Tag: Electric Cars

What Does It Take To Reach A Zero-Carbon Footprint? It’s All In The Detail

One crisis has dominated headlines – and our innermost thoughts – for the past year, but the climate crisis has quietly raged on alongside the global pandemic.If anything, the pandemic has served to highlight how drastic the need for urgent environment…

You Have No ‘Right’ To Drive A Car Through Our Neighbourhoods, Even If It’s Electric

Britain will ban petrol and diesel vehicle sales from 2030 as part of a 10-point plan for a

“Not TV or illegal drugs but the automobile has been the chief destroyer of…communities,” the late heroine of human-scale cities, Jane Jacobs, once declared.

This sentiment – with which I wholeheartedly agree – is clearly shared. Following the prime minister’s announcement that no new petrol and diesel cars and vans will be sold in the UK beyond 2030, I tweeted that Hackney would be ready to respond with one of the largest electric vehicle charging programmes in the UK.

But outraged Twitter followers were quick to remind me that “electric vehicles will not save us!”.

The uncomfortable truth is, when it comes to the motor vehicle, we cannot live with them, but we cannot – entirely – live without them.

Environmentalists are right to be sceptical of the latest government announcement. Not only will no single measure address the major challenge of our ballooning land transport emissions, but this specific one will have limited impact on the UK’s ability to hit the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s “higher confidence” 2030 target of 45% fewer global warming emissions than 2010.

It will also, manifestly, not address many other problems arising from our growing addiction to cars. But, environmentalists would be wrong to presume that the proposal is entirely without merit.

“Addiction” might seem like an overstatement, but the statistics speak for themselves. In less than 30 years, the number of motor vehicles on our roads has almost doubled to 40 million, and this phenomenon has been accelerating, with around half of that growth coming in the last decade alone.

Land transport emissions represent around 21% of the UK’s emissions and, unlike grid electricity which has experienced rapid decarbonisation in recent years, CO2 emissions from motor vehicles have been growing both in absolute terms and as a proportion of the UK’s carbon budget.

If we look at the problem of the motor vehicle in London, where its public health and social impacts are particularly pronounced due to the population density and road layout of the capital, the challenge becomes clear.

Department for Transport data shows since 2009 the number of miles driven by motor vehicles of London’s roads annually has increased by 3.6 billion – an 18.6% increase – to an all-time high of 22.6 billion miles in 2019.

This has had profound implications for air quality – with 99% of London exposed to particle pollution levels above the World Health Organisation’s recommended limits – and for the social life of a city where the sight of children playing and neighbours chatting in the streets used to be commonplace.

There is more research to be undertaken on the cause of this alarming increase of driving in the capital, which is strongly-correlated with a decade of real-terms cuts in fuel duty, the dramatic growth in online shopping and the issuing of private hire cab licences, and of course the advent of satnavs and way-finding apps.

What we can definitively say is that London’s neighbourhoods have borne the brunt of this increase. In fact, DfT data makes clear that not only have our residential streets absorbed the full net increase in driving over the decade, the increase on these roads has been 3.9 billion miles over this period.

Private cars, in particular, should be placed at the bottom of a transport hierarchy that prioritises the needs of pedestrians, cyclists, public transport users, and our communities first.

This demonstrates that, contrary to the claims of some Low Traffic Neighbourhood opponents, main roads have been displacing vast amounts of traffic into to our communities for more than ten years, not the other way around.

And this brings us to the problems electric vehicles cannot solve and, therefore the limitations of the government’s announcement.

Electric vehicles only eliminate carbon dioxide emissions at the tailpipe. They do not eliminate emissions deriving from their manufacture and shipping; they do not eliminate lung-stunting particulate emissions, with 50% coming from tyre, brake, and road wear; they do not eliminate the significant social costs of rat-runs and poor road safety; and, crucially, they do nothing to address road congestion.

That’s why the work that so many local authorities are undertaking across the country, but particularly in the capital, to eliminate through-traffic and local short-distance car journeys – 50% of which are under 3km – with the introduction of controversial, but long-overdue, Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, is essential.

Nor will this be enough, with road user pricing, now being mooted as a key tool in the fight against car dependency.

Moreover, it will not be enough for the government, transport authorities, and councils to ensure the price of driving reflects the full social, economic, and public health costs it imposes on society; we also need to deliver fully-integrated, good value, and accountable public transport systems and first class walking and cycling infrastructure, which are lacking in so many parts of the country.

