Would you have an electric car if you had the money for a new car and were in the market for one?

[Count Steer]

...

Some pretty annoying design flaws in that respect. You unlock/open the doors and the mirrors fold out - using battery power. My (ICE) car they open when you start the engine.

That's not a design flaw, it's a design choice. My Mazda 6 folds/unfolds the mirrors when I lock/unlock the doors. I like it like that. It's handy for when I get 10 or 20 yards away from the car and can't remember if I locked the doors.

My car opens them when I start the engine and closes them when I lock the doors. Best of both worlds.

[MrLongbeard]

That reminds me, I didn't lock the car when I got home on Tuesday.

[Horse]

Hold off investing in rare earth mining?

https://www.electrive.com/2025/04/02/ri ... ric-motor/

The Alumotor was developed by a consortium led by Ricardo and funded by Innovate UK. As mentioned above, it does not use any rare earth metals or critical raw materials, such as cobalt. Instead, it uses hairpin windings made from aluminium.

According to the company, the new synchronous reluctance motor is oil-cooled and has a power output of 214 kW. The maximum efficiency is said to be greater than 92 per cent, “making it suitable for light commercial vehicles and off-highway applications with full scalability to suit other applications,” according to Ricardo.

[Taipan]

I gather EVs registered after 2017 and until 2025 now pay £195 a year road tax (VED)? What a shame they've introduced that!

[Mr. Dazzle]

Plus the 400ish expensive car jealousy tax if they cost over £40k new.

Inevitable really, can't have higher adoption AND the tax incentives to aid adoption

[Horse]

https://insideevs.com/news/755673/nissa ... ery-plans/
The company claims the ASSB will be able to charge to 65% in as little as 5 minutes

[Taipan]

Cheers Donnie!

Published
6 April 2025
877 Comments
Updated 1 hour ago
The government has announced a relaxation of electric vehicle (EV) sales targets to help the car industry in the face of trade tariffs from the US.

A ban on producing new petrol and diesel cars will still come into effect in 2030, but manufacturers will now have more flexibility on annual targets and face lower fines.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told BBC Breakfast its changes were not a "silver bullet" but part of the solution to responding to US tariffs.

UK opposition parties said Labour's measures would not be enough to boost the car industry.

US President Donald Trump has imposed a 25% levy on cars imported to the US, which is a major export market for the UK motor industry.

It came into force last week and is separate to a 10% tax on nearly all UK products announced by Trump on Wednesday.

A consultation on the government's EV target changes ended in mid-February, but Alexander told the BBC that the government had sped up the process of introducing them in response to the tariffs.

The government said it had worked with UK car manufacturers to simultaneously "strengthen its commitment to the phase out" while introducing "practical reforms to support industry meet this ambition".

Currently, 28% of new cars sold in the UK this year must be electric, a target that will rise each year until 2030.

But manufacturers will now be given more freedom in how they meet their yearly targets - meaning if they don't sell enough EVs in one year, they can make up for it by selling more the next year, for example.

In addition, the fine of £15,000 per vehicle sold that does not meet the latest emissions standards will be cut to £12,000.

Meanwhile, a ban on the sale of hybrid vehicles - which combines a petrol or diesel-powered engine with an electric motor - has been confirmed as from 2035.

Smaller British firms like Aston Martin and McLaren will be allowed to keep making petrol cars beyond the 2030 deadline

As part of the changes, the car industry will also be given £2.3bn in tax breaks.

'Hope over reality'
The ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars was extended to 2035 under the previous Conservative government, but Labour promised to restore the 2030 deadline in its manifesto for the 2024 election.

Car industry leaders have previously warned that drivers were not switching to electric vehicles at the rate needed to meet the deadline due to the cost of buying the cars privately and a lack of charging point infrastructure.

Sir Keir said the measures would "boost growth that puts money in working people's pockets" and ensure "home-grown firms" can export UK-made cars worldwide.

However, Robert Forrester, chief executive of car dealership chain Vertu Motors, told the BBC said there were "lots and lots of words in the announcement but it doesn't really address the major issues".

He said manufacturers will still be paying billions in fines, despite the cut to £12,000 per car.

"Nothing has really changed here - this is just tinkering," he said, adding: "The government has gone for hope over reality."

Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith described the measures as "half baked" and repeated Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch's claim that "net zero by 2050 is impossible".

Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson called for "better incentives" for consumers to buy electric vehicles, and said the changes "won't be enough to protect the sector from the impact of Trump's damaging tariffs".

The US is the second largest export market for the UK's car industry, after the European Union.

Coventry-based car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover announced on Saturday that it will "pause" all shipments in April to the US as it works to "address the new trading terms".

[Mr. Dazzle]

Right now this is a rather larger concern in the office

https://www.reuters.com/world/china-hit ... 025-04-04/

What certain people think will happen: EVs go away, ICE lives on.

What is actually going to happen: Chinese EV firms become even more dominant, western auto manufacturing is decimated.

[MrLongbeard]

It'll be a cold day in hell when I have a Sealion parked on the drive

[Mussels]

Right now this is a rather larger concern in the office

https://www.reuters.com/world/china-hit ... 025-04-04/

What certain people think will happen: EVs go away, ICE lives on.

