The UK economy could be boosted by £1.6 billion a year if it met World Health Organisation guidelines for air pollution, a report by CBI Economics has found.
Meeting these guidelines, which are stricter than current UK legal limits, could also prevent 17,000 premature deaths per year, and prevent the loss of three million working days which can be attributed to air pollution.
As a result, Clean Air Fund, which commissioned the ‘Breathing Life into the UK economy’ report, is urging the Government to include a legally-binding commitment to meet WHO air pollution standards by 2030 in the Environment Bill, which is due to be debated in Parliament in the autumn.
Jane Burston executive director of the Clean Air Fund, said: “We know clean air makes us healthier, but our research shows it can make us all wealthier too. If businesses and government work together to ensure clean air for all, we can protect our health and re-energise the economy at this critical time. Ministers must commit to binding targets to cut air pollution in line with WHO guidelines by 2030.”
The Clean Air Fund is echoing calls by 16 other campaigning groups, part of the Healthy Air Campaign.
Currently, the Environmental Bill mentions ‘a target’ for particulate matter (PM2.5), but does not specify what that target will be, or when it will be met.
Other pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) are not mentioned in the Environment Bill and the target for PM2.5 will only be presented to parliament in October 2022.
Studies have found road transport is responsible for 27% of the UK’s CO2 emissions, with cars and taxis accounting for 55% of that.
The Government is banning the sale of any new petrol, diesel or hybrid car or van by 2040 in its Road to Zero strategy, and recently held a consultation about bringing that date forward to 2035.
Some local authorities have announced the introduction of Clean Air Zones with the aim of improving air quality locally.
Clean Air Zones were due to be launched in Bath, Bristol, Birmingham, and Leeds in 2020 but have since been postponed until at least 2021, possibly indefinitely, while Greater Manchester’s plans have been delayed until 2022.
Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, said: “I am doing everything in my power to stop Londoners breathing air so filthy that it damages children’s lungs and causes thousands of premature deaths.
“The Ultra Low Emission Zone has already cut toxic air by a third. We want to go further and will be expanding the ULEZ up to the North and South circular roads in 2021.
“We know there is still more to do. Pollution isn’t just a central London problem, which is why I have consistently demanded that the government match my ambition and improve the Environment Bill to include legally binding World Health Organization recommended limits, to be achieved by 2030, and to give cities the powers they need to eradicate air pollution.
“The CBI’s new report shows that cleaner air could boost the economy by £1.6 billion – we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild our cities and economies to be greener, fairer, and more sustainable.” By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News
There are now more than 30,000 charge points across the UK in over 11,000 locations – that’s more public places to charge than petrol stations, with around 10,000 charge points added in 2019 alone.
There are thousands of free electric car charge points in the UK, often located in supermarkets, shopping centres, public car parks, hotels and sometimes service stations.
Be aware there could be restrictions such as a set period of time or a requiring a purchase in-store, so it’s best to check.
There is an app called zap-map.com that shows all of the charge-points in the UK and also allows you to plan journeys if you are concerned about the range of your car and your ability to reach your destination without charging your car en-route.
How long does it take to charge an electric car?
How long it takes to charge an electric car is one of the most frequently asked questions. Whilst filling up with gasoline takes a few minutes, the time it takes to charge an EV from low to full is much longer.
However, it can be more convenient. Typically electric cars are charged when the car’s not in use, like overnight at home, in the same way you would a mobile phone, or during the day whilst you’re working.
How much you charge, or need to charge, will also change – with gasoline, the majority of people drive their cars until the fuel gauge shows low on fuel and we fill the tank up to full again.
This behaviour stems from the inconvenience of having to go to a petrol station. With electric cars and the convenience of charging at home, you may find you ‘top up’ the battery each day as it’s used rather than waiting for it to get low – again similar to a mobile phone.
Another factor that may impact the number of times you need to charge your electric car or van is temperature.
Lithium-ion batteries perform better in warm weather, so you might notice a slight drop in the range your EV can travel in the colder winter months.
In summary, how long it takes to charge an electric car depends on:
Your car’s battery size
How many miles you do between charges
Your charging behaviour, i.e. topping up often vs charging from low to full less often
The power rating of the charger you’re using – you can read more below on different types of chargers and their kWh ratings
To give you an idea of how long it takes to charge a specific car’s battery from zero to full, try this handy charging calculator:
Did you know?
Electric vehicles often come with battery warranties based on the number of charging cycles (1 cycle is equal to 1 full charge and 1 full discharge), with many manufacturers offering anything from 60,000 to 100,000 miles on their battery warranties as standard.
Half price evenings and weekends
Exclusive to electric car drivers, the 100% renewable(1) GoElectric tariff offers half price electricity evenings and weekends for both your household and your electric car.
This is a scheme offered by EDF Energy, there will be others available if you shop around.
Charging Point Socket Type And Speeds
Slow chargers
Slow chargers have a maximum of 3.6 kW available, and typically take between 6-12 hours to recharge a pure electric car. These chargers are ideal for overnight charging.
Fast chargers
Fast chargers are rated at 7-22 kW and usually take between 3-7 hours to recharge an EV depending on the battery size of the car.
7 kW chargers are a popular choice for the workplace and at home and there are several models available to buy and lots of different installers who can fit them for you.
