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Post by martiny on Jan 27, 2020 15:22:01 GMT
re: Greta, I've seen mentioned a few times that she is funded by an organisation that is funded by George Soros - you know, that renowned philanthropist who didn't make $1billion betting against Sterling in the Black Wednesday financial crash... So you're saying she has the backing of a guy who has a track record of spotting when everyone else is making a massive mistake and putting his money where his mouth is?  |
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Post by zoona on Jan 27, 2020 15:43:11 GMT
Ultimately, we could easily get rid of three of those cars, and be perfectly fine. We could even ditch the 4th and still not have too much of a problem. The train company here run a couple of interesting schemes. One is like a car share thing from stations. So as part of your rail card you get train use, and the use of a vehicle at the other end. I think I'm right in saying that the difference in Switzerland (and much of the EU IIRC) is that you actually have a good public transport network - and it *is* a *public* transport network, run by the State, not a deregulated, privately-run-for-profit, quasi-public transport network, controlled by a few large companies with shareholders in mind. The former can run less-well-used routes by paying out of taxation, the latter will drop loss-making routes like a hot potato! Absolutely correct. It's Canoeing brilliant. Exactly my point about people living different lives. I am trying my best to avoid politics... But it is possible to re-nationalise things that have been competely Canoeed up by privatsation and successive governments who underfunded public services. Before you all start shouting... I know it's not that easy. But we have to work together, and pay for things together. |
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Post by martiny on Jan 27, 2020 15:53:29 GMT
… if we move to Hydrogen-based fuel, we need a load of (renewable) energy to split seawater to make it - but that ignores the fact that water vapour has a stronger greenhouse effect in the atmosphere than CO2 (if you believe CO2 is causing a change in the climate and not the sun). I don't think releasing water vapour into the air is a problem. Oceans already do rather a lot of that all the time and unlike CO 2 if the air becomes oversaturated with water vapour, it just rains. But as you say, the real challenge is making enