The joys of electric car ownership!

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I don't think the average Joe(or Jolene) will buy public transport as an alternative. Especially since what we do have seems to be so bl00dy awful, and if it won't get votes it won't happen, as we're seeing now with the ULEZ dithering.
It would get votes if it was the only option, and sooner if we had some positive thinking from politicians. Both Govt and opposition are at an historic low in terms of intelligence, competence and leadership skills.
 
I like the idea Dave but how u gonna keep the water out, thinking cracked n damaged roads......
the system cant be too deep to work but must be able to carry the weight of 25 ton trucks.....
plus there will be the wrong kind of snow or leaves messing things up in winter...

best thing to do with the London air zone is to ban all private vehicles except m/cycles/mopeds, busses registered Taxi's and all delivery /working vehicles....even the fat cats Rolls Royces....apart from royalty....phew that was a close ommision..
then they'll have to improve the public transport system.....
doing the above would make better use of the money from HS2 and would improve things no end....

Sorry Jacob u got it wrong again......
there are no fires on Crete at the moment......
Unlike the UK, Greece is upgrading and spending more money on the fire service....without complaint....
newer trucks, renewing water mains with bigger pipes.....
out of interest,
most local areas/big villages have a least 1 huge 4x4 fire truck parked up waiting for a shout.....
Currently the island has 2 dedicated Sikorsky heavy lift fire fighting helecoptors........
flying time from one end of the island to the other is less than 30mins.....
Athens has water dumping planes on standy-by, a 30min flight away......
they reg do fly overs I assume to improve local knowledge for the pilots....

Local news, Most of the fires on Rhodes were started deliberately.....

I have also upgrade the water system on my own property complete with a petrol driven water pump.......with 80cu,m in the s/pool to go at if needed....
plus,
there are many local's including me that will turn up to help when necc......
there's a great community spirit......bit like the old days in the UK......
Authorities claim fires started by arsonists. Any proof, or just wishful thinking? Even if true, the changing climate will result in more rapid spreading.
 
I did watch it. I got the impression that battery EVs will never replace what we currently have; we won't have generating power, the charging facilities, let alone the battery production capacity.
It's fiddling whilst Rome burns, probably literally, quite soon.
Or to put it another way - EVs would be little use to people in Greece today Greece: Flames reach outskirts of Athens as blaze triggers explosions - live
I don't know what the answer is but the world is going to look very different, especially when viewed from a cave!
I did watch it. I got the impression that battery EVs will never replace what we currently have; we won't have generating power, the charging facilities, let alone the battery production capacity.
It's fiddling whilst Rome burns, probably literally, quite soon.
Or to put it another way - EVs would be little use to people in Greece today Greece: Flames reach outskirts of Athens as blaze triggers explosions - live
I don't know what the answer is but the world is going to look very different, especially when viewed from a cave!
The BBC program was very poorly informed imo. There is far more innovation going on and technology is improving at an exponential rate.
All it takes is political will. Just look at Norway where most cars sold are electric.
For a more optimistic and informed view have a look the Fully Charged and Everything Electric podcasts / YouTube channel.
China has seen the future and is now so far ahead of the rest of the legacy car manufacturers that most of them will now never be able to catch up and will go the way of the dodo.
 
.... Just look at Norway where most cars sold are electric.
.....
I didn't know that. Interesting. They've got hydroelectric power and very positive government/fiscal intervention.
 
I didn't know that. Interesting. They've got hydroelectric power and very positive government/fiscal intervention.
They can afford to be positive, they are Europe's largest fossil fuel exporter and are making massive profits from high energy prices - $140billion in revenue in 2022.
 