It can be confusing, but all you need to do is decide what power rating you want and choose either a tethered or socketed charge point.
Rapid chargers
Rapid are the quickest (43 kW+), generally capable of charging cars to 80% in 20-40 minutes, depending on how big the battery is and how much charge it’s holding to start with, so they’re a great way to top up during long journeys.
You can often find them in motorway service car parks, petrol stations, larger shopping centres and supermarkets.
Wireless chargers
Wireless charging is super convenient and allows for the transfer energy between a pad on the ground and a compatible EV – no need for cables at all.
While it’s not in the UK yet, Norway will install the world’s first wireless electric car charging stations for Oslo taxis and BMW is due to release their new wireless charging solution with their new plug-in hybrid 530e iPerformance very soon.
What power rating should I use for my home socket?
When it comes to home charging, 3-7 kW chargers are the most popular and are widely recommended for the UK market.
Many UK households have a single-phase (AC) electricity supply and can support the additional 7 kW load. Some households, with three-phase (AC) supply can support a more powerful fast charger up to 22 kW.
However, this is far more common in countries like Germany with a more robust electricity network.
Always check with the installer that your fuse board has enough spare capacity to support the additional load of a home charging station.
If there is not enough spare capacity, then you may have to pay to upgrade your distribution board.
Rapid chargers offer you a much quicker charge, perfect for longer journeys, when a quicker charge is needed, but it’s not advisable to only use rapid charging because this can increase the degradation of your battery over time.
Electric car charging cables
Charging cables have connectors you plug into the vehicle and/or the charge point. The type of charging connector depends on the vehicle and the power rating of the charge point.
Electric car charging points grant
The Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS), contributes up to 75 per cent towards the cost of buying and installing an electric charger, up to a maximum of £500, if you have a home with off-street parking suitable for an electric car charger and an eligible electric vehicle.
Similarly the Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS), contributes up to 75 per cent to a maximum of £500 for each socket, for up to 20 charge points across all of the sites they operate.
Electric cars are ever more appealing in a world where reducing carbon emissions and pollution is a growing concern for many people.
Research has shown that electric cars are better for the environment. They emit less greenhouse gases and air pollutants over their life than a petrol or diesel car.
This is even after the production of the vehicle and the generation of the electricity required to fuel them is considered.
Since interest in electric cars is growing all the time, there are many questions about how green and clean they really are.
From manufacturing concerns to the way in which electricity is generated, we look at some of the facts surrounding electric cars and their environmental impact.
1. Are electric cars better for the environment?
The major benefit of electric cars is the contribution that they can make towards improving air quality in towns and cities. With no tailpipe, pure electric cars produce no carbon dioxide emissions when driving.
This reduces air pollution considerably. Put simply, electric cars give us cleaner streets making our towns and cities a better place to be for pedestrians and cyclists.
Over a year, just one electric car on the roads can save an average 1.5 million grams of CO2. That’s the equivalent of four return flights from London to Barcelona.
Whole country behind electic cars
According to the Mayor of London, road transport accounts for around half of the capital’s air pollution. It’s no wonder that the UK government and local councils want to accelerate the number of electric cars on the roads.
The UK government has set a target that the sale of petrol and diesel cars will be banned by 2040.
Electric cars can also help with noise pollution, especially in cities where speeds are generally low. As the cars are far quieter than conventional vehicles, driving electric creates a more peaceful environment for us all.
Compare an electric vs petrol car yourself
The Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology have put a fabulous tool together to help you compare the overall environmental impact of electric cars vs internal combustion engine (ICE) cars.
The main aim is to let users understand why, how, and in which cases electro-mobility is actually performing according to its green image, by cutting per-km emissions from its fossil fuel-based counterpart.
A second objective is to show in which conditions electric vehicles may “counter-perform”: what happens when the battery size changes? or the background electricity mix? the battery lifetime? what about winter conditions affecting battery performances?
2. How does electric car production affect the environment?
Making electric cars does use a lot of energy. The emissions created during the production of an electric car tend to be higher than a conventional car.
This is due to the manufacture of lithium ion batteries which are an essential part of an electric car. More than a third of the lifetime CO2 emissions from an electric car come from the energy used to make the car itself.
As technology advances, this is changing for the better. With more efficient manufacturing techniques, the amount of emissions created during the production of batteries will improve.
Reusing and recycling batteries is also a growing market. Research into the use of second-hand batteries is looking at ways to reuse batteries in new technologies such as electricity storage.
One day we could all have batteries in our homes being used to store our own energy. Opportunities like this will reduce the lifetime environmental impact of battery manufacture.
Even after taking battery manufacture into account, electric cars are still a greener option. This is due to the reduction in emissions created over the car’s lifetime.
3. What about the electricity required to fuel an electric car?
Many people question how green electricity production required to power an electric car really is.
Research by the European Energy Agency found that, even with electricity generation, the carbon emissions of an electric car are around 17 – 30% lower than driving a petrol or diesel car.
The emissions from electricity generation are also dramatically improved when low carbon electricity is used.
That’s good news for our customers. Here at EDF we produce more low-carbon electricity than any other supplier in the UK(1).
The GoElectric tariff is also generated from 100% renewable sources, helping electric car drivers to make more informed choices about how they charge up, maximising their environmental impact whilst driving.
4. Are hybrid cars just as good for the environment?
Plug-in hybrids combine an electric motor with a traditional fuel engine and produce some emissions during a drive.
