the us house of representatives has moved a step closer to approving a much delayed $60 billion package of military aid for ukraine. the republican house speaker, mikejohnson still faces some resistance from the right of his party. now on bbc news... it's talking business. hello, everybody. a very warm welcome to talking business weekly with me, aaron heslehurst. let's go and take a look at what's on the show. definitely a big advantage compared to petrol and diesel. obviously the environmental benefits are that on the high—mileage driver, but i have to admit it's been a frustrating experience with public charging. yep, love them or hate them, it is the electric vehicle revolution. but is the boom time over?

as generous government subsidies end and electricity prices surge, sales of evs are slowing around the world. so what can governments and carmakers do to recharge consumers�* interest? i'm going to be discussing all of that with these three. there they are, the boss of the organisation working to make charging evs easier. a global ev battery expert and the state secretary for the norwegian ministry of transport, who explains just how norway has become a super player in the electric vehicle market. also on the show, one carmaker showing no signs of a lack of confidence in evs. the boss of general motors europe explains why it's committed to an all—electric range. wherever you'rejoining me from around the world, once again, a big hello and a warm welcome to the show. well, as i said, love them or hate them, or even if you're simply not sure, but one day we're all going to be plugging in, switching on and driving electric vehicles. that's the plan. it's part of a strategy

by governments worldwide to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and limit global warming. they've been offering generous subsidies to encourage drivers to make the switch to, well, more environmentally friendly electric cars. so far, they've worked, tempting new ev drivers to overlook less desirable factors like battery range, the higher price tag and a charging infrastructure that's still in its infancy and racing to catch up with demand. sales of electric passenger cars currently make up 14% of the total global car sales and have been doubling roughly every year. that's according to the iea, the international energy agency. but after a heady few years of booming sales, recent numbers show that the trend, while it's still growing, is slowing. the reason? well, rising costs in electricity in some countries have made running ev cars more expensive than driving on petrol or diesel. at the same time, those government subsidies, they're coming to an end.

but prices of evs, they are staying high and that, according to the experts, is behind the worrying slow—down. and now manufacturers are not so optimistic about the year ahead, with tesla announcing weaker sales than expected and its chinese competitor byd seeing sales slump in february. but that said, while ev sales are slowing, it is still a growing market. global ev sales grew by 21% compared to this time last year. the world's largest electric vehicle market, it's china. it saw nearly 15% growth in the first three months of the year, with sales over a million cars, but it is still the slowest growth in a year. europe, the second—largest market, has been at the centre of the ev revolution, but it's only seen 7% growth so far this year. that's down more than a half compared to last year. in the us and canada, the us being the third—largest market, sales grew 13%.

but that's a huge slow—down since last year. so while china may still sell the most evs per capita, the undisputed leader in sales, it's norway. nine out of ten cars sold in that country have a plug rather than a fuel cap, with the number of evs on its roads tipped to overtake petrol cars by the end of next year. it would be the first country to achieve this. so the question has to be asked, how has norway done it? well, to find out, i caught up with the state secretary of the norwegian ministry of transport. cecilie knibe kroglund, a real pleasure having you with us. cecilie, let's start with norway's incredible success in leading the way in getting people into evs. and that success is based on, well, incentives for drivers that have been afforded, ironically, by your country's oil and gas wealth. so, cecilie, is it fair to say that it's fossil fuel profits that's given norway this leading edge

in going almost fully electric on your roads? perhaps. but i think that the reason for this is that we introduced a broad package of incentives. and of course, you need good economics, national economics, to do that. but we agreed upon a broad package in long—term, and medium—term, that was predictable for the customers and predictable for the private sector. so it was both tax incentives, but also user incentives for the customers. cecilie, you know some critics may ask if your incentives have been too successful because the argument is that these generous incentives actually makes norway

even more car—centric, as opposed to, well, following other countries�* models of encouraging people to use more climate—friendly forms of, we still need to use incentives now where we see the market is not so strong, for example, for certain vehicles. so maybe the incentives can be used for new areas. vehicles. 50 maybe the incentives can be used for new areas. norway exnerienced _ can be used for new areas. norway experienced issues _ can be used for new areas. norway experienced issues with _ can be used for new areas. norway experienced issues with charging l experienced issues with charging networks, frustrated people are charging stations. have these been

