NEWS
2 1 AUGUST 2019 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 17
Roughly 0.55 tonnes
of CO 2 is emitted for
each car produced
Growing EV charge
network’s cash boost
ALEXANDER SIMS IS far
from your typical racing
driver. “The catalyst for my
interest in electric vehicles
was racking up miles about
10 years ago and getting fed
up putting petrol in my car,”
he says. “I remember three
fi ll-ups in one week, like
Groundhog Day, 60 litres at a
time. I thought this can’t be
the end solution. It seemed
unsustainable behaviour.”
Not many of his breed
speak in this way. But
Sims, 31, never did fi t the
stereotype, even as a rising
single-seater star. TheFormula 1 dream faded
early, but for the past fi ve
years, he’s earned respect
as a pro for BMW in GTs in
Britain, mainland Europe
and the US. Then last year,
as BMW prepared to step
into Formula E, he landed a
surprise call-up. “I honestly
felt that single-seater ship
had sailed,” he says.
The series couldn’t have
a better – or more genuine
- ambassador. “I switched
early to a hybrid,” he says of
his early EV conversion. “It
was marginally better, but I
felt like I’d gone from 45mpg
to 50... So what’s next? The
Tesla Roadster was about
all there was at the time, so I
wangled my way to get one,
largely through the ‘Bank of
Dad’! I’ve been fascinated
by them ever since as the
solution to decarbonisingpersonal transportation.”
`
To borrow from Alan Partridge, will
Sims get a second season?
a
RACING LINES
GET IN TOUCH
Damien Smith
For those who’ve followed
his career, the seat in a team
run by Michael Andretti was
all that Sims deserved. And
it seemed that faith would
b e r e w a r de d w he n he a nd
team-mate António Félix da
Costa – another who should
h av e F 1 s t a r t s t o h i s n a me
- ran one-two in the season
opener back in December.
Then they collided.
Calamity became a bit of
a running theme for Sims
i n a s e r ie s t h at i s do gge d b y
too much contact, largely
because of the tight nature
of it s p op -up c it y s t r e e ttracks. But in the fi nal round
in New York, he delivered
on his promise, taking
pole position and fi nishing
second in the race. Now, to
borrow from Alan Partridge,
the question is: will he get a
second season?
“Being fast came a bit
more easily than I probably
e x p e c t e d ,” he s ay s w it h
characteristic modesty. “On
the fl ip side, executing a race
weekend well and getting
results was harder.”
“At the moment, there’s
not a deal in place,” he says
on the big question. “Having
been with BMW for fi ve
years, it would be great if I
could continue. But until I
have an offer, I have to look
at other opportunities.”
Season six of Formula E
starts in Saudi Arabia on 22
November. Fingers crossedSi m s i s on t he g r id.
MOT
ORSPORT
I
MAGE
SAlexander Sims took a
Formula E pole and ledthe New York finale
by-product from which is then
used for agriculture.
Such innovations will
undoubtedly continue, but the
industry faces a new challenge:
to reduce the sizeable CO 2
footprint produced by the
batteries used to power
supposedly emission-free EVs.
For this reason, car makers
increasingly talk of well-to-
wheel CO 2 footprints. By way
of example, a VW e-Golf needs
to be driven 77,000 miles
before its CO 2 footprint is
lower than that of a diesel Golf,
while BMW says a 42kWh i3’s
advantage versus a BMW 118d
“is 15% over the whole cycle
of sourcing materials, supply
chains, production (including
the battery), usage period and
recycling when charged with
EU-average electricity”. The
firm adds that the figure is
“almost 50% less” if the i3 is
charged with green electricity
during its usage period. Despite
the dramatic improvement
when using renewables, the
need to reduce the CO 2 impact
of battery manufacture
remains a pressing issue.
When the impact of
component production,
transportation logistics and
all of the associated activities
required to make, distribute
and sell a car are taken into
account, there remains plenty
of scope for reducing the 0.
to 0.4 tonnes of CO 2 emitted
during a vehicle’s production.
RICHARD BREMNER
THE UK GOVERNMENT has
pledged an additional £2.
million for local authorities to
install electric car charging
points in residential areas.
T h e c a s h i s ex p e c te d to
fu n d m o r e th a n 1 0 0 0 n ew
on-street chargers and
doubles the government's
investment in its On-Street
Residential Chargepoint
scheme. Under the scheme,
local authorities canapply for funding to install
charging points in existing
street furniture, such as
l a m p p o st s. I n a p r ev i o u s
round of investment, 16 local
authorities signed up, and a
total of 1200 new charging
points will be installed by the
end of the year.
The cash boost came as
data compiled by Nissan
showed that the UK now has
9199 EV charging stations,
compared with 8396 fuel
stations. While not a direct
comparison – most petrol
stations feature multiple
pumps – the figures do show
huge growth in the UK’s EV
charging network.
There were 913 charging
points in 2012, with that
figure rising to 6699 last
year – with more than 2000
installed so far this year.BP Chargemaster, the
UK’s largest charging point
provider, has switched on
the first of its new 150kW
Ultrachargers at a fuel
station near Heathrow
airport. BP Chargemaster
plans a further 400 such
chargers by 2021 as part of
the Polar network.
NEW BMW 4 SERIES BREAKS COVER
The second-generation BMW 4 Series
has been spotted undergoing dynamic
testing at the Nürburgring.
The two-door Audi A5 rival, which is
due on sale early next year, is built on
BMW’s CLAR platform and features a
design based on that of the larger 8
Series. It will be offered with a range of
petrol and diesel engines, including a
new 430e plug-in hybrid model that
will offer 248bhp from a 2.0-litre
four-cylinder petrol engine and
gearbox-mounted electric motor.
The new 4 Series will be offered in 248bhp 430e hybrid form
SPY SHOT
BMW 4 SERIES
Residential areas will benefit