What is actually going to happen: Chinese EV firms become even more dominant, western auto manufacturing is decimated.

Aside from cars that says the US defence industry is reliant on supplies from China. It's probably a good thing Trump has highlighted it and worrying that previous administrations (including Trump) ignored it.

[Mr. Dazzle]

There's been an industry wide push to 'de China' for at least as long as I've worked in EVs. I can only assume all other industries are the same.

China makes good stuff!

[Horse]

https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/ ... esearch-2/

Scientists out of Stanford University's SLAC-Stanford Battery Center have found that electric vehicle batteries may last much longer than previously thought.

In their new study, published this December in the journal Nature Energy, researchers found that the common way EV batteries have been tested — by quickly repeating a cycle of steady battery drain, followed by immediate recharging — may underestimate these batteries' lifespans.

For this study, the researchers tested a number of batteries under real-world driving conditions, such as heavy traffic, freeway driving, and long stretches of being parked. They found that the more a test mimicked real-world situations, the longer a battery lasted. In fact, these tests showed some batteries "could last about a third longer than researchers have generally forecast," according to the Stanford Report.

"We've not been testing EV batteries the right way," Stanford professor and study author Simona Onori told the Stanford Report. "To our surprise, real driving with frequent acceleration, braking that charges the batteries a bit, stopping to pop into a store, and letting the batteries rest for hours at a time, helps batteries last longer than we had thought based on industry standard lab tests."

[wheelnut]

It'll be a cold day in hell when I have a Sealion parked on the drive

Do you feel the same about all the other Chinese manufactured kit that you buy, or is it just a car?

[MrLongbeard]

It'll be a cold day in hell when I have a Sealion parked on the drive

Do you feel the same about all the other Chinese manufactured kit that you buy, or is it just a car?

Well that clearly went above your head, I blame myself of course.
I have nothing against Chinese manufactured kit*, how could I sat here communicating with the wider world utilising electronic devices at least half of which originate from there.

I don't really have anything against Chinese cars, I only have one reference point from a fella I know who had a bad experience buying an MG4, but that's anecdotal and as said from a pool of one, so we'll not let that colour out thoughts.

No, my major gripe, is their naming scheme sealion, Dolphin, sea rat with wings, sorry seagull, seal, shark indeed, someone in their chinese to english translation department needs sacking.
And I'm not against calling out the Capri, Mustang and new Renault 5 either for stealing the names of past glories and slapping them on new white goods trying to relive and profit days of old, just fucking stop it.

*Properly manufactured** and QA'ed stuff, not the shite you get on Temu, Aliexpress etc, that's all bollox manufactured by slave child labour and a pox on it all.

**Overlooking IP theft and the usual of course.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Whenever I seal the name BYD Sealion I always read it as "Sell-eee-on" as first 'cause my brain won't let me believe someone actually called it a Sealion. It insists it must be a made up word like other car names.

[ZRX61]

Whenever I seal the name BYD Sealion I always read it as "Sell-eee-on" as first 'cause my brain won't let me believe someone actually called it a Sealion. It insists it must be a made up word like other car names.

They're having issues at the bus plant here in town. They keep getting busted for paying Chinese level wages for 60hr weeks etc.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Right now this is a rather larger concern in the office

https://www.reuters.com/world/china-hit ... 025-04-04/

What certain people think will happen: EVs go away, ICE lives on.

What is actually going to happen: Chinese EV firms become even more dominant, western auto manufacturing is decimated.

Good time to be a not-Chinese rare earths firm though.

Lynas.png (37.81 KiB) Viewed 1127 times

[demographic]

Right now this is a rather larger concern in the office

https://www.reuters.com/world/china-hit ... 025-04-04/

What certain people think will happen: EVs go away, ICE lives on.

What is actually going to happen: Chinese EV firms become even more dominant, western auto manufacturing is decimated.

ICE car sales dropping year on year and EV's gaining.
So we focus on the ICE and lose more market share.
Then the people who were in at the start of an idea go abroad as thats where the funding is.
The story of many British industries for as long as I can remember.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Yep, my parent company is already expanding ops in China.

The Chinese are going all in on EVs and as I've said loads and loads of times, the paradigm shift here resets everyone to zero and they have a real chance to become the leader. Hell they already ARE the leader in battery and magnet technology, and it's not because they've stolen western ideas like some people want to believe.

It's the same with clean energy generation too.

BTW I work in EVs primarily because I understand the numbers and I'm confident they're gonna win this fight in the long run, not because I am an Eco warrior. It's gonna be bumpy, but the fundamentals are just so much better when you dig right into it there's only ever gonna be one winner. The Chinese seem to understand that.

[Horse]

Whenever I seal the name BYD Sealion I always read it as "Sell-eee-on" as first 'cause my brain won't let me believe someone actually called it a Sealion. It insists it must be a made up word like other car names.

They're having issues at the bus plant here in town. They keep getting busted for paying Chinese level wages for 60hr weeks etc.

If the long-term plan from the top is to bring manufacturing back into the country then, there's two ways it can go: either lower pay or higher prices.