If you spoke to the industry experts, academics, and the companies themselves after the Brexit referendum result, they would tell you very quietly and off the record, that it meant that the British mass industry was a dead man walking.

Now the Stellantis (Vauxhall) car plant at Ellesmere Port is under threat, that is unless the UK government can renegotiate the Brexit trade deal, which let’s face it, the EU has no real reason to do.

The problem is over rules of origin: how much of a car is really made in the UK or the EU. If it falls below a set level then tariffs (taxes) of 10% are applied on cars made in the UK for sale in the EU.

This is a problem because an electric vehicles’ major component is the battery and there is only one battery maker in the UK – Nissan. Other car makers have to start making batteries in the UK. If they do not, they will either have to import them
from the EU, or they will have to import them from somewhere else and then pay a 10% tax when they export the car into the EU.

Our Brexit negotiators apparently didn’t see this one coming and as a result, the whole basis of mass car making in the UK is now at risk.

But it is not the only problem. Border controls, red tape and government meddling with rules, regulations and standards are a nightmare for a “just in time” manufacturing industry. It is obvious that the industry is under intense pressure to go
somewhere else, where the borders are open, the tariffs are non-existent, the rules are set in stone and the market is huge. In short – the EU.

This means that an industry that provides 800,000 well paid jobs, cutting edge technology, highly productive foreign investors, massive amounts of research and development, is now threatened by Brexit.

The old saying is that “it takes a Continent to make a car”. The size of the production run necessary to make the huge investment in a factory worthwhile, the number of components, the competition between thousands of suppliers, the logistics and a
dozen other factors are only possible on a continental scale. But the UK has left the continental supply chain, placed barriers in the way of the industry and added costs to every car maker in the country.

The government has failed to help. The car industry – in fact, the whole of Britain’s manufacturing sector – is desperate for a government strategy. Just this week, France attracted billions of pounds worth of investment from Taiwan for a new
battery plant in Dunkirk, and Germany attracted another one from Sweden, seeing off intense competition from the US.

The EU is relaxing subsidy rules, coordinating investment in the car industry, and in batteries and green technology. It has to, as the US government is throwing billions at this problem, trying to force whole industries to take up green technology and
invest in the States.

Meanwhile the UK government can only stand on the side-lines wringing its hands. There is no scheme, no strategy, no plan, very little money, and very little interaction with industry. Even Sir Keir Starmer is wittering on about “removing barriers”
and “making Brexit work for business”. He really needs to listen to the car industry, which must feel it is screaming into a vacuum.

Remember the negotiations were led by people who thought the German car industry would gallop to our rescue or we would get a “better deal” outside the club? Well, now we are yielding the results of that miscalculation.

So, what will happen now?

The EU has little or no incentive to be nice to UK car makers. They are foreign competitors now, and Brussels has little incentive to reopen the talks. After all, they are winning investments and jobs at our expense.

This is a zero-sum game – every factory, car model, battery plant and investment they win is one we lose. At present, it looks as if it is the UK that will end up with zero.

https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-has-killed-the-british-car-industry/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Judging by the recent comments from the German car industry, the new terms
of the Brexit deal regarding country of origin regulations is about to hit
them hard too.

The anti-Brexit article quoted below manages not to mention this little complication on the EU side.

Funny, that.


swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

If you spoke to the industry experts, academics, and the companies
themselves after the Brexit referendum result, they would tell you very quietly and off the record, that it meant that the British mass industry
was a dead man walking.

Now the Stellantis (Vauxhall) car plant at Ellesmere Port is under
threat, that is unless the UK government can renegotiate the Brexit trade deal, which let’s face it, the EU has no real reason to do.

The problem is over rules of origin: how much of a car is really made in
the UK or the EU. If it falls below a set level then tariffs (taxes) of
10% are applied on cars made in the UK for sale in the EU.

This is a problem because an electric vehicles’ major component is the battery and there is only one battery maker in the UK – Nissan. Other car makers have to start making batteries in the UK. If they do not, they
will either have to import them from the EU, or they will have to import
them from somewhere else and then pay a 10% tax when they export the car into the EU.

Our Brexit negotiators apparently didn’t see this one coming and as a result, the whole basis of mass car making in the UK is now at risk.

But it is not the only problem. Border controls, red tape and government meddling with rules, regulations and standards are a nightmare for a
“just in time” manufacturing industry. It is obvious that the industry is under intense pressure to go somewhere else, where the borders are open,
the tariffs are non-existent, the rules are set in stone and the market
is huge. In short – the EU.

This means that an industry that provides 800,000 well paid jobs, cutting edge technology, highly productive foreign investors, massive amounts of research and development, is now threatened by Brexit.

The old saying is that “it takes a Continent to make a car”. The size of the production run necessary to make the huge investment in a factory worthwhile, the number of components, the competition between thousands
of suppliers, the logistics and a dozen other factors are only possible
on a continental scale. But the UK has left the continental supply chain, placed barriers in the way of the industry and added costs to every car
maker in the country.

The government has failed to help. The car industry – in fact, the whole
of Britain’s manufacturing sector – is desperate for a government strategy. Just this week, France attracted billions of pounds worth of investment from Taiwan for a new battery plant in Dunkirk, and Germany attracted another one from Sweden, seeing off intense competition from the US.

The EU is relaxing subsidy rules, coordinating investment in the car industry, and in batteries and green technology. It has to, as the US government is throwing billions at this problem, trying to force whole industries to take up green technology and invest in the States.

Meanwhile the UK government can only stand on the side-lines wringing its hands. There is no scheme, no strategy, no plan, very little money, and
very little interaction with industry. Even Sir Keir Starmer is wittering
on about “removing barriers” and “making Brexit work for business”. He
really needs to listen to the car industry, which must feel it is screaming into a vacuum.

Remember the negotiations were led by people who thought the German car industry would gallop to our rescue or we would get a “better deal” outside the club? Well, now we are yielding the results of that miscalculation.

So, what will happen now?

The EU has little or no incentive to be nice to UK car makers. They are foreign competitors now, and Brussels has little incentive to reopen the talks. After all, they are winning investments and jobs at our expense.

This is a zero-sum game – every factory, car model, battery plant and investment they win is one we lose. At present, it looks as if it is the
UK that will end up with zero.

https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-has-killed-the-british-car-industry/

--
Spike

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

This was from the headbanger who said that Brexit would instantly result in a 8% drop in the cost of living "on day one".
-----------------------------------------
Professor Minford, of Cardiff Business School, has previously advocated “running down” the UK auto industry – which would include plants such as Sunderland’s Nissan.

Giving evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in 2012, he said: “It is perfectly true that if you remove protection of the sort that has been given particularly to the car industry and other manufacturing industries inside the protective wall,
you will have a change in the situation facing that industry, and you are going to have to run it down.

“It will be in your interests to do it, just as in the same way we ran down the coal and steel industries. These things happen as evolution takes place in your economy.”

YOU WERE WARNED - NUTCASE.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 18/05/2023 07:37 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

This was from the headbanger who said that Brexit would instantly result in a 8% drop in the cost of living "on day one".
-----------------------------------------
Professor Minford, of Cardiff Business School, has previously advocated “running down” the UK auto industry – which would include plants such as Sunderland’s Nissan.

Giving evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in 2012, he said: “It is perfectly true that if you remove protection of the sort that has been given particularly to the car industry and other manufacturing industries inside the protective

wall, you will have a change in the situation facing that industry, and you are going to have to run it down.

“It will be in your interests to do it, just as in the same way we ran down the coal and steel industries. These things happen as evolution takes place in your economy.”

YOU WERE WARNED - NUTCASE.

A floor-sweeper contradicting a professor!

You don't actually know anything about economics, do you?

But happily, it was never seen as an essential qualification for
night-shift janitors. The CSE in Applied Floor Washing and the one in
Advanced Broom Maintenance (new handle one year, new head the next) were
all you needed.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

From the same deluded liar.

Gammons lapped it up.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fwqs9jhWcAAc3IS?format=jpg&name=medium

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Net zero pledge ahead.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fwq8xuWX0AIm_Zi?format=png&name=medium

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

From the same deluded liar.

