Used EV values increasing with demand The price of a used Renault Zoe is actually climbing Demand for electric cars is seeing used values increasing, according to new analysis by CarGurus. While petrol and diesel models have depreciated between January 2017 and November 2019, EVs have seen appreciating values. Looking at the four most searched for electric models on the company’s site – BMW’s i3, the Nissan Leaf, Renault’s Zoe, and the Tesla Model S – prices either rose or remained level for months at a time. In most cases, they significantly out-performed the most searched for petrol and diesel equivalents over the same period. The average asking price for a used 2015 Renault Zoe increased by 18% between January 2017 to November 2019, from £6,425 to £7,612. To compare, the Ford Fiesta of the same age decreased by 22% from £9,165 to £7,160 over the same period. BMW i3 values increased by 1% based on 2014 examples, while petrol or diesel Mini hatchbacks by comparison fell by 14%, both since the start of the year. A 2015 Nissan Leaf sees an average drop in value of just 9% from January 2017 at £10,438. Same age petrol or diesel VW Golf models dropped by 17% over the same period. Many drivers are changing to electric cars, and now the market has been around for a around nine years, there are a number of used models available – which wasn’t the case even a few years ago. With used models seeing a far lower purchase price but the same low running costs, it’s easy to see the appeal of a used electric car.
Origin: Used EV values increasing with demand
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SUV demand could negate environmental benefit of EVs, study suggests
2019 Nissan KicksNissan With federal elections on the horizon, the issue of climate change is top of mind for many Canadians. Well, here’s a bit of news for those climate change activists driving SUVs. A new analysis performed by the International Energy Agency (IEA) suggests that environmental progress made by the shift to electric vehicles may be offset by the rising demand for SUVs. Commentary on the study notes even with major automakers projecting a tenfold increase in annual EV sales by 2030, and a general slackening of sales of internal-combustion-engine vehicles, the rise of SUVs alone, which consume on average a quarter more energy than smaller cars, is enough to cancel out the benefits of the other shifts. For perspective, there were over 200 million SUVs on the planet in 2018; in 2010, there were only 35 million. That means, over those eight years, SUVs accounted for some 60 per cent of the increase in the world’s cars.The author calls this move a “silent structural change,” claiming the SUV sector was the second-largest contributor to all CO2 emissions from 2010-2018. Better than the power sector, but worse than iron, steel, trucks or aviation. “If consumers’ appetite for SUVs continues to grow at a similar pace seen in the last decade, SUVs would add nearly 2 million barrels a day in global oil demand by 2040, offsetting the savings from nearly 150 million electric cars,” says the study.Kind of puts a new perspective on your Toyota 4Runner, doesn’t
Origin: SUV demand could negate environmental benefit of EVs, study suggests
BMW ‘could produce 100 electrified models by 2023 if demand was there’
BMW “could launch 100 electrified cars by 2023” if customer demand was there to buy them, with today’s announcement that it pulling forward its electrified launch goal of 25 new vehicles by two years having no impact on the engineering teams, according to Klaus Frohlich, the firm’s head of development. Frohlich says this is possible because of the flexibility of the firm’s modular fifth-generation architecture, which is designed to underpin battery, plug-in hybrid and engine applications. “What we have now is a jigsaw puzzle of technology, and we can fit the jigsaw together to provide whatever the customer needs,” he said. “The decision to pull forward the production dates is simply driven by customer demand growing faster than expected. You saw the same flexibility with how we coped with the drop in demand for diesel. My team is reading; for each application all it needs is a year for homologation work and a year for fine-tuning.” BMW will launch plug-in hybrid versions of the new 3 Series in saloon and estate forms, and has also unveiled PHEV versions of the 7 Series, X3 and X5, with the X1, 5 Series and 2 Series Active Tourer due to get similar powertrains in the future. BMW is also putting the finishing touches to an electric iX3 SUV and the new Mini Electric. Frohlich added that the fifth-generation architecture also gave flexibility for the firm to raise and lower the electric range of its plug-in hybrid vehicles according to requirements. “There is space either side of the driveshafts, so if legislation or customer demand changes then we can scale the electric range by adding more cells in the underfloor and without any compromises to space in the boot or fuel tank, for instance,” he said. Frohlich also highlighted his belief that solid state batteries – which have the capability of dramatically increasing range and lowering cost – would not reach significant production volumes until the 2030s. “I’m sure that 99% of production will be around lithium ion,” he said. “There might be some pilots around 2025 but they will be lower performance and higher cost compared to lithium ion, which still has a long way to be
Origin: BMW ‘could produce 100 electrified models by 2023 if demand was there’
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