Are we being forced to go electric?

[youngoldbloke]

Yes it's as simple as an electric socket.
If you want fast charging then you need more kit - but just about every car is sitting somewhere overnight.
These are going to be the bulk of chargers. People needing to fill up in 10 minutes are a tiny percentage and those chargers are far more expensive than a normal socket.

Already local councils are putting charging points in lamp posts.

And yes chargers are in petrol stations and car parks already. Just look around.

I'm sure we will have to pay for Road use. That'll replace the income from petrol tax. Makes sense - the more you drive the more you pay.

Won't we need chargers in every lamp post in every street? Cables draped across pavement where terraced houses have no gardens? Liability for pedestrian injuries? Councils installing, council tax increases? There are one or two chargers in some petrol stations and some car parks. Look around, consider when every vehicle you see parked needs charging. There is a long long way to go, and it is going to cost us all a lot. I'll probably not be around to enjoy the undoubted benefits. I hope it all works out.

 

[Scottish Scrutineer]

Don’t worry the electric “achievers“ will have their very own numberplates soon. The same green as Waitrose.

They already do
https://www.number1plates.com/plate-type/electric-car-number-plates/
Other suppliers are available...

 

[cougie uk]

Won't we need chargers in every lamp post in every street? Cables draped across pavement where terraced houses have no gardens? Liability for pedestrian injuries? Councils installing, council tax increases? There are one or two chargers in some petrol stations and some car parks. Look around, consider when every vehicle you see parked needs charging. There is a long long way to go, and it is going to cost us all a lot. I'll probably not be around to enjoy the undoubted benefits. I hope it all works out.

These cars must be going somewhere ? Work places can put chargers in. Shops already have. Cafes too.

I guess this will be a new business opportunity. Car charging at attractions or the shops or whatever. Petrol stations will go and these places will thrive.

 

[DRM]

You presumably live in a house with a driveway. Or the ability to park right outside?
I do too, but I have plenty of friends who don’t, they live upstairs in rented flats and can’t park a car close by. What’s the solution there? Do you need a special socket? or just a standard 3 pin job and a cable? I don’t know!
it‘s not yet a solution for the masses imo, a poster upthread said soon you’ll be able to charge in 10 minutes, from all chargers? This year, next year, 5, 10? What‘s the cost? Who’s paying for the infrastructure? Where are all these things going? Car parks? Petrol stations?
Unlike Norway, we don’t have billions spare in the bank from the sale of oil to fund, and a population 15x the size to service. Surely without (as much) fuel duty in the treasury, there’s going to be less money for infrastructure projects?

It only takes 10 minutes to fill up a car, don’t need to do while asleep. I just do it when I need to while out, after shopping, whatever

I’ve seen a system whereby you have a pad fixed to the floor, with another pad underneath the vehicle, the one on the floor is connected to a charger, all you do is park over the charger pad and the the vehicle is charged using induction, just like an Oral B electric tooth brush, or wireless mobile phone charging, it’s not beyond the wit of man to place a charger at the roadside on a post, park over the pad and charge the car wirelessly, any data communication between the charger and vehicle could be done using Bluetooth or Ant+ or even a newly developed system of a similar type, there’s no need to have cables trailing all over the floor

 

[vickster]

I’ve seen a system whereby you have a pad fixed to the floor, with another pad underneath the vehicle, the one on the floor is connected to a charger, all you do is park over the charger pad and the the vehicle is charged using induction, just like an Oral B electric tooth brush, or wireless mobile phone charging, it’s not beyond the wit of man to place a charger at the roadside on a post, park over the pad and charge the car wirelessly, any data communication between the charger and vehicle could be done using Bluetooth or Ant+ or even a newly developed system of a similar type, there’s no need to have cables trailing all over the floor

To use on a public street?

 

[DRM]

To use on a public street?