Gammons lapped it up.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fwqs9jhWcAAc3IS?format=jpg&name=medium

Get your Gammon swivels here:

<https://www.gammontechstore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=GTP%2D1501%2E&CartID=0>

(Safe)

--
Spike

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

RenewableUK is highlighting another wind energy generation record, set yesterday evening (Tuesday 10th January) and confirmed today by National Grid ESO.

Wind generated 21.6 gigawatts (GW) of electricity in the half-hour period between 6-6.30pm, providing 50.4% of Britain's power. This beats the previous record of 20.9GW set on 30th December, which was the third wind energy record set last year.

RenewableUK has been tracking the massive amount of electricity being produced by low carbon sources (renewables and nuclear) throughout the winter and tweeting updates every fortnight. Our latest #WinterPowerUpdate shows low carbon power sources
produced 82.5% of Britain’s electricity from the 27th of December to 9th of January. This cut gas demand by 1.31 billion cubic meters, which would have cost £2.1 billion.

RenewableUK's CEO Dan McGrail said: "Throughout this blustery winter, wind is taking a leading role as our major power source, setting new records time and time again. This is good news for billpayers and businesses, as wind is our cheapest source of new
power and reduces the UK’s use of expensive fossil fuels which are driving up energy bills. With public support for renewables also hitting new record highs, it’s clear we should be trying to maximise new investment in renewables to increase our
energy security”.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

Net zero pledge ahead.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fwq8xuWX0AIm_Zi?format=png&name=medium

QUOTE

September last year [2020], thanks to low wind speeds, electricity
suppliers were forced to pay wholesale prices of £2,500 per MWh to persuade gas power stations to enter the market – 50 times average prices at the
time. In July, they briefly had to pay Belgian electricity suppliers £9,724 per MWh to prevent the lights going out in London.

ENDQUOTE

It doesn’t matter that wind generation is cheap to produce, because electricity is in an international market.

A ‘market’ is a place where buyers and sellers meet, and prices are adjusted to arrive at the point where supply = demand.

So, if supply and demand are in the situation where demand > supply, prices rise until it becomes economic to start up costly generation. But, and
here’s the rub, all generators are paid the same for their electricity!

So wind generation, which is cheap, makes a huge profit!

The only losers are the consumers.

Denmark, which has a lot of wind generation, is in the situation such that
when supply > demand, they have to pay to get other countries to take it
away. Norway uses the energy to pump up its hydro storage, and when supply
< demand, they sell the electricity back to Denmark at a huge profit!

Welcome to the electricity generation racket. Al Capone couldn’t have done
it better.

[This explanation is highly simplified to help the dim]


--
Spike

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 21/05/2023 07:55 pm, Spike wrote:

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

Net zero pledge ahead.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fwq8xuWX0AIm_Zi?format=png&name=medium

QUOTE
September last year [2020], thanks to low wind speeds, electricity
suppliers were forced to pay wholesale prices of £2,500 per MWh to persuade gas power stations to enter the market – 50 times average prices at the time. In July, they briefly had to pay Belgian electricity suppliers £9,724 per MWh to prevent the lights going out in London.
ENDQUOTE

It doesn’t matter that wind generation is cheap to produce, because electricity is in an international market.

A ‘market’ is a place where buyers and sellers meet, and prices are adjusted to arrive at the point where supply = demand.

So, if supply and demand are in the situation where demand > supply, prices rise until it becomes economic to start up costly generation. But, and here’s the rub, all generators are paid the same for their electricity!

So wind generation, which is cheap, makes a huge profit!

The only losers are the consumers.

Denmark, which has a lot of wind generation, is in the situation such that when supply > demand, they have to pay to get other countries to take it away. Norway uses the energy to pump up its hydro storage, and when supply
< demand, they sell the electricity back to Denmark at a huge profit!

Welcome to the electricity generation racket. Al Capone couldn’t have done it better.

[This explanation is highly simplified to help the dim]

He'll need a dictionary for "explanation".

And probably one for "dictionary".

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Britain has set a new record for wind generation as power from onshore and offshore turbines helped boost clean energy supplies late last year.

National Grid’s electricity system operator (ESO), which handles Great Britain’s grid, said that a new record for wind generation was set on 30 December, when 20.91 gigawatts (GW) were produced by turbines.

This represented the third time Britain’s fleet of wind turbines set new generation records in 2022. In May, National Grid had to ask some turbines in the west of Scotland to shut down, as the network was unable to store such a large amount of
electricity when a then record 19.9GW of power was produced – enough to boil 3.5m kettles.

The ESO said a new record was also set for the share of electricity on the grid coming from zero-carbon sources – renewables and nuclear – which supplied 87.2% of total power. These sources have accounted for about 55% to 59% of power over the past
couple of years.

The surge in wind generation represents a remarkable reversal in fortunes as a cold snap that enveloped Britain and Europe quickly turned to milder weather.

Power prices had soared as the freezing weather forced Britons to increase their heating use, pushing up demand for energy despite high bills.

Emergency coal-fired power units at Drax in North Yorkshire were put on standby but ultimately not used, while gas-fired generation accounted for nearly 60% of the UK’s power output at times.

However, milder weather in the UK and Europe in recent days has led to a reduction in demand from consumers and a fall in wholesale gas prices. It has also reduced the risk of power cuts this winter, which National Grid had warned could be a possibility.

Wind generation is seen as a crucial part of Britain’s move towards net zero. The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is expected to overturn a moratorium on new onshore wind projects with a consultation on the matter due to run until March.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

When reading this glowing report of the triumphant March of wind power,
from an organisation set up to promote it, keep in mind this:

QUOTE

Advertising Standards Authority ruling

In 2008 the then BWEA was found by the Advertising Standards Authority
(ASA) to have overstated the carbon dioxide emissions displaced by wind generation. The BWEA and its members had claimed a value of 860 grams per kilowatt hour but the ASA found this was exaggerated by 100% and ordered
the BWEA to reduce the figure to 430 grams.

ENDQUOTE

Note that the BWEA became Renewable UK in 2009.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

RenewableUK is highlighting another wind energy generation record, set yesterday evening (Tuesday 10th January) and confirmed today by National Grid ESO.

Wind generated 21.6 gigawatts (GW) of electricity in the half-hour period between 6-6.30pm, providing 50.4% of Britain's power. This beats the
previous record of 20.9GW set on 30th December, which was the third wind energy record set last year.

RenewableUK has been tracking the massive amount of electricity being produced by low carbon sources (renewables and nuclear) throughout the
winter and tweeting updates every fortnight. Our latest
#WinterPowerUpdate shows low carbon power sources produced 82.5% of Britain’s electricity from the 27th of December to 9th of January. This
cut gas demand by 1.31 billion cubic meters, which would have cost £2.1 billion.

RenewableUK's CEO Dan McGrail said: "Throughout this blustery winter,
wind is taking a leading role as our major power source, setting new
records time and time again. This is good news for billpayers and
businesses, as wind is our cheapest source of new power and reduces the UK’s use of expensive fossil fuels which are driving up energy bills.
With public support for renewables also hitting new record highs, it’s clear we should be trying to maximise new investment in renewables to increase our energy security”.

--
Spike

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

The ultimate irony - the German hating Brexitters have helped their economy by forcing UK firms to set up shop there. Big UK companies seeking a “foothold” in the single market to ease the red tape burden helped Germany reach its highest-ever level
of foreign direct investment (FDI) last year.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-uk-companies-germany-eu-b2344039.html

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

RenewableUK is highlighting another wind energy generation record, set yesterday evening (Tuesday 10th January) and confirmed today by National Grid ESO.

Wind generated 21.6 gigawatts (GW) of electricity in the half-hour period between 6-6.30pm, providing 50.4% of Britain's power. This beats the
previous record of 20.9GW set on 30th December, which was the third wind energy record set last year.

