34 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Wonder whatever happened to the concept

 

Approximately 55 Chrysler turbine cars were built for a program that put the cars into the hands of pre vetted customers for a short period of time. 46 of the cars were destroyed, according to reports. Chrysler has one in their collection and I believe that three others are in private collections or were destroyed after they were used for educational purposes. Chrysler tracked each car for many years.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_JET1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover-BRM

Anyone remember these?

2 hours ago, mjt said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_JET1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover-BRM

Anyone remember these?

Yes, lurking at the back of the memory with all sorts of cobwebs!

There were also several experiments with railway locomotives, some reasonably successful, some total disasters, but all swept away by diesel which at the time was cheaper to build/run and easier to operate.

This might be old news. 

44 minutes ago, Alex.S said:

This might be old news. 

Will Ford's new hydrogen engine be called the "Hydroboom" 🤣

It's tough out there for EV manufactures, UK company, 'Arrival', once valued at $10 Billion, had just gone belly up...

https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4170678/uk-electric-vehicle-developer-arrival-collapses-administration

Hydrogen is “doable “ as a propulsion fuel. It just isn’t economically viable. The btu of a given unit of hydrogen is less than the amount of energy required to produce it.  
 

3 hours ago, Scottman said:

Hydrogen is “doable “ as a propulsion fuel. It just isn’t economically viable. The btu of a given unit of hydrogen is less than the amount of energy required to produce it.  

I think that statement would hold true for Electric Vehicles but that doesn't stop the Governments around the world forcing their stupidity on us 🙁 

5 hours ago, Scottman said:

Hydrogen is “doable “ as a propulsion fuel. It just isn’t economically viable. The btu of a given unit of hydrogen is less than the amount of energy required to produce it.  
 

Chatting to a friend yesterday outside a shop, a bus drove past, almost totally silent, it was powered by hydrogen. Such a wonderful fuel, and can be refueled as quick as petrol. I will never understand why governments worldwide have squandered gazillions on pushing EVs...

CNG would be a great choice for route delivery vehicles. But, it is branded with the “carbon based” fuel stigma. So it’s off the table in spite of the fact that it is very clean burning and incredibly plentiful.

2 minutes ago, Scottman said:

CNG would be a great choice for route delivery vehicles...

I ran a Mercedes C240 converted to LPG for a few years. I could have cared less on any 'green' credentials, but LPG was half the price of petrol, which I loved! I always felt smug going to the till paying for a full tank of fuel handing over half the money the guy behind me in the queue was paying for his petrol!

Route delivery vehicles are fairly infrastructure agnostic in that they don’t need more than one refueling point for a given range they have to travel.

The politics of this situation has had the effect of distorting common sense and causing tremendous damage to many critical industries as they lurch from one bad decision to the next bad outcome.

 

We are doing so many more EV vans now than this time last year. Surprising how many different businesses and organisations are having them. Even sallys army having them. Food banks , etc. the rentals of the like of enterprise and thrifty too. There's a business case for them or they would have diesels. 

5 minutes ago, iantt said:

We are doing so many more EV vans now than this time last year...

I'm pretty sure the government grant system as far as I'm aware of £5000/van may help in this...

31 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

I'm pretty sure the government grant system as far as I'm aware of £5000/van may help in this...

Yeah, electric variant with grant included is about £5k-£10K more than diesel equivalent. 

Ford pulls the plug on EV strategy as losses pile up

https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/07/ford_ev_strategy/

1 hour ago, eddie eastwood said:

Ford pulls the plug on EV strategy as losses pile up

https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/07/ford_ev_strategy/

Ironic that this is posted the same day as a major UK opposition party are withdrawing their £28 Billion strategy of numerous different 'green' issues. It has just dawned on them we cannot afford it. At long last, folk are realising that going 'green' is darn expensive!

If buying an EV was cheaper than petrol, they may stand a chance. If installing a domestic heat pump was cheaper (& it worked) than a standard gas boiler, they may succeed. If insulating your home was cheaper than doing nothing, it may succeed. The point is, that simple folk, like me, will always have a resistance to spend more money on stuff that doesn't immediately benefit us!

The governments answer is to apply 'subsidies' which we all know, is actually OUR money!

The 'green' agenda will largely fail because as a capitalist regime, the masses don't buy expensive stuff to make us feel smug...

There are numerous YouTubes on, 'why I sold my EV and went back to petrol/diesel'. All very similar, and often quite superficial. Came across this one which displays a higher intelligence for the switch, teaching me a few things I wasn't aware of. It's the length of an episode of Corrie, but well worth the investment in time if you have an interest in the topic...

 

If the real data were available on EV battery range and lifespan the buyers would shun them like the plague.

I won’t even go into repairability and insurance costs. I genuinely believe that insurance premiums will soon force the EV into a situation where the “all in” costs will just destroy the argument for any savings from going electric.

16 hours ago, Scottman said:

buyers would shun them like the plague.

The evidence is that in the UK at least, private buyers are doing just that. EV sales are still mainly driven by the fleet market with tax benefits to company car users. I think I've said before, if I was still in that position, I could well consider an EV for the reduced benefits in kind taxation, we would probably have had chargers at work, and of course I wouldn't have to worry about battery life, insurance costs or depreciation.

I've linked to the full article previously (a few pages back): 

https://www.best-selling-cars.com/britain-uk/2023-full-year-britain-top-selling-electric-car-models-in-the-uk/

but the following excerpt sums up the fleet vs private buyer position:

Overall, BEVs accounted for one in six new cars registered in Britain in 2023, with the majority taken by business and fleet buyers who benefit from compelling tax incentives. In contrast, only one in 11 private buyers chose a BEV. The industry typically called for government support and tax incentives rather than producing cheaper electric cars that private buyers could afford. In the UK as in much of Europe, European carmakers are ignoring the lower end of the electric car markets, which could be a very risky strategy given that Chinese carmakers are likely to increasingly focus on exports as the domestic electric car market cools down.

Sorry to go off topic here, I’ll delete shortly. How do I post an iPhone video? Photos are no bother but videos it’s telling me wrong format ? 

1 minute ago, Alex.S said:

Sorry to go off topic here, I’ll delete shortly. How do I post an iPhone video? Photos are no bother but videos it’s telling me wrong format ? 

I always have issues with 'iPhone video' stuff sent to me by friends. I always have to use a program (VLC free), to convert them to AVI format. I'm sure there must be a simpler method though for posting direct...

Trying everything here! 

None of those extensions are 'video', I'm guessing you can't 'post' a video here direct, but have to upload it on a host like YouTube then post a link...