Would you have an electric car if you had the money for a new car and were in the market for one?

[gremlin]

My mate is a cabbie and has an LEVC. His gripe (among many. He's cabbie, don't forget) is the lack of range and then the availability of charging points on ranks. He tells me the ones around mainline stations are worse as some cabbies leave them parked there overnight and get the train home.

Similarly, my missus works with somebody who has a EV. He drives in Westfield at Stratford, parks up in the free bay and goes and does a day's work, meaning nobody else gets a look in.

Until the availability and speed of charging (and eliminating the selfish owners) is sorted, it's not a viable option, IMO.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Someone around the corner from me has two Nissan Leafs, both parked on the street with no at home charging. They manage to make it work somehow, perhaps I should ask 'em how. Perhaps they're these selfish people stealing the spaces. Who knows.

Other anecdotes are available

[gremlin]

Other anecdotes are available

Mine are best, if only for their flair and joie de vivre...

This looks like the solution, but the infrastructure cost would be staggering...


However, a scaled down version in car parks, etc. would be handy.

[lostboy]

Other anecdotes are available

Mine are best, if only for their flair and joie de vivre...

This looks like the solution, but the infrastructure cost would be staggering...


However, a scaled down version in car parks, etc. would be handy.

For a government that can't fill a pothole that's an interesting challenge. Especially when electricity isn't going to be the only alt fuel available and being pushed hard in a couple of years time.

[Horse]

Other anecdotes are available

Mine are best, if only for their flair and joie de vivre...

This looks like the solution, but the infrastructure cost would be staggering...

However, a scaled down version in car parks, etc. would be handy.

Already exists, particularly for buses which routinely stop at the same locations. Being used in the UK,
see earlier in the thread.

Various configurations of charging while driving have been proposed, with involvement of major manufacturers. These include buried charging, rails (like scalextric), in roadside barriers and overhead cables for HGVs.

There's a version used for trains (Japan?) where there are overhead cables just in stations. Train stops, connects, gets a short recharge, then off to the next station.

[MrLongbeard]

Inductive charging in car parks (bus stops) sounds more viable than in the roads, IIRC they have to be within 3" of the road surface, which raises a couple of problems;
1) wear, our roads ain't the best, sure we could switch to concrete but I hope not.
2) every other service (electricity, water, gas, drains, internet, phones) are going to be under them, could make servicing the existing services tricky

Already exists, particularly for buses which routinely stop at the same locations. Being used in the UK,

On what scale, I'm guessing tiny, 1 or 2 cities maybe at a push, most likely 1 or 2 companies tops.
I can't get a DAB signal, I can't get a 4G signal, if I'm lucky I can sometimes get 3G, FTTP for me is another 8 years away, my closest Tesla Supercharger is an hour away according to their maps

The need for charging infrastructure isn't a new thing, it's a massive elephant in the room, but until someone is willing to pony up the billions required to install it the uptake of EV's will lag behind where it really should be

[Count Steer]

I have been thinking about this as no. 2 car is up for replacement and decided no. There are no compelling reasons to buy one because:

It won't save us any ££s because they're pricing in the fuel savings and the subsidy and adding a premium on top.
It won't save the planet because of the carbon emissions built into the actual vehicle construction. (I kept my previous new vehicle for nearly 20 years and a replacement no.2 car will be expected to last until electric is the only option and prices are actually competitive).
The infrastructure is pants.
Didn't find any that we actually liked in the bracket we're looking.

The result is - do nothing (wait until next year and see if they do an electric MX5 or Audi Q2 or......)

[Mussels]

I can just imagine how we would create public in-road charging.
Spend an utter fortune installing it where it's not really needed, then when nobody uses it because it is over-priced shut down any other charging places nearby and put up signs saying if they don't use it they are doomed.
M6 toll and HS1 spring to mind.

[Horse]

2) every other service (electricity, water, gas, drains, internet, phones) are going to be under them, could make servicing the existing services tricky

I guess they'd look before digging

On what scale, I'm guessing tiny, 1 or 2 cities maybe at a push, most likely 1 or 2 companies tops.

There has to be a first implementation, trials etc. I have no idea how successful they have been.

... until someone is willing to pony up the billions required to install it the uptake of EV's will lag behind where it really should be

There are £millions already being poured into this.

[Cousin Jack]

... until someone is willing to pony up the billions required to install it the uptake of EV's will lag behind where it really should be

There are £millions already being poured into this.

So that's the first 0.1% done, only 99.9% to go, so nearly finished.

Oh yes, better finish it all by 2030 or thereabouts.

