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Ten years to go until electric...
SumpMagnet:
@Lobo ... don't see how the reduction in use of petrol/diesel will help with power generation. Power generation on the scale we will need it doesn't use them, and the whole point is NOT to use them. The electricity has to be generated somehow.
Solar power in the UK is not so simple. Especially in the large urban areas where electric vehicles make the most sense. Large number s of people rent...and cannot fit panels unless the owner chooses to.... or else they live in flats where they don;t have their own roof...or anywhere to park a car and charge it.
I am in the process of trying to move to a house in London with a garage.....and I am out on the fringes. Still costing a shedload of money....well...actually I can get a shed pretty cheaply....
Our glorious leadership has decided we have 10 years before IC engines will no longer be sold. I worry that there simply isn't the power generation capacity to cope with the demand...and money needs to be invested in the generation of more power, and the distribution network to carry it to where it's needed. On top of that, I wonder if the current push for 'hybrids' indicates they are not going to be banned in 10 years.
If that is so...my bike is officially a Hybrid right now. If I switch off the engine and hold the starter button.....I can move. Hybrid. Self charging too...as pop the killswitch to 'run' and the battery recharges. Simple
cliff7:
What with Zoom and "excellent" electronic communication I'm sure much office type work can be done from home. Also more people are allegedly doing their shopping online. i know a few people working from home some days who reckon they are more productive, less time spent in traffic jams. I'm retired so don't really need a car. I realise many people need one as I did when I was working but they are an inefficient form of transport as has been said they often only have 1 occupant.
andy120t:
I work from home all the time now and the car / bike have become, if anything, more essential as I use them as a break from work at lunchtimes. I don't always have the energy for a walk but a nice ride or drive is just the thing.
Mileage wise, most of my journeys are 6-60 miles so no concerns day to day with electric and I have a drive and garage so plenty of space for charging and it's a small behaviour change to plug in each day rather than drive for petrol. It still comes back to range and infrastructure - I travel regularly to Suffolk (100 miles) and would need to be charged there ..but granny-in-law doesn't have that facility in her remote cottage. Plus I go to North Yorkshire a lot - often late on Friday and with the family - and Ive seen the queues for the only Tesla charge point on the A1. I don't want to add that to my journey.
No doubt though, we'll still be riding our bikes in 40 years time as the cost of forcing everyone to scrap petrol and diesel cars will be too high. I guess though that 100 years or so ago all the carts were recycled as firewood and the horses as ....burgers? So one day we'll have batteries that look like SOHC engines and the old ones might be baked-bean tins!
ST1100:
What I unfortunately see omitted in the debates (and largely ignored if not even kept secret in all the "propaganda") are the issues of mining and processing the resources...
Already replacing a conventional vehicle with an "so much better" new one requiring mining bauxite (i.e. South America), ship it (crude oil freighters) across half the planet to plants in places like Asia where they produce aluminum cheap (more profitable) due the non existing environmental regulations, mining ore for steel production, dissolving copper out the rock with toxic harmful chemicals, etc, etc...
By the time this "oh so new" car is finally here, we've blown out so much CO² and other substances, my old EURO2 '96 Toyota probably couldn't emit in the next 500~1000 years...
Looking at EVs the issues for the environment described above are worsened largely by the additional mining and processing of Cobalt, Lithium and other substances required for the batteries...
Since decades one can observe mass-manipulation...
first vehicle tax classified by engine displacement...
Everyone ran to buy a modern car, once the majority had changed to the smaller, more efficient EFI engines, they announced "ha! and now we tax you by HP/kW output!"
Once this was milked, they announced catalytic converters mandatory... again everyone threw money into the industry...
Then the "drive diesel! Its economical and environmental friendly" message was omnipresent... (sponsored due state subsidized prices on diesel fuel)
Once >75% of cars out there were diesel, the course changed again, diesel is bad, you need to buy a new diesel with particle filter...
After the market was saturated, we of course suddenly needed an even newer one with diesel-KAT instead...
The oxymoron: the "old" cars didn't even get off the road, they continue to run in Eastern Europe and African countries (so much about reducing global pollution...)
The only one profiting from all this were industries and their share holders...
And now we can observe the same with this artificially generated EV-hype again...
royhall:
--- Quote from: MrDavo on November 19, 2020, 08:33:44 AM ---When we were in the US we stayed in Massachusetts with a couple. She had a Prius hybrid, but while she was busy saving the planet, he had a V8 pickup truck, plus a boat with twin petrol V8s, that did gallons to the mile!
--- End quote ---
I know which route I would be going down. V8 boats are incredible especially with two of the sods. Personally I don't see the 2030 thing happening as there simply is not enough time. The 2040 date was more realistic but it wasn't BoJo's idea. They are talking about massive windfarms, new generation nuclear power plants etc etc all in 10 years. HS2 has been going longer than that and not a rail laid so far. Logistics simply will not allow it to happen.
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