Electric vehicles are set to benefit from a huge £30 million cash injection over the coming months, the government has recently announced. The plan will involve investing more funding into electric and hydrogen vehicle production in another attempt to meet the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles.
The budget will be split amongst varying projects focused on producing large quantities of high-quality electric and hydrogen vehicles that meet the government’s ‘go-green’ criteria.
A large proportion of the investment (£22.6 million) will be set aside for Faraday Institution Projects with the aim of funding early-stage commercial development across several areas. These areas will include extending battery life, battery modelling, solid-state batteries, battery safety and the recycling and reuse of batteries, to name but a few.
This will allow for further understanding of battery safety and enable manufacturers to develop electric vehicle batteries that are both sustainable and reusable.
The remaining £9.4 million will be used to bolster plans for building a plant designed specifically to extract lithium for use in electric vehicle batteries, as well as a plant dedicated to building magnets for electric vehicle motors and another for lightweight hydrogen storage for cars and vans.
The government believes that this taxpayer-backed funding will be ‘crucial’ to the success of the 2030 petrol diesel ban and the ongoing efforts to cut carbon emissions.
Gerry Grimstone, Investment Minister, commented on this latest announcement, saying:
‘We have set an ambitious target to phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. To support that, it is crucial we invest research so we can power ahead with the shift to electric vehicles as we build back greener from the pandemic.’
A statement given by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Services also welcomed the announcement, highlighting specifically the positive impact it will have on the UK:
‘Research into alternative ways to power vehicles is a fundamental part of this transition, ensuring the UK remains a world leader in automotive technology and boosting jobs and skills in regions leading the way.
Chief executive at Faraday Institution, Professor Pam Thomas, also praised the investment decision and gave insight into how the institution intends to use the funding:
‘With our projects maturing and now delivering scientific discoveries we have bolstered our commercialisation team and capability and strengthened our commercialisation strategy.
‘In doing so, we are directing even more effort towards those areas of battery research that offer the maximum potential of delivering commercial, societal and environment impact for the UK.’
The investment and the doors it will open in terms of research, the government claims, will result in improved electric and hydrogen vehicle performance and allow the UK to continue leading the way to a cleaner, more sustainable transport future.
[Image Source: Shutterstock, April 2021]
How else is the government preparing for the switch to electric vehicles?
As well as this newly announced funding, the government is tackling their growing desire to boost electric vehicle uptake from various angles.
Motorists can currently make use of an electric vehicle grant, cutting the cost of an electric vehicle by up to £2,500. The grant aims to encourage ‘as many people as possible to make the switch to the electric vehicles as we look to reduce carbon emissions’, says Transport Minister Rachel Maclean.
There has also been a recent focus on improving charge point reliability after studies showed that motorists were deterred from making the electric vehicle switch due to charging concerns.
The new legislation will mean that every motorway service area in England will need to have at least six open-access charge points by 2023. This will increase to 2500 charge points across the road network by 2030. It will more than double again to 6000 by 2035.
RAC Spokesman, Rod Dennis, suggests that this will ensure electric vehicle charging at motorway service stations will be ‘fast, reliable and easy to pay for so drivers can make longer journeys with the minimum amount of fuss’, serving to reduce concerns about switching to an electric vehicle.
It is clear that the government’s plan to ‘build back greener’ is continuing to move forwards in the hope of hitting their 2030 milestone, and every effort is being made to encourage as many drivers as possible to make the electric vehicle switch.
Will you be making the electric vehicle switch? Are you encouraged by the government’s efforts to ‘build back greener’? Or are you satisfied with your petrol or diesel vehicle?
Let us know in the comments.
Sounds great BUT what about people who tow caravans, cars are only a small proportion of vehicles using our roads. Trucks busses etc.
My workplace just got a very small all electric van which barely gives 35 miles.
So hybrid vans etc would be useless because you’ll be burning petrol all the time.
So the government needs to tell where we’re going for commercial vehicles!!!
Are you really sure cars are only a small proportion of road users! I think you need to check those figures. Research more, you will see many new vehicles coming with vastly increased range, including commercial vehicles.
Having owned and run an electric vehicle, a Nissan Leaf, a few years ago their claimed 125 mile range was never achieved despite driving extremely prudently in the summer months and I only got a maximum of 83 miles. So apart from a need for vastly improved battery ranges, there is also a far greater need for charge points throughout the U.K. I for one will not trust the range figures quoted by manufacturers and would need to have a car for at least a week to try it out before I consider going electric again. Also, the cost of an all electric car at present is way beyond the reach of the average motorist, so costs would also need to come down drastically.
