Just ordered a VW ID.3 through company salary sacrifice. Seems like a good deal and on a two-year lease I won't be stuck with yesterday's technology when it's time to hand it back. We're keeping our diesel beast and will use the VW as our local car. Not sure if the EV will really save any money but I'm just fascinated by this transition, warts and all. It will be interesting to hear how fellow Lifers get on with EVs.
I have no regrets at all in going EV - got the car last summer. My daily commute is a 45 mile round trip and with a real life range of 200 miles (officially 250 but not the way I drive it!) means two overnight charges a week at home gives me enough for the commute plus weekend pottering around as well. I'm lucky to have a driveway where I charge it and the charger was installed for £995 but £500 of that was covered by the Government grant. I've never used public charge points and to be honest I doubt I will ever need to as I now rarely do long journeys - I bought another IC car for that (yes there is still range anxiety but it does diminish).
It's a company car and a real game changer was the zero benefit in kind tax. It basically costs me £20 a week in electricity.
How many miles per kilowatt do you get. I ask as I I bought a PHEV because of long trips to watch Charlton away (That seems an odd decision now) and because it achieves 35 miles on each charge for local trips using not a lot of petrol doing that.
Since I've had it, I'm averaging 2.7 mi/kWh.
What is your range per charge ? Are you EV or PHEV
We`ve had a Vauxhall Corsa E since November , very pleased with it , free pod point charger fitted to the front of the house , cheap electric tariff . £1.30 to charge it to 80% .
Out of interest Fadgadget, who is your electricity supplier?
Methinks hydrogen will be the way forward in the future, electric cars might be more mainstream but I think petrolheads will move on to hydrogen engines rather than electric ones. Would suit the oil companies down to the ground as they can pivot using their existing infrastructure - electric basically cuts them out of the equation completely. I think that's what will happen with air travel especially, as you need highly effecient fuels for that - electric airplanes are a century away imo.
Until the laws of physics change* Hydrogen will not be a viable fuel for electricity generation on planet Earth
*for the hard of reading that will be Never.
Hydrogen does not exist in its raw state on this planet - it is insufficiently dense and is not held down into the atmosphere by gravity - good job too or there'd be a naffing big explosion every time there was a spark or flash of any kind - there is no ready source of hydrogen to tap for its theoretical energy producing capabilities Hydrogen can only be isolated in laboratory conditions, almost all of which involve the consumption of electrical energy - ergo it is worthless as a fuel for electricity. It being impossible to end up with more energy than we started with. Fuel cell technology is very clever but it is clever for clever's sake alone. If, and it is a planet sized IF, a safe reliable mechanism for generating gazillions of gigawatts of electricity is derived that doesn't burn fossil fuels or utilise the literal timebomb that is nuclear fission, then electrolysing hydrogen as a means of storing potential energy might become cost effective - it will never be electrically/energy efficient cos of all the electricity consumed(wasted) in the processes but it might be economically viable as a portable fuel store for personal transport. On the subject of using loads of electricity to generate a smaller amount of electricity - the so called enrichment of radioactive materials (uranium, plutonium etc) for use in nuclear reactors is all done by consuming loads of electricity - mental isn't it? Mental and fucking needlessly dangerous. The future ain't electric boys'n'girls - more likely the future is pony and trap. If someone develops mega efficient, gossamer light, solar cell technology, then personal transport might work during daylight hours in sunny climes - not here obvs.
I think we’ll see hydrogen fuel in cars relatively soon. I think it will be used in tandem with electricity much the same way as petrol is now. I think all the big car manufacturers are looking into this.
Last February I was coming back from Portsmouth and a lorry had overturned on the A3 just before the M25 junction. We sat there for around 2.5 hours and despite only being a mile from the junction it took around another 40 minutes once it did start moving.
I did wonder what would happen if I'd have had an electric car, either switch everything off and freeze (it was late and I think only just above freezing) or run out of juice.
The same thing can happen with an IC of course!
I ran out of petrol once (when I was very young and could only afford a few gallons at at time!) but I've never done it again. I never leave it to get below a quarter full on my petrol cars and with the EV never less than 25% before charging - not moving and having the air con set low and on economy mode wouldn't drain the battery that much, and even if you run out the breakdown services now include the ability to add an emergency charge that will get you to the nearest charge point.
As usage of electric cars increases will the infrastructure keep up? Not much has been done in London and I wonder who is coordinating this?
I also think a lot of the elderly and poorer drivers will be forced off the road during this but this remains to be seen.
