Is it the death knell for the combustion engine?

[Fisherman]

Hi guys. I work for a big car manufacturer. At this present time this country does not have the infrastructure to go all electric. Even then, when the government decides we still think we wont have it. As we have all said. Is china and Russia doing the same the answer is no , so why do we get punished and robbed paying high taxes etc.
The batteries on the cars have a,life span of 5 years, so where will they get dumped when there no good.
There will be cables running everywhere, lots of tripping hazards so at least we can put a claim in when we trip over the cables ha ha.
You can go on and on about this but the whole of the uk needs to stick together. After all we are a small island and with the uk going all electric wont make a difference.

And what about the 40,000 people who die each year due to pollution from our cars. Or is this just being made up by the medical profession. Yes we are are small island but with 64million people, and living in some of the most polluted cities on the planet.
If every country adopted the we are doing nothing policy because of what another is doing then nothing would get done.
As for the 5 year lifespan of car batteries, I don't know were you got that one from.
Most experts reckon it’s 10-20 years, with many giving 8 year warranties.
But technology will improve, and in years to come this will probably be even longer.

 

[runnach]

Re car manufacturers, globally they are going to resist ,in Europe as an example the vag group pretty much rule the roost in market share but that is based on today’s technology , with lower cost bases come electric places like chins,Korea may well be the successors as kings of market share. Then there are the oil companies new technology interfering with their cartels,,,its going to be interesting

 

[2cv]

And what about the 40,000 people who die each year due to pollution from our cars. Or is this just being made up by the medical profession. Yes we are are small island but with 64million people, and living in some of the most polluted cities on the planet.
If every country adopted the we are doing nothing policy because of what another is doing then nothing would get done.
As for the 5 year lifespan of car batteries, I don't know were you got that one from.
Most experts reckon it’s 10-20 years, with many giving 8 year warranties.
But technology will improve, and in years to come this will probably be even longer.

Actually we don’t even have a city in the top 500.

 

[Nightwalker]

And all this from a PM that has no technical knowledge and advisers that are more interested in spinning the nirvana - Let's Get it Done. UK produces less than 1% of the World carbon emissions....wow, we really are going to make a difference! And how many of the actual big CO2 producers are rushing to embrace Boris's ideal? Not even China thinks it realistic....and they're pretty much leading the electric technology future (for the masses) now.
Joker PM with no pragmatic understanding of the real world.
How about some 'energy' spent on getting our roads running smoothly so the CO2 emissions are reduced. The UK has 3rd World roads.

To help those who are shooting from the hip on this issue (a lot from what I've read so far) may I suggest a bit of research - here's a starter for 10....
www.ev-database.co.uk And to the uninitiated the key factor will be infrastructure.....and mileage ranges quoted do not equate to the actual (real-world) distances travelled because the maths do not account for the time spent standing still or in queues. And these decisions/announcements are being taken by people who mostly don't drive cars or have to run cars themselves....just a thought.

 

[Nabsim]

I just don’t understand the bias on ev’s, yes we need to change in most areas of modern life I don’t disagree at all. Just a government is only ever in power for a short time so setting unrealistic targets in the future isn’t really a problem for them.
I honestly can’t see how ev’s can work for total population but accept they have good markets and are a good solution for certain people.
We really do need the push to hydrogen or some other yet to be mentioned technology that is far more practical for most end users not to mention service station network already in place just needing conversion.

 

[Nightwalker]

They are only banning the selling of NEW petrol/diesel from 2035, just buy a diesel / petrol motorhome in 2034 and it will last 25+ years.
There will still be plenty of secondhand ones around for a few decades.

And it's only a sound-bite after all. The pragmatists will eventually get the message through and we'll have been through another 4 governments by then anyway.

 

[Fisherman]

Actually we don’t even have a city in the top 500.

Most of these cities are in China 2cv.
Pollution levels are above safe levels in every one of our cities, and as I stated medical experts reckon 40,000 people die prematurely every year from pollution.
And many others will suffer from this.

 

[Tonybvi]

To bring this thread back to a much lower esoteric level as it gets a bit deep sometimes I drive an EV for the following reasons. I have just completed a 600 odd mile round trip in the most appalling conditions in my EV. Total stopping time each 300 mile leg for charging was 40 minutes during which time we had coffee or lunch - no longer time than we would have stopped in our diesel Skoda. Because I am lucky enough to get free supercharging for the life of my ownership of the car the total journey fuel cost was £0, compared with about £100 for the same trip in the Skoda. The EV doesn’t need much servicing (something like 200 moving parts as opposed to something like 1000 plus on an ICE car I believe) - no oil to change, very little brake wear due to regeneration, etc! Plus I feel pretty righteous when driving it.
At the end of the day for me it’s a car I like driving and it is very cheap to run - this doesn’t outweigh the initial purchase cost but that pain is past now!!

