ProDriver March 2025 issue

P R O F E S S I O N A L

VOLUME 16 ISSUE 07 £4.95

THE ROAD TO 2035

The challenging route to an electric destination

MELTDOWN

MAZ-TERFUL

Has Elon Musk's behaviour destroyed Tesla?

Mazda's new CX-80 flagship SUV on test

contents

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Photo: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons

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20 EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Mark Bursa 07813 320044 markbursa@prodrivermags.com

COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR

Paul Webb 07807 133527 paulwebb@prodrivermags.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Cover story: Our views on the EV consultation

News: Radio Taxis buys local rival News: BMW luxury sales overtake Mercedes News: Prepare for new VED charges News Analysis: Tesla in crisis over Musk Profile: Blacklane COO Rene van Olst Road Test: New Mazda CX-80 7-seater SUV First Look: Farizon SV electric van First Look: Kia PV-5 electric MPV

Regular features 30 31

The Knowledge The Insider

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PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

opinion

Smoothing the electric transition

T

Mark Bursa

“

Government policy needs to be pragmatic, not dogmatic.

The EV revolution will happen, but it might take a little longer to quell the fears of many motorists

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

he electric vehicle revolution hasn’t stalled, but it has certainly encountered some significant obstacles. In particular, there is a groundswell of reactionary public opinion against electric vehicles, which typically manifests itself with shrill voices on social media – usually from people who aren’t in the market for new vehicles at all.

Much of this is based on anecdotal nonsense that is fanned into hysteria. No, EVs don’t spontaneously burst into flames on a regular basis – far less, in fact than petrol or diesel cars. Battery packs rarely fail – in fact most battery packs will outlast the cars they’re powering, and once the car heads for scrap, the batteries are likely to carry on having a useful life as storage cells.

And while there’s a grain of truth in some of the environmental damage caused by battery production, the same applies to oil production. No industrial process is truly clean.

Against a background of genuine and mongered fears, the Government has sought opinions on how best to meet its targets of ending petrol and diesel sales by 2035. Professional Driver has responded to the consultation, and you can read more about our response on page 12 of this issue.

We feel that the deadlines have been shunted around enough – previously as part of a political pissing contest within the Tory party. Grandstanding Boris Johnson shunted it forward, cautious Rishi Sunak pushed it back.

Now Keir Starmer wants to bring it forward again. Enough is enough. The changes involve the minutiae of which vehicles should be allowed to be sold between 2030 and 2035. Pure petrol and diesel? Hybrids?

Honestly, it hardly matters.

By 2030 non-EVs should account for just 20% of the total sales – roughly 400,000 cars a year. Clearly, most will be hybrids or PHEVs. A few will be diesels – mainly bigger vehicles used for towing. There may be some entry-level petrol cars priced well below the cheapest electric cars. But the amount of emissions these cars will produce is negligible. Just leave the deadlines alone.

What should happen is a more flexible approach to the technologies involved.

Just stop prescribing a specific technology – battery-electric - as the only solution.

Instead set a level of emissions and work with the automakers to achieve this.

Plug-in hybrids are a case in point.

Against a nervous car-buying public, fearful of range anxiety and unable to find urban charging points, PHEVs offer a compromise solution that allows cleaner motoring around town and risk-free longer journeys. PHEVs are gaining popularity, and the technology is continuing to evolve.

Modern PHEVs are a far cry from the 15-miles-of-electric-range models of a few years ago. We’re almost at the stage of having PHEVs with 100 miles of electric range, using battery packs bigger than those fitted to, say, a first-gen Nissan Leaf.

There is a case – a strong one too – to classify these vehicles as zero-emissions vehicles. With home charging, or affordable street charging, the latest PHEVS – an Audi A3 has an 88-mile battery range – can be used just as an EV would. And with sufficient petrol range to reach Scotland from London without stopping, they are not doing too much damage to urban air quality.

Of course, the downside of PHEVs is the fact that you can drive them on the IC engine all the time, never charging the battery. And for sure, we know that has happened in the past.

But technology can help get round this problem. Geofencing technology could be fitted that forces the PHEV to switch to electric mode within a low-emissions zone.

If the battery is too depleted to do that, then the car is charged as if it were a non-compliant car. It would pay the driver to keep the car charged.

The main upshot of such a reclassification would be to remove the contentious argument that motorists were being “forced” into EVs that they don’t trust, don’t like and with inadequate infrastructure. Instead, they can drive an “equivalent ZEV” in the form of a PHEV, that can be refuelled just like any other IC-engined car.

It also buys the car industry time. Automakers are not going to stop developing EVs, and battery technology will keep on improving. Range will head toward 500 miles. Charging times will drop to just a few minutes. By 2035, we’ll probably be looking back at 2025 and wondering what all the fuss was about.

But right now, Government policy needs to be pragmatic, not dogmatic. The EV revolution will happen, but it might take a little longer to quell the fears of many motorists.

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business news

Radio Taxis grows Southampton fleet to 600 cars with Door 2 Door acquisition Mark Bursa

Radio Taxis Southampton has increased its presence in the major south coast city by acquiring local rival Door 2 Door Cars.

The deal adds an additional 70 cars to the Radio Taxis fleet, taking it close to 600 active cars. The deal is the second takeover for Radio Taxis in the past couple of years.

It acquired another Southampton operator, West Quay Cars in 2022, a deal which added 120 cars to the Radio Taxis fleet.

Both the West Quay and Door 2 Door brands are still being used but Radio Taxis CEO Simon May said the plan was to bring all the operations under the Radio

Taxis brand by the end of the year.

May said Door 2 Door specialized in NHS transport work and that would be a valuable addition to Radio Taxis’ services.

“It’s a positive move for the south coast to bring three major operators together under one brand,” he said.

He said Radio Taxis was looking at further expansion on the south coast, and that could mean further acquisitions. “We want to expand, and Bournemouth and Salisbury are our main targets,” he said, with the possibility of a deal in one or both towns “by the end of the year”.

Radio Taxis was not

planning to move into Portsmouth, however, as May said he did not want to get into a major battle with Veezu, which recently acquired Portsmouth’s biggest operator, Aqua Cars.

May said he had a waiting list of 300 drivers who want to join the company, and the company would review the fleet size at the end of April in preparation for the summer season. “We don’t want to flood the fleet,” he said.

He added most of the Door 2 Door drivers had been retained, but only one permanent member of staff had stayed on. Radio Taxis won the Gold award in the Private Hire Operator (81+ vehicles) category at the 2025 Professional Driver QSi Awards in January.

Operators concerned over Uber’s Oxford comeback Mark Bursa

Oxford operators are concerned that the city council’s decision to grant Uber a license to operate in the city will flood the city with out-of-town drivers looking for jobs.

Oxford was one of Uber’s prime targets for its now-ended Local Cab scheme, which saw Uber jobs offered to existing private hire operators, as the ride-hail giant claimed that up to 10,000 Uber users opened the app in the city every week – only to find no cabs available.

Uber initially partnered with major local operator 001 Taxis when it took the local cab scheme to Oxford in 2021. But Uber users have been unable to access cars since Local Cab was

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scrapped at the end of 2023.

Uber is now licensed to operate in Oxford and its surrounding areas. It launched in the city last week after Oxford City Council said it “found no reason to refuse the application”.

001 Taxis Oxford boss Amir Khan said Uber’s arrival would impact firms already operating in the city. “The main concern is wherever they go, they flood the market with taxis,” he told local media.

“They could be local taxis, but a lot of the time it’s out-of-towners, which impacts local drivers who have been working in these areas for a long time. The worry is the flooding of out-of-town vehicles, which will kill the trade for local drivers. The earnings will just diminish.”

Khan also expressed concerns about vehicle standards. “The vehicle standards are not to the standard they are in Oxford. The vehicles, drivers, the processes are all different.”

Uber said it was “delight-

ed to be launching in one of the UK's most iconic cities”, though Sajad Khan, secretary of the City of Oxford Licenced Taxicab Association, said the company faced challenges in Oxford.

“Oxford is a small city and the work is dependent a lot on students,” he said “If students are away it gets very quiet.” He said that since the Covid pandemic, more people were working from home and fewer people were arriving at Oxford railway station.

He added that granting Uber a license also contradicted council strategies to reduce traffic and emissions. But Uber said it was increasingly focused on growing its electric vehicle fleet, adding that London was now Uber’s “global leading city for EVs”.

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

business news

BP reopens Great West Road services as electric hub BP has converted its service station on the westbound Great West Road in Hammersmith to an all-electric BP Pulse rapid charge hub.

The former BP Cromwell garage, just after the Hammersmith flyover on the A4 out of London, closed in March 2024, and the petrol and diesel pumps were removed to make way for five 300kW rapid charge points, each capable of charging two cars. These are capable of delivering a 100-mile top-up in 15 minutes.

The revamped facility also includes an onsite Marks & Spencer shop offering food and hot drinks. The site is expected to be popular with chauffeurs and private hire operators who make frequent trips from central London to Heathrow via the A4 and M4.

The new Hammersmith hub is one of BP’s first all-electric service stations in London, part of the company’s ambitious £1 billion investment in new EV charging hubs.

The BP station at the Talgarth Road flyover,

just a mile away, has also recently had 10 fast-charge points installed, while retaining traditional fuel options.

The eastbound service station on the other side of the A4 from the new EV hub will continue to provide petrol and diesel pumps

alongside its Londis store and 24-hour off license. BP aims to roll out 100,000 EV charging points globally by 2030, with 90% of its new chargers designated as rapid or ultra-fast.