The actual electricity is far from the only problem. To meet the Government's target of switching to all-electric vehicles, the UK will need 50,000-60,000 mt/year of lithium carbonate. The whole world only produces 320,000 mt/year. The UK has the ability to produce lithium but hasn't done so since 1914. And there is no way the UK is going to get 20% of the World's total supply.
Most of the World's lithium reserves are in an area of South America that has desert conditions. And it takes half a billion gallons of water to produce 1 tonne of lithium....
Then there's cobalt. There's masses of cobalt. But almost all of it is in the Democratic Republic of Congo and across Central Africa. Most metals are non-toxic when dug from the ground. Cobalt is described as being “uniquely terrible”. Yet it is being mined by children -some as young as four -using no protective clothing whatsoever. The concept of EVs being the green solution is frankly laughable.
So, unless alternative battery technology comes to our aid. The Government's target ain't gonna happen. By a long, long, way.
As for targets, well I refer, as I have done previously on this site to Goodhart's Law, which is a fine concept and applies to almost everything, not just economic doctrine. Broadly, any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes.
Apart from the obvious manufacturing issues stated so accurately above the other major factor is how are the charging companies going to build the infrastructure required. Where I live it wouldnt be a major issue as most houses have off street parking and somewhere to site a charging station. But in big cities where most people have to park on the road and often not even the road they live on ! It is impractical imo. Plus the amount of injury claims there will be when people start tripping over the charging cables lol
Following a couple of test drives we ordered an EV this week. The new Vauxhall mokka E. was fun to drive and well specified. We liked the way it looks too.
I love the look of the new Mokka. Was tempted as my current lease is up but they were quite pricey given its a Vauxhall.
Its actually a Citroen dressed with a Vauxhall badge. It has only a 1.2 engine and not built to last any where near as long as the previous models. That's from a Vauxhall sales guy's mouth.
Apart from the obvious manufacturing issues stated so accurately above the other major factor is how are the charging companies going to build the infrastructure required. Where I live it wouldnt be a major issue as most houses have off street parking and somewhere to site a charging station. But in big cities where most people have to park on the road and often not even the road they live on ! It is impractical imo. Plus the amount of injury claims there will be when people start tripping over the charging cables lol
No thought has been given to the practicality of a lot of green solutions but we're just forging ahead without any proper planning.
Our politicians really don't have a clue but it's a vote winner.
Apart from the obvious manufacturing issues stated so accurately above the other major factor is how are the charging companies going to build the infrastructure required. Where I live it wouldnt be a major issue as most houses have off street parking and somewhere to site a charging station. But in big cities where most people have to park on the road and often not even the road they live on ! It is impractical imo. Plus the amount of injury claims there will be when people start tripping over the charging cables lol
No thought has been given to the practicality of a lot of green solutions but we're just forging ahead without any proper planning.
Our politicians really don't have a clue but it's a vote winner.
The usual greenwash that the public is continuously hosed down with and we largely soak it all up.
As for the last para, it ain't a vote winner with me. I'm hoping that our 2014 Diesel Yaris sees us out, although i doubt it will. Only thing it's needed is tyres, pads and one set of discs in 110k miles.
I won't be rushing out to replace my Diesel transit custom with one that does less than 35 miles on electric power.
As for my motorbikes, there are hardly any modern ones I like at all, let alone electric ones. I will stick with my old petrol ones, particularly as I've had one since 1980. We don't change our vehicles often.
I've no problem with electricity to aid my push bikes when the time comes though. That'll be when we buy our diesel motor home.
Apart from the obvious manufacturing issues stated so accurately above the other major factor is how are the charging companies going to build the infrastructure required. Where I live it wouldnt be a major issue as most houses have off street parking and somewhere to site a charging station. But in big cities where most people have to park on the road and often not even the road they live on ! It is impractical imo. Plus the amount of injury claims there will be when people start tripping over the charging cables lol
No thought has been given to the practicality of a lot of green solutions but we're just forging ahead without any proper planning.
Our politicians really don't have a clue but it's a vote winner.
The usual greenwash that the public is continuously hosed down with and we largely soak it all up.
As for the last para, it ain't a vote winner with me. I'm hoping that our 2014 Diesel Yaris sees us out, although i doubt it will. Only thing it's needed is tyres, pads and one set of discs in 110k miles.
I won't be rushing out to replace my Diesel transit custom with one that does less than 35 miles on electric power.