You can get EVs which now have ranges well in excess of 250 miles and regen. Do a quick Google and have a read about the new tech coming through, you may be surprised how it is quickly changing. Also, charge points are increasing all the time, my city has seem around 70 new points across the city in the last 12 months.
Yes, at a cost!
‘Coast’ for a mile downhill & you will be lucky to regen an extra 2 mins of life into your battery..
The vehicles motion needs to be able to operate a dynamo/alternator that will constantly provide a charge into the power system, to help extend the range.
Battery SWAP designs are needed. They already exist in Taiwan for Scooters and grown massively to 90% of the scooter market!
If most of this investment is taken up by electric vehicle development, which is a fantastic leap forward, where are we on hydrogen powered vehicles?
I hope we are not getting into a VHS/BETAMAX situation again.
When the sales of diesel cars are stopped, where will bigger vans and lorries fit in? As a rider, I’m also concerned about what is going to happen to the motorcycle market.
Why don’t the government tell the truth, they want everyone in smart cities using smart equipment, no private vehicles for the masses, going back over a 100 yrs where only the select few had the means and the wherewithal to travel, shanksies pony for the serfs. Whilst the rich have air travel and private vehicles. Social credits dictates what you can rent and buy.
More to the point, social credits dictate what you can’t rent and buy. My basic pension has just increased £1 per mth less than my Council Tax increase! With increasing fuel & food costs, just how are the serfs going to be able to afford the luxury of renting/buying transport?
The Government needs to introduce legislation quickly to standardise access to, and charges made by, the various companies currently installing charge points. The issue is a hotchpotch and (if it hasn’t already) will soon become a happy hunting ground for rip-off merchants.
No chance of my buying an electric or hybrid car. The whole thing is a farce. Expect a rising market in second hand vehicles, fitting of new engines, gearboxes even body shells to keep the diesels going
Electric cars – Due to the much higher cost of Electric cars the Government grant is very small. I believe many considering a new car will therefore continue to buy petrol. Bearing in mind many choose not to buy new cars already, unless these are provided via work / business purchases.
VW Golf, Petrol £22k Diesel £25k, Electric £32k.
£10k will buy a lot of petrol – even at £1.25/ltr!
What is the ‘life’ of a battery pack? Or the cost of replacing a duff one?
Lets get more emphasis on hydrogen from government which would make all the investment in charging points necessary.
Last time I checked there was one hydrogen refilling point near me, the other 11 were all in the London area.
£30m is pocket change. More important are the 5 or 6 battery gigafactories being pursued for the UK. The Bridgwater site seems one of the most exciting, which may be planning to use supplies from Cornish Lithium, whose extraction operations are in hand. The 46/80 batteries being developed for trucks and artics offer 400 and 600 mile range per charge.
Karl O’Neil seems very pro electric vehicles, which is fine as he lives in a city.
I live in Scotland in the countryside, travel 50 miles round trip to the supermarket and have a 140 mile trip to visit my daughter (when allowed). In a normal summer we would probably visit Orkney and Shropshire or Lincolnshire, all of which can be achieved on one fill of fuel with my diesel Passat. When someone produces an all electric car which can achieve 800 miles on one charge (as my Passat) then I would be interested. Untill then I’ll stick with what I have.
The best figure for Scotland (Scotland has the most renewable in the UK) for renewable electricity production was last month at 95% which if everyone changed to electric vehicles is estimated to drop to 50% of requirement. Where then is the remaining electricity to come from?
I think Karl O’ Neil has some involvement with the electric car industry/ promotion.
Plenty of wind in Scotland! Even more if you include that generated by SNP.
Again where is the investment into Hydrogen cells it all seems to be around battery powered cars with charging points, how are we ever going to get enough charging points to meet demand. At least with Hydrogen you can fill up similar to diesel or petrol and get almost instant onward journeys. Batteries need to be charged, this takes time who can hang around a charge point for a few hours until the battery is charged to allow journey to continue. and the range is somewhat poor although may well see this begin to be extended over time. What is the likely lifetime of a battery and when it needs replacing once again we need to source materials to build new and where do we source the materials , from remote areas that will be devastated by the intrusion both on land and in the ocean depths if recent press information about the cobalt nodules lying on deep sea floor is anything to go by.
I pulled this piece of info from a recent article in AUTOTRADER which helps to develop my argument.