To misquote Aneurin Bevan, there can be no immaculate conception of Amsterdam, Copenhagen, or Oslo. We will not humanise the city by chance.

We should also be careful not to discount the social benefits of the motor vehicle and, in so doing, be tempted to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Even if we were to click our fingers and make every private car in London disappear tomorrow, which we cannot do, there would still be over 220,000 socially-useful vans in the capital, servicing the needs of its residents; there would still be the circa 10,000 local authority vehicles carrying out housing repairs and lifting the bins; and there would still be the many thousands of emergency service vehicles that help ensure the wheels of London continue to turn. They are, on the whole, not going anywhere, so they need to be zero emission at the tailpipe as soon as possible.

If we want to create human-scale communities in which wellbeing is placed before the long-established and often-expected “right” of drivers to dominate the roads, we need to completely reimagine how the transport system of our country works.

That involves placing private cars, in particular, at the bottom of a transport hierarchy that prioritises the needs of pedestrians, cyclists, public transport users, and our communities first.

All the remaining motor vehicles, and especially the ones that serve the broader needs of society, need to be zero emission at the tailpipe as soon as possible, and that’s why we should, just for once, suspend our cynicism and welcome the government’s announcement calling time on the combustion engine, as a small, but essential, piece of the land transport decarbonisation jigsaw.

Jon Burke is councillor and cabinet member for energy, waste, transport, and public realm in the London Borough of Hackney

The UK Food Destinations Set To Be Even More Delicious In 2019

Asma Khan, the owner of London’s Soho-based home-style Indian cooking restaurant Darjeeling Express, will be the first British chef to be featured on Netflix smash Chef’s Table. She’ll be on the show – which profiles the globe’s…

MPs Want To Ban Diesel And Petrol Cars Much Earlier Than Planned

Government plans to tackle car pollution have been slammed as “vague and unambitious” by MPs who have urged the ban on petrol and diesel vehicles to be brought forward.

MPs on the business select committee criticised government plans to stop the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040 and said they should be phased out by 2032 to pave the way for greener vehicles.

Otherwise, the MPs said, the UK risked lagging behind “in the passenger seat” compared with other countries racing forward to switch to electric cars, which are vastly less polluting than traditional fuel cars.

The report indicated that the global stock of electric cars rose to over 3 million last year, up from just 14,260 in 2010. It said that figure could hit 125 million by 2030 and that the UK ranked fourth worldwide for electric car sales.

However, the report raised concerns that a lack of infrastructure in the UK – such as charging points – could stifle progress.

Rachel Reeves, Labour MP and chair of the business select committee, said electric vehicles presented an “exciting opportunities for the UK to develop an internationally competitive industry and reduce our carbon emissions” but said the government’s “rhetoric of the UK becoming a world leader” in electric vehicles was not matched in action.

She also said the government needed to “get a grip” and “lead on coordinating the financial support and technical know-how necessary” for local authorities to install electric car charging points.

Responding to the report, a government spokesperson said: “Our Road to Zero strategy outlined our ambition for the UK to be the best place in the world to build and own an electric vehicle.”

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Electric Car Subsidy Cut Will Make Them Unaffordable For The Foreseeable Future

Bad news if you want to go green but don’t have thousands of pounds to spend on a car – the Department for Transport has cut a grant for new electric and hybrid cars making them even more expensive.

The UK government had been funding a subsidy to make them more affordable, with the most eco-friendly cars eligible for a £4,500 and a discount of up to £2,500 for cars considered category two and three eco-friendly cars.

But it has announced discounts on category two and three cars will be axed altogether, and that the discount for the most eco-friendly cars on the market will be reduced to £3,500 from November 12.

The AA and the RAC have hit out at the move, slamming it as a “major blow” to plans to encourage consumers to buy more efficient cars and slash air pollution by ending the sale of petrol and diesel cars.

Electric cars – what are the barriers to buying them?

Price is a major factor. Nicholas Lyes, the RAC’s head of roads policy, told Sky News that the up-front cost of buying a greener car was a “huge barrier for those hoping to switch to an electric vehicle.”

“This move from the government is a big step backwards and is in stark contrast to countries like Norway, where generous tax incentives have meant that it has one of the highest ownership levels of ultra-low emission vehicles of anywhere in the world,” he said. “This announcement will simply put more drivers off from buying greener cars.”

