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Plug-in sales soar, but where will they plug in?

The sale of electric vehicles (EVs) has skyrocketed in the UK in recent years, but analysis by E&T reveals that the deployment of chargepoints across the nation is not keeping pace with the record growth in EVs on the road. According to the latest quarterly figures from the Department of Transport, there was a 62 per cent rise in newly registered plug-in vehicles in January-March 2022 over Q1 2021. In comparison, the number of newly registered petrol vehicles fell by 7 per cent and diesel registrations fell by 34 per cent. The sale of new plug-in vehicles has soared over the last five years by 665 per cent. Meanwhile the number of newly registered petrol vehicles has fallen by 50 per cent and diesel by 76 per cent. ...

E+T Magazine in Engineering with a Disability
Portable device might help stroke survivors hold hands with loved ones

Stroke survivors who have lost their sense of touch may be able to feel the warmth of a loved one’s hand again thanks to a portable device being developed by UK researchers. One of the most common side-effects of a stroke is the loss of sensation and muscle control in one arm and hand, which makes it difficult for survivors to dress and feed themselves, or even handle everyday objects such as a toothbrush or door handle. In order to support them, a team of researchers at the University of Hertfordshire have created a touchpad device that delivers tiny vibrations to the fingertips, causing brain cells to fire and bring back a sense of touch to affected limbs. The device could not only make survivors more independent but also help them reconnect with loved ones. “Improvement in touch…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
Analysis: Is the electricity network ready for an EV revolution?

A revolution is coming – and it will be powered by electricity. As part of the government’s net-zero drive, and with a looming 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, up to 30 million electric vehicle chargers will need to be installed by 2050, according to the trade association for energy infrastructure companies, BEAMA. On top of that, the association says 20 million heat pumps will also be required, increasing electricity demand by more than 70 per cent. Merlin Hyman, chief executive of Regen, a think tank with the mission of helping the UK achieve a net-zero energy system, describes this as “a massive ask”. He notes that the EV revolution involves transferring an entire energy supply chain – one that (until now) has been delivered via oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz…

E+T Magazine in Engineering with a Disability
The clean energy transition could save trillions, say Oxford researchers

Switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy is "possible and profitable", and could save the world as much as $12tn (£10.2tn) by 2050 compared to continuing the current levels of fossil fuel use, according to a study by Oxford University. In the paper, the research team denied the idea that a green transition would be extremely costly as "just wrong", and described a scenario in which rapidly transitioning to clean energy results in lower energy system costs than a fossil fuel system, while providing 55 per cent more energy to the global economy, and expanding energy access to more people around the world. The study’s ‘Fast Transition’ scenario could be achieved by ramping up solar, wind, batteries, electric vehicles, and clean fuels such as green hydrogen, the scientists said. …

E+T Magazine in Renewable Energy
Twitter shareholders approve Musk's $44bn takeover bid

Twitter is moving forward to attempt to force Elon Musk to uphold his agreement to buy the social media company, as its shareholders vote to approve the buyout. The billionaire made an offer last April to purchase Twitter f or $ 44bn (£35bn). However, he later backed down from the deal, stating that the acquisition could not go forward until the company provided information about how many accounts on the platform are spam or bots. The vote, made in a short conference call with investors from the company's San Francisco headquarters, could have spelt the end of Twitter's legal pursuit. However, the shareholders' decision has given the company the green light to try to force Musk to buy the company in the courts, a process that began on 12 July, when Twitter sued Musk in Delaware…

E+T Magazine
How trusted digital twins can unlock the UK’s sustainability efforts

Sustainability has been on the public agenda for years with comparatively little progress being made given the risks. The COP26 conference that took place towards the end of last year, and the introduction of sustainability goals by the UK government to be met by 2030, though, have pushed the topic to the top of the corporate and government agenda. Despite increased effort and interest in sustainability, with solutions such as alternative energy and the restoration of peatlands in agriculture having seen increased investment, experts are still warning that the UK’s current plans may fall short of reaching key climate goals. While there is no silver bullet to the sustainability issues we’re currently facing, technology - particularly digital twin - has already played a vital role in helping…