resolved, has the network caught up with the sale is? just to provide the infrastructure needed? we've been through _ the infrastructure needed? we've been through a _ the infrastructure needed? we've been through a voyage _ the infrastructure needed? we've been through a voyage and - the infrastructure needed? we've been through a voyage and in - the infrastructure needed? we've been through a voyage and in the i been through a voyage and in the early stage there was quite a few charging stations and a lot of norwegians can charge their car at home but we are dependent on good infrastructure and now, i would say, this is for passenger cars. it's almost a fully commercial market. we have to make some more incentives to make the market grow. successful because the argument is that these generous incentives actually makes norway even more car—centric, as opposed to, well, following other countries' models of encouraging people to use more

climate—friendly forms of, but what you've got now in norway are people buying a second, even a third car. you've got more cars on the roads now. what do you say to those critics? i say it's a good argument. it's important to acknowledge that electrical cars have a competitive edge to the public transport, and we follow that very closely, particularly in urban areas. so we are ready to change the policy if we can see that the market is going in the wrong direction or people are choosing cars before public transport, and we have agreement schemes with the big cities in norway, together with local and regional governments, to try to make all the growth in transport to come with public transport and cycling and walking and so on.

so we do follow this closely, and i think it's a very good argument to set. and i know that not all countries are like norway. we have, even our biggest cities are small cities, and we are quite rural. so i think that in many areas, people will be dependent on cars in norway. your target is to end the sales of petrol or diesel by the end of 2025. that's the end of next year. other countries, though, they've had to extend their deadlines on this. so, cecilie, how confident are you that you're going to meet this target? i'm quite confident when it comes to passenger cars because as far this year, as in 2023, 81% of all new passenger cars was zero—emission. and so far this year, it's 91%. so i'm quite confident on this one.

but i think maybe the goals that we have set for heavy vehicles and so on for 2030, i think we have to move on quickly. but i think for passenger cars, it's...| think we will reach our goal. well, on that point, cecilie knibe kroglund, the state secretary of the norwegian ministry of transport, great to have you on the show. thanks for your time, and we'll talk to you soon. thank you. 0k, as most of you know, electric vehicles, they carry a pretty hefty price tag. but did you know as much as 40% of that cost is down to the battery? so are those higher ev costs here to stay? well, to find out, i've been speaking with the executive editor of benchmark mineral intelligence. henry sanderson, thanks for your time. henry, i want to start with the critics of electric vehicles who talk about the huge cost, notjust in dollar terms, but in the cost to the planet

in creating these batteries. so the question is — do evs actually add up to benefit the planet in the long—term? yes, they definitely do. if you look at an electric vehicle, number one, you don't have the air pollution issues that you have with internal combustion engines. and air pollution causes millions of deaths all around the world every year. in addition, charging an electric vehicle from renewable energy is much betterfor the planet than internal combustion engine. as the world moves more towards renewable energy sources and away from fossil fuels, evs will become more and more clean and better for the environment in the long run. we hear all the mining that is needed to extract all the minerals. it's enormous and how do we cut that down? it it's enormous and how do we cut that down? , ., ., , ., .

down? it is enormous. you are replacing _ down? it is enormous. you are replacing potentially _ down? it is enormous. you are replacing potentially 2 - down? it is enormous. you are replacing potentially 2 billion l replacing potentially 2 billion vehicles on the road so what we will see is by 2035, you are going to need 300 new mines of the projected demand by then and we are seeing lithium demand double as well as nickel, cobalt so there is huge demand by the end of the decade to meet production of new batteries but eventually the big difference with fossil fuels is that we can recycle minerals and we use them in batteries. 0nce minerals and we use them in batteries. once we produce all these batteries, they can be recycled in those materials reused so that will help cut down the carbon footprint. henry, at what point does driving an ev pay off, where the savings on carbon emissions outweigh the emissions created in making the car and the batteries? studies show that, you know, as soon as less than two years of driving, you can pay back the carbon debt, if you like, or the carbon emissions caused by manufacturing the battery.