RenewableUK has been tracking the massive amount of electricity being produced by low carbon sources (renewables and nuclear) throughout the
winter and tweeting updates every fortnight. Our latest
#WinterPowerUpdate shows low carbon power sources produced 82.5% of Britain’s electricity from the 27th of December to 9th of January. This
cut gas demand by 1.31 billion cubic meters, which would have cost £2.1 billion. [1]

Using the data from that report…

1.31 bn cu m of gas is equivalent to about 14bn kWh, which at 60%
efficiency for a CCGT is about 8.5 bn kWh of electricity, or 8.5 TWh. The 14-day period mentioned is 336 hours. Therefore gas did not supply (8.5 x
10^3 x 10^9)/336 = an average of 25 GW over that period.

But according to the report, this is 17.5% of electricity supplied, 82.5%
being from low carbon sources.

Therefore, according to the data mentioned in the original report, average electricity generated over that period was 25/.175 = over 140 GW.

That’s way beyond the capability of the National Grid supply.

[1] Plus…

QUOTE

Advertising Standards Authority ruling In 2008 the then BWEA was found by
the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to have overstated the carbon
dioxide emissions displaced by wind generation. The BWEA and its members
had claimed a value of 860 grams per kilowatt hour but the ASA found this
was exaggerated by 100% and ordered the BWEA to reduce the figure to 430 grams.[1]

ENDQUOTE

The BWEA was the forerunner organisation to RenewableUK.


--
Spike

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Wind turbines around the UK generated a record amount of electricity during a half-hour period yesterday (10 January), beating a previous record set less than two weeks ago.

The energy source provided more than half (50.4%) of the country’s power between 6-6.30pm, generating a record 21.6GW of electricity.

The figure, confirmed by National Grid ESO and highlighted by renewable energy trade association RenewableUK, beat the previous record of 20.9GW, set on 30 December – the third wind energy record set last year.

The latest fortnightly Winter Power Update from RenewableUK showed low-carbon power sources produced 82.5% of Britain’s electricity from 27 December to 9 January, cutting gas demand by 1.31bn cubic metres, which would have cost £2.1bn.

RenewableUK CEO Dan McGrail said: "Throughout this blustery winter, wind is taking a leading role as our major power source, setting new records time and time again. This is good news for billpayers and businesses, as wind is our cheapest source of new
power and reduces the UK’s use of expensive fossil fuels which are driving up energy bills. With public support for renewables also hitting new record highs, it’s clear we should be trying to maximise new investment in renewables to increase our
energy security.”

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Technically, November isn’t in winter, which handily avoids raising the
issue of wind being outperformed by gas to the tune of some 15GW for 25
days in that month.

15GW x 24 hrs x 25 days is 9000 GWh where gas had to stand in for the
failing renewables.

And as wind wasn’t producing much, it meant a huge hole in income as the electricity wind produced is based on the gas price.

Doubtless other subsidies rolled in to help.

There were other long periods where the wind didn’t blow, due to the
blocking highs that Europe enjoys every winter.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

Wind turbines around the UK generated a record amount of electricity
during a half-hour period yesterday (10 January), beating a previous
record set less than two weeks ago.

The energy source provided more than half (50.4%) of the country’s power between 6-6.30pm, generating a record 21.6GW of electricity.

The figure, confirmed by National Grid ESO and highlighted by renewable energy trade association RenewableUK, beat the previous record of 20.9GW,
set on 30 December – the third wind energy record set last year.

The latest fortnightly Winter Power Update from RenewableUK showed
low-carbon power sources produced 82.5% of Britain’s electricity from 27 December to 9 January, cutting gas demand by 1.31bn cubic metres, which
would have cost £2.1bn.

RenewableUK CEO Dan McGrail said: "Throughout this blustery winter, wind
is taking a leading role as our major power source, setting new records
time and time again. This is good news for billpayers and businesses, as
wind is our cheapest source of new power and reduces the UK’s use of expensive fossil fuels which are driving up energy bills. With public
support for renewables also hitting new record highs, it’s clear we
should be trying to maximise new investment in renewables to increase our energy security.”

--
Spike

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

There are over 11,000 wind turbines in the UK, including onshore and offshore wind farms. They’re popular because the UK’s exposed position on the north-western edge of Europe makes it particularly windy, with Scotland being the windiest place in the
whole of the continent.

The wind blows all year round – making wind power a reliable renewable power source. It also tends to be windiest in winter, meaning wind turbines can produce are producing more power at the time of the year when we’re also using the most electricity.

Both of these points make the UK well positioned to make the most of both offshore and onshore wind energy and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

Another added bonus is the low carbon footprint that is created in building wind farms – it’s one of the smallest among new renewable generators.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

QUOTE

And at the moment, we are going in the wrong direction. Overall generation capacity available to the National Grid actually fell from 77.9 GW in 2019
to 76.6 GW in 2021.

Moreover, wind and solar farms are not performing in the way which was
hoped. Last year alone, the available generation capacity of wind power
grew by 5.3 per cent and solar by 2.8 per cent.

Yet the amount of electricity actually generated by wind, wave and solar plunged by 9.3 per cent, largely on account of low wind speeds.

This is a problem which the wind industry has yet to grasp: there is a long-term declining trend in wind speeds over the UK – and indeed
throughout most of the world.

This is an aspect of climate change which gets little coverage, perhaps
because it conflicts with the lazy and incorrect narrative, perpetuated by
the former chairman of the Environment Agency among others, that Britain is facing more ‘violent’ weather.

ENDQUOTE

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

There are over 11,000 wind turbines in the UK, including onshore and
offshore wind farms. They’re popular because the UK’s exposed position on the north-western edge of Europe makes it particularly windy, with
Scotland being the windiest place in the whole of the continent.

The wind blows all year round – making wind power a reliable renewable power source. It also tends to be windiest in winter, meaning wind
turbines can produce are producing more power at the time of the year
when we’re also using the most electricity.

Both of these points make the UK well positioned to make the most of both offshore and onshore wind energy and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

Another added bonus is the low carbon footprint that is created in
building wind farms – it’s one of the smallest among new renewable generators.

--
Spike

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

The UK’s wind power industry has reached a significant milestone, with wind generation hitting a record high of 24.6% share of total electricity generation.

Britain’s wind farms produced record-breaking amounts of electricity in 2022, generating enough power for 22.8 million homes, according to new figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The report suggests offshore wind provided a record 13.8% of power and onshore wind generated 10.8%.

Renewables overall produced 41.4% of electricity and low carbon sources hit a record 56% share.

While offshore wind saw significant growth, planning barriers for onshore wind meant only 318MW of new turbines were added last year.

Ana Musat, Executive Director of Policy at RenewableUK, has praised the role of wind power in the UK’s energy mix, following record-breaking statistics for wind generation.

Musat highlighted the cost-effectiveness of wind power, which she described as the country’s “cheapest source of power”, as well as the benefits of reducing dependence on imported gas and lowering energy bills.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

QUOTE
Ana Musat, Executive Director of Policy at RenewableUK, highlighted the cost-effectiveness of wind power, which she described as the country’s “cheapest source of power”.
ENDQUOTE

Yes, but Ms Musat doesn’t appear to mention that the price wind producers receive is dependent on gas prices. The latter have been fabulously high
for the last year, so while wind might be claimed the cheapest source of electricity, the consumer sees none of it, only very high prices.
Presumably the difference is profit for the wind producers.

And then there’s the subsidies…

Cheap? My a**e.

And people fall for this! Honestly, some people shouldn’t go out without a carer.

Simon Mason <swldxer2022@gmail.com> wrote:

The UK’s wind power industry has reached a significant milestone, with
wind generation hitting a record high of 24.6% share of total electricity generation.

Britain’s wind farms produced record-breaking amounts of electricity in 2022, generating enough power for 22.8 million homes, according to new figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The report suggests offshore wind provided a record 13.8% of power and onshore wind generated 10.8%.

Renewables overall produced 41.4% of electricity and low carbon sources
hit a record 56% share.

While offshore wind saw significant growth, planning barriers for onshore wind meant only 318MW of new turbines were added last year.

Ana Musat, Executive Director of Policy at RenewableUK, has praised the
role of wind power in the UK’s energy mix, following record-breaking statistics for wind generation.