The green credentials of a hybrid depend on how much of the journey is driven on electric miles as well as the way in which the vehicle is charged.
This is why it’s important for hybrid drivers to consider how their electricity is generated. Choose a form of renewable energy, like the GoElectric tariff, and you’re making your contribution to reducing emissions.
All this shows that electric vehicles have a big role to play in reducing transport emissions and being a major factor in cleaning up the air we breathe. By Graham Hill With huge thanks to EDF Energy
One of the most interesting and informative articles I’ve ever published on my blog!
Learn about electric car batteries, how they work and how they’re recycled.
How do electric car batteries work?
Where internal combustion engined cars get energy from burning petrol or diesel, an electric vehicle gets its power directly from a big pack of batteries.
These are much like a scaled up version of the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery in your mobile phone – EVs don’t use a single battery like a phone, they use instead a pack which is comprised of thousands of individual Li-ion cells working together.
When the car’s charging up, electricity is used to make chemical changes inside its batteries. When it’s on the road, these changes are reversed to produce electricity.
Electric car battery technology
EV batteries undergo cycles of ‘discharge’ that occur when driving and ‘charge’ when the car’s plugged in. Repeating this process over time affects the amount of charge the battery can hold.
This decreases the range and time needed between each journey to charge. Most manufacturers have a five to eight-year warranty on their battery.
However, the current prediction is that an electric car battery will last from 10 – 20 years before they need to be replaced.
How a battery and the car’s electric motor work together is surprisingly simple – the battery connects to one or more electric motors, which drive the wheels.
When you press the accelerator the car instantly feeds power to the motor, which gradually consumes the energy stored in the batteries.
Electric motors also work as generators, so when you take your foot off the throttle the car begins to slow down by converting its forward motion back into electricity – this happens more strongly if you hit the brakes.
This regenerative braking recovers energy that would otherwise be lost, storing it in the battery again and so improving the car’s range.
Electric car battery lithium-ion
A Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery is a type of rechargeable battery used in electric vehicles and a number of portable electronics. They have a higher energy density than typical lead-acid or nickel-cadmium rechargeable batteries.
This means that battery manufacturers can save space, reducing the overall size of the battery pack.
Lithium is also the lightest of all metals. However, lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries contain no lithium metal, they contain ions.
For those wondering what an ion is, an ion is a an atom or molecule with an electric charge caused by the loss or gain of one or more electrons.
Lithium-ion batteries are also safer than many alternatives and battery manufacturers have to ensure that safety measures are in place to protect consumers in the unlikely event of a battery failure.
For instance, manufacturers equip electric vehicles with charging safeguards to protect the batteries during repeated rapid charging sessions in a short period of time.
Battery capacity explained
Electric car battery life
Once an EV battery loses its capacity to power a vehicle, it can be used to power a home or building by contributing to a battery storage system.
A battery energy storage system stores energy from batteries that can be used at a later time.
If you power your home with renewable energy such as wind or solar, you can also pair it with an EV battery.
You can store it up to use throughout the night when wind and sunlight is reduced. Or even during the day alongside the solar or wind energy.
This method of generating energy can help you save on bills and reduce the amount of energy you use from the grid.
The battery on an electric car is a proven technology that will last for many years. In fact, EV manufacturers guarantee it. Nissan warrants that its electric car batteries will last eight years or 100,000 miles, for example, and Tesla offers a similar guarantee.
This might seem remarkable when the battery in your mobile phone begins to wear out after only a couple of years, but during that time it might be fully charged and discharged hundreds of times.
Each of these so-called charge cycles counts against the life of the battery: after perhaps 500 full cycles, a lithium-ion phone battery begins to lose a significant part of the capacity it had when new.
While that might be OK in a phone, it’s not good enough for a car designed to last many thousands of miles, so EV manufacturers go to great lengths to make electric car batteries last longer.
In an EV, batteries are ‘buffered’, meaning that drivers can’t use the full amount of power they store, reducing the number of cycles the battery goes through. Together with other techniques such as clever cooling systems, this means that electric car batteries should give many years of trouble-free life.
In fact, in order to preserve the life of an electric vehicle battery, manufacturers ensure that there is additional spare capacity to compensate for degradation over time. So as an electric vehicle ages and the battery cycles, the additional spare capacity is used up.
This allows the range of the vehicle to stay the same throughout the life of the battery. Once the battery capacity falls below 80%, drivers may start to notice a fall in the range and performance of the battery.
Electric car battery replacement cost
When it comes to replacing an electric vehicle battery, you need not be too concerned as many manufacturers provide a warranty of up to 8 years or 100,000 miles.
Meaning that even if you did need to replace it in an unfortunate event that something did go wrong, then it could well be covered under this warranty.
Remember to always check the type of warranty offered by your chosen electric car manufacturer.
Also, the cost of batteries fell about 80% between 2010 and 2016 according to McKinsey, from $1000 to $227/kWh. Therefore, a new 40kWh battery in 2016 would have cost just shy of £10,000.
Some predictions estimate that prices are set to fall below $100/kWh by 2030, around the same time as the government are aiming for 50% of all new vehicles sold in the UK will be electric.
Electric car battery leasing
With any new technology, there is always a fear that things won’t work as expected. So some electric car manufacturers and leasing companies have a solution, to provide customers with reassurance about battery degradation.
