And most of those consumer goods end up prematurely in landfill...

We have supported both Russian and Chinese military spending and expansionism.  The figures on the increase in imports to USA are incredible.

So we must move away from reliance on such sources, and perhaps also consider the way these cheap consumer goods might be manufactured.

It’s unacceptable because China has no issues with using child and slave labor in mining operations. 
their processing methods are not environmentally friendly. 
the CCP is engaged in a merchantilstic  war with western democracies.

Those are good enough reasons for not allowing them to have a place in the supply chain of the so called green    Future. Unless we have anyone here who is pro human slavery.

China's inexorable march to world domination continues with world's largest car exporter label...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65643064

No suprise there. Chinese car manufacturers that aren't already here are queuing up to start selling cars in Europe and UK. Chinese cars will be no different to the other huge imports of Chinese goods to UK. Flood the market cheap then other eu/UK  manufacturers won't be able to compete and go the wall 

3 hours ago, iantt said:

Flood the market cheap then other eu/UK  manufacturers won't be able to compete and go the wall 

Especially appropriate as one of the leading Chinese manufacturers is Great Wall.😃

Well, much as I'm not a fan, there will be a major battery production factory based in the UK providing 9000 jobs.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65698529

17 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

providing 9000 jobs.

Not quite a done deal yet until finalised, possibly next week, as I understand it. Depending on which report you read, that's between £35k and £50k per job in subsidy. I was going to add -  "wonder who will be footing the bill?" but I think we know the answer to that.

 Still, much better to have the jobs in the UK rather than elsewhere I guess and once embarked on the EV project this is the sort of thing that must happen, otherwise our Chinese friends will fill the vacuum, as already discussed.

 

If JLR wants even a tiny bit of the Chinese market, they will have to make battery electric vehicles. Probably will also have a Chinese partner for access to the rare earth elements that will be used.

Its unfortunately impossible to separate geopolitics from these things. 

I know, I know, I'm totally biased on the issue, but there is increasing media questioning, like many here, the legitimacy of government policy, which is why I started this thread in the first place...

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-12108457/Ban-petrol-diesel-cars-faces-axe-EV-fears.html

 

We e just had 4 fast chargers installed at work. Boss recons they will go through £2000 a day in electric. I've not done the maths on it to confirm yet. 

Installed on existing electric cabling from years ago , took 2 weeks from the concrete base put down to installation and now ready to charge. The brand new housing estate  street lighting may go dim adjacent to us though🤣🤣🤣

2 either 400amp or 2 700amp fuses installed. Can't remember what the boss said now. Still a large fuse anyway. 

Yes. When an EV is being charged on a rapid type charger, no one should kid themselves into thinking that the vehicle is just “sitting there “ sucking up the juice. A whole lot of on board monitoring of charge rate and communication with the processors that controls the battery cooling systems and power management system is going full tilt. The fast chargers create a very chemically reactive condition that generates a tremendous amount of heat in the process of getting the electricity into the storage cells. Just to simplify it for the sake of brevity.

15 hours ago, iantt said:

We e just had 4 fast chargers installed at work. Boss recons they will go through £2000 a day in electric. I've not done the maths on it to confirm yet. 

🤣🤣🤣

£2000 a day? 😲

How many vehicles do you have? 

6 hours ago, Turvey said:

£2000 a day? 😲

How many vehicles do you have? 

Around 10,000

3 minutes ago, iantt said:

Around 10,000

Obviously not many are full electric yet. The £2000 a day will be more like when theres more electrics going through . We have got 25+ of the slower chargers to use also. There in constant use though.

Just been reading a road test review of the Abarth version of the electric Fiat 500. Nice enough little car, though slower than the petrol version (and any other hot superminis that are still available), but not far short of £40k for what is really just a 3 door city car with a pretty limited range (164 miles claimed).

What seemed even sillier though was that they have gone to great lengths to devise a sound generator to make it sound like a petrol car. The tester found it very annoying and switched it off anyway!

 

3 hours ago, iantt said:

Around 10,000

😲

47 minutes ago, Turvey said:

😲

Each vehicle has got its own GPS location so we know where they are most of the time. The odd occasion I've been known to be tasked to find a lost vehicle by walking the lines clicking the remote fob🤣🤣🤣 

11 hours ago, iantt said:

 The odd occasion I've been known to be tasked to find a lost vehicle by walking the lines clicking the remote fob🤣🤣🤣 

I have to do that in multi storey carparks occasionally! 😃

36 minutes ago, Turvey said:

I have to do that in multi storey carparks occasionally! 😃

You really must stop doing that, the authorities have already spoken to you about it! 🤣

14 hours ago, iantt said:

Each vehicle has got its own GPS location so we know where they are most of the time. The odd occasion I've been known to be tasked to find a lost vehicle by walking the lines clicking the remote fob🤣🤣🤣 

All well and good until the fob battery fails.  

34 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

All well and good until the fob battery fails.  

Or more likely the vehicles battery is flat if been sat there 3 months or more. Luckily they are in transport mode so they properly go to sleep. 

Really interesting article by Rowan Atkinson on electric vehicles. He's not just a 'celebrity;, but has a degree in electrical engineering, and admittedly is a die hard petrolhead, owning many exotic and expensive cars.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/03/electric-vehicles-early-adopter-petrol-car-ev-environment-rowan-atkinson

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

Really interesting article by Rowan Atkinson on electric vehicles.

I've been saying that for years but no one listens to me!! (possibly a good thing most of the time 🤣).

The time to say "I told you so" is getting ever closer, but first we just need to wait for the Covid report to be concluded and published 🤣🤣🤣

Strange coincidence that you should post that link today as only last night I was watching Rowan on the subject of free speech.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiqDZlAZygU

 

You also gotta love Rowan for another fact. He holds the UK record for the highest monetary car insurance claim of £910,000 when he crashed his McLaren F1 in 2011 - legend!