12 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

I hate to get 'political', but here goes. The current government was voted with a manifesto that promised a 'consultation' on the issue of banning petrol/diesel engine cars. That consultation was entirely internal between the PM and Dominic Cummings. It should have been a proper public consultation, which it wasn't.

All I'm doing is supporting that there should be a proper debate over such an important issue rather than a unilateral government decision...

Lol and I'm agreeing with you Stephen, just don't see this petition (which, as I mentioned earlier, I have signed despite my reservations) will do the trick, hence my suggestion of contacting MP's directly.

 

On 12/9/2020 at 9:18 PM, StephenFord said:

 I'm afraid the young St Greta has mislead the whole world with a con!

 

Greta has never said we must go electric, she has never told anyone how to live their lives, what she does say is read and follow the science, then do something about it. The what people/government do it their choice, she just say follow the facts and science .

9 minutes ago, Mark-UK said:

 read and follow the science,

Now, where have I heard that before 🤣

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55330945

We do have to move away from fossil ice engines.

9 minutes ago, Guy Heaton said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55330945

We do have to move away from fossil ice engines.

Yep, we should ban all cars too as on average, 3500 people in the UK are killed every year in road traffic accidents!

Maybe we should ban stairs too, as there are about 800 people/year killed in UK from falling...

2 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Yep, we should ban all cars too as on average, 3500 people in the UK are killed every year in road traffic accidents!

More like ban the idiots who can't drive that cause the accidents. 

18 minutes ago, iantt said:

More like ban the idiots who can't drive that cause the accidents. 

How did that old saying go: "95% of accidents are caused by people and 95% of people are caused by accidents" 😀

If we changed to purely solar cars, the industry would be motivated to make the technology work and we'd never have to charge or fuel up a car again. Of course, nobody would be able to drive at night, which is just as well as it's one of the more dangerous times to drive.  I'd also ban cycling, at least until Highways England was superseded by Cyclepaths England, at that point cycling would be much safer, as right now highways (US speak for motorways) are the safest way to travel per mile by car, cycling on the other hand at present is a bit terrifying.

2 minutes ago, Lonedev said:

If we changed to purely solar cars, the industry would be motivated to make the technology work ...

What, like this?? LOL

You laugh at that car, but I'm old enough to remember the shock/amusement when the Sierra came out.

16 minutes ago, Mark-UK said:

You laugh at that car, but I'm old enough to remember the shock/amusement when the Sierra came out.

What, the old, 'jelly mould'? LOL Awful then, awful now! A friend got one as a company car at the time, he was embarrassed to be seen in it!

What about this monstrosiy?

18 hours ago, StephenFord said:

Yep, we should ban all cars too as on average, 3500 people in the UK are killed every year in road traffic accidents!

Maybe we should ban stairs too, as there are about 800 people/year killed in UK from falling...

That's false equivalence as well you know.

 

4 hours ago, Guy Heaton said:

That's false equivalence as well you know.

 

Yeh I know, the government use them all the time so it's now a legitimate argument LOL

In the same vein as you quoting one unfortunate death as a legitimate reason for the country to unilaterally ban a whole mode of transport...

6 hours ago, mjt said:

What about this monstrosiy?

Good old Granada Scorpio. The cosworth V6 was supposed to be the one to have. That was a bag of nails too. Those cars  were money pits . 

Seen a few more things recently that give me concern.

EV Charging seems to have come up both in TV and press reports, both mainstream and specialist motoring publications.

The Beeb recently  had a report on difficulties of charging - different networks, different types of connectors, need to belong to a network, downloading apps, blah, blah. Autocar ran a very good story on the same theme, describing the situation in some cases as "shameful" and "scandalous". To be fair they did highlight some charging points where the process was painless and payment by card was easy, just like filling with petrol, which is what we need.

Mention has been made that electric vehicles are so far, most prevalent in "affluent" areas - hardly surprising, given the prices and need to have a drive for home charging, given the charging issues mentioned.

