Drivers in European countries bought twice as many electric cars as their British counterparts last year as the government significantly reduced grants for green vehicles. Sales of cars powered solely by battery were more than twice as high in France and Germany, adding to concerns over “sluggish” demand in the UK and questions over how the government will reach its targets for phasing out new petrol and diesel cars. Norway sold three times as many electric cars as Britain while the Netherlands had sales that were 70 per cent higher, even though both countries have much smaller populations.
Times 13th May 2019 read more »
The problem with electric cars is not the engine; an electric motor is ludicrously simple compared with the hundreds of moving parts in an internal combustion engine. It is not safety: a petrol car is essentially a series of contained explosions, an electric car has none. It is chemistry, and storage. Across the world, billions are being pumped into battery research. Professor Bruce is part of Britain’s bid: the Faraday Institution, a collaboration of academics across the country seeking out the next battery. Neil Morris, who runs the collaboration, is unambiguous about their goals: “For us, success looks like a breakthrough. We are funding fundamental research to tackle a major industrial problem, at scale.”
Times 13th May 2019 read more »
After 100 years of incremental change, we are on the cusp of a revolution on our roads. The age of the internal combustion engine is being consigned to history, but all too slowly. Today vehicles contribute to 80 per cent of air pollution breaches in the UK. The Times’s Clean Air For All campaign is a welcome rallying cry for action. The manifesto demand that sales of new diesel and petrol cars should be banned by 2030 is the right target and it can be achieved. In fact, the National Infrastructure Commission, in its first published assessment of Britain’s needs to 2050, set out the precise steps required to make reaching that goal credible and acceptable. Electric vehicles (EVs) are going mainstream: there was a 21 per cent increase in sales of electric and hybrid vehicles last year. But as EVs become cheaper and more attractive, we need to have the infrastructure in place to encourage drivers to make the switch. The biggest barrier is “range anxiety” – the entirely natural fear of being left powerless and stranded without a socket in sight. The chancellor has promised to respond to the commission’s assessment with the government’s own strategy at the spending review this autumn. Charge points are already being built across Britain, growing from 2,880 in 2012 to 14,160 in 2017. But this is still not fast enough. To allow for 100 per cent of new electric sales by 2030, the core network needs to be in place for the early 2020s.
Times 13th May 2019 read more »