First electric car experience

[roubaixtuesday]

Leaving aside propulsion systems, I have long thought it would be a lot greener if we all bought fewer brand new cars.

In other words, trading in something perfectly serviceable at two or three years old to buy a new vehicle, with all its attendant manufacturing costs to the environment.

I agree with this as a general principle but for the specific issue of vehicle greenhouse emissions it's not true, at least on average.

Replacing an existing ICE car with a brand new EV pays back on emissions in 4 years or so.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-how-electric-vehicles-help-to-tackle-climate-change

 

[Archie_tect]

What we all need [globally] is a target to generate electricity from PV and then link every country across the globe so that power is no longer a commodity to be bought and sold... there is the means and there certainly is enough insolation from the sun to do it hundreds of thousands of time over... it's currently wasted energy. The next step is to give everyone free electricity to power and heat their homes and their transportation whether it be public or private.

It's not a pipe dream- the technology and the free solar energy already exists... it just takes a few of the hundreds of billionaires and the richest nations across the world to release their funds to do it!

What we must NOT do is allow fossil fuels to be used to power the electricity generating industry... that save s the planet nothing in emissions and compounds the problem. Yes we'd have to use finite resources to produce the PV panels and batteries- but unlike fossil fuels, metal elements can be recycled indefinitely.

 

[gzoom]

The way I see it our biggest problem is China, being the largest producer of CO2 into the atmosphere.

So only those living in the west/1st world countries are allowed to consume and waste energy?

What makes us so special we can dictate to others how to behave or strive for interms of living standards?

 

[cougie uk]

Excellent effort by @Archie_tect to work out the various pences per mile a lot of us could expect.

Another upward pressure on EV costs, albeit a relatively minor one, is I think it's unrealistic to expect most owners to cover every mile at their cheapest at home tariff.

Inevitably, if I had an EV I would end up suffering some high cost motorway recharges purely out of convenience, not to say necessity.

Several posts on this thread indicate charging away from home - at any tariff - may not be as easy as EV proponents would have us believe.

Too many tales of full EV bays/broken chargers for my liking.

None of which is insurmountable, but once again it comes down to alternative cost.

Recharging uncertainty and possible aggro against refuelling certainty and no aggro.

I know which I'd choose at present, although that situation may change in the coming years.

I've had our EV for over a year now. Only charged away from home
Only paid to charge six times - all on holiday. Tesco has free charging.
Unless you're doing huge mileages charging stations aren't a big expense.

 

[Archie_tect]

I've had our EV for over a year now. Only charged away from home
Only paid to charge six times - all on holiday. Tesco has free charging.
Unless you're doing huge mileages charging stations aren't a big expense.

Tescos doesn't have free charging- the customers are paying for the electricity you've acquired for nothing and the Tesco customers are subsidising your travel at whatever £/kwhr Tescos buy their electricity.

 

[cougie uk]

Tescos doesn't have free charging- the customers are paying for the electricity used... if your car has a 35kw battery, the Tesco customers are subsidising your travel at whatever £/kwhr Tescos buy their electricity.

Whatever. It'd be silly to drive my petrol car there and pay for fuel when I can drive there and back and have more electric in the car than when I started.
That's free to me. 😊

 

[Archie_tect]

Of course you use it- you'd be daft not to.

Tescos will treat free electricity as a trade-off, like they do all knock-down offers, to get more EV customers into their shops- thereby generating a higher footfall and therefore more sales... it's just marketing paid for through turnover.

 

[MrGrumpy]

So only those living in the west/1st world countries are allowed to consume and waste energy?

What makes us so special we can dictate to others how to behave or strive for interms of living standards?

yes …… we are pissing in the wind if they don’t do f all about it !

 

[Archie_tect]

The 'rate of increase' in the world's average temperature and the accompanying climate issues have already past their tipping point some years ago. What we are trying to do now is slow that rate of increase down... everyone plays a part however small but if everyone does nothing then the effects will occur quicker... instead of our grandchildren having to deal with massive changes, our children will. [Thanks Dad!]

 

[MrGrumpy]

Transport emissions are a significant part of overall greenhouse emissions.

Following from US EPA

View attachment 610040

👍🏻 Be interesting to see what the breakdown is per country

 

[MrGrumpy]

The 'rate of increase' in the world's average temperature and the accompanying climate issues have already past their tipping point some years ago. What we are trying to do now is slow that rate of increase down... everyone plays a part however small but if everyone does nothing then the effects will occur quicker... instead of our grandchildren having to deal with, our children will. [Thanks Dad!]

Absolutely not sure if EV will fit into this . Not with the current energy demand we have just now. Gas and leccy wholesale price rising massively !

 

[gzoom]

yes …… we are pissing in the wind if they don’t do f all about it !

So screw every other human being on this planet as long as you are comfy??

That's the kind of attitude the world needs more of .

 

[MrGrumpy]

Whatever…..

 

[roubaixtuesday]

👍🏻 Be interesting to see what the breakdown is per country

https://lmgtfy.app/?q=carbon+emissions+by+country

 

[Archie_tect]

https://lmgtfy.app/?q=carbon+emissions+by+country

Even more enlightening is the figure per capita which tells a fairer story::

So, even though China's industrial might and output outstrips the rest of the world [which is why it uses the most energy] it is well below the west in terms of waste and harmful impacts.

Makes you think doesn't it? This is where each person's efforts to do something, however small they may appear to be, make a real difference, and having an EV or even better no car at all [when there is a viable public access alternative] will steer us in the right direction providing those in power take the necessary steps to stop using fossil fuels NOW!