Month: June 2023

The gulf between the number of electric vehicles (EVs) on the road and public charge points could continue for “a number of months or more”, according to a transport minister.

Jesse Norman acknowledged there has been a “disconnect” between vehicles and required infrastructure, citing “rapidly growing” EV purchases as the reason.

But he insisted the Government has plans in place to support expansion, with the potential to make use of billions of pounds of private investment.

The fear of running out of charge – often referred to as range anxiety or charging anxiety – has been cited as a key barrier to people switching to electric motoring.

Mr Norman told MPs: “There are currently over 42,000 public electric vehicle charge points in the UK alongside hundreds of thousands more in homes and workplaces.

“The Government allocated a share of £381 million to every local area in England under the LEVI, Local EV Infrastructure fund, and is also supporting rapid charges along the strategic road network.”

Mr Norman said the Government also provides grants to support the development of charge points in flats, rental properties, residential car parks and workplaces.

But Labour MP Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) said: “According to The Times it seems the gulf between the number of electric vehicles out on our roads and the number of public charge points has actually doubled in the last year.

“And Logistics UK is reporting that many of their operators with commercial vehicles cannot access these points.

“So it seems the Government needs to do more in terms of planning and to encourage investment. Could the minister update us?”

Mr Norman, in his reply, said: “I take the general point he raises.

“Of course when you have rapidly growing EV purchases, as we do in this country, you are going to see moments where the amount of infrastructure and the amount of vehicles disconnect a little bit and we’ve certainly seen a bit of that recently – and we will do perhaps for a number of months or more yet.

“But what is so interesting is the new zero emissions vehicle mandate allows us to trigger, as I’ve already mentioned, billions of pounds of potential private investment.

“That’s a world-leading intervention by Government and I think it will pay long-term dividends in supporting the expansion of the electric car fleet.”

The Times said industry figures showed that across the UK there were 36 electric cars on the road for every standard public charger last year. It said this compared with 31 at the end of 2021.

The AA this week reported the proportion of EV breakdowns caused by running out of charge has fallen by nearly three-quarters since 2019.

Just 2.1% of callouts received by the AA from stranded EV drivers in the UK during the first five months of this year were for depleted batteries.

That was down from 8.0% across the whole of 2019.

The AA partly attributed this to a spike in the number of public charging devices, with Zapmap figures showing the total has risen from 24,909 at the end of April 2022 to 43,626 at the end of May this year.

The proportion of electric vehicle breakdowns caused by running out of charge has fallen by nearly three-quarters since 2019, new figures show.

Just 2.1% of callouts received by the AA from stranded EV drivers in the UK during the first five months of this year were for depleted batteries.

That is down from 8.0% across the whole of 2019.

The AA partly attributed this to a spike in the number of public charging devices, with Zapmap figures showing the total has soared from 24,909 at the end of April 2022 to 42,566 a year later.

AA president Edmund King believes an increase in the number of domestic and workplace chargers is another reason for the drop in incidents of EVs running out of electricity.

The fear of running out of charge – often referred to as range anxiety or charging anxiety – has been cited as a key barrier to people switching to electric motoring.

Mr King, who will address the EV Infrastructure Summit in east London on Wednesday, said: “Our data on out of charge EVs clearly shows charging anxiety does not match the reality.

“The drop in out of charge breakdowns is a clear sign that range, infrastructure and education are improving.

“Of course, we need a concerted effort to continue the rollout of reliable and accessible charging to fill in the gaps and to address the problem for those that don’t have off-street parking to charge.”

He added: “There has never been a better time to buy a used EV as many prices have dropped dramatically in the last six months.

“Once the car has been purchased, the running and servicing costs tend to be much lower.”

Sales of new petrol and diesel cars will be banned in the UK from 2030.

Jeremy Clarkson has revealed that one of the pranks on The Grand Tour: Eurocrash includes James May’s car “ending up” inside a restaurant.

In the latest instalment of the motoring travel programme, Clarkson, May and Richard Hammond go on a 1,400-mile road trip through Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia.