Musat highlighted the cost-effectiveness of wind power, which she
described as the country’s “cheapest source of power”, as well as the benefits of reducing dependence on imported gas and lowering energy bills.

--
Spike

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 23/05/2023 05:59 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

There are over 11,000 wind turbines in the UK, including onshore and offshore wind farms. They’re popular because the UK’s exposed position on the north-western edge of Europe makes it particularly windy, with Scotland being the windiest place in

the whole of the continent.

The wind blows all year round – making wind power a reliable renewable power source. It also tends to be windiest in winter, meaning wind turbines can produce are producing more power at the time of the year when we’re also using the most

electricity.

Both of these points make the UK well positioned to make the most of both offshore and onshore wind energy and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.

Another added bonus is the low carbon footprint that is created in building wind farms – it’s one of the smallest among new renewable generators.

Is there a proposal to link generators to static chav-bikes*?

If not, what's the relevance?

[You have to admit: it's a great idea.]

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

The UK’s wind power industry has reached a significant milestone, with wind generation hitting a record high of 24.6% share of total electricity generation.

Britain’s wind farms produced record-breaking amounts of electricity in 2022, generating enough power for 22.8 million homes, according to new figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The report suggests offshore wind provided a record 13.8% of power and onshore wind generated 10.8%.

Renewables overall produced 41.4% of electricity and low carbon sources hit a record 56% share.

While offshore wind saw significant growth, planning barriers for onshore wind meant only 318MW of new turbines were added last year.

Ana Musat, Executive Director of Policy at RenewableUK, has praised the role of wind power in the UK’s energy mix, following record-breaking statistics for wind generation.

Musat highlighted the cost-effectiveness of wind power, which she described as the country’s “cheapest source of power”, as well as the benefits of reducing dependence on imported gas and lowering energy bills.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

QUOTE

And at the moment, we are going in the wrong direction. Overall generation capacity available to the National Grid actually fell from 77.9 GW in 2019
to 76.6 GW in 2021.

Moreover, wind and solar farms are not performing in the way which was
hoped. Last year alone, the available generation capacity of wind power
grew by 5.3 per cent and solar by 2.8 per cent.

Yet the amount of electricity actually generated by wind, wave and solar plunged by 9.3 per cent, largely on account of low wind speeds.

This is a problem which the wind industry has yet to grasp: there is a long-term declining trend in wind speeds over the UK – and indeed
throughout most of the world.

This is an aspect of climate change which gets little coverage, perhaps
because it conflicts with the lazy and incorrect narrative, perpetuated by
the former chairman of the Environment Agency among others, that Britain is facing more ‘violent’ weather.

ENDQUOTE


swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

The UK’s wind power industry has reached a significant milestone, with
wind generation hitting a record high of 24.6% share of total electricity generation.

Britain’s wind farms produced record-breaking amounts of electricity in 2022, generating enough power for 22.8 million homes, according to new figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The report suggests offshore wind provided a record 13.8% of power and onshore wind generated 10.8%.

Renewables overall produced 41.4% of electricity and low carbon sources
hit a record 56% share.

While offshore wind saw significant growth, planning barriers for onshore wind meant only 318MW of new turbines were added last year.

Ana Musat, Executive Director of Policy at RenewableUK, has praised the
role of wind power in the UK’s energy mix, following record-breaking statistics for wind generation.

Musat highlighted the cost-effectiveness of wind power, which she
described as the country’s “cheapest source of power”, as well as the benefits of reducing dependence on imported gas and lowering energy bills.

--
Spike

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Big Zero Report 2022

The UK's wind power industry has reached a significant milestone, with wind generation hitting a record high of 24.6% share of total electricity generation.3 Apr 2023.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Simon Mason <swldxer2022@gmail.com> wrote:

Big Zero Report 2022

The UK's wind power industry has reached a significant milestone, with
wind generation hitting a record high of 24.6% share of total electricity generation.3 Apr 2023.

For more than two thirds of that month, gas was supplying about 10GW more
than wind.

Someone’s being economical with the truth.

--
Spike

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Let’s just be clear. We are about to witness, in the coming few months and years, the slow death of the British volume car industry. Another victim of Brexit, the malign gift from Boris Johnson to the British people that just keeps on giving.

Another British industrial success story sacrificed on the altar of that elusive god, “Sovereignty”.

And it is a terrible tragedy because it has been inflicted on a people who were never ever told by the sultans of Brexit, the likes of Johnson and Nigel Farage, the truth about what was about to befall them. It was always the greatest of ironies that
some of the places that voted for Brexit in 2016, such as Swindon and Sunderland, were so dependent on the car industry, which depended itself so heavily on easy access to European supply chains and the vast single market.

If they’d known in Swindon that Honda would soon close, if they’d been informed in Sunderland that Nissan would in a matter of a few years be reconsidering its commitment, would they have voted Leave so readily?

The warnings about imminent disaster could hardly be clearer now. The giant Stellantis group, which is essentially what we used to know as Peugeot, but which now owns vast swathes of the global car industry including Vauxhall’s electric vehicle
production in the UK, is quite explicit.

They may as well be, because at this stage they’ve got nothing to gain by being diplomatic. In the approach to the referendum, big players such as BMW and Toyota were wary of intervening for fear of making matters worse. The trade body, the Society of
Motor Manufacturers and Traders, confined itself deliberately to setting out facts and reasoned argument rather than lurid menace. The industry was quiescent, despite having so much at stake.

Not any more. In a leaked memo, Stellantis openly discusses the future of the plant at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, which now makes electric vehicles, and the wider domestic industry: “If the cost of EV Manufacturing in the UK becomes uncompetitive…
operations will close. Manufacturers will… relocate manufacturing operations outside of UK, as seen with previously established UK manufacturers such as Ford and Mini.”

Many thousands of well-paid skilled jobs will be lost, mostly in areas that desperately need investment, not just in the northwest but also, most of all, at the Nissan operation in Sunderland. A great export earner for Britain and, until Brexit, an
outstanding British success story will disappear within the next few years as investment dries up and the business becomes unviable. If this is what the “sunlit uplands” of Brexit look like then perhaps being part of the European superstate wasn’t
so bad after all.

It’s worth understanding just what went wrong here. As usual, it starts with Mr Brexit himself, Johnson. On 30 December 2020, Johnson, then prime minister, his Brexit deal sewn up and with a majority of 80 seats in his pocket, confidently told the
Commons: “In less than 48 hours we will leave the EU single market and the customs union as we promised. British exporters will not face a sudden thicket of trade barriers, but rather, for the first time in the history of EU agreements, zero tariffs
and zero quotas.”

As ever, that was misleading. What he might have added was “provided rules of origin are adhered to”, though admittedly that’s a bit of a mouthful. What it means is that the EU is happy to allow British-made vehicles into the single market provided
they are genuinely British. It would be cheating if, say, a car was exported from China or India, landed at the docks in Southampton, had a sticker with a Union Jack and “Made in Great Britain” stuck on it and immediately sent over to France for
onward sale across the continent. That is not really a British car by origin, because the value of the sticker and the labour involved in putting it on is tiny in relation to the car or van as a whole.

In fact, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement recognises that globalisation means few products are nationally “pure”, and allows for a generous limit on the proportion of electric vehicle components that can be made outside of Europe for
manufacturers in the UK to benefit from tariff-free trade. These limits will decline from 60 per cent to 45 per cent by 2027. Unless manufacturers comply with these limits, the EU will – contrary to Johnson’s bald promise – slap taxes and tariffs
on UK exports. This will push their price up and make them unprofitable. The process starts on 1 January 2024 when most electric vehicles traded between the EU and the UK will have a 10 per cent tariff applied.

That danger was broadly foreseen when Stellantis extended the life of their UK business two years ago, with a British government subsidy of £30m thrown in (Stellantis drive a hard bargain). At that point Johnson smugly declared: “It’s a huge vote of
confidence in our economy, in the people of Ellesmere Port and in our fantastic post-Brexit trading relationships. And it’s a great example of the kind of high-skilled, well-paid jobs that we’re securing as part of our green, industrial revolution.
The Stellantis plant marks the new age of cheap and efficient mass-produced electric vehicles.”