As for my motorbikes, there are hardly any modern ones I like at all, let alone electric ones. I will stick with my old petrol ones, particularly as I've had one since 1980. We don't change our vehicles often.
I've no problem with electricity to aid my push bikes when the time comes though. That'll be when we buy our diesel motor home.
I live in the emission zone and run a diesel but do nearly all my mileage outside of it. I will have to get rid of my diesel in October despite producing little or no emissions in the ULEZ.
There will be a huge number of diesels for sale with some being only six years old.
Apart from the obvious manufacturing issues stated so accurately above the other major factor is how are the charging companies going to build the infrastructure required. Where I live it wouldnt be a major issue as most houses have off street parking and somewhere to site a charging station. But in big cities where most people have to park on the road and often not even the road they live on ! It is impractical imo. Plus the amount of injury claims there will be when people start tripping over the charging cables lol
No thought has been given to the practicality of a lot of green solutions but we're just forging ahead without any proper planning.
Our politicians really don't have a clue but it's a vote winner.
The usual greenwash that the public is continuously hosed down with and we largely soak it all up.
As for the last para, it ain't a vote winner with me. I'm hoping that our 2014 Diesel Yaris sees us out, although i doubt it will. Only thing it's needed is tyres, pads and one set of discs in 110k miles.
I won't be rushing out to replace my Diesel transit custom with one that does less than 35 miles on electric power.
As for my motorbikes, there are hardly any modern ones I like at all, let alone electric ones. I will stick with my old petrol ones, particularly as I've had one since 1980. We don't change our vehicles often.
I've no problem with electricity to aid my push bikes when the time comes though. That'll be when we buy our diesel motor home.
It does feel a bit like that to me. Are we moving forwards with VHS or Betamax? Are electric cars really better than a small engined injection diesel when you look over the lifetime of the vehicle. The model we seem to be adopting is around the vanity of a car, so big SUVs may that not be what we really need. The criteria we apply may not be the right one i.e. My car is better than your one mentality. I wonder what the footprint of your Yaris is, or will finally be?
Apart from the obvious manufacturing issues stated so accurately above the other major factor is how are the charging companies going to build the infrastructure required. Where I live it wouldnt be a major issue as most houses have off street parking and somewhere to site a charging station. But in big cities where most people have to park on the road and often not even the road they live on ! It is impractical imo. Plus the amount of injury claims there will be when people start tripping over the charging cables lol
No thought has been given to the practicality of a lot of green solutions but we're just forging ahead without any proper planning.
Our politicians really don't have a clue but it's a vote winner.
The usual greenwash that the public is continuously hosed down with and we largely soak it all up.
As for the last para, it ain't a vote winner with me. I'm hoping that our 2014 Diesel Yaris sees us out, although i doubt it will. Only thing it's needed is tyres, pads and one set of discs in 110k miles.
I won't be rushing out to replace my Diesel transit custom with one that does less than 35 miles on electric power.
As for my motorbikes, there are hardly any modern ones I like at all, let alone electric ones. I will stick with my old petrol ones, particularly as I've had one since 1980. We don't change our vehicles often.
I've no problem with electricity to aid my push bikes when the time comes though. That'll be when we buy our diesel motor home.
I live in the emission zone and run a diesel but do nearly all my mileage outside of it. I will have to get rid of my diesel in October despite producing little or no emissions in the ULEZ.
There will be a huge number of diesels for sale with some being only six years old.
Not sure if people are assuming that all pure petrol and diesel cars will be off the road in 2025 - it's just the sale of new ones that will be outlawed. Hybrids will also continue until 2030 when they will also be banned.
Couple of questions:
- Will the last of the run of IC cars (particularly high performance) carry a premium used?
- How easy will it be to get petrol or diesel after 2030? In particular for the above and also classic cars?
Apart from the obvious manufacturing issues stated so accurately above the other major factor is how are the charging companies going to build the infrastructure required. Where I live it wouldnt be a major issue as most houses have off street parking and somewhere to site a charging station. But in big cities where most people have to park on the road and often not even the road they live on ! It is impractical imo. Plus the amount of injury claims there will be when people start tripping over the charging cables lol
No thought has been given to the practicality of a lot of green solutions but we're just forging ahead without any proper planning.
Our politicians really don't have a clue but it's a vote winner.
The usual greenwash that the public is continuously hosed down with and we largely soak it all up.
