The UK government’s £1,500 EV grants were discontinued yesterday, nearly a year earlier than planned.
UK Stories June 15
UK Stories April 26
Blink Charging announced that its European subsidiary, Blink Holdings BV, has acquired Electric Blue Ltd. better known as EB Charging based in the UK. In addition to Blink’s first entry into the UK, the acquisition marks Blink’s global expansion which now includes over eighteen countries.
UK Stories April 21
British automaker Bentley has shared new data outlining its progress toward becoming carbon neutral throughout its entire global supply chain. The automaker’s “Dream Factory” headquarters in Crewe, England is already carbon neutral, but Bentley’s latest numbers show how much of a decrease it has made in its overall environmental impact the past year alone.
A 10.5 gigawatt (GW) solar and wind farm will be built in Morocco’s Guelmim-Oued Noun region, and it will supply the UK with clean energy via subsea cables. The twin 1.8 GW high voltage direct current (HVDC) subsea cables will be the world’s longest.
UK Stories March 28
As UK prime minister Boris Johnson is due to unveil his energy plan this week, a British cabinet minister made a suggestion yesterday on a news program that he thinks would win the support of communities who live near onshore wind farms. Could it work?
UK Stories March 23
As the global energy crunch deepens, thanks to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, new analysis from the nonprofit think tank Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) looks at how home insulation and heat pumps could reduce the UK’s need for Russian gas. The approach could certainly be applied in other countries, too.
UK Stories March 22
The UK’s total pipeline of offshore wind projects has now reached 86 gigawatts (GW), according to new research published today by not-for-profit renewable energy trade association RenewableUK.
UK Stories February 23
Ahead of an opening of orders on March 1, the 2022 Nissan LEAF will arrive in the UK and Europe with a refreshed exterior look. The 2022 models will include new alloy wheels, Nissan brand badges, and new exterior color choices. However, not much else has changed compared to previous model year LEAFs, including the decision to stick with the lame duck CHAdeMO charging port.
UK Stories January 26
Toronto-headquartered global energy transition platform Amp Energy is going to build what will be known as the Scottish Green Battery Complex. They will be the two largest grid-connected battery storage facilities in Europe.
UK Stories January 25
The British government today announced that it will provide £31.6 million ($42.5 million) to fund the development of floating offshore wind projects in order to reduce the UK’s dependency on increasingly expensive natural gas.
UK Stories January 14
French automaker Renault has joined the all-electric party in Europe, as its CEO recently shared news that the brand would become 100% electric by 2030. While the announcement is welcomed progress, its timing also correlates with current climate proposals in the UK and EU that will limit ICE by 2030, and require 100% EV sales by 2035. Conversely, another Renault exec has openly spoken out against the ICE ban.
UK Stories January 12
Efforts by automakers and legislators overseas appear to be paying off, as a new study found that consumers’ transition to all-electric vehicles in the EU and UK is “inevitable.” Due to commitments from automakers, tighter regulations on CO2 emissions, and a decline in overall costs of EVs, sales across Europe are expected to surpass those of ICE vehicles in the next three years.
UK Stories December 28, 2021
Arrival’s flagship Bus EV has begun proving ground testing in the UK before entering full production in 2022. The Arrival Bus marks the first of several electric vehicles in the pipeline for the company which will be manufactured and operated in the UK and US, as well as the European Union.
UK Stories November 22, 2021
The British government has introduced legislation that will require all newly built homes and offices to feature electric vehicle chargers in England.
UK Stories November 2, 2021
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) unveiled a hydrogen-powered zero emission ambulance this week at Glasgow’s COP26 climate change conference. The vehicle will help the NHS reduce its contribution to UK road emissions and improve air quality and therefore health – thus making health workers’ jobs a little easier to boot.
UK Stories October 21, 2021
The UK’s Hornsea Two offshore wind farm, soon to be the world’s largest when it’s completed next year, just achieved a couple of major construction milestones.
