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Third of UK drivers cannot afford to buy even the cheapest electric car says CEBR

Nov 24, 2020

One in three motorists cannot afford to buy and then maintain even the cheapest electric car, according to the economic research group CEBR.

That number equates to ten million households, that cannot afford to buy the cheapest electric car. If you do a quick search on Autotrader, the cheapest is a used 2014 Renault Zoe for £4,895 on a battery lease.

And middle-earning households will also struggle to pay for one of the cheapest leased electric vehicles – which is the £170-a-month Skoda Citigo.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) carried out the research and they showed that drivers need to be spending around £2,100 a year on their current car, including fuel, to afford an electric vehicle.

But low-income households that spend £1,800 or less could afford a plug-in car at a squeeze, but those who spend around £1,400 or less a year will have difficult, which is one third of all drivers on the roads.

CEBR economists said the research proves that ‘access to an electric vehicle is a pipe dream for a third of the population’.

The findings are a bit of a blow to the Government plans to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. Motor groups have described the £12billion plan as ‘incredibly ambitious’ when plug-ins account for just 0.3 per cent of vehicles.

[Image: Source Shutterstock, Nov 2020]

High up-front costs and a lack of road chargers have been blamed for stagnating demand; plus, new entry-level electric vehicles are around £5,000 more expensive than equivalent diesel or petrol fuel models.

There is also the hidden cost of servicing and repairs, which is higher for electric cars, and many people rely on the car maker garages because independent mechanics rarely fix electric cars from a range of brands, so costs are usually higher.

Although electric cars have a higher up-front cost, the average lifetime running expense – including purchase – is £52,100, against £53,600 for petrol.

One in six English councils has failed to install chargers on residential roads, even though 2.8million will be needed in the next 10 years.

Howard Cox, founder of the lobby group FairFuelUK, said the plans risk ‘demonising’ petrol and diesel drivers unable to afford the switch to electric. Has the Government asked low income households, families and hard-pressed small businesses if they have signed up to their inequitable green revolution?’

Do you think the Government’s plan to ban new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 was a bit too early? When are you going to go electric, or will you wait for hydrogen cell vehicles?

Let us know in the comments below.

Top paramedic warns, new cycle lanes are slowing ambulances down in traffic jams

Nov 17, 2020

Unless you are a real petrolhead, almost everyone agrees that it is a good idea to reduce the number of journeys by fossil fuel vehicles, which helps reduce road pollution and associated deaths caused by road pollution.

The Government and local councils have thrown everything behind imposing cycle lanes and traffic calming measures on to residents, under the cover of the pandemic, without any consultations or considering alternative measures, such as incentives to not drive, car sharing, park and ride schemes and better electric powered pubic transport.

Now we hear that lives are being put in danger because ambulances are stuck in traffic caused by controversial new cycle lanes and this raises some real concerns.

One of Britain’s leading paramedics warned that emergency vehicles are being delayed after councils were handed millions of pounds to turn car lanes into cycle-only routes. They are being rushed out to try to encourage more people to cycle to work rather than use public transport or their cars because of the pandemic.

It does not seem to be about reducing road pollution, there is a very apparent agenda to try to make it harder for people to drive in major towns and cities.

Official figures reveal that the number of people cycling has fallen by 25 per cent since the first lockdown in the spring, but the rollout of cycle routes continues.

Richard Webber, the national spokesman for the College of Paramedics, informed The Mail on Sunday: ‘If you are having a cardiac arrest, your chance of survival decreases by ten per cent for every minute’s delay. If ambulances are stuck waiting for someone to open a barrier or taking a long route around to your house, then you’ve got a big problem.’

‘Lots of areas have segregated roads now in such a way that you physically can’t get down the road and therefore we’ve had to do long detours.

‘In some areas where they once had two lanes, they have now gone down to one lane of traffic and a cycle lane and the problem with that is there is nowhere to go.

‘People can’t get out of the way and ambulances get stuck in traffic. It has been the same in various city centres.’

Mr Webber urged councils to consult with ambulance services: ‘They need to think that if someone was having a heart attack, could the ambulance get to them as quickly as it could now? But I don’t think the councils are thinking like that.’

[Image source: Shutterstock Nov 2020]

Ambulances get stuck on London roads

There are several eye-witness accounts of emergency vehicles caught up in road congestion.

On social media last week, a video showed an ambulance with flashing blue lights unable to pass a long queue of cars on the busy Euston Road in Central London. Vehicles restricted to a single lane were unable to move out of the way because of the new cycle lane bollards.

Another ambulance on an emergency call was pictured stuck in traffic close to Euston Station while the new cycle lane was empty. One furious paramedic was pictured shoving blocks out of the way during an emergency call in Harrow, North-West London.

Some residential roads in the area had been blocked off with barriers to create ‘low traffic’ zones, but the ambulance could not get through. And in the Conservative-led council in Wandsworth, South-West London, scrapped its new cycle lane plans after seeing footage of the problems that ambulances have had in Tooting.

Duncan Dollimore, Cycling UK’s head of campaigns: ‘The Government confirmed on Friday that when councils implement any highway scheme, including cycle lanes, they must consult with emergency services.