Is a battery electric (EV) car better for the planet than a hydrogen car?
Not as much as some car makers claim. For a start, the electricity used to recharge electric cars has a carbon dioxide (CO2) contribution. Last year, the CO2 contribution of the UK’s electricity generation industry was 470g/kWh, which means cars like the Hyundai 64kWh Kona EV have a well-to-wheels CO2 contribution of about 62g/km.
There are other issues with batteries and the motors that drive the cars, too. As well as lithium, batteries and electric motors are full of rare minerals and rare earth metals. Take cobalt for example, which is a by-product of mining copper and nickel: a typical battery vehicle requires between 5-10kgs of it. Over 60% of the world’s cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where child labour is rife and environmental controls are minimal. As a result of cobalt’s scarcity, prices have tripled in the last two years, from about £18,250 to more than £61,000 per ton.
There’s also the problem of what to do with the batteries at the end of their lives. Some can have a second life as buffers for solar and wind-generated electricity, but eventually they all get buried in the ground to avoid short-circuit fires.
The ethics and sustainability of lithium-ion batteries (which are used in EVs) is also beginning to worry car makers, who are looking at the full eco and ethical implications of alternative powertrains.
By contrast, fuel cells are recyclable using known technology, as they use a platinum catalyst, which is more widely available as it used in conventional exhaust catalysts.
Great points Callum. I’ve always thought that EV cars are a stepping stone technology to hydrogen and perhaps even some form of fusion.
This government has lost the plot, if they ever had one.
Where are all these propose vehicles going to be charged?
If they really want to change and are sincere, which I do not believe they are, they should look at the pollutant levels that HGV
s churn out before making cars and vans the easy target.s.They should be a priority rather than the easy choice of cars and LGV
As usual, the current government blowing their own trumpet whilst giving a pittance towards a policy where they’ll over promise and under deliver. Allied to this will be the usual chopping and changing of various elements of the policy over the years as the vast majority of politicians are only interested in the short term i.e concentrating on being re-elected rather than any long term plans. Witness those who were encouraged to buy diesel vehicles then several years later being demonised as the worst polluters. Thats a bullet I’m pleased I dodged but can fully understand that the general public’s reluctance to change because of the cost and other considerations those in the Ivory Towers of Westminster don’t have to worry about.
The current Greensill shenanigans, contracts for PPE, grants awarded to constituencies allegedly in poverty when clearly it was politically motivated or a favour for a fellow MP/Minister with Mr. Jenrick being a blatant example of this type of sleaze does not give me confidence that the matter will be handled correctly. In particular, I’d be worried about the Companies installing charge points and how they will be allowed with the usual impunity to rip off the motorist. Will we also find out too late that they have connections to the current Cabinet/MP’s in the know. I know Companies have costs relating to research and development as well as investment in infrastructure but why do they expect to make astronomical amounts of profit immediately rather than a reasonable profit over the long term?
Whether we like it or not something as important as greening motoring should not be placed in the hands of disparate capitalists whose whole rationale is to keep their shareholders in the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.
There needs to be an overarching body given the proper powers to consult, plan and effect an agreed long term policy whilst at the same time reigning in the rampant greed that has become all too common from some Companies who have no morality. I admit that I do not have the in depth knowledge to suggest who would be best suited to this role but it needs to be free of political interference.I know, I know – I’m asking for turkeys to vote for Christmas but we live in hope.
The motorist needs to know with certainty which direction we are heading, surely to goodness they’ve worked out what’s best for the environment with regard to hydrogen power versus electric charging or any other green methods of propelling vehicles in all their guises. Unfortunately, I fear it will be the usual carnage of vested interests competing against each other similar to the growth of railways in this Country with its attendant losses for investors in the wrong technology and, more to the point, the motoring masses being taken advantage of at every opportunity.
Wouldn’t it be common sense to have the infrastructure in place first, before forcing everybody over to electric vehicles!?!
In time, petrol and diesel cars will naturally disappear due to age and lack of parts, so why force people who don’t want an electric car tomorrow and let them change when they are ready?
Electric Vehicles will soon be making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. You’ve all heard of the theft of catalytic converters going through the roof, now that is being followed by EV charging leads being cut and stolen, also vehicles with keyless entry are being stolen left right and centre. Combine a keyless entry vehicle with a battery worth around £10,000, that must be worth around £4000 scrap and pretty soon the criminals will be on to another winner.
Watching people on youtube some specialists can remove a battery in 3 minutes given the right circumstances.