Do you think that the UK switching to electric vehicles is realistic?

[Bletchleyite]

Not sure if this is the appropriate place to ask this - EVs will need to pay VED from 1st April 2025.

Is the DVLA going to contact/write to all registered keepers to tell them they need to go online and pay or is it up to the registered keeper to know that they need to pay in a couple of weeks time and be pro-active and go online and pay?

They'll know anyway, because they have to "pay" zero rate VED already, they are not exempt from the process, just the fee. Same with classics.

 

[Snow1964]

Not sure if this is the appropriate place to ask this - EVs will need to pay VED from 1st April 2025.

Is the DVLA going to contact/write to all registered keepers to tell them they need to go online and pay or is it up to the registered keeper to know that they need to pay in a couple of weeks time and be pro-active and go online and pay?

Martin Lewis (money saving) covered this recently. Can renew now in March even if not due, on Government tax website. It will warn you not due yet, so have to deliberately click button say yes want to do it now.

If you do it now get another whole year at current (nil) rate, rather than having to start to pay when renewal month comes up.

 

[Harpers Tate]

Since 2017 when I went EV, I have - just like any other car user - had a reminder to retax my vehicle. Using the online process, it's (as far as I could tell) exactly the same process as taxing any other vehicle - but with no payment step. So, when mine next falls due I expect it will all work exactly the same way, but with the payment step present.

In case it's needed: whilst 1 April is the implementation date, the paid tax only falls due when the current tax expires; not right away.

 

[E27007]

I doubt if it will be a problem, vehicles have to be taxed, I have a VED category A hybrid with a £0 annual fee. the paperwork is the same, It is simply the charge of £0 and not non-zero

 

[Harpers Tate]

My guess is that EV (and other £0) users were still required to "tax" their vehicles as the process cross-checks for valid insurance and MOT (where applicable) and a failure of either of these makes "taxing" impossible. And that in turn means (absent a SORN) the keeper can be found and traced pro-actively.

 

[WolvertonWorks]

Thanks folks, I had forgotten that our due date isn't until later in the year so looks like we will get a reminder closer to the time.

 

[Mawkie]

Thanks folks, I had forgotten that our due date isn't until later in the year so looks like we will get a reminder closer to the time.

The point others are making is that if you go online and renew *today* for free, you get another 12 months for free. In your case, that may save you a few months worth of road tax rather than waiting for your actual renewal.

 

[RuddA]

Renewed mine for £0 yesterday so won't have to pay until 01/03/2026 rather than 01/09/2025. Only took 5 minutes.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Renewed mine for £0 yesterday so won't have to pay until 01/03/2026 rather than 01/09/2025. Only took 5 minutes.

I am interested that you can renew your road tax with a start date being before the current road tax runs out - even if it is all free (currently).

I thought you might have to cancel your current free road tax. Then maybe SORN for a day on your drive (or whatever works). Then start a new free road tax.

 

[RuddA]

I am interested that you can renew your road tax with a start date being before the current road tax runs out - even if it is all free (currently).

I thought you might have to cancel your current free road tax. Then maybe SORN for a day on your drive (or whatever works). Then start a new free road tax.

If you answered the questions correctly you would probably press cancel as it is such an unusual things to do. But keep pressing continue and worked successfully.

 

[Noddy]

Amazon has placed an order for 200 Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 of which 140 will go to the UK so we should be seeing them in the not to distant future. They have a 500 kilometre (310 mile) range ‘accomplished under very realistic and practical conditions with a gross combination mass of 40 tons, which can also be significantly exceeded depending on the driving style and the route’. They fitted with 400kw standard CCS charging but capable of being upgraded to MCS (megawatt) in future. The transition to electric trucks is starting to go mainstream.

If Amazon filled the roofs of their sheds I wonder how much free fuel they could generate for themselves?

Amazon has placed its largest-ever order of more than 200 battery-electric heavy goods vehicles – and has selected the flagship Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 from Mercedes-Benz Trucks. This is also the largest order for electric trucks in the history of the truck manufacturer.

The electric trucks will be deployed across high-mileage routes that make up Amazon’s middle-mile network, transporting cargo containers to and from Amazon’s fulfilment centres, sort centres, and delivery stations. With more than 140 trucks to be deployed in the UK and more than 50 in Germany, the zero emission vehicles are expected to transport more than 350 million packages with zero-exhaust emissions.

The order is preceded by the practical testing of a near-series prototype of the eActros 600 in one of Amazon's logistics centers in Germany.

Karin Rådström, Chairwoman of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck AG, emphasizes: “We are very pleased that Amazon, a pioneer in the transformation towards alternative drives, has chosen the eActros 600, a gamechanger for sustainable transportation.”

Stina Fagerman, Head of Marketing, Sales and Services Mercedes-Benz Trucks, adds: “Amazon is an important customer for us on the path towards CO2-neutral transport. A near-series prototype of the eActros 600 has already been trialed by Amazon, providing valuable insights before the start of series production. We are therefore very pleased about this major order for the eActros 600.”

