I think it's correct that FCEVs will become the eventual answer to zero carbon vehicles where hydrogen fuel will be converted to on demand electric power generated inside the fuel cell and where the waste product of the process will be only water(H2O). However there are many obstacles to overcome as Government is not currently driving the market in this direction but rather just BEVs with many more charging points being the  aim, ready for 2030. There are questions that need to be answered in regard to hydrogen production and storage. Also will we fill up with hydrogen gas or hydrogen liquid, where the latter requires pressurisation to keep it liquid, both during tank storage and in vehicle storage. If it's gaseous hydrogen there are other issues over adequate volume storage, flammability concerns etc . There are British companies( Oxford based for one) who have been developing answers to these issues but they need government policy and direction/support to realise a final commercialised product. Then there are the car manufacturers who've in the main, bar a few, not really explored FCEVs as a viable energy source. My belief is that all of this is possible and affordable, not least as it should only take modest modifications to our existing fuel station infrastructure to store and supply hydrogen  to FCEVs much as they do now for diesel, petrol and LPG. Hydrogen will overcome the range issue completely so long as the vehicles have sufficient hydrogen storage capacity in a tank design that may need to extend along the entire body of the vehicle. HydrogenFCEVs are also the only answer to HGV usage of electric drives.

15 hours ago, Dakw59 said:

I think it's correct that FCEVs will become the eventual answer to zero carbon vehicles where hydrogen fuel will be converted to on demand electric power ...

I must admit to finding it fascinating that government has committed full pelt to AI, which already uses more 'electric' energy than every single EV currently on our roads. AI, along with 'crypto' mining use untold amounts of electric energy, yet you don't see any government report even mention them in those terms. The faith that windmills will be our saviour to generating infinite electric energy when already in recent weeks the UK was in the verge of running out of electricity to supply the grid.

Wrightbus (here in Northern Ireland) already produce cutting edge hydrogen buses run on liquid form (with a pittance of government funding towards development)

You'd almost think the government hadn't a clue what they're doing... 😂

Drill baby, drill...

28 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

I must admit to finding it fascinating that government has committed full pelt to AI, which already uses more 'electric' energy than every single EV currently on our roads. 

You have to wonder if they actually understand this stuff. There has certainly been a lot of coverage outlining the issue, just a few examples below:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj5ll89dy2mo

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-ai-boom-could-use-a-shocking-amount-of-electricity/

https://www.eweek.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-energy-consumption/

All this is of course aside from the "Pandora's Box" aspect of this - do we know exactly what we are unleashing and are we confident we can control it?

I’m am absolutely confident that the people in government, no matter where that might be, are totally out of their depth and might even be malevolent in their actions regarding Ai. Elon Musk has not been shy about stating the potential negative consequences of a thinking machine that learns. It’s a very fine line between Utopian and Orwellian outcomes. 
The government types and the Elites should have to pass an oral exam to gauge their understanding of how electricity is produced and distributed and what is required to make it happen reliably! One question would be to explain the difference between voltage and amperage? And what is “super conductivity?”. I firmly believe that the majority of lawmakers in any nation you care to choose are as ignorant as a box of rocks regarding this issue.

3 minutes ago, Scottman said:

.. I firmly believe that the majority of lawmakers in any nation you care to choose are as ignorant as a box of rocks regarding this issue.

I fear that is mighty insulting to a box of rocks 🤣

This petition may be of interest to some posters on this thread:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/707101

The British people should definitely be heard by their Parliament!

Edmund Burke, an 18th century Irish born chap who became a member of parliament and was a great thinker and philosopher didn’t have any love for rapid societal changes.

Burke had a front row seat for the French Revolution and reflected on it’s horrors. He penned some brilliant pieces about the natural order, the state of mankind and the limited role of politics in society.

His work is well remembered and he is as relevant today as ever. The global elite are playing with fire when they undertake these efforts to rewrite the social contract of civilization. My favorite Burke essay is his “Philsophical inquiry into the origin on our ideas of the sublime and beautiful”. Worthwhile reading for anyone interested in such things and a great way to spend a rainy day with a good bottle of single malt scotch.

Just looking again at the "Government Consultation on EV transition" mentioned on another thread.

Mention of support for purchase of EVs in there prompted me to have a look at the company car tax position. I find that if I now had, as an example, a Tesla Model 3 Long Range listed at £44935, I would be paying the princely sum of £360pa at the 40% tax rate.

I dug out my tax records from when I last had a company car (a Rover 620 so you can tell how long ago it was) and back then I was paying £1800pa! 

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

I dug out my tax records from when I last had a company car (a Rover 620 so you can tell how long ago it was) and back then I was paying £1800pa!

From memory alone, was there not a period of 'pay freeze' where the only way round it was to offer employees advantages of taxation on their company car? Could be way off base even in the late 90s. However, it's always a government mistake when they offer any advantage over one car or another to skew the natural market.

Just like when they offered car subsidies on 'diesel' cars to promote the 'fuel of the future'...

25 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

From memory alone, was there not a period of 'pay freeze' where the only way round it was to offer employees advantages of taxation on their company car?

Yes, there was. I think it was a bit further back in time than my day though, and by the mid-late 90's a company car was not the benefit it had once been, the benefit in kind tax was certainly biting by then. I recall trying hard not to have one - we used to have a decent mileage rate for using your own car and the choice of company cars available was very restricted at first. Then they changed all the managers contracts so you got one like it or not!

