National Highways is spearheading the electrification of its vehicle fleet with the Toyota bZ4X.
The company responsible for operating, maintaining and improving England’s motorways and major A-roads has ordered 51 of the battery electric SUVs as daily transport for its team of inspectors.
The RAC has this week written to Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho to draw her attention to the fact that retailer margins on fuel are far higher than they should be and that drivers are still losing out at the pumps.
Despite the Government getting retailers to make fuel prices publicly available on a daily basis, and the Competition and Markets Authority continuing to scrutinise prices following its report last year which concluded major retailers had overcharged by £900m in 2022, average margins on fuel remain ‘unreasonably’ high and RAC Fuel Watch analysis reveals the margin on diesel has been above 15p a litre since 22 April and last week increased to above 18p. The margin on petrol is now nearly 12p a litre and has averaged 10p so far this year.
The US government said it would be raising import tariffs on Chinese battery electric vehicles, semiconductors, solar cells, steel and other sensitive technology to protect its local industries from what it saw as unfair competition from Chinese manufacturers.
US President Joe Biden said in a speech the government was hiking import duties on Chinese made BEVs fourfold, from 25% at present to 100%, to “safeguard American jobs”.
Elon Musk says Tesla will spend well over $500 million on growing its charging network this year.
It has signed agreements with other motor manufactuers to use its extensive high capacity chargers but threw the industry into confusion when he fired 500 staff this month and a few days later rehired some of them in an unexplained move.
A new study has now revealed that three-quarters (76%) of vehicle incidents happen in good weather in Britain.
ALD Automotive | LeasePlan UK’s research shows that accidents are more likely to happen under clear blue skies rather than rainy clouds and icy roads, after analysis of over 72,000 insurance incidents has shown that just 6% of accidents were caused by rainy conditions and this figure reduces even further when considering foggy, icy, and snowy conditions.