“And I could not be more proud of the fact that, in just a couple of years from now, your packages will be gliding silently to your door in an electric van marked ‘Made in Great Britain’.”

What went wrong was that the UK never developed a viable domestic automotive battery business and has had to import too many from China. Given that most of the value of an electric vehicle is contained in the battery pack, and the recent inflation in
battery costs has driven that value even higher, the UK-built vehicles will fall foul of the rules of origin clauses in the treaty. Importing batteries from Europe would help, but add to costs and Europe, though way ahead of the UK, doesn’t have that
much capacity either. There are also limits in the EU “cumulation” rules to that particular tactic.

In the short run, the collapse of significant parts of the nascent British electric vehicle business could be delayed by an emergency revision to the Brexit treaty. This would require Rishi Sunak to leverage his rapport with Emanuel Macron and Ursula von
der Leyen. However, it is only a short-term fix, and the uncertainties about UK battery production will linger, and such uncertainties kill investment and industries. Had Brexit never happened, there would have been no question of any tariffs ever being
levied on British exports to the EU, under any circumstances. That is the Brexit difference, the one that makes the UK such a risky place to invest, and that goes for all kinds of new industries and service sectors far beyond car making. That is why
Brexit makes us poorer than we otherwise would be. That is why Brexit is a flop.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Mason, having no recent doom and gloom to post, reaches back in time to
give you the following story, the giveaway to its age being the mention of Swindon’s Honda factory being soon to close, which actually happened two years ago.

I guess he didn’t much like my post about the expected gigafactory in Somerset, it not being according to his Gospel, but to which he couldn’t
find an answer.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

Let’s just be clear. We are about to witness, in the coming few months
and years, the slow death of the British volume car industry. Another
victim of Brexit, the malign gift from Boris Johnson to the British
people that just keeps on giving.

Another British industrial success story sacrificed on the altar of that elusive god, “Sovereignty”.

And it is a terrible tragedy because it has been inflicted on a people
who were never ever told by the sultans of Brexit, the likes of Johnson
and Nigel Farage, the truth about what was about to befall them. It was always the greatest of ironies that some of the places that voted for
Brexit in 2016, such as Swindon and Sunderland, were so dependent on the
car industry, which depended itself so heavily on easy access to European supply chains and the vast single market.

If they’d known in Swindon that Honda would soon close, if they’d been informed in Sunderland that Nissan would in a matter of a few years be reconsidering its commitment, would they have voted Leave so readily?

The warnings about imminent disaster could hardly be clearer now. The
giant Stellantis group, which is essentially what we used to know as
Peugeot, but which now owns vast swathes of the global car industry
including Vauxhall’s electric vehicle production in the UK, is quite explicit.

They may as well be, because at this stage they’ve got nothing to gain by being diplomatic. In the approach to the referendum, big players such as
BMW and Toyota were wary of intervening for fear of making matters worse.
The trade body, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, confined itself deliberately to setting out facts and reasoned argument rather
than lurid menace. The industry was quiescent, despite having so much at stake.

Not any more. In a leaked memo, Stellantis openly discusses the future of
the plant at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, which now makes electric
vehicles, and the wider domestic industry: “If the cost of EV
Manufacturing in the UK becomes uncompetitive… operations will close. Manufacturers will… relocate manufacturing operations outside of UK, as seen with previously established UK manufacturers such as Ford and Mini.”

Many thousands of well-paid skilled jobs will be lost, mostly in areas
that desperately need investment, not just in the northwest but also,
most of all, at the Nissan operation in Sunderland. A great export earner
for Britain and, until Brexit, an outstanding British success story will disappear within the next few years as investment dries up and the
business becomes unviable. If this is what the “sunlit uplands” of Brexit look like then perhaps being part of the European superstate wasn’t so bad after all.

It’s worth understanding just what went wrong here. As usual, it starts with Mr Brexit himself, Johnson. On 30 December 2020, Johnson, then prime minister, his Brexit deal sewn up and with a majority of 80 seats in his pocket, confidently told the Commons: “In less than 48 hours we will
leave the EU single market and the customs union as we promised. British exporters will not face a sudden thicket of trade barriers, but rather,
for the first time in the history of EU agreements, zero tariffs and zero quotas.”

As ever, that was misleading. What he might have added was “provided
rules of origin are adhered to”, though admittedly that’s a bit of a mouthful. What it means is that the EU is happy to allow British-made vehicles into the single market provided they are genuinely British. It
would be cheating if, say, a car was exported from China or India, landed
at the docks in Southampton, had a sticker with a Union Jack and “Made in Great Britain” stuck on it and immediately sent over to France for onward sale across the continent. That is not really a British car by origin, because the value of the sticker and the labour involved in putting it on
is tiny in relation to the car or van as a whole.

In fact, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement recognises that globalisation means few products are nationally “pure”, and allows for a generous limit on the proportion of electric vehicle components that can
be made outside of Europe for manufacturers in the UK to benefit from tariff-free trade. These limits will decline from 60 per cent to 45 per
cent by 2027. Unless manufacturers comply with these limits, the EU will
– contrary to Johnson’s bald promise – slap taxes and tariffs on UK exports. This will push their price up and make them unprofitable. The process starts on 1 January 2024 when most electric vehicles traded
between the EU and the UK will have a 10 per cent tariff applied.

That danger was broadly foreseen when Stellantis extended the life of
their UK business two years ago, with a British government subsidy of
£30m thrown in (Stellantis drive a hard bargain). At that point Johnson smugly declared: “It’s a huge vote of confidence in our economy, in the people of Ellesmere Port and in our fantastic post-Brexit trading relationships. And it’s a great example of the kind of high-skilled, well-paid jobs that we’re securing as part of our green, industrial revolution. The Stellantis plant marks the new age of cheap and efficient mass-produced electric vehicles.”

“And I could not be more proud of the fact that, in just a couple of
years from now, your packages will be gliding silently to your door in an electric van marked ‘Made in Great Britain’.”

What went wrong was that the UK never developed a viable domestic
automotive battery business and has had to import too many from China.
Given that most of the value of an electric vehicle is contained in the battery pack, and the recent inflation in battery costs has driven that
value even higher, the UK-built vehicles will fall foul of the rules of origin clauses in the treaty. Importing batteries from Europe would help,
but add to costs and Europe, though way ahead of the UK, doesn’t have
that much capacity either. There are also limits in the EU “cumulation” rules to that particular tactic.

In the short run, the collapse of significant parts of the nascent
British electric vehicle business could be delayed by an emergency
revision to the Brexit treaty. This would require Rishi Sunak to leverage
his rapport with Emanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen. However, it is
only a short-term fix, and the uncertainties about UK battery production
will linger, and such uncertainties kill investment and industries. Had Brexit never happened, there would have been no question of any tariffs
ever being levied on British exports to the EU, under any circumstances.
That is the Brexit difference, the one that makes the UK such a risky
place to invest, and that goes for all kinds of new industries and
service sectors far beyond car making. That is why Brexit makes us poorer than we otherwise would be. That is why Brexit is a flop.

--
Spike

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Three of the world’s largest carmakers have told the British government it needs to renegotiate its Brexit deal with the EU to change rules they say threaten UK electric vehicle production.

The Vauxhall maker, Stellantis, has warned it will be unable to keep its commitment to make electric vehicles in Britain without the changes, while Ford has called them a “pointless cost”. Jaguar Land Rover, the biggest UK automotive employer, also
said the timing of new rules was “unrealistic”.

The trade and cooperation agreement (TCA) between London and Brussels was signed in 2020, so why is it suddenly an issue?
What is the problem?

Stellantis, which also owns the Citroën, Peugeot and Fiat, DS, Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Abarth brands, says it is struggling to meet the TCA’s “rules of origin” that require 40% of an electric vehicle’s parts by value to originate in the
UK or EU in order for it to qualify for trade without tariffs.

This threshold is due to rise to 45% next year and then in 2027 it will increase to 55% and the battery pack will have to come from the UK or EU.