E+T Magazine in Sustainable Development
£3.5bn fine for Google from EU over Android's anti-competition activities

The European Court of Justice’s General Court mostly confirmed a European Commission decision to slap Google with a fine of more than four billion euros for stifling competition through the dominance of Android. The court said it was appropriate to impose a fine of €4.125bn (£3.5 billion) on Google, slightly lower than the original €4.34bn penalty. In addition, the court said its reasoning for the decision differed “in certain respects” from the Commission’s. The fine is one of three anti-competition penalties totalling more than €8bn (£6.9bn) that the European Commission imposed on Google between 2017 and 2019. In its original decision, the Commission said Google’s practices restrict competition and reduce choices for consumers. It determined that Google broke EU rules by requiring…

E+T Magazine in Computing
Can the road network cope with self-driving vehicles?

As the Boris Johnson administration drew to a close, one government department that didn’t get the memo to down tools was the Department for Transport. In August, the DfT announced a £100m funding boost for what it called a “self-driving revolution”, setting Britain on a course towards a future where autonomous cars, coaches and lorries could be running on our roads from as early as 2025. It’s simultaneously a bold new step and utterly uncontroversial, as whoever is living in Downing Street is going to have to deal with the reality that autonomous vehicles (AVs) are coming. However, what’s important about AVs is not just what Tesla, Google, and maybe even Apple are up to. What’s going to be just as critical is the road network on which the ‘revolution’ takes place. So just how are AVs going…

E+T Magazine in Road transport systems
The bigger picture: Kinetic glasshouse

Designed by Heatherwick Studios in collaboration with the Woolbeding Charity and the National Trust, the conical structure at the Trust’s Woolbeding Gardens in West Sussex can unfold like the flowers inside it, letting in sunlight and fresh air. Ten steel ‘sepals’ with glass and aluminium façades take four minutes to open using a hydraulic mechanism, creating an immense 141-square-metre space in the shape of a crown. Image credit: Cover Images As well as protecting the plants inside it, the kinetic glasshouse offers a decorative element to the Silk Route Garden around it, representing a landscape influenced by the ancient trading route between Asia and Europe. A winding path takes visitors through 300 species and 12 distinct regions, from Mediterranean evergreens…

E+T Magazine in Engineering with a Disability
Blockchain could help drive ethical EVs

Electric vehicles (EVs) are hailed as the greenest cars available, and by 2030 they will account for around 32 per cent of the total market share for new car sales, according to one report. Deloitte forecasts their numbers will grow from 2.5 million in 2020 to 11.2 million in 2025 to 31.1 million by 2030. However, due to their reliance on batteries, the increasing popularity of EVs means more minerals are needed to create them. Without knowing the provenance of goods or minerals, it is difficult for carmakers to ensure that materials used in the manufacturing process comply with social and environmental standards, which are increasingly important to a growing number of eco-conscious consumers. To provide transparency across its supply chains, a British start-up called Circulor is using…

E+T Magazine in Automotive Engineering
Book review: ‘She’s In CTRL’ by Anne-Marie Imafidon

It is clear that technology is no natural force advancing in whichever direction it pleases, but that it is driven by the very people who create it: overwhelmingly men in the Global North. It is unsurprising, then, that technology tends to reflect their experiences and serve their interests. The efforts of women from within and beyond the sector have drawn attention to this problem: Timnit Gebru, Joy Buolamwini, Caroline Criado Perez, Ellen Pao. Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon certainly ranks among them. A computer scientist and former child prodigy, she founded Stemettes in 2013: a social enterprise supporting under-represented groups in STEM, especially young women. In ‘She’s in CTRL’ (Bantam Press, £16.99, ISBN: 9781787635029), Imafidon makes the case that the tech world should not be considered…

E+T Magazine
Scientists design a novel way to extract silver from solar panels

The process discovered is able to recover metals from end-of-life solar panels using cheap, environmentally friendly solvents (substances used to dissolve, extract, or suspend other substances). Silver is an essential metal for the functioning of solar panels. However, the amount of naturally occurring silver found in ores is decreasing, making supply a concern for the future. This not only affects the production of photovoltaic (PV) cells – aka solar cells – but other essentials such as LED chips, nuclear reactors and equipment for the medical industry. For this reason, the University of Leicester team set out to find a way to recover the silver used in discarded panels. “These new ‘unusual’ brines offer new possibilities for the processing of metals," said Dr Guillaume Zante, from…

E+T Magazine in Recycling
Could EVs overload the power grid?