As for the last para, it ain't a vote winner with me. I'm hoping that our 2014 Diesel Yaris sees us out, although i doubt it will. Only thing it's needed is tyres, pads and one set of discs in 110k miles.
I won't be rushing out to replace my Diesel transit custom with one that does less than 35 miles on electric power.
As for my motorbikes, there are hardly any modern ones I like at all, let alone electric ones. I will stick with my old petrol ones, particularly as I've had one since 1980. We don't change our vehicles often.
I've no problem with electricity to aid my push bikes when the time comes though. That'll be when we buy our diesel motor home.
I live in the emission zone and run a diesel but do nearly all my mileage outside of it. I will have to get rid of my diesel in October despite producing little or no emissions in the ULEZ.
There will be a huge number of diesels for sale with some being only six years old.
Not sure if people are assuming that all pure petrol and diesel cars will be off the road in 2025 - it's just the sale of new ones that will be outlawed. Hybrids will also continue until 2030 when they will also be banned.
Couple of questions:
- Will the last of the run of IC cars (particularly high performance) carry a premium used?
- How easy will it be to get petrol or diesel after 2030? In particular for the above and also classic cars?
A very valid point. As EV numbers grow its logical that the number of petrol stations will decline it may not be easy getting fuel
Apart from the obvious manufacturing issues stated so accurately above the other major factor is how are the charging companies going to build the infrastructure required. Where I live it wouldnt be a major issue as most houses have off street parking and somewhere to site a charging station. But in big cities where most people have to park on the road and often not even the road they live on ! It is impractical imo. Plus the amount of injury claims there will be when people start tripping over the charging cables lol
No thought has been given to the practicality of a lot of green solutions but we're just forging ahead without any proper planning.
Our politicians really don't have a clue but it's a vote winner.
The usual greenwash that the public is continuously hosed down with and we largely soak it all up.
As for the last para, it ain't a vote winner with me. I'm hoping that our 2014 Diesel Yaris sees us out, although i doubt it will. Only thing it's needed is tyres, pads and one set of discs in 110k miles.
I won't be rushing out to replace my Diesel transit custom with one that does less than 35 miles on electric power.
As for my motorbikes, there are hardly any modern ones I like at all, let alone electric ones. I will stick with my old petrol ones, particularly as I've had one since 1980. We don't change our vehicles often.
I've no problem with electricity to aid my push bikes when the time comes though. That'll be when we buy our diesel motor home.
I live in the emission zone and run a diesel but do nearly all my mileage outside of it. I will have to get rid of my diesel in October despite producing little or no emissions in the ULEZ.
There will be a huge number of diesels for sale with some being only six years old.
Not sure if people are assuming that all pure petrol and diesel cars will be off the road in 2025 - it's just the sale of new ones that will be outlawed. Hybrids will also continue until 2030 when they will also be banned.
Couple of questions:
- Will the last of the run of IC cars (particularly high performance) carry a premium used?
- How easy will it be to get petrol or diesel after 2030? In particular for the above and also classic cars?
A very valid point. As EV numbers grow its logical that the number of petrol stations will decline it may not be easy getting fuel
Fossil fuel prices could potentially drop if not heavily taxed as demand drops.
Well, that's what I'm hoping for anyway.
I just realised, OPEC will undoubtedly raise prices considerably to ensure their high standard of living, because they can.
Apart from the obvious manufacturing issues stated so accurately above the other major factor is how are the charging companies going to build the infrastructure required. Where I live it wouldnt be a major issue as most houses have off street parking and somewhere to site a charging station. But in big cities where most people have to park on the road and often not even the road they live on ! It is impractical imo. Plus the amount of injury claims there will be when people start tripping over the charging cables lol
No thought has been given to the practicality of a lot of green solutions but we're just forging ahead without any proper planning.
Our politicians really don't have a clue but it's a vote winner.
The usual greenwash that the public is continuously hosed down with and we largely soak it all up.
As for the last para, it ain't a vote winner with me. I'm hoping that our 2014 Diesel Yaris sees us out, although i doubt it will. Only thing it's needed is tyres, pads and one set of discs in 110k miles.
I won't be rushing out to replace my Diesel transit custom with one that does less than 35 miles on electric power.
As for my motorbikes, there are hardly any modern ones I like at all, let alone electric ones. I will stick with my old petrol ones, particularly as I've had one since 1980. We don't change our vehicles often.
I've no problem with electricity to aid my push bikes when the time comes though. That'll be when we buy our diesel motor home.
