Andy

A prolific charging network will allow the majority of us to have smaller batteries. Battery still represents circa 40% of the cost of the car

SUV is a popular form factor, but smaller lighter cars are better from an efficiency point of view. Robert and I will talk about form factors

I’ll also mention yes, the Japanese dropped the ball

Motorway signs have recently become a requirement and we’ll see them applied across the U.K. - I drove Leeds to Nottingham yesterday and saw Gridserve signage

Good idea on communicating the cost savings

Yes it’s coming. Buses were really the first to be electrified and now companies like First Group are putting batteries in the depots. eHGV is just starting to take off and you’ll see dedicated chargers being installed

Please ask nice questions 😍

Wow - if only they had continued with the development perhaps Luton would still be alive

Thank you

Happy Chinese New Year - the year of the Snake! Gong Xi Fa Cai! images.chinahighlights.com/allpicture/2...

Ex-Aston Martin CEO: Scrap hybrids, go all in on EV cars Our reliance on hybrid is holding us back from real progress. It's time to go all in on EV cars, writes ex-Aston Martin CEO and 'godfather of EVs' Andy Palmer.

✍️ My latest column for @CityAM argues that hybrids offer a false sense of security to OEMs as we move towards the EV transition. Time to rip the plaster off.

www.cityam.com/ex-aston-mar...

Try economics! I’m not being glib, as I started development of the Nissan LEAF EV and the Nissan FCEV (joint venture with Merc and Ford) at the same time.

The last bastion of believe in hydrogen for passenger vehicles was Toyota and even they have conceded it doesn’t make sense; to be honest it never made sense and will never make sense. The question is hydrogens use in other use cases - maybe hot hydrogen in HGV although e-fuel looks more compelling.

It’s taken longer than expected but Toyota finally appear to concede that hydrogen is not the right fuel for Passenger Vehicles and will concentrate on CV - very sensible. t.co/IV5Yfab6Rg

The planet has moved a major step closer to warming more than 1.5C, new data shows, despite world leaders vowing a decade ago they would try to avoid this. t.co/UA9mA5iNzE

Happy New Year 2025

Thinking of buying an EV in 2025? Here’s some myths to be wary of Electric vehicles (EVs) have long been painted as an elitist indulgence, impractical for the masses and no better than petrol or diesel cars when you consider the "bigger picture” on climate change”. ...

✍️ Thinking about buying an EV in 2025? There’s a lot of misinformation about electric motoring and I’ve addressed some of the most common myths.

www.drandypalmer.com/post/thinkin...

Merry Christmas everyone; have a great one!

A great result for @McLarenF1 winning the @F1 Constructors Championship; the team rebuild under @ZBrownCEO has been remarkable. With @ScuderiaFerrari coming come P2 and P3 today, 2025 is shaping up to be a great season. P6 for @Max33Verstappen as 4x world champion but a tough day for @redbullracing

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares resigns with immediate effect; Carlos is perhaps the most professional car guy I’ve worked with. He’s created some of the most iconic cars including the Renault Megan series. That @Stellantis exists at all is down to Carlos. I hope history will be kind to him.

I like this

To blame only the U.K. ZEV mandate for Luton Plant closure is disingenuous. I explain to the Telegraph. I enjoyed being called “the eminence grise of the British car industry”

Stellantis closing the Luton factory is devastating for the 1,100 workers. It’ll be convenient to blame this on the ZEV Mandate, but it’s down to a combination of headwinds (including Chinese EV competition) the European auto industry has been facing. Beware simply rolling back on ZEV targets!

Great EV Starter Pack from Tyler Norris 👇

To which you could add:

@andyatauto.bsky.social
@stekkerauto.bsky.social
@sawyermerrittt.bsky.social

Tragic news of job cuts at Ford; the result of misinterpreting the direction of the market. At a time when the market is crying out for affordable EVs, Ford have pivoted towards higher-end crossover SUV models, like the Capri & Explorer. More expensive cars results in a lower volume of sales.

The Aston Martin Valkyrie is a 1,140 bhp road-legal hypercar that smashed the production car lap record for the Silverstone GP circuit with an unprecedented time of 1 minute 56.42 seconds. More than 10 seconds faster than any other road-legal production car.

Here’s mine 👇🏻

And finally, let’s remember that this is all about climate change and transport represents circa 25% of the problem. If we want to hand down a planet to our kids, we need to reduce our output of Co2

Ultimately if we insulate an industry from reality through lowering targets or tariffs, then in my experience you just delay an inevitable decline. The Chinese are 10years ahead of the west and the West needs to catch up not slow down

The OEMs complaining are those late to EV. Stellantis, Nissan and JLR also have significant financial woes - we should not reward management that failed to react quickly enough and are not making the right mix of cars

You’re right, EVs are too expensive. Volume is linked to price in a precisely predictable way and in 2024, EV prices have fallen - in some cases by 35%. Lower cost cars for the consumer - isn’t that a good thing?

Secondly, yes the Conservative Party introduced ZEV but in agreement with the OEMs What investors hate most is moving targets and I can assure you that the 2030 consumer pull change was not well received.

Paul I’m sorry but I disagree. Firstly emission targets have been imposed on my industry forever. I personally protested to Govt in 1992 about Euro1 being impossible and killing Mini - it didn’t, we got on with it and we’ve seen a 98% reduction in Nox over the past 30 years