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🙈CURMUDGEONS' CORNER 11🙉

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  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Norway are good at snow management. Spiky tyres on vehicles. Chuffin huge snowploughs.  They have heated pavements even. I was pretty gobsmacked too.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Same in European alpine ski resorts - ready, prepared and equipped.   

    Isn't there a heated section in Snake Pass over the Pennines these days?

    It's places with infrequent falls of snow that aren't prepared and with cuts to local govt budgets they have even fewer resources for stock piling grit and maintaining the spreaders and sweepers and snow ploughs.  And then there's all those drivers who have no snow and ice training and think you can do it on ordinary tyres and high gears. 
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • KiliKili Posts: 1,104
    Not sure what range has to do with sitting in a queue of traffic in Belgium, but a long range Ev will do 650km if that helps.
    Batteries are less efficient when its very cold but they don't just die because its cold. these are lithuim batteries not your car lead acid type.

    I've never met anyone who drives 800kms without stopping, which is where in an EV you would plug into a fast charger and top up your battery to get you the distance you need to get to whilst having a break or a coffee/meal.

    I understand your misgivings about electric cars I had them and everyone has them until they realise that most journeys they make are just day to day get to work/shop driving and you don't need a car with a 800km range and even if you were there's plenty of charging stations around its just a case of getting used to doing things a different way when you own an EV.

    I dont own one but would love to, unfortunately the cost for me is to much now I'm retired. I doubt if I will ever own one and its likely I will be long gone before the world has changed to all EV's , but come 2030 (at least in the UK) you wont be able to buy an ICE( internal combustion engine) car anymore so it will have to be an EV unless a better alternative comes along.

    I'm no expert on this stuff just expressing an opinion on what I've come to realise after a bit of research , but given we have a resident expert (I don't mean you) on practically every subject posted here I'm sure they will be along shortly to put me right.

    Stay safe there in France keep those borders closed and keep the new variant of this blasted virus out :D

    'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.

    George Bernard Shaw'

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    edited December 2020
    A couple of years ago, the  gardens on the Bay in Singapore had a driverless ev running round.  I can see us using those. Dial it up, take me to the shops, bring me home again. We have just reduced down to one car. I had only filled the tank up once this year. It spent a lot of time providing a shelter for cats to sit under.  When it costs more in tax and insurance than petrol, it is time to go.
  • KiliKili Posts: 1,104
    pansyface said:
    Reading the article it appears its more about the state of the UK's charging network rather than the use of an electric car. I'm pretty sure this is not the norm for most EV owners.

    "While the couple seem to have been “incredibly unlucky”, according to the president of the AA, Edmund King, their case highlights some of the problems that need ironing out before electric car owners can rely on the UK’s charging infrastructure."

    'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.

    George Bernard Shaw'

  • KiliKili Posts: 1,104
    A couple of years ago, the  gardens on the Bay in Singapore had a driverless ev running round.  I can see us using those. Dial it up, take me to the shops, bring me home again. We have just reduced down to one car. I had only filled the tank up once this year. It spent a lot of time providing a shelter for cats to sit under.  When it costs more in tax and insurance than petrol, it is time to go.
    As much as I would love an electric car there's no way I would cede control of my vehicle to a piece of software on a motorway. My hands would be firmly on the wheel at all times  :)

    'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.

    George Bernard Shaw'

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    People in the UK and Belgium have been known to have sat in snow bound queues for 24 hours which is where a full tank would come in useful for having an occasional warm.  I do 800km to go and see or fetch Possum and manage with one 20 minute pitstop for loo and lunch.   

    Won't be going for an electric car for many years because of costs plus the slave labour of children used to mine the minerals for smarter batteries and phones.  

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Obelixx said  

    Won't be going for an electric car for many years because of costs plus the slave labour of children used to mine the minerals for smarter batteries and phones.  

    That is the very reason I will never buy one.  One iPad battery is enough. 
    The thought of me contributing to the deaths of those poor ill treated children just makes me feel sick. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    @Kili  I don't think @Obelixx drives 800km without stopping.  It's all about doing 800km without filling/topping up.  Here in Europe it is easy to do with a stop for a sandwich and toilet - personally, I do 2 stops.  The autoroutes are excellent roads.
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • KiliKili Posts: 1,104
    edited December 2020
    Obelixx said:
    People in the UK and Belgium have been known to have sat in snow bound queues for 24 hours which is where a full tank would come in useful for having an occasional warm.  I do 800km to go and see or fetch Possum and manage with one 20 minute pitstop for loo and lunch.   

    Won't be going for an electric car for many years because of costs plus the slave labour of children used to mine the minerals for smarter batteries and phones.  

    I agree with you on the cost. Just over priced at the moment.

    And like you I abhor the use of child labour in any manufacturing. Its not just batteries that contribute to the exploitation of children If you've bought clothes or even chocolate from many of the main suppliers we are all unwittingly contributing to child slave labour unfortunately >>>>>> Companies that use child labour   Child labour in the fashion supply industry
     
    Not all lithuim/cobalt comes from sources using slave labour, but no matter what the source the exploitation of the poor, vulnerable and children in the production of anything is completely unacceptable.

    Stay safe and have a happy xmas and new year.

    'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.

    George Bernard Shaw'

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