Richard Bartlett, head of BP Pulse, said: “It’s the difference between adding hundreds of miles of range in minutes and having to leave your car overnight on a slow charger. EV is ultimately a scale game, rolling out high-power charging sites with dozens of chargers per site.”

Hammersmith & Fulham borough has the densest network of car-charging points in the UK. The number of electric charge points has risen from 113 in 2017 to 2,800 in 2024.

Council ordered to pay costs of ‘improper’ Lucky Seven Private Hire prosecution

Mark Bursa

A local authority has been ordered to pay costs to a private hire operator after it admitted that its own mistake led to a discontinued a two-year long prosecution against the operator.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council had prosecuted midlands operator Lucky Seven Private Hire for illegally operating in its area after it failed to issue the operator with the correct license when the business changed hands. But before the matter came to court, the council was forced to admit that it could not even prove that Lucky Seven had been “operating” within its area.

Lucky Seven holds operator’s licenses in Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton, Cheshire East and Newcastle-under-Lyme.

In late 2021, ownership of the business changed hands after the death of one of the co-owners, Tahir Mahmood.

The company applied to

each of its authorities for a new operator’s license and completed the necessary suitability checks. Each authority granted a new operator’s license in the names of the new business owners.

However, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council purported to “transfer” the existing license to the new owners, retaining the old license’s original expiry date of April 2022 – an effective license term of just six months.

The owners did not notice that they had not been granted a new five-year license until the afternoon of the expiry date.They made

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

arrangements to ensure their business could continue to operate lawfully, through allocating bookings to licensed hackney carriages or by sub-contracting bookings to other Lucky Seven entities or a separate Newcastle-licensed operator.

At all times, the business had operated from a single premises – the address of which was specified in their Newcastle operator’s license – in Stoke-on-Trent.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council took the view that this arrangement was unlawful and amounted to operating without an operator’s license. A pros-

ecution was commenced in October 2022.

But Lucky Seven had not “made provision for the invitation and acceptance of bookings for a private hire vehicle” in Newcastle’s area (as it had been doing so in Stoke), so it had not been “operating” in its controlled district and therefore the offence was not made out.

The Council had unlawfully granted the firm an operator’s license of just six months’ duration. Had the company been granted the 5-year term to which it was entitled (in the absence of any exceptional circumstances justifying a shorter term), it would have held a valid operator’s license throughout the period. This meant the prosecution was brought as a direct result of the Council’s own unlawful act.

On the morning of the trial, the Council belatedly conceded that it could not prove its case that the defendant had been operating in its own district.

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business news

InstaVolt extends off-peak EV charging times and adds two new rapid hubs Mark Bursa

Charging network InstaVolt has extended its off-peak tariff by two hours a day.

Now drivers can charge for 54p/kWh from 9PM to 7AM, a saving of 31p/kWh over the standard tariff of 85p/kWh. InstaVolt CEO Delvin Lane said: “We’re always listening to our customers, and they told us they wanted off-peak pricing to start earlier and finish later. We hope that by making public charging as affordable and accessible as possible it will encourage more drivers to switch to electric.”

InstaVolt has recently opened two new charging stations. These are at South Normanton, near the M1 in Derbyshire and Basingstoke, Hampshire. It has also upgraded its Banbury hub with new rapid chargers, and a “superhub” in

InstaVolt's new Banbury charging 'superhub' has 44 charging stations and is due to open in March

Winchester (pictured) is due to open next month.

The Winchester site is located near the A34 and close to the M3, and will feature 44 ultra-rapid chargers, making it InstaVolt’s largest superhub to date. It will include dedicated bays for larger vehicles and those towing, on-site solar panels and battery storage to reduce reliance on the grid, as well as a Starbucks café and 24/7 toilet facilities.

The South Normanton site is one of the largest charging facilities in the area. It has 10 ultra-rapid 160kW chargers. It is located near Coleman’s MOT and Tyre Centre, and next to a McDonald’s restaurant.

The Basingstoke hub is at Chineham Business Park near the M3 and A33.

It features eight 160kW ultra-rapid chargers, and there is a café close by on the business park.

InstaVolt’s Banbury site has been upgraded, and all 32 chargers are now 160kW ultra rapid BYD chargers The hub is at Stroud Park, off Junction 11 of the M40.

InstaVolt’s target is to have 11,000 UK chargers by 2030. It currently has more than 1,800 chargers at 680 sites. According to Zapmap, at the end of December 2024, there were more than 1.36 million fully electric cars on UK roads.

Ionity opens its largest EV charging hub at Dartford Bridge Mark Bursa Ionity has opened its largest rapid EV charging site in the UK at the Dartford Bridge DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, just off Junction 1a of the M25.

The new hub has 25 ultra-rapid 350kW chargers. These are all powered exclusively by 100% renewable energy, sourced from wind, solar, or hydroelectric power.

It is the first of six Ionity hubs to be opened at DoubleTree by Hilton locations – the others are in Newbury, Coventry, Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow, where a total of 104 public rapid chargers will be deployed.

Peter Stack, CEO of Klarent Hospitality, which runs the DoubleTree hotel franchises, said: “Partnering with Ionity opens up new revenue streams for us. It’s crucial for us to future-proof our hotels against both the evolving needs of travellers and hotel guests, and our short and long-term sustainability commitments. This agreement

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delivers both.” The partnership is part of Ionity’s broader plan to treble the number of publicly available charging stations in the UK by the end of 2025.

The DoubleTree hotels deal follows a similar arrangement between Ionity and

Holiday Inn, announced last year, to build six ultra-rapid charging hubs at Holiday Inn hotels.

The first of these at the Holiday Inn Doncaster, at junction 36 of the A1, opened last November, with six 350kW chargers.

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

business news

Renault reveals new all-electric Trafic range for 2026 Renault’s next-generation Trafic van will be an all-electric model as part of the automaker’s plan to refresh its commercial vehicle range.

The new Trafic E-Tech electric is one of three all-new LCVs that will be built at Renault’s Sandouville plant in northern France from 2026.

The Trafic E-Tech (pictured) is the fourth-generation Trafic since the name was first used in 1980.

Since then Renault has built more than 2.5 million Trafics as vans and people-movers.

The Trafic E-Tech electric has a short front overhang and extended wheelbase, with wheels positioned at the corners to maximise interior space while giving a turning circle equivalent to that of a Renault Clio. It is less than 1.90m tall for easy access to multi-storey car parks.

Passenger versions will be part of the range and could be offered to taxi

operators on special deals via Renault’s Mobilize division.

The other two new Renault electric LCVs, revive model names from the past: Estafette, and Goelette. The Goelette name was used on a number of light trucks from 1956 to 1982. The new Goelette E-Tech electric is available in three versions: chassis cab, box and tipper, paving the way for a wide choice of conversions.

The original Estafette was built between 1959 and 1980 – indeed, it was replaced by the first-generation Trafic, so this will be the first time Renault has offered vans carrying the same name at the same time.

Inspired by Renault Estafette Concept presented last September, the Estafette E-Techelectric is designed as an urban delivery van, with a tall roof and high-cube interior.

Just 5.27m long and 1.92m wide, it is a compact vehicle designed for city streets.

It stands 2.60m high, allowing a person up to 1.90m tall to move around the interior easily, between the cockpit and cargo area. It has sliding doors and running boards for ease of access.

The three vans all use Renault’s new “skateboard” Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) architecture developed by EV subsidiary company Ampere.

BMW overtakes Mercedes-Benz in 2024 luxury limousine sector Mark Bursa

BMW overtook MercedesBenz as the leading seller of luxury limousines for the first time in 2024, with combined sales of BMW 7-series and i7 beating combined Mercedes-Benz S-Class and EQS sales.

The bulk of cars in this segment are bought by chauffeurs, and the sales figures underline the success of the BMW i7 (pictured) in the London chauffeur market.

The car was voted Chauffeur Car of the Year in the 2025 Professional Driver Car of the Year Awards last month.

In 2024, BMW registered 621 i7s and 272 PHEV 7-series models, giving a total of 893 units in the luxury sector. MercedesBenz recorded 479 S-Class registrations and 403 for the EQS saloon, a total of 882

units.The market has effectively become a two-horse race, with Audi selling only 128 A8s and Lexus selling just 3 LS models in 2024.

The only other significant seller of large four-door luxury cars was Porsche, which sold 584 Panameras, though few of these are bought for chauffeuring.

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

Jaguar exited the sector several years ago, while Rolls-Royce sold just 50 Ghost saloons in the UK, and Bentley registered 135 Flying Spurs. Maserati sold a single Quattroporte; a new version is expected in the future.

Meanwhile MercedesBenz has discontinued the

standard wheelbase S-Class for all models except the Mercedes-AMG S 63 E Performance editions.

All other diesel and plugin hybrid models are now exclusively long-wheelbase cars. Prices start at £98,015 for the S350d AMG Line Premium long-wheelbase model.

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business news

GLH patient transport services gain Care Quality Commission approval Mark Bursa

In an industry first, London private hire operator GLH’s non-emergency patient transport services have been approved by the Care Quality Commission, the Government body that regulates and inspects health and social care providers in England.

The CQC has approved GLC’s services as they meet five key standards: safety, effectiveness, care, responsiveness and good leadership.

GLH provides patient transport services to NHS trusts and the private healthcare sector, and the company says its Driver Care Assist training goes beyond industry standard.

The training covers areas such as scope of practice: duty of care and patient confidentiality; information governance; mental capacity and consent; incident reporting; equality and diversity; safeguarding; infection prevention and control; communication

and interaction; dementia awareness; fire safety; patient assistance and emergency first aid.