And because electric cars are not mainstream, and relatively new, there is also a limited second-hand market. Whereas you could buy a petrol or diesel car for a few hundred pounds, a second hand electric car will cost in the thousands.

And when it comes to the practicalities, unlike petrol or diesel cars, electric cars take hours to fully charge, while a petrol car which can be filled up in minutes.

A recent survey from the AA found half of drivers aged 25-34 said they’d like to own an electric car, compared to 40 per cent aged 18-24 and 40 per cent aged 35-44.

But it also found the “vast majority” of people surveyed think there aren’t enough public charging points.

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Vespa’s Electric Scooter Goes On Sale This October

The Vespa scooter is arguably one of the most iconic vehicles on the road, and yet owning one can come with the knowledge that you’re not exactly helping the environment.

That’s all about to change however as the company’s first electric scooter, the Vespa Elettrica, goes on sale in Europe this October.

Despite being purely electric the scooter looks practically identical to its petrol siblings aside from a shiny new paint job and some blue accents which reveal its eco-friendly credentials.

It’ll be available in two versions the Vespa Elettrica and the hybrid Elettrica X with the former offering 100km (62 miles) and the latter offering 200km (124 miles) of range.

Piaggio says the Elettrica will produce between 2kW to 4kW of power. The company claims that this will give you more power than you’d get on a standard 50cc scooter.

While the range is only 62 miles, that does mean the battery can be fully charged in just four hours making it perfect for city use.

For those that want to travel further, the Elettrica X combines a smaller battery with a petrol-powered generator which then tops up the battery once it reaches a certain level or if the rider manually turns it on.

Both versions will connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth and can turn your phone’s screen into a little digital display for the scooter showing directions, speed and even range.

We do know the Vespa Elettrica is going on sale in October but sadly there’s no word on how much it’s going to cost. All Piaggio have said is that it will be comparable to their top-of-the-range Vespa models.

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Uber To Start Focusing More On Electric Bicycles And Scooters

Uber is a brand that’s synonymous with taxis, and yet the company could soon be shifting away from the vehicle that has helped make its millions and instead be offering you an electric scooter or bicycle.Speaking to the Financial Times, Uber&rsqu…

Kalashnikov Unveils CV-1 Electric ‘Supercar’ To Rival Tesla

Kalashnikov, the company behind the AK-47 assault rifle, has unveiled a retro-looking electric ‘supercar’ which it claims will rival the likes of Tesla.

The CV-1′s distinctive design might suggest that the car was built 30-years ago but the company says this was intentional. The car was apparently inspired by the iconic IZH 2126 ‘Kombi’ that was mass produced in the Soviet Union during the 70s.

Despite its retro appearance Kalashnikov claims that this is a ‘supercar’ capable of going from 0-100 km/h in just six seconds.

With a 90kW battery the CV-1 will reportedly have a range of 350 km (218 miles) which would certainly put it in contention with Tesla’s Model 3 and even the Nissan Leaf.

The car features a number of “complex systems” which Kalashnikov says will allow it to compete with other electric car rivals like Tesla and Jaguar.

If you’re wondering when you can get your hands on this unique-looking automobile sadly Kalashnikov doesn’t have a release date nor does it have a price.

The arms manufacturer has spent the last few years trying to diversify its output beyond simply making weapons. In recent years the company has unveiled a clothing line and even produces drones.

The car wasn’t the only major announcement by Kalashnikov. The company also unveiled a giant 13ft gold robot.

Nicknamed Igorek (Little Igor) by Kalashnikov, the company states that this 4.5 tonne manned robot could be used for both “engineering and combat” tasks.

Technically a prototype, the version on show is actually completely immobile and is instead a a demonstration of what the company’s currently working on.

Kalashnikov appears to be swimming against the current trend which is to produce increasingly complex unmanned robots which can operate independently of humans.

The company admits that it probably won’t have an improved version to show the public until 2020.

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Electric Cars Could Soon Be Charged In Seconds With New ‘Flow Battery’

A revolutionary new battery technology could allow electric cars to be fully charged in seconds, instead of the hours it currently takes.

Developed by chemists at the University of Glasgow, the ‘flow battery’ contains a liquid filled with nano molecules that can release energy as either electrical power or hydrogen.

