Latest insights for Britain's EV sector

Plus a paywall is coming in June - so get the early bird rate!

Hello, I’m Tom Riley, and welcome back to The Fast Charge, a British EV newsletter.

In today’s edition… I reveal my plans to introduce a full paywall from June. However, early birds can lock in a discounted rate. Details below…

Elsewhere… The government fleet is going all-electric by 2027, the EU is debating its 2035 date (again), and Europe plans to fight back in China this week - though it’s a high bar to beat right now.

As always, if you have any comments or feedback, please reply to this email or use the links below.

What I’ve been looking at this week…

Politics…

📈 In 2017, the government committed to electrifying 25% of cars in central government department fleets by 2022. Last week, they uplifted that commitment to 100% by 2027. This means all cars and vans in the government fleet will need to be electric by 2027. Read more. I have put in an FOI related to this to understand the latest.

Related to this… as nobody will remember, because it was four years ago when I had only 10 readers, I got the figures on the government car service as of January 2021. Check out some vintage Fast Charge here.

🚶 Also, last week, the Department for Transport published mid-year estimates of travel behaviours by residents of England travelling within Great Britain up to June 2024. I always find these releases interesting, it covers how we’re moving, for what purpose, and how far. A very good trove of data should you want to refresh any ‘average car journey’ type metrics. Find it here.

From GOV.UK

Vehicles…

⛽️ A debate of importance is the shift in chatter happening in the EU around sales of ICE vehicles after 2035. One of the biggest political parties in the European Parliament has opened up the idea of allowing people to buy petrol cars after 2035 if they carbon offset. They are facing increasing pressure from carmakers, especially those based in the EU such as Volkswagen and part-makers such as Bosch. After only just getting our ZEV mandate throttled back, one can only hope the government holds firm if the EU, yet again, takes a different tack. Read more.

🚘 And on that note, Autocar reports that a joint Geely-Renault venture is developing a hybrid engine that can be retrofitted into an EV. The company is called ‘Horse’ - read into that what you will. Read more.

🔉 Talking of returning to the engine, BMW is the latest carmaker to be investing in developing synthetic noises for its EVs. Read more. Now, in my own view, I still love going to a car show and hearing an engine roar. It feels naughty. But when it comes to EVs, isn’t carmaker money spent better elsewhere? How many people will really buy based on a fake sound?

💸 Analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) has found Brits will miss out on savings of more than £800 a year on running costs if they choose a hybrid car over getting an EV. It comes as the government softened the ZEV mandate recently to allow more hybrids on the road up to 2035. Read more.

🚙 Sad story on the MailOnline about eight Fisker Oceans - the EVs of the failed start-up - being abandoned on the side of a road near Nottingham. Originally worth £275,000 - they’ve now been sold at auction for significantly less. Read more.

❌ It seems EVs fitted with Chinese components have been prevented from parking at some UK military bases, with staff told to stop their cars miles from sites. The fear is that the cars will be used as espionage tools. It follows reports a month ago where military officials were warned about having sensitive conversations in EVs. The MoD has said the policy is not centrally mandated but will apply to certain sites. Read more. I do believe that China does the same thing at its bases - I believe Tesla is not allowed into certain locations due to all their cameras.

📝 Covéa Insurance has told the Insurance Times that the insurer will re-enter the EV insurance market in 2025 after initially halting the sale of new EV policies and renewals distributed through its partnership with retailer John Lewis in 2023. This is a positive indicator to me. Read more.

🙋‍♂️ Talking of insurance, despite EV ownership still being a tad pricey and more difficult for many young people, nearly half (47%) of young drivers polled by MoneySuperMarket in March said they aspired to drive an EV, compared with less than a third (31%) of motorists overall. Read more (paywall).

Infrastructure…

📊 Lots of Local EV Infrastructure funding announcements are now pouring out. Firstly, Slough is getting 1,600 on-street charging points. See here. Secondly, West Sussex County Council is exploring installing 35 from Connected Kerb. Read more. And let’s make it three… Suffolk County Council has plans for a huge 6,000 with the operator Believ. See here.

