Reference to the Government have launched a public consultation into the matter through the Department for Transport and Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV).

This is what we are sending to our associates:

?As I explained on this weeks & last weeks Podcast, the Government have launched a public consultation into the matter through the Department for Transport and Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV).  Any submissions need to be made by 31 July 2020, and we urge you as a stakeholder in the UK’s Automotive Industry to ensure that you have your say in the matter by making a submission which should be either emailed to communications@olev.gov.uk or by writing to:  Consultation Response, Office for Low Emission Vehicles, Zones 3/29-33, 33 Horseferry Road, London.  SW1P 4DR. 

The Government are asking for views as follows (Suggested responses in Green)

• The phase out date – phase out date of 2035 can be achieved subject to the inclusion of hybrids in the cars that are allowed to remain available to sell.
• The definition of what should be phased out – some petrol and diesel ICE engine vehicles that do not meet the emissions targets set although advances are being made in the traditional technologies all of the time
• Barriers to achieving the above proposals – if you remove hybrids, it will lead to all the wrong behaviours by following just a pure electric propulsion system.  We have outlined the negative issues associated with pure electric as follows

• All current battery power units include 10 to 12 kilograms of Cobalt of which a significant amount comes from the People’s Democratic Republic of Congo. Some of this is being mined by Children and these practices are currently part of an ongoing investigation by Amnesty International into child slavery
• More than 70% of batteries begin life in China being manufactured using coal fired power stations.  The Batteries are then shipped around the world after having had multiple commodity inputs (including cobalt) shipped to China in the first instance leaving a huge carbon footprint
• There is approximately 35g/km of permanent CO2 embedded into the emissions of a pure electric vehicle derived from the battery production giving the pure electric car only a small emissions advantage over the latest versions of modern turbo-diesel engines
• Recycling Electric Vehicles is much more difficult because of the battery.  Whilst batteries can be reused for second life energy storage in wind farms etc they do degrade and will end their life at some point - currently in landfill
• We do not yet know the impact of a significant shift in the number of Electric Vehicles on the National Grid and whether or not it will be able to cope with those demands.  The power generated for the National Grid typically comes from Nuclear Power Stations so increased electricity consumption for Electric cars needs to be generated.

• The impact of these ambitions on different sectors of industry and society – current battery technology and manufacturing is primarily controlled by Chinese manufacturing which cannot be in the UK’s interest.
• What measures are required by government and others to achieve the earlier phase out date – the Government needs to take a balanced approach including hybrids, clean hydrogen and synthetic fuel technology to protect British jobs and the British Motor Industry

Please email: communications@olev.gov.uk with the suggested content, and get as many people as possible to do the same to protect our industry.

Ian Godbold

BackComment