The Volkswagen Group has entered into three more strategic partnerships, further strengthening its position in the field of batteries. The new partners are the leading materials technology group Umicore, the battery specialist 24M Technologies, and cleantech company Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd. Although these three partnerships are independent from each other, they share a common goal: … [Read more...]
Newslines 8 December
The all-new Nissan Qashqai has been awarded the top five-star safety rating by the independent European New Car Assessment Programme, a particularly notable achievement given the vehicle was assessed under the new, more stringent 2020-2022 protocol. It did particularly well in adult protection and highly scored in protecting pedestrians, but the Renault Zoe and Dacia have been slated for … [Read more...]
Turnaround in new car sales led by EVs raises issues
New car sales rose 1.7% year on year in November, ending four consecutive months of decline. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reported 115,706 new cars were registered last month, up from 113,781 in the same period last year. The trade body noted this small uptick "must be viewed in the context of a weak 2020, when lockdowns impacted registrations". With the … [Read more...]
Newslines 6 December
Polestar has released a second teaser image of the forthcoming Polestar 3 pure electric performance SUV. It will launch in 2022 as the company’s first SUV and will be its first vehicle to be built in the US, in Charleston, South Carolina. Stellantis has collaborated on a pilot project to build near Milan a 1,000 metre road implanted with an electrical loop to test inductive charging in … [Read more...]
Wales powers ahead with car chargers
Wales is out-performing the rest of the UK installing charging points, say the car makers. New analysis by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders revealed that the ratio of vehicle chargepoints to plug-in cars deteriorated by -31% during 2020. The research shows that at the end of 2019, 11 plug-in vehicles potentially shared a standard public chargepoint capable of charging both … [Read more...]
Assisted Driving tech is getting better say testers
Thatcham Research and Euro NCAP are encouraged by the results of their latest Assisted Driving Gradings, which show all seven of the mainstream vehicle manufacturers whose cars were tested, are committed to fitting robust Assisted Driving technology at every price point. The world-first Assisted Driving Grading assessments were introduced in October 2020 and are designed to support the sensible … [Read more...]
Younger drivers most likely to lead switch to electric cars
According to the latest research discovered by Carvine from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the race is well and truly on for motorists to make the switch to electric. With more than half of motorists between 16 to 49 years likely to switch to all-electric vehicles before the ban of new petrol and diesel cars comes into effect in 2030, the future of UK driving is set to change for … [Read more...]
Badge envy drives diesel sales of older models
Growing diesel sales in the online used car market may be powered by drivers wanting a car with a more desirable badge rather than availability or price, according to a new analysis of sales. Popular online used car supermarket BuyaCar.co.uk says that diesel sales have risen from 30% of all transactions in the summer to 38% in October and early November. This is despite significantly higher … [Read more...]
Training skills risk ev boom going flat
As EV adoption accelerates a shortfall of 35,700 technicians is predicted from 2026 if retraining isn’t urgently addressed. According to new analysis from the Institute of the Motor Industry, 90,000 automotive technicians will be required to provide sufficient workforce to service the volume of zero emissions vehicles predicted to be on UK roads by 2030 - the government’s Road to Zero … [Read more...]
Technical challenge to keep UK charged
Rebalancing the electrical grid to cope with large scale overnight charging is one of the many challenges the UK faces in its transition to all-electric vehicles, but Vattenfall UK’s managing director Stewart Dawson is confident the technology exists to keep the nation fully charged. “With electric vehicles set to become dominant in the future everyone is going to want to charge them up … [Read more...]