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Data from peak motoring body shows battery-electric vehicles accounted for 9.7% of new cars sold in September quarter, the highest proportion on record Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Electric car sales in Australia continue to reach new record levels, according to figures that reveal the market share for internal combustion engine vehicles fell below 70% for the first time. The latest quarterly sales data from peak motoring body the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) shows electric vehicles accounted for 9.7% of new cars sold in the three months to September, the highest proportion on record. Continue reading...

Motoring journalist created and fronted shows including Fifth Gear, Britain’s Worst Driver and The Car’s the Star The former Top Gear presenter Quentin Willson has died after a short illness, his family said on Saturday. He was 68. The television presenter and motoring journalist died “peacefully surrounded by his family”, a statement said. Continue reading...

With more secondhand cars available and salary sacrifice schemes offering extra savings, the lease option is taking off When Anthony Santos was looking for a car to replace his Audi Q3, a diesel SUV, he felt reluctant about making the switch to an electric car. “I was considering it, but I probably wouldn’t have,” says Santos, a sales manager at RWinvest, a property investment company in Liverpool. But when he started looking at his options the ability to lease a used electric vehicle (EV) caught his eye. Continue reading...

Making Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire appears to fit a US investment culture of backing high-flying innovators For all the headlines about an on-off relationship with Donald Trump, baiting liberals and erratic behaviour, Tesla shareholders are loath to part with Elon Musk. Investors in the electric vehicle maker voted on Thursday to put the world’s richest person on the path to become the world’s first trillionaire , despite the controversy that is now seemingly intrinsic to his public profile. Continue reading...

Chinese manufacturers are using the electric transition to seize market share, with the UK as their gateway When Tesla wanted to catch the eye of British buyers, it put its cars and bright signage at a dealership in west London’s prominent Hogarth roundabout. Exposure to half a million drivers every day helped the US carmaker to become the dominant electric vehicle seller in the UK. Yet drivers passing by that site now see something different: twin Chinese brands Omoda and Jaecoo, both owned by the state-controlled manufacturer Chery. Chinese cars are on a roll across Europe – they outsold Korean rivals in western Europe for the first time in September. That success is highly reliant on the UK. Of the half a million Chinese cars sold in western Europe between January and September, 30% were bought by Britons, according to Matthias Schmidt, a Berlin-based automotive analyst. Continue reading...

The issue of how motoring taxes should change as we decarbonise the economy has been dodged for too long. Car salesmen need to get real If you want a document to give you sleepless nights, the Office for Budget Responsibility’s biennial Fiscal Risks and Sustainability report is a go-to publication. This is the one that looks to the horizon and covers everything from demographic trends to state pension promises to the climate crisis. The headline finding in this July’s version was a true jaw-dropper. The UK’s public finances are on an unsustainable long-term trajectory because government debt would rise to a remarkable 270% of GDP by the early 2070s – up from almost 100% today – if current policies were left unchanged. Continue reading...

EV drivers would face 3p-a-mile charge on top of other road taxes to offset falling revenue from petrol and diesel cars Rachel Reeves is drawing up plans for a new pay-per-mile tax for electric vehicles to announce in this month’s budget worth an extra £250 a year on average, according to reports. Under the plans expected to be announced on 26 November, EV drivers would face a new charge of 3p a mile on top of other road taxes to offset falling revenue from petrol and diesel cars as drivers switch to greener options. Continue reading...

KitKat, affectionately known as ‘mayor of 16th Street’, was struck and killed by a Waymo in the city’s Mission District The death of beloved neighborhood cat named KitKat, which was struck and killed by a Waymo in San Francisco’s Mission District last week, is sparking uproar in the city and across the internet. Now local politicians and community leaders are harnessing momentum to put new limits on the fast-spreading autonomous vehicle industry. KitKat was a regular fixture at the deli and liquor store Randa’s Market, and was well known in the neighborhood and on social media . In a recent podcast interview, Daniel Zeidan, part of the family that owns Randa’s, described KitKat as unequivocally adored. Continue reading...

Industry bodies say proposals will force site closures, slow investment and cost drivers up to £300 a year more The UK charging industry has said it could face a £100m bill as the government considers making public charger operators pay business rates for the first time, at a time when slower-than-expected electric car sales have put pressure on the sector. ChargeUK, an industry body, said that its estimates suggest that operators will have to pay business rates on as many as 64,000 parking bays beside chargers which have not, up to now, been liable for the taxes. The lobby group said the change could add as much as £300 to the annual charging bill for some people if the cost is passed on to the customer. Continue reading...