Octopus’ EV leasing business secures £150m to turbocharge electric car take up June 20, 2023 Octopus Electric Vehicles, the energy company’s electric car leasing business, has secured a £150m funding boost, taking its two-year total fundraising total to £650m. The funding will help finance Octopus’ employee benefit scheme, which gives employees at firms who opt in a chance to save around 30-40 per cent by providing the electric vehicle, charger [...]
EV transition could be fast-tracked by more than a decade if people buy second hand, says report June 7, 2023 The UK’s EV transition could be fast-tracked by over a decade if the country makes more use of the second-hand electric vehicle (EV) market, a new report shows. Research from the Green Finance Institute found that accessing the used EV market could boost uptake in the UK by as much as 17m, should barriers including [...]
Investment slump amid higher interest rates risks finally sparking UK recession June 6, 2023 A mix of factors are buffeting the UK economy right now. Spending power is being crushed by high inflation eroding family finances. House prices are coming off their heady heights as sellers drop prices to source buyers amid higher mortgage rates. External demand is thinning in response to weak consumer confidence amid a global cost [...]
New car sales are on the up as supply chain issues ease June 5, 2023 Sales of new cars in the UK increased again last month, new figures out today revealed, marking the tenth successive month of sales growth.
A healthy motor industry for the UK needs gigafactories like the one Tata will build June 5, 2023 The Tata gigafactory could be an opportunity to reflect on what the government should and shouldn't do to support the vital, but hard-pressed, British motor industry, writes Geoffrey Owen
Government must ‘urgently reform’ road taxes to avoid £10bn shortfall created by EV transition, says think tank June 1, 2023 The government must “urgently reform” its road taxes in order to avoid a multi-billion pound revenue shortfall created by the EV transition, says a new think tank report. According to research from the Resolution Foundation, lower taxation of EVs, particularly the absence of a fuel duty, will create a growing £10bn “fiscal hole,” within the [...]
China’s EV makers are our biggest rival, says Ford boss May 26, 2023 Ford’s CEO Jim Farley has warned that Chinese manufacturers are the companies’ biggest rival in the EV space, not competitors like Toyota or General Motors (GM). ”I think we see the Chinese as the main competitor, not GM or Toyota,” Farley told the Morgan Stanley Sustainable Finance Summit, in comments first reported by Reuters this [...]
British American Tobacco appoints new chief executive as as analysts predict something’s ‘not right’ at BAT May 15, 2023 British American Tobacco appointed finance director Tadeu Marroco as CEO on Monday, succeeding Jack Bowles who is stepping down after about four years. Marroco started working for the tobacco firm in Brazil in 1992 and was appointed to the board in 2019. Bowles, who also joined the board in 2019, has led the maker of [...]
If ULEZ was controversial, pay as you drive road pricing will face even more hurdles April 21, 2023 As more and more people buy electric cars, we will need to introduce a road pricing scheme to pay for our highways, but a litany of controversial concerns - such as data protection - will stand in the way, writes Dom Lacey.
Decarbonising fleets ‘impossible’ due to absence of infrastructure and lack of plan, says HGV sector April 18, 2023 The heavy goods vehicle (HGV) sector is calling for an urgent government strategy to drive uptake of zero emission trucks, amid concerns over poor EV and hydrogen infrastructure. New analysis published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed that HGV electric and hydrogen models account for just one in 600 trucks on [...]