Demand at online marketplaces could settle at a new, higher normal, with the crisis leaving consumers ‘scarred’
Car buyers’ interest in electric cars has surged across Europe since the start of the war in Iran, as the rising cost of petrol highlights the cheaper power available from a plug.
Online marketplaces in the UK, Germany, France and Spain reported huge increases in inquiries about electric vehicles since the start of the conflict in February.
Continue reading...Under Anne Hidalgo – mayor for 12 years until last week – the French capital added bike lanes, cut traffic and reclaimed public space, but not without resistance
When Corentin Roudaut moved to Paris 10 years ago, he was too scared to cycle. The IT developer had biked everywhere as a student in Rennes but felt overwhelmed by the bustling French capital. Cars were everywhere. Cyclists had almost no protection.
But once authorities carved out space for a segregated bike lane on Boulevard Voltaire near his home in the 11th arrondissement, Roudaut returned to the two-wheel commute and did not look back.
Continue reading...£400m to be set aside for on-street charging points instead of motorways after RCF was mired in delays
Labour ministers have scrapped a promise by the previous government for a £950m fund for installing electric car chargers near motorways, instead setting aside a smaller sum mainly for on-street charging points.
The rapid charging fund (RCF) was first announced in 2020 by Rishi Sunak, then Conservative chancellor, with the aim of supporting upgrades to the grid so that more electric vehicles could be rapidly charged at the same time.
Continue reading...Dolphin Surf will start at £18,650 – among the cheapest new vehicles on sale in Britain
The Chinese manufacturer BYD has launched its cheapest model in the UK, in the latest stage of its efforts to overtake Tesla as the world’s biggest electric carmaker.
The Dolphin Surf will start at £18,650, a price that puts it among the cheapest new vehicles on sale in Britain.
Continue reading...Transport secretary says overhaul in response to Trump tariffs supports car firms and climate goals
Labour’s changes to electric vehicle (EV) rules in response to Donald Trump’s tariffs will have a negligible impact on emissions, the transport secretary has said.
Keir Starmer has confirmed plans to boost manufacturers, including reinstating the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.
Continue reading...Committee warns of serious injustice to disabled motorists and those reliant on public chargers
The rollout of electric vehicle chargers across Britain is “patchy”, behind deadline and ignores the needs of disabled drivers, the parliamentary spending watchdog has found.
A report published by the public accounts committee (PAC) warned that the charging points needed to give drivers confidence for the switch to EVs were still lacking, particularly on Britain’s biggest roads.
Continue reading...Chancellor expected to unveil new building projects and revise planning rules to stimulate UK economy
Rachel Reeves has given her strongest hint yet that she will back a third runway at Heathrow airport, arguing that she is willing to make difficult decisions while pursuing economic growth.
The chancellor is poised to make a significant speech this week where she will outline her plans to boost the British economy by radically altering planning rules and accelerating building projects.
Continue reading...Chancellor says runway would mean fewer planes circling London, and points to moves towards sustainable flying
Rachel Reeves has indicated her support for building a third runway at Heathrow airport, arguing that it would have environmental benefits such as fewer planes circling London.
Ahead of a major speech on economic growth this coming week, the chancellor made the case for Heathrow expansion and said there was “huge investment” in more sustainable aviation.
Continue reading...Electric Vehicles UK says hybrids without a plug should be banned or else confidence in electric cars will be damaged
Britain needs to press ahead with a ban on the sale of new hybrid cars with no plug from 2030 or risk taking “a catastrophic misstep” on the road to net zero, ministers have been warned.
Cars such as the Toyota Prius, which charge a battery from an internal combustion engine, need to be excluded from the list of vehicles sold in the UK from 2030 or there will be a “profound” fall in confidence in the government’s commitment to electric motoring, according to the representative body Electric Vehicles UK (EVUK).
Continue reading...Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds says there is ‘no route to net zero’ that ignores concerns of businesses after wave of closures
• Jonathan Reynolds: If we delay the UK’s drive for electric vehicles, our rivals will overtake us
There is “no route to net zero” that ignores the real concerns of businesses, a cabinet minister has warned, as the government prepares to reduce financial penalties handed to carmakers not selling enough electric cars.
Ministers are also looking at how cheaper loans could be introduced to help people buy an electric vehicle (EV), after a wave of job losses and closures in which carmakers blamed the onerous fines they were facing.
