Too wet to light man - 12 September 2023

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR AUGUST 2023For the first time, in a long time, the new car registration overall figure for August is close to those of the before times, being just under seven thousand less than 2019 numbers. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) jumped to a 20.1% market share for the month, unfortunately the year to date is still stuck in the 16s. The SMMT make it very clear they desperately need the Government to reveal what the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate will actually be as, astonishingly, they have not revealed what it will actually entail. Click here to read more about August from this SMMT article link. NEW EV MINIS WILL BE BUILT IN THE UK BMW is investing £600 million in their Oxford and Swindon plants to enable it to build the new Mini Cooper Electric and the Mini Aceman. This secures around 4,000 jobs and does include some financial support from the UK Government. To find out more, you can click this Autocar article link here. CAMBRIDGE CONGESTION CHARGE CANCELLEDThe plans for charging vehicles to drive in and around Cambridge, during peak times, has been shelved. The Lib Dems expressed “concerns” which removed much of the previous support for the scheme. Labour confirmed they too had concerns over certain aspects of the proposals. However, it was acknowledged that something will have to be done. If you wish to find out more, click this BBC News article link here. EV NETWORK AND BP PULSE OPEN UK’S LARGEST CHARGING HUBThe NEC Campus is the location for EV Network and BP Pulse’s new charging hub, which is the largest in the UK. There are 16 rapid 300kW chargers and 150 7kW charging points, with provision for some accessible bays in both rapid and fast areas. Click this ZapMap article link to read more. RICHMOND BOROUGH TO INSTALL 525 MORE CHARGE POINTSThe London Borough of Richmond upon Thames has announced it will be installing a further 525 on-street charge points across its area to bring the total up to 945. You can read more from the electrive.com article via this link here. LIVERPOOL HYDROGEN BUS PROJECT SCRAMBLES FOR FUELA flagship hydrogen bus project, based in Liverpool, has not been running as the operator struggles to find a fuel supplier. The hope is for the situation to be solved soon, with the source also being sustainably produced. To learn more, click this link here from Hydrogeninsight. Montpellier is cancelling their hydrogen bus experiment due to the high running costs, when compared to electric buses. Hydrogen has been calculated as six times more expensive that the equivalent electric. Click this Recharge article link to read more. MOZILLA CLAIMS CAR DATA PRIVACY IS APPALLING The Mozilla Foundation has investigated car brands over the collection, handling and protection of our data they take from our cars. The results can be classified as “ungood”, to say the least. Click here to read The Verge’s article summarising the report. To read the Privacy Not Included overview article, click this link here. To run through the list from Privacy Not Included, of each of the car brands investigated and their individual reports, click here to go to the link. For the final link, about what really worries the researchers following the investigation, click this Privacy Not Included article link here. We cannot stress enough, that you need to read all these articles, you need to understand what is going on and what could well happen. 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 - Toyota Century SUVToyota has revealed the Century SUV. Utilising the same understated looks but in an SUV form, Toyota brings another option to the chauffeur market. One query that has come up is if it is based on the same platform as the Lexus LM we recently covered. This was also questioned by The Autopian. Click here to read about the Century via CAR’s link. To read an excellent piece from The Autopian, click this link here. Lotus EmeyaLotus revealed their much anticipated electric saloon. Their first saloon since the mythical Carlton. This car is very different. Huge amounts of power, even in “basic” spec and range between 304 and 373 miles depending on which trim level is selected. Prices for the S will be around £100,000 and start at roughly £120,000 for the top of the range R cars. To learn all about this car, click here to read more from Autocar. VW ditch ID naming Lost in all the hullabaloo over the Volkswagen Group deciding Seat will no longer make cars, we all missed that the VW ID naming prefix will also be ditched. Clumsy handling, poor products and muddled communication have all hampered the new EVs from Volkswagen. Click this AMOnline article to read more. VW offering a rebate to Londoners thanks to the ULEZIn an attempt to drum up more business, Volkswagen is offering a range of rebates for different models as long as you can prove you live in London and are eligible for the ULEZ scrappage scheme. To find out more, click this electrive.com article link here. LUNCHTIME WATCH: FIXING A 280Z THAT’S BEEN DEAD FOR 21 YEARSRonald Finger walks us all through what needed to be done to fix up his Datsun 280Z which hasn’t run in 21 years. Of note is how easy it is to make a car “roadworthy” in Texas. But, as ever, Ronald’s films are wonderful, click here to watch this one on YouTube. Do subscribe to him as well, as we like to support those making good and interesting content. LIST OF THE WEEK: THESE ARE THE MOST SCREWED CARS AT BURNING MANThe Burning Man festival failed to live up to its name this year due to torrential rain just before the event was supposed to open. This caused the normally bone dry area to become a quagmire. This list is all about the cars most stuck, do you agree with Andrew’s choice of the saddest of all? Let us know after you click this Jalopnik link here to check out the options.AND FINALLY: PORSCHE DOES NOT RECREATE BEETHOVEN Porsche has failed to get a European trade mark for their electric car noise, which they likened to the opening bars of Beethovan’s 5th Symphony. The EU Intellectual Property Office did not agree with that opinion of the noise, in fact saying “he sound was not distinctive enough and could be applied to a variety of vehicles or their replicas.”. Ouch. To read more, click this link from EnergyPortal.eu.