Carmakers who do not comply face paying tariffs of 10% when they come to sell their finished vehicles on the other side of the Channel, making it harder for them to compete with cheaper rival models from east Asia.

Stellantis, which employs more than 5,000 people in the UK, including 1,000 at its electric van factory in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, and 1,200 at its Luton plant, says these requirements make production in the UK unviable, and it is calling on the
government to strike a fresh agreement with the EU to maintain existing rules until 2027.

Ford, which has invested £380m growing its e-motor capacity at its plant in Halewood, Merseyside, also issued a statement on Wednesday calling for the three-year delay to the rule change while the UK and EU improve their battery production capacity.

Stellantis says it will have no choice but to wind down operations, putting thousands of jobs at risk. “If the cost of EV manufacturing in the UK becomes uncompetitive and unsustainable, operations will close,” it argues in its submission to a House
of Commons inquiry into electric car production.

“Manufacturers will not continue to invest and relocate manufacturing operations outside the UK. The closing of UK manufacturing will see significant job losses, the loss of a skilled workforce and a negative impact to the UK economy.”

David Bailey, a professor of business economics at the Birmingham business school, calls the problem an “existential threat to the UK car industry”, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the rules in the current Brexit agreement “put the UK
at a competitive disadvantage”.

Andy Palmer, the chair of the European battery manufacturer InoBat, told the same programme that 800,000 jobs in the UK associated with the car industry were under threat. “If you can’t meet these local content rules, if you don’t have battery
capability in the UK, then those car manufacturers will move to mainland Europe,” he said.

The former Aston Martin chief executive added: “We have known about the rules for four years. There have been numerous warnings to the government. We have been sleeping at the wheel – [the] consequence is we are now running out of time and the UK
becomes a much less attractive place in which to do business.”

Was Brexit not an issue before this?

Yes: the car industry was one of the most vocal critics of Brexit, warning in 2020 that it would cost the sector £55bn and add £1,900 to the average cost of a car imported from the EU.
So what is different now?

The drive to electrify motoring. In its submission, Stellantis says there will “not be sufficient battery production supplies in the UK or in Europe by 2025 and 2030 despite the fact this is key to meet the TCA under the current rules of origin”.

Many companies – including Stellantis – are racing to build “gigafactories” for car batteries in the EU, while one major project is under way in the UK in Sunderland. However, most of those will not be ready for 2024, meaning carmakers across
Europe will continue to be reliant on imports from the dominant Asian battery makers.

In other words, there is a problem for the auto industry across Europe because there will not be a level playing field as agreed in the TCA. “If we are unable to rely on sufficient UK or European batteries, we will be at a major disadvantage. In
particular against Asian imports, specifically South Korea, Japan and also China,” the carmaker says.

The carmaker’s announcement in 2021 that it would invest £100m to build electric vehicles at Ellesmere Port and was committed to continuing at its Luton site was lauded as a major vote of confidence in the UK post-Brexit.

However, since then the price of raw materials has soared – particularly those used in electric car batteries – amid the energy crisis after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Vauxhall maker says these increased costs and other “external headwinds�
�� mean it can no longer afford the planned UK and EU production minimums.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

When US carmaker Ford on Feb. 14 announced 1,300 job cuts in the UK, it was just the latest blow for an industry that’s been struggling to keep up production levels in a post-Brexit, pandemic-hit economy that’s on the brink of recession.

Globally, the auto industry is beginning a wholesale change to the way it operates, creating battery-building capacity and the expertise necessary to make electric cars instead of petrol vehicles. But the UK’s recent record on getting cars off the
production line, plus some high-profile failures, suggest it might struggle more than most countries.

The UK’s car-making heyday is in the distant past. Production peaked in 1972 with close to two million cars made that year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), and the country’s output has fluctuated ever since. A
steady rise over the early 2010s was summarily reversed in 2016, the same year the UK voted to leave the EU: The UK made well over 1.5 million cars in 2016, but that number had halved to just 775,000 by 2022.
Why is electrification hard for the UK?

One area where the UK has long excelled is R&D, with some of the world’s best research institutions and a long history of high-level engineering. Building batteries at scale shouldn’t be an insurmountable challenge. And, if it proved too expensive,
importing them could be an option.

Yet the UK’s attempts to build a battery industry are faltering. In January 2023, the lithium-ion battery startup Britishvolt, which was building a massive gigafactory in Northumberland, collapsed into bankruptcy, leaving £120 million ($146 million)
in debt.

“Britishvolt collapsed because, much the same as any new technology, converting a promising idea for EV batteries into profits requires extremely hefty costs to be paid up-front,” Rebecca Parry, a professor at Nottingham Law School, told Energy Live
News. The company faced high competition from abroad and, allegedly, runaway internal costs. “It was effectively a startup and in spite of investment, it had not by the end of 2022 developed a working prototype and it was still building its factory,”
Parry said.
Why not import batteries?

Japanese carmaker Nissan in 2022 became the biggest carmaker in the UK, producing 16.5% of all UK vehicles, a change that came about in part because other big makers pulled out entirely. Honda closed its Swindon operations in July 2021, resulting in the
loss of over 3,000 jobs. Vauxhall stopped producing Astra cars at its Wirral factory in April 2022, though its owner, Stellantis, does plan to invest £100 million “supported by the UK government to secure an all-electric future for the plant,”
according to a 2021 announcement.

Nissan is still backing a huge gigafactory project in Sunderland, where batteries will be made close to its production plant, a sign that the company thinks making EV batteries—which are large, complex, and, of course, vital to the running of an
electric vehicle—close to where the cars are assembled is important.

The UK has long imported technical products, including car components. But while Brexit didn’t stop imports or exports, it made some of them them a lot more complicated, expensive, and uncertain. Years of negotiation towards a “divorce” deal
between the UK and the EU has left grey areas that are still being worked out. The Economist pointed out that the crankshaft in a Mini made by BMW has to cross the English Channel three times for various stages of its manufacture before it can be
installed in a car in the UK. Manufacturing processes like this are becoming much more onerous post-Brexit.

Ford also announced layoffs today in Germany, citing a wide-ranging restructure of its business. As an American company, it’s likely being tempted by huge US government incentives to invest in a US-based EV production industry. Those incentives are
even luring away British companies—yet another blow to the country’s struggling auto industry.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

The following story has been in the news recently, and it comes as no
surprise to realise the the TCA is also being complained about by EU car manufacturers, the deal being the same for both sides.

It’s a indication of how far the EU was willing to damage itself in order
to damage the UK, but reality from German car makers is causing a rethink
in Brussels.

Well, they did say that if we left, they would hurt us, but didn’t seem to realise they were shooting themselves in the foot at the same time.

Thank goodness we’re free of them.

swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

Three of the world’s largest carmakers have told the British government
it needs to renegotiate its Brexit deal with the EU to change rules they
say threaten UK electric vehicle production.

The Vauxhall maker, Stellantis, has warned it will be unable to keep its commitment to make electric vehicles in Britain without the changes,
while Ford has called them a “pointless cost”. Jaguar Land Rover, the biggest UK automotive employer, also said the timing of new rules was “unrealistic”.

The trade and cooperation agreement (TCA) between London and Brussels was signed in 2020, so why is it suddenly an issue?
What is the problem?

Stellantis, which also owns the Citroën, Peugeot and Fiat, DS, Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Abarth brands, says it is struggling to meet the
TCA’s “rules of origin” that require 40% of an electric vehicle’s parts
by value to originate in the UK or EU in order for it to qualify for trade without tariffs.

This threshold is due to rise to 45% next year and then in 2027 it will increase to 55% and the battery pack will have to come from the UK or EU.

Carmakers who do not comply face paying tariffs of 10% when they come to
sell their finished vehicles on the other side of the Channel, making it harder for them to compete with cheaper rival models from east Asia.

Stellantis, which employs more than 5,000 people in the UK, including
1,000 at its electric van factory in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, and 1,200
at its Luton plant, says these requirements make production in the UK unviable, and it is calling on the government to strike a fresh agreement with the EU to maintain existing rules until 2027.