For instance, Renault offer a finance package, allowing customers to buy a Zoe and lease the battery, which reduces the upfront purchase price and guarantees battery performance up to 75% of the original capacity.
Electric car battery recycling
Many manufacturers are researching how EV batteries can be repurposed once they have hit retirement age.
One idea that is proving to work well is repurposing EV batteries to power homes and buildings.
However, there are no definitive answers as to what will happen to EV batteries once they’re no longer recyclable.
The time that batteries spend in an EV is often just the beginning of their useful life. Once removed from a car, most batteries will still be fit for other demanding jobs like energy storage in the electricity network, or in the home – a growing area of demand.
When batteries do reach the end of their working life, they’ll be recycled, which typically involves separating out valuable materials such as cobalt and lithium salts, stainless steel, copper, aluminium and plastic.
At the moment, only about half of the materials in an EV battery pack are recycled, but with EVs expected to undergo an explosion in popularity over the next decade or so, car manufacturers are looking to improve this.
VW recently announced a pilot plant for battery recycling which will work towards a target of recycling 97% of battery components.
In this process, batteries will be shredded, dried, then sieved to recover valuable materials that can be used to make new batteries.
Electric car batteries environmental impact
Are electric car batteries bad for the environment? Well, we’re here to tell you that the future of EV batteries looks bright.
EV batteries can be fed back into the energy cycle for factories, and homes once its life powering a car has come to an end. Repurposing EV batteries could create a closed-loop system for recycling.
Meaning that the factories that produce the batteries could eventually be powered using the repurposed batteries once their lives powering vehicles comes to an end.
Large car manufacturers have already begun to repurpose EV batteries in other areas. For example, Nissan plans to use retired EV batteries to provide back-up power to the Amsterdam ArenA – the world-famous entertainment venue and home to Ajax Football Club.
Toyota also plan to install retired batteries outside convenience stores in Japan in the near future. The batteries will be used to store power generated from solar panels.
The energy stored will then be used to support the power of drink fridges, food warmers and fresh food counters inside stores.
Renault also announced that the EV batteries from the Renault Zoe EV will be repurposed to generate power to the Powervault – a home energy battery storage system.
With more of these opportunities arising, there will clearly be life beyond an EV. Once a battery has finished powering a electric vehicle, it can be used to power our homes and businesses.
Electric car battery disposal
So what happens when electric car batteries die? Batteries of all forms can prove difficult to dispose of without harming the environment. The same goes for EV batteries.
However, EV battery life cycle management works towards solving expensive and toxic disposal of the batteries.
As well as being used to support the use of renewable energy, EV batteries can be refurbished to help power more vehicles in the future.
Volkswagen Group has plans to start a recycling project that will see batteries assessed on their quality to determine their future. The batteries with some power left will be given a second life as power packs for mobile vehicle charging.
The others that have little to give, will be ground down to fine powder to extract raw materials such as lithium, nickel, manganese and lithium. The materials can then be rebuilt into more EV batteries.
Electric car battery manufacturers
There are a large number of electric car battery manufacturers. Some are well known such as Tesla and Nissan, while others such as BYD or LG Chem, may not be as well-known around the world, but are nevertheless, significant players in the electric car battery manufacturing space.
LG Chem for instance, supply electric vehicle batteries for the likes of Volvo, Renault, Ford and Chevrolet.
Not only that, they have also signed an agreement with Telsa to supply all Telsa produced in China with batteries.
Another major electric vehicle manufacturer BYD are China’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer and are now selling more electric vehicles than they are fossil fuel powered vehicles since the turn of 2019.
Not only are these battery manufacturers focusing on electric vehicles, but they are also working on battery storage of electricity for residential, commercial and industrial applications.
Electric car battery charging
How far can one charge go?
Just as conventional cars have big or small fuel tanks, lithium-ion batteries for electric cars come in different sizes. Rather than litres of fuel, their capacity is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh).
A typical 40kWh battery pack from a mainstream electric car might be enough to power it for 150 miles or more, while Tesla’s biggest 100kWh battery is good for 375 miles according to the WLTP standard – which aims to give a realistic estimation of cars’ real-world range or fuel economy.
WLTP is an abreviation of the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure, which came in to effect in 2017 and was set up to measure fuel consumption,CO2 levels and other pollutant emissions from passenger cars.
It replaced the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC)
You might recognise the kilowatt hour from your electricity bill – it’s the industry standard charging unit. A 40kWh battery holds enough energy to power a typical home for four days!
How do you recharge an electric car battery?
You’ll get the fastest charge from a designated EV charging socket. These are rated in kW from about 3kW up to about 50kW – or 120kW on Tesla’s supercharger network. The higher the rating, the quicker they’ll restore your EV’s range.
The chargers most commonly fitted at a home or workplace are either 3kW ‘slow’ units, or 7kW ‘fast’ chargers capable of recharging an EV in 6-12 hours. The UK also has a growing network of public charging stations.
These are typically either fast chargers rated at up to 22kW, or ‘rapid’ chargers capable of delivering up to 50kW.
The fastest public charging stations can top an EV up to 80% of its range in as little as an hour – the last 20% is usually a bit slower, to prevent damage to the batteries as they get near to full charge.