GLH director Zoe Walsh said: “We believe the level of care patients receive must extend to their journeys – which often take place when they are feeling

at their most vulnerable. For some years now we have been aligning our care with CQC standards and we are pleased to announce that we are now officially CQC registered.”

“Our mission is to provide exceptional non-emergency patient transport services with a commitment to safety, comfort, and reliability. We are dedicated to ensuring that every individual experiences a dignified and stress-free journey to their destination.”

GLH has recently expanded its fleet of private ambulances and has introduced a bespoke NHS booking system which has streamlined the booking experience, achieving a 50% time-saving for hospitals.

Executive ride-hailing platform Ouno announces partnership with London Excel exhibition centre Executive ride-hailing platform Ouno has become the official executive transfer partner of London exhibition centre Excel.

The London-based Ouno platform is accessed by more than 2,000 professional chauffeurs, and Ouno will be able to offer Excel visitors rides to London and beyond.

Ouno’s fleet offers a range of electric vehicle options and incentives for its chauffeurs.

Both pre-booked and on-demand services are available, and visitors can book rides using Ouno’s mobile app, the Excel website, or at kiosks located within the venue (pictured).

In addition, an exclusive Ouno pickup and drop-off point will be made

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visitors. Ouno offers a seamless travel experience, with an emphasis on punctuality, safety and exceptional service.”

Bobby Drewett, Founder of Ouno, added: “We know from analysing our trip data and insight that Ouno is already used by attendees at Excel London.

This partnership presents us with a significant business development opportunity given the scale and demographic of available within Excel’s underground visitors to the venue. It’s also a superb parking facilities. brand activation platform with the Simon Mills, Excel’s Chief Comlargest events venue in London as we mercial Officer, said: “We’re delighted continue to grow the Ouno business.” to be partnering with a brand like Ouno already has major partnerships Ouno and offering even more travel with the likes of Soho Farmhouse, Praoptions for Excel’s four million annual da and ATG Entertainment’s theatres.

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

business news

BYD set to launch premium Denza brand in Europe Chinese automaker BYD is planning to unveil a premium brand for European markets next month.

The brand, Denza, will make its European debut at Brera Design Week 2025 in Milan, from April 7-13.

It will be pitched directly against European prestige brands such as BMW, Range Rover and Mercedes-Benz. Initial vehicles will include the Denza Z9 GT estate (pictured), a sports wagon in the style of the Porsche Panamera and designed by former Audi stylist Wolfgang Egger.

In China it comes as an EV with a 400mile range and a PHEV. A rugged SUV is also expected, designed to compete with Land-Rover Defender.

The Denza brand has existed in China since 2011, initially as a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz. But Mercedes exited the JV in December 2021, and BYD has been 100% owner of the brand since 2024. In China, Denza is positioned as a premium EV brand and has launched five new

models: the D9 minivan, N7 and N8 SUVs, Z9 sedan, and Z9 GT estate. In 2024, the company sold 125,674 cars in China.

BYD also has two other Chinese brands, Fang Cheng Bao and Yangwang.

Vehicles sold in China under these brands are also likely to join the Europe-

an Denza range. In a statement, BYD said Denza “embodies the art and science of modern mobility. Every detail has been designed to express elegance and prestige, using the finest materials that embrace the desire for premium quality and comfort”.

Sherbet boss Moses calls on London Mayor to address decline in black taxi numbers Mark Bursa

London taxi driver and black cab numbers have fallen again, while Private Hire licensing remains stable, according to new data from TfL. The drop in black cab numbers has prompted Sherbet boss Asher Moses to write an open letter to London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, asking for financial support, better road access and a speeded-up Knowledge process in order to stem the decline.

TfL reported that the number of licensed taxi drivers fell to 16,847 as of February 2, 2025, with 26 drivers leaving the trade in January.

The number of licensed taxis also declined by nine to 14,501, roughly twothirds of the 22,200 in 2013 and a decline of 600 from the 15,100 recorded by the

Department for Transport in 2023.

Private hire driver numbers fell slightly by 58 to 107,921, though TfL issued 247 new licenses in the first week of February.

Private hire vehicle licenses increased by 154 to 96,671, with 339 new vehicles added in the same week.

In his letter to Sir Sadiq, Sherbet CEO Asher Moses called for a ‘fast track’ Knowledge to be introduced. He wrote: “It’s no

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

surprise that the number of qualifying drivers has dipped to its lowest level in 40 years and around 60% of all drivers are 50 years+. So please introduce a speedier fast-track option that still retains the high standards of the traditional Knowledge but allows accelerated training.”

He also asked for VAT relief on electric taxis and a wider choice of vehicles beyond the LEVC TX1 model , currently the only

available vehicle for black cab use. And black cabs should not be excluded from bus-only streets in the City, as this was a major problem for drivers.

He also said the cost of rapid charging in London has gone up by 500% in London over the past 5 years. This was a disincentive for drivers to use the electric powertrain of the series-hybrid TX1, instead running off the car’s petrol generator and creating emissions. “I surveyed drivers this week and found 64% of them can’t afford to charge so they depend on the range extender,” he wrote.

Sherbet is one of the largest taxi fleets in London, with 500 vehicles – all of them TX1 range-extender hybrid models. The company won two Professional Driver QSi Awards at last month’s Brighton event.

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business news

HATS Group slashes accident costs by using AI-powered video telematics Mark Bursa

Patient transport specialist HATS Group has cut accident costs by 96% and accident frequency by 78% by using AI-powered video telematics.

HATS Group uses Lytx and Geotab technology to help cut costs and improve driver safety for the healthcare transportation provider.

In addition, real-time driver coaching combines with fleet analytics to ensure safe driving practices – leading to a 74% improvement in seatbelt use. The video telematics also help optimise vehicle utilisation and reduce fuel consumption.

HATS Group operates a fleet of 880 ambulances, minibuses, and coaches, and has fitted them all with Lytx Surfsight AI-12 dash cameras and Geotab GO9 telematics devices.

The devices were installed in response to escalating insurance premiums.

In-cab alerts are used to help drivers self-correct

unsafe behaviour in real time, while providing valuable data for targeted safety training programmes.

In the four months prior to implementation, HATS Group recorded 18 incidents costing the company up to £35,000. After installing Geotab and Lytx technology, the number of incidents dropped to four over the next four-month period, with costs falling to £1,500. At one South West London site, seatbelt usage improved by 74% within two weeks of installation, dropping from 3,500 to 900 violations.

Oliver Temple, Channel Sales Leader EMEA & APAC at Lytx, said: “With more vehicles on the road and insurance premiums rising, it’s vital that fleets prioritise safety. Traditional telematics technology doesn’t provide organisations with a full picture of why incidents are occurring, however.”

“Video solutions, like the one implemented for HATS Group, empower drivers to take action before an incident happens, while giving fleet managers the data they need to make positive changes. Video is helping

fleets to become safer, more efficient and more financially sustainable in the long run.”

Peter Barnes, Head of Patient Transport for SE London at HATS Group, said: “With the technology developed by Geotab and Lytx, our drivers feel more confident behind the wheel.

It also helps our control staff to be able to pick up on issues straight away and help drivers in real time when they're on the road.”

The solution has also transformed HATS Group’s claims management process. In one instance, footage from the Geotab-integrated dash cameras helped achieve a split liability decision in a motorcycle collision that would have been ruled against HATS Group based on written reports alone.

The HATS team is now using the solution’s advanced analytics to optimise vehicle utilisation and reduce fuel consumption through improved idle time management.

Veezu moves to upfront pricing in Swindon and reduces off-peak fares Veezu has introduced upfront pricing in Swindon, making it the first private hire vehicle operator in the area to do so.

Upfront pricing is a move away from traditional metered fares. Passengers are told how much their ride will cost before their booking is confirmed, either over the phone or via the Veezu app.

Veezu said the move was made to offer greater clarity and consistency in private hire fares and aims to provide peace of mind to those who rely on private hire services.

The private hire company also introduced a reduction in off-peak fares from Monday to Friday.

Veezu Regional Director Jack Price said: “We understand that during uncertain economic times, fair and predictable pric-

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ing is important to all passengers. Veezu is committed to delivering value to our passengers, and upfront pricing enables us to continue to do this.”

With operations in a growing number of hubs around the UK, Veezu is likely to adopt similar fare policies in other cities, providing the Swindon move is a success.

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

business news

Volvo returns to saloon sector with electric ES90 Volvo is returning to the saloon sector with a new electric replacement for the S90. The ES90 will be the first Volvo car with 800V technology to give a longer range and faster charging.

The ES90 is the sixth electric Volvo to join the range, joining the EX90, EM90, EX40, EC40 and EX30.

And it is likely to be joined in due course by an EV90 estate version.

There are three motor and battery combinations on offer, two of which are all-wheel drive and one rear-wheel drive. The RWD version has a 92kWh battery, whereas the dual-motor cars get a 106kWh pack.

As a result the dual-motor car has the longest range, up to 435 miles on a charge – more than key rivals including BMW i5 and Mercedes-Benz EQE. The use of 800V technology means the

ES90 can add 190 miles of range in just 10 minutes at 350kW fast charging stations, and offers a driving range of more than 435 miles under the WLTP cycle.

The ES90 is a hatchback rather than a booted saloon. The boot provides up to 424 litres of loading space. A 22-litre ‘frunk’ at the front is perfect for the charging cables.

A long wheelbase of 3,100mm means the ES90 provides extremely generous legroom for second-row passengers. Interior finishes are highly customizable with a variety of upholstery and lighting options.

The ES90 also comes with a panoramic roof that provides UV protection of up to 99.9%. This has an electrochromic option, allowing the occupants to adjust the transparency of the roof glass.

