Elon Musk stripteases at launch of Tesla SUV at new China factory January 7, 2020 Elon Musk left his army of followers hot under the collar this morning, when he posted a video of himself seemingly beginning a striptease on stage at the launch of Tesla’s Model Y in Shanghai. The Tesla boss was at his firm’s new Gigafactory in the city, when he started dancing in front of the [...]
SMMT: UK car sales plunge to six-year low despite electric growth January 6, 2020 British car sales slumped to a six-year low in 2019, as widespread economic uncertainty put the brakes on an industry whose only glimmer of hope came in the form of record electric vehicle sales. New car registrations fell two per cent to 2.31m last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), [...]
Electric cars take record UK market share as battery-powered vehicle sales surge 228 per cent December 5, 2019 Britain’s drivers bought more electric vehicles last month than ever before, as demand for fully electric battery cars surged more than three-fold. In November, pure electric battery car sales rose 228 per cent compared to the same period last year, with 4,652 of the vehicles registered. Read more: Electric dreams: How long until electric cars [...]
Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims his new Cybertruck already has 250,000 orders November 27, 2019 Elon Musk has suggested that his unorthodox new electric pickup truck has already received a quarter-of-a-million orders since its unveiling last week. The so called Cybertruck, made by Tesla, has caused a stir in the automotive industry since its launch on Thursday, with its unconventional shape and hefty $39,900 price tag making it a target [...]
Electric dreams: How long until electric cars go mainstream in the UK? November 26, 2019 Visitors to the picturesque Whitby Bay beach in north Yorkshire were in for a shock earlier this month, when they encountered two giant footprints etched into the sand. The left was half the length of a football pitch, at 50 metres – the right was just 3.5 metres long. The reason? A publicity stunt by [...]
EDF Energy in talks to buy electric vehicle chargers Pod Point October 31, 2019 The French energy supplier EDF is in talks about the acquisition of electric vehicle-charging start-up Pod Point. The company is the latest utilities supplier to branch out into the global automotive sector. Read more: Fiat Chrysler and PSA set to enter 50-50 share swap in $50bn merger Talks about a deal are understood to have [...]
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 [...]