Category Archives: Motoring

UK supermarkets cut diesel prices by 7p a litre after watchdog concerns

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Reduction follows CMA plans to grill executives about ‘sustained higher margins’ but RAC says retailers should go further

Supermarkets have cut more than 7p a litre from the price of diesel since the UK’s competition watchdog warned it would question retail bosses about unnecessarily high forecourt prices, according to the RAC.

The motoring group found that the average price of diesel fell by 7.44p a litre, from 151.02p two weeks ago to 143.58p this week, after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) raised concerns that retailers were making “sustained higher margins” from sales of diesel.

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Covid pandemic blamed for UK rise in cracked tyres

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Motorists urged to carry out safety check as rubber on cars left idle for long periods can deteriorate

There has been a sharp rise in the number of cars with cracked tyres – which can result in an MOT failure – because of vehicles lying idle during the coronavirus pandemic.

Figures from Kwik Fit, the car maintenance chain, show that its mechanics saw almost twice as many cars with premature cracking last year compared with before the lockdowns.

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EU motorist fined almost £11,000 after falling foul of London Ulez rule

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French hire car met emissions standard but had not been registered with TfL, resulting in penalty notices

A motorist was fined nearly £11,000 for driving his French rental car in London’s ultra-low emission zone on a three-day trip to the UK, despite the fact the vehicle met the environmental standards to enter the Ulez for nothing.

Christian Ducarre received four penalty charge notices (PCNs) after falling foul of a little-known requirement under which foreign vehicles must be registered with Transport for London (TfL) or else be deemed non-compliant by default.

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Carbon emissions from global SUV fleet outweighs most countries

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Popularity of sport utility vehicles driving higher oil demand and climate crisis, say experts

The continued global rise in the sale of SUVs pushed their climate-heating emissions to almost a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.

The 330m sport utility vehicles on the roads produced emissions equivalent to the combined national emissions of the UK and Germany last year. If SUVs were a country, they would rank as the sixth most polluting in the world.

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‘Greenwashing’ firms face steep new UK fines for misleading claims

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Legislation could see companies fined millions of pounds for making unproven environmental assertions to sell their products

When the hydrogen-powered Hyundai Nexo car was launched in the UK in the spring of 2019, it was described as “so beautifully clean” that it “purifies the air as it goes”.

Hyundai Motor UK claimed that if 10,000 of its cars were on the road, carbon emission reduction would be “equivalent to planting 60,000 trees”.

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Thailand’s tuk-tuks go green amid rising demand for electric models

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Travel without the combustion-engine fumes and noise is increasingly popular in the country with some of the world’s worst air pollution

Thailand’s iconic, gas-guzzling tuk-tuks are being replaced by a greener, more energy efficient model, offering travellers a more environmentally friendly way of getting around what is one of the world’s worst countries when it comes to air pollution.

“The benefits are quite clear in terms of the environment”, says Krisada Kritayakirana, co-founder and CEO of start-up Urban Mobility Tech. “When you use traditional tuk-tuks, you can smell the gas and it sometimes could be unpleasant. With the electric tuk-tuks, basically you don’t have any noise and you don’t have any emission from tailpipes.”

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Where does the Britishvolt collapse leave UK’s dream of an electric future?

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Britain’s car industry relies on petrol or diesel vehicles – and every failure to be part of the electric revolution makes it more exposed

The battery startup Britishvolt eyed a big opportunity. With the looming UK ban on sales of internal combustion engine cars after 2035, big demand for batteries was guaranteed. The problem was actually building the batteries.

The company’s efforts have now come to nothing. It collapsed into administration on Tuesday after funding talks failed, leaving a string of disappointed backers ranging from the FTSE 100 companies Glencore and Ashtead to the property investor Tritax, owned by investment group abrdn, which had committed to fund a battery “gigafactory” in Northumberland.

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Obscure Indonesia-linked investor circles UK’s Britishvolt with £160m deal

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Talks on rescue deal for battery startup led by DeaLab, which has been involved in fossil fuel transactions

The battery startup Britishvolt is in talks with an Indonesia-linked oil and gas investor for a £160m rescue deal that would almost wipe out the value of existing shareholders’ stakes.

The investor consortium is led by DeaLab Group, a UK-based private equity investor that has been involved in several fossil fuel and renewable energy transactions in Indonesia, and an associated metals business, Barracuda Group.

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Sale of hybrid cars double that of EVs in Australia with experts blaming lack of electric incentives

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Hybrid vehicles so popular they account for one in every three cars sold by Toyota

Hybrid vehicles that combine battery and fuel technology are proving increasingly popular in Australia with sales double that of more expensive electric-only cars.

Sales figures released this week show that low-emissions cars are soaring in popularity.

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UK new car sales rise as industry leaders say recovery ‘within grasp’

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Increase for fourth consecutive month, with almost 143,000 new vehicles registered in November

Sales of new cars in the UK have risen for the fourth month running, with purely electric vehicles accounting for a fifth of the total.

In the best November for the industry since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, almost 143,000 new vehicles were registered.