The driving position is minimalist, with a central14.5in portrait touch screen and a smaller digital panel above the steering wheel. There are barely any physical buttons.

The Volvo ES90 is available for order now in most major European markets, including the UK, with deliveries scheduled for early 2026. UK prices will start at £69,950 for the RWD Plus version.

New VED rules will hit drivers of expensive cars, and EVs pay too Mark Bursa

New car tax rules will come into force from April 1, and will hit drivers of petrol, electric and diesel cars – especially if the car is priced above £40,000.

Drivers of electric or low-emission vehicles will have to start paying Vehicle Excise Duty from April 1 this year as measures announced the Autumn Budget last October come into effect.

EV drivers will have to pay £10 for the first year from April 1. From the second year onwards, drivers will pay the standard rate of £195. Previously, EVs were exempt from VED. All cars emitting between 1-50g/km of CO2 (most plug-in hybrids) will see the first year tax bill rise to £110. Currently hybrids in this band pay zero VED in

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

the first year, while petrol and diesel cars pay £10.

New cars emitting between 51-75g/km of CO2 will see car tax increase from £30 (or £20 for hybrids) to £135.

The biggest hit will be for drivers of cars with a list price of more than £40,000.

These motorists will be liable to pay “premium car tax”, which adds an additional £425 to the VED charge, for five years. The

five-year time limit starts from the second year the car is first registered. New electric cars with a list price above £40,000 will be subject to the premium car tax fee as well as the standard VED charge, making the annual bill £435 for new cars and £620 for cars registered after April 1, 2017.

Owners of electric, zero-emission or low-emission cars registered between April 1, 2017 and March

31, 2025 will also pay the standard rate of £195. And drivers who own older electric, zero or low emission cars (with CO2 emissions below 100g/km) registered between March 1, 2001 and March 31, 2017 will move from the zero-rated Band A to Band B, which will cost £20 a year. Most electric vans will move to the standard annual rate for light goods vehicles.

The £10 annual discount for hybrid and Alternative Fuel Vehicles(AFVs) is being removed, and the rate you will pay will depend on when the vehicle was first registered.

If the vehicle was: registered before April 1, 2017, the rate will depend on the vehicle’s CO2 emissions. If it was registered on or after April 1, 2017 the standard VED rate of £195 will apply.

11

THE ROAD TO 20 news analysis: vat consult ation

The Government needs to be flexible to ensure its EV mandate remains on trac

T

he Government’s consultation into the EV mandate closed in February. The consultation sought views on whether the deadlines should again be changed so that no pure internal-combustion engine cars can be sold in the UK after 2030, with hybrid sales ceasing in 2035.

Professional Driver’s response to the consultation is summarised in this feature. We endeavoured to add context, to represent the needs of the private hire, taxi and chauffeur sector, and to make recommendations of what we believe would be helpful.

Firstly, it is important to recognise that there is widespread support for an EV transition within the taxi and private hire trade, though this support is not universal. And there is a strongly held view that not enough has been done to assist operators and drivers with the transition.

The overall anecdotal impression we get from talking to operators is of a much more positive view than within the general car-buying public, where there is considerable scepticism about

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the EV transition. Large numbers of people are strongly anti-EV and oppose the 2030 transition. Among all drivers, support is less than 40%.

There are number of reasons for this. Some are based upon practical considerations; others are either “culture war” agenda issues or social media trends which, no matter how tenuous, have an impact on attitudes, especially among right-wing voters.

The reach and impact of this misinformation must not be underestimated.

It is easy to dismiss angry Tweets calling EVs ‘woke’ or alleging they are likely to burst into flames at any given moment. Below the surface there is a genuine depth of scepticism among buyers, which could manifest itself in large parts of the car market simply refusing to buy EVs, even beyond 2030.

The result of this would be increasing numbers of ageing cars being kept on the road (as no new ICE replacements are available) which will do little to reduce emissions. Indeed, older ICE vehicles with increasing mileage and increasingly worn engines will

produce far greater levels of emissions than new PHEVs. The practical objections are easily countered. Shortcomings in range, cost and infrastructure are being overcome. With the latest EVs typically offering 250-300 miles of range (some are now at 400 miles) the issue of range is becoming less prevalent. But EVs are still seen as expensive to buy and run, and infrastructure remains problematic, especially in urban areas.

2030 or 2035 for the end of ICE? Question 1 on the consultation document asked if respondents agreed with the Government’s view that full hybrid and plug-in hybrid technologies only should be sold alongside EVs after 2030, not pure petrol or diesel cars.

Our view is that yet another change would be counter-productive. We oppose reverting the phase-out for ICE vehicles to 2030. Principally, we feel there should be clarity on the issue, and constantly moving the date around is unhelpful. Remember, the original 2035 deadline was wound back to

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

2035

ck.Mark Bursa reports

2030 by Boris Johnson. This decision was reversed by Rishi Sunak.

As Professional Driver Magazine outlined in the aftermath of Sunak’s decision, the change will make little difference overall to clean air targets, net zero etc. By 2030, as it currently stands, only 20% of cars sold in the UK will be non-ZEVs. This reduces on a sliding scale until 2035.

Given a 2 million car market, the total number of vehicles is likely to be less than 1 million over a five-year period. Most of these are likely to be hybrids. Those that are not are likely to be either specialist vehicles (such as 4x4s or double-cab pick-ups) that are principally used for towing, carrying loads and rural use; or entry-level petrol hatchbacks which are likely to be among the most frugal ICE-powered vehicles and are sold at a price point below the cheapest EVs or PHEVs. We believe that a further shift in the deadline would create further confusion among car buyers; would add further complexity to product planning and would have a negligible impact on emissions.

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

news analysis: EV consult ation Our conclusion is to leave the deadlines as they are. If there is to be any change, it would make sense to align them more closely with EU deadlines.

Question 2 asks whether both HEVs and PHEVs should be sold after 2030, or PHEVs only? Once again, the government is falling into a trap of prescribing technologies rather than setting levels.

Our view is that we must stop attempting to classify vehicles by specifying types of technology. The only measure that counts is the level of emissions produced by that vehicle.

As an example, we cited TfL’s “zero emissions capable” rules for Private Hire, introduced in in 2016. These meant the HEV Toyota Prius could no longer be registered, only the PHEV version.

Professional Driver magazine has tested both vehicles. Given the high mileages of a typical Private Hire car, the 15 miles of zero-emissions motoring provided by the Prius PHEV are negated entirely by having to drive around with a heavy depleted battery for the rest of the day.

Our conclusion was that in practical use (where drivers do not have the ability to stop for 45 minute recharges at regular intervals) the HEV was cleaner in emissions terms than the PHEV; both were extremely clean, yet dogmatic policy choices meant the cheaper and more easily acquired vehicle was banned. This is a mistake worth avoiding.

A continued role for PHEVs? Question 4 was an interesting one.

It asked whether a minimum range should be required for new plug-in hybrid vehicles and, if so, at what level should it be set?

We are pleased that PHEVs are being taken seriously here. In our view, PHEVs could – and should – play a continuing role in the electrification process. The technology continues to evolve, and while UK policy envisages the end of PHEV sales in 2035, this is not reflected around the world.

Indeed, it is worth noting that some of the latest PHEV vehicles offer pure-electric range comparable to EVs on sale 10 years ago. The Audi A3 TSFI e has an 88-mile battery range.

The BYD Seal U PHEV offers a battery range of 78 miles – the effective range of a Nissan Leaf as tested by

Professional Driver back in 2015 (78 miles was the available range on an 84% charge).

There is surely a case for allowing a PHEV with a range of, say more than 70 miles to be classified as a Zero-Emissions vehicle. It is possible to use geofencing technology to force the vehicle to use electric drive within designated urban low-emission zones, giving it equivalent performance to a first-generation battery EV. As new battery technology becomes available, the electric range of PHEV vehicles will improve even further, while allowing normal refuelling and a complete removal of “range anxiety” for long-distance journeys and for those living in less populated areas.

Indeed, it is likely that PHEVs with a battery range of 100 miles or more will be coming to market within the next 12 months.

For private hire users, it would allow the bulk of urban miles to be emissions-free, while allowing drivers to carry out longer inter-city journeys in hybrid mode, using a mixture of petrol and regenerated electric energy. Allowing this option would give the social media “EV refuseniks” no excuse to hang on to diesels in protest to being “forced” to buy an EV. It would benefit the bigger picture if a less dogmatic approach to vehicle choice were adopted. An approach based on actual emissions, rather than a specific technology. A low-emissions PHEV is a major improvement on an older diesel. This more pragmatic approach will gain traction faster than forcing only one technology on to the motoring public.

Our view is there should be no deadline for the end of PHEV sales. Rather, the government should work with automakers to ensure that technology (such as geofencing) is developed to make these vehicles perform as ZEVs where low emissions are most needed (urban areas).

Any mileage limit for EV performance for PHEVs should be flexible, and based upon available technology.

There are a number of questions specific to the van market which may be of little concern to the taxi and private hire sector. But Question 8 asks for views on current measures to support demand for zero emission vehicles, and asks what additional

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

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news analysis: vat consult ation

“

Running costs are lower for EVs, but only for those with access to home charging

”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

measures could further support the transition.

In recent years we have seen a gradual erosion of incentives on new EV purchases, and this acts as a disincentive to switch, especially as EVs tend to have a higher list price than their ICE equivalent.

Our view is that incentives should be targeted at “low-hanging fruit” such as private hire drivers and delivery van drivers, who tend to do higher urban mileages and thus will have a greater positive impact on air quality through going electric.