I live in the emission zone and run a diesel but do nearly all my mileage outside of it. I will have to get rid of my diesel in October despite producing little or no emissions in the ULEZ.
There will be a huge number of diesels for sale with some being only six years old.
Not sure if people are assuming that all pure petrol and diesel cars will be off the road in 2025 - it's just the sale of new ones that will be outlawed. Hybrids will also continue until 2030 when they will also be banned.
Couple of questions:
- Will the last of the run of IC cars (particularly high performance) carry a premium used?
- How easy will it be to get petrol or diesel after 2030? In particular for the above and also classic cars?
A very valid point. As EV numbers grow its logical that the number of petrol stations will decline it may not be easy getting fuel
Convert pumps to rapid charge points and have one of two that still sell petrol/diesel
Last February I was coming back from Portsmouth and a lorry had overturned on the A3 just before the M25 junction. We sat there for around 2.5 hours and despite only being a mile from the junction it took around another 40 minutes once it did start moving.
I did wonder what would happen if I'd have had an electric car, either switch everything off and freeze (it was late and I think only just above freezing) or run out of juice.
The same thing can happen with an IC of course!
I ran out of petrol once (when I was very young and could only afford a few gallons at at time!) but I've never done it again. I never leave it to get below a quarter full on my petrol cars and with the EV never less than 25% before charging - not moving and having the air con set low and on economy mode wouldn't drain the battery that much, and even if you run out the breakdown services now include the ability to add an emergency charge that will get you to the nearest charge point.
As usage of electric cars increases will the infrastructure keep up? Not much has been done in London and I wonder who is coordinating this?
I also think a lot of the elderly and poorer drivers will be forced off the road during this but this remains to be seen.
The actual electricity is far from the only problem. To meet the Government's target of switching to all-electric vehicles, the UK will need 50,000-60,000 mt/year of lithium carbonate. The whole world only produces 320,000 mt/year. The UK has the ability to produce lithium but hasn't done so since 1914. And there is no way the UK is going to get 20% of the World's total supply.
Most of the World's lithium reserves are in an area of South America that has desert conditions. And it takes half a billion gallons of water to produce 1 tonne of lithium....
Then there's cobalt. There's masses of cobalt. But almost all of it is in the Democratic Republic of Congo and across Central Africa. Most metals are non-toxic when dug from the ground. Cobalt is described as being “uniquely terrible”. Yet it is being mined by children -some as young as four -using no protective clothing whatsoever.
The concept of EVs being the green solution is frankly laughable.
So, unless alternative battery technology comes to our aid. The Government's target ain't gonna happen. By a long, long, way.
As for targets, well I refer, as I have done previously on this site to Goodhart's Law, which is a fine concept and applies to almost everything, not just economic doctrine. Broadly, any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes.
This is my understanding, as a layman. The science does not support the aspirations of our government and I don't think there is a solution to the problems outlined above. But it's apparently a vote winner, so the science is ignored.
Having said that, there is another solution and that is to change the way people live - wean them off they idea of motorised personal transport. I think this is on the radar for the future. So, within a generation we ae going from that speech when Thatcher said something like any adult using a bus was a loser, to actively encouraging every adult to be on a a bus!
I can see a future where we don't own cars but maybe book them for a fee and they drive themselves to you and take you where you want to go. It would seem to be the logical destination and the technology to do this is possible now. They might have different sizes to cater for a family trip or one person going to work. Of course it would take away the pleasure of owning and driving a car but might be useful if you want to have a drink . It would probably mean there are less cars because they will be used more efficiently. It would probably greatly reduce accidents but be a threat to driving jobs.
Last February I was coming back from Portsmouth and a lorry had overturned on the A3 just before the M25 junction. We sat there for around 2.5 hours and despite only being a mile from the junction it took around another 40 minutes once it did start moving.
I did wonder what would happen if I'd have had an electric car, either switch everything off and freeze (it was late and I think only just above freezing) or run out of juice.
The same thing can happen with an IC of course!
I ran out of petrol once (when I was very young and could only afford a few gallons at at time!) but I've never done it again. I never leave it to get below a quarter full on my petrol cars and with the EV never less than 25% before charging - not moving and having the air con set low and on economy mode wouldn't drain the battery that much, and even if you run out the breakdown services now include the ability to add an emergency charge that will get you to the nearest charge point.
As usage of electric cars increases will the infrastructure keep up? Not much has been done in London and I wonder who is coordinating this?
I also think a lot of the elderly and poorer drivers will be forced off the road during this but this remains to be seen.
