Existential and deep - 26 September 2023

GOVERNMENT DELAYS 2030 ICE-ONLY BANThe Prime Minister announced that he was putting back the date when the sale of new internal combustion engined cars and vans would be banned in the UK, to 2035. This caused much comment, especially from an angry car industry. Click here to read about that, from Autocar. For an explanation as to what has changed, ie. nothing, click this LeasePlan article link. ZEV MANDATE TO REMAIN DESPITE NEW 2035 ICE-ONLY BAN Whilst much was made of the change in the 2035 date for the banning internal combustion engined only cars and vans, especially by the Government, the zero emission vehicle mandate is to remain in place. The Government is to demand car companies sell a percentage of zero emission vehicles despite adding five years to the deadline and thus making the job harder for those trying to sell cars. To find out more, about this idiotic move, click this Autocar link here. FRANCE REVISES EV SUBSIDY RULES France will change their electric vehicle subsidy rules, which means many Asian built EVs will not qualify for the financial assistance scheme. The French Government claim, in the face of calls of protectionism, that it is all guided by how green the manufacturing process of the vehicle is and China, for a random example, is still powered to a large extent by non renewable energy sources, according the France. In order to learn more, click here on this Reuters article link to learn more. EDINBURGH AIRPORT TO INSTALL 40 EV CHARGERSEdinburgh airport is installing 40 EV chargers, a mix of 7kWh and 22kWh versions. Some will be time constrained whilst others will not. Click this electrive.com article link to read more on the story. If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST NEW NEW CAR NEWS - Audi Q4 E-tronThe revised Audi Q4 E-tron, for 2024, has been shown to us all. Improvements to the range, a new motor, better efficiency and revised suspension. The price, whilst not yet announced is to be slightly higher than the current version’s. To find out all the stats and info, click this Autocar article link here. Oshe OkovangoOshe have displayed their Okovango, a restomod version of the Land Rover Defender 90, that evokes the look of African safari vehicles. The price of this very attractive vehicle is £225,000. If you wish to learn more, click this Hagerty article link here. Frontline LE60 and BEE EV Frontline have taken the MGB GT and produced an electric only version as well as one with a Rover V8. They both look great and to read all the fine details, before their public reveal at Bicester Heritage Sunday Scramble on the 8th October, click this CAR article link here. David Brown Mini eMasteredContinuing the restomod theme of the show, this week, we discuss the restomod of an original Mini, with an electric powertrain. With only a small battery, that’ll do 110 miles, it is only capable of charging at speeds up to 6.6kWh. However, as one would expect for a vehicle priced at £150,000 the attention to detail is superb. You can find out more by clicking this CAR article link here. Volvo will build no more diesel engines from 2024Volvo has announced that it will not spend any more R&D money on diesel engines, nor will it build their own from spring 2024. Perhaps we are too wary with the wording of Volvo press releases but there didn’t appear to be the words “we will not sell a Volvo with an diesel engine” in all that. Click this CAR article link to see for yourself. Audi to change their model naming rules. Again. Audi has decided to change how it names it’s models, to help clear up any confusion we might have. Following their recent change to include 35, 45 and 55 which apparently helped consumers understand something better which we still can’t work out what they denote, all help is gratefully received. Audi will now name all electric vehicles with an even number and non electric are odd numbered, but electric vehicles will still retain the eTron moniker. Riiight, that’s all sorted then. If you wish to try and make sense of this, click this Autocar article link here. LUNCHTIME READ: PEDAL CARS AT GOODWOODFriend of the show, Alex Goy has written up the fascinating story of the Dron family and their link to the Goodwood Revival and how that now runs to a third generation. Click this Motor1 article link to read this really lovely story. LIST OF THE WEEK: COMPLETE LIST OF THE CARS OF COLUMBO TV SERIESWe have managed to find a belter of a list for you this week. How about all of the significant cars of each Columbo TV episodes? We are linking you to a 34 page PDF that shows them all in order from episode one to the last. Click here to lose yourself back in time. AND FINALLY: THE MAN WHO TAKES HIS VAN RALLYING DirtFish provide the end to our show, this week. Takahiro Kitami has made modifications to a Toyota HiAce, to make it legal to rally, which he then does with some gusto. Click the link here to read more and watch the embedded video to see Kitami-san in glorious action. Brilliant!