The Short Cut: Aston Martin is releasing an EV, and more

What time is it? Short Cut time! That’s right folks, you can read all about it here. Scroll on down to see what the industry is up to this week.

A no good, very bad, terrible year for petrol cars

It’s a bad time to be a petrol car. Gas prices have been flying through the roof, and EVs couldn’t be happier to pick up the slack. With the war in Ukraine increasing the gas industry’s woes, and EVs already being cheaper to run, the Guardian notes that these various factors are encouraging a flood of customers to go electric. Petrol cars have also seen the biggest increase in total costs since 2021, up more than £300 from £1,530. In contrast, EVs are only up £137. However, the article notes the upfront costs that come with EVs, such as the installation of a home charging point.

Aston Martin launches its first EV

Looks like James Bond will be driving electric. Aston Martin has announced its first EV, set to be released in 2025, Car and Driver report. The automaker has previously set 2030 as its expiration date for the sales of its gas models, with this first EV marking a second attempt at an electric car.

Previously, the company had announced that the 600-hp Aston Martin Rapide E would be its first EV, but didn’t go through with it. Instead, the carmaker plans on releasing its first hybrid in 2024, with the EV to follow suit soon after. Well Mr. Bond, it looks like you’ll be saving the world with net-zero emissions instead.

Aston Martin will release its first EV in 2025.

The car, the myth, the legend: all about EVs

There’s often a lot of misinformation regarding EVs, and this article helps to clear that up. In an article by Ciara Cook for Automotive World, anti-EV myths such as that the future is in hybridization and not electric vehicles are debunked. Cook also discusses the actual environmental impact of EVs, exploring the actual impact that they have, and misconceptions about the shelf life of EV batteries. Ultimately, Cook concludes, the risk lies not with the EVs themselves but rather not taking the opportunity to decarbonize the transportation industry.

EVs are becoming cheaper, increasing in efficiency and are greener. What’s there to lose? Emissions, really, and a gas guzzling, money chugging petrol car. Cook summarizes that at the end of the day, a transition to EVs is the future, and we’d be fools not to take part.

The EV industry needs to deal with its broken charger problem

There’s nothing worse than a broken charger. You wouldn’t think that something like an EV would deal with the trivial and mundane issue of a faulty cable – but you thought wrong. And it’s becoming increasingly problematic, as Wired discusses in this article.

With range anxiety still plaguing many EV users, a broken charger only adds to that fear. Since EVs and EV charging infrastructure is still relatively new, there’s not a lot of data as to how long a charger will last. Countries such as the US are investing large portions of money into upping the number of charging points available– but there’s also evidence that they don’t last as long as they should. Over in California, whose governor is aiming to phase out petrol cars by 2035, saw a survey of 181 San Francisco Bay Area chargers suggest that 23% of them might be broken at any given time.

It's not just chargers ordered by the government that are faulty – often EV drivers don’t understand the charger they are using and can damage it accidentally. Other times, the charger available is incompatible with the EV. And fixing the charger can be a whole new puzzle, with a limited network of people who can help. Once again, the EV industry finds itself in uncharted waters – and potentially without the energy to propel itself to land.

Broken chargers are the latest issue to plague the EV industry.

Tall order! Saudi Arabia orders 100,000 EVs from Lucid

It’s a good time for Lucid. It has been announced that Saudi Arabia will buy between 50,000 to 100,000 Lucid EVs over the next decade, using its sovereign-wealth fund to do so. The Wall Street Journal reports on Lucid’s push to increase its sales revenue, with this investment seeing its shares rise 4.3% to $18.42 after it was announced on Tuesday. Lucid will also see its first international manufacturing plant set up in Saudi Arabia, with production aiming to produce 150,000 cars per year. The amount ordered will begin at 1,000 to 2,000 a year starting 2023, eventually moving up to 4,000 to 7,000 EVs annually in 2025.