Where no designated charging point is available, you can charge an electric car from a 13-amp domestic plug socket, but this can be very slow.
Because charging demands lots of power over a long period there may also be a risk of overheating or fire, so if you must do this you should have an electrician inspect the socket and wiring first.
How safe are electric car batteries?
The manufacturers of batteries for electric cars go to great lengths to make sure EV batteries are safe, fitting smart management systems to prevent overheating and other problems.
Batteries do get warm as they charge and discharge, but cars are designed to keep them cool – high performance EVs sometimes have liquid cooling systems to help.
Despite this, there have been some cases of electric cars catching fire, but very few of these incidents have been caused by battery failures.
More typically they’ve resulted from accidents or incidents that might have caused any vehicle to catch fire – such as the 2013 case of a Tesla Model S which hit a large piece of metal at high speed.
Commenting on that incident, which resulted in a limited fire, Tesla CEO Elon Musk pointed out that EV batteries contain only about a tenth of the energy of a tank full of fuel, limiting the danger they pose in an accident.
In fact, a 2017 study by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that the likelihood and severity of fires from lithium-ion batteries was comparable to, or slightly less than that from conventional vehicles.
As more electric vehicles take to the roads, we can be increasingly sure they’re as safe as the conventional cars they replace. By Graham Hill with huge thanks to EDF Energy
The possibilities of connected consumer vehicles are wide—and maybe a bit overwhelming. How can all these needs and wants be met at the same time?
One of the key challenges, if we are to move to driverless cars, is to enable the car to ‘think’. Whilst we may not be able to get a computer to think we can increase the speed of transfer and processing of data in order for the car to decide on a course of action without the involvement of a human brain.
So with the help of Ericcson let’s see how 5G can move the industry further.
5G Is Unbelievably Fast
Let’s start with the simple facts first: from a peak speed perspective, 5G is 100 times faster than 4G. This means that during the time it took to download just one piece of data with 4G the same could have been downloaded 100 times over a 5G network.
You can just imagine how this speed is important for a connected car when it comes to the amount of data that will need to be shared.
According to Dr. Joy Laskar, CTO of Maja Systems, future autonomous cars will generate nearly 2 petabits of data, which is equivalent of 2 million gigabits. “With an advanced Wi-Fi connection, it will take 230 days to transfer a week-worth of data from a self-driving car,” Laskar said.
With 5G, that time would go from 230 days to just over 2 days.
Lower latency
5G also means low latency, as in a matter of milliseconds.
Latency is the amount of time it takes to send information from one point to another. We encounter it everyday when we drive, and make a decision to break suddenly: latency is the amount of time between our brain sends the instruction to our foot to push down on the brake in this example.
When it comes to networks, we usually talk about the difference between the 20 milliseconds of our current 4G networks to the 1-5 milliseconds of the 5G network.
However, there’s even a larger difference when it comes to self-driving cars.
Human reaction speed is a bit above 200 milliseconds, leading to accidents every day. 5G’s 5 millisecond latency is practically real-time, which can be used to provide the user with additional safety information before it is visible, for example roadworks, fast moving emergency vehicles and visually hidden pedestrians about to cross the street.
These cooperative Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) will help the driver to drive safely and avoid accidents.
5G’s increased reliability
Reliable communication means guaranteed delivery of time-critical information. For example, for remotely driving an autonomous vehicle in real-time in case its autonomous function fails.
There is no other alternative than cellular networks for enabling such services. 5G cellular technology is designed from day one for ultra-reliable communication with low latency to enable complex machine centric use cases, including autonomous cars in dense urban as well as high speed scenarios.
We expect adoption of fully autonomous capabilities in limited areas initially leveraging 5G signal coverage, with long-term evolution towards fully autonomous transport eco-system for maximizing safety, efficiency, and sustainability.
Exciting new case stories & innovation
Thanks to these three elements—increased speed, lower latency, and increased reliability—a whole new generation of exciting use cases can be unlocked.
In Europe, the 5GCAR project, led by Ericsson, is helping to develop an overall 5G system architecture.
As part of their work, they identified a number of new use cases that need 5G to unlock the future of transportation, from lane merge coordination to long range sensor sharing and increased protection for pedestrians.
Industry 4.0
5G won’t just make connecting cars easier: it will make manufacturing cars easier as well.
5G is about to change manufacturing as we know it through secure and almost real-time connectivity that will result in transformative productivity, speed and efficiency improvements. The car industry will be among the first to benefit.
But don’t just take our word for it: ask Mercedes-Benz. We recently teamed up with Telefónica Germany to enable 5G car production via a private 5G network for Mercedes-Benz at the company’s Sindelfingen plant in southern Germany.
Jörg Burzer, Member of the Divisional Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Cars, Production and Supply Chain, said: “With the installation of a local 5G network, the networking of all production systems and machines in the Mercedes-Benz Cars factories will become even smarter and more efficient in the future. This opens up completely new production opportunities.”
So why should you care about 5G? Well, 5G connectivity has the potential to allow accident-free, stress-free and emission-free driving…and we think that’s a future we can all be excited about. By Graham Hill Thanks To Ericcson
Zap-Map has launched a service which allows EV drivers to use a single app to pay for charging across different networks.
Drivers having to use a multitude of apps and cards has long been seen as an obstacle to wider EV adoption, and the government wants it to be as easy for EV drivers to charge at public charge points as it is to pay for petrol or diesel.