Reducing VAT on charging networks should also be considered in the interests of fairness. Those who do not have access to home charging and have to use commercial chargers have to pay VAT at a higher rate: essentially, a tax on the poor.

The remainder of the consultation concerns the vehicle manufacturing sector – of the remaining questions, the one of most interest was Question 11, which sought opinions on exemptions for Special Purpose Vehicles from the 2030 requirements for cars and vans?

SPVs include security/armoured vehicles, which are used by a number of Professional Driver readers.

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These tend to be extremely heavy and use large petrol engines to provide “getaway” performance. These vehicles cannot be replicated by EVs for technical reasons. They must remain exempt from the 2030/35 requirements, indefinitely.

The private hire sector has an extremely positive effect on transport, and should be seen as an integral part of the public transport networks, offering convenient services around the clock, which are unmatched by other modes (bus, train, tram etc).

The sector contributes to a sizeable decrease in private car use, reducing urban congestion and pollution.

Positive impact of electric PHVs The average private hire vehicle covers substantially more miles per year than the average private car. It is not unusual for PHVs to cover 50,000 miles per year, and some cars cover in excess of 100,000 miles per year.

Given average annual mileage for a private car was 7,000 miles in 2023, replacing one ICE-engined private hire car with an EV is the equivalent of replacing 10 private cars. However, EVs are more expensive to produce than ICE vehicles, largely due to the cost of producing the battery pack.

The average price of an EV sold in the UK is around £46,000, whereas

the average price of an ICE-engined vehicle is around £35,000. Of course, many cars are sold under leasing/ contract hire schemes with monthly payments over a fixed term (typically 3-4 years), which reduces the upfront financial impact.

However, the higher annual mileages involved in private hire and chauffeur work means most banks will not offer a lease scheme. As a result, most private hire drivers either buy outright or use a lease-purchase scheme which results in them keeping the car. These tend to be more expensive than contract hire/leasing schemes.

Running costs are often quoted as being much lower for EVs compared to ICE cars. However, this is only the case for those with access to home charging, giving access to low overnight tariffs (typically around 8p/kW, but as low as 3p/kW).

DfT data from 2022 suggests that 93% of EV users charge at home. This is dangerously skewed, and reflects a market that has already changed substantially. The 2022 data surveys early adopters, who tend to have access to off-street parking.

Accurate data is difficult to source regarding households without access to off-street parking. Numbers generally quoted are around 30%, but the data tends to be based around “proper-

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

news analysis: EV consult ation ties”. So a terraced house might have a space outside for a car – but the house could be converted to multiple-occupancy, which would mean a single space was inadequate.

We estimate around 40% of motorists do not have access to off-street parking, and that situation is worse in major cities. This has a significant impact on taxi and private hire drivers, who tend not to be high earners and are likely to like in a flat or shared-occupancy house.

As a result, these drivers are faced with trying to find an overnight street charger close to home (which might involve a lengthy walk alone at night).

Alternatively, they have no option but to use the commercial charging networks, which are considerably more expensive.

These networks such as Gridserve, Ionity, Instavolt, BP Pulse and others are installing large numbers of highspeed chargers, principally on motorway services and trunk roads, but also at large destinations such as the NEC in Birmingham.

This has certainly made travelling longer distances by EV considerably easier and less stressful – but it comes at a cost. These chargers cost typically between 75-85p/kW, though there are subscription models and off-peak tariffs that can bring this down to between 40-55p/kW. Unpredictable charging infrastructure Our experience of using the charging networks at normal tariffs is that there is no price advantage over filling up with petrol or diesel, and a considerable loss of time.

At busy times, it may take up to an hour to add 200 miles of range to an EV, as the charge points rarely operate at their quoted speeds. A 350kW charger may, in practice, deliver charge at only 150kW. Likewise a 150kW charger may deliver at well under 100kW. Additionally, the restricted range of an equivalent EV against a diesel car means the motorist may have to recharge two or three times in order to get the same amount of range as a fully-fuelled diesel. That could mean three hours of waiting around at a motorway service station against a 5-minute refuel.

For taxi and private hire drivers, time off the road is time when no

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

Conclusions and recommendations

Our view is the following measures should be implemented in order to ease the transition to EVs: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

No change to the 2035 timeframe, in order to give clarity to motorists and automakers A national strategy for infrastructure deployment aimed at providing access to overnight charging for those without offstreet charging Reduced VAT on commercial charge networks to the same level as domestic electricity, in the interest of fairness Specific national incentives for high-mileage users such as private hire drivers and urban delivery drivers, in order to speed up the EV switch in these areas.

Specific consideration of high battery-electric range (70 milesplus) Plug-In Hybrids (PHEVs) as “equivalent EVs” over a longer timeframe than 2035, as this addresses “EV scepticsm”.

earnings are being made.

This acts as a substantial disincentive to going electric, and another good reason to support the continued sale of PHEVs. The inadequate provision of urban infrastructure prompted London’s largest operator, Addison Lee, to reverse a plan to go all-electric.

Instead, the company has replaced its

legacy diesel vehicles with cleaner petrol-electric hybrids.

The company cited a lack of availability of suitable EV models, particularly 7-seaters, and ongoing problems with charging infrastructure.

Addison Lee CEO Liam Griffin said: “We remain committed to operating a zero emissions fleet. However, our experience has since shown us that we need to be pragmatic about how we achieve this. Right now, there is neither the availability of vehicles nor robust enough charging infrastructure in London to go fully electric at speed and scale.”

National street charging startegy needed Previous governments have set funds aside (the LEVI scheme) for local authorities to draw down and implement local charging infrastructure plans. While the amounts available are laudable - £56 million in 2023 was spent on the scheme – the result has been a lack of joined-up thinking.

Some councils (such as Brighton) have implemented widespread onstreet charging while others (such as Birmingham) have done very little other than set aside land for large commercial charging hubs around the conurbation.

Leaving these decisions to the whims of local councils of different political colours is never going to deliver a uniform charging environment.

A proper government strategy on EV charging needs to be centrally run and managed.

A national strategy for implementing on-street charging is urgently required

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news analysis: tesla crisis

MUSK’S ‘RATN I

Elon Musk's lurch toward far-right politics has cause Can the electric car pioneer recover, and what migh

t’s April 1991. Gerald Ratner, boss of the jewellery retail group that bore his name, is giving a speech to a conference of UK business leaders. In the speech, he jokingly admitted that the earrings and bracelets his shops sold were so cheap because they were “total crap”.

The speech was widely reported, and the ensuing media storm saw the company’s value plummet. Ratner was sacked, the shops were rebranded and the company only narrowly survived.

Fast forward 34 years and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is animatedly addressing a rally for newly-elected US President Donald Trump. He performs, not once, but twice, a nazi salute. No ifs, no buts, not ‘Roman’.

The gesture is unambiguous.

It was, without question, Musk’s ‘Ratner Moment’. And given the circumstances, the damage appears sizeably greater. Ratner was selling earrings for a fiver. Musk is selling £50,000 cars. Ratner made a joke to an insider audience that backfired.

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Musk made as offensive a gesture as it’s possible to make, live on global television. And now Tesla is reaping the whirlwind.

Led By Donkeys projected Musk’s sieg heiling image on to the wall of its Berlin car factory (above). There are numerous reports of Tesla vehicles being vandalised with obscenities and nazi graffiti. Tesla has become toxic.

Already this is reflected in both sales of the cars and the company’s share price. In January 2025, Tesla sold 45% fewer cars in Europe than in January 2024. It registered just 9,945 cars compared to 18,161. The slump is made worse by the fact that Europe experienced a 37% growth in overall EV market numbers during this time. Tesla’s market share has almost halved from 1.8% to 1%.

And in individual markets, the situation is far worse. Tesla registered only 1,277 new cars last month in Germany, a fall of 59% and its lowest monthly total since July 2021. Sales in France plummeted 63% in its worst showing there since August 2022. In

Poland, Government ministers have called for a national boycott of Tesla cars.

For those operating Teslas as taxis or private hire vehicles, there is now a risk of losing business through driving a Tesla. There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence of people cancelling Uber rides when they are notified that the car on its way is a Tesla.

Musk’s support for European farright political groups has compounded the toxicity of the brand. He supported the German far-right AfD party in recent elections, where it failed to gain power. In a YouGov survey of German voters, 80% had a negative view of Musk.

The big winners have been the Chinese EV producers. BYD registered more cars in the UK than Tesla for the first time in January, while others such as ASIC, which owns MG, have made significant gains at Tesla’s expense.

Indeed, Musk’s timing could not have been worse.

Not only are large numbers of new Chinese EV manufacturers entering

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

news analysis: tesla crisis Photo: Led by Donkeys/Political Beauty

NER MOMENT’

ed Tesla's sales and share price to crash and burn. ht the future hold for the brand? Mark Bursa reports the market with extremely competitive products, existing brands such as Renault, BMW, Stellantis, Volkswagen, Volvo and Mercedes are offering a far wider range of electric products than Tesla. Kia last week unveiled several new EV models, giving it an EV presence in almost all sectors.

By comparison, Tesla in Europe effectively has just four models, and they are all getting rather long in the tooth. The Model S is still, essentially, the original car that took Tesla mainstream more than 10 years ago. It’s no longer made in RHD, so UK sales are non-existent. The Model X has not been sold in any numbers for several years, so almost all sales are Model 3 and Model Y. These cars are both currently undergoing a facelift, with positive reports from some motoring outlets, though the basic structure of the cars is as before. While the model changes have had an impact on sales, and will no doubt be used as an excuse to justify the company’s poor performance, the strength of anti-Tesla feeling is unlike-

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ly to be reversed by a fancy new light bar and some freshened-up styling.

