Noticed a lot of coverage of "road pricing" in the news media over the last few days. Looking like they have woken up to the loss of £30 billion in fuel taxes as drivers move to electric vehicles.

Perhaps we might now see this being factored into those cost comparisons of electric vs ICE which keep appearing? If won't prevent the change happening but it might stop people kidding themselves and appreciate that it's going to be anything but cheap.😀

 

 

I didn't see one single EV driver queuing today.

Just now, Mark-UK said:

I didn't see one single EV driver queuing today.

Nope, they were all at home on price comparison web sites looking a better energy deal LOL 🤣

At least they can still get that energy.

Petrol shortages are always a self filling event, they can't get the fuel to the station due to no HGVs , everyone panics empties the station and then there's still no HGV's to refill the station, things could get really bad really fast.

NI is petrol heaven right now, no shortage whatsoever, all stations open and full, and we still have proper E5 for sale! 😄

I've just been out to fetch step daughter from her work and passed our Tesco express/ Esso station and there's still queues on to the road!! Unbelievable. 

The missus picked up her Yaris 1.5 hybrid on Thursday. 

Friday she drove to work.  Driving just the same as she did in het Fiesta 100ps she is getting over 60mpg compared to 40mpg.

Amazing really.

Ford are investing big in EV in the USA spending  $5.6Bn in a new plant

https://eu.tennessean.com/story/money/business/development/2021/09/27/ford-memphis-regional-megasite-electric-vehicles/5884728001/

I see they are getting things ready in Dallas

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-chain-of-electrical-extension-cables

Reading more Tennessee is doing rather well out of the USA move to EV

"

Since 2013, Tennessee is the home of more than 152,000 electric vehicles and more than $6.2 billion in related capitol investment, according to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.

In Spring Hill, General Motors has invested more than $4.3 billion during the last 18 months to manufacture electric cars and the batteries that charge them.

In Clarksville, Tennessee’s fifth-largest city, a nine-digit industrial investment is coming, part of the electric-powered automotive movement. Also in Middle Tennessee, Nissan, which in 1983 opened the state's first automobile factory in Smyrna, helped to build interest in Interstate 840.

In East Tennessee, Japan-based DENSO invested $1 billion in Maryville five years ago to create and expand more than 1,000 manufacturing jobs.

Travel south to Chattanooga to experience a sizable EV investment by Gestamp US: $94.7 million.

Nearly 20,000 Tennesseans — from Columbia to Clarksville — are employed by companies with EV operations, which expect to produce more than 200,000 EVs by 2028. That milestone, however, may be realized sooner than expected as the supply chain for electric-powered vehicles continues to ramp up in the region."

6 hours ago, Mark-UK said:

Reading more Tennessee is doing rather well out of the USA move to EV

I do recall studying the Tennessee Valley Authority in Geography at school in the 60's. Tennessee was even then a massive generator of hydro-electricity through a series of dams on the Mississipi, so I would assume that tradition of "green" power generation continues today, to an even greater extent. 

30 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

I do recall studying the Tennessee Valley Authority in Geography at school in the 60's. Tennessee was even then a massive generator of hydro-electricity through a series of dams on the Mississipi, so I would assume that tradition of "green" power generation continues today, to an even greater extent. 

What ever the reason I'm pretty sure any area would be happy with around $12 billion of investment  and 20,000 jobs. It does show there is an economic upside to the EV revolution, and people like Ford and GM don't normally pump billions into some that is not here for the long term.

 

Taking EVs, I was watching a video on the new single motor Polestar 2 , and was very surprised at how many competitors there are in the EV market, very mainstream now. The idea it's Tesla and a couple of smaller companies is totally out the window , looks like every major motor manufacturer is going full EV in the very near future.

The government have noticed that the owners of electric vehicles are missing out on queueing for fuel and have decided to introduce a system that will allow them to queue for electricity.

https://www.driving.co.uk/news/environment/ev-chargers-switch-off-peak-times-blackouts/

ELECTRIC CAR chargers may not function during peak hours to avoid overloading the national electricity grid, according to legislation announced by the Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps.

