Farewell, then, 2022. Who’s had the biggest year to forget? What follows is far from exhaustive but provides a few examples to ponder as the new year rolls in.
Lawrence Stroll and Aston Martin
First, CEO Tobias Moers was safe, and then he was gone. Then the firm didn’t need additional funding. Then it did. The share price continued to crash and the problems mounted. Aston may be a mega-brand, but emotional appeal holds no sway if the financial accounts don’t make for pretty reading.
Battery manufacturing in the UK
Rules of origin regulations effectively mean that the UK needs to manufacture batteries for EVs made here or face stringent tariffs on any cars it exports. Today, we have 2GWh of manufacturing capacity. Estimates suggest that by 2030 we need 60GWh to maintain the status quo. Given the time it takes to build a battery facility, we probably have less than 12 months to sort that or wave goodbye to what we have.
Plug-in hybrids
While electric car sales have soared, sales of PHEVs have slumped (down 5.7% year on year at the time of writing). Some…