🔌 Elsewhere… Herefordshire Council seems to only be going with five on-street ones for now? Maybe more to come. Read more.

⏰ GRIDSERVE released some analysis ahead of Easter on the busiest and quietest times to charge up at different motorway stops. It’s based on a historical analysis, so I presume it’s still relevant even after Easter weekend. Seems like early morning and mid-afternoon are the best. Those who like a brew at eleven, beware. Read more.

🕵️ Using freedom of information requests, the company Schneider Electric has surveyed 67 councils across England, Scotland, and Wales to discover that only 15% of councils could report that 100% of their EV chargers are operational. Over half (53.7%) were unable to monitor whether chargers are working or not. This is poor, and where open data should be bridging the gap. Read more.

Globally…

⛏️ As the tariff war continues between China and the US, the impact could soon be felt everywhere due to China tightening its grip on exporting rare earth materials globally. The impact of this could extend to carmakers in Europe, who may only be stockpiling a few months worth of equipment. The way China’s controls works is they require exporters to gain licences for each shipment of material overseas, and re-exports to the US are banned. It’s getting very messy. Read more.

🔋 Recently, you may recall that the Chinese carmaker BYD announced the ability to charge a battery in five minutes to give it 470km of range. Well, the huge battery maker CATL has broken that record by delivering 520km in five minutes (plus has created a battery with 932 miles of range). Wowsers! Read more.

👊 Talking of China, reports suggest European brands like VW plan to punch back against all their innovation with a new strategy of “in China for China”. It sounds like many, including Toyota and Mercedes, will be using the Shanghai Motor Show (which starts today) to demonstrate their new tech and competitive offer compared to Chinese brands. Read more (paywall).

A paywall cometh in June… So sign up now!

Since my note about taking this newsletter full time, I’ve had a huge amount of support to turn on a paywall after four years of this newsletter being free - thank you!

By turning on paid subscriptions, I’m not expecting to become some Dubai OnlyFans millionaire. Ideally, it will ensure I can continue getting out into the real world, talking to you all, sleuthing, and hopefully continuing to provide trusted EV intelligence and all the gossip in between.

In terms of the pricing, here’s how it’s going to work in three points…

1) From now until June, everything is still open, but... I am offering an early bird offer of £10 per month while I finish up my treatment. So, if you go paid before June, it should lock this price for the foreseeable. However, after June, when I’ll be doing this email full-time, unless you’re locked in with the £10, the pricing will go up like a DFS sofa in the off-season.

Why £10? Firstly, a third of that is taxed by Substack and HMRC. Secondly, it is a competitive rate compared to other trade publications in this category, such as Autocar and Bloomberg. And hopefully you can expense it*! Lastly, £10 is cheaper than the average UK price for two pub drinks. A literal bar-gain for four editions.

2) If you are a company (or representing clients in this space), there is a further 10% group discount on the reduced price before June. If you have a lot of eyeballs to cover, then get in touch with me and let’s sort out something directly. I’m happy to haggle, but you must contact me before June.

*If you have a comms agency, check your agreement as some may charge you or cover subscriptions like this as part of their fees.

3) Finally, while I’m sure nobody would do this… please, please, do not try to cheat me. Aka. One person at a company signs up and control-C’s it into a document each week. I’ve worked in organisations big and small and know this happens. Just know A) You’ll be cheating me, and I may have to give up the whole operation should revenues not work. B) I have an AI tool to monitor and compare historical open rates for each email to spot data inconsistencies. C) If I suspect you are using content without paying for it properly, I will investigate, take action (potentially legal), before outing and banning you.

Anyway, enough of Bad Cop. Good Cop is very excited for the future! I really hope you can support my publication. I have several really juicy stories in the works, and I’m using this month to ensure they get the research they deserve, hence the lower fee.

To recap… Subscribe before June and lock in £10 per month for an individual, and probably even lower if you’re in a company. And remember, if you’re tight on money or in a larger company etc. then DO talk to me. Likewise, if you get stuck on any of Substack’s system, I can help. There’s some helpful FAQs here too. Thank you 🙏

By Tom Riley | Add me on LinkedIn | Find my email here