Ford, which has invested £380m growing its e-motor capacity at its plant
in Halewood, Merseyside, also issued a statement on Wednesday calling for
the three-year delay to the rule change while the UK and EU improve their battery production capacity.

Stellantis says it will have no choice but to wind down operations,
putting thousands of jobs at risk. “If the cost of EV manufacturing in
the UK becomes uncompetitive and unsustainable, operations will close,”
it argues in its submission to a House of Commons inquiry into electric car production.

“Manufacturers will not continue to invest and relocate manufacturing operations outside the UK. The closing of UK manufacturing will see significant job losses, the loss of a skilled workforce and a negative
impact to the UK economy.”

David Bailey, a professor of business economics at the Birmingham
business school, calls the problem an “existential threat to the UK car industry”, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the rules in the current Brexit agreement “put the UK at a competitive disadvantage”.

Andy Palmer, the chair of the European battery manufacturer InoBat, told
the same programme that 800,000 jobs in the UK associated with the car industry were under threat. “If you can’t meet these local content rules, if you don’t have battery capability in the UK, then those car manufacturers will move to mainland Europe,” he said.

The former Aston Martin chief executive added: “We have known about the rules for four years. There have been numerous warnings to the
government. We have been sleeping at the wheel – [the] consequence is we are now running out of time and the UK becomes a much less attractive
place in which to do business.”

Was Brexit not an issue before this?

Yes: the car industry was one of the most vocal critics of Brexit,
warning in 2020 that it would cost the sector £55bn and add £1,900 to the average cost of a car imported from the EU.
So what is different now?

The drive to electrify motoring. In its submission, Stellantis says there will “not be sufficient battery production supplies in the UK or in
Europe by 2025 and 2030 despite the fact this is key to meet the TCA
under the current rules of origin”.

Many companies – including Stellantis – are racing to build “gigafactories” for car batteries in the EU, while one major project is under way in the UK in Sunderland. However, most of those will not be
ready for 2024, meaning carmakers across Europe will continue to be
reliant on imports from the dominant Asian battery makers.

In other words, there is a problem for the auto industry across Europe because there will not be a level playing field as agreed in the TCA. “If we are unable to rely on sufficient UK or European batteries, we will be
at a major disadvantage. In particular against Asian imports,
specifically South Korea, Japan and also China,” the carmaker says.

The carmaker’s announcement in 2021 that it would invest £100m to build electric vehicles at Ellesmere Port and was committed to continuing at
its Luton site was lauded as a major vote of confidence in the UK post-Brexit.

However, since then the price of raw materials has soared – particularly those used in electric car batteries – amid the energy crisis after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Vauxhall maker says these increased
costs and other “external headwinds” mean it can no longer afford the planned UK and EU production minimums.

--
Spike

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

The flag waving Brexitters hailed Virgin Orbit as the dawn of a brave new UK space programme, just before it first and only mission ended in total failure in January this year, at a wet runway in Cornwall. Now it has been wound up. ☺️

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12120785/Richard-Branson-shutting-Virgin-Orbit-selling-assets-worth-36-million.html

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The flag waving Brexitters hailed Virgin Orbit as the dawn of a brave new UK space programme, just before its first and only mission ended in total failure in January this year, at a wet runway in Cornwall. Now it has been wound up. ☺️

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12120785/Richard-Branson-shutting-Virgin-Orbit-selling-assets-worth-36-million.html

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UK car ownership at an all-time high of 40.7 million!

The UK isn’t self-sufficient in food, and hasn’t been since the 17th Century, so why should it need to be self-sufficient in cars?



swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

When US carmaker Ford on Feb. 14 announced 1,300 job cuts in the UK, it
was just the latest blow for an industry that’s been struggling to keep
up production levels in a post-Brexit, pandemic-hit economy that’s on the brink of recession.

Globally, the auto industry is beginning a wholesale change to the way it operates, creating battery-building capacity and the expertise necessary
to make electric cars instead of petrol vehicles. But the UK’s recent record on getting cars off the production line, plus some high-profile failures, suggest it might struggle more than most countries.

The UK’s car-making heyday is in the distant past. Production peaked in 1972 with close to two million cars made that year, according to the
Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), and the country’s
output has fluctuated ever since. A steady rise over the early 2010s was summarily reversed in 2016, the same year the UK voted to leave the EU:
The UK made well over 1.5 million cars in 2016, but that number had
halved to just 775,000 by 2022.
Why is electrification hard for the UK?

One area where the UK has long excelled is R&D, with some of the world’s best research institutions and a long history of high-level engineering. Building batteries at scale shouldn’t be an insurmountable challenge.
And, if it proved too expensive, importing them could be an option.

Yet the UK’s attempts to build a battery industry are faltering. In
January 2023, the lithium-ion battery startup Britishvolt, which was
building a massive gigafactory in Northumberland, collapsed into
bankruptcy, leaving £120 million ($146 million) in debt.

“Britishvolt collapsed because, much the same as any new technology, converting a promising idea for EV batteries into profits requires
extremely hefty costs to be paid up-front,” Rebecca Parry, a professor at Nottingham Law School, told Energy Live News. The company faced high competition from abroad and, allegedly, runaway internal costs. “It was effectively a startup and in spite of investment, it had not by the end
of 2022 developed a working prototype and it was still building its factory,” Parry said.
Why not import batteries?

Japanese carmaker Nissan in 2022 became the biggest carmaker in the UK, producing 16.5% of all UK vehicles, a change that came about in part
because other big makers pulled out entirely. Honda closed its Swindon operations in July 2021, resulting in the loss of over 3,000 jobs.
Vauxhall stopped producing Astra cars at its Wirral factory in April
2022, though its owner, Stellantis, does plan to invest £100 million “supported by the UK government to secure an all-electric future for the plant,” according to a 2021 announcement.

Nissan is still backing a huge gigafactory project in Sunderland, where batteries will be made close to its production plant, a sign that the
company thinks making EV batteries—which are large, complex, and, of course, vital to the running of an electric vehicle—close to where the
cars are assembled is important.

The UK has long imported technical products, including car components.
But while Brexit didn’t stop imports or exports, it made some of them
them a lot more complicated, expensive, and uncertain. Years of
negotiation towards a “divorce” deal between the UK and the EU has left grey areas that are still being worked out. The Economist pointed out
that the crankshaft in a Mini made by BMW has to cross the English
Channel three times for various stages of its manufacture before it can
be installed in a car in the UK. Manufacturing processes like this are becoming much more onerous post-Brexit.

Ford also announced layoffs today in Germany, citing a wide-ranging restructure of its business. As an American company, it’s likely being tempted by huge US government incentives to invest in a US-based EV production industry. Those incentives are even luring away British companies—yet another blow to the country’s struggling auto industry.

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Spike

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swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

The flag waving Brexitters hailed Virgin Orbit as the dawn of a brave new
UK space programme, just before its first and only mission ended in total failure in January this year, at a wet runway in Cornwall. Now it has been wound up. ☺️

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12120785/Richard-Branson-shutting-Virgin-Orbit-selling-assets-worth-36-million.html

Is there a point you are trying to make?

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Spike

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swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

The flag waving Brexitters hailed Virgin Orbit as the dawn of a brave new
UK space programme, just before it first and only mission ended in total failure in January this year, at a wet runway in Cornwall. Now it has been wound up. ☺️

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12120785/Richard-Branson-shutting-Virgin-Orbit-selling-assets-worth-36-million.html

Is there a point you’re trying to make?

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Spike

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The owner of Vauxhall has warned it may close UK factories unless the Government renegotiates its Brexit deal.

Stellantis highlighted how it could face a 10% tariff on exports to the EU because of rules on where parts are sourced.

“If the cost of electric vehicle manufacturing in the UK becomes uncompetitive and unsustainable, operations will close,” the company said.

The threat risks throwing the future of its Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port into doubt.

Electric vans made at the Cheshire site face the extra tariff because they will not contain enough locally sourced parts.

Rules state that 45% of the value of an electric vehicle must come from the UK or EU from 2024.

