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The man formerly known for his role at Aston Martin is leading a drive to make bus maker Switch, and the whole UK industry, a major force in electric vehicles When Andy Palmer left school at 15 to become an apprentice draughtsman – helping design car gearboxes – he quickly caught the automotive bug. “By the age of 21, when I came out of my apprenticeship, I wanted to be the CEO of a car company, which was extraordinarily arrogant,” he recalls as we talk in a London hotel restaurant. Four decades on, he made it, taking over in 2014 as chief executive of one of the UK’s truly world-famous brands: Aston Martin, sports car maker to James Bond. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Investigation uncovers evidence of contaminated air and water from one of Indonesia’s largest nickel mines Read more in our Battery life series A Guardian investigation into nickel mining and the electric vehicle industry has found evidence that a source of drinking water close to one of Indonesia’s largest nickel mines is contaminated with unsafe levels of hexavalent chromium (Cr6), the cancer-causing chemical more widely known for its role in the Erin Brockovich story and film. The investigation also found evidence suggesting elevated levels of lung infections among people living close to the mine. Continue reading...

Greater Manchester mayor says comments made in relation to Marie-France van Heel are ‘frankly disgraceful’ Andy Burnham has hit out at critics of Greater Manchester’s clean air zone (CAZ) whom he says have made “frankly disgraceful” false claims about his wife’s professional links to an electric car charging network. The Greater Manchester mayor accuses opponents of the CAZ of spreading false information about Marie-France van Heel, a marketing executive who married Burnham in 2000. Continue reading...

SMMT says number of chargers has not grown fast enough to keep up with growth of EVs The UK car industry has warned of a “growing regional divide” in the provision of electric car chargers, as it called for a new regulator to oversee legally binding targets for charger installation. The number of publicly available chargers has not grown fast enough to keep up with the soaring number of battery-powered electric cars on British roads, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a lobby group. Public charger numbers rose by 82% between 2019 and 2021, but this pales in comparison with the 600% jump in the number of electric cars during the same period. Continue reading...

Australia has ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ to carve out spot in global automotive supply chain, new report suggests Follow our Australia news live blog for the latest updates Download the free Guardian app ; get our morning email briefing Australia could resurrect its car industry in an “environmentally and socially transformative” way by drawing on its rich mineral resources to make electric vehicles, according to a new report. The plan for a new electric vehicle manufacturing sector is laid out in a report titled Rebuilding Vehicle Manufacturing in Australia, from the Australia Institute’s Carmichael Centre. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Though only 12% of new sales were zero-exhaust electric vehicles, emissions fell by 11.2% in 2021 The carbon dioxide emissions of new cars sold in the UK dropped to the lowest level ever in 2021 thanks to the unprecedented surge in electric vehicle sales , industry data suggests. Average new car CO 2 emissions fell by 11.2%, to 119.7g for every kilometre driven, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a lobby group. Continue reading...

Transport committee concludes that drop in fuel-duty revenues from shift to electric requires urgent action Motorists will have to pay by the mile to make up a £35bn tax shortfall that will arise from the shift to electric vehicles, MPs have warned, calling on the government to act urgently to bring in a national road pricing scheme. The cross-party Commons transport select committee said it saw “no viable alternative” to road pricing and work should start immediately on creating a replacement for fuel duty before it dwindled away with the transition. Continue reading...

From cigarette smoke to stale food, dealing with car smells requires specialised strategies depending on the cause A family member of mine (who, out of embarrassment, wishes to remain anonymous) recently had an incident of the pongiest proportions. It involved a two-litre bottle of milk mistakenly left in her car for an entire weekend in the hot summer sun. The result: an explosion that covered the front passenger side of her car in milk that curdled and seeped into the upholstery. Along with the maggots that wriggled out from her carpet, it left a foul, pungent smell that would just not go away. Continue reading...

Facility at Northfleet, Kent, will be able to recycle a minimum of 10,000 tonnes of batteries a year The battery technology startup Britishvolt and its backer, the FTSE 100 metals and mining firm Glencore, have announced plans to build a plant capable of recycling lithium-ion batteries used in cars and electronic devices. The two firms plan to use 100% renewable energy to recycle batteries at Britannia Refined Metals, owned by Glencore , at a site in Northfleet in Kent that was previously home to the UK’s largest coal-fired power station. Continue reading...