EV News: 2030 Petrol Ban, and BMW Bests Tesla Sales
Government set to reinstate 2030 ban on sale of new petrol and diesel cars
We covered the government’s reinstatement of the 2030 new ICE sales ban a few weeks ago when it was announced by the Department for Transport, and it was back in the news again as Labour made the pledge official.
The decision was met with a mixed response from those in the industry.
In an article for Transport + Energy, AA president Edmund King gave his view:
“The AA supported the original zero emissions new car sales deadline of 2030 as ‘challenging but ambitious’. Reintroducing the 2030 deadline would enable us to maintain momentum on the net zero transition. But drivers and fleets would need to be supported with the right incentives and reassured that we have made significant progress on infrastructure, to make the shift possible.”
Quentin Willson, Founder of FairCharge, however, stated that he believes that reinstating the 2030 deadline could do more harm than good.
He said: “The date is purely totemic – a relic of Boris’s EV evangelism from a different time. It’s also meaningless given that the ZEV Mandate is already in place with 80% EV production mandated by 2030. And quite a few OEMs have declared that they will be full-electric before 2030 anyway. Many of the green groups I’ve spoken to agree that reinstating 2030 would do more harm than good. I think it would be a mistake.”
Currently, the ZEV mandate stipulates as Wilson said an 80% share of EV sales for all new cars by the deadline of 2030. It remains to be seen whether these targets will be revisited given the new deadline.
Ultimately, while those in production may be met with challenges in meeting these deadlines, they demonstrate the new Labour government’s readiness to invest in and double down on our acceleration to electric as the solution to our green transport issues.
With public charging installation set to keep pace and deliver around 300,000 chargers by this date, and more and more on-street charging options being made available, we’re looking forward to making sure the industry is ready to meet this touted demand.
Charging an EV at home costs less than 5p per mile
EV drivers on standard rate domestic tariffs are now driving for less than five pence a mile, according to the AA EV Recharge Report for July.
The rate, a result of the 2p reduction in the energy price cap which took effect from July 1, is the ‘worst case’ scenario as the price cap is the maximum a provider can charge to power up at home.
Additionally, these rates don’t take into account the possibility of charging at cheaper off-peak rates - which can reduce the cost of charging by as much as £6 per night.
In December 2022, when the AA first launched the EV Recharge Report, the price cap for charging a car domestically was 7.99p a mile – 61% higher than now (4.97p).
Across the public charging network, meanwhile, all tariffs remained static. According to a recent AllStar report, charging on the public network exclusively would make fuel as expensive as an ICE equivalent vehicle.
BMW tops Europe’s EV sales rankings for the first time
Sales of fully electric BMWs rose by more than a third in July, although the German carmaker still trails behind Tesla in year-to-date sales.
BMW dominated the European electric vehicle market for the first time in July, registering a surge in demand while other competitors struggled.
The German carmaker sold 14,869 fully electric cars in July, according to research firm Jato Dynamics - a 35% year-on-year increase.
Tesla, meanwhile, sold 14,561 EVs, a 16% yearly decline.
This sales boost comes during a slight decline in European EV sales, as a lack of clarity around incentives has been deemed by some as hurting the industry’s advance. Germany in particular notably ended its EV subsidy programme in December as part of a cost-cutting drive, which prompted manufacturers to rethink their electrification strategies.
While Tesla is still a clear leader in global EV sales for the year, BMW’s achievements in Europe show that domination is by no means guaranteed as the firm face increased competition following a push to electrification across the continent.
It will be interesting to see how Tesla respond to this challenge, and as to whether Musk’s increased stake in the company will work to galvanise support, or put-off potential customers through his polarising public persona (as some analysts are suggesting).
Where can I charge my electric car for free?
And finally for our round up of this week’s EV news, we come to everyone’s favourite: free EV charging!
We all love a bargain, and having CPOs open their chargers to provide free charging for the public is no different.
Prominent publications worked to keep drivers informed of these free charging opportunities last week, compiling a breakdown of where these chargers may be available.
Some of the most notable locations include a number of Aldi, Lidl, and Sainsbury’s branches. There were also recent stories of Woking Borough Council providing free charging to its inhabitants following an issue with its software systems that meant a fee could not be taken for charging…something that other operators may want to avoid.
Of course, EV charging that’s intended to be free is a huge boost for accessibility. But accidentally providing public charging for free is a huge problem with a simple solution.
Make sure you’re installing your chargers with a reliable software provider, with features that allow you to take payments and lock charger use out for unwanted users.
That’s it for our round-up of the previous week’s news! If you enjoyed unravelling some of the biggest stories in EV right now, make sure to check out some of our other blogs and articles on the subject - or head to our LinkedIn page where we’re constantly posting handy updates and explainers on the latest features and debates in the industry.