‘Cycling UK fully supports this and is available to address the concerns and any evidence the College of Paramedics or any health trust might have. To date no one has contacted us.’

Let us be clear, this is not a cyclist versus motorist issue. All users want to share the highways responsibly, but this is going to lead to the loss of lives. While its important to provide cycle lanes, this must not be at the expense of the existing roadways set aside for cars, especially since cyclists can use the same roads as well.

Do you think the Government and local councils should be allowed to do this without consulting emergency services? Let us know in the comments below.

“Poll tax for motorists” considered to replace £40 billion a year fuel and vehicle excise duty black hole

Nov 17, 2020

Now that the Government is expected to announce that the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will end by 2030, the Chancellor is seriously considering a “pay as you drive” tax on motorists to replace the lost future tax income moving away from fossil fuels and into EV as well as hydrogen fuel.

However, campaigners view this idea as a “poll tax for motorists” that will especially hit drivers living in remote parts of the country disproportionally. A similar scheme was ruled out by Labour in 2007 amid uproar that drivers could be charged up to £1.50 a mile.

But the proposed policy has come back, with The AA warning of a driver revolt and urging ministers to come up with a ‘more imaginative solution’.

At present there are only a handful of places where charging is in place, such as the M6 Toll in the Midlands, the Dartford crossing on the M25, London’s Congestion Zone and a handful of small tunnels and bridges.

A nationwide policy is being considered amid fears the switch to electric vehicles will leave a massive tax shortfall, in fuel duty and vehicle excise duty.

However, any move would lead the Government to undermine its own policy to encourage people to drive electric cars because its much cheaper than fossil fuel vehicles.

It came amid reports Boris Johnson is going to reduce the deadline for the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by ten years to 2030 in line with several countries in the EU.

A ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will have a huge impact on the Government’s income, with VAT on fuel currently generating around £6billion a year.

Fuel Duty, currently charged at 57.95p per litre on petrol and diesel vehicles, is on course to raise £27.5billion this financial year.

Finally, Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) – which is charged on the purchase of cars based on their emission levels – generates £7.1billion.

[Image source: Shutterstock, Nov 2020]

Imaginative solutions needed say AA

Edmund King, AA president, urged the Government not to adopt a road pricing scheme as he warned it would be incredibly unpopular with motorists.

‘While the push toward electric vehicles is good for the environment, it is not good for the Exchequer,’ he said.

‘The Government can’t afford to lose £40bn from fuel duty and car tax when the electric revolution arrives.

‘It is always assumed that road pricing would be the solution but that has been raised every five years since 1964 and is still perceived by most as a “poll tax on wheels”.

‘We need a more imaginative solution and have proposed “Road Miles” whereby every driver gets 3000 free miles, with one third more for those in rural areas, and then a small charge thereafter.

‘Combined with commercialising the roads with an adopt-a-highway scheme with naming rights such as the Minecraft M1, Manchester Utd M6 or Adidas A1, this should be prove a more popular solution.’

There will be increasing pressure next year on the Government to find ways to claw back all the money that has been given out to tackle the Coronavirus pandemic. If a new tax scheme is seen as having green benefits, you can be sure that they will try to introduce it, even though it may be political suicide for the Conservatives.

It seems that even if the Tories lose at the next General Election, the Labour party will continue to do the same thing if they gain power, if not more so. Motorists are already having a hard time at the moment, so to introduce this scheme would see revolt amongst motorists of all kinds and perhaps direct action is needed to make the politicians aware that it will be not accepted by drivers under any circumstances.

What do you think about a poll tax for motorists? Do you think it is a fair scheme or will it create untold misery for drivers? Would you fight back against it? Let us know in the comments.

Scammers list driveways on parking apps without owners knowledge

Nov 11, 2020

Parking app Just Park has been forced to issue an apology to homeowners who have fallen victims to a new scam where fraudsters rent out their driveways and pocket the cash from people who park on their drive without knowing.

The website allows property owners and businesses to rent vacant parking spots to other drivers, but it appears that people who don’t own the car park space or driveway can fraudulently claim to be the owner and rent it out too.

Some owners have returned to their homes to find vehicles parked in their allocated spaces and driveways. The rules around drivers being parked on private land is a gray area, as such it is not technically illegal to park on private land without the owner’s permission, although new legislation may come into force soon to tackle this.

BBC Radio 4 You and Yours show highlighted the scam in their report last weekend.

Just Park is one of a few services that allows people to make money from their unused parking spaces or driveways, which is becoming a nice way to earn income for many homeowners.

These are often near train stations, sporting stadiums and other entertainment venues, a parking space in a high demand area can attract earnings in excess of £1,000 a year.

Some drivers have discovered that their parking facilities have been advertised on the site without their permission.

Just Park said that cases of this are ‘extremely rare’, though the BBC show spoke to numerous victims of the scam.

Simon Gallagher told the BBC that strangers were parking in bays allocated to owners of flats in his building in Bexleyheath in Greater London.

‘This was going on for about a month or so… until one day somebody had left a note in the window of one of the cars that was parked there with a booking reference for Just Park,’ he said.