Continue reading...Cities such as Zurich and Dublin found to have key services accessible within 15 minutes for more than 95% of residents
When Luke Harris takes his daughter to the doctor, he strolls down well-kept streets with “smooth sidewalks and curb cuts [ramps] for strollers at every intersection”. If the weather looks rough or he feels a little lazy, he hops on a tram for a couple of stops.
Harris’s trips to the paediatrician are pretty unremarkable for fellow residents of Zurich, Switzerland; most Europeans are used to being able to walk from one place to another in their cities. But it will probably sound like fantasy to those living in San Antonio, Texas. That’s because, according to new research, 99.2% of Zurich residents live within a 15-minute walk of essential services such as healthcare and education, while just 2.5% of San Antonio residents do.
Continue reading...Lobbyists are increasingly confident about expansion plans as concerns for the economy start to deepen
The younger, tormented minister mulling his position before the Labour government granted Heathrow’s third runway in 2009 might have been greatly relieved to know that, 15 years later, not a shovel would have touched the ground.
But now, returning to power with a revamped energy and climate brief, Ed Miliband again finds himself in a cabinet which, many in aviation hope, may usher in bigger airports and more flights – as well as enough CO2 emissions to outweigh any new solar farms.
Continue reading...The country has long been the world’s biggest market – but the government’s interest is more geopolitical than environmental
When Kenzi, an advertising worker in Shanghai, bought an electric vehicle in November she wasn’t even thinking about the environmental benefits. She had read Elon Musk’s biography and thought the Tesla 3 looked good. She also knew that if she bought an EV she could bypass the long wait and cost of getting licence plates, which are rationed by the government.
“It’s not easy to get a licence plate in Shanghai, but you get a licence for free when you buy an EV,” she said.
Continue reading...Move targeting those in city for less than 12 hours is latest measure from mayor to tackle effects of mass tourism
Barcelona’s mayor plans to raise the tourist tax for cruise passengers who visit the city for less than 12 hours as part of his continuing efforts to “tackle the consequences of mass tourism” in the Catalan capital.
Jaume Collboni, a member of the Catalan Socialist party, has announced a series of measures designed to reduce overtourism and improve the city’s housing situation since taking office last year.
Continue reading...There are just 300 electric HGVs in the 500,000-strong lorry fleet – and only one public charging point, says RHA
The road haulage industry is calling on the new government to urgently tackle investment in infrastructure for electric trucks, after pointing out there is just one public charging point for HGVs in the whole of the UK.
Takeup of electric cars is soaring, with about 1.1m fully battery-powered cars on British roads and about 63,000 charging units in 33,000 locations, according to Zapmap data.
Continue reading...Ford EV unit’s pretax losses expected to jump to more than $5bn as US electric vehicle sales growth slows to 2.7%
With US electric vehicle sales starting to slow, Ford Motor Co says it will delay rolling out new electric pickup trucks and a new large electric SUV as it adds gas-electric hybrids to its model lineup.
The Dearborn, Michigan, company said on Thursday that a much ballyhooed new electric pickup to be built at a new factory in Tennessee will be delayed by a year until 2026.
Continue reading...Minister says scheme to help low-income households and cut emissions is ‘victim of its own success’
The French government has suspended an electric car leasing scheme after only six weeks following a surge in demand that more than doubled the number of vehicles required.
Officials said the scheme, launched in December to help low-income households and cut carbon emissions, would be relaunched next year.
Continue reading...EV sales are booming and longtime favourite makes and models are being ignored in favour of Tesla and BYD
Newcomer brands and luxury marques are dominating booming electric car sales as mainstream players struggle to match the pace of a fast-evolving EV market.
The top three selling electric vehicles in Australia in 2023 were from Tesla and BYD, between them accounting for two-thirds of the 87,217 electric cars sold, according to figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
Continue reading...Stalled growth in electric vehicles comes despite government goal to phase out petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles by 2035
The number of new cars registered in the UK has jumped by nearly 18% but electric vehicle demand is flatlining, prompting the industry to call for a VAT cut to stimulate sales.
Annual figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) on Friday show 1.9m new cars were registered last year, well up on the previous year’s figure of 1.6m and the highest level since the 2.3m registrations of 2019.
Continue reading...Lack of public chargers blamed for decision to be only ‘zero-emissions capable’ by April 2024
London’s biggest minicab company has U-turned on plans for all its cars to produce zero emissions this year, blaming a lack of public chargers in the capital.
Addison Lee said it had spent £30m on new Volkswagen Multivans, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which combine a small battery with a polluting internal combustion engine, and admitted that the switch to electric cars had been harder than it had expected.
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