Yes, why not, the idea was being developed for fork trucks, but it could work for cars, and it would work as other schemes seem to, where you have a contract, or pay as you go model, the car would still have a charging socket, but would make things easier for those with no drive to run an EV

 

[gzoom]

I did some interesting man maths yesterday, my eBike is coming up to needing a 'big' service. At 3500 miles the bike needs new chain, brake pads, brake bleed, gone through one rear wheel = £120 at Halfords, not too bad.

The battery is showing 5% degredation and I guess it'll last 500 charge cycles if am lucky, so 10k miles. Electricity is so cheap on the eBike its negligible. So the rough cost of the eBike per 10k miles = £860, or 8.5p per mile.

Compare that to our EV. New tires every 25k miles at £120/per corner, new front brake pads every 50k miles at around £300, and fuel costs of 3p/mile (even at current electricity prices). So roughly running costs of £3000 for every 50,000, or 6p per mile.

Even if I include insurance on the EV at £500/year, doing 15k per year = and additional 3p per mile, totaling 9p per mile.

So quite unbelievably our 'luxury' EV, that comes with space for 6, air con, Netflix on a 17inch screen, leather seats, a roof, does 0-60 in under 5 seconds, costs at most the same to run per mile as my eBike, and if you take insurance away it's CHEAPER to run!!!

This is why used EV prices aren't going to crash anytime soon. Buying a car and owning/running a car has always been considered two separate costs, with latter the one people often get stung by as its an 'unseen' cost. But with EVs the later is almost negligible, to the point of making me now think twice about using my eBike for commuting as using the EV is CHEAPER, not to mention safer for me, and more comfortable

 

[CXRAndy]

View: https://youtu.be/S5lCvznzi8s


The comments pretty much cover it. Legacy car makers have a long way to go to catchup Tesla

 

[ClichéGuevara]

These cars must be going somewhere ? Work places can put chargers in. Shops already have. Cafes too.

I guess this will be a new business opportunity. Car charging at attractions or the shops or whatever. Petrol stations will go and these places will thrive.

That's assuming they can get sufficient power to the places it's needed. Talking to people tasked with doing that, and it's far from as clear cut as some press releases would have you believe.

 

[Gunk]

They already do
https://www.number1plates.com/plate-type/electric-car-number-plates/
Other suppliers are available...

The latest government wheeze is that they will be all green front and back, not just a small green strip

 

[Deleted User]

Now this might sound a little controversial but how about the people who don't want an electric car because they have little interest in new cars?

I prefer older, classic vehicles that I feel have more character and are more of a hobby than a simple 'mode of transport '.

What sort of time frame do people think I have before I won't be able to use my classic bikes and cars?

As it stands I have 3 bikes/scooter that are MOT/TAX exempt and my camper van will be in 2 yrs time so passing emission tests won't be an issue.

When is it we're going to be unable to buy a normal car from 2030? so in theory I could buy a 10 yr old one in 2040 and it would still have a few good yrs left in it, not going to panic just yet.

 

[Sharky]

so in theory I could buy a 10 yr old one in 2040

Not sure that I will be buying a new or any car in 2040!

But I have had similar thoughts. One of our cars is a 20 yo Zafira and will keep it running for as long as possible. Anyone buying a petrol of hybrid car in the next few years, could keep it going until 2040 easily and beyond. Will there still be petrol stations nearby?

Might still be looking for a new bike in 2040 - will only be 90 yo.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

using the EV is CHEAPER, not to mention safer for me, and more comfortable

The sleight of hand of ignoring the ginormous depreciation aside, driving is *not* "safer" than cycling.

Driving imposes huge health downsides both physical and mental which far outweigh the superior collision performance.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

At danger of being on topic, a comment on the thread title:

"Are we being forced to go electric?"​

Ultimately, yes; fossil fuels are a finite resource, so we will be forced to go electric or stop driving.

The only question is when, not if.

 

[Deleted User]

At danger of being on topic, a comment on the thread title:

"Are we being forced to go electric?"​

Ultimately, yes; fossil fuels are a finite resource, so we will be forced to go electric or stop driving.

The only question is when, not if.

So as I stated earlier, probably no one actually reading this thread will be but our kids might be?