The richest man in the world Jeff Bezos drives a Honda Accord and second in line to the trillionaire throne Bill Gates uses a Ford Focus. Queen Britney drives a Mini Cooper alongside the Hello star Adele who is the 3rd richest female in a Uswitch study with a net worth over £140 million while despite reportedly earning over £10 million a year, Daniel Radcliffe can still be seen driving a trusty … [Read more...]
Newcomers
Government move on motorways’ electric chargers
The government will break the monopoly on electric car charging at motorway services and will use legislation to ensure the points are reliable and can be accessed by anyone with a contactless card. Currently just one company -Ecotricity – has the contract to provide charging provision along the motorway network. It has been widely criticised by electric car users for its outdated and … [Read more...]
Newslines 23 March
SEAT want to build an electric battery plant outside Barcelona to supply a new city car for the company in 2025 at a rumoured £17,000. The plant will be built with Spanish and EU funds and probably supply other small cars in the VW Group. Toyota, Nissan, Honda and other Japanese carmakers are assessing the impact production after a fire at a Renesas Electronics chip plant in north-east … [Read more...]
New car news: Aston Martin, Citroen and VW
A road going version of the Aston Martin Vantage F1 Edition which will be the Grand Prix safety car this season is going into production. It has a more powerful 535ps 4.0V8, enhanced 8sp automatic transmission and revised steering, brakes and suspension developed from systems in the track car and the showroom price of the newcomer is from £142,000. Citroën new ë-C4 models in the UK will continue … [Read more...]
Welsh business will drive future heavy EVs
A Welsh automotive components company has won support for a £31.9 million project to develop lightweight electric powertrains for heavy goods vehicles in the latest round of R&D funding guided by the Advanced Propulsion Centre. The Electric Powertrain Integration for Heavy Commercial Vehicles project will see Cwmbran-based company – Meritor – develop zero-emission ‘smart’ powertrains for … [Read more...]
First drive: Mazda MX-30
Making its move into the electric generation of modern cars, the Mazda MX-30 lands squarely in the middle-ground of the market. Based on the stable-mate CX-30 crossover costing about £2,500 less, the MX-30’s 35.5kWh lithium-ion traction battery has added weight to the platform. Mazda has kept this as low as possible and not utilised a heavier battery as in some rivals and last year, the MX-30 … [Read more...]
Mazda ease into electric and zero emissions
The Mazda MX30 pure battery car is easing into its range at the right time, according to UK MD Jeremy Thompson. “Although Mazda has been researching, developing and selling electric cars for over 50 years, they did not feel the time was right to launch the pure battery MX30 until now,” he said. Mr Thompson said that major markets around the world are shifting towards ending the internal … [Read more...]
Real world costs of evs explained
The perceived high charging costs of electric vehicles is a key barrier preventing consumers switching from combustion to battery-powered electric vehicles. Survey findings from price comparison and switching site energyhelpline.com found almost two-thirds (64%) of consumers believe electric-only cars cost up to £50 to fully charge at home despite a new analysis showing that popular BEVs cost … [Read more...]
Government immediately slashes grant for BEVs
The Government is immediately slashing the grant for battery electric vehicles, lowering the price ceiling while altering the qualification for electric vans and further reductions will come. It's unheralded announcement about the changes effective today have been criticised by car makers, dealers, motoring organisations and fleet companies who say it sends the wrong message to motorists who want … [Read more...]
Advertising brakes but car sales accelerate
Sales enquiries for both new and used cars have seen an increase during the last week as retail buyers appear to have gained a little more confidence and seem more willing to start to spend the money they have inadvertently saved during the current third lockdown period. However, new car sales for the month are still looking to be at around 60% of normal levels with a considerable constraint on … [Read more...]