In my(very small sample size) experience, it seems to be the "petrol heads" who are the strongest advocates of hydrogen powered cars. Whether this is because they imagine hydrogen cars will be ICE(as I understand things they'll actually be EVs with fuel cells), or whether they just want anything but EVs, or whether it's some other reason, I can't guess. What I do know is that the much despised "experts" seem to think hydrogen cars are a non starter. I don't know enough about it to argue with the experts, and I strongly suspect forum members don't either, so it's probably down to where you get your news from.
The idea of being able to convert your gas boiler to hydrogen, and use cheap renewable energy to electrolyse water does sound very attractive, so I have to assume that the drawbacks are immense. Also, I think it's important to remember that where there are vested interests there will be misinformation. We already know that the fossil fuel giants have used the same PR/whitewashing firms as the tobacco firms did.

Lastly, I have to say that under road charging at bottlenecks seems like a crazy idea to me. Surely you want people to avoid bottlenecks?
Hydrogen cars already exist, the main reason they are not more widespread is because there is no infrastructure to refuel them, a classic chicken and egg situation. And you are quite right there are vested interests, from those supplying the materials and so forth for battery production as much as from anywhere else. If you can sort out the refuelling infrastructure then a fuel cell car is potentially a more practical proposition for most people than battery electric. If you can charge at home and make relatively short journeys then I am sure a battery EV is entirely practical, and will continue to be so. Hydrogen will be developed for road transport etc where battery EV are entirely impractical, then I suspect it will filter down to passenger vehicles. The point I am making is that the infrastructure for hydrogen could be rolled out at a fraction of the cost, and very much more quickly. Maybe rather than subsidising battery factories, the government could subsidise hydrogen production to bring the cost of the fuel down whilst the industry becomes established. Unfortunately it seems the battery EV train is now rolling so fast it's hard to get off. And incidentally I am very much a petrol head, but love EV. Just seems utterly daft to me to want to lug around a massively inefficient battery, with all the associated problems, when there is a far superior alternative available. So I will wait.
 
I like the idea Dave but how u gonna keep the water out, thinking cracked n damaged roads......
the system cant be too deep to work but must be able to carry the weight of 25 ton trucks.....
plus there will be the wrong kind of snow or leaves messing things up in winter...
The technology already exists and has been proven to work in a carpark environment. We already have proximity detection built in to the roads at traffic lights and that can withstand the weather without cracking up and before you mention 'how do we pay for it' it could be a subscription based program or added to road tax on a mileage basis.
The main issue is converting the existing EVs and manufacturing new EVs with the pickup already installed.
In truth, it will never happen because technology is moving faster than the Government can be bothered to implement anything.
 
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting in a traffic jam on the M25,under the Heathrow flightpath.So were thousands of others,a few of whom may have been dissuaded from taking the direct route through London by the various charges.Given the fresh westerly wind at the time,the emissions were passing through the ULEZ at the very least.So those within the zone were getting some of the nasties and not much of the money.

If the aim is really cleaner air,when will the emissions from older woodburners receive the same level of scrutiny and financial disincentives?
 
...... Unfortunately it seems the battery EV train is now rolling so fast it's hard to get off. ....
They seem to be throwing everything at it. It's the motor industry's last chance to make loadsa money from luxury personal transport, before the s**t hits the fan
 
There is also an artificial man made fuel that has been proven to work as well as petrol and requires no modifications to be made to an ICE vehicle before use. It's also carbon neutral the only thing holding it back it the cost to make it. How they can justify not producing it when the cost of the human race is in the balance is beyond me.
 
There is also an artificial man made fuel that has been proven to work as well as petrol and requires no modifications to be made to an ICE vehicle before use. It's also carbon neutral the only thing holding it back it the cost to make it. How they can justify not producing it when the cost of the human race is in the balance is beyond me.
Interesting. Do you have any links?
 
Don't be silly.
I've already said that the results in the ULEZ ref health are correct and accurate, you obviously don't fully read responses before you jump to conclusions.
I'll repeat it again...
"I agree that evidence to prove ULEZ is accurate to the data, I even agree its robust enough to prove the impact of the ULEZ. What I don't agree with is that just extending the ULEZ, while good for that area, the result is its not cleaning up the environment, just relocating and redistributing emissions"

So please dont be so ignorant as to rehash your same verbal diatribe without understanding or acknowledging the actual agreement I gave to you.

