Grant Shapps accused of ‘recycling’ year-old green number plate plan for electric cars October 22, 2019 Transport secretary Grant Schapps has come under heavy criticism for “recycling” a year-old announcement to introduce green number plates for electric cars. His department this morning asked the industry for feedback on whether to give bright green number plates to zero-emission cars, in a bid to encourage people to buy electric vehicles. However, the plan [...]
Labour plots further £5bn investment in electric car industry September 24, 2019 Labour has pledged to spend £2bn on the construction of three electric car battery factories in parts of the country which have lost thousands of car industry jobs in the last year. The plan would see a Labour government plough the money into so-called gigafactories in south Wales, Stoke and Swindon, with each site employing [...]
Labour hopes to lease 30,000 electric cars to public in climate drive September 23, 2019 Labour has unveiled plans to roll out a fleet of 30,000 electric hire cars onto Britain’s roads in a bid to help tackle climate change. Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey today said Labour would spend £300m to provide its so-called People’s Zipcars if it came to power, which people across the country could rent via [...]
Britain’s car industry could weather a storm of tariffs better than you’d think September 18, 2019 The latest American Economic Review contains a timely paper. Keith Head and Thierry Mayer, at the University of British Columbia and the Banque de France respectively, estimate the consequences of changes in tariff and non-tariff barriers to the car industry. They look at both US-led protectionism and Brexit, and calculate how these might change the [...]
Electric car sales charge ahead with record monthly demand September 5, 2019 More electric cars were sold in Britain last month than ever before, as zero-emission car sales rose fivefold amid an otherwise subdued automotive market. Zero emission car sales came to 3,147 vehicles in August compared to just 659 this time last year, as the release of several new models over the summer boosted demand, including [...]
Pie in the sky? London urged to plan for flying taxi future September 2, 2019 Airbus will tomorrow urge London authorities to plan for a future in which electric air taxis roam the skies and drones carry cargo a few thousand feet above the city. The aviation juggernaut has already built a prototype air taxi, as have arch rivals Boeing, Uber and several other manufacturers. Airbus will urge city planners [...]
Electric car charging points outnumber petrol stations August 15, 2019 The number of electric car charging points in the UK now exceeds petrol stations, as an increasing number of Brits turn to electric vehicles (EV). Read more: Car sales stagnate again in July but electric vehicle market share surges There are now 9,300 charging locations, compared to 8,400 petrol stations, according to new data released [...]
European car sales suffer steep June drop July 17, 2019 European car sales slumped 7.8 per cent last month as Nissan, Fiat Chrysler and Volvo suffered the biggest revenue losses. Read more: Volkswagen and Ford team up on driverless cars Registrations dropped to 1.45m units in June, according to the Association of European Carmakers (AEC), the worst decline since December. The AEC blamed two fewer [...]
Volkswagen and Ford strengthen ties by teaming up on electric and self-driving cars July 12, 2019 Two of the world’s biggest car makers, Volkswagen and Ford, have moved their existing commercial partnership up a gear this afternoon to collaborate on electric cars and self-driving cars. Read more: Ford gears up to announce up to 550 job losses for UK office workers amid turnaround efforts The firms are looking to pull ahead [...]
BMW reveals it will build electric Mini in Oxford in boost for UK’s car industry July 9, 2019 In the summer of 1959, the first Mini rolled off the production line in Oxford and hit Britain’s streets. While initially a response to the Suez crisis fuel shortage, its diminutive size made it a style icon, helped it symbolise the swinging sixties and shook up Britain’s car industry for good. Fast forward 60 years, [...]