All a bit weird, and whilst at first glance quite promising, it seems to miss the true scale of disruption, that some countries are already starting to see.

Sales Of Fossil-Fuel Vehicles Have Already Peaked, Bloomberg Predicts

A recent article in Bloomberg makes the bold assertion that sales of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles have already peaked, so the future of the global auto industry belongs to EVs.

The article outlines some of the trends that underlie this prediction, illustrated with a series of graphs.

EVs may still be more expensive than fossils, but that won’t be the case for much longer. Bloomberg finds that, in Europe, battery EVs are approaching purchase-price parity with ICE vehicles. On a total-cost-of-ownership basis, driving an EV is already cheaper than driving a comparable legacy vehicle. In fact, Loup Ventures concluded in 2019 that Tesla’s Model 3 was slightly cheaper to own and operate over a five-year period than Toyota’s mass-market Camry. [Editor’s note: We have conducted several such analyses ourselves here on CleanTechnica showing the same.]

I guess one issue is simply production capacity of EVs and batteries and availability of electricity for charging which may constrain EV availability regardless of price - at which purchase point prices adjust to balance demand and supply - ie EVs don't get as cheap as there advantage in cost of production would imply they should.