As of May 30 next year, any new home charger being installed must be a “smart” charger, connected to the internet and able to employ pre-sets that limit their ability to function from 8am to 11am and 4pm to 10pm. This is to avoid putting the electricity grid under stress at times of peak demand, potentially preventing blackouts.

Well, well !!

I've been saying for years that the infrastructure would be unable to cope. The goverment are frantic to get smart meters installed telling people they will save energy - They will NOT !!! - a meter is a device for measuring use, it does not save a penny. If customers use less electricity then and only then will you make a saving. What most people also do not know and the goverment and energy companies fail to mention is that all 'smart' meters have a contactor/relay inside that can be remotely switched off by the supplier. So in the future when demand becomes to great then energy suppliers will be able to switch off individual meters as and when they like.

I'm going for a lie down now in a dark room. You've got my blood pressure off the scale. 🤨

 

27 minutes ago, pcaouolte said:

The government have noticed that the owners of electric vehicles are missing out on queueing for fuel and have decided to introduce a system that will allow them to queue for electricity.

https://www.driving.co.uk/news/environment/ev-chargers-switch-off-peak-times-blackouts/

"...the transport secretary is concerned that drivers may get into the habit of arriving home between 5pm and 7pm, immediately plugging in their vehicles and placing the grid under undue strain..."

Gosh the government appears to have predicted a major problem on the horizon - amazing that the HGV driver shortage went straight over their head 🤣

Yeah, basically a government saying from next year we cant guarantee your electric supply, welcome to 11 years of Tory government and the sunny uplands of Brexit .

If they stopped trying to force everyone back to the office (owned my Tory donating property developers) and encouraged working from home when possible, there wouldn't be a 5pm to 7pm surge.  A 4 year old has more planning and forward thinking than this lot, but I did like the bit that from next year all new build will have to have car chargers (how that'll work on social house in another issue, maybe the Tories will jst scrap social housing building)

5 minutes ago, Mark-UK said:

... and the sunny uplands of Brexit .

 

Admit it - you're a James O'Brien groupie, right? 🤣

15 hours ago, StephenFord said:

Admit it - you're a James O'Brien groupie, right? 🤣

Not his groupie, but anyone who thinks Brexit is not making things worse is a ***** moron.

1 minute ago, Mark-UK said:

... but anyone who thinks Brexit is not making things worse is a ***** moron.

That'll be me then LOL Best vote I've ever placed, imagine, the UK having 17.4 Million ***** morons, I thought it would have been higher 🤣

13 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

imagine, the UK having 17.4 Million ***** morons

I imagine a large proportion of that number are now regretful ***** morons

6 minutes ago, Carl123 said:

I imagine a large proportion of that number are now regretful ***** morons

Why would you imagine that? I certainly don't regret a thing...

26 minutes ago, Carl123 said:

I imagine a large proportion of that number are now regretful ***** morons

Not while they can still blame other things.  They've lucked out with a global pandemic.  

16 hours ago, Mark-UK said:

Yeah, basically a government saying from next year we cant guarantee your electric supply, welcome to 11 years of Tory government and the sunny uplands of Brexit .

I've seen quite a few problems created by Brexit but I'm struggling to see how Brexit has affected the security of our electricity supply. Can you enlighten me please?

39 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Not while they can still blame other things.  They've lucked out with a global pandemic.

You're not kidding

Everything that happens now or in the future that would have been an undeniable effect of Brexit will now be blamed on the pandemic of 2020.

 

 

Easy for Stephen who still lives in the single market and customs union. A whole different ball game for us living in England, Scotland or Wales.

 

The pandemic has been used as a cover so Brexit issues, and lets not forget some of the more destructive parts of Brexit have not been implemented yet, the government has had to delay the checking of good from the EU into UK again, so that's at least 18 months later than it was supposed to happen , they have delayed for 12 months the change from CE to UKCA marking.

The HGV driver issue they say in not Brexit related, but their solution is to amend Brexit rules.

 

And if you missed it today, they are about to setup a Brexit helpline for Business, the contract given to an Indian company, similar to your black/blue passports designed in Trance and produced in Poland, global Britain my *****, but hey we did get a union flag on a plane that has been used ONCE for diplomat trip, so that was £1 million well spend, and the ***** £250 million yacht nobody wants is a good idea.