The Prime Video special, which will form the second part of series five, also sees the former Top Gear trio “sample some Soviet style Formula 1, are attacked by deadly archers, recruit a famous racing driver and take part in a spectacular Fast and Furious climax”.

When asked about the pranks during the trip, Clarkson said: “If you’re driving on roads and staying in hotels, as we did here, that means you get to the hotel in time for a drink.

“And then obviously, after a couple of drinks, ideas come to mind and so, James’ car ends up inside the restaurant, as a result of the drink.”

Hammond said May, 60, “had every reason” to make their lives a “misery” by adding “profoundly embarrassing and deeply irritating” sound effects to his car.

The 53-year-old presenter added: “He rewired it so that when I hit the brakes, it sounded a bell and when I used the indicators, it sounded a variety of sirens.

“When throttling past a certain point of acceleration, it played bagpipes. The worst was when I put the roof down or up, it loudly broadcast a message in the local language which suggested I was impotent.”

In the show, May also buys a “beige” and “bizarre and terrible” American subcompact Crosley car for around £12,000 while bidding online.

He said a “sort of benefit in disguise” was that he did not have to see Hammond and Clarkson as much because he was so slow in the vehicle.

May added: “I don’t mind being left on my own as much as the others would probably make out because, as you’ve just indicated, there is a certain relief to it. But I had to balance that with the misery of being in a horrible car.”

Clarkson – who also hosts Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon – said the trio are returning to Africa in another upcoming part of The Grand Tour.

He said: “This one’s a hard one. It’s hard if you’re young and fit, but I’m really not fit and I’m very fat and I’m 63 now.”

The Grand Tour: Eurocrash will be available on Prime Video on Friday June 16.

A Ferrari F430 Spider once owned by Wales international footballer Robbie Savage will head to auction later this month.

The F430 Spider was purchased by Savage back in 2006 during his time at Blackburn Rovers, not long after the Spider had been launched by Ferrari in 2005.

Finished in Rosso Corsa, the F430 incorporates beige leather seats, an eye-catching red dashboard, and a matching steering wheel. On the wheel itself, you’ll find one of the first examples of Ferrari’s ‘Mannetino’ rotary switch which allows the driver to change the car’s settings depending on the situation.

Though the F430 was also available with a six-speed manual gearbox, this version uses an F1-style paddleshift instead. It’s linked to a 4.3-litre V8 engine which allowed the drop-top Ferrari to reach a top speed of 193mph. The roof uses a retractable soft-top which opens or folds away at the touch of a button.

The Ferrari is appearing at the H&H Classics auction at IWM Duxford, Cambridgeshire, on June 14 and is accompanied by a guide price of between £70,000 and £80,000. As well as having undergone a recent professional detail, H&H Classics says that the supercar is driving ‘extremely well’ and that it currently has 26,000 miles on the clock.

Other highlights of the auction include a one-off Bentley S2 Convertible, a Ford Puma ‘Works’ rally car and an eye-catching Smart Crossblade, which is a version of the famous city car which doesn’t feature any doors or a roof.

An expansion for London’s ULEZ scrappage scheme has been announced, allowing more people to receive financial support to transition away from more polluting vehicles.

Introduced by London’s mayor Sadiq Khan today, the move will allow all those receiving child benefit and small businesses registered in London with fewer than 50 employees to gain support for a new vehicle ahead of the ULEZ’s expansion in August.

London-based charities that want to scrap or retrofit up to three vans or minibuses can also apply. Retrofitting would see an existing vehicle brought up to current emissions standards, though not all models are able to do this.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The majority of vehicles in London are already ULEZ compliant and will not have to pay anything. But I completely understand the concerns of people who may not have a compliant vehicle and are worried about how they’ll make the transition.

“Anyone receiving child benefit and all small businesses in London will now be able to apply for thousands of pounds of support from the end of July. The current scheme can already help couples in London earning up to £40,000 per year, and the expanded scheme will be open to all families claiming child benefit, which supports those earning under £50,000 the most.’