Zap-Map said its Zap-Pay app will allow drivers to locate chargers, plan longer journey and pay for charging.
Engenie is the first network available on Zap-Pay, and Zap-Map says a “wave” of others will follow, including ESB EV Solutions, LiFe and Hubsta in the autumn, all using a pay-as-you-go tariff.
Zap-Pay will be rolled out across UK networks in 2021.
Ben Lane, CTO and joint managing director at Zap-Map, said: “More people than ever are buying an EV, but providing a seamless charging experience is essential to accelerate this shift, cut carbon emissions and clean our air.
“We already buy much of our shopping with the tap of a finger – Zap-Pay means that EV charging is now the same.
“No one should need dozens of accounts, apps and cards to charge their car. With one simple app, drivers can now simply plug in and the app manages the rest.”
The government last year set out its ambition that – to simplify the charging process – all newly-installed rapid and higher-powered charge points should provide debit or credit card payment by spring this year.
One year after the launch of its Road to Zero strategy, the government signalled it expects industry to develop a roaming solution across the charging network, allowing EV drivers to use any public charge point through a single payment method without needing multiple smartphone apps or membership cards.
Rachel Maclean, the UK Government Transport Minister, added: “It should be as easy for drivers to charge their vehicles at public charge points as it is to pay for petrol or diesel.
“This is why I have made services, such as the one launched today, a personal priority as we transition to zero emission vehicles.
“As the EV market continues to go from strength to strength, journey planning and paying with one app or membership card must also follow – Zap-Pay will help do just that, propelling us towards cleaner towns and cities and a zero emission future.”
At launch, Zap-Pay is live on ten Engenie charge points across four locations – Stratford, Gloucester, Chepstow and Bristol.
By the end of September, Zap-Pay will be rolled out across the Engenie network of 150-plus rapid charge points
In addition to delivering a way to pay for EV charging, Zap-Pay will provide live status updates, charging history, PDF VAT receipts and 24/7 customer support.
Last year, fuelcard provider Allstar launched its Allstar One Electric product which gives users access to a multi-brand network of charge points, including GeniePoint, Engenie, Source London, Alfa Power and ESB EV Solutions.
Earlier this year, Shell Fleet Solutions added a suite of e-mobility services to its fuel card offering, allowing customers to opt for a card that allows for payment of both fossil fuels and electric vehicle charging. By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News
Early terminations and contract extensions from fleets and company car drivers are being reported by leasing companies as job losses increase.
Over the past three months, the number of people claiming out-of-work benefits (job seekers allowance and low income benefits) has more than doubled, reaching 2.7 million in July, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The latest data also shows more than three million people were still furloughed as the Government scheme begins to wind down.
The ONS says that more than one-in-10 workers (12%) were, effectively, having their wages paid by the Government between late July and the middle of August, a 50% reduction on May’s figures.
Unsurprisingly, the highest number of furloughed staff were found in those companies yet to re-open – almost three-quarters of staff (71%) compared to 11% at those businesses back trading.
The scale of the downturn is unprecedented. The UK economy is now 17.2% smaller than it was in February 2020.
Furthermore, Quarter 2 2020 is now 22.1% below Quarter 4 2019, which is more than three times greater than the total fall during the next largest period of recession, which occurred during the global economic downturn of 2008 to 2009.
The Bank of England has warned that UK unemployment is expected to peak at 2.5 million by 2021, with more than a million jobs expected to be lost in the second half of this year.
It highlighted what it called the “considerable uncertainty” remaining about the prospects for employment after the furlough scheme finishes in October.
WINNERS AND LOSERS
Paul Hollick, chairman of the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP), said: “Some companies have taken the bit between the teeth by introducing redundancies quickly, but they were already on shaky ground, with plans already in place.”
However, he explained there have been “winners and losers” as a result of the pandemic, with those in the hospitality and travel sector hit particularly hard, while anything that is digitised and can create online services and solutions is able to tap into growing demand.
The amount of money spent online increased by 61.9% in June when compared with February, ONS data suggests. This has resulted in an increase of £943.5 million in average weekly sales from £1.5 billion in February to a staggering £2.5bn in June.
Courier fleets have been among some of the biggest winners, with DPD announcing it was recruiting 6,000 new staff, including 3,500 drivers, in response to the unprecedented boom in online shopping.
The delivery firm is investing £200m this year to expand its next-day parcel capacity, including £100m on vehicles, £60m on 15 new regional depots (10 more than originally planned in 2020) and the remainder on technology.
The new jobs will include delivery and HGV drivers, warehouse staff, management positions and support staff, including mechanics.
CEO Dwain McDonald said the business was experiencing the “biggest boom in online retailing in the UK’s history”.
It is a similar story at APC, with 100 new roles available, all of which will be permanent positions, including drivers, warehouse operatives, customer services staff and IT.
The courier firm’s chief executive, Jonathan Smith, explained that the past five months have seen “unprecedented demand” for its delivery services.
For firms facing a more uncertain outlook, Hollick believes business owners and operators do not know what to do in terms of “rightsizing their business”.
He explained: “No one really understands the total impact yet, because everything is being propped up (by the Government), but I wouldn’t want to be an account manager at this time.