‘I looked it up on the website and to my surprise, found a photograph of the flat advertised out for rent’.

Incredibly, scam artists had been charging a £8 daily fee to use the spaces allocated to tenants in the building, and were pocketing the income from the venture without the rightful owner’s – or Just Park’s – knowledge.

Some owners of the parking spaces have now had to install bollards to prevent unsuspecting drivers from using their allocated bays.

[Image source: Shutterstock, November 2020]

The BBC report that homeowners in Edinburgh were also victims of the same scam.

Barbara Oliver, who lives in Edinburgh, came back from holiday to discover that drivers had been parking their cars in front of her garage door.

‘It appeared that these people had used Just Park and had information to say that they could park there, which, as the property’s owner, I knew was not true’, Barbara told the BBC.

Just Park removed the adverts and says it will do the same with immediate effect if other fraudulent activity is identified.

The company’s founder and chief executive officer, Anthony Eskinazi, apologised to both Mr Gallagher and Mrs Oliver for the fraudulent activity carried out on its website.

‘We do have stringent checks in place to prevent spaces from being listed fraudulently. On rare occasions where they are added, we immediately remove them once notified and ensure that our community is not adversely affected.’

Have you been a victim of a similar scam and do you think parking apps should check who they allow to promote their driveways more? Let us know in the comments.

Banning new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 would boost economy and create jobs claims Greenpeace

Nov 11, 2020

The British Government is due to announce a new date it proposes to introduce a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars within the next week, and a new report backed by Greenpeace wants to bring it forward 10 years to 2030.

The current ban is due to come into force in 2040 as various bodies attempt to lobby the Prime Minister to agree to make it even earlier.

A report by Cambridge Econometrics has urged the Government to accelerate the ban to 2030 with claims that it will create more than 30,000 new jobs and provide a £4.2 billion boost to the economy.

Greenpeace has backed the report and called for the deadline to be brought forward to 2030, claiming it would increase employment and economic activity, providing the government with a £1.9 billion net increase in revenue in a decade’s time.

Activists drove remote-control electric toy cars under the security gates of Downing Street and down towards Number 10 in a demonstration urging the Prime Minister to back a 2030 ban on new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars and vans.

Greenpeace claims that the report shows that by removing a decade off the current 2040 deadline, it would have enough of an impact to reduce emissions to enable the government to meet its current legally binding climate commitments, as well as boost the economy by £4.2 billion and generate 32,000 jobs.

‘Compared to a later 2035 date, moving the ban on sales of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars and vans forward to 2030 would create 32,000 more jobs across society,’ the report said.

It added that these jobs would be created ‘across a range of sectors directly linked to the rapid transition to electric vehicles’.

As for increased economic spending, it says people will have more disposable income due to the ‘lower overall costs of owning and running an electric vehicle’ – though it fails to acknowledge the fact that electric cars are currently substantially more expensive to purchase than equivalent models with petrol and diesel engines.

The Committee on Climate Change, the government’s independent advisory body, has already urged ministers to adopt an even earlier target of 2030.

This demand was backed by more than 100 Tory MPs earlier this month as part of a plan to ‘build back greener’ after the pandemic.

Banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the next decade would put the UK in line with countries including Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden which have 2030 as their target.

Reports have suggested that ministers could even choose to adopt a two-tier approach, with a ban on pure petrol and diesel cars set for 2030 and the phasing out of hybrids by 2035.

[Image source: Shutterstock, November 2020]

Greenpeace claims that if you move the ban forward to 2030, it would result in 6.5 million more zero emissions vehicles on the road by 2040, than if was reduced to 2035.

A spokesman commented: ‘Greenpeace is calling for capital allowances for investment in conversion of assembly lines in order to make a rapid switch viable for manufacturers, and for the government to work with vehicle manufacturers, unions, devolved nations and local authorities to encourage investment in a UK-based Gigafactory’.

Greenpeace also backed plans for a zero emissions vehicle mandate that forces car makers to sell a rising amount of emission free vehicles each year or face penalties.

However, Greenpeace did not mention anything in relation to the impact of 6.5 million zero emission vehicles would have on the national grid and recent research shows this is a concern amongst drivers.

Drivers concerned by electric switch

AA members were surveyed in September 2020. The survey results said that the impact on the National Grid was one of the three biggest hurdles for drivers when considering a switch to electric cars, 63% said the grid could not cope with millions of cars yet and would need more power stations.

Other two biggest concerns were that electric cars remain too expensive (89%) and charging times for EVs takes too long (72%) which is linked to range anxiety, especially EVs with older battery tech, or entry level cheaper EVs on sale.

Graeme Cooper, electric vehicle project director at National Grid, insisted there was capacity to cope with an increased demand for power. ‘About a third of CO2 emissions in the UK come from transport so the government has to really turbo-charge the decarbonisation plans here to get the UK trajectory to meet the net-zero targets.

‘We are confident that a faster transition is possible and we are suitably robust to cope with the forecast uptake in electric vehicles.’

What do you think about bringing the ban forward from the current 2040 to 2030? Is that too soon, or do you agree with Greenpeace and think sooner the better? Let us know in the comments below.

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