As discussed before, I'm not happy with the level of subsidy at present considering all the other demands on the public purse. Certainly don't see why private buyers should be subsidised. To me, it's just like any other product - if it's good and suits your requirements, you'll buy one, as many have.

Just zapped off an email to my MP on those lines - realised he's not heard from me so far in 2025 and don't want him feeling neglected!😀

 

I wonder why we haven't heard more about this:

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/solar-powered-device-captures-carbon-dioxide-from-air-to-make-sustainable-fuel

4 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

I wonder why we haven't heard more about this:

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/solar-powered-device-captures-carbon-dioxide-from-air-to-make-sustainable-fuel

"Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been touted as a possible solution to the climate crisis, and has recently received £22bn in funding from the UK government"

Aahhh... so that's where the 'black hole' Rachel from accounts keeps bleating on about went 🤣

 

2 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

"Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been touted as a possible solution to the climate crisis, and has recently received £22bn in funding from the UK government"

Aahhh... so that's where the 'black hole' Rachel from accounts keeps bleating on about went 🤣

 If this proves to be a goer you wouldn't need CCS anyway. It's funny how often you see that £22bn figure crop up, though.

 

You know where the flaw is in that Cambridge research? 

Sunlight. 🤣🤣🤣

2 hours ago, StephenFord said:

"Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been touted as a possible solution to the climate crisis, and has recently received £22bn in funding from the UK government"

Contra to what the 'Greenies' would have you believe the level of CO₂ in the air is very small (perhaps more in China ? 🤣).

Carbon dioxide makes up about 0.04% of Earth's atmosphere

I would hate to think just how much energy would be used (wasted) to remove any CO₂ Remember that plants actually need to breath CO₂ and at levels at or below 0.03% plant life, (including food crops) will die.

21 minutes ago, iantt said:

You know where the flaw is in that Cambridge research? 

Sunlight. 🤣🤣🤣

And yet Mr Miliband wants to cover any space not occupied by windmills or Ange's house building programme with solar farms...........😀

15 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

And yet Mr Miliband wants to cover any space not occupied by windmills or Ange's house building programme with solar farms........

Comrade Miliband, a founding member of the Tooting popular front, wants to be seen to do his bit for the party and help destroy the UK. 🙁

If a person wants to help reduce the amount of CO2 they should consider planting some trees! Trees absorb carbon dioxide as a function of growing and photosynthesis. It’s what they literally live to do. That and provide some shade for us.

here in the States we have been learning that the outrageous green new scam that has been inflicted upon the American people has been getting the funding through some of the most corrupt NGO’s on the planet. And we were wondering why they have spent billions and not produced anything in the way of infrastructure upgrades and some of the other projects they said were pivotal to the ecology?

Turns out that it was all just a money grab and a scam!

if I had known that I could have simply renounced my citizenship,left the country for a week and then returned over the border illegally that I could have qualified for a grant that would have helped me buy a new car and a house or given me seed money to start a business! What a sucker I am.

On 2/10/2025 at 11:28 AM, StephenFord said:

they offered car subsidies on 'diesel' cars

I had a few diesel cars and was never offered a subsidy. Did you manage to claim a subsidy?

 

1 hour ago, alanfp said:

I had a few diesel cars and was never offered a subsidy. Did you manage to claim a subsidy?

 

There were lower rates of road tax and company car BIK rates due to the lower level of CO2 from diesel. I don't think any actual cash was handed out directly - if there was, it never came my way!

2 hours ago, alanfp said:

I had a few diesel cars and was never offered a subsidy. Did you manage to claim a subsidy?

 

I never bought a diesel, I often followed buses in traffic and never ever believed the government claptrap that it was the fuel of the future 🤣

Jaguar and Landrover were told to develop a clean diesel and did so at huge expense. Then the government decided that it needed to be “even cleaner” and that the previous target was not adequate. This one issue has effectively driven JLR to the brink of insolvency. The government reasoning for this is to destroy the industry.

 The level of engineering required to create a functioning clean diesel engine was a massive undertaking that would require at least a decade and a half to amortize and justify. This is not the way to regulate an industry that will be able to survive.

If anyone wonders why JLR fell so far short on their EV products, it’s because they didn’t have any real budget to create it. If was basically acontract job.

Another bacon sandwich moment from Ed Miliband?:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/02/14/miliband-vows-ban-fracking-permanently-huge-gas-discovery/

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gas-field-lincolnshire-uk-fracking-net-zero-b2698167.html

Meanwhile Rachel is wondering how to grow the UK economy.......   

Another Comrade Miliband success 🤣

Parliament Ditches Heat Pumps As They Don't Work!

 

20 minutes ago, unofix said:

Parliament Ditches Heat Pumps As They Don't Work!

Coincidentally I was just reading about that. Couple of articles for balance:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/net-zero/parliament-heat-pump-rollout-suspended-noise-concerns/

https://inews.co.uk/news/heat-pumps-noisy-inefficient-claims-fact-checked-3538497

It seems to me that these are another attempt to apply a "one size fits all solution". I am quite prepared to accept that these can be effective in a suitable building (preferably designed with their use in mind from the start.) It does appear that Portcullis House may not be such a structure, though. I'm pretty sure my house will be another!

If we accept a need to move from gas as a domestic heating source, I find it surprising that this seems to be the only alternative being pushed. There are available electric boilers which can simply replace a gas boiler in a central heating system, and other forms of electric heaters which are far more efficient these days than they used to be.