As opposed to its solid form, the liquid nano molecules have two clear benefits for electric cars. The first is that it can store up to ’10 times’ the energy as its solid counterpart. The second is that it could in theory allow electric cars to be charged in seconds.

For example when a car needs to be charged the liquid can simply be pumped out of the vehicle and exchanged for charged liquid in much the same way that you would fill up a car with fuel.

The old battery fluid would then be charged and made ready to be used in another car.

Professor Leroy (Lee) Cronin, the University of Glasgow’s Regius Chair of Chemistry lead the team who made the discovery.

“Our approach will provide a new route to do this electrochemically and could even have application in electric cars where batteries can still take hours to recharge and have limited capacity,” explained Professor Cronin.

While it is becoming quicker and easier to charge an electric car the simple truth is that it can still take several hours to fully recharge a vehicle with a range of only a few hundred miles.

The introduction of new ultra-fast charging stations around the country in the future will help to alleviate this but the team at Glasgow believe that their liquid battery solution could solve the problem permanently.

In addition, because it’s a hybrid system the liquid can be used for both electric cars and hydrogen cars which turn the substance back into electricity.

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Renault Zoe 2018 Review: So Good You’ll Forget It’s Electric – HuffPost Verdict

K E Y P O I N T S

The new Renault Zoe 2018 is a fully electric car with a powerful new R110 motor and a real-world range of around 180-miles.
It’s the smallest of the electric cars but it’s also the cheapest, with the base Dynamique Nav model costing just £18,420. By comparison Nissan’s cheapest Leaf starts at around £21,990.
You get a fantastic amount as standard including a 7-inch touchscreen with TomTom navigation, rear parking sensors, automatic lights, DAB radio, keycard entry system and cruise control.
It feels great to drive in the city thanks to its incredibly light, precise steering and perky acceleration at low speeds.
The Zoe is less suited to motorways thanks to sluggish performance a high-speeds and some stability issues when hitting bumps or dips.
The touchscreen multimedia system is hit and miss. TomTom navigation is great but annoyingly every time you go past a speed camera an audible alert temporarily pauses the music you’re playing. It’s infuriating.
Interior feels a bit cheap however the Zoe has a huge boot that beats even the Clio for storage space.

V E R D I C T

The Renault Zoe might not get as much publicity as the Tesla Model S or the Nissan Leaf but it has quietly been winning the public over to the idea of electric cars since 2013.

This new 2018 model is the culmination of years spent working towards what feels like its single objective: for you to forget that you’re driving an electric car.

This new model comes with Renault’s new R110 electric motor and its 40kW battery. Combined this gives you acceleration of 0-60 in 11.9 seconds and a real-world range of around 180-miles.

Despite those sluggish figures the Zoe felt incredibly nippy around the city, thanks in part to that instant acceleration you get from an electric motor.

Where the Zoe struggled was at higher speeds. It is not by any means an overtaking car and putting your foot down on the motorway provides you with only a small speed increase and a very large drop in range.

Renault claim this little five-door supermini has a range of around 186-miles. Over the week it became clear that by keeping the Zoe at low speeds up to around 50-60mph you can easily get 150-160 miles per charge. Go even a few mph higher though and the range can start to drop dramatically, at one point on the A12 we were losing around 2 miles of range for every real-world mile.

This tale of two halves applies to the handling as well. As we drove through London and then Colchester, the Zoe felt in its element. That zippy electric acceleration combined with its effortlessly light steering made navigating both urban centres a complete doddle. The suspension was also very forgiving, absorbing all but the worst road bumps without too much drama.

Out on the motorway and it’s a different story. Hit a dip or bump at around 65mph and you’ll be acutely aware of it. The car’s light steering also starts to play against it as well, taking away some of that connection to the road’s surface.

The Zoe’s interior is simple, modern and feels like it was made for handling everyday life. There’s acres of plastic so while it doesn’t exactly look premium, it does feel capable of handling trainers up on the dashboard or the occasional spilled drink.

The seats are comfy enough however one thing that almost immediately annoyed me is the fact that you can’t change the height of the driver’s seat. It’s a baffling omission, especially when you then can’t change the angle of the TFT colour display behind the wheel.

This meant that for most of the journey I had to ever so slightly dip my head just to see what my current range was.

