Electric cars.

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A month in to EV ownership and I couldn’t be happier. The Kona is comfortable, refined, and just makes driving easy and very low stress.

More importantly, the wife is thrilled with it too.

We’ve got a long drive to do for Christmas, which will be interesting. I’m planning some places we can stop off the motorway as I’m expecting the chargers at services to all be in use, but I’m also expecting that issue to be rare and will improve in time.
I had a long journey recently with our Citroen C4x & like you planned the journey and where to charge, once we got underway & coming up to where the route planner planned our 1st stop we found we had far more charge than predicted so just carried on. On our sat nav it shows chargers on the route & if the chargers are available so just worked off those.
 
Ok - as usual I'm going to complicate things. Electric cars use less energy from all sources than carbon fuel cars, irrespective of source. Electricity consumption has been decreasing rather than increasing since 2005, capacity is increasing and renewable use is increasing. In Scotland about 98% overall electricity is renewable - though this is a bit misleading as it exports quite a bit of this and imports during higher demand. So lets get this absolutely clear, this is not a zero sum game, more electric cars will not cause power limitation from other sources. There is a need to replace and increase generating capacity from renewables and nuclear but that is primarily to move away from gas fired electrical power, which is a much bigger issue.
UK consumption is down drastically, mostly from getting rid of most industries.
So generation capacity must be down.
As we've gone from generating all our electricity, in the days of heavy industry; before Thatcher; and before the multiple subsea power cables. To now only generating, on average around 80% power needed in the UK ourselves. But can only manage that when it's windy, the percentage drops for weeks, when there's a persistant high pressure.

At this moment, interconnectors (imports) make up 15%, mostly from France (nuclear), and Norway (hydro). https://grid.iamkate.com/

Our last three backup coal fired stations, previously semi-mothballed, have now all been scrapped. So don't be surprised when the lights start going out, during a cold winter (when EU is short in supply) that coincides with high pressure around the UK.

In some countries, their network planning, is now required to factor in 'wind droughts'. In the UK, they just hope (we'll be able to import enough).

An interesting fact (fom the last years figures available), was that in under a year, £1 billion was paid to UK wind farms, to STOP generating. That cost, to 'balance' the grid, comes from our standing charge payments.

New planned wind farms, (approved + applications) would increase wind generation 10 fold. Guess what will be happening to our standing charge. There's little chance of being ever able to export the potential surplus, and apperantly no consideration.

Some calculations, suggest that UK gas fired power stations, when running on imported LNG. Are more carbon polluting than modern coal fired stations. If transportation emissions, which are much higher than locally sourced fuel, are included.

That's quite similar to how the UK, manages to have low emissions, from wood chip power generation/ heating.
In N.America, carbon emissions are only counted where the wood is burnt. While in the UK, emmisions are only counted where trees for burning, are felled. So a tree felled there, then burnt in UK, produces zero counted emmissions!
Unlike a tree, grown in UK, that doesn't need to be shipped a long distance.
 
Autocar borrow one of Tesla's own Model S's that has done 260,000 miles - has 84% battery, or 200 miles with the radio and aircon on :
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/features/tired-or-wired-uk-road-trip-260000-mile-tesla-model-s

EVs lasting much longer than expected - study finds that batteries are only losing 1.8% capacity per year on average, down from 2.3% 5 years ago:
https://www.wired.com/story/electric-cars-could-last-much-longer-than-most-think/
 
Elon Musk's electric car firm Tesla pushed the government to make petrol car drivers "pay more" in the days after Labour won the general election. (BBC News)

Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, has waded into British politics openly on social media, predicting "civil war" and criticising prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.
But behind the scenes his firm was trying to persuade the new government to extend a policy that would boost his firm's profits.
The company called for the mandate to boost electric car sales to be extended to lorries, and said electric vehicle (EV) subsidies could come from charging people buying petrol and diesel cars.
"The government should ask those still choosing to purchase a new polluting vehicle, to pay more," Tesla's European boss, Joe Ward, wrote in a letter addressed to roads minister, Lilian Greenwood, in July.
The letter, released under a Freedom of Information request made by the EV newsletter The Fast Charge, external, shows that Tesla "applauded the Labour Party's strong position [on] decarbonisation of the energy system by 2030, growth and net zero".
The praise came just weeks before Musk lashed out online at the UK government over the summer riots.
The BBC reported in September that Musk was not invited to the government's investment summit partly because of tensions over his political interventions.
Since then the billionaire has become the indispensable right-hand man to incoming US president, Donald Trump. The surging value of his stake in Tesla since the election there has underpinned an incredible rise in Musk's wealth.
 
But behind the scenes his firm was trying to persuade the new government to extend a policy that would boost his firm's profits.
The company called for the mandate to boost electric car sales to be extended to lorries, and said electric vehicle (EV) subsidies could come from charging people buying petrol and diesel cars.
Hello - all of big business lobbies government to change things in their favour, any electric car company would be doing just this, whereas someone like Ford who has screwed up their EV strategy is desperately trying to get government to slow down on electrification. That's just how things work - it's not all about Musk.

And it's no surprise Tesla are lobbying for a lorry mandate, given that the Tesla Semi that Musk originally promised for 2019 is finally going to enter full production in 15 months time.
 

Would an ICE tax work?

