Ban on new petrol and diesel cars in UK from 2030 under PM's green plan

[VW911]

That explains your screen name.

It's no coincidence!!! Well spotted...

 

[Rodcx500z]

hydrogen boat - Bing video check this out its the way forward

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Who said Hydrogen is the solution just remember what happened to the Hindenburg. Went down like Led Zeppelin.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Electricity costs will go up / taxes on electricity will rise again & I'll get screwed over either way, as my house is heated using economy 7.

Oh & lamppost lighting circuits carry nowhere near enough current to charge an electric car, so someone will have to dig them all up & upgrade the wires, not just the lampposts.

Hydrogen or methanol fuel cells will be a much better route than bloody rechargable batteries

I 'm not an expert on street power infrastructure, but I do know that in urban areas three-phase high power cables run down each side of the street (that's what the houses are supplied from) so there may not be TOO much of a dig-up job to put a decent capacity cable to each (for overnight charging you really only need 13A).

I have no experience of hydrogen or methanol powered cars. However I have relied entirely on a fully electric car for over five years now, and I have to say the benefits of being able to charge at home as compared to going to a garage to fill up are very attractive to me.

To provide a little context, before I stopped work I used the electric car to commute every day from just outside the M25 into the West End; also for periodic visits to our other site in Bristol, and last Summer I drove 1000km to Copenhagen in it.

Personal choice, but just for myself I wouldn't have a petrol car again if you paid me.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Don't buy a new eV

Well.... not unless you like burning up Ferraris off the lights (just sayin')

 

[Rodcx500z]

Who said Hydrogen is the solution just remember what happened to the Hindenburg. Went down like Led Zeppelin.

Things have moved on a bit Cheshire

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Things have moved on a bit Cheshire

 

[terrym]

This is the future. Hydrogen powered cars and electric trams

 

[chopps]

In the future we won't own our cars. We will all be using companies like uber to get about. Driverless cars taking us from a to b. The government make try to nationalise it or just tax the **** out of it.

I agree. There’s work to do outside the cities and someone’s got to work out how to make that profitable or tax funded. Round here, you have to order a taxi at least a day before you want to travel, buses stop at 6.30 pm and Uber does not exist. I don’t live up a mountain somewhere, it’s a average Cheshire town.

 

[Rodcx500z]

I agree. There’s work to do outside the cities and someone’s got to work out how to make that profitable or tax funded. Round here, you have to order a taxi at least a day before you want to travel, buses stop at 6.30 pm and Uber does not exist. I don’t live up a mountain somewhere, it’s a average Cheshire town.

Is it Warrington i say that because my best mate lives there

 

[chopps]

Is it Warrington i say that because my best mate lives there

No, Sandbach. Warrington is a metropolis by comparison. Cable TV, Deliveroo and everything! :)

 

[trummy]

No matter what, be sure the Government will 'balance the books' one way or another. London manages to issue surcharges now so I do not think it would take much too clobber us all. I would be more than willing to buy into an 'eco' car but not yet convinced that battery power is the answer yet.

 

[Gingerbrews]

If the average commute is only 8 miles, walk or cycle

 

[Neil Whittaker]

My commute to work is spot on 8 miles (one way), and I use my e-bike. It has kept me super fit, paid for itself and i'm looking forward to charging it via solar. Done over 10,000KM or 6213 miles. Could I live without a car, no.

I hope the prices of greener vehicles comes down.

 

[Duxuk]

It's all about stimulating those "improvements in battery technology". Same improvements we've been looking for for nearly 200 years and the best we've come up with is lithium ion. Limited range and a lifespan of 50-70,000 miles. Who can then afford £6-12,000 to replace the batteries in an aging motor? In the time I've studied and owned 2 electric vehicles I've found that Li ion has increased in price, not decreased with no appreciable change in functionality.
Hydrogen and an ICE for me.

 

[JohnB]

I'm retired now and fairly PC savvy (I do online shopping! Wow! :tinhat:) but there are lots of folks around me not so fortunate and rely on their cars for work and the weekly shop. The nearest moderately decent shop is 4 miles and the doctor is 6 miles away, the nearest large supermarket is 14 miles and the largest proper shopping centre is 18 miles. These folks are going to be stuck with what could possibly be huge charges just for the everyday stuff if road charging is brought in. Oh, and there is a couple of streetlamps here - at the last check, 60 cars parked beneath them! Methinks, that like lots of Government ideas, they make the announcement first to look 'good' then examine the details when everything goes wrong.

 

[Tanglefoot]

An alternative for a few people I can think of...

 

[muppix]

I love the idea of electric cars, but I'm conflicted thanks to the many voices in my head.

My inner petrolhead keeps asking me why, if they're so much better than petrol cars, do we need to ban internal combustion engines and force people to go electric, instead of gradually letting them choose for themselves?

"Shut up already," responds my inner nerd, "you'll have insane acceleration, practically no servicing, and if you put up some solar panels and the odd wind turbine it'll be free to run."

At that point in the conversation my inner environmentalist pulls out a well-worn photo of some kids working in a cobalt mine and asks the nerd how this is going to scale up when every car on the road is electric, and we have to get our batteries from somewhere. He sounds vaguely Australian, and more than a little worried.

The inner petrolhead loves this argument and is about to say something about oil having less environmental impact due to a more mature supply chain, when my inner demographer chimes in and points out that it doesn't really matter what we do, because any net saving in carbon emissions over the next 25 years will be negated by the additional carbon emitted by people who haven't even been born yet.

Before anybody can say 'prove it' they all walk to the pub, and all is quiet in my head once more.

 

[Clint]

It's a load of arsebiscuits...the next lot in will change their minds..

 

[Chippy_Tea]

In the old days I would have agreed Clint but I think climate change is such a big issue now the people will not let them go backwards.