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A charging cable plugged into a Volvo electric vehicle in London on November 18, 2020.
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New homes in England will be required to have charging points for electric vehicles, according to plans announced by authorities in the U.K.

“We’re regulating so as to require new homes and buildings to have EV charging points, with another 145,000 charging points to be installed thanks to these regulations,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said during a speech at the Confederation of British Industry’s annual conference.

During his speech, Johnson touched upon his own experiences of driving electric vehicles. “I tried the first Tesla for sale in this country for GQ,” he said. “It expired in the fast lane of the M40, I’m sad to say, though I think they’ve got a lot better.”

In an announcement released on Sunday prior to Johnson’s remarks, the U.K. government fleshed out details of the plan.

Alongside new homes and buildings such as workplaces and supermarkets being required to install EV charge points from 2022, the regulations will also apply to buildings where major renovations are taking place.

The plan to expand charging points comes as the U.K. attempts to develop the necessary infrastructure to cope with its target of stopping the sale of new diesel and petrol cars and vans from 2030. It will also require, from 2035, all new cars and vans to have zero tailpipe emissions.

Adequate charging options will be crucial when it comes to challenging perceptions surrounding range anxiety, a term that refers to the idea that electric vehicles aren’t able to undertake long journeys without losing power and getting stranded.

Among those reacting to this week’s announcement were Friends of the Earth’s head of policy, Mike Childs.

“Our homes and buildings should be designed to help meet the challenges of the climate crisis, including charging points as electric vehicles have a significant role to play in building a zero-carbon future,” Childs said.

“Ministers must also introduce financial incentives, such as a scrappage scheme, to help encourage people to switch to cleaner vehicles,” Childs said, before adding that people need to be encouraged to use their cars less.

“New housing should also include secure bike storage and access to safe cycling routes and high-quality public transport to provide real alternatives to driving,” he said.

As concerns about the environmental footprint of transportation mount, major economies and companies are looking to find ways to develop and roll out low and zero emission vehicles at scale.

Earlier this month, signatories to a declaration at the COP26 climate change summit said they would “work towards all sales of new cars and vans being zero emission globally by 2040, and by no later than 2035 in leading markets.”

While the U.S., China and carmakers including Volkswagen and Toyota were absent from the declaration, signatories did include the U.K., Indian and Canadian governments and major automotive firms such as Ford, General Motors and Volvo Cars.

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Formula E’s new car is all-wheel drive and accelerates faster than F1

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April 26, 2024

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Formula E's new car is all-wheel drive and accelerates faster than F1

formula e gen3 evo

Formula E unveiled its new “Gen3 EVO” car, an update to the Gen3 car which debuted last season, ahead of the Monaco ePrix this weekend.

The new car will be used for next season, and is basically a mid-cycle update of the Gen3 car which has been in service for last and this season. The succeeding Gen4 car is not expected until 2027.

The Gen3 car was introduced as both lighter and more powerful as the previous generation car, with a lot of promises about how much quicker it could be in the races.

It also utilized some pretty unique design ideas. The biggest difference is the addition of a front motor, but this motor was only used for braking, and conversely, the rear friction brakes were entirely deleted and instead the rear axle is braked only by the rear motor using regenerative braking, for a total of 600kW regenerative braking power.

However, The Gen3 didn’t turn out to be all that much faster. This often happens with new racecars as teams get used to tuning and using them, but teams struggled to harness the extra power available to them.

At the same time, the series switched tire providers, and the new tires may have proven to be a limiting factor.

Now, the Gen3 car is hoping to fix both of these problems at once. Not only has Hankook provided stickier tires (with 5-10% more grip, and made of 35% recycled materials) which should help to harness some of the car’s additional power, Formula E has also taken the rather unique move (in the world of formula cars) of activating the Gen3 car’s front motor for thrust, not just regen – thus making its cars all-wheel drive.

The Gen3’s inclusion of a front motor left many thinking – ourselves included – that it would inevitably get activated not just for regen, but for power delivery.

There have been all-wheel drive single seater open wheel cars in the past, but it has only been tried a few times. Currently, other open-wheel single seaters (like F1, IndyCar and the like) are rear-wheel drive only.

AWD has been popular on road cars recently, because it enhances acceleration and drivability. And on EVs, it’s quite easy to add, because you can just slap a second motor on the other axle and run a few cables to it, rather than needing to run driveshafts and gearing mechanisms all through your car to transfer the power from a single combustion engine to two separate axles.

However, sportscar and racing enthusiasts have often preferred rear-wheel drive because it makes cars more squirrelly and difficult to control, showcasing driver skill more readily.

So Formula E is going to allow all-wheel drive only in certain situations. During qualifying duels, race starts, and during the activation of “attack mode,” a temporary 50kW power boost that each driver gets at certain points in the race.

One complaint about the Gen3 cars was that attack mode was hard to use, because the car felt like it couldn’t properly utilize that additional 50kW. By activating the front motor, this should give drivers a huge advantage – quicker acceleration through and out of corners is an enormous benefit.

While 0-60 numbers don’t matter a lot for a racecar – they’re only ever at 0mph at one point, at the start of the race, after all – acceleration is still important for exiting corners, and gives you a lasting benefit for the entire straight if you can get a better exit than another racer. And the Gen3 EVO boasts a truly impressive 0-60 number: 1.82 seconds.

This 0-60 time is 30% quicker than an F1 car and 36% quicker than the Gen3 car, thanks to that front motor helping pull the car forward with 4 contact patches instead of 2.

In addition, the design of the car has changed somewhat. The nose and front wing have been redesigned from the (perhaps overly) angular design of the original Gen3 car. Over the last season and a half, cars have struggled with front wing damage, so hopefully the new wing will be a little more durable.

