Ten years to go until electric...

[andy120t]

So this is a bit of open one, but what are your thoughts on the move to electric?

I was talking with a friend about my search for a replacement car and he threw in the 'E' word. My reaction was 'no' . My next car might be my last fossil fuel one but I like a big old diesel estate and all the issues - cost, range, etc - of electric puts me off for now. But I imagine my next car ( they last for ten years or so for me)  could be my last petrol/ diesel one. But will I be confident in battery technology in 5-10 years time?...it's bound to have progressed by then.

Having said that, I haven't driven electric, and whilst Covid  is making it harder to go out and sample new vehicles, my understanding is its 0-60 in very little time (is that the same for an e-Micra?).  Plus (currently) zero road-tax. But when I drive a long way I don't want to wait for ages to charge up .. having waited ages for an available socket.

So that's cars. What about bikes? The e-TT looks quick, but so quiet.

And, do I sell them all now before they become worthless ?! (No!) There must be a long run- off period for petrol, surely, so maybe my kids can still inherit the fleet and get some use from them? 

Cleaner, greener world is good for all of us, but I'm just interested in how that will change the things we love!

[mike the bike]

I wouldn't say no to an electric bike.  Ideal for blatting over the mountain to work every day, but I would fancy touring with it.  There's so many unanswered questions about electric vehicles, mainly about charging them up.  I'm OK, there's 2 cars and 2 bikes on my drive but terraced houses with no drives, blocks of flats etc.
"I'm just going out to charge the car dear, there's bound to be a queue so don't wait up"

[Spitfire]

As far as cars are concerned I would buy an electric car tomorrow if they weren't so expensive, at the moment the only electric car that I could afford are the go kart sized ones.
I've just bought a new car and would have had to find another ten grand or so to have an EV of the same size.
As to bikes, I've had mine so long now that they are part of the family and in ten years time they will become family heirlooms.

Cheers

Dennis

[Johnwebley]

My personal opinion is electric is ideal for local area work.

But a red herring for longer trips.

I think they should go the energy cell route.



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[philward]

They will overcome the issues - neccesity is the mother of all invention! Industry will chase the business. I have said before, the more mainstream ridable classics like we ride (as opposed to museum bikes like Brough's and Vincents) will loose value as we get taxed & legislated of the road - not for a while though!

[UK Pete]

I would like to have electric car and bike, but certainly not now ,they are just not ready yet
But battery technology is moving really fast, and it's now been announced that 2030 is the cut off point and there will no longer be petrol/ diesel cars for sale new ,
I am a van person dont really use cars, its going to be a really long time before they can get commercial vehicles that will do the job, so I dont think I will ever see a van with the right price and range in my time left while able to drive
As for bikes, it really excites me that perhaps 5 years down the line there will be a decent bike with range and acceptable price,
Bring it on is what I say
But my passion will always be with the combustion engine

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[Laverda Dave]

Like it or not it’s going to happen and we'll all be electric!

Like you though my concern is not with the technology of electric but the complete lack of infrastructure to support electric vehicles. I live in outer London where flats rule so how do the govt think these people are going to charge their cars and bikes from the 12 floor of a tower block? You are lucky to see a couple of charging points in a car park at shopping centres whilst very little if anything exists on the street. I can see residents of houses with no parking trailing leads from their letterboxes out to their cars parked in the street overnight. The ambulance chasing solicitors will have a field day claiming against the owners for leaving the charging leads across unlit pavements causing injury.
The raw materials to make the batteries are also running out even now and we haven't even started mass production yet! These materials are also dug from the ground, usually in remote areas, you know the kind of remote areas that mankind hasn't yet fully destroyed but that will soon change. The materials used in the batteries is also very nasty and difficult, if not impossible, to safely dispose of (but we can always dump it back into the pits where the raw materials were dug from!). There are quite a few Toyota Prius cars getting illegally dumped in the streets now their batteries have expired and the owners don't want to pay the scrapping fees.

I remember Top Gear a few years ago when it was good, and Clarkson tested the i8 BMW electric sports car against the 5 Series Alpine. He loved it, raved about it, thought it was the dogs B's. Until that is he reached the limit of the charge, it was about 200 miles under 'normal' driving but give it some beans and it was really poor. He then had the option of waiting a few hours at a motorway service station for it to charge or to jump into the old petrol Alpine 5 Series to get back home. Obviously he didn't wait around. And that sums up electric vs petrol (or diesel), convenience and ease of use, at the moment electric is a very poor second but it’s being pushed hard and soon we won't have any choice what we buy.

I won't be getting rid of any of my bikes anytime soon, the petrol companies will cry foul for starters and by the time petrol disappears for good I'll be too old to care!

I actually drove an electric vehicle 50 years ago; it was a Unigate milk float when our local milko let me have a go as a kid, even back then that could accelerate quickly!

Personally if I was botherd I would go out and buy a tuned to the eyeballs KH750 Kawasaki just to make sure I use up what fuel is left!

[Rozabikes Tim]

Infrastructure again but Hydrogen cell seems to offer more flexibility. Pointless though, unless produced cleanly as most is currently made from hydrocarbons.

[Athame57]

I reckon they will delay this a while myself, like the channel tunnel, a recent act of national redemption and the M25. By 2030 I'll be 73 and maybe I won't care anymore?

[Nurse Julie]

HM Gov get a very high income in the way of taxes from petrol/ diesel which they can't balance the books without. I won't be selling any of my bikes because of this plan. It won't be retrospective anyway and tbh, I think its a load of wishful thinking by the Gov.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Will not affect me I'll  have gone up in smoke at local crem by then. 👆👆

[Johnwebley]

Will not affect me I'll  have gone up in smoke at local crem by then.

You think.

I fully intend to be riding long after  2030.




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[Johnny4428]

Me too John and won’t be on electric bike hopefully.

[Trigger]

It will never work. They designed the new London taxi to be electric and then told the mayor that they needed 28000 charging stations in London. There is no room so, they redesigned the black cab to have a petrol engine to charge the batteries    And they say this is OK as, it is the electric motor that is the drive and not the petrol engine.
 Like in the 60's saying, by the year 1990 cars would be flying and this will make the roads obsolete.

Since i have lived in Lincolnshire they, have had wind turbines off the coast of Skegness which have been turning for the past 5 years or more. This year they decided to lay the cables to link them up to a sub station   

[MrDavo]

I’ll believe it when I see it, same as driverless cars. What could possibly go wrong? Imagine the fun to be had when you come home to find someone else parked, quite legally, outside your house. Suddenly your lead won’t reach, and you can’t charge your car to go to work tomorrow!

On the other hand they probably never thought anything would take over from the horse and cart. I’m still waiting for my hoverboard and flying car.