UK Stories October 4, 2021
British prime minister Boris Johnson will officially announce this week at the Conservative Party’s annual conference in Manchester that all of the UK’s electricity will be sourced from clean energy by 2035, according to the Times. But not everyone is happy that nuclear will be included in the mix.
In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
- Tevva debuts an electric truck that’s ready for production at its new UK factory.
- The world’s longest subsea power cable, between the UK and Norway, goes live.
- ChargeUp Europe announces its 18th member.
- UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.
UK Stories September 29, 2021
Analysis of Google search data revealed that online searches for electric cars in the UK exploded 1,600% on September 24 – the day that gas shortages became a widespread problem across the country.
UK Stories September 21, 2021
Addison Lee, a London-headquartered private hire taxi and courier company, and the UK’s largest private vehicle hire firm, today announced that its entire fleet will become fully electric by 2023. Its current fleet currently stands at around 4,000 cars.
UK Stories August 4, 2021
Hyundai has announced a new all-in-one subscription service in the UK specifically dedicated to its BEVs, PHEVs, and hybrid vehicles. Named Hyundai Mocean, this new subscription service allows approved customers to have an EV delivered to them for a monthly fee that includes insurance, maintenance, road tax, and repairs. This is a business model Hyundai Motor Group has been experimenting with in other countries before trying it out in the UK.
UK Stories August 3, 2021
Allegra Stratton, British prime minister Boris Johnson’s climate spokesperson, says she won’t switch to an electric car yet because she has range anxiety. So she drives a “third-hand” diesel Volkswagen Golf instead.
UK Stories July 20, 2021
Highways England is considering imposing the UK’s first pollution-linked speed limits to help reduce smog in Sheffield. But why should electric vehicle drivers have to slow down too?
UK Stories July 5, 2021
In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
- Battery electric cars now account for 11% of the UK market – tied with diesel.
- The US consumed more electricity powered by renewables than by coal in 2020, reports the EIA.
- UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.
UK Stories June 30, 2021
The deadline to phase out coal from Britain’s energy system has been brought forward by a whole year, to October 2024.
UK Stories January 7, 2021
In December 2019, plugin electric vehicles (PEVs) made up 6.6% of the UK market share. In December 2020, PEVs made up 23.4% of the market share. That’s a huge jump in just one year for PEV sales in the UK.
And the Tesla Model 3 was the UK’s best selling auto overall in the last month of 2020, at 5,798 vehicles.
UK Stories July 3, 2020
The CDC Group, the British government’s development finance institution, will end most fossil-fuel financing abroad. It says it will invest only in companies that align with the Paris Agreement to achieve net zero by 2050.
UK Stories July 16, 2019
Jaguar Land Rover’s push to develop new electric cars has earned the carmaker a loan guarantee of £500 million ($622 million) from the UK government.
UK Stories July 15, 2019
New homes in the UK could all be fitted with electric car charging points in the future, as the UK government has outlined a number of EV-supportive proposals in a public consultation on England’s building regulations.
UK Stories July 11, 2019
A new report envisions a number of energy scenarios for the UK as it aims for net zero emissions by 2050, and one future path involves using 35 million electric cars to store a large amount of renewable energy.
UK Stories June 12, 2019
The UK is set to become the first G7 country to commit to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with legislation to be introduced in Parliament today.
UK Stories May 24, 2019
A promising electric car-sharing program in a UK town only lasted a few months, as the EVs quickly became a target for vandals who caused “exceptional levels of damage” to the cars.
UK Stories May 2, 2019
The UK’s Committee on Climate Change has released its anticipated report, and it’s recommending a new goal — net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
UK Stories May 1, 2019
Less than two years ago, the UK announced its intentions to make its transportation fully electric by 2040, banning the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by that time. But government advisers will reportedly recommend moving that deadline up, possibly as much as a decade.
UK Stories April 12, 2019
The UK has made recent progress in reducing emissions, but a new government report reveals it’s set to miss future carbon budget goals by a widening margin.