One solution I'm aware that is further along than the concept stage is to facilitate wireless charging in the same way that the disc thing charges my phone as opposed to plugging a charger in. Of course that means at least 2 moving parts must come together in manufacture as the vehicles will need to be wireless charge compatable and the wireless charging will need to be universally compatible but thats something that can be ironed out. The idea being that multi storey carparks will also be these charging stations for electric vehicles
By and large I agree, all electric vehicles is not the solution and never should have been offered as such a silver bullet
Last February I was coming back from Portsmouth and a lorry had overturned on the A3 just before the M25 junction. We sat there for around 2.5 hours and despite only being a mile from the junction it took around another 40 minutes once it did start moving.
I did wonder what would happen if I'd have had an electric car, either switch everything off and freeze (it was late and I think only just above freezing) or run out of juice.
The same thing can happen with an IC of course!
I ran out of petrol once (when I was very young and could only afford a few gallons at at time!) but I've never done it again. I never leave it to get below a quarter full on my petrol cars and with the EV never less than 25% before charging - not moving and having the air con set low and on economy mode wouldn't drain the battery that much, and even if you run out the breakdown services now include the ability to add an emergency charge that will get you to the nearest charge point.
As usage of electric cars increases will the infrastructure keep up? Not much has been done in London and I wonder who is coordinating this?
I also think a lot of the elderly and poorer drivers will be forced off the road during this but this remains to be seen.
The actual electricity is far from the only problem. To meet the Government's target of switching to all-electric vehicles, the UK will need 50,000-60,000 mt/year of lithium carbonate. The whole world only produces 320,000 mt/year. The UK has the ability to produce lithium but hasn't done so since 1914. And there is no way the UK is going to get 20% of the World's total supply.
Most of the World's lithium reserves are in an area of South America that has desert conditions. And it takes half a billion gallons of water to produce 1 tonne of lithium....
Then there's cobalt. There's masses of cobalt. But almost all of it is in the Democratic Republic of Congo and across Central Africa. Most metals are non-toxic when dug from the ground. Cobalt is described as being “uniquely terrible”. Yet it is being mined by children -some as young as four -using no protective clothing whatsoever.
The concept of EVs being the green solution is frankly laughable.
So, unless alternative battery technology comes to our aid. The Government's target ain't gonna happen. By a long, long, way.
As for targets, well I refer, as I have done previously on this site to Goodhart's Law, which is a fine concept and applies to almost everything, not just economic doctrine. Broadly, any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes.
This is my understanding, as a layman. The science does not support the aspirations of our government and I don't think there is a solution to the problems outlined above. But it's apparently a vote winner, so the science is ignored.
Having said that, there is another solution and that is to change the way people live - wean them off they idea of motorised personal transport. I think this is on the radar for the future. So, within a generation we ae going from that speech when Thatcher said something like any adult using a bus was a loser, to actively encouraging every adult to be on a a bus!
Apart from the obvious manufacturing issues stated so accurately above the other major factor is how are the charging companies going to build the infrastructure required. Where I live it wouldnt be a major issue as most houses have off street parking and somewhere to site a charging station. But in big cities where most people have to park on the road and often not even the road they live on ! It is impractical imo. Plus the amount of injury claims there will be when people start tripping over the charging cables lol
No thought has been given to the practicality of a lot of green solutions but we're just forging ahead without any proper planning.
Our politicians really don't have a clue but it's a vote winner.
The usual greenwash that the public is continuously hosed down with and we largely soak it all up.
As for the last para, it ain't a vote winner with me. I'm hoping that our 2014 Diesel Yaris sees us out, although i doubt it will. Only thing it's needed is tyres, pads and one set of discs in 110k miles.
I won't be rushing out to replace my Diesel transit custom with one that does less than 35 miles on electric power.
As for my motorbikes, there are hardly any modern ones I like at all, let alone electric ones. I will stick with my old petrol ones, particularly as I've had one since 1980. We don't change our vehicles often.
I've no problem with electricity to aid my push bikes when the time comes though. That'll be when we buy our diesel motor home.
I live in the emission zone and run a diesel but do nearly all my mileage outside of it. I will have to get rid of my diesel in October despite producing little or no emissions in the ULEZ.
There will be a huge number of diesels for sale with some being only six years old.
Not sure if people are assuming that all pure petrol and diesel cars will be off the road in 2025 - it's just the sale of new ones that will be outlawed. Hybrids will also continue until 2030 when they will also be banned.
