I don't think anybody in the discussion about electric vehicles has said they can't work. What many are saying is that the infrastructure in the UK isn't there for them and is unlikely to be there any time soon. Various Governments over the decades have promised to spend billions on the NHS and new hospitals, along with HS2. How far behind their projected dates for those are they? I don't believe there is the money or the will to prioritise charging infrastructures.
I also suspect that the levels of theft of cable will go through the roof once more cars are parked away from home for chargine.
4) Even on a street with plenty of off road parking, the power infrastructure will probably need upgrading , if everyone gets home in early evening and wants to plug their cars in at the same time, put their electric heating on and cook dinner, guess what !!!!
This was the point I made about the potential for smart chargers to actually supply the grid using car batteries at peak times then charging late at night when demand is low.
Would electricity taken from vehicles to support the grid be paid at the same cost as the original purchase? How would the 'system' know how much somebody had to pay to charge their vehicle in the first place. I'm not saying it's not a reasonable idea but would want answers to that question before they took power from my car.
My neighbour,an electrical engineer for the railway,is on his second electric car (he sold us his des astra estate, because he said he couldn't afford the fuel to and from work 20 miles each way. Then found out, this year...it was costing him £40 pet week just to charge his car (at home,) nissan leaf. First car, sitting in the drive,a Citroen, battery us.aparently, the battery life is rubbish. Yes, children mining the minerals,and far more Co2 in the manufacturing of electric cars.
I was furious with the NHS this morning. Last Monday I had a colonoscopy for suspected bowel cancer which, thank Heavens, turned out to be three polyps which were removed. Job done. See you in three years.
Then this morning I got a call from the central hospital booking team telling me I had to go in for the colonoscopy next Sunday. I laughed and said I had already been seen but the person in the booking team absolutely insisted this was a supplementary investigative procedure and that a colonoscopy preparation pack would be posted out.
The conclusion was obvious: the benign polyp(s) was not benign at all and it was cancer. For 40 minutes I was in a spin. Of course I was worried about myself but much more concerning is that my wife has once again been diagnosed with cancer - she’ll be discussing treatment options tomorrow and it is looking quite bleak - so how was I going to get her from appointment to appointment and care for her, DV, post intervention?
I was having none of it so contacted my GP surgery, no use, the ward where I was treated, no use (she said she was a nurse but I rather think it was a work experience girl), and then eventually got through to the endoscopy booking team after being on hold for ages. They investigated and, full of apologies, said it was a clerical error.
How many people would have just accepted what they were told? Would have put themselves on the pre-colonoscopy diet and taken that vile purgative? Would have arrived at the hospital on Sunday morning with a taxi fare of close to £200 if I could not cadge a lift? And would then have discovered it was all a mistake.
That's dreadful @BenCotto, utterly unacceptable. I'm sorry you've had to go through all that worry particularly at this time when you have worries about your wife. I'm so sorry to hear her news too.
I thought I'd seen part of that BBC prog before ....anyway... do you actually get the range from your battery that they say? Aren't the battery figures like combustion engine mileage figures - fiction? Do any manufacturer mileage figures bear any resemblance to real life? I'm not sure I'd be happy buying a >6 year old EV if the life expectancy of the battery was quoted at 8 years, given the current cost of replacing batteries in EVs. How will that work in the 2nd hand market - assuming that it is the poorer sector that buy older cars - and then potentially get lumbered with insane battery replacement costs?
I'm with you ... my issues are not to do with NOT moving rapidly away from fossil fuel. My concern (as I've stated before) is always the lack of foresight. Is large battery the way to go? If we could plan it would it not be better to go induction, lower battery size, lower weight and partially remove the need for having to have accessible charge point in parking zones? It just seems to me that 'stuff' is left until the last minute and the first solution to market then 'wins' - but it isn't necessarily the best solution and just stores up more problems for later.
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Would electricity taken from vehicles to support the grid be paid at the same cost as the original purchase? How would the 'system' know how much somebody had to pay to charge their vehicle in the first place. I'm not saying it's not a reasonable idea but would want answers to that question before they took power from my car.
The conclusion was obvious: the benign polyp(s) was not benign at all and it was cancer. For 40 minutes I was in a spin. Of course I was worried about myself but much more concerning is that my wife has once again been diagnosed with cancer - she’ll be discussing treatment options tomorrow and it is looking quite bleak - so how was I going to get her from appointment to appointment and care for her, DV, post intervention?
I was having none of it so contacted my GP surgery, no use, the ward where I was treated, no use (she said she was a nurse but I rather think it was a work experience girl), and then eventually got through to the endoscopy booking team after being on hold for ages. They investigated and, full of apologies, said it was a clerical error.
How many people would have just accepted what they were told? Would have put themselves on the pre-colonoscopy diet and taken that vile purgative? Would have arrived at the hospital on Sunday morning with a taxi fare of close to £200 if I could not cadge a lift? And would then have discovered it was all a mistake.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.