Andreas Marschner, Vice President of Worldwide Operations Sustainability at Amazon, said: “The order of more than 200 eActros 600 underlines our commitment to being a leader in electrifying our transportation network in Europe. It is the biggest electric heavy truck order by Amazon to date anywhere in the world and is an important step as we work to achieve our Climate Pledge commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions across our operations by 2040.”

Major contract for Mercedes-Benz Trucks: Amazon orders more than 200 eActros 600

Amazon has placed its largest-ever order of more than 200 battery-electric heavy goods vehicles – and has selected the flagship Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 from Mercedes-Benz Trucks. This is also the largest order for electric trucks in the histor…

www.daimlertruck.com

 

[Bald Rick]

If Amazon filled the roofs of their sheds I wonder how much free fuel they could generate for themselves?

Well that’s a good question.

Using their Marston Gate (LTN1) fulfilment centre as an example: measured using google maps it has a floorplate of approx 43,000 sqm. The roof is slightly barrelled with the ‘ridge’ line roughly NW-SE so not ideal for PV, but lets say the half of the area that points south(ish) can be used, at 90% space utilised to allow for maintnenance etc, so 19,300 sqm has PV on. Typical panels at 200wp/sqm, therefore peak output of 3,860kW. Assume UK average capacity factor of 14%, scale up for a year, and you get to 4,734 MWh pa.

The eActros 600 has a 621kWh LFP battery, so you would get 7,623 full charges a year, or 21 a day from that one warehouse. Albeit they would charge up quickest in the moddle of the day.

Other assumptions will get you different answers!

 

[Class 317]

Amazon has placed an order for 200 Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 of which 140 will go to the UK so we should be seeing them in the not to distant future. They have a 500 kilometre (310 mile) range ‘accomplished under very realistic and practical conditions with a gross combination mass of 40 tons, which can also be significantly exceeded depending on the driving style and the route’. They fitted with 400kw standard CCS charging but capable of being upgraded to MCS (megawatt) in future. The transition to electric trucks is starting to go mainstream.

If Amazon filled the roofs of their sheds I wonder how much free fuel they could generate for themselves?

Major contract for Mercedes-Benz Trucks: Amazon orders more than 200 eActros 600

Amazon has placed its largest-ever order of more than 200 battery-electric heavy goods vehicles – and has selected the flagship Mercedes-Benz eActros 600 from Mercedes-Benz Trucks. This is also the largest order for electric trucks in the histor…

www.daimlertruck.com

That's a significant boost to numbers which have been around 50-60 deployed a year for the last few years.

With a 310 mile range that makes them able to cover most central depot to local depot transfers. These seem to generally be around the 100 / 125 mile each way for supermarkets and I am assuming would be similar for Amazon.

Once they prove it works I'd expect other retailers to quickly add BEV trucks and HGV'S to their fleets.

 

[AM9]

Once they prove it works I'd expect other retailers to quickly add BEV trucks and HGV'S to their fleets.

That might trigger some local authorities to give users of fossil burning HGVs incentives to go electric when faced with zero emission zones in town/city centres.

 

[Noddy]

Well that’s a tood question.

Using their Marston Gate (LTN1) fulfilment centre as an example: measured using google maps it has a floorplate of approx 43,000 sqm. The roof is slightly barrelled with the ‘ridge’ line roughly NW-SE so not ideal for PV, but lets say the half of the area that points south(ish) can be used, at 90% space utilised to allow for maintnenance etc, so 19,300 sqm has PV on. Typical panels at 200wp/sqm, therefore peak output of 3,860kW. Assume UK average capacity factor of 14%, scale up for a year, and you get to 4,734 MWh pa.

The eActros 600 has a 621kWh LFP battery, so you would get 7,623 full charges a year, or 21 a day from that one warehouse. Albeit they would charge up quickest in the moddle of the day.

Other assumptions will get you different answers!

That’s more impressive than I thought it would be! If, and I accept it’s a big if, you were doing something like this you’d probably use the solar to power batteries during the day and then power the chargers off the batteries. You’d have a slight increase in losses but you’d be able to harvest the energy during the day and charge overnight. To avoid the issues of charging fastest in the middle of the day.

 

[Bald Rick]

That’s more impressive than I thought it would be! If, and I accept it’s a big if, you were doing something like this you’d probably use the solar to power batteries during the day and then power the chargers off the batteries. You’d have a slight increase in losses but you’d be able to harvest the energy during the day and charge overnight. To avoid the issues of charging fastest in the middle of the day.

Well much of the trunking with the big lorries is done overnight, so actually it works well for daytime charging. Although don’t forget the power generated will vary significantly through the year. In full lorry charge terms it would be nearer 80 a day in high summer and 5 a day in deep winter. However the sheds themselves draw a fair bit of power too and they will need that all the time. Given the charging rate of the lorries at 400kW, even at lunch time on a cloudless day in June only 9 could be plugged in charging without resorting to the grid, even assuming no power is taken for the sheds themselves. What I’m trying to say is that having batteries on site may well not be necessary to make full use of the generated power.