 

[saxonborg]

I just don’t understand the bias on ev’s, yes we need to change in most areas of modern life I don’t disagree at all. Just a government is only ever in power for a short time so setting unrealistic targets in the future isn’t really a problem for them.
I honestly can’t see how ev’s can work for total population but accept they have good markets and are a good solution for certain people.
We really do need the push to hydrogen or some other yet to be mentioned technology that is far more practical for most end users not to mention service station network already in place just needing conversion.

I see lots of mention of hydrogen but where would it all come from with it’s production being environmentally friendly?

 

[Fisherman]

I just don’t understand the bias on ev’s, yes we need to change in most areas of modern life I don’t disagree at all. Just a government is only ever in power for a short time so setting unrealistic targets in the future isn’t really a problem for them.
I honestly can’t see how ev’s can work for total population but accept they have good markets and are a good solution for certain people.
We really do need the push to hydrogen or some other yet to be mentioned technology that is far more practical for most end users not to mention service station network already in place just needing conversion.

I don’t think the government expect us all to be driving EVs by 2035 or even 2050. But if say we managed to get to 50/50 and manage localised pollution in cities that would make a massive difference. Technology will improve and so will infrastructure. But it will take time.

 

[colinm]

I see lots of mention of hydrogen but where would it all come from with it’s production being environmentally friendly?

One of the big problems with renewables when getting to saturation levels is storing any excess, hydrogen production could be a way of doing this.

 

[Martin P]

Anybody here got an ev over 5 years old?
How are the batteries doing.?

 

[Fisherman]

I see lots of mention of hydrogen but where would it all come from with it’s production being environmentally friendly?

Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe.
Water is two thirds hydrogen and this can be extracted simply and cleanly using electrolysis.

 

[colinm]

Anybody here got an ev over 5 years old?
How are the batteries doing.?

On another forum this was discussed, and the two people who had older EV's had never had any issues. It's probably akin to someone saying all ICE's breakdown when they are over 5 y.o.

 

[Nightwalker]

My Tesla has a battery guaranteed for 8 years unlimited mileage. I’m sure Tesla wouldn’t have given this if they only last for 5 years!
In response to an earlier post I happen to be one of those who cares about Scotland as I live there and love the country.

I'd check the small print. Your battery will have a mileage limitation and also the warranty is only likely to guarantee a residual charge capacity. But well done on being able to afford one.....most people won't.

 

[Tonybvi]

Anybody here got an ev over 5 years old?
How are the batteries doing.?

Can’t answer that but the Tesla 8 year guarantee uses a measure of less than 70% of original battery capacity after 8 years to trigger the guarantee.

 

[colinm]

I'd check the small print. Your battery will have a mileage limitation and also the warranty is only likely to guarantee a residual charge capacity. But well done on being able to afford one.....most people won't.

Tesla's have a 8 year 100,000 mile warranty on the battery, this is better than the majority of ICE warrenties.
Meanwhile. https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-may-soon-have-a-battery-that-can-last-a-million-miles/

 

[Fisherman]

Let’s look ahead here.
Yes the current infrastructure is nowhere enough, but this will be built up over the next decade. Battery technology has improved greatly in the past decade and it will improve even more in future. Tesla reckon that soon they will have batteries that will see out the cars, lasting up to 40 years.
One of the largest problems is electricity supply.
This will necessitate building 2 or 3 nuclear power stations.

 

[Tonybvi]

I'd check the small print. Your battery will have a mileage limitation and also the warranty is only likely to guarantee a residual charge capacity. But well done on being able to afford one.....most people won't.

My battery does not have a mileage limitation on its guarantee. I bought the car just before Tesla introduced a 150,000 mile limitation after 8 years - even if I had this limit i drive nowhere near that distance in 8 years. The guarantee kicks in if the battery drops to lower than 70% of original capacity.
The Model X Tesla’s being delivered today have a rated range (meaningless I know!) of 351 miles against my range of 328 miles. However it is rumoured that I will get this increase via an OTA update as the increase results from improved efficiencies in how the software manages the battery and motors. Not bad for free if I get it.

 

[Asterix]

Let’s look ahead here.
Yes the current infrastructure is nowhere enough, but this will be built up over the next decade. Battery technology has improved greatly in the past decade and it will improve even more in future. Tesla reckon that soon they will have batteries that will see out the cars, lasting up to 40 years.
One of the largest problems is electricity supply.
This will necessitate building 2 or 3 nuclear power stations.

I don't see electricity supply as an issue,what we have now should be ample,it's a matter of levelling out supply and demand which is very unbalanced at the moment. EVs can and will help to level this out if they are integrated into the system ie charging when demand is low (and cheaper) and putting back into the system at peak demand times and getting paid more for it.