but the critical thing is the supply chain, the battery manufacturing is moving to areas of renewable electricity. so this figure is going to improve. henry, as we know, china, it is of course the dominant player, notjust in making evs, but also supplying the batteries. but the us in particular sees chinese evs as a threat to its own auto industry, and it's offering incentives to car owners to buy non—chinese vehicles, also to carmakers to source batteries elsewhere. do you think that'll work, or is china simplyjust too big and too advanced in this field? the west face a fundamental contradiction which is getting ever, ever increasingly more difficult to resolve, which is do we want more sales of electric vehicles? because at the moment, china is the only country, its car companies are the only companies that can make cheap, mass market electric vehicles that could really spur mass market adoption in the west.

but at the same time, geopolitically, the west has decided to, you know, de—risk from china, reduce its reliance on chinese supply chains, and sees chinese electric vehicles as challenging automotive industries in the west and, you know, threatening the jobs, the employment and the economic growth those industries provide. but the challenge is china's dominance in many areas of clean energy, especially electric vehicles, is so great that it's extremely hard for the us to cut that reliance overnight. and, henry, we've seen recent advances in the way we charge our evs. battery swapping is just one new development. it does seem quite extreme replacing an entire battery rather than charging it up. but is this the way forward for charging cars and battery usage? because i'm also wondering, is it a bit more climate—friendly? china has really pioneered

and pushed forward battery swapping, and i think it is a really good model for china where they can build this infrastructure easily and quickly and they have very population—dense cities. but i'm not sure whether the model will work in the west, and especially in places like the us. if you think about it, when you're buying an electric vehicle, 40% or so of the cost is the battery. so how can we better make use of that asset is a really key point, and battery swapping enables you to reduce that upfront cost for the consumer. and, henry, let me end on this. in ten years' time, where are we at with battery technology? i think, in ten years' time, we could see batteries based on more sustainable, abundant materials. we're going to see a lot more recycling as well. we should have a closed—loop model where we're recycling many of the raw materials that we have already dug up and mined to make electric vehicle batteries. henry sanderson, the executive editor of benchmark mineral

intelligence, great to have you with us. thanks for your time. thanks very much for having me. well, another point of frustration for drivers is the scarcity of charging stations and a lack of rapid charging docks. and those issues, they've contributed to the so—called range anxiety, and that's hampered government's efforts in persuading people to make the switch to electric. so, how do we solve the problem? well, to find out, i caught up with one of the bosses at the organisation trying to do just that. andre kaufung, great to have you on the show. and, andre, iwant to start with this. i want to start with your goal to create what is called the ccs. it's the global unified combined charging system. so, andre, just explain what that is and why, why is itjust so important for getting all of us into evs? everyone knows it from travelling around the globe. and you need an adaptor here, and you need an adaptor here. and it's, for every ev driver, for every industry partner,

for every government, it's quite important to agree and to unify on one standard. it gives security to the users, it gives security to the investment companies. and this is our main goal to driving the discussions to a unified global standard for charging of evs. andre, how far off are we from having a global standard system? in europe, we are close to 100%. we have ccs as the common standard for the eu. of course, when we see it globally, we have differences. we have one standard in china. we have discussions in north america moving from one standard to another one. so it's not an easy answer, to be honest. but we are working on unifying these discussions. do you think having this global unified charging system will make a difference in convincing people who may have been reluctantjust to make that switch from petrol or diesel to electric?

i believe so. i don't think they will or the customers will decide on, because there is ccs, i will go to an ev instead of an combustion engine. but i think the message is when i buy an ev, i can charge easily, accessible everywhere. this is the solution, so it needs to be customer—focused. we need plug—and—charge, means a feature where you don't need any credit card, you don't need any contract, you just plug in and you automatically have your contract in the bank system and you can charge. this is what we need. but, andre, as you know, it's one thing to have a unified charging system, but one common frustration of ev drivers is simply not enough charging points, so—called range anxiety. it's a serious concern for many electric vehicle drivers. so, again, i'm kind of wondering how many more charging points do you think we need across europe,

