Service, maintenance and repair issues mean that fleets are facing excessive vehicle off-road time, the Association of Fleet Professionals is reporting. Paul Hollick, chair, said AFP members buying SMR were regularly reporting a range of problems. Some of these, such as parts supply, were felt to be outside the control of suppliers - but others, including levels of communication, were more … [Read more...]
Tradelines 10 May
Responding to feedback from members, the Independent Garage Association (IGA) has added a new EV Practical Fault-Finding course to its suite of high-quality, cost-effective skills training. The one-day course will focus on real-world faults that have been identified by IGA members as frequently affecting their customers’ vehicles and will be delivered at various RMI training locations, with the … [Read more...]
Self-driving cars steer cautious welcome
More than two-thirds of motorists (67%) are ready to start using self-driving cars, new research shows, in the same month that the UK’s first hands-free driving technology has been launched. Following approval for Ford’s Mustang Mach-E to use BlueCruise driver assistance, May’s Startline Used Car Tracker reports that 43% say autonomous technology would make journeys more relaxing and 36% believe … [Read more...]
Certified Recycled parts see booming demand
Motorists in the UK saved £99 million in 2022 by opting for used parts and accessories instead of brand-new replacements, according to research by eBay. The online marketplace revealed the impact of second-hand parts as it relaunched its Certified Recycled programme, which sells recycled vehicle parts from 81 certified sellers. Certified Recycled parts can be up to 70% cheaper compared to OEM … [Read more...]
Scale up charging or face consequences, Governments told
EV sales are rising across Europe but Governments must do more to provide an extensive public charging network to for travellers, said car makers body, the ACEA. Recent ACEA data confirmed that market share rose to 13.9% for battery electric cars and 24.3% for hybrid models. While China is currently ahead of Europe and the US in the electrification of the car market, the European market will … [Read more...]
Compact fire fighting to extinguish ev blazes
The booming number of electric vehicles on the roads may be considered good for the environment, but it is causing concern among fire fighters. Although electric vehicles are statistically less likely to catch fire than an internal combustion engine car, incidents involving a lithium-ion battery can be far more serious and difficult to extinguish – especially if in an enclosed space such as an … [Read more...]
EV batteries’ life expectency misunderstood
More than half of consumers “hugely overestimate” the time it takes for used electric car batteries to lose range, according to April’s Startline Used Car Tracker. Asked to estimate typical range loss after five years, 56% said they expected the fall to be 30% or more. In fact, research shows the real world result is likely to be less than half this figure. The average degradation for … [Read more...]
Ford BlueCruise tech warning from FleetCheck
The arrival of Ford’s new BlueCruise – the first legal hands-free driving product available on UK roads – raises a whole series of questions that fleets need to answer, says FleetCheck. Peter Golding, managing director at the fleet software specialist, said, “The fleet industry has been discussing the theoretical implications of hands-free driving for some time but the real-world availability of … [Read more...]
Britons get back into their cars
More Britons are getting back into the driving seat following the pandemic, according to new annual Motorparc data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. However, the provision of public ev charge points has slowed and has not kept up with increasing registrations of PHEVs and BEVs. The Moorparc data shows the number of cars in use on UK roads in 2022 rising by 124,393 units to a … [Read more...]
Smart ♯1 charges into UK this summer
The pure electric Smart ♯1 compact SUV will come to Britain by the end of the summer beginning with just 100 Launch Edition high spec versions at £39,450. Initially available in three production variants – the £35,950 Pro+, Premium from £38,950 and BRABUS beginning at £43,450 – as well as a highly exclusive Launch Edition, the newcomers use 200 or 315 KW motors and 62kWh batteries with claimed … [Read more...]