The fact that the models have been allowed to soldier on for so long without a proper replacement cycle highlights issues at Tesla. Musk is easily distracted, and rather than focusing on keeping core products up to speed with market changes, he has been seduced by new products that have less global reach and far greater risk.

The US-market Cybertruck pickup has been ridiculed for its toy-like looks and rather flimsy build quality when compared to established pickups from the likes of Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota. It cannot be sold in Europe as it fails EuroNCAP testing for a number of reasons: pedestrian impact protection, lack of crumple zones and illegal lighting.

Even in America, the Cybertruck has been a sales flop. Tesla doesn’t publish figures for the model, but it is estimated that between 30,000 and 50,000 of the $100,000 electric pickups were sold in 2024 – a far cry from the 1 million buyers Musk claimed

had ordered the car.

Musk’s other distraction is the Robotaxi, which was unveiled in a somewhat comical ceremony last year, culminating in Musk climbing into the “self-driving” car and it heading off stage – clearly piloted by a Tesla employee at the back of the room with a radio-control unit.

The Robotaxi is an unlikely-looking vehicle for use as a taxi. It has two seats and a low-slung body with “scissor” doors. Telsa intends to operate the vehicles itself rather than with an operator-partner, starting with a pilot scheme in Austin, Texas this Spring.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi apparently approached Musk about the project but was rebuffed.

Like the Cybertruck, it seems unlikely that European regulators would allow Tesla to operate Robotaxi fleets on this side of the Atlantic. Europe is far more cautious about autonomous vehicles than the US, and even without anti-Musk feelings, the safety CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

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news analysis: tesla crisis CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

record of Tesla’s “autopilot” self-driving systems on its existing cars in the US is not good.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) undertook a three-year Autopilot safety investigation from August 2021, which identified at least 13 Tesla crashes involving one or more death, and many more involving serious injuries, in which “foreseeable driver misuse of the system played an apparent role”.

Is Tesla at crisis point yet? It’s certainly looking that way. More important than the sales collapse is the crash in the value of the company’s shares.

From a peak in December, Tesla shares are now in freefall. Shares are down 42% as of February 28 at $279 against a high of $488 in December 2024, and Tesla’s inflated market capitalisation has fallen below $1 trillion.

Musk’s personal net worth has fallen since the start of the year by around $100 billion to below $380bn (though he’s still the richest man in the world).

With no sign of a sales recovery in the foreseeable future, the shares are likely to continue to tumble.

So is there a way out of the death

Why oh Y? Tesla Model Y has been facelifted, but now faces much stiffer competition

spiral for the company? History points to a number of similar scenarios where the obvious solution – removing the toxic CEO – has worked.

Uber is a prime example. When Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was caught on camera insulting an Uber driver, he was forced to resign. Accusations of workplace bullying didn’t help.

Uber was certainly able to weather the storm of losing its founder – indeed, the arrival of more competent management improved the business.

Around 60% of Tesla stocks are held by institutional investors, and they are likely to act in order to protect their investment.

Musk owns just 13% of the stock, valued last month at $164bn, according to Bloomberg, so his position is not guaranteed.

An alternative might be to force a sale of Tesla – or at least the car-making part of the business – to a rival automaker, though given the progress made

by Tesla’s rivals, it might be difficult to find a taker, unless the share price falls even more substantially.

Unwanted distractions? Cybertruck (top) has been a sales flop in America, while Robotaxi appears to be Tesla's top priority Another crisis

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management response is to rebrand a damaged brand. This has happened when media images of a “branded” disaster start to impact the business.

The Townsend Thoresen ferry that sank off Zeebrugge in 1987 prompted the company to be rebranded P&O, it’s parent company’s brand.

And the same fate happened to Gerald Ratner. Not only were the Ratners stores rebranded to H Samuel (another retail brand within the group), the holding company was also renamed, to Signet Group, after Ratner himself had been fired.

The question for Tesla’s shareholders is how inseparable are the Tesla and Musk “brands”? And unlike the examples cited here, there’s no obvious replacement brand.

Musk is expected to try and tough it out, though given his role within the Trump administration and the amount of time he spends posting on his ‘X’ social media platform, the extent to which he is focused on his core businesses is hard to imagine.

There is no easy solution here.

Tesla is no longer the pioneer with the massive technological lead in a new market. It is now being caught and overtaken by powerful and hugely competent competitors, notably from China and Korea.

These companies have multi-model, multi-brand strategies for taking huge slices of the EV pie. And they know that when a technology is new and exciting, there is no reason why a new brand cannot succeed. Just look at the prime example from 10 years ago. A company called Tesla.

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news analysis: national st andards

Electrification, technology and taking on the trains.

How Blacklane is continuing to change the game for chauffeurs. Mark Bursa meets chief operating officer René van Olst

LIFE IN THE BLACKLANE 20

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T

welve years have passed since Blacklane took its first UK booking. The company launched here within a few months of Uber – and at first the two companies were chasing similar work, with a focus on chauffeuring.

But while Uber quickly switched its attention to mass-market taxi work, Blacklane has stuck to its guns, aiming to provide a global, high-quality, easily bookable and consistent service, For chauffeurs, it’s a way of getting extra jobs – particularly useful for filling return legs. Indeed, this is one of the main areas of attention for the company right now, says chief operating officer René van Olst, alongside fleet electrification and providing a more user-friendly experience for chauffeurs using the platform.

One key part of Blacklane’s offering is inter-city, fixed-price services, where customers can hire a car to go direct from home or office to a meeting in, say, Manchester or Bristol, at a price that’s on a par with train travel.

“It’s working very well,” says Van Olst. “My experience is that operators like long trips. It’s uncomplicated – they are covered for big part of the day or even entire day, and that offers a certain amount of continuity and certainty of revenue. Customers like it as it doesn’t get less complicated if you want to go somewhere than getting into a car. It’s private, you can work and it takes you to where you want to be.”

The challenge for Blacklane is making these long-haul trips work for the chauffeur. And that means eliminating expensive empty return legs, which make it more difficult to pitch the service competitively against the train.

“The customer might not come back in the same car – a 2-hour meeting is probably the point where the driver needs to find another job to return to base,” Van Olst says. The trick then is to find another car looking to head back to where the customer wants to go. “Ideally that car just brought someone else. If you can repeat that pattern then you have something interesting,” Solving this problem involves Blacklane’s technology. “Matching long-distance rides is something we do in the background, with technology we’re working on to help match the bookings with the rides.”

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p rof ile: Re né va n O l st , CO O, B lackla ne The other trick is to focus on busier routes. “It works better on some routes than others,” Van Olst says. “Some routes have the right distance but don't work because they're more of a weekend destination –London to seaside towns, for example, where lots of people want to travel one way on on Friday and back on Sunday,” he says.

“It works better where traffic is more work-related and more evenly distributed, for example London-Bristol and London-Manchseter.”

The service works even better if journey starts outside the city rather than close to the main line station.

This means the service eliminates extra legs at the end of the train journeys. Targets include the Thames Valley triangle, where there are a lot of corporate head offices.

Electrification is a major issue for Blacklane - by the end of 2024, it reached 50% of all rides in London taking place in an EV. But it’s more difficult to achieve this on longer journeys due to issues of EV range and charging infrastructure.

“Customers want the journey to be without stops,” Van Olst says. “This makes city to city with EV not always easy, though range improvements on the latest cars make it less of an issue.

I’m always positive, and I believe we’re moving in the right direction.”

Van Olst believes Blacklane could quite quickly become a 100% electric service. “I think we’ll reach that point earlier in Europe than some other places in he world. In Dubai we’re already very close, as we have a large Mercedes-Benz EQS fleet. Here we’re 50%, but if we continue at the current rate in London we will reach 100% EV before 2030.”

As electrification gathers pace, new issues present themselves. “The more utilisation improves, the less time there is to charge. We’re trying to

work in a direction where it becomes a larger problem than it is!” he says.

Drivers have to meet certain standards in order to join the platform – and that includes car choice. Inevitably that means German luxury brands, plus Range Rover. New brands – like the array of Chinese newcomers – are unlikely to be approved just yet. “We are definitely looking at it, and it’s being hotly debated internally,” Van Olst says. “It’s a question of what is luxury? Some customers are very utilitarian – specification is what matters.

For others there is something that is more emotional.”

He adds: “It is important to double down on the premuium side of the service. That’s why the choice of vehicles we allow is super important. We have to be really careful about what our customers want.”

This month sees the launch of a new Blacklane chauffeur app. This has been redesigned from the ground up in order to make it easier to update and improve. From the driver’s point of view, “it looks fresher and is easier to navigate”, Van Olst says. The app is already being trialled in Dubai and Miami – then 20 more cities will go live before London.

Van Olst says Blacklane’s immediate goal is to make scheduling of rides easier and do more rides per day – so drivers make more money.

Another welcome change is Blacklane’s approach to ever-increasing airport parking charges. Rather than paying a flat amount for each journey, Blacklane will now look at each journey and add on whatever the parking cost is to the driver’s payment.

“It used to be a case of lucky or unlucky – if you’re waiting longer, you lose out. So we’re paying whatever the parking costs are. I believe it was necessary to align the interests of chauffeurs with our interests.”