The Zoe comes with a 7-inch multimedia system with TomTom navigation as standard. On paper it’s a great package, but in reality the system is very hit and miss.

The positives are that the screen is bright, responsive and relatively easy to use. You also get Android Auto which means if you have a compatible Android smartphone you can use a whole range of apps through the car from Spotify to Google Maps. Sadly there’s no Apple CarPlay support.

The TomTom navigation system is excellent, if a little fiddly to use. It also comes with a number strange quirks the most annoying of which is the speed camera warning system.

Any time you have audio playing (in our case an iPhone through a USB cable) the car will temporarily pause the audio to play a loud alert when you get near a speed camera, it then goes silent for three seconds and finally resumes the music. After just a few speed cameras this becomes quite remarkably annoying.

I did eventually turn it off, however you then have to do it every single time you get into the car. Yes it’s a small issue but it’s one that becomes annoying very quickly.

What we can very much recommend is the optional £350 Bose sound system. Considering how much high-end sound systems cost on most cars this not only feels pretty reasonable, but it sounds absolutely superb. Small warning though, it does take up a little bit of space in the boot for the bass speaker.

Located behind the Renault badge at the front is a Type-2 connector for charging. Our model charges from 0-100% in a little over 7 hours using the installed wall socket at home. That goes down to just 4 hours if you use a 11kW public charger and just 2 hours 40 mins if you use the 22kW rapid chargers found in most service stations.

If you want an even quicker charge time at those service stations you can pay £750 extra for Renault’s Q90 Chameleon charger which supports up to 43kW and a charging time of 1 hour 50 minutes.

Finally, one of the reasons the Zoe is cheaper than its rivals is because you don’t actually own the battery. Instead you’re leasing it from Renault for around £59 per month.

Yes that’s a lot of money but when you factor in weekly fuel costs (just £5 to charge the Zoe) and the fact that Renault will service or replace the battery for free should it fail you’re actually getting a pretty good deal.

S P E C I F I C A T I O N S

Car tested: Renault Zoe Dynamique Nav R110 Z.E.40
Engine: 40kWh battery
Range: 186-miles
Top Speed: 89mph
0-60mph: 11.9 sec
Cost: The model I drove costs £19,770
Features: This model came with metallic paint (£650), Bose premium sound system (£350), 17-inch alloy wheels (£310) and purple interior touch pack (£175) as added options.

T A K E H O M E M E S S A G E

The Renault Zoe isn’t perfect. It struggles on the motorway, features some questionable interior design decisions and has a multimedia system that’s obsessed with speed cameras.

What it gets right though far outweighs these negatives. It’s absolutely fantastic for everyday driving, whether it’s the school run, going shopping or popping into town. The light steering, instant speed and fantastic boot space mean that for 99% of the time you’re driving it you’ll forget that this is an electric car.

Instead this is a brilliant little supermini that’s great for the environment and thanks to its low charging costs, could be just as great for your finances over the long run.

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Road Signs Could Be Ditched And Beamed Straight To Your Car

Highways England are reportedly trialling an innovative new system where instead of using physical road signs, all the traffic information is beamed straight to your car.

The technology works using the next generation of phone signals known as 5G and would allow cars to be given the latest speed limits, accident warnings and the latest traffic information.

Physical road signs might be vital, but according to Auto Express, Highways England believes that this new system could make the roads safer to use,

Many modern cars now have digital dashboards and touchscreens and can be updated with live information at a moments notice.

Many modern cars already use primitive versions of this technology to pull through the latest speed limits whether it’s beamed to the car or recognised by the car’s sign-recognition cameras.

The trial will take place from 2018 all the way through to December 2025 on the A2 and M2 on the way to Dover.

Sadly the public won’t be able to take advantage of the technology, instead specially equipped vehicles will be travelling up and down the motorway testing it for accuracy, reliability and more.

In much the same way that fibre optic broadband is considered the next generation of internet speeds, 5G will soon replace 4G as the future of mobile networks.

With companies like EE working on the infrastructure and handset manufacturers like LG and Samsung working on 5G smartphones the technology might not be as far off as 2025.

Cars however have a habit of moving at a much slower pace than smartphones, so while Highways England might be testing a 5G connected car now it’s unlikely we’ll see them tearing down road signs any time soon.

That being said, if the trial is a success and the advent of self-driving cars it’s not a future that can be completely ruled out.