“The way that you operate with customers is going to fundamentally change post-Covid. I think it’s going to be a case of sitting in an office or at home to do an account review rather than face-to-face.”
EARLY TERMINATIONS
Account management and sales teams would, typically, be out on the road, potentially covering long distances to visit their customer base on a regular basis.
But lockdown has shifted customer meetings online and, with obvious productivity gains, returning to pre-pandemic working practices is not on the cards.
Volkswagen Financial Services Fleet reported it was seeing “no demand” from customers for a return to face-to-face meetings. Head of sales and marketing, Tom Brewer, said: “We’re seeing a desire to continue with remote meetings at the moment.
“In our experience, this approach doesn’t seem to have any detriment to the quality of the conversations or the effectiveness of the meetings. There are upsides for all parties – aside from minimising the risk to everyone’s health – in the productivity benefits for us and our customers; meetings tend to be shorter and there is no fuel cost and no time lost to travel.”
It is not planning a reduction in headcount, but elsewhere companies looking to tighten their belts are recognising that they can do more with less.
As a result, Hollick expects the traditional company car market will shrink due to the significant job losses already being seen and those yet to come as the furlough scheme ends.
Furthermore, he says other employees, who qualified for a car due to the amount of annual mileage they covered, face having the benefit removed due to now not hitting the required threshold.
Three-quarters (74.8%) of fleets told Fleet News in a recent survey that they expect greater use of video conferencing in the long term, while almost 61% expect to see average mileages fall. And more than a third (35.8%) said that they expect to be running fewer company cars in the future.
Alphabet has reported an increase in early terminations and reschedule requests in recent months, driven predominantly by individual and small-to-medium enterprise (SME)customers.
However, Gavin Davies, Alphabet’s general manager for customer relationship management and public sector, said: “We are seeing bulk early termination requests from some of our corporate fleets as well, but they are also utilising other options, such as putting new car orders on hold while they assess their individual situations and future fleet needs.
“This has been the case particularly in those industries that have been hit hardest by the lockdown or still have staff on furlough.”
He added: “As the furlough scheme has given an artificial stimulus to current demand, we do expect to see an increase in early terminations as the scheme comes to an end in October.”
Matthew Walters, head of consultancy and customer data services at LeasePlan UK, says contract extensions have increased by approximately 50% above average. “Many businesses are also increasingly interested in the efficiency savings gained by outsourcing their operations and fleet activity.”
Jon Lawes, managing director of Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions, told Fleet News that sales teams were particularly impacted by a lack of travel. “We’re seeing customers looking to reduce their contract mileage moving forward, meaning that policy benchmark mileages have reduced by approximately 10% across certain customers,” he said.
The greatest impact has been in the retail sector, with job losses resulting in company car numbers being cut.
“The headcount and vehicle allocation for retail store area managers has reduced as a result of companies streamlining their middle management to respond to the economic impact of the virus,” said Lawes.
Since March, Lex Autolease has granted payment holidays to more than 3,000 customers, from small fleets to those with thousands of vehicles.
Mileages have also been amended to encourage rental cost-savings and existing vehicles redistributed. As a result, Andy Barrell, head of business development at Lex Autolease, said: “We’re not seeing mass vehicle terminations across our customer base.
“Customers are naturally more inclined towards short-term agreements when there is ongoing uncertainty, so it’s no surprise we’ve seen an increase in demand for short-term daily rental, alongside our informal extension agreements – giving customers more time to assess future requirements.”
The total number of new cars registered to fleet and business so far this year is 45.3% down year-on-year, with 433,868 units registered in 2020, compared with 792,091 in the same period last year.
Historic HMRC data shows a declining pool of company cars, with 890,000 employees receiving the benefit in 2017/18, compared with 940,000 the previous year.
Officials blamed the dramatic decline on reporting issues leaving some vehicles unaccounted for, but the figures for 2018/19, in the coming weeks, are still expected to show a downward trend.
Hollick, however, is predicting leasing firms and carmakers could benefit from a renewed interest in salary sacrifice. He explained: “A few big fleets have already mentioned to me that they are relaunching salary sacrifice schemes to take advantage of the low rates for electric vehicles (EVs). But it’s going to be a fascinating market and I don’t think anybody will know the true impact until the start of next year.”
Hitachi Capital’s Lawes says employees are concerned about the long-term economic impact of Covid-19 and committing to a company car contract, with some perk schemes affected.
That being said, he also sees the renewed potential of salary sacrifice. He told Fleet News: “Now is a prime time to take a salary sacrifice EV with 0% BIK charges.”
Although Alphabet has seen an increasing demand to move to cash incentives in recent years, Davies also highlighted the “significant taxation benefits” for companies and drivers who choose to adopt ultra-low-emission vehicles (ULEVs).
“Alphabet has seen a huge uptake in EVs since the 0% BIK rates were introduced earlier this year,” he said. By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News
Petrol and diesel prices rose in August for the third consecutive month, but do not appear to be heading back to pre-pandemic levels, says RAC Fuel Watch.
The organisation says a litre of unleaded petrol rose 0.5p to 114.88p and diesel by 0.3p to 118.47p, meaning both fuels are still 13p a litre cheaper than they were at the end of January.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “Even though pump prices have risen for three consecutive months, August’s increase was slight sparing drivers any nasty shocks when they went to fill up.