UK Stories March 19, 2019
Climate change could cause the U.K. to face a water shortage in 20 to 25 years, according to an environmental official who referred to water demand surpassing supply as the “jaws of death.”
UK Stories October 12, 2018
The UK government announced several changes today to its Plug-In Car Grant program. They are essentially ending incentives for plug-in hybrid vehicles and they are reducing the incentive for all-electric vehicles. expand full story
UK Stories November 22, 2017
The UK has some good momentum for electric vehicle adoption and they are trying to keep it.
This week, the government unveiled their Autumn budget and it includes an important investment to support the adoption of electric vehicles. expand full story
UK Stories July 5, 2016
You remember the Hyundai IONIQ? The South Korean automaker’s one-car platform to release three models with different electric powertrains, IONIQ Hybrid (HEV), IONIQ Plug-in (PHEV) and IONIQ Electric (BEV). It created a lot of buzz earlier this year with hopes that the all-electric version could compete with the Chevy Bolt, Tesla Model 3 and other long-range electric cars coming to market in the next year.
We were disappointed when it was actually revealed that the IONIQ Electric will actually have a 28 kWh battery pack allowing for an EPA-rated of about 110 miles. Now Hyundai reveals the first pricing for the vehicle in Europe, starting with the UK, further confirming that the vehicle will actually be competing with the Nissan LEAF. expand full story
UK Stories June 13, 2016
Earlier this year, Tesla launched a new in-house Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) program in the UK. The significantly more flexible program reduced the monthly entry cost of the Model S to £404 with a 30% down payment. At the time, Tesla said that after fuel and road tax savings, the monthly cost would be only £296 in the UK.
The new program seems to have contributed to Tesla’s recent success in the country, which became the automaker’s top market for the Model S in Europe in the first quarter 2016 after having delivered around 750 cars based on registration data. The country was normally trailing between the fourth and fifth positions in Europe for Tesla – behind Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.
With the recent reintroduction of the Model S 60, Tesla is now lowering the entry even further, across all markets of course, but in the case of the UK, the automaker is now claiming that you can get the monthly cost down to £0. expand full story
UK Stories February 5, 2016
Just a week after the first Tesla Powerwall for residential use in Australia has reportedly been installed in a Sydney suburb, it’s now the UK’s turn to get its first Tesla home battery pack. Homeowner Mark Kerr has become the first British Tesla Powerwall owner after a SolarPlant engineer installed the system at his home in Wales. expand full story
UK Stories January 29, 2016
Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave an interview to Channel 4’s Jon Snow last night during the Prince’s Trust Leadership Dinner in London. Musk said that Tesla plans to sell the upcoming Model 3 in the UK for “£30,000 or less“. expand full story
UK Stories January 25, 2016
Tesla announced the launch of a new in-house Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) program in the UK. The new program is significantly more flexible than Tesla’s prior options and now allows new buyers to choose the amount for the deposit, mileage and duration of ownership. expand full story
UK Stories December 10, 2015
After Mexico yesterday, now it’s Scotland’s turn to get a new Tesla retail location, the first in the country. The automaker opened the showroom today in Edinburgh at the upmarket Multrees Walk shopping center in St Andrews Square, home to other luxury product makers including Louis Vuitton and Harvey Nichols. expand full story
UK Stories December 8, 2015
Tesla announced today via Instagram that the company now offers test drives out of Harrods, a popular upmarket department store in London. The company claims to be the first automotive manufacturer to offer test drives out of the store. expand full story
UK Stories August 12, 2015
Earlier this week, the UK government approved off road testing of wireless charging for electric vehicles on highways, what they are calling “electric highways”. The trials, which are expected to begin later this year, will last for approximately 18 months, and if successful, could lead to road trials.
According to Highways England officials, the initiative is not an alternative to charging stations, the agency is still committed to installing stations every 20 miles on the motorway network. expand full story