The suggestion by Tesla is that, if carmakers want to subsidise EV purchases with public money (which is rhetoric we’ve seen recently), then this should be offset with a tax on buyers of new ICE vehicles. On paper, it makes sense. However… in a newspaper, it does not. Labour would end up facing a huge opposition. “How can Labour tax people when they can’t make the switch? Another pledge broken ‘SIR’ Kier”, is what Tory leader Kemi Badenoch MP would probably cry in the Commons. And she’d have lots of support, as despite the great myth-busting campaigns of late, it’s still going to take many full moons before that mainstream tide of public opinion starts to change.

But… While a straight tax, as Tesla seems to propose in their letter, is probably a bit too bold, Minister. One safer option that could do the same, Minister, might be to reform fuel duty. It makes no sense for a climate-leading government to have this remain. All Reeves would need to do is launch an internal review on whether the saving gets passed on, conclude - as is the case - it doesn’t, and she can reverse her decision under the guise of defending drivers. Maybe oversimplified but I’ve not spoken to a single person who believes keeping the freeze was wise.
 

Doesn’t Tesla hate Labour?

Every other public post by Elon at the moment seems to be some angry quip about Kier Starmer. So, I do find it hilarious that his company sent a letter praising the Labour Party’s policies in July after their election. And then, just under a month after it was sent, Elon started taking his very different approach to UK government relations - which began with stirring up rioting after the tragic murders in Southport.

Musk first attacked Labour during Summer by saying…Civil war is inevitable” on X (which he also owns) and responded to the Prime Minister's posts on rioting directly asking, “Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?”. Ever since those events, the government has sought to distance itself from him. He was not invited to their recent Investment Summit, for example. Despite this, Musk has continued to chirpse in, such as saying things like the UK is going “full Stalin”, called us a “tyrannical police state”, and reshared a viral petition calling for a fresh election.

Tesla is a great carmaker. And I’m sure it will continue to be popular with consumers. However, it also has huge expertise in areas like energy management and autonomous vehicles. These are important and tough-to-deploy technologies, though could have huge benefits for the UK. Nevertheless… while their CEO continues to spout off about ‘two-tier Kier’ or indulging Farage politics, getting their ideas off the ground with this government I assume will be non-existent or through very, very clenched teeth.
 

Would an ICE tax work?

The suggestion by Tesla is that, if carmakers want to subsidise EV purchases with public money (which is rhetoric we’ve seen recently), then this should be offset with a tax on buyers of new ICE vehicles. On paper, it makes sense. However… in a newspaper, it does not. Labour would end up facing a huge opposition. “How can Labour tax people when they can’t make the switch? Another pledge broken ‘SIR’ Kier”, is what Tory leader Kemi Badenoch MP would probably cry in the Commons. And she’d have lots of support, as despite the great myth-busting campaigns of late, it’s still going to take many full moons before that mainstream tide of public opinion starts to change.

But… While a straight tax, as Tesla seems to propose in their letter, is probably a bit too bold, Minister. One safer option that could do the same, Minister, might be to reform fuel duty. It makes no sense for a climate-leading government to have this remain. All Reeves would need to do is launch an internal review on whether the saving gets passed on, conclude - as is the case - it doesn’t, and she can reverse her decision under the guise of defending drivers. Maybe oversimplified but I’ve not spoken to a single person who believes keeping the freeze was wise.

Doesn’t Tesla hate Labour?

Every other public post by Elon at the moment seems to be some angry quip about Kier Starmer. So, I do find it hilarious that his company sent a letter praising the Labour Party’s policies in July after their election. And then, just under a month after it was sent, Elon started taking his very different approach to UK government relations - which began with stirring up rioting after the tragic murders in Southport.

Musk first attacked Labour during Summer by saying…Civil war is inevitable” on X (which he also owns) and responded to the Prime Minister's posts on rioting directly asking, “Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?”. Ever since those events, the government has sought to distance itself from him. He was not invited to their recent Investment Summit, for example. Despite this, Musk has continued to chirpse in, such as saying things like the UK is going “full Stalin”, called us a “tyrannical police state”, and reshared a viral petition calling for a fresh election.

Tesla is a great carmaker. And I’m sure it will continue to be popular with consumers. However, it also has huge expertise in areas like energy management and autonomous vehicles. These are important and tough-to-deploy technologies, though could have huge benefits for the UK. Nevertheless… while their CEO continues to spout off about ‘two-tier Kier’ or indulging Farage politics, getting their ideas off the ground with this government I assume will be non-existent or through very, very clenched teeth.


Is this from the BBC article too? I don't see a source mentioned and it reads like an op-ed.
 
I am on board with what she say apart from the tires, they must be made different to ice tires to last 48,000 miles and still be legal

I was surprised to read BEV tyres wear down around 30% less quickly than regular tyres but when you read the full article you see why.


Do electric vehicle tyres wear down faster?

With all this in mind, it would make sense to assume that electric vehicle tyres must wear down a lot faster than regular tyres. After all, they have to withstand a huge amount of weight. But the exact opposite is true!

With all the added weight, tyres on EVs would certainly wear down much faster if the tyres fitted were normal tyres designed for combustion engine vehicles. But EV tyres are designed to cope with the extra weight and more. Because electric vehicles are still a reasonably high-ticket investment, the tyres (usually designed by premium manufacturers) are arguably over-designed to offer less wear, a quieter drive, and better grip. In fact, EV tyres wear down around 30% less quickly than regular tyre counterparts.

https://www.kwik-fit.com/blog/do-electric-and-hybrid-cars-need-different-tyres#
 
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