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[STEMO]

On my travels this morning...10 miles into Wakefield, a pootle around and ten miles back, I saw precisely one EV, a BMW i3. I don't actually know anyone who owns an EV. There are no EVs around here (plenty of hybrids) that I know of. Bit of a way to go yet, I think. 

[STEMO]

Opti will be along later to tell me that I'm being too negative and that milk floats are the future.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Full tank of petrol takes about 5 minutes.

Quick charge of the 'leccy appliance' will take about forty minutes. A full charge much longer.

The word 'queue' comes to mind.

[Nick W]

If you are under the impression that the infrastructure to support the millions of cars in the UK can be built in 20 years, then you are deluded. Also, it takes five minutes to fill a car with fuel, possibly once a week. If you think that two/ three two hour charges at the supermarket/charging station is ok, then feel free to waste six hours a week of your life wandering around Tesco. 

It will also require a charger in every parking space, which will make the costs of running a petrol station look cheap. And those are already so high that the successful ones have had to find other ways of making a profit.


Almost all of my use is perfect for an EV, and I would like to have one because they are better as cars. Some small changes to my current procedures would accommodate most of the usage problems. Two things completely rule them out for me: I can't afford a new car, and when this terraced house was built in 1913 none of the occupants had personal transport. There is no off-street parking or any way of acquiring it which rules out charging one at home. Building chargers into lamp posts isn't a solution; this row of 15 houses has two posts split it into thirds.

[Varche]

Maybe the future is exchange charged batteries. It would require major redesignof the vehicles but nothing science cannot overcome. Or you could have exchange vehicles

As for lack of lamposts, how about dangling charging points installed in streets? Far cheaper than installing infrastructure in individual houses. They would need to be smart but everything is nowadays. Every problem has a solution.

[Nick W]

Every problem has a solution.

I'm not sure that's actually true.


It's not unusual to find the solution is just another, different problem.

[STEMO]

Maybe the future is exchange charged batteries. It would require major redesignof the vehicles but nothing science cannot overcome. Or you could have exchange vehicles

As for lack of lamposts, how about dangling charging points installed in streets? Far cheaper than installing infrastructure in individual houses. They would need to be smart but everything is nowadays. Every problem has a solution.

I take it you've never lived in a terraced house in a city, Varche? 
If you think you could plug your car in and go to bed, then  come out in the morning and drive off, you'd have another think coming. The youngsters around here would gleefully unplug every vehicle during the night. And vandalise the charging points. And try their best to run their houses from them. 

[Varche]

Yes I did for a few years . On street parking was a problem even then.

Lockable plugs, anti vandal proof , cctv cameras, huge out of town car parks withcharging points andfree bus service to and from. See every problem has asolution. The issue is , is their an appetite for the solution.

We have abundant sun here and we seriously looked into having an ev and a “ car shelter” with solar panels atop. Itwould more or less have worked. Two issues.. First was price. We got a very well equipped car for the money a basic car would have cost plus we planned at least two UK ( including Scotland) trips each year and other gadding about mainland Europe. Then came CV19......

[STEMO]

Oh my word, we going from the sublime to the ridiculous now. Every problem has a solution, so you say, well every solution has a cost, and the cost of what you're proposing would be astronomical. It would make HS2 look like a model railway.

Also, where are trucks and buses going to recharge? Oh, wait, they're just going to carry on polluting. 


I'm willing to be proved wrong, but I very much doubt I will.

[Nick W]

Yes I did for a few years . On street parking was a problem even then.

Lockable plugs, anti vandal proof , cctv cameras, huge out of town car parks withcharging points and free bus service to and from. See every problem has a solution. The issue is , is their an appetite for the solution.

So you're saying that free public transport to a private vehicle that can't be parked where it needs to be used is a solution?


A major justification for private vehicles is the convenience of it being instantly available - whether that's nipping to Tesco for some icecream, or having to get to the other side of the country because granny has had a stroke and isn't expected to see the dawn.


The real issue is that many 'solutions' are terrible ideas to solve invented or otherwise non-existent problems. What is really needed in such situations is someone with the clear sight and authority to knock a few heads together and insist that those involved stop being so oppsing stupid.

[STEMO]

Yes I did for a few years . On street parking was a problem even then.

Lockable plugs, anti vandal proof , cctv cameras, huge out of town car parks withcharging points and free bus service to and from. See every problem has a solution. The issue is , is their an appetite for the solution.

So you're saying that free public transport to a private vehicle that can't be parked where it needs to be used is a solution?


A major justification for private vehicles is the convenience of it being instantly available - whether that's nipping to Tesco for some icecream, or having to get to the other side of the country because granny has had a stroke and isn't expected to see the dawn.


The real issue is that many 'solutions' are terrible ideas to solve invented or otherwise non-existent problems. What is really needed in such situations is someone with the clear sight and authority to knock a few heads together and insist that those involved stop being so oppsing stupid.

A free electric bus, I hope. 

[STEMO]

Will these huge, out of town car parks have something to entertain people for the hours they spend there? Shops maybe? A cinema? Cafes? Wait! Don't these places already exist? 

[Varche]

Ludites all of you.  If you had been alive in an earlier period you would have declined gas , electric and sewage or later the mobile phone or later still the smart phone.

There is an infinite amount of money available witness Covid

[STEMO]

Ludites all of you.  If you had been alive in an earlier period you would have declined gas , electric and sewage or later the mobile phone or later still the smart phone.

There is an infinite amount of money available witness Covid

The is definitely a limited amount of money due to covid. You can just put a solar panel on your car so no problem there.

[Doctor Gollum]

Ludites all of you.  If you had been alive in an earlier period you would have declined gas , electric and sewage or later the mobile phone or later still the smart phone.

There is an infinite amount of imaginary money available witness Covid

Fixed.