Tony Porter Ponders: More trouble for Keir, car manufacturers rolling back on EVs and Autumn is here

I write this as the breaking news Sue Gray has quit as chief of staff in this shambles of a start for Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Government. A mini backroom reshuffle has also occurred, though I do not think it will make much difference to the incoming ‘difficult’ budget. If this was a new series of Yes Prime Minister, currently being reshown on one of the more obscure TV channels, folks would be writing in complaining that it is too far-fetched. Mind you the Liz Truss episode, there wasn’t enough content for a full series, was a great deal worse.

As I have predicted for many years now, electric cars are not the future. Many car manufacturers are extending production of petrol cars and increasing EV manufacturing target timetables as more and more turn their backs on this waste of time. Ford, Vauxhall, Fiat and Skoda have already changed their plans for EVs. This includes slashing of the price of many including the brand new Corsa and Astra electrics, Fiat have extended a pause on manufacturing the Fiat 500e and will bring out a Hybrid powertrain version next year due to ‘lack of demand for fully electric’.

Toyota have also been back peddling Akio Toyoda, Chairman at Toyota, said in January that battery-powered electric vehicles will never dominate the car market and make up no more than a third of global sales. Ford bosses have recently said its own plans to become an EV-only brand from 2030 were 'too ambitious'. It also added it could ration the number of new petrol cars sold in the UK in order to artificially inflate its electric vehicle share to meet the ZEV mandate targets to avoid Government fines.

German auto giant Mercedes-Benz has announced it will extend the production cycle of one of its biggest-selling combustion cars due to concerns about EV take-up. British luxury car maker Aston Martin earlier this year announced it had delayed the launch of its first EV due to a lack of appetite from its customers. BMW recently announced a partnership with Toyota to introduce the first BMW hydrogen fuel cell vehicle by 2028, the only way forward in my humble opinion.

Add to this the fact the second-hand EV sales are also falling as are prices. Yet we still have politicians, who know little about many things harping on how EVs will save the planet. Even if you remove the mining for battery chemicals, shipping, manufacturing costs, infrastructure costs and disposing costs, they are not saving anything and the public know this, they are concerned about Range anxiety too.

Talking of not saving the planet, I have turned my heating on at home, I am telling myself that it is just to test it before winter, but I am not fooling anyone, it has got nippy. I should not be surprised as, apparently, the Autumn TV schedule is in full flow. One of my pet hates, has been since its started, is Strictly Come Dancing, a show that sends shivers down my spine, more so after the revelations a few weeks back. I see bits via Gogglebox, another staple cold evening TV show.

I mentioned how quickly the houses are going up in Marsh Green, we need these guys working on the New Market Hall.