Energy chat, the future of car propulsion

[StephenFord]

10 hours ago, Mark-UK said:

Of course you have to trust google with your bank details I guess

And therein lies the nub of it all... No, I don't trust the 'cloud' at all. It's like trusting another bloke with your data, and I have no faith at all in doing that. If I lose something, well, that's my fault, but personally, I'm not willing to give someone else my data. I know I'm in an increasing minority as all the time in shops I now see folk thrust their phone over to the till terminal. (In addition, my plastic card has never run out of battery)  It's just not for me...

[TomsFocus]

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

(In addition, my plastic card has never run out of battery)

Never broken the chip?  I used to break debit cards all the time!  Had to carry two in my wallet as it was such a regular occurrence to find one broken when I got to the till.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, I want as much backup & failsafe as I can get nowadays.  If you've ever paid for anything online, your bank details are already stored on someone else's computer.

[StephenFord]

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Never broken the chip?  I used to break debit cards all the time!  Had to carry two in my wallet as it was such a regular occurrence to find one broken when I got to the till.

Tom, what on earth did you do with your cards? LOL I have had credit cards since 1979, getting my first ever, 'flexible friend' when MC (formerly Access) launched in the UK. I have never ever left the house without my cards, and have never 'broken' one. I do notice that some people carry their wallet in their back pocket which by nature means they sit on them, whereas I always use my front pocket, don't know if that makes a difference?

[TomsFocus]

Just now, StephenFord said:

Tom, what on earth did you do with your cards? LOL I have had credit cards since 1979, getting my first ever, 'flexible friend' when MC launched in the UK. I have never ever left the house without my cards, and have never 'broken' one. I do notice that some people carry their wallet in their back pocket which by nature means they sit on them, whereas I always use my front pocket, don't know if that makes a difference?

Turns out they aren't that flexible!  

Yes, that's the difference.  I have keys and phone in front pockets (certainly don't want to sit on either of those!) so my wallet goes in the back.  Along with a wad of tissue in case of a sudden nosebleed...  And in the olden days when I still used it, about £2 in loose change as well.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

No, I've never had a problem damaging a card either. I often wear "action" trousers for walking and general casual wear anyway, so have a plethora of pockets to choose from.

Vaguely back on the energy topic - Ian and Mark made very good points earlier on "universal" RFIDs and the general trend nowadays towards apps etc, and I certainly have no objection to these payment methods provided the contactless option is available for those who are not comfortable with that technology (or, like me, just can't be ars*d with it!.)

Coincidentally I was out for a walk yesterday with an old mate, and our route took us past a country pub we used to frequent in our youth (so a long time ago!) - amazingly, it was still open.

And (back on topic) - lo and behold - in the car park were 2 rapid chargers with tethered cables for all types of connector and payment by app, RFID card and contactless credit/debit card. So it's not that hard to do. 

I'm not really sure about younger people and EVs or cars in general. We don't have our own, but from our friends grandkids (and their friends) I get the vibe that many are just not interested in cars anyway (motorbikes, then cars, was a "rite of passage" in my teens) and more significantly can't afford it, which will be even more relevant with the higher prices of many EVs and ever increasing insurance costs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark-UK]

If and it's a very big if, they can keep the public transport costs down and keep things like the £2 bus fare, I also think many will just not bother with a car, Like Roger, the motorbike, then car, was a "rite of passage" for many in my teens (I never wanted a yammy fsie or any other bike) but I too see less youths interested and cost must be a major factor. I can't remember the last time I saw "kids" on a scooter or moped, plus like it or not I suspect some just don't see the need to travel as much, they don't need travel to meet up with ex-college/uni mates because the can just do it online, if remote working expands that will be another reason not to bother.

Don't get me wrong I think all the online only contact is a bad thing, but we do seem to be going that way.

[Jimpster]

17 hours ago, Turvey said:

I've had/used Google Wallet for a few years, as @iantt does mainly for airline tickets and more recently gig tickets ☹️ and it works well. However, I've just bought a new phone with NFC for the first time. Credit card is now setup in the app for it and the phone is all set up as well. Question is, is that all I have to do? 