[MrLongbeard]

2) every other service (electricity, water, gas, drains, internet, phones) are going to be under them, could make servicing the existing services tricky

I guess they'd look before digging

On what scale, I'm guessing tiny, 1 or 2 cities maybe at a push, most likely 1 or 2 companies tops.

There has to be a first implementation, trials etc. I have no idea how successful they have been.

... until someone is willing to pony up the billions required to install it the uptake of EV's will lag behind where it really should be

There are £millions already being poured into this.

Looking is all well and good, until you need to get underneath it, then it becomes a problem, unless you envisage cut off / isolation points every mile or so along a road.

Trials have been going on in other countries for years, the data is known, but until everyone talks to everyone else and shares / plays nicely we'll further delay common acceptance / roll out.

£millions wouldn't cover tea budget for all the meetings that'd be needed to get everyone talking on the same page.

Tesla / Musk have shown it can be done albeit to a lesser extent , but until industry or government accept it's a massive infrastructure upgraded that's needed, probably the biggest then we drag our feet, add years n years and got know how much cost to the private individual and country

[Horse]

Chaps, I'm just telling you what I know, not justifying or defending it.

[Count Steer]

This was on LinkedIn this morning. First I'd heard of it.

https://www.morris-commercial.com/

I like that!

Expected price.....£60k.

But not that much.

[Cousin Jack]

I hope it is better than the originals. I had the misfortune to ride in them.

[wheelnut]

Just watching the guy Martin thingy now. Supercharger thing at Gretna - meant to take 18 mins to charge it up but took an hour and £40 - for 170 mile range!

[Cousin Jack]

Just watching the guy Martin thingy now. Supercharger thing at Gretna - meant to take 18 mins to charge it up but took an hour and £40 - for 170 mile range!

That ^ is why I won't be buying an electric car any time soon. About £75 and 5 mins gets me a 550 mile range, and I have a wide choice of venues to buy it.

[Horse]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... er-lorries

The government will fund the design of a scheme to install overhead electric cables to power electric lorries on a motorway near Scunthorpe, as part of a series of studies on how to decarbonise road freight.

The electric road system – or e-highway – study, backed with £2m of funding, will draw up plans to install overhead cables on a 20km (12.4 miles) stretch of the M180 near Scunthorpe, in Lincolnshire. If the designs are accepted and building work is funded the trucks could be on the road by 2024.

Road freight is one of the hardest parts of the economy to decarbonise, because no technology exists yet on a large scale that is capable of powering long-haul lorries with zero direct exhaust emissions.

New diesel and petrol lorries will be banned in Britain by 2040 as part of plans to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. That has given lorry companies little time to develop and commercialise technology that will be crucial to the functioning of the economy. While cars can rely on lithium ion batteries, the weight of a battery required to power a fully laden truck over long distances has prompted trucking companies to look for alternatives.

The e-highway study is one of several options that will be funded, along with a study of hydrogen fuel cell trucks and battery electric lorries, the Department for Transport said on Tuesday.



https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... nts-rocket

More than 50 years ago hydrogen fuel cells helped put Neil Armstrong on the moon, but mainstream usage of the technology has remained elusive since.

Now there are signs that may be changing, with a spate of new investments even amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In the UK, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, this week told MPs that the government will experiment with hydrogen fuel cells for an entire town’s bus network. Earlier this month, the Department for Transport gave £400,000 to the Hydroflex project, run by the University of Birmingham and rail-leasing company Porterbrook, to bring the first hydrogen train to UK main lines in the next few weeks.

Fuel cells function by running hydrogen over a catalyst, often platinum, stripping away electrons that run through an electrical circuit. The positively charged hydrogen ions combine with oxygen in the air to form water as its only emission, while the electricity generated can run the same motors as used in any electric vehicle, giving a fuel source with zero harmful exhaust emissions.

Crucially, the hydrogen must be produced from clean sources to be carbon neutral, or “green”. So-called blue hydrogen, created using methane gas rather than electrolysis of water, has attracted significant interest from fossil fuel producers, but it does not come with the same environmental benefits.

[gremlin]

Remember VHS vs. Betamax? Or Sky vs. BSB? Or the digital tapes that seems to have the tech life of a gadfly? I do.

Bigger stakes being played no in terms of all-electric, hybrid, self-charging hybrid vehicles and I'm neither brave enough nor wealthy enough to take a punt at the moment.

[gremlin]

to form water as its only emission...

Der...rising sea levels...

[Horse]

to form water as its only emission...

Der...rising sea levels...

Durr ... they use water to get the hydrogen