Blacklane has several Mercedes-Benz EQS models in London in signature two-tone paint

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road test

THE BIG EIGH

Mazda CX-80 Homura Plus PHEV

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Mark Bursa

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

road test

HTIES REVIVAL DATA

Price as tested

£56,120 OTR

SPECIFICATION

Powertrain Petrol-electric PHEV Engine 2,488cc 4-cyl petrol with electric motor Transmission 8-speed auto, all-wheel drive Battery pack 17kWh Li-Ion System power 327PS System torque 500Nm Top speed 121mph 0-62mph 6.8sec Electric range 38 miles

(WLTP combined) Charging time 2hr 20min AC (11kW 0 100%) CO2 emissions 36g/km (WLTP) Fuel economy 176.6mpg (WLTP

weighted combined) Fuel tank 70 litres Length 4,981mm Width 2,204mm Height 1,935mm Wheelbase 3,275mm Loadspace 258 litres (7 seats)

687 litres (5 seats) Turning circle 12.4m Vehicle warranty 3 years/60,000 miles Battery warranty 8 years Insurance Group 39A VED Band B

O

f all the Japanese car makers, Mazda often seems to be the most under-the-radar brand.

It’s a bit quirky, with a sporty heritage thanks to the MX-5, as well as its dedication to the rotary engine. And in recent years, it’s steadily moved up-market, to a point where it could arguably be in near-luxury territory, like Volvo.

Of course, with a new automotive world order taking shape thanks to the arrival of so many new brands, Mazda might do rather well. And its latest new model stakes another claim for its prestige credentials.

The new Mazda CX-80 becomes the flagship of the Mazda line-up in Europe, sitting above the CX-60 in Mazda’s SUV range. It’s essentially a stretched CX-60,

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

with a longer wheelbase allowing a third row of seats, creating a seven-seater to rival the likes of Hyundai Santa Fe and Skoda Kodiaq, but with interior quality levels closer to Volvo XC-90.

Mazda has taken its time with electrification. Like the CX-60, the CX-80 comes as a petrol-electric plug-in hybrid and – gasp – a 254PS six-cylinder, 3.3-litre diesel.

There’s still a demand for big cars capable of towing, and the diesel version will surely find buyers among caravan owners and farmers. For our purposes, we’ve concerned ourselves with the PHEV, which combines a four-cylinder, 2.5-litre Skyactiv-G petrol engine with a 129kW electric motor and a 17.8 kWh battery. Both

CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

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road test: Mazda CX-80 PHEV

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22

powertrain options are matched to allwheel drive.

It was Mazda’s first PHEV powertrain when it made its debut in the CX-60, and it’s unchanged in the CX-80. The petrol engine develops a maximum power output of 191PS at 6,000rpm and 261Nm of torque, while the electric motor delivers 175PS and 270Nm of torque at 400rpm, giving a total system output of 327PS and torque of 500Nm. The Mazda CX-80 e PHEV offers 38 miles of electric motor-powered driving with the vehicle running at 62mph or less. With normal AC charging, the battery can be fully charged from empty to full in 2 hours and 20 minutes.

The CX-80 is heavier than the CX-60, and the suspension has been adjusted to take account of this. The ride feels softer and less sporty, which is certainly no bad thing for rear-seat comfort.

The CX-80 has a 250mm longer wheelbase than the CX-60. It’s also 26mm taller than the CX-60 to give greater headroom, especially for thirdrow occupants. Indeed, the increased

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wheelbase means there’s more shoulder room, hip point spacing and frontto-second row distance compared to the CX-60. Width is the same, and head-on, there’s little to differentiate the two models.

With the third-row seats in place the boot delivers 258 litres of load space including the underfloor storage. Fold the third-row seats and the CX-80 has a 687-litre load space.

The UK range features five trim levels: Exclusive-Line, Homura, Takumi, Homura Plus and Takumi Plus, as well as option packs to allow customers to tailor their seat layouts and equipment. These include a choice of three middle row configurations: a three-person bench seat, two captain’s seats with a walk-through space or two captain’s seats with a fixed centre console. The seven-seat layout with the middle row-bench will be standard and is expected to be the biggest seller in the UK, while the two different six seat layout configurations will be optional – and are likely to have strong appeal for executive chauffeuring.

We tested the Homura Plus trim level with PHEV transmission. At

£56,120 it comes with the 6-seater layout (with console). We’d opt for the Homura grade over the top-line Takumi trim for chauffeuring work on the grounds of durability. Homura offers a darker cabin ambiance with black leather interior, while the Takumi uses more wood and subtle, Japanese-style woven fabrics.

Cabin spec is loaded on Homura grade. Alexa in-car voice control of music, air-conditioning, navigation and third-party apps such as Spotify is standard across all models, as is . a much-improved Mazda Connect multimedia system with 12.3in central display screen and windscreen projected colour head up display.

We’re delighted to see that Mazda is persevering with a centre console-mounted rotary dial and buttons to control the sat-nav functions.

Wireless phone charging is standard on Homura Plus and Takumi Plus models. There’s also three-zone air conditioning with separate controls for second-row occupants. The second and third rows both have USB-C charge ports and second-row seats are heated.

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

road test: Mazda CX-80 PHEV

VERDICT

Mazda has edged up-market over recent years, and the CX-80 proves this strategy is working.

It’s big and comfortable, and if you covered up the badges inside the car, it might easily pass for an Audi or a Jaguar. And with Jaguar no longer making cars like this, there’s the opportunity. Of course others are playing in this sector too - including a number of Chinese brands – but the current shake-out might benefit Mazda.

No electric versions as yet – Mazda is taking its time on electrification, though they’ll have to come if Mazda is going to meet government EV targets.

With a new – electric – Mazda 6 on the way within the next 12 months, Mazda might become a very good option for those looking for something better than a basic PHV, but cheaper than a luxury German brand.

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

25

FAR SIG

DATA

Price OTR

£48,000

SPECIFICATION

Powertrain Single electric motor Transmission SIngle-speed

auto, front drive Battery pack 83kW Li-Ion Power 228bhp Torque 336Nm Top speed 83mph 0-62mph 12.0 sec Electric range 247 miles

(WLTP) Charging time 36min (DC 140kW,

20-80%) Length 4,990mm Width 1,980mm Height 1,980mm Wheelbase 3,100mm Turning circle 12.2m VED Band A

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PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

GHTED A Farizon SV Mark Bursa

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

first look

nother week, another Chinese brand makes its debut in the UK. Electrification of the global auto industry is causing tectonic shifts in the industry, and it seems that Asian automakers are the ones making the biggest gains.Farizon (far horizon… geddit) is a new brand but its parent company is not a newcomer to the UK market. It’s another brand owned by ambitious and fast-growing Geely, which already owns Volvo, Polestar and LEVC. So where does Farizon fit into this portfolio? It’s basically Geely’s electric commercial vehicle arm, and the Transit Custom-sized Farizon SV is its bridgehead to Europe – with a lot more to follow, including buses and heavy trucks.

Initial supplies of the SV are panel vans – but those window-shaped stampings on the side are a clear sign that passenger-carrying versions will not be far behind.

Certainly within 12 months, the company says – indeed, there are already passenger-carrying Farizon SVs on sale in China. Good news for private hire operators crying out for electric seven-seaters.

We’ve driven the smallest van version (L1 H1) in controlled conditions at the Millbrook test track – this is now available to order for deliveries starting in the second quarter of 2025.

It’s priced at £45,000 – pretty much on a par with the Ford E-Transit Custom. There are three body lengths and three roof heights, with the biggest SV costing £56,000.

There is a choice of 67kWh or 83kWh battery options offering a range of 247 miles for the bigger battery (WLTP), though in city driving, the importer claims it can deliver a range of up to 342 miles.

Fast charging is limited to 140kW – good enough for most urban charging stations, and potentially offering a 20-80% charge in 36 minutes. The L3 H3 version will be available with an optional 106kWh battery, optimized for longer range on longer journeys.

The vans are powered by a 228hp electric motor driving the front wheels, and there are three drive modes - eco, comfort and sport - plus three levels of regenerative braking.

Unlike most electric vans in this class, the SV has been designed from the ground up as an EV, with a flat “skateboard” platform with the batteries under the floor.

This means the platform is exceptionally rigid, which has allowed the designers to dispense with a B-pillar.

The driver’s door and the sliding side door can be opened to create a very large aperture, making the vehicle very versatile.

With a low centre of gravity, the van feels stable at speed, while the ‘drive by wire’ steering gives a light feel and exceptional manoeuvrability on Millbrook’s tight simulated urban streets. It has clever 360-degree cameras that give a “bird’s eye” view of the vehicle when parking, as well as front, rear and side cameras.

Farizon is being brought to the UK by Jameel Motors, an experienced importer that operates mainly in the Middle East and Europe. Jameel is setting up a dealer network focusing on major cities, and has struck a deal with the AA to provide emergency services and repairs via the AA van fleet.

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first look

Kia PV5 Mark Bursa

SEOUL VAN K

ia has unveiled its new PV5 electric MPV, and the company is planning to target the new vehicle at the private hire sector.

It forms part of a new Kia light commercial range alongside a panel van version of the PV5, and sees Kia return to the light van market for the first time in 30 years – a van version of the Kia Pride hatchback was briefly sold in the early 1990s.

The mid-sized PV5 is the first model of Kia’s new Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV) global business strategy.

Kia will offer the PV5 in several configurations. As well as the Passenger Van and the Cargo Van versions, specialist converted variants will be part of the range.

The Kia PV5 has a contemporary design that emphasises flexibility

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and customisation through a modular approach. All Kia PBV models, including the PV5, will be built on the brand’s leading-edge E-GMP.S platform, a dedicated battery-electric skateboard architecture that allows for flexible combinations of various vehicle bodies.

The PV5 range will include passenger, cargo, chassis-cab and wheelchair accessible versions, as well as conversion models including crew cab, drop side, box van and freezer box. There is also an up-market passenger version called Prime as well as a camper van.