or perhaps even globally, so we can, well, we can make that anxiety a thing of the past? my personal, let's say view is, we need a certain number of fast—charging and high—power charging stations, let's say every 30—50km on a highway. and when i see a number is, what we see today, is a lot of times five, six, seven, eight outlets. and we need to double and to triple that, and that for every 50km. this gives long—distance travelling a good customer experience. andre, earlier we heard about battery swapping. that's just one technology that's certainly changing the way we charge our cars. sweden, it's trialling e motorways. it will actually charge your car as you drive. i'm wondering, could technologies like these lead to, well, lead to charging stations actually becoming a thing of the past? 0ur position is as long as the protocol, the technology

for doing this kind of charging is the same, you can have a certain industry and a certain market behind, and there might be use cases. we also see tests, streets in germany, for example, for charging heavy trucks. we see, you know, pantograph systems for buses in certain areas. they are all based on the ccs technology. well, on that point, andre kaufung, general manager of charin, and the big boss of innos, great to have you with us. thanks for your time. thank you, aaron. gm, general motors. it's announced it's returning to europe with an all—electric range. but the carmaker, it struggled in europe in the past, failing to make a profit in almost 20 years. so will its bold move into an all—ev range mark the change? well, i've been speaking to its european president. jaclyn mcquaid, a real pleasure having you on the show. let me start with this, because it's probably fair to say

that general motors has struggled to find its niche in europe. so the question is, jaclyn, are you confident that the move to be all—electric in the region is the right one? we are, we're very confident. we're in a really interesting place, i would say, right now in europe. we have consumer interest in electric vehicle at an all—time high and growing. we have governments all around europe that are really interested in this technology and helping to advance this technology. and then we at general motors have a very compelling electric vehicle portfolio. and so we've got this intersection of these three dynamics right now that makes this an optimal time for us to bring cadillac's all—electric vehicle portfolio to europe. and as we know, europe, it has a very competitive electric car market, scandinavian models, as well as chinese and us

companies all vying for their consumer attention. so many will be asking, how does gm europe, how are you going to stand out in what is a pretty crowded marketplace? we're all for consumer choice. what we have is a compelling offering that we think differs greatly from what is currently available right now to consumers in europe. take a step back, and i look at the electric vehicle offerings right now. they all look pretty similar. they're all pretty beige. what we have from the cadillac portfolio is bold. it's an opportunity for a customer to extend their personality to the vehicle that they're driving, and it brings with it these advancements in technology and innovation that they're going to enjoy. and so we say that the cadillac lyriq is a bold choice because it expresses who the customer is, and it's for the customer who wants to be loud while being quiet

in an electric vehicle. as you know, electric cars are only as good as the infrastructure there to charge the cars. and, you know, it's an ongoing concern about infrastructure. so are you confident people are going to be happy to make the switch? it's really going to take the entire community coming together to create that. the auto manufacturer, certainly, but also the public sector and the private sector really working together to create the infrastructure that customers need. what i tell my team all the time, and what we talk about internally with general motors, is the switch to electric vehicle can't feel in any way, shape or form as though a customer is compromising. in fact, the electric vehicle should give them everything they love about an internal combustion engine and then something more. it must be an "and" statement, and the vehicles that we're creating are creating that "and" statement for our customer. and let's talk about the company's withdrawal from europe back in 2017,

because it was part of a plan to reshape the company, to focus on profitability. and that was a risky move to make. so i guess the question is, did the plan work? it was a very deliberate move, in 2017, when we chose to exit europe. we looked at the investments that we wanted to make in electric vehicle technology and autonomous vehicle technology, and we made a decision to take the money that we had invested in europe and instead redistribute it to what we felt were the emerging trends, the new technology and where the auto industry is going. i don't think it's so bold to say that this transition the automotive industry is going through right now, from internal combustion engine to electric, is akin