Stellantis, which also owns Citroen, Peugeot and Fiat and employs more than 5,000 people in the UK, told a Commons inquiry that its UK investments were in the balance due to the terms of the Brexit trade deal.

Its concerns echo wider industry concerns.

Mike Hawes, chief executive at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said extra tariffs also risked making electric cars even more expensive.

“At a time when every country is accelerating their transition to zero emission transport, and global competitors are offering billions to attract investment in their industries, a pragmatic solution must be found quickly,” he said.

The situation has been made by false starts to plans to site gigafactories in the UK that can build batteries for electric vehicles.

Meanwhile, an economics academic has warned there is an “existential threat to the UK car industry”.

Professor David Bailey, professor of business economics at the Birmingham Business School, BBC ’s Today programme that increased tariffs and stricter rules in post Brexit trading agreements will put British manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage.
Prof Bailey said: “I think there is a kind of existential threat to the UK car industry.

“The rules in the Brexit agreement don’t help the UK car industry either.

“If they can’t meet those rules, they’ll face a 10% tariff on cars made in the UK and exported to the EU and vice versa.

“That will put the UK at a competitive disadvantage.”

Jonathan Reynolds, Shadow Business Secretary, said: “These are issues that ministers should have seen coming and been proactive in addressing - instead we have a government in chaos.

“This is an indictment of a government that has both failed to make Brexit work for businesses and is unable to harness the opportunities of the green transition.”

The PM’s spokesman said: “We hope to be able to come to a resolution be on this

“It’s important to note that it affects both cars moving from the EU to the UK as well as the other way.”

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swldx...@gmail.com <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

The owner of Vauxhall has warned it may close UK factories unless the Government renegotiates its Brexit deal.

Don’t worry on that score, because European car manufacturers, especially
the German ones, are stuck with the same deal, have the same issues, and
also want the Brexit deal kicked into the long grass.

Just another example of the EU shooting itself in the foot in order to be
nasty to the Brits.

Bullies…you have to stand up to them.

Stellantis highlighted how it could face a 10% tariff on exports to the
EU because of rules on where parts are sourced.

“If the cost of electric vehicle manufacturing in the UK becomes uncompetitive and unsustainable, operations will close,” the company said.

The threat risks throwing the future of its Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port into doubt.

Electric vans made at the Cheshire site face the extra tariff because
they will not contain enough locally sourced parts.

Rules state that 45% of the value of an electric vehicle must come from
the UK or EU from 2024.

Stellantis, which also owns Citroen, Peugeot and Fiat and employs more
than 5,000 people in the UK, told a Commons inquiry that its UK
investments were in the balance due to the terms of the Brexit trade deal.

Its concerns echo wider industry concerns.

Mike Hawes, chief executive at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said extra tariffs also risked making electric cars even more expensive.

“At a time when every country is accelerating their transition to zero emission transport, and global competitors are offering billions to
attract investment in their industries, a pragmatic solution must be
found quickly,” he said.

The situation has been made by false starts to plans to site
gigafactories in the UK that can build batteries for electric vehicles.

Meanwhile, an economics academic has warned there is an “existential
threat to the UK car industry”.

Professor David Bailey, professor of business economics at the Birmingham Business School, BBC ’s Today programme that increased tariffs and
stricter rules in post Brexit trading agreements will put British manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage. Prof Bailey said: “I think there is a kind of existential threat to the UK car industry.

“The rules in the Brexit agreement don’t help the UK car industry either.

“If they can’t meet those rules, they’ll face a 10% tariff on cars made in the UK and exported to the EU and vice versa.

“That will put the UK at a competitive disadvantage.”

Jonathan Reynolds, Shadow Business Secretary, said: “These are issues
that ministers should have seen coming and been proactive in addressing - instead we have a government in chaos.

“This is an indictment of a government that has both failed to make
Brexit work for businesses and is unable to harness the opportunities of
the green transition.”

The PM’s spokesman said: “We hope to be able to come to a resolution be on this

“It’s important to note that it affects both cars moving from the EU to the UK as well as the other way.”

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Spike

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The number of new cars made in the UK has sunk to its lowest level for 66 years as firms warn the country is not doing enough to attract manufacturers.

The 10% drop is the worst performance since 1956, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

A struggle to get parts due to Covid and a semiconductor shortage have hit the industry worldwide, but the UK has also been hit by factory closures.

Car firms warn the UK has not got a strategy to attract manufacturers.

In response, the government said it was "determined" to ensure the country remains a top global location for car manufacturing.

In total, the UK produced 775,014 cars last year, down from 1.3 million before the pandemic, with production having fallen every year since the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016.

Manufacturers hope the car industry will start to accelerate again, but say getting to pre-pandemic levels would require major investment and new car makers to come to the UK.

They warn that the UK is lagging behind, particularly on offering state aid to manufacturers.

In the US, the government is planning to offer billions in subsidies to car makers who create electric vehicle supply chains in America.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of industry body the SMMT, warns this will "hoover up" a lot of international investment, hitting the UK industry further.

The European Union is considering retaliating by either relaxing state aid rules or by extending Covid recovery or green technology-boosting programmes.

One of the benefits of Brexit was meant to be escaping from the straitjacket of EU state aid rules which limited the amount of support governments could give to favoured industries.

Mr Hawes conceded the UK could be in the unenviable position of offering less support to crucial industries than before it left the EU.

Speaking to the BBC's Today programme, he said the UK needed "something that demonstrates that the UK is open for business and open for these investments".

The production figures were also affected by the closure of Honda's factory in Swindon in July 2021 and the fact that Vauxhall Astras have not been made at Ellesmere Port since April 2022.

Mr Hawes said the numbers reflected how "tough" 2022 was for UK car manufacturing, although the country had still made more electric vehicles than ever before, with almost a third now fully-electric or hybrid.

He warned the global car industry had already begun investing in electric vehicles and batteries and the UK only had "a few years" to act.

"We need to be on the front foot making sure we have a range of measures that attract investment," Mr Hawes said.

He called for a strategy to accelerate battery production and the shift to electric vehicles, adding that the UK was well placed to succeed given its skilled workforce and engineering expertise.

UK car production was further set back by the collapse of battery start-up Britishvolt last week.

The firm had planned to build a giant factory to make electric car batteries in Cambois, near Blyth in Northumberland, but the project ran out of money.

The UK currently only has one Chinese-owned battery plant next to the Nissan factory in Sunderland, while 35 plants are planned or already under construction in the EU.

A government spokesperson said: "We are determined to ensure the UK remains one of the best locations in the world for automotive manufacturing.

"Our success is evidenced by the £1bn investment in Sunderland in 2021, and we are building on this through a major investment programme to electrify our supply chain and create jobs."

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On 25/05/2023 09:54 am, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

The number of new cars made in the UK has sunk to its lowest level for 66 years as firms warn the country is not doing enough to attract manufacturers.

The 10% drop is the worst performance since 1956, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

The Suez Crisis, when petrol was in short supply. Who buys a new car
when petrol is hard to get?

It caused a reduction in sales of "ordinary" cars (which then did around
25mpg on average) and boosted the import of "bubble cars" (for those who
can remember those).

It eventually led to a huge industry resurgence because a British
automotive engineer named Issigonis was prompted to start designing a
proper car which did the same mileage per gallon as the bubble cars (40+
mpg). It took BMC three years to get through the design, prototyping and
early production stages and the finished product was launched in 1959.
It was a huge success, even though BMC sold it a little too cheaply and
hardly ever made a quid per vehicle. Management short-sightedness and
employee piss-taking caused that company to collapse several times.

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On Thursday, May 25, 2023 at 9:54:42 AM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

The number of new cars made in the UK has sunk to its lowest level for 66 years as firms warn the country is not doing enough to attract manufacturers.

Number 10 said it did not comment on commercially sensitive matters 🤣 ... why the change ?

Perhaps it's the £800 million 'bribe' to India's Tata to compensate for issues arising from brexit.

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On 25/05/2023 05:45 am, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

The owner of Vauxhall has warned it may close UK factories unless the Government renegotiates its Brexit deal.

That company has been issuing the same demand for taxpayers' money, with menaces, for nigh on fifty years.

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