Couple of questions:
- Will the last of the run of IC cars (particularly high performance) carry a premium used?
- How easy will it be to get petrol or diesel after 2030? In particular for the above and also classic cars?
A very valid point. As EV numbers grow its logical that the number of petrol stations will decline it may not be easy getting fuel
I hope not. Where would I get the wife’s birthday presents from?
Apart from the obvious manufacturing issues stated so accurately above the other major factor is how are the charging companies going to build the infrastructure required. Where I live it wouldnt be a major issue as most houses have off street parking and somewhere to site a charging station. But in big cities where most people have to park on the road and often not even the road they live on ! It is impractical imo. Plus the amount of injury claims there will be when people start tripping over the charging cables lol
No thought has been given to the practicality of a lot of green solutions but we're just forging ahead without any proper planning.
Our politicians really don't have a clue but it's a vote winner.
The usual greenwash that the public is continuously hosed down with and we largely soak it all up.
As for the last para, it ain't a vote winner with me. I'm hoping that our 2014 Diesel Yaris sees us out, although i doubt it will. Only thing it's needed is tyres, pads and one set of discs in 110k miles.
I won't be rushing out to replace my Diesel transit custom with one that does less than 35 miles on electric power.
As for my motorbikes, there are hardly any modern ones I like at all, let alone electric ones. I will stick with my old petrol ones, particularly as I've had one since 1980. We don't change our vehicles often.
I've no problem with electricity to aid my push bikes when the time comes though. That'll be when we buy our diesel motor home.
I live in the emission zone and run a diesel but do nearly all my mileage outside of it. I will have to get rid of my diesel in October despite producing little or no emissions in the ULEZ.
There will be a huge number of diesels for sale with some being only six years old.
Not sure if people are assuming that all pure petrol and diesel cars will be off the road in 2025 - it's just the sale of new ones that will be outlawed. Hybrids will also continue until 2030 when they will also be banned.
Couple of questions:
- Will the last of the run of IC cars (particularly high performance) carry a premium used?
- How easy will it be to get petrol or diesel after 2030? In particular for the above and also classic cars?
A very valid point. As EV numbers grow its logical that the number of petrol stations will decline it may not be easy getting fuel
I hope not. Where would I get the wife’s birthday presents from?
Be serious - how many disposable barbecues does a woman need?
I can see a future where we don't own cars but maybe book them for a fee and they drive themselves to you and take you where you want to go. It would seem to be the logical destination and the technology to do this is possible now. They might have different sizes to cater for a family trip or one person going to work. Of course it would take away the pleasure of owning and driving a car but might be useful if you want to have a drink . It would probably mean there are less cars because they will be used more efficiently. It would probably greatly reduce accidents but be a threat to driving jobs.
I can see this happening and the only way to significantly reduce the numbers of cars on the road.
Go to pub, order Johnny Cab, BJ on the way home so straight to sleep when you get home. Win win.
I can see a future where we don't own cars but maybe book them for a fee and they drive themselves to you and take you where you want to go. It would seem to be the logical destination and the technology to do this is possible now. They might have different sizes to cater for a family trip or one person going to work. Of course it would take away the pleasure of owning and driving a car but might be useful if you want to have a drink . It would probably mean there are less cars because they will be used more efficiently. It would probably greatly reduce accidents but be a threat to driving jobs.
I see this too. Probably with some sort of power source on the road rather than battery. Anyone who has watched Minority report knows what I'm thinking.
Though it will need a pretty radical rethink of the whole system. The current thinking seems to be "how do we fit electric and connected autonomous vehicles into our existing road system" when it should be "blank slate - how do we move people around".
I got an ID.4 last month and absolutely loving it.
It has a 77kwh battery, 310 miles range, (220-250 real world range). Plenty for our general usage (and I'd suspect most people) but we also regularly do a c.250/300 mile round trip to visit parents. Have done this already and the public charging experience was surprisingly good, we got 200 mile added in 30min, (granted it was a 150kw fast charger). And even just a 10min top up would have been enough to get us home.
Haven't got my home charger installed yet, will do but surviving surprisingly okay on the slow 3pin plug charger. That only gives under 7miles/hr but I think it's so good to have.
We have a rural weeks holiday coming up and if I can use that at our holiday rental it'll hugely reduce the need to use public chargers. It'll top it up over 80miles for a 12 hour overnight charge. Is this too cheeky to do though or fair game?
