Electric Vehicles

The journalist and electric vehicle campaigner Quentin Willson has said he is "staggered" after the Government did not cut VAT for EV charging in the budget.

He explained: "FairCharge is staggered that the Chancellor is prepared to spend £5billion on a fuel duty freeze and continuation of the 5p cut, yet won't spend 125th of that - circa £40million - on cutting the VAT on public EV charging.

"Why wouldn't you support a drive for cleaner air in our towns and cities? Might it have something to do with an election, we wonder."

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/7575755

The Mr Bean actor was name-checked in the House of Lords on Tuesday during its environment and climate change committee meeting.

Thinktank Green Alliance gave its views on the main obstacles the government faces in its bid to phase out petrol and diesel cars before 2035, and said a comment piece by the Johnny English star published in June 2023 was damaging to the cause.

The pressure group told peers in a letter that was shared: "One of the most damaging articles was a comment piece written by Rowan Atkinson in The Guardian which has been roundly debunked.

"Unfortunately, fact checks never reach the same breadth of audience as the original false claim, emphasising the need to ensure high editorial standards around the net zero transition."

The 69-year-old actor's piece was headlined: "I love electric vehicles - and was an early adopter. But increasingly I feel duped."

Atkinson wrote that EVs were "a bit soulless" and criticised the use of their lithium-ion batteries.

He suggested solutions like drivers keeping the same car for longer periods of time and increased use of synthetic fuel would negate the need for EVs, saying: "Increasingly, I'm feeling that our honeymoon with electric cars is coming to an end, and that's no bad thing."

The actor, who described himself as a "car person" having got a degree in electrical and electronic engineering, said he advised friends to "hold fire for now" on EVs unless they have an old diesel vehicle.

"There is an anti-EV story in the papers almost every day. Sometimes there are many stories, almost all of which are based on misconceptions and mistruths, unfortunately."

MFG EV Power charging hubs coming to Morrisons fuel forecourts!

Oxford is launching an electric fleet that will make the city one of the UK’s leading adopters of zero-emission buses.

The 159 new battery-powered buses will give Oxford more electric buses per capita than other cities including London, Glasgow and Leicester, under a pioneering arrangement in which the council will guarantee private operators faster journey times in return for investment.

From Monday, the first buses will officially enter service after a ceremony to mark the launch. Only buses that are zero-emission will be allowed within the city when the entire fleet is operational, with more restrictions on other types of traffic to cut congestion as well as improve air quality.

...

The partnership, in which both Go-Ahead and Stagecoach electric buses will be rebranded in the same livery, will be underpinned by further traffic measures in the city to reduce bus journey times by at least 10% compared with 2019 speeds – a contractual commitment from the council to ensure the investment is viable for the private companies.

The city already has a number of “bus gates”, which prohibit most other vehicles, and more traffic filters will be introduced by the end of 2024 to push people towards public transport or active travel where possible.

Oxford has already implemented several low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), which have been the focus of heated protests by campaigners and conspiracy theorists.

Further more nuanced details here, but I didn't want to lead with a site people might not be familiar with: https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2024/01/bt-start-uk-trial-to-convert-broadband-street-cabinets-into-ev-chargers.html

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/6354036

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.

The increase is a boost for the automotive industry after the pandemic led to supply chain problems and a shortage of vital computer chips that slowed production.

Across the year, 315,000 new battery electric vehicles were sold. That was 50,000 more than 2022, but the number being bought as a share of total registrations failed to grow as expected. They represented just 16.5% of the total, slightly down on last year’s 16.6%.

Just saw this in Tesco!

I was considering buying a Chevy Bolt lately to use as my daily commuter but found out it collects a lot of data and phones it back. It's hard to do research on what kind of EV I could buy that doesn't collect your location data so I'm hoping someone here might have some good suggestions.

Between 2200-2359 today, get 40% off Ionity and Osprey.

We're very pleased to announce that Zapmap has taken its first step outside of the UK and the Republic of Ireland – and has started mapping charge points in mainland Europe.

From our survey, we know that around 18% of Zapmap users drive abroad – typically to France, as well as Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany – with the past year seeing a 28% increase in the number of people travelling to mainland Europe in their electric car.

Now, EV drivers travelling to the continent can use the app and desktop map to search and filter for certain charge points in France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Source: https://www.speakev.com/threads/pick-your-favourite.181562/ (apparently originally from Facebook - there are a couple of others in the link)

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/4828515

Figures show there are 131 publicly available EV charging devices

I think that charging stations should display their prices like fuel stations.

I don't mean the ones on pavements or hotel car parks, but locations with 6 or more outlets.

Anyone else agree with me?

EV chargers cables owned by BP Pulse and Osprey Charging reportedly stolen from The Maltings Retail Park, Waitrose, Appletongate and Albert Street in Newark – with Nottinghamshire Police said to be investigating

Wow! Didn't expect this. Although the article is a bit confusing as to whether it's the network or just Tesla hardware. When I heard it on the radio this morning they specifically mentioned the supercharger network.