When it comes to paying for something, what do you do? Just tap it or do you have to open anything up first 🤷

Kinda going off the energy chat though 😀

Long as Google wallet recognised your card and your bank recognises google wallet, that was the thing that took 2 hours, bank verifying and applying a code so it all worked flawlessly. Been to have my feet done this AM and paid with my phone, worked extreemly well was impressed. Your phone should automatically default tin a security feature face recognition or pin, go to google wallet and tap the phone on any reading device.

 

[TomsFocus]

Driving is boring these days.  Too many cars on the road to have an enjoyable experience in a car.

Keeping up with the Jones's also isn't as important to most people under 40ish as it is to people of my grandparents generation.  So there's no competition in buying a better car than the neighbour.

It's more about experiences than possessions nowadays - travelling to different places, experiencing different cultures, trying different foods, hearing different music.  Generally enjoying the human experience with friends and family.

[iantt]

1 hour ago, Mark-UK said:

If and it's a very big if, they can keep the public transport costs down and keep things like the £2 bus fare, I also think many will just not bother with a car.

That all depends on where you live and how rural you are. Got no chance of a bus or train, tram, substitung a car round where I live. 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

1 minute ago, iantt said:

That all depends on where you live and how rural you are.

Absolutely. I'm pretty well catered for at home, but as I've mentioned before the area where we have our caravan is virtually a public transport desert. These are also of course areas where EV charging for the locals is rather lacking at present, so it's not an easy one to solve.

[TomsFocus]

Tbf you did choose to live in a rural location.  People who don't drive are unlikely to do that.

I grew up out in the stix so had to learn to drive as soon as I was old enough.  I now live in suburbia where I could get to a supermarket and a pharmacy and a hospital on a bus. 

Of course, the irony is the same issues that now prevent me driving also prevent me using buses.  So that plan wasn't future proof after all.

 

[Jimpster]

after my feet i went over to Preston near the football stadium, to a company called Bond and Bywater, gunsmiths, needed my HW99s looking at, left it with them. I do still enjoy driving but more towns and B roads than motorways as full of clowns but theyre a neccessity if doing longer distances

[StephenFord]

What do people think of the general introduction of a 20mph speed limit in urban areas? (Wales on the verge of doing it under the mad control of Kim Jong Drakeford!) We already have that limit outside critical places like schools and hospitals, but a generic 20mph limit? I fear that folk will be staring at their speedo so intensely, they'll be distracted from looking at what's outside their windscreen!

[iantt]

I've been in Spain and hired a car, and noticed there city/urban areas are primarily 30kph( 18 mph) I just altered my speed to that and most were abiding by that. Didn't feel the need to keep looking at the Speedo intensely. I wasn't distracted even though I was driving on the right . Suppose it did help driving an auto which makes a difference. 20mph could be an awkward speed to maintain depending on the gearing on manual transmission. 

[iantt]

 

Just had a Google and this is Spain's take on 30kph .

Álvaro Gómez is Head of the National Road Safety Observatory in Spain and played a key part when the country changed the speed limit on the majority of its roads to 30km/h in 2019.

 

Since then, Spain has reported 20% fewer urban road deaths, with fatalities reduced by 34 per cent for cyclists and 24 per cent for pedestrians.

Mr Gómez said:

 

The main target for us was to reduce the number of serious and fatal incidents in Spanish cities.

 

Eight out of ten fatalities in cities are vulnerable road users and this includes pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and e-scooter users.

 

Speed is key to reducing risk. We have an older population in Spain and we were concerned about the number of pedestrians who were killed or seriously injured in road accidents.

 

We didn’t have any serious incidents with local authorities over implementation. It all went well. Spanish drivers and road users and cyclists and pedestrians are very comfortable with the new limit.

our experience and the experience of other cities across the world is that once it is done things become normal quickly.

 

There are no big delays, there is no congestion there is no increase of pollution.