What I said is that a different approach to ULEZ is needed so as not to push particulate pollutants onto others.

My approach is to eliminate particulate matter that causes these illness, not just relocate it.

Surely better health for all should be the target, not solving just one area, while building up issues in another area.

ULEZ do NOT reduce the overall particulate emissions, they just remove the issue in one area, albeit significantly, however it does not reduce the overall particulate emissions into the planets atmosphere.

I'll say it again unless you missed it. Yes ULEZ affect local issues, they do NOT affect the overall particulate levels significantly in the atmospheric strata.

To have an amospheric change and EFFECT, NEEDS WIDE SCALE CHANGES, as I indicated as a possible scenario going forward.
I never once said abolish or abandon, or extend the ULEZ, I just said there is another option that we could use that would benefit everyone AND the environment. Reducing particulate emissions is the only long term solution, not the transference from one area or from local to regional emissions, as is the case for EV's unless they are purely produced and run on green energy, the result of there pollution is not local, they actual help in ULEZ, what the evidence shows is that overall their emissions through manufacture, extraction of limited rare earth elements and the transportation of materials and batteries across continents are as harmful, but not on a local basis but on a worldwide environmental impact basis.

Again another case of we're fine in the city, pipper what happens elsewhere.

We desperately need an approach to reduce emissions, not just shift them to other countries.
Not ULEZ, and not wishing to hijack this thread but this article is worth a read, a bit long winded but the interesting none the less
https://substack.com/notes/post/p-135388557
 
The way forward for EVs is to install under ground wireless charging at traffic lights and roundabouts so when you're sitting in traffic your EV is getting a charge, so every traffic congestion becomes a charge opportunity.
And who pays for the electricity during charging or the infrastructure?? And dont say the taxpayer as they didnt pay to build the current petrol and diesel "fuel" stations so why should the taxpayer pay to build electric "fuel" staions?? Let the "fuel" suppliers ie the electricity companies pay to put in any and all charging points
 
And who pays for the electricity during charging or the infrastructure?? And dont say the taxpayer as they didnt pay to build the current petrol and diesel "fuel" stations so why should the taxpayer pay to build electric "fuel" staions?? Let the "fuel" suppliers ie the electricity companies pay to put in any and all charging points
Not a good idea.
One thing we do know for certain is that left to the private sector public services would go s**t shaped very quickly and probably end up owned entirely by obscure foreign businesses screwing us all for maximum profit, or just selling off assets and closing down. This is the lesson of the 44 years since Thatcher, the same story repeated many times over with variations and Brexit as the farcical finishing touch.
 
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Not ULEZ, and not wishing to hijack this thread but this article is worth a read, a bit long winded but the interesting none the less
https://substack.com/notes/post/p-135388557
Looks like another anti China rant. The reason they are ahead in the game is that they took note of the science and invested heavily from a long way back, whilst the west dithered and wittered on. Admittedly they are a totalitarian state but that gives them the opportunity to make sweeping decisions without listening to the timid and faint hearted sceptics.
The UK could catch up if it chose but it would mean massive tax increases and investment which are "unaffordable" or "fiscally imprudent", as the Sunak/Starmer twins keep telling us.
 
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And who pays for the electricity during charging or the infrastructure?? And dont say the taxpayer as they didnt pay to build the current petrol and diesel "fuel" stations so why should the taxpayer pay to build electric "fuel" staions?? Let the "fuel" suppliers ie the electricity companies pay to put in any and all charging points
Why would it be free? Very easy to tell which cars are being charged and by how much. For sure the infrastructure would have to be covered as BBC well.

Just in case people haven’t see it. This already exists for busses in some places with charging areas at stops.
 

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