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Former Top Gear presenter and motoring journalist Sue Baker dies aged 67

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One of the original line-up of the BBC’s car show, Baker had been suffering from motor neurone disease

Sue Baker, one of the original presenters of BBC’s Top Gear and the Observer’s former motoring editor, has died aged 67. Baker, who joined the original format of the TV series in 1980, died on Monday morning after suffering with motor neurone disease (MND).

She appeared on more than 100 episodes of the car programme until 1991. She then left to continue her work as a motoring journalist.

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UK-backed battery firm Britishvolt considers entering administration

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Company struggling to find investors willing to fund effort to build giant £3.8bn ‘gigafactory’ in north-east

The UK government-backed battery startup Britishvolt is on the brink of entering administration with the potential loss of almost 300 jobs, after it struggled to find investors willing to fund its effort to build a giant £3.8bn “gigafactory” in north-east England.

The company had considered an administration as early as Monday, two sources with knowledge of Britishvolt’s operations told the Guardian. Britishvolt has lined up the accountancy firm EY to carry out the administration if it goes ahead.

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End of the road for Ford Fiesta: UK’s all-time bestselling car halts production

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Owners mourn ‘modern-day classic’ as last factory in Germany switches to new electric models

“I don’t know what I’d go for if I didn’t have the Fiesta,” said Karen Fox, a civil servant in Edinburgh. She is due to pick up her fourth version of the model on Saturday, but it is likely to be her last: Ford on Wednesday confirmed it will end production of the UK’s all-time bestselling car next June.

The model’s end will become only the latest symbol of the shift from internal combustion engines to batteries: the factory in Cologne, Germany, where the last Fiestas are being made will switch to producing two new electric models.

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Cost of using electric car charging point in UK up 42% since May

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Soaring energy prices after invasion of Ukraine have added almost £10 to cost of charging family-sized car, says RAC

The price of charging an electric car using a public rapid charger has jumped by almost £10 since May because of soaring energy costs after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The increased price of wholesale gas and electricity has pushed up the price to charge an average family-size car by 42% to above £32, according to analysis by the RAC. That was £9.60 more than in May, and £13.59 more than a year earlier.

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Biden talks up electric vehicle revolution – but is America ready to give up gas?

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President appears at Detroit auto show, where EVs are this year’s stars – but the road to electrification promises to be a bumpy one

Fresh off signing legislation aimed at propelling the nation’s electric vehicle (EV) transition, Joe Biden was in Detroit last week to reaffirm his support for electrification ahead of the opening of the US’s largest annual car show.

“The great American road trip is going to be fully electrified, whether you’re driving along the coast, or on I-75 here in Michigan,” he declared as the first North American International Auto Show since 2019 prepared to open its doors.

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Housebuilders ‘lobbied against plan for electric car chargers in new homes in England’

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‘Blatant efforts’ by companies criticised by campaign group Transport & Environment

Britain’s biggest housebuilders privately lobbied for the government to ditch rules requiring electric car chargers to be installed in every new home in England, documents have revealed.

The FTSE 100 construction firms Barratt Developments, Berkeley Group and Taylor Wimpey were among the companies who argued against the policy in responses to an official consultation seen by the Guardian. The “blatant lobbying efforts” were criticised by Transport & Environment, a campaign group.

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Holidaymakers face delays as fuel price protesters block M5

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Slow-driving convoy caused long delays to those heading to Devon and Cornwall on the first day of the school holidays

Protesters campaigning against high fuel prices have disrupted holiday getaways to the south-west of England by driving in convoy slowly up and down a motorway before blockading a petrol station.

The convoy drove at 30mph on three lanes of the M5 north and south in Somerset and the Bristol area on Friday morning as tens of thousands of people headed to Devon and Cornwall to begin summer breaks.

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Federal government under pressure to increase EV uptake after ACT announces petrol car ban

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Electric vehicle advocates and auto industry say Australia needs nationally mandated fuel efficiency standards

The federal government is under pressure to act to increase the uptake of electric vehicles after the Australian Capital Territory became the first state or territory to announce an end to the sale of petrol cars.

The Zero Emission Vehicle strategy was announced by the ACT chief minister, Andrew Barr, on Tuesday and commits the territory to phasing out internal combustion engines by 2035. This means no new petrol engine vehicles could be sold in the territory past that date.

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UK inflation hits fresh 40-year high of 9.4% as fuel prices rise

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Annual rate in June up from May’s 9.1% figure and exceeds analysts’ expectations

Rising petrol and diesel prices for motorists and dearer food pushed Britain’s annual inflation rate to a fresh 40-year high of 9.4% last month.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the government’s preferred measure of the cost of living – the consumer prices index – was up from May’s 9.1% figure.

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Two killed after Chinese electric car falls from third floor of company’s offices

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Nio criticised over statement that said accident at Shanghai HQ was ‘not caused by the vehicle’

A leading Chinese electric car company has said two people were killed when one of its vehicles fell from the third floor of its Shanghai headquarters.

Nio, a homegrown brand sometimes seen as a potential rival to Tesla, said the incident happened at about 5.20pm on Wednesday. One of the victims was its employee, and the other from a partner company. They were both inside the vehicle when it fell.

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