PG Carz World

Entrepreneurs are replacing petrol and diesel engines on buses, boats and even planes – and say the impact is not only environmental By all rights the 2007 black cab driving through London on a sunny summer day should be on its way out. Taxis older than 12 years are not eligible for licences in the city, to try to cut air pollution. But this one is different: under its bonnet is an electric battery and motor. That would not have been immediately obvious to the family trying to hail the Guardian’s cab on a test drive by the River Thames. Continue reading...

Carmaker increases portfolio to 14 and will also launch challenge in large and luxury vehicle sectors Business live – latest updates The carmaker Hyundai has said that it will double the range of its hybrid car models amid a wider slump in consumer demand for “pure” electric vehicles. Hyundai, which is increasing the number of hybrid vehicles in its portfolio to 14, also plans to move beyond making compact and mid-size electric vehicles (EVs) and challenge in the large and luxury vehicle sectors. Continue reading...

Trudeau also announces 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum and says ‘China is not playing by the same rules’ Canada, following the lead of the United States, on Monday said it would impose a 100% tariff on the import of Chinese electric vehicles and also announced a 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum from China. The prime minister, Justin Trudeau , said Ottawa was acting to counter what he called China’s intentional, state-directed policy of over-capacity. But he did not specify whether tariffs would be softened or would be the same on Tesla, whose shares were down over 3% on Monday after the announcement. Continue reading...

Three-quarters of households that park cars on street do not have charger within five-minute walk, data shows North-east Derbyshire and Redditch in the West Midlands are among the worst public-charger “deserts” for electric vehicles in Great Britain, according to new analysis that found 9.3m households did not have off-street parking where they could install a charger. More than three-quarters of households that park their cars on the street do not have a public charger for electric vehicles within a five-minute walk, according to the analysis by the consultancy Field Dynamics. Continue reading...

A secondhand EV is a possibility for many families as the cost of desirable models, including Kias and Teslas, falls to £15,000 If your current car is on the way out and you think an electric replacement is too expensive, think again. Three-year-old Tesla Model 3s and Kia e-Niros that will do 250-300 miles on a single charge can now be bought for as little as £14,000. In the last year, forecourt prices for used electric cars have tumbled to the extent that previously unaffordable models are now within the reach of many families for the first time. Continue reading...

Serbian green campaigner who co-drafted declaration against lithium exploitation now fears for his safety When Aleksandar Matković received the first message threatening his life, he thought it was a prank. The text, sent to his Telegram account just after midnight on 14 August read: “We will follow you until you disappear, scum.” Matković is one of the campaigners who have been at the forefront of widespread protests against plans to develop a massive lithium mine in Serbia. He said: “At first I thought someone was joking but during the morning I got another message, saying ‘how is the struggle against Rio Tinto going?’ from another profile I didn’t know, and the app displayed the sender’s distance as just 500 [metres] away.” Continue reading...

Satellite image analysis shows 329 hectares of forest cleared during development of factory in Germany The development of a Tesla gigafactory near Berlin has resulted in about 500,000 trees being felled, according to satellite analysis. The building of the German factory has been highly controversial and attracted significant protests , as well as prompting a debate about the trade-offs involved in developing a green economy. Continue reading...

Carmaker opts to produce hybrid version due to profitability concerns, citing pressure from Chinese EV competition Ford has written off $1.9bn as it cancelled plans for an all-electric large SUV in the US, opting to produce a hybrid version instead in the latest sign of western carmakers struggling to make profitable electric cars. The US carmaker said on Wednesday that it would not be able to reach a profit on the electric SUV within a year, its measure of whether a new car is viable, citing the stiff competition from Chinese manufacturers. It will initially write off the cost of $400m (£300m) in tooling for the vehicle, plus another $1.5bn (£1.15bn) in extra costs in the future. Continue reading...

The space owner in Edinburgh told us to use ‘any spot available’, then we got the ticket I used the JustPark parking app, after recommendations from friends, to park our car in Edinburgh during a visit to our daughter who lives in an area of strict parking restrictions. On the morning of the visit, we contacted the parking space owner at work to check the requirements, and were told by text to “park in any spot available”. On returning to collect our vehicle in the early evening, we found a penalty charge of £100 on it, stating that we did not have the requisite parking permit. There was an option for early payment at a reduced £60. We informed JustPark immediately on that day, and were eventually advised to pay the £60 reduced penalty charge, and to send proof of payment for reimbursement. Since then I have not received any further response despite repeated requests for the money. Continue reading...

The 9% tariff is much less than the up to 36.3% others face after investigation into Beijing’s ‘unfair’ subsidies of EVs Business live – latest updates Tesla will face a 9% levy on its Chinese-made cars exported to the EU, the European Commission has said, as it issued an update on its sweeping investigation into Beijing’s “unfair” subsidies of electric vehicles. The tariff on Tesla – far lower than the 21.3% average on companies that cooperated with the EU investigation and 36.3% on those that did not – came after the California-headquartered firm requested individual treatment as part of the wider Brussels inquiry. Continue reading...

There are signs the billionaire is becoming unpopular with the very demographic group most likely to buy EVs Elon Musk has long flirted with rightwing politics, and delights in pushing an image of himself as a contrarian showman. Yet in recent months the billionaire’s political allegiances have started to raise a question for Tesla, the company that he built into the world’s largest electric carmaker: just how far can he go before customers start to abandon his products? The German pharmacy chain Rossmann was one of the first to put its head above the parapet this week. The family-owned company announced that it would not add to the 34 Teslas in its company fleet because of Musk’s endorsement of Donald Trump for US president. Continue reading...

Ex-president, who previously denigrated electric vehicles, says they are suitable for a ‘small slice’ of the population Donald Trump has for months denigrated electric vehicles, arguing their supporters should “rot in hell” and that assisting the nascent industry is “lunacy”. He now appears to have somewhat shifted his view thanks to the support of Elon Musk, the world’s richest person. “I’m for electric cars, I have to be because Elon endorsed me very strongly,” Trump, the Republican nominee for US president, told supporters at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday. Continue reading...

Industry downgrades forecast for sales of battery vehicles after 18.8% rise in July on a year earlier The UK car industry has downgraded its forecast for electric vehicle sales this year in the latest sign of pessimism in the industry over its ability to meet government targets for shifting away from fossil fuels. The number of battery EVs sold in the UK in July rose by 18.8% on the figure a year ago, according to data published on Monday by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Continue reading...

This navigation app is driven by the wisdom of crowds – and I’m delighted that my traffic updates play their part I’m a type; a meme, even. I’m probably several, certainly in my daughters’ eyes. But I’m certainly this one: a Waze dad. I didn’t even realise there was such a thing until one of my daughters sent me an Instagram thing featuring a photograph, taken from the back seat, of a slightly pudgy middle-aged fellow at the wheel of a family car. It says: “I have a Waze dad. Speed check ahead? He’s reporting it. Car stopped in 0.3 miles? He’s updating it. Faster route that saves 2min? He’s taking it.” Yes, that’s me. Tragic, really. Parts of it, anyway. For those who don’t know, Waze is a navigation app that tells you how to get to where you are going and which route to take, taking into account the traffic. It’s not the only app that does this, but it’s the only one that, it claims, relies on information its users input as they drive. It’s about the wisdom of crowds, you see – ...