The PV5 Passenger Van offers excellent visibility thanks to the large window area, made possible by a low waistline. Black geometric wheel arch claddings and rocker panels give continuity with Kia’s SUV lineup and suggest an off-road character,

confidently linking the high-tech upper cabin with the more rugged and purposeful lower body.

The PV5 also features sliding side doors and a single lift-up tailgate, whereas the Cargo Van has twin side-opening doors.

The PV5 uses a front-drive electric motor producing up to 120kW and 250Nm of torque. There is a choice of choice of 51.5kWh or 71.2kWh battery – the larger battery gives a range of around 250 miles and a fast-charging time from 10% to 80% of 30 minutes.

The driver’s compartment features a 7in instrument cluster and a 12.9in navigation screen. Over-the-air updates ensure users always experience the latest specification.

Sales of the PV5 will begin in Korea and Europe in the second half of 2025.

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

first look

DATA Price OTR

£TBA

SPECIFICATION

Powertrain Single electric motor Transmission SIngle-speed auto, front-wheel drive Battery pack 71.2kW Li-Ion Power 160hp Torque 250Nm Top speed TBA 0-62mph TBA Electric range 250 miles (WLTP) Charging time 30min (DC

10-80%) Length 4,695mm Width 1,895mm Height 1,923mm Wheelbase 2,995mm Loadspace TBA VED Band A

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

29

the knowledge

Evolution, not revolution, is the key to joined-up transport

T

he government recently issued a consultation calling for ideas to ‘join up transport’. This old perennial has done the rounds many times. The late John Prescott was a champion of ‘integrated Transport’ when he unveiled his white paper in 1998.

A quarter of a century later, there’s no tangible integration visible and off we go again. While I welcome the initiative, the danger is always that simple solutions, championed by vested interests, are seen as silver bullets.

As history proves, nothing happens.

What problem are we solving?

I know it’s a basic question but unless we are clear about what we are fixing how do we know if we have fixed it? In this age of start-ups, agile delivery and apps and platforms the world is awash with solutions seeking problems.

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) was a case in point. The concept was plausible: book and pay for any form of transport from one app. What happened?

There were years of conferences organised by ‘specialist transport consultancies’ where earnest experts and many bandwagon-jumpers discussed the ‘revolution in transport’.

The ‘revolution’ lasted a decade (possibly the world’s longest revolution) and the outcome at the end was diddly squat. Why? Simply because it was a solution seeking a problem.

Without MaaS people had a portfolio of transport and payment options that worked. Were they optimised for convenience? Probably not, but the best can be the enemy of the good.

Our friendly ‘specialist transport consultancies’ long ago left the MaaS revolution and forgot all their plat-

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Dr Michael Galvin

Mobility Services Ltd mobilityserviceslimited.com

itudes and mad claims, clambered aboard the ‘innovative ride hailing business models’ followed by a brief foray into autonomous vehicles, micro mobility (ebikes and escooters) and usership not ownership (car clubs).

Fads come and go, but solutions to real problems stick around.

Disruption or evolution This could translate as ‘waste some money or improve what is there’. The first part of this industry has seen billions and billions of Pounds, Dollars and Euros poured down the drain.

The same time period has seen real businesses damaged by regulators, ministers and governments pandering to the latest set of emperor’s new clothes. Public safety, the very reason for legislation and regulation, was dropped as a consideration on the whim of the latest ‘innovation’.

Yes, still the tube, the bus, the trains and yes cabs carry pretty much the same number of passengers. Why? Because the ‘innovators’ weren’t solving problems.

They were selling hot air that any specialist transport consultancy, regulator, minister or SPAD should have seen through. Instead, they were prepared to believe in fairy dust rather than the grind and grunt of real transport solutions.

Taking what is there and making it better seems to me, a far surer way to provide something that solves problems rather than seeks problems.

Continuous improvement, even discontinuous improvement has far more merit than cliches about ‘me and my

mate were in a pub and came up with this wonderful idea’ and now have this app that provides magic carpets. Give me evolution, not revolution!

UK governments of all persuasions this century have been skewered by net zero. Each has tried to outbid the other on being the most eager zealot for moving quicker and more comprehensively to net zero. The outcome has been plenty of hot air and rafts of legislation and regulation.

In the real world, EVs account for 2.5% of the vehicle parc – around 1 million vehicles. But the noose will begin to tighten increasingly quicker now as the targets, regulation and legislation start to bite. The 34.5m cars, 33.5m of which are not EVs will shrink and driving will become a very different experience, as will the cost.

The EV 'nightmare' This may be the trigger for public transport to become increasingly the preferred solution to the nightmare of EV ownership and operation. I don’t use nightmare lightly but where is the real action to prepare the country for an exclusively EV fleet?

Taxis and PH have a real role to play as car ownership wanes due to cost and inconvenience. Getting to and from stations, providing bus services in rural areas and late at night and demand-responsive services connecting non-car owners with public transport.

I applaud the government’s call for ideas, but I hope that practicality and resolution of existing and future problems count for more than the latest fad for flying taxis and other nonsense.

Enabling customers to book the whole journey ‘house to station to office’ but designing in flexibility and modal choice will have more benefits than the Heath Robinson get-rich-quick schemes so beloved of ministers and specialist transport consultancies.

This industry is well equipped to provide solutions that work, that solve problems and provide real benefits to the travelling public. The government needs to listen to us.

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

the insider

Career opportunities: tinker, tailor, soldier, chauffeur?

I

t is 1979 and I am in a careers ‘lesson’ having the news broken to me that I lacked the fitness levels or 20/20 vision to achieve either of my top two career picks: centre-forward for Newcastle United, or RAF fighter pilot.

Having then been read the list of plausible jobs my insufficient GCSEs allowed I settled on becoming a baker, primarily so I could use the old gag ‘making lots of dough’ when chatting up ‘totty on the toon’ (honestly, I’m convinced the creators of Viz comic based their Sid the Sexist character on teenage me).

A career that never entered my head, or indeed was ever offered to me as a possibility by Mr Dotchin (games teacher and careers master) was that of a chauffeur. He didn’t even hint toward taxi driver. Why?

Going off script for the recce Chauffeurs have been omnipresent throughout history. The word derives from the French word meaning ‘one that heats’, which referred to the ‘horseless carriage’ the early chauffeurs were paid to drive.

History is littered with famous chauffeurs. There’s Leopold Lojka, chauffeur to Archduke Franz Ferdinand whose assassination escalated us into World War l. Leo (that's him at the wheel in the photo below) was culpable of going off script from the recce, when, after an initial assassi-

Kevin Willis

Chirton Grange contact@chirtongrange.co.uk

nation attempt, he was told to turn around when he should have kept going. As he fumbled with reverse gear a second shooter stepped out of the crowd and finished off the Archduke.

Then there’s William Greer, chauffeur to John F Kennedy, who conspiracy nutjobs believe shot JFK while steadying the steering wheel with the other hand.

And who can forget Henri Paul, the Parisian hotel chauffeur who was at the wheel the night Princess Diana was killed. Actually, I’m starting to see why our profession isn’t lauded as a suitable job for any aspiring young Geordie.

Never marry a chauffeur Hang on though. Aloysius ‘Nosey’ Parker served Lady Penelope with honour. Alfred Pennyworth was chauffeur to none other than Batman himself and Tom Branson remains the chauffeurs’ hero for (outdated stereotype warning) knocking-up one of his punters to get his feet well and truly under the Downton Abbey table. Also, isn’t Taxi Driver one of the coolest films ever made?

I will wager that those of you with

children have never urged your son to follow in your footsteps. And certainly you’ve never had the conversation with your daughter outside of ‘never marry a chauffeur’.

That said, my son Chris did come into our family business for around six years. He moved on because of the long hours and the unpredictability of having weekends stripped from him at short notice, which I totally understand.

It baffles me. This is a good profession, despite successive Mayors of London making driving in the Capital an expensive nightmare. Sure, we worry about where the next job will be coming from but then so do plumbers, sparkies and bricklayers.

We are underpaid and constantly undervalued along with our teachers and nurses. We meet weird and wonderful people, famous, infamous, ordinary and extraordinary.

Chauffeuring will never make you rich but it does pay the bills and get you to Benalmadena twice a year.

As AI technology starts to eat like cancer into most professions, I believe, even with Elon Musk’s hunger for driverless cars, we humble chauffeurs have a bright future ahead.

Look, a driverless vehicle is just a computer on wheels, so it won’t be long before the thieves and rapists are hacking into the system and sending the car to where they want it to go.

We drivers give, as always, a level of security and reliability.

A purposeful decision Be proud of what we do, don’t let the next generation of drivers still be claiming ‘I only came into the game as a stop gap’ or ‘I’ll do it until I can get back to what I was doing’. This should be a career, a purposeful decision on your future.

Let’s celebrate our great industry as much as the recent QSi Awards did, let us encourage the next generation of professional drivers to and be proud of our industry.

PROFESSIONAL DRIVER

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Tuesday, August 19, 2025, Epsom Racecourse

Join our Car of the Year 2026 judging panel W

e’ll be judging next year’s Cars of the Year - yes, the 2026 winners - on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, at our regular venue, Epsom Racecourse in Surrey. It’s a fun day where you will have the chance to drive up to 50 of the latest cars suitablefor private hire and chauffeur work.

We’d love it if you could join us for the day and help us choose our winners. Put the date in your diary and let us know by emailing editor@prodrivermags.com and we’ll be in touch. See you there!

In association with

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PROFESSIONAL DRIVER