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Community Goodbye, gas guzzlers It's been a bad week for petrol- heads everywhere. Whatever Jeremy Clarkson and his ilk may think, the days of the com- bustion engine are numbered. Tesla, the US electric vehicle company headed by wun- derkind Elon Musk unveiled a $35,000 production line vehicle, the Model 3. That's less than half the price of the company's previous cheap- est offering, the Model S, and means that even with sterling in the doghouse aer the Brexit vote, you can pick up one of the sexiest EVs on the planet for less than £27,000. EV numbers are still small, but even as the electricity industry wrestles with the engi- neering challenge of readying the network for a mass take-up, the question has become "when" not "if ". Tesla's entry into the mass market could be significant. Its market capitalisation now makes it worth more than General Motors, although it sold only 70,000 vehicles last year compared with the Detroit behemoth's ten million. Charged up In the same week, Swedish car- maker Volvo announced that by 2019 it would be producing only electric or hybrid vehicles. Volvo is relatively small, but it's still considered a "major", and the move is therefore significant. The following day, French environment minister Nicolas Hulot announced that the country intended to ban the sale of all new petrol and diesel powered cars by 2040 as part of president Emmanuel Macron's package of measures to make France carbon neutral by 2050. The pressure is on Peugeot and Citroen to deliver the EVs, particularly because they are partially owned by the French government, but the direction of travel is clear. US on the road less travelled Or rather, the direction of travel is clear in Europe. In the US, of course, other rules apply. Last month president Donald Trump outraged pretty much everyone else when he unilaterally withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement on limiting global carbon emissions, thus making good on one of his more outland- ish campaign promises that even many of his supporters assumed was just posturing. It le Trump cutting a solitary figure at last week's G20 meeting of world leaders, where even Russian president Vladimir Putin expressed "disappointment" at the move. It takes a special sort of genius to cede the moral high ground to Russia, but there you have it. The Donald doesn't seem to mind if he offends people – or by how much. At one point he had his daughter, Ivanka, "hold his seat" for him at the conference table while he went off for a meeting with Japan. Of course, the new US administration follows its own laws, and adheres to its own facts. Even as Donald was scowling at other world leaders in Geneva, his energy secretary Rick Perry was touring a coal- burning plant in West Virginia where journalists quizzed him on the wisdom of pursuing fos- sil fuel production. "Here's a little economics lesson: supply and demand," said the former Texas governor. "You put the supply out there and the demand will follow. "I mean, that's really pretty simple." Simple and wrong. Doug Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, a centre-right think tank, explains: "Supply does not automatically create its own demand. They are two separate entities that have their own determinants and then they interact to deliver prices." Of course, that's just Holtz- Eakin's opinion. Other facts are available. Disconnector Editor, Utility Week, and content director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellenbennett@fav-house.com; Deputy editor: Jane Gray, t: 01342 332087, e: janegray@ fav-house.com; Insights editor: Mathew Beech, t: 01342 332082, e: mathewbeech@fav-house. com; Features editor: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080, e: loisvallely@fav-house.com; Senior reporter: Tom Grimwood, t: 01342 332061, e: tomgrimwood@fav-house.com; Reporter: Josh Downes, t: 01342 332102, e: joshdownes@fav-house.com; Policy correspondent: David Blackman, e: davidblackman@fav-house.com; Production editor: Paul Newton, t: 01342 332085, e: paulnewton@fav-house.com; Sales executive: Sidney Houliston, e: sidneyhouliston@ fav-house.com. t: 01342 332009; Conference sponsorship manager: Sophie Abbott, t: 01342 332062, e; sophieabbott@fav-house.com; Publisher: Amanda Barnes, e: amandabarnes@fav-house.com. General enquiries: 01342 332000; Membership enquiries: Peter Bissell, t: 01342 332057, e: peterbissell@fav-house.com. ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Printed by: Buxton Press, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE. Published by: Faversham House Ltd, Windsor Court, Wood Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 1UZ, 3,580 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2015 Membership subscriptions: UK £669 per year. Overseas £781 per year. Contact Peter Bissell on: 01342 332057 Utility Week is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK's magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors' Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint please contact the editor, Ellen Bennett, at ellenbennett@fav-house.com. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors' Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk Tom Burke @tom_burke #Climate change has finally given Germany a global leadership role it never thought it would have to fill. BEIS Committee @CommonsBEIS Following nominations for our chair, there are four candidates for election on 12 July. Jim Watson @watsonjim2 I hope whoever gets elected won't forget the E in BEIS. Not many mentions of energy or climate change action in their statements. Energy UK @EnergyUKcomms A good commitment from Volvo. More evidence of companies shifting towards #ElectricVehicles too, as we continue to decarbonise. James Cleverly @JamesCleverly And so it begins. The move to electric vehicles will be sudden, exciting and irreversible. Nick Molho @NickMolho France 2 ban diesel and petrol vehicles by 2040; momentous week 4 car industry. Dale Vince @DaleVince I think the market will get there first, probably a decade sooner as all manufacturers will "do a Volvo" soon enough. Dustin Benton @dustin_benton Rapid EV chargers needed to cut city #airpollution, but nobody wants ugly streets. Can't we make them beautiful? Tom Greatrex @tomjgreatrex Govt can get what it wants staying in #Euratom – pragmatism good for jobs, health, clean power, science. Jeremy Gordon @jrmygrdn There's clearly no need for UK to crash out of Euratom. Leave calmly over a few years once main Brexit has been put through. Top Tweets UTILITY WEEK | 14TH - 20TH JULY 2017 | 31