Daily Brief – The EU EV Charging Paradox

The EU EV Charging Paradox

As a reminder, the EU has decreed that there will be no more internal combustion engine powered cars after 2035. This is a further example of eco policy losing touch with commercial reality as there are currently 1 million charging points across the EU or just 1 point for 13 EVs. Of those charging points a mere 130,000 are fast charging points where motorists can charge in a matter of minutes. There needs to be 5 times the number of charging points or 1 charging point for 2.5 Evs and of those 3.5 million need to be fast charging points to make an all electric policy workable. That means that the hopes that are currently pinned on a giant leap forward in EV battery technology need to come to fruition.

GBP/EUR 1.1350.

Blocked Russian Assets

Much has been written about extending a reparations loan to Ukraine backed by the Russian assets frozen by the G7 and its allies. The total of those frozen assets is estimated to amount to EUR 300 billion of which EUR 140 billion is in Belgium’s Euroclear. The rest of it is spread across the USA, UK, Canada, Germany, Australia, France, and Japan but those countries are coy in disclosing how many of those assets reside in their own jurisdictions. Secretive Switzerland on the other hand uncharacteristically has confirmed that EUR 7.5 billion are held there. Even the EUR 300 billion total is open to doubt and could well be an underestimate.

EUR/USD 1.1515.

Bank of England

Ahead of the decision yesterday lunchtime about whether the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee would or would not cut rates by 25bps, the expectation was that there was only a 1 in 3 chance that rates would be cut with the most optimistic observers looking for a split decision of 5:4 in favour of a hold. There is little doubt that Chancellor Reeves would have liked to see a cut given the opprobrium being heaped on her for her early morning statement on Tuesday which rather like the topic of Prince Andrew succeeded in unifying opinion negatively. In the event RR’s hopes were dashed and indeed it was a hold with a 5:4 split decision. Sterling sold off immediately but snapped back to the levels pre announcement.

GBP/USD 1.3081.

Cardiff

Groundbreaking stuff going on beneath the streets of Cardiff, Wales with work undertaken by the British Geological Survey team which has discovered that thermal pollution through, people, cars, and businesses has heated up the water table to 12c. That heat can be converted into renewable energy sufficient to heat homes and businesses and generate electricity. It looks as if that technology could be adopted by other cities and conurbations with far reaching energy implications-hence the excitement in the valleys and beyond as such a scheme as is envisaged would overcome the costs of individual heat pumps which are beyond the economic reach of most people.

EUR/JPY 177.00.

Hallelujah

This day in 2016 Leonard Cohen, singer, poet, songwriter and inspiration to many departed this world at the age of 82. LC managed to capture the spirit of the age in every one of the 5 decades that he was active. Easy to forget that he did not set out on his singing career until the mature age of 33.

Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, the major lifts
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

You say I took the name in vain
I don’t even know the name
But if I did, well, really, what’s it to you?
There’s a blaze of light in every word
It doesn’t matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder

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