to the transition from buggy to internal combustion engine all those years ago. and so, it takes investment. and we made a very deliberate decision in 2017 to exit. we're now at a place where we're ready to make that very deliberate decision to enter. well, just on the point, do you think that gm europe all—electric will be more successful than gm all—electric in the us, just because of geography and size? i'm not going to compare the two in terms of which will be more successful. i do think they're at different points in their electrification journey. i think they're at different points in their electrification journey from a customer acceptance perspective, as well as an infrastructure perspective, and so it's difficult to compare them when they're in different stages. but i'm fully confident in gm's electric vehicle journey and fully committed to our vision of zero congestion, zero crashes and zero emissions. and i do believe we'll be successful both in europe and in north america. well, jaclyn mcquaid, president of gm europe, great to have you on the show. good luck with everything, and we'll check in with you soon. sounds great, thanks so much. well, that's it for this week's show. i hope you enjoyed it. don't forget you can keep up with the latest on our global economy on the bbc website

or the smartphone app. of course, you can also follow me on x. x me, i'll x you back. thanks for watching. i'll see you soon. bye— bye. hello. it's been a lovely day so far for many, but there's a bit of a chill noticeable out of the sunshine. and if we look at our chart, how temperatures compared to normal for the time of year, the blue colours indicating across eastern parts of the uk and into much of europe showed temperatures below average this weekend. big departure for europe, where we've seen record—breaking heat so far this april. it's because of a change in pressure patterns. to the south and east, low pressure dominating, quite stormy at times here, but to the north and west, with us, a rare glimpse of high pressure at last. that means for most, we continue with a dry story through today. there's a few isolated showers still. eastern counties of england, cold breeze here as well,

thicker cloud with some drizzle pushing into the north of scotland later. and cloud builds up generally speaking, but across these sheltered western areas, it stays sunny, and pleasant in that sunshine. 13 to 15 degrees, compared to a chilly 7 to 10 degrees in the east. 0ne crumb of comfort, i suppose, across some northern eastern areas is that pollen levels, tree pollen that is, is low to moderate, but creeping up to high this afternoon across parts of the southwest. into this evening and overnight, we've got some showers across the south—east for a while, but many places dry. biggest exception, central and eastern scotland will see the cloud thicken up, outbreaks of rain and drizzle. a bit more cloud as well more generally through tonight, so not as cold as the “4, —3 we saw last night. but there will be an isolated touch of frost around, particularly in the sunnier west to begin with. a lot more cloud, though, across central and eastern scotland, outbreaks of rain, of drizzle that could push into the isle of man, cumbria, northumberland, north lancashire. the clouds will be variable across the rest of england, wales. some sunny breaks, but quite a breeze to east anglia. in the south—east, that wind particularly blustery around

canary wharf for those taking part in the london marathon. but by and large, a dry story. 13 degrees on the eastern coast, but look at that, northern ireland, 18 degrees possible out towards the west. now, through into monday, after a chilly start, cloud will spread its way southwards across the country. rain to begin with in northern england, north wales. that rain will spread its way southwards and eastwards through the day. further north, we'll see a little bit of sunshine break through, just one or two showers. warmest conditions in around central scotland, at 16 celsius, but a chilly 9 to 13 degrees across parts of england and wales, and staying cool through this next week.

live from london, this is bbc news. nine people are reportedly dead, after strikes in southern gaza, where the threat of disease is growing. figs where the threat of disease is curowin. �* , . ., where the threat of disease is curowin. ., , . , where the threat of disease is ..rowin_ ., , . , growing. as attention switches back to the war in _ growing. as attention switches back to the war in gaza, _ growing. as attention switches back to the war in gaza, several- growing. as attention switches back to the war in gaza, several people | to the war in gaza, several people are reported killed, including children in overnight israeli air strikes. ukraine hopes for more air defence systems as us lawmakers prepare to vote on a military package.

and a treat for vinyl fans — it's world record store day. we'll be live in london. hello, i'm nicky schiller. welcome to the programme. in gaza, nine people are reported to have been killed in overnight attacks on rafah. more than1 million people have sought refuge there. benjamin netanyahu says he remains committed to a big military offensive in rafah in the south of the strip. where 1.5 million palestinians are estimated to be sheltering. that's more than half of gaza's population. they says it's to defeat hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by many western governments. the us and other allies have warned mr netanyahu against such a full—scale assault on rafah.

these are images from overnight israeli strikes.