Think usual practice is to ask in advance and offer to pay on top a few pounds a night (people seem to think it costs a fortune)
Comments
*for the hard of reading that will be Never.
Hydrogen does not exist in its raw state on this planet - it is insufficiently dense and is not held down into the atmosphere by gravity - good job too or there'd be a naffing big explosion every time there was a spark or flash of any kind - there is no ready source of hydrogen to tap for its theoretical energy producing capabilities
Hydrogen can only be isolated in laboratory conditions, almost all of which involve the consumption of electrical energy - ergo it is worthless as a fuel for electricity. It being impossible to end up with more energy than we started with.
Fuel cell technology is very clever but it is clever for clever's sake alone.
If, and it is a planet sized IF, a safe reliable mechanism for generating gazillions of gigawatts of electricity is derived that doesn't burn fossil fuels or utilise the literal timebomb that is nuclear fission, then electrolysing hydrogen as a means of storing potential energy might become cost effective - it will never be electrically/energy efficient cos of all the electricity consumed(wasted) in the processes but it might be economically viable as a portable fuel store for personal transport.
On the subject of using loads of electricity to generate a smaller amount of electricity - the so called enrichment of radioactive materials (uranium, plutonium etc) for use in nuclear reactors is all done by consuming loads of electricity - mental isn't it? Mental and fucking needlessly dangerous.
The future ain't electric boys'n'girls - more likely the future is pony and trap.
If someone develops mega efficient, gossamer light, solar cell technology, then personal transport might work during daylight hours in sunny climes - not here obvs.
Most of the World's lithium reserves are in an area of South America that has desert conditions. And it takes half a billion gallons of water to produce 1 tonne of lithium....
Then there's cobalt. There's masses of cobalt. But almost all of it is in the Democratic Republic of Congo and across Central Africa. Most metals are non-toxic when dug from the ground. Cobalt is described as being “uniquely terrible”. Yet it is being mined by children -some as young as four -using no protective clothing whatsoever.
The concept of EVs being the green solution is frankly laughable.
So, unless alternative battery technology comes to our aid. The Government's target ain't gonna happen. By a long, long, way.
As for targets, well I refer, as I have done previously on this site to Goodhart's Law, which is a fine concept and applies to almost everything, not just economic doctrine. Broadly, any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes.
Our politicians really don't have a clue but it's a vote winner.
As for the last para, it ain't a vote winner with me. I'm hoping that our 2014 Diesel Yaris sees us out, although i doubt it will. Only thing it's needed is tyres, pads and one set of discs in 110k miles.
I won't be rushing out to replace my Diesel transit custom with one that does less than 35 miles on electric power.
As for my motorbikes, there are hardly any modern ones I like at all, let alone electric ones. I will stick with my old petrol ones, particularly as I've had one since 1980. We don't change our vehicles often.
I've no problem with electricity to aid my push bikes when the time comes though. That'll be when we buy our diesel motor home.
There will be a huge number of diesels for sale with some being only six years old.
Well, that's what I'm hoping for anyway.
I just realised, OPEC will undoubtedly raise prices considerably to ensure their high standard of living, because they can.
Having said that, there is another solution and that is to change the way people live - wean them off they idea of motorised personal transport. I think this is on the radar for the future. So, within a generation we ae going from that speech when Thatcher said something like any adult using a bus was a loser, to actively encouraging every adult to be on a a bus!
One solution I'm aware that is further along than the concept stage is to facilitate wireless charging in the same way that the disc thing charges my phone as opposed to plugging a charger in. Of course that means at least 2 moving parts must come together in manufacture as the vehicles will need to be wireless charge compatable and the wireless charging will need to be universally compatible but thats something that can be ironed out. The idea being that multi storey carparks will also be these charging stations for electric vehicles
By and large I agree, all electric vehicles is not the solution and never should have been offered as such a silver bullet
From plates for quick charging buses (eg Milton Keynes) to roads equipped to charge on the go.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/12/worlds-first-electrified-road-for-charging-vehicles-opens-in-sweden
Be serious - how many disposable barbecues does a woman need?
Go to pub, order Johnny Cab, BJ on the way home so straight to sleep when you get home. Win win.
Though it will need a pretty radical rethink of the whole system. The current thinking seems to be "how do we fit electric and connected autonomous vehicles into our existing road system" when it should be "blank slate - how do we move people around".
Thanks for posting...
Think usual practice is to ask in advance and offer to pay on top a few pounds a night (people seem to think it costs a fortune)