Moved To Tears - 4 July 2023

FOLLOW UP: BIDIRECTIONAL CAMERAS CATCH 3200 DRIVERS In the first 15 days of operation, the four bidirectional cameras, installed by Devon and Cornwall councils, has been triggered 3200 times. One camera was activated 120 times a day. Thanks to listener Mark Snow for bringing this to our attention! Click here to read more from the BBC News article. UK CAR INDUSTRY CALLS ON NEXT GOVERNMENT FOR HELPThe SMMT has moved on to calling to the next Government, whoever that is, to help secure the future of the car industry in the UK. They have laid out five pledges it hopes any of our politicians will pick up and run with. Click here, on this link, to learn more of this desperate move in the face of political apathy from all corners. SUPERMARKETS RIP MOTORISTS OFF Supermarkets have been found to have ripped the British motorists off, due to weak competition allowing them to charge 6p per litre more than they should have. One of the recommendations, from the Competitions and Markets Authority, is to force supermarkets to publish live prices in order that we consumers can compare and find the cheapest. There is no guarantee this will be implemented. Click this BBC News article here, to learn more. AUDI SACK CEO MARKUS DUESMANNThe CEO of Audi, Markus Duesmann, has been sacked following very public criticism from VW Group CEO Oliver Blume. Duesmann was brought in by Diess, from BMW. He will be replaced by Gernot Doellner, the current VW Group strategy boss. Whilst Audi’s performance has not got close to the hopes from VW, there is context that shows it is not all his fault. Click this Twitter thread from Matthias Schmidt for context of what he inherited. To read more about the overall story, click this Forbes article link written by Michael Taylor. HYUNDAI AND TOYOTA EV ADS BANNEDAfter a brief spell of being in agreement with the Advertising Standards Authority over dealer price claims, we return to normal service. Toyota and Hyundai adverts for their EVs have been banned because they do not warn people there is only a small number of the very fastest charge points available. On top of that, the complaints stated to achieve the fastest charge there were a number of variables that could thwart the process. You can read more by clicking this article link from The Times. SURVEY SUGGESTS DEMAND FOR EVS BELOW REQUIREMENTS A survey by Auto Retail Bulletin has revealed that current demand for EVs falls below next year’s imposed requirement by the Government of 22%. 60% of respondents state demand is below 15% and a third say it is below 10%. That would mean the car industry paying the UK Government a lot of money. However, most likely there will be a throttling of non compliant model availability, as we have seen previously. For more on this story, click this Auto Retail Network link. HMRC SAYS EV NUMBERS ARE CLIMBING AS DIESEL FALLSIn this week’s blindingly obvious story, HMRC has confirmed that the number of company cars that are electric is increasing rapidly, whilst diesel numbers plummet. Anyone who listens to the monthly SMMT figures run-down, will have expected that. On top of which, there are the tax incentives to go EV. More can be found out on this item, by click here for the Motoring Research article. NEW REPORT ON PUBLIC EV CHARGING UTILISATION Zapmap and the Green Finance Institute have partnered to issue a report on the time and energy utilisation of public charging points. Time utilisation used the data of how long a vehicle was plugged in, even if not charging. The energy side of things looked at how much was delivered, compared to what it could deliver. The energy utilisation is interesting as it shows chargers not able, for a wide variety of reasons, to supply the amount they are advertised. You can learn more by reading the article from Zapmap after clicking this link here. LORRY FITTED WITH INDUCTIVE CHARGING TECHNOLOGYElectron and GINAF have partnered to fit a 50-tonne electric lorry with inductive charging technology that can be used whilst in motion or stationary. This is part of the further research and development of induction charging being fitted to roads. Click this Electrive article link to read more. STELLANTIS ELLeSMERE PORT PLANT TO RUN ON HYDROGEN Stellantis say their van plant at Ellesmere Port will be carbon neutral by 2028, as it will generate its electricity from hydrogen produced by natural gas locally. More can be learned by clicking this Autocar Business article link here. UK PIONEERING REPAIR AND REMANUFACTURE EV BATTERIESUK company Autocraft EV Solutions, has developed techniques to repair and remanufacture EV batteries, at scale, which is a key step in the circular economy that is required to help the transition to a more sustainable future. To read about this, click this link to The Manufacturer article. 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 - Xpeng G6Xpeng, a Chinese company, has revealed their 2024 G6 coupe SUV. Prices, in China, start at £22,900 for a single motor option, which gives a range up to 360 miles or if you stump up £30, 200 you can get a dual motor version with a range up to 469 miles. The car will be sold in select parts of Europe, with no decision on the UK having been made yet. You can find out more by clicking this link here. Singer DLS-T Alan and Andrew disagree over this car. Andrew thinks is fabulous whilst Alan likes the looks but not the ethos, for very personal reasons. This $2 million restomod takes a 964 version of the 911 and creates a homage to the 1977 934/5 Group A IMSA race car, as explained by EVO. To learn more and ogle some wonderful pictures, click this link here. McMurty Speirling PureMcMurty has revealed the road going version of their fan car, which has been improved over the prototype that dominated the Goodwood hillclimb last year. Now faster, lighter, more effcient and generally better all round, you can order one for £984,000 if you need to get you and a pint of milk home very quickly. Click this Autocar article link to see the bonkers stats and detail of this, lets remind you, road legal car. DESIGNERS MOOD BOARD: PETER HORBURY HAS PASSED AWAYThe Executive Vice-President of Design, Group Lotus, Perter Horbury, has suddenly passed away. Whilst the motoring world is shocked at this news, the outpouring of love and admiration for the man himself, as well as his distinguished career, has been a universal response. Click here to read the announcement from Lotus. To read the Car Design News obituary, click this link. To read the Autocar obituary, click this link.To read the Auto&Design obituary, click this link. LUNCHTIME WATCH: MEET THE NEVS EMILY GT Tom Ford, on behalf of Top Gear, shows us what could’ve been but...