Electric cars.

Ex-Top Gear host Richard Hammond makes major petrol and diesel car ban prediction (msn.com)

 

Like everything the government does. It takes a headline idea, then somehow manages to completely balls up the detail.

I've said it before, I have nothing against the idea of EVs, but I think the current batch are just proof of concept. By effectively banning new petrol and diesel cars, it just means older ones will be kept running. That's older ones with worn out valve seals, tired sensors etc, so basically running more dirty than when new. While any improvements in engine design are effectively halted.

 

How many countries are actually pushing for a ban on ICE cars by 2035? There is a good half dozen EU countries who want the 2035 date put back, Italy and Portugal are 2 of those countries.

China has a mandate of 40% cars sold must be BEV by 2030, even Japan will continue to manufacture ICE vehicles after 2035 as long as they are PHEV and HEV.

 

I saw a report today that Tesla are laying off between 10% and 20% of their workforce due to drop in sales. Admittedly an element of that is likely to them being over priced when they had little competition and their reputation for lousy build quality.

 

I think all these car manufacturers laying off staff is down to the fact that cars in general across all power trains have been to expensive since Covid and with the high energy costs, hence the lower volumes of new car registrations globally.

Last year there was 1.903 million new car registrations in the UK, in 2019 it was 2.311 million. In the last 20 years, not including the 5 years of the financial crisis and from Covid, the UK was averaging 2.4 million new car registrations yearly.

UK: new car registrations 2022 | Statista

 

Sabine Hossenfelder is an actual credible physicist that also happens to have a YouTube channel. Today she has an opinion on electric cars.

 

According to the governments website, there was just over 53,000 charging devices in the UK as of the 1st January 2024, an increase of 16,600 from 2023. Bulk of those newly installed devices are destination and on street with 59% of new installations having a speed of 3kW to 8kW. It seems en route public charging devices only account for 7% of all charging devices. If the UK is to ban the sales of ICE cars by 2035, the government set a target of 300k charging devices to be installed by 2030 and 800k by 2040. According to some reports there is not enough en route and public devices being installed for those who can't charge at home, putting the UK 12 years behind schedule.

 

Going by our current crop of politicians, I thought they already had.

 

New car registrations for April have been released with 21 consecutive months of growth, however, the sale of new cars to private buyers is still in decline.

So far this year, the market share for BEV stands at 15.7% not much of an increase on the 15.4% for the same period last year, which ended the year with BEV's having a 16.9% market share. I will be very surprised if BEV's have a market share of 22% by the end of the year going by last year figures.

New car market growth continues despite declining private demand

 

These days I'm only using my car a couple of times a week but when I use it, it's almost always for journeys that I just couldn't do on foot or on public transport.
For example, I go to see my parents about once a month. It takes 40 minutes or so by car, or a good two or three hours each way by public transport (walk-bus-train-bus-walk). The deal breaker for public transport isn't so much the time, but that I always have a car full of stuff for them, often a very big supermarket shop (they don't drive and Mum's not keen on the idea of online ordering).

 

I was watching a clip on Bloomberg regarding the new PHEV from the Chinese manufacturer BYD.
They proclaim the two new PHEV models are capable of doing 1,300 miles without the need to refuel or recharge. I doubt the Chinese will have the same stringent tests as we tend to see in the West, but even if it does fall short, it's still very impressive.

BYD unveils sedans with 1,300-mile range, shaking up the auto market (cbtnews.com)

 

I haven't followed this discussion and just read a few pages.
A family member used to work for a company in the US that makes electric cars (not Tesla) and he confirmed what I thought already years ago: the biggest problems of electric car are the batteries. Not only producing them, they don't last very long, and getting rid of them is such environmental challenge.
I read last year that a company in China that sells those batteries to all car manufacturers world-wide, they sit on a huge amount of batteries in warehouses because the sale for car batteries has gone down by 75%. There are regularly news in Germany that electric cars occupy in the meantime 1/3 of the entire space for imports near the ports, and there is no way out because no-one buys e-cars. There are first reports that inform potential buyers to be careful because when e-cars are unused standing around for such a long time, they may no longer work. Car sellers can't even sell a 3 year old Tesla any more and the second hand market for e-cars is almost 0.
Using electric batteries for cars is just another expensive flop that can't work and should have been worked out from the beginning.