Also cropping up is that electric vehicles are tending to be larger, SUV type vehicles, the proportion of EV's that are SUVs having more than doubled in 5 years to 37% of EV sales. I guess it is easier to accommodate batteries in bigger vehicles, plus higher margins for manufacturers, but the International Energy Agency is quoted as saying they consume 15% more energy than a "normal" electric car. 

Not purely an EV issue, but seen several reports on electronic chip shortages. Today seen a report that Audi have furloughed 10,000 staff because they can't get the semi-conductors to produce cars.

We really ought to pause and think before continuing this headlong rush into EV's and technology laden vehicles.

Just on a personal rant - am I the only one who hates that Volvo TV advert where some smug looking guy is driving one of their massive (presumably EV or PHEV) SUV's and presses the "Pure" mode on the touchscreen with the air of someone who thinks he's just saved all the polar bears?😀

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 19, 20215 yr by Eric Bloodaxe
Extra paragraph

Yep, I completely agree.  Quick suburbia, buy another colossal SUV so we can save the planet.

But in other (more positive) news, I read today that scientists at Penn State University in the USA have developed a low cost battery that can take enough charge for 200 miles range in 10 minutes. It has reduced weight, volume and cost compared to current batteries and even better doesn't use cobalt.

It's not April 1st and I didn't see any unicorns about, so could this really be the game-changer. The only downside is I'm sure I first saw a report on this at the end of 2019 so wonder what's happened in between and why the story's all over the press and web this week?

2 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

The only downside is I'm sure I first saw a report on this at the end of 2019 so wonder what's happened in between and why the story's all over the press and web this week?

Fake news, Trumps final chuckle LOL

25 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Fake news, Trumps final chuckle LOL

Lol. Quite possibly. Now, if only they can keep his finger off the nuke button until Biden takes over...........😀

It's an Israel company that has produced battery's that have a 5min charge/100mile range. As for the UK rush headlong in to EV, Norway has just become the first country to sell more Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) cars than any other form of power (petrol/diesel/hybrid)  BEVs made up 54.3% of all new cars sold in the Nordic country in 2020, a global record, up from 42.4% in 2019 and from a mere 1% of the overall market a decade ago

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/19/electric-car-batteries-race-ahead-with-five-minute-charging-times

10 minutes ago, Mark-UK said:

It's an Israel company that has produced battery's that have a 5min charge/100mile range. 

Interesting article there, Mark. They talk of similar batteries being available within 3 years or so, which, if the predictions on price are correct, might well suit me.

The other prerequisite is to make the actual charging experience as easy and painless as filling with petrol, which if the businesses involved can't sort out, needs a big kick from government.

Visited Norway several times and noted big uptake of electric over recent years - loads of Teslas. Incentives there of course, green numberplate conferring privileges on electric drivers, loads of chargers around which look easy to use. They're not short of "green" electricity from hydro of course, and also wisely invested revenues from their North Sea gas/oil in a sovereign wealth fund over the years so are able to pay for these things.

 

 

 

 

16 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

They talk of similar batteries being available within 3 years or so, which, if the predictions on price are correct, might well suit me.

 

Indeed, because these experts know a thing or two 😅

In the 50s they said that electricity generated by nuclear power would be so cheap, it would be uneconomically viable to charge for it - that worked out well...

It's a shame that Hydrogen isn't a viable option as there seems to be an abundance of water in the UK. It could even solve the issue of localised flooding 😄

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

Indeed, because these experts know a thing or two 😅

In the 50s they said that electricity generated by nuclear power would be so cheap, it would be uneconomically viable to charge for it - that worked out well...

When I joined the Electricity Industry over 50 years ago, there was a very good plan to progressively phase out coal, using gas/oil as an intermediate stage to move to a big investment in nuclear. Unfortunately politics seemed to get in the way!

1 hour ago, Wino said:

It's a shame that Hydrogen isn't a viable option as there seems to be an abundance of water in the UK. It could even solve the issue of localised flooding 😄

 

Lol, there's certainly plenty about today! Unfortunately to extract the H from the H2O I understand you need a lot of cheap, carbon free electricity, which is the problem Stephen mentions!😀 

Hydrogen production would help balance those times when wind is producing more electricity than the grid requires though. Using it to produce hydrogen is one way to store energy when you are producing a surplus.