Swansea Blackhole - 15 August 2023

FOLLOW UP: britishvolt saga takes another twistThe buyer for the bankrupt Britishvolt company, Recharge Industries, has failed to make the final payment and is in breach of contract, according to the administrator. Recently we covered the news that the Australian head office was raided by tax officials and police. Click this Autocar Business article to find out more. FOLLOW UP: TESLA RANGE CALCULATIONS EXPLAINEDFollowing the report that Tesla was deliberately misleading owners on the range of their vehicles, Car & Driver investigated how range was calculated in Teslas and compared that to other vehicles. Tesla appear to use a very simple formula which works in a very linear manner and does not adapt to conditions or driving styles. You can find out more, by clicking this link here. FOLLOW UP: LISTENER FEEDBACK Thank you, to Tony Wood, for writing in to us to tell us about the free Android app, called “Petrol Prices” which is available in the Google PlayStore, which uses crowdsourced information to tell you of the cost of fuel in areas of the UK. Tony went on to tell us of his experience of traffic lights changing dependent on whether the car is being driven in excess of the speed limit or not. He confirmed this was done in Spain a decade ago and he thought it was an excellent way to encourage better behaviour on the roads. If you would like to get in touch with us, please feel free to use our contact page, which is linked to here. HOUSE OF LORDS ASKS FOR EVIDENCE ABOUT OUR EV TRANSITIONThe House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee has asked for evidence of a strategy and plan from the Government and wider public on the transition to EVs by the mandated dates. Click here to read the Autocar article but also to find links to the committee’s list of questions and how to respond. CONFUSION OVER DVLA REMINDER SERVICE AND POST OFFICE CONTRACTThank you to Meilyr Williams for sending a Mastodon thread to Andrew about confusion over the changes to the DVLA’s reminder service, for car tax, which you can read by clicking here. Check it out and then go see if you are in the system for reminders or need to get on the list for reminders. Additionally, we also we informed that the DVLA is looking to cancel its contract with Post Office, which will mean there will be no way to use a Post Office for any DVLA related services. Once again, the attack on those who are not on the internet or need to do things in person rears its head. Click this link to read more. CAR INSURANCE PRICES HIT ALL TIME HIGHCar insurance prices hit a record level, according to the industry itself. The blame is being put on the costs of repair increasing at an alarming rate. However, Andrew does have personal and recent experience that shows not all costs are justifiable. You can find out more by clicking this Motoring research article link here. WARNING OVER CAR EMISSION STICKER REQUIREMENTS in europeIf you are taking your car to France, Spain and Switzerland, you will be required to obtain an emission sticker which shows how much pollution your vehicle produces. In France these are numbered and only certain stickers will allow you onto select roads in Paris and other cities. To learn more about this, click this RAC Twitter thread here. CLIVE SUTTON AND AC CARS LEGAL DISPUTE FINALLY ENDSAfter a lengthy and protracted legal dispute where claim and counter claim was made, the copyright use has been sorted out between Clive Sutton, who imports Shelby Cobras and AC Cars who make the AC Cobra. Click here to read more, from AM Online. HYUNDAI MOBIS WINS BIG EV BATTERY CONTRACT FROM VW GROUPHyundai Mobis, a sister division to Hyundai and Kia cars, has won a huge battery contract from the Volkswagen Group. They will supply the small car MEB platform with batteries following the construction of a factory in Spain, enabling the supply of the Spanish production. To learn more, click this electrive article link. BRISTOL WORKPLACE PARKING LEVY SCRAPPEDThe Mayor of Bristol, Martin Rees, has cancelled the implementation of the workplace parking levy that was due to start soon, citing the cost of living crisis as the reason. Others are more sceptical as the announcement came just after the courts forced the sharing of the feasibility study report which had been refused. You can learn more by clicking this TransportXtra article link here. FORD WIFI VULNERABILITY FOUNDFord has disclosed that a vulnerability to some of their cars using their Sync3 infotainment system has been discovered in the WiFi module. Ford claim that there is no risk to the cars drivability because they have, wait for it, a firewall. To read more on this, click this link to a Bleeping Computer article. For more context on this, click here to read what Ken Tindell has to say via LinkedIn. 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 - Fisker RoninFisker has shared details of the Ronin convertible EV, with a silly amount of brake horse power, enabling it to get to 62mph far too fast for nearly everyone to handle, costing a mere $385,000 and deliveries are supposedly starting in late 2025. The chaps are not exactly glowing about this, going so far as to question if it will happen at all. Click this EVO link to see more. Ford Maverick launch delayedIn more news that is not the best for the company, Ford announced that they are being forced to delay the launch of their SUV Maverick in Europe until mid-2024. They claim that new battery regulations mean they cannot use what they had planned to. You can read more via this Autocar link. Audi S4 and S5 diesels cut from the rangeAs consumers move away from diesels, manufacturers are increasingly removing them their UK ranges. The latest is Audi, with S4 and S5 versions no longer being sold here. To learn more about this story, click this Autocar link. LUNCHTIME READ: CRASHED TESLAS ARE ENDING UP IN UKRAINE AND OWNERS ARE TRACKING THEMWritten off Teslas are being sold by insurers with whole cars being bought and shipped to places like Ukraine and Poland. They are then brought back to life and fixed, then being sold on in country. But the original owners are finding this out as the cars power up and new owners take advantage of the apps in the car. The Autopian has done a deep dive into what is going on, you can read that by clicking here. Also, remember to wipe your car’s data if you sell it and can still access it. LIST OF THE WEEK: AXED! GREAT CARS CANCELLED AT THE LAST MOMENTOur recommended list is all about the fabulous cars we so very nearly got, but were denied at the last moment as the manufacturers pulled the plug on them. Click this Autocar slideshow link to see what we could’ve had. Don’t forget to tell us what you would pick. AND FINALLY: ELECTRIC CAR ETIQUETTE...