“We had feared prices might rise more quickly as people started driving more after the lockdown but so far petrol has only gone up 9p a litre from its low of just under 106p in May which, it’s important to remember, is still 13p a litre less than it was in January.
“The short-term outlook for pump prices generally does not appear ominous for UK drivers despite a blip in the oil price at the end of August.
“The cost of a barrel of oil rose dramatically due to fears of a hurricane affecting supplies in the Gulf of Mexico, but fortunately there was no adverse impact to production as the hurricane was downgraded to a tropical depression and refineries were spared massive flooding.
“Our pump price forecast for the next fortnight shows petrol should come down by a penny while diesel ought to fall by around 5p a litre if retailers play fair and reflect the downward movement in the wholesale price properly.”
RAC Fuel Watch found the supermarkets increased their prices “very slightly” in August with petrol rising by a third of penny to 109.55p and diesel by over half a penny (0.63p) to 114.17p.
This makes a litre of unleaded at a supermarket more than 5p (5.33p) cheaper than the UK average, and diesel 4.3p cheaper per litre.
Asda started the month as the lowest cost supermarket petrol retailer but by the close Morrisons had edged marginally lower at 109.24p compared to Asda’s 109.43p.
On diesel, however, Asda was a penny a litre cheaper than its nearest rival, Morrisons, at 113.35p.
Yesterday, FairFuelUK, backed by the Road Haulage Association (RHA) and Logistics UK (FTA), has said it will ‘fight tooth and nail’ against rumoured plans to raise fuel duty.
FairFuelUK, backed by the Road Haulage Association (RHA) and Logistics UK (FTA), has said it will ‘fight tooth and nail’ against rumoured plans to raise fuel duty.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is considering ending a ten-year freeze on the tax in his Autumn Budget and could increase fuel duty by 5p, to pay for the coronavirus crisis, The Sun reported.
Talking directly to Rishi Sunak, MP Robert Halfon said: “Don’t let the taxpayer millions that funded half-price meals in August, be partly paid for, using an unnecessary hike in fuel duty.
“Such a needless rise in this levy will impact badly on the cost of living for families, increase inflation, hit businesses and jobs hard. It will even swell costs for our hard-pressed public services, including the NHS.”
Howard Cox, founder of FairFuelUK, said: “Do not make the world’s highest taxed drivers, the fiscal fall guys in a post pandemic recovery budget. Hiding behind a green driven agenda to hike a regressive tax will be disingenuous and hit low-income drivers hardest.”
FairFuelUK said that by putting more money in people’s pockets, the extra consumer spending to drive up GDP will help the economy recover.
Cox said: “On behalf of most drivers, business and private, do not screw the commercial and social heartbeat of our economy to mollify the environmental lobby and pay off your post pandemic debt.
“The UK needs to recover big and fast using incentives not punitive knee jerk extra taxes.”
“With more disposable income, we will all spend and spend. Businesses will flourish, and the extra tax cash from ensuing growth in the economy will flood into HM Revenue and Customs.”
Logistics UK is calling for a freeze on diesel and petrol fuel duty, in addition to a reduction in fuel duty for cleaner, lower carbon fuels to support the transition to a zero-emission industry.
Elizabeth de Jong, director of Policy at Logistics UK, said: “Logistics UK and its members are extremely concerned by rumours circulating of a significant fuel duty rise in the Autumn Budget.
“Logistics businesses have worked tirelessly during the pandemic to ensure the nation is supplied with all the goods and services it needs, all while operating at very tight margins and facing severe economic difficulties; a fuel duty rise would be a huge blow to their recovery.”
“The 5p per litre rise – as is speculated in the media – would increase operating costs significantly at a time when margins are most stretched and cash flow is a real problem for many businesses; the UK already pays one of the highest fuel duty rates in Europe.”
However, Claire Haigh, chief executive of Greener Journeys, wants road pricing introduced alongside ending the freeze in fuel duty.
Haigh said: “The Chancellor should take the opportunity of record low oil prices to increase fuel duty.
“The money should be ring-fenced to incentivise the take-up of cleaner vehicles and improve public transport.
“At the very least, the Chancellor should end the freeze and increase fuel duty in line with inflation.”
In the Budget announced in March, the Chancellor said the fuel duty freeze will continue for a further year, costing the the Treasury some £800 million in lost revenue.
Drivers whose photocard licence or entitlement to drive expires between February 1 and December 31, 2020 have been extended for 11 months from the date of expiry under temporary changes announced by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
The initial extension expired at the end of August and has been further extended to the end of the year.
Under the changes, drivers whose photocard driving licence or entitlement to drive runs out between 1 February 2020 and 31 December 2020 will have their entitlement automatically extended from the expiry date, for a period of 11 months.
Drivers do not need to apply to renew their licence until they receive a reminder before their extension expires, says the DVLA.
Julie Lennard, chief executive of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, said: “Being able to drive is a lifeline for millions of people and this further extension will ensure that in these continued uncertain times, drivers don’t need to worry about the admin or the associated costs with renewing their licences.
“The temporary extension is automatic, and drivers do not need to do anything. Drivers who have already applied to renew their photocard driving licence or entitlement to drive can usually carry on driving while we process their application providing, they have not been told by their doctor or optician that they should not drive.”
The Government granted a seven-month extension to drivers whose photocard driving licence expired between the start of February and the end of August. By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News