 

[Roast Veg]

Well much of the trunking with the big lorries is done overnight, so actually it works well for daytime charging. Although don’t forget the power generated will vary significantly through the year. In full lorry charge terms it would be nearer 80 a day in high summer and 5 a day in deep winter. However the sheds themselves draw a fair bit of power too and they will need that all the time. Given the charging rate of the lorries at 400kW, even at lunch time on a cloudless day in June only 9 could be plugged in charging without resorting to the grid, even assuming no power is taken for the sheds themselves. What I’m trying to say is that having batteries on site may well not be necessary to make full use of the generated power.

If the trucks are V2x equipped, then they can act as batteries themselves.

 

[Noddy]

Given the charging rate of the lorries at 400kW, even at lunch time on a cloudless day in June only 9 could be plugged in charging without resorting to the grid, even assuming no power is taken for the sheds themselves.

Totally agree. Solar would only be a way of reducing grid consumption, not replacing it. But those figures are still impressive, especially if you rolled it out across their entire estate.

 

[The Ham]

Totally agree. Solar would only be a way of reducing grid consumption, not replacing it. But those figures are still impressive, especially if you rolled it out across their entire estate.

It would still barely touch the sides in terms of their carbon emissions, not because their delivery methods are so fuel inefficient, but because most of their carbon emissions come from their data centres due to Amazon Web Services (AWS).

(That's not so easy they shouldn't do it).

 

[GLC]

I stumbled onto a YouTube channel about a German lorry driver who now exclusively drives electric lorries, and who gives some detail about what it is like https://www.youtube.com/@electrictrucker

The general gist is that, with some planning, he is able to time his regulated rest times with charging the lorry, and that the lorry is able to accelerate faster, and maintain a higher speed on gradients than diesel trucks, so there is no real time loss whilst driving one, even considering the charging times

 

[telstarbox]

Interesting, thanks!

 

[Noddy]

It would still barely touch the sides in terms of their carbon emissions, not because their delivery methods are so fuel inefficient, but because most of their carbon emissions come from their data centres due to Amazon Web Services (AWS).

(That's not so easy they shouldn't do it).

Indeed. But I was always looking at it from a reducing their fuel bill perspective (and not having to rely on public charging), not their carbon emissions.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

It does, although I have seen green flash plates on cars that definitely have an engine; conversely about a quarter of the EVs I see don’t have the green flash.

How long before there's a "Top Tip" in Viz along the lines of "Attract an environmentally-conscious partner by sticking a bit of green electrical tape to the end of your car number plate."?

 

[jon0844]

I think you should send that in!

 

[Peter Sarf]

How long before there's a "Top Tip" in Viz along the lines of "Attract an environmentally-conscious partner by sticking a bit of green electrical tape to the end of your car number plate."?

Shhh. Cue everywhere being out of stock of green electrical tape.

 

[The Ham]

Shhh. Cue everywhere being out of stock of green electrical tape.

Too late, if you do a search on Screwfix it doesn't even show any results for green electrical tape (not even in the multi pack) such has been the level of demand.

 

[E27007]

An announcement is expected, a cornerstone of the ZEV mandate is to be amended, the penalty for not meeting ZEV volume targets is to be reduced from £15,000 to £12000 per non-compliant car, in essence the ZEV mandate is damaging the balance sheets of car manufacturers due to expensive sales subsidies and high depreciation of the ZEV purchased on PCP schemes, the retail car buyer is lukewarm towards the ZEV with a preference for plug-in hybrid cars.

 

[trebor79]

An announcement is expected, a cornerstone of the ZEV mandate is to be amended, the penalty for not meeting ZEV volume targets is to be reduced from £15,000 to £12000 per non-compliant car, in essence the ZEV mandate is damaging the balance sheets of car manufacturers due to expensive sales subsidies and high depreciation of the ZEV purchased on PCP schemes, the retail car buyer is lukewarm towards the ZEV with a preference for plug-in hybrid cars.

Except no manufacturer had to pay any fines last year. EV sales are growing 40% year on year whilst petrol and diesel vehicle sales collapse.

 

[SWT_USER]

I'm in the South of France this week, my rental is a Polestar 2. It is remarkable how much more advanced (and cheaper) their charging infrastructure is. I paid €0.55/ kWh at a motorway service station - it would be not far off double that in the UK.

And yet, I don't feel there are anywhere near as many electric cars here as there are in the UK - I wonder why. Possibly the french are used to driving much longer distances?

 

[JamesT]

Except no manufacturer had to pay any fines last year. EV sales are growing 40% year on year whilst petrol and diesel vehicle sales collapse.

Apparently there is a fudge factor that allows avoiding fines in one year. EV sales were only 19.6% when the mandate said 22%. They can't pull that trick for a second year so we'll see if they can manage growth to hit 28% this year.