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A government grant of £25 million to support new cross-pavement EV charging schemes has been hailed as a major boost to the take-up of electric cars by enabling households without a driveway to charge an EV cheaply on the road.

The cash will be spent on installing covered gullies that can carry a charge cable across a pavement to an EV parked on the road. It is hoped the solution will tackle a problem faced by around nine million UK homes and in turn drive up the uptake of EVs.

However, critics are worried the solution still has significant challenges to overcome, especially around running costs and usability, before it becomes a fully viable solution.

Many councils are already using the cash to roll out pilot schemes. Oxfordshire County Council, for example, has made £700,000 available for 500 gullies and money towards home chargers.

“A third of Oxfordshire households don’t have off-street parking, so we believe this could give residents the confidence to switch to an EV,” said the council’s environment chief councillor, Judy Roberts. “Being able to access home electricity rates and park in your usual spot are the sorts of things that are likely to make EV ownership a reality for many people.”

Dorset’s Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council has approved a similar scheme, with almost 30% of households in the district lacking off-street parking.

However, councillors noted the limitations of the gullies, which will require owners to be able to secure a parking space within reach of their charge cable.

Instead, “households will have to negotiate with their neighbours over use of the parking space”, said councillor Andy Hadley.

Gully suppliers such as Kerbo Charge say that most cables can reach an adjoining space.

There are also financial issues. For example, despite the government’s support, households must still contribute to the cost of applying for, installing and maintaining the gully. In the case of Oxfordshire’s scheme, residents must pay £300 for a two-year licence.

After that, households need to pay an annual fee of £100 to cover ‘operating costs’. The householder is also responsible for the pavement’s reinstatement should they move or no longer require the gully.

These costs are unavoidable: Oxfordshire County Council and others say that, for safety reasons, people can’t install a gully themselves or have it privately arranged.

Defending the costs, a council spokesperson said it is roughly equal to what, in 12 months, a household would save charging at home compared with using a public charger.

Tesla has revealed the new Model Y Performance as a 460bhp sports crossover that accelerates quicker than a Porsche 911 GT3.

Available to order from £61,990 ahead of deliveries beginning in October, the hot Model Y receives a substantial design overhaul to mark it out from the standard car - and a healthy increase in power to go with it.

Using the same pair of 'Performance 4DU' motors as the most potent Tesla Model 3 saloon, it packs 460bhp, can accelerate from 0-60mph in 3.3sec and tops out at 155mph - figures that mean it could outstrip a BMW M5 or Audi RS6 and keep pace with some top-drawer supercars.

The Model Y Long Range AWD, which previously served as the range-topper, offers 375bhp.

Tesla said the Performance can also be equipped with a new type of 'high-density' battery cell that allows it to almost match the standard AWD Model Y on range, despite the significant power boost.

Tesla claims 360 miles per charge but does not give battery capacities.

The overhaul goes far beyond the drivetrain, with the Performance gaining the adaptive dampers from the Model 3 Performance – with a bespoke tune – alongside new suspension hardware and "optimised" wheels and tyres (staggered front to rear).

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The performance potential is signalled by an aggressive design treatment that marks this out as the most powerful Model Y: there's a more aerodynamically efficient front bumper, a diffuser-style rear bumper, a carbonfibre rear wing, sports-style 21in alloy wheels and red brake callipers to round off the package.

Inside, the Performance gains a slightly larger 16in touchscreen - which is also said to be Tesla's "highest-resolution" display yet. Meanwhile, the front sports seats are heated and ventilated, and come with bigger side bolsters that "hold you in your seat when cornering". 

The Model Y Performance will be built at Tesla's Brandenburg factory near Berlin and will be launched first in Europe and the Middle East before heading to other markets.

This is the latest expansion of the facelifted Model Y line-up as Tesla fights to take on an ever-expanding range of rivals. It has already announced a new cheaper entry-level variant and launched a long-wheelbase, six-seat version in China.

Chinese consumer electronics company Dreame Technology has announced plans to enter the electric car ranks with a bold ambition: to build the world’s fastest production car by 2027.

Best known for its robot vacuum cleaners and home electronics, the Xiaomi-backed firm has confirmed its first car will be an electric hypercar aimed squarely at the ultra-luxury segment, with Bugatti identified as the performance benchmark. 

The Suzhou-based company – a competitor to Dyson among others – has already assembled a team of around 1000 engineers and specialists for its car programme and is continuing to expand its automotive division.

The move makes Dreame, founded in 2017, the latest in a growing list of Chinese tech companies to enter the electric car ranks, following Xiaomi, Skyworth, Huawei, Roborock and Baidu.

But Dreame’s target of redefining the limits of road car performance – in direct competition to long established brands such as Bugatti, Ferrari, McLaren and others – marks a particularly audacious start.

The new Chinese hypercar will reportedly draw on Dreame’s proprietary high-speed electric motor technology, developed in-house for its consumer devices.

The firm has expertise in manufacturing compact motors design to operate at more than 200,000rpm - experience that its founder and CEO, Yu Hao, said will translate directly into the high-power demands of motor performance at the hypercar level.

“Our dream is to create the fastest car in the world,” read an internal letter issued to employees on Thursday. “Great dreams are born from fearlessness.”

Dreame’s technological credentials extend beyond motors. The firm has commercialised vision recognition systems, AI-based path planning and spatial modelling - all developed for its robot vacuums.  

As of the end of 2024, Dreame had filed more than 6300 patents globally. Many of them relate directly to competencies common in the EV field.

The company also boasts a global retail footprint across more than 100 countries, with a claimed 6000 retail centres and 30 million customers worldwide.

In preparation for its transition from consumer electronics to the automotive field, Dreame has hired a number of senior executives from established car manufacturers, covering areas such as research and development, production engineering and quality control.

While no technical specs or platform details for the hypercar have yet been disclosed, Dreame said it's pursuing a dual-track development approach: combining its rapid-cycle consumer technology culture with automotive-grade engineering standards.

The approach mirrors that of Dreame’s key robot vacuum rival, Roborock, which launchd its first production electric car, the 01, through its Rox automotive division in China in 2023.