An £11.4m programme of funding by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is getting off the ground to make it easier for an electric vehicle (EV) to return electricity to the network during times of peak loading. Since June, all new private chargepoints must be smart enough to adjust their rate of charge in response to external signals, in order to ease demand on the network at times like the evening peak. There are clear reasons as to why the British government, among others, is keen to have EVs react to the needs of the grid. Without that ability, the risk is that if too many drivers in the same area demand their cars be ready to drive in the next hour it will lead to sudden blackouts. There are distinct differences of opinion on how disruptive EV charging will be…

E+T Magazine in Power Equipment
UN begins nuclear safety consultations with Russia and Ukraine

Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Monday that he has started consultations with both Ukraine and Russia to protect the area around Europe's largest nuclear power plant, despite the conflict between the two nations. The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency made his proposal last week after leading a team of inspectors to the nuclear plant - Europe’s biggest, having six reactors - but gave few details at the time. “What we need here really is Ukraine and Russia to agree on a very simple principle of not attacking, or not shelling, at the plant,” Grossi told reporters at the agency’s Vienna headquarters. Last week, the plant was knocked off Ukraine’s electricity grid after a fire caused by Russian shelling brought down its…

E+T Magazine in Nuclear Power
Ocean cooling debunked as hurricane prevention idea

The study led by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science showed that the amount of energy that would be needed to weaken a hurricane before landfall would make ocean cooling an inefficient solution to mitigate natural disasters. “The main result from our study is that massive amounts of artificially cooled water would be needed for only a modest weakening in hurricane intensity before landfall,” said the study’s lead author James Hlywiak, a graduate of the UM Rosenstiel School. “Plus, weakening the intensity by marginal amounts doesn’t necessarily mean that the likelihood for inland damages and safety risks would decrease as well." Hurricanes feed off warm waters and they weaken once they hit land or cooler parts of the ocean…

E+T Magazine in Climate Change
Blue Origin’s New Shephard rocket suffers first launch failure

Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket was less than a minute into the flight when bright yellow flames shot out from around the single engine at the bottom. Immediately, the capsule’s emergency launch abort system kicked in, lifting the craft off the top. Several minutes later, the capsule parachuted onto the remote desert floor and crashed back into West Texas with no injuries or damage reported, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The rocket did not carry any human passengers, only science experiments. However, this same model of rocket is also used to launch people on 10-minute rides to the edge of space. "It appears that we've experienced an anomaly with today's flight," said Dr Erika Wagner, a senior director at Blue Origin, while doing the in-flight webcast commentary…

E+T Magazine in Space
Book interview: ‘Playing to Win’ and the rules of gamification

“I don’t think that anyone is going to be surprised by the fact that companies are trying to maximise profit,” says Adrian Hon. Neither does he think that people will be shocked to hear that authoritarian governments are “interested in controlling and manipulating citizens”. None of this is new, says the author of ‘You’ve Been Played’, “and it certainly existed long before the arrival of gamification”. What’s interesting, he says, is that gamification – the application of game-design elements and principles in non-game contexts – is becoming a new tool to achieve these pre-existing aims. The difference is that the incentives for modifying user behaviour are “styled deliberately to look like video games, with missions and quests, using interface symbols and elements that people are familiar…

E+T Magazine
USA imposes sanctions on Iran over Albania cyber attack

The United States has imposed sanctions on Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and its minister, accusing them of engaging in other cyber activities against the United States and its allies. The move comes after Albania severed diplomatic relations with Iran on Wednesday over the alleged hacking of government digital services and websites in July and again in early September. Albania ordered all Iranian diplomats and embassy staff to leave within 24 hours. The US Treasury Department said in a statement that Iran's Ministry of Intelligence directs several networks of cyber-threat actors, including those involved in cyber espionage and ransomware attacks in support of the Iranian government. “Iran’s cyber attack against Albania disregards norms of responsible peacetime State behaviour in cyberspace…

