He Might Just Explode - 11 January 2023

NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES FOR DECEMBER AND ALL 2022The SMMT has released the New Car Registration figures for December, which also gives the full picture of 2022 and it wasn’t great. As expected the overall numbers for the year were down, ending up 2% lower than last year. Main cause of this was supply, significantly through a lack of semi conductor chips. One of the big positives, no pun intended, was that electric vehicles overtook diesel ending up at 16.55% of market share, according to Tristan Young writing for Broker News, which you can read here. Congratulations to Nissan as the Qashqai ended up the most registered vehicle, with the Corsa just ahead of the Tesla Model Y. You can read more from the SMMT by clicking this link here. NEW LONDON ZERO EMISSION RULES COME INTO FORCENewly registered private hire vehicles have to be zero emission capable, in London, as of 1 January 2022. They must emit no more than 50g/km of CO2 and be able to drive 10 miles without exhaust emissions or a maximum of 75g/km of CO2 emitted and no exhaust emissions for 20 miles. If the vehicle is a hybrid then the engine must be Euro6 compliant. To read more, click this article link from BusinessCar. Quick note, TfL will launch a scrappage scheme from 30 January 2023, to help residents who will be affected by the expansion of the ULEZ in August. Interestingly, cargo bikes are being included as eligible for grants. Click this TransportXtra article link for more information. GLOBAL TRAFFIC SCORECARDINRIX, a traffic data analysis company, has produced a report on the most congested urban areas of the world. Utilising data collected they have calculated where the highest delays occur, stated a cost to these delays, shown how transportation trends have shifted and discussed the safety aspects. Click here to read more and you can download their full report by filling out the form at the bottom of that article. BARCELONA IMPOSING PUBLIC SPACE TAX ON DELIVERY FIRMSBarcelona City Council is introducing the first tax on delivery firms, as a step to help protect local businesses. Large e-commerce delivery companies, think Amazon, are being targeted as they are seen to have taken customers that would have selected a local option previously. On top of that, there is extra congestion and pollution. Click this CitiesToday article link to find out more. Barcelona is one of the C40 Cities groups, which is a group of global cities who are collaborating and moving quicker than national governments are to address, what they see, as issues that need immediate action. Click here to learn more about that organisation. QUALCOMM DEVELOPS A CHIP TO CONTROL TOO MUCHAt CES, last week, Qualcomm revealed their new chip that will be capable of controlling the ‘digital cockpit’, driver assistance tech and automated driving. All discussions about car hacking and security are clear that the infotainment should be kept physically...