 

Everything becomes normal, and everything gets better.

[StephenFord]

19 minutes ago, iantt said:

 

Álvaro Gómez is Head of the National Road Safety Observatory in Spain and played a key part when the country changed the speed limit on the majority of its roads to 30km/h in 2019.

Since then, Spain has reported 20% fewer urban road deaths, with fatalities reduced by 34 per cent for cyclists and 24 per cent for pedestrians.

This is exactly what Drakeford has cited on introducing the new law on the 17th, next week...

[iantt]

I keep forgetting we have a small town down the road I used to travel through to get to work and back every workday from 2003-2016. Just did 20mph without thinking really. The limit to 20mph was introduced around 2008. 

[unofix]

Since the whole of those who govern the UK seem hell bent on woke extremism, I was just wondering if they could 'repeal' the repeal of a law that was abolished 14th November 1865 and bring back the Red Flag Act ?

Why stop at reducing the general speed limit to 20MPH why not go the full hog and take us all back to the 19th Century and impose a blanket 14MPH

Red flag law in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the law required self-propelled vehicles to be led by a pedestrian waving a red flag or carrying a lantern to warn bystanders of the vehicle's approach.

In particular the Locomotives Act 1865, also known as Red Flag Act, stated:

Firstly, at least three persons shall be employed to drive or conduct such locomotive, and if more than two waggons or carriages he attached thereto, an additional person shall be employed, who shall take charge of such waggons or carriages;
Secondly, one of such persons, while any locomotive is in motion, shall precede such locomotive on foot by not less than sixty yards, and shall carry a red flag constantly displayed, and shall warn the riders and drivers of horses of the approach of such locomotives, and shall signal the driver thereof when it shall be necessary to stop, and shall assist horses, and carriages drawn by horses, passing the same.

The Red Flag Act was repealed in 1896, by which time the internal combustion engine 🤣 was well into its infancy.^[1]

[StephenFord]

3 minutes ago, unofix said:

The Red Flag Act was repealed in 1896, by which time the internal combustion engine 🤣 was well into its infancy.^[1]

mmm... there could be a great 'green' industry built on manufacturing 'red' flags, and employing folk to walk with them 🤣

[unofix]

32 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

and employing folk to walk with them

Trouble is that people like me might just keep forgetting they were there and accidentally run them over 😉

[Mark-UK]

Here in Lancashire we've had 20mph in urban streets for quite a few years now, and I've no real problem with that at all, many streets are so full of parked cars is near impossible to go over 20 anyway.

What I don't like is the 10mph reduction elsewhere, 60mph becoming 50, 50 down to 40., and the absolute stupid idea of reducing the 2 lane dual carriageway ring road in Bolton to a single lane 30mph. I'm 100% sure it was done to cause congestion when they were trying to get a congestion charge (which was voted out by every borough)

[StephenFord]

mmm... some interesting murmuring coming out of No.10 right now. They are seriously looking at pushing back the 2030 deadline to 2035 of banning new petrol/diesel car sales. In addition to pushing back, and diluting the ban on domestic home gas and oil boilers.

Yep, all great news as 'net zero' seems to be on the verge of unraveling, as common sense seems to be rising.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66857551

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Snag is, even if they push back the ICE ban, many manufacturers are already committed to closing plants/converting to EV production or have done already, so there may not be ICE cars available to buy. Those that are could be even more expensive due to costs of compliance with EU 7.

Plus Rishi and Co are likely to be toast shortly so we'll have to see what Max Headroom and his lot do, if they can actually come up with a policy and stick to it for more than 5 minutes.

[iantt]

Possibly 2 elections before 2030 ban. What's labours net zero policy on all this? I'm not politically savvy/ interested as such as there all as self serving as each other. 

 

[StephenFord]

2 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

 so we'll have to see what Max Headroom and his lot do, if they can actually come up with a policy and stick to it for more than 5 minutes.

I've no idea what you mean LOL

https://shop.conservatives.com/keir-starmer-flipflops.html