E+T Magazine in Cybersecurity
E&T Innovation Awards: Choose your young pioneer

There is much talk of the skills shortage and the pipeline that is failing to rejuvenate the ageing stock of engineers. Nevertheless, there are clearly some brilliant young minds that are already making their mark in the engineering profession. The Young Pioneers category at the E&T Innovation Awards recognises such rising talent. A panel of expert judges has whittled the entrants down to just three finalists. The winner will be announced along with the rest of the E&T Innovation Awards at the gala presentation night taking place in London on 10 November 2022. More details about the event and how to be part of it are available online . The E&T Innovation Awards attract hundreds of entries: inspiring solutions to some of the world’s greatest challenges including sustainability, mobility…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
UK drivers could be ‘priced out of the electric revolution,’ study warns

A report by consumer website Electrifying.com has found that there are only seven new electric car models on sale in the UK for under £30,000, compared to 107 available models of petrol or diesel cars in the same price bracket. This lack of affordable options, added to the rise in electricity costs, has led to a decrease in the amount of money users can save by running an electric car instead of a petrol model, the company concluded. Electrifying.com founder and chief executive Ginny Buckley said electric cars are “firmly embedded in the UK’s car-buying habits” but warned that drivers are “paying more” to make the switch from petrol and diesel. “The choice of affordable cars is dwindling and, unless you’re charging on a cheap night-time tariff, you’ll now barely notice the savings,…

E+T Magazine
43 per cent greenhouse gas target now law in Australia

The Senate passed legislation supporting the target in a vote of 37 to 30, despite several senators who supported it wanting a more ambitious 2030 target. The centre-left Labour Party government officially committed Australia to the 43 per cent target after it came to power for the first time in nine years at elections in May. Entrenching this goal in law has made it more difficult for any future government to reduce the target. Climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen said the Senate vote provided certainty to clean energy investors while strengthening transparency and accountability in Australia’s carbon reduction processes. “The message to investors is that Australia is open for business,” Bowen told parliament. The conservative opposition party voted against the Bill.…

E+T Magazine in Climate Change
Interview: Dr Andy Levers, Executive Director, IDEAS

We’re sitting in a conference room in the recently inaugurated Digital Innovation Facility (DIF), a £12.7m centre of excellence for emerging engineering technologies. Headed by Dr Andy Levers, DIF is a purpose-built environment to support collaborations and partnerships between academia and industry in the areas of computer and data science, robotics and engineering. Levers’ full title is executive director of the Institute of Digital Engineering and Autonomous Systems (IDEAS), which sits above DIF and the Virtual Engineering Centre in the organisational food chain. He says that DIF was set up to bring together a multi-disciplinary team of engineers, scientists and technologists who will use their expertise to “maximise the possibilities and impact of these emerging technologies”. Based at…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
View from India: Elephants are essential for ecological balance

Uttarakhand, located at the foothills of the Himalayas, has been in the news recently for its elephant corridor. The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the Central Government to consider giving the corridor the status of an eco-sensitive zone, under the Environment Protection Act. This corridor is in the Jim Corbett National Park, so it’s only befitting for the court to state that construction of hotels, resorts or restaurants should not be permitted in the vicinity. Any form of encroachment or obstruction would probably force the animals to scout for other passages that lead to the nearby Kosi River. Both central and state governments have been directed to take conservation efforts towards elephant corridors as well as monitor the traffic at night. The state of Uttarakhand is no exception;…

E+T Magazine
Campaigners call on police to end use of face recognition technology

On his first day on the job, 14 campaign groups have written to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley requesting an end to the use of facial recognition technologies by police forces. They called the technology “privacy-eroding, inaccurate and wasteful”. Big Brother Watch, Liberty and Black Lives Matter UK were among the organisations that signed the letter. Facial recognition technologies have increasingly been used by police authorities around the world to fight against crime. The Metropolitan Police and the South Wales Police are some of the forces that have been known to use these technologies. However, this use of facial-recognition technologies has led to civil rights challenges and condemnation from human rights groups, who argue that the technology is often mistaken…

E+T Magazine

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