All told, Formula E says that the new car could be 1-3 seconds faster per lap, depending on circuit and whether the AWD system is in use. This would be a pretty massive improvement as far as laptimes go, but we’ll have to see how it plays out when next season comes around.

Now, if only we could also see that 600kW mid-race charging they’ve been working on…

The new Gen3 EVO car will start seeing use next season, but if you want to see the current Gen3 car in action, you can watch it this weekend at the Monaco ePrix.

The race proper starts at 6am PDT, 9am EDT, 1pm UTC, and 3pm local Monaco time on Saturday April 27. In the US, all sessions other than the race will be available on the Roku channel, practice sessions will be on Formula E’s YouTube, and the race will be on CBS/CBS Sports Network. To see how to watch the race in other countries, head on over to Formula E’s Ways to Watch site.

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Daily Ev Recap: Ultra-fast charging adds 370 miles of range in 10 minutes

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Exxon stock falls as earnings miss on lower natural gas prices and squeezed refining margins

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April 26, 2024

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Exxon stock falls as earnings miss on lower natural gas prices and squeezed refining margins

An Exxon gas station is seen on October 06, 2023 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

Exxon Mobil on Friday reported first-quarter earnings that missed expectations as the industry came under pressure from eroding refining margins and collapsing natural gas prices.

Exxon’s stock was down less than 1% in early trading.

Here is what Exxon reported for the first quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: 

  • Earnings per share: $2.06 vs. $2.20 expected
  • Revenue: $83.08 billion vs. $78.35 billion expected.

The nation’s largest oil company reported net income of $8.22 billion, or $2.06 per share, a 28% decrease from earnings of $11.43 billion, or $2.79 per share, in the same period a year ago.

Oil is up more than 16% this year and gasoline futures have surged nearly 32%, but the rally has done little to lift the Exxon’s fortunes due to headwinds elsewhere in the industry. Natural gas prices have plummeted 37% this year, and refining margins are lower than they were a year ago. Chevron faced similar issues this quarter.

Revenue beat expectations, coming in at $83.08 billion, but was lower than a year ago, when the company reported $86.56 billion.

Exxon’s fuel business saw earnings plummet 67% to $1.38 billion, compared with $4.18 billion in the prior year, due to refining margins coming down from last year’s highs.

The company’s chemical products segment saw profits more than double to $785 million compared with $371 million in the same quarter last year.

Exxon is currently locked in a dispute with Chevron over the latter’s pending acquisition of Hess Corp. Exxon has taken Chevron to arbitration court to defend rights the company claims to Hess’ assets in Guyana under a joint operating agreement.

Chevron said Friday that it expects the Hess deal to close in 2024.

Read Exxon’s full earning release here.

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Chevron beats earnings estimates but profit falls on lower refining margins and natural gas prices

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April 26, 2024

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Chevron beats earnings estimates but profit falls on lower refining margins and natural gas prices

Gas pumps are seen at a Chevron gas station in Orlando. 

Paul Hennessy | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Chevron beat earnings expectations Friday, but its profit fell from the year-ago period as its refineries and international gas business faced headwinds.

Here is what Chevron reported for the first quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: 

  • Earnings per share: $2.93 adjusted vs. $2.87 expected
  • Revenue: $48.72 billion vs. $50.66 billion expected

The oil major’s net income declined 16% to $5.5 billion, or $2.97 per share, compared with the same quarter a year ago when it earned $6.57 billion, or $3.46 per share. Excluding one-time items, Chevron reported earnings of $2.93 per share, which beat Wall Street estimates.

Revenue of $48.72 billion fell from $50.79 billion a year ago and was short of analyst expectations.

Chevron shares fell about 1% in premarket trading on the news.

The company attributed declining profits to lower sales margins at its refineries and lower natural gas prices eating into profits in international production. Exxon faced similar issues this quarter.

Oil prices have gained more than 16% this year and gasoline futures are up 31%, but the rally did little to lift profits given trouble elsewhere in the energy industry.

Natural gas prices have plummeted 37% this year due to a supply glut. Retail and distribution margins for gasoline, or the difference between the retail and refining prices, were also lower in February and March compared with the same period last year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Chevron’s refining business in the U.S. saw earnings plummet by more than half to $453 million. Profits in international refining took an even bigger hit, falling nearly 60% to $330 million. 

The U.S. oil and gas business booked earnings of about $2 billion, a 16% increase over the prior-year period due to higher sales volume. Chevron produced 1.57 million barrels of oil and gas daily in the U.S. for the quarter, an increase of 35%, or 406,000 bpd, from a year ago.

The oil major attributed the production gains to strong output in the Permian and the Denver-Julesburg basins. 

International oil and gas earnings fell 6% to $3.2 billion as production fell by 39,000 barrels to 1.77 million bpd due to maintenance in Nigeria and field declines. Still, total worldwide production increased 12% to 3.35 million bpd — its highest first-quarter output on record.

Chevron said it is confident its pending acquisition of Hess Corp. will close in 2024, despite a challenge from Exxon Mobil in arbitration court over rights in a joint operating agreement for oil assets in Guyana.

Chevron said it expects the shareholder vote and the Federal Trade Commissions request for information on the deal to be wrapped up in the second quarter.

Capital expenditures rose to $4.1 billion, a 37% increase over the $3 billion spent in the year-ago period. The higher spending was on its oil and gas production and old assets from PDC Energy after completing its acquisition of the company last August.

Chevron still paid out $3 billion in dividends and repurchased nearly $3 billion of its shares in the quarter, though its return on capital of 12.4% was lower than the 14.6% in first quarter last year.

Read Chevron’s full earnings release here.

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