The ULEZ is set to expand on August 29, with the RAC estimating that the move will see nearly 700,000 car drivers face a daily £12.50 charge if their vehicle doesn’t meet emissions regulations. The new borders for the ULEZ will extend to Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey.

The current scrappage scheme was originally launched back in January, with a £110m fund setup to support London-based smaller businesses, sole traders and charities, lower-income drivers and those with disability allowances to transition to ‘greener’ cars.

Khan added: “Expanding the ULEZ was an incredibly difficult decision for me. But with toxic air damaging the health of millions of Londoners and the need to tackle the climate crisis, I believe the cost of inaction would simply be far too high a price to pay.”

Glasgow has become the first Scottish city to enforce a low emission zone (LEZ).

From Thursday, all vehicles entering the city centre must be compliant with emission standards or face a fine.

Glasgow City Council said the policy will protect public health by tackling “unacceptably high” levels of air pollution, but opposition parties say the policy will affect livelihoods and businesses.

Number plate recognition cameras will be used to enforce the LEZ.

When a non-compliant vehicle is detected in the zone, a penalty charge notice will be issued to the registered driver.

The first phase of the scheme focused on buses and saw a year-on-year improvement in the proportion of low or zero emission buses servicing the city centre.

Councillor Angus Millar, convener for climate and transport, said: “I am proud that Glasgow has fully rolled out the first of Scotland’s low emission zones, joining hundreds of cities across Europe who have introduced similar initiatives in ensuring cleaner, more breathable air.”

Mr Millar said air pollution has been in breach of legal limits for decades and “actively harmed” Glaswegians’ health.

He added: “While the vast majority – up to 90% – of vehicles currently entering the city centre will be unaffected, the LEZ standards will address the small minority of vehicles which pollute the most, disproportionately creating the harmful concentrations of air pollution.”

But George Redmond, the Labour group leader for Glasgow City Council, said he had “genuine fears” about the impact the policy would have on the night-time economy in the city.

Many taxi drivers have had to purchase new vehicles that are legally compliant with the new LEZ guidance.

Mr Redmond said: “We want an LEZ scheme that is fit and proper for the city.

“We have asked for a delay of 12 months that will give drivers time to prepare.

“I have genuine fears of the impact this will have on a night-time economy which is still recovering after a devastating pandemic.”

Tory councillor Thomas Kerr said the proposals had been “rushed” and that council chiefs had not taken into consideration the impact of the pandemic.

The Tories have joined Labour in calling for a delay to the LEZ until June 2024, arguing that taxi drivers needed more time to “get themselves back on their feet”.

Mr Kerr said: “Drivers have lost two years of income. Unite the Union is estimating around 1,000 taxi drivers could be off of our roads.

“That is extremely worrying.”

But campaigners believe cities “must be redesigned” to be healthier places where people are not forced to breathe in “toxic levels of air”.

Gareth Brown, chairman of Healthy Air Scotland and policy and public affairs officer at Asthma + Lung UK Scotland, said: “With one in five Scots developing a lung condition like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in their lifetime, for them, air pollution can trigger life-threatening asthma attacks and flare-ups.

“Air pollution in Glasgow is shockingly 4.5x World Health Organisation levels, so it is clear that we need to make tackling air pollution a national priority with low emission zones just the start.

“Our cities must be redesigned to be far healthier places, where people can walk and cycle and not forced to breathe in toxic levels of air.”

The LEZ covers the area of the city centre bounded by the M8 motorway to the north and west, the River Clyde to the south and Saltmarket and the High Street to the east but does not include the motorway itself.

A vehicle can only drive within an LEZ if it meets the specified emission standards, which are Euro 4 for petrol cars and vans, Euro 6 for diesel cars and vans, and Euro VI for buses, coaches and HGVs.

A national online vehicle checker by Transport Scotland is available to check for compliance with LEZ emission standards.

Motorcycles and mopeds are not included in the current LEZ schemes and no restrictions will apply.

There are some exemptions, such as for blue badge holders, and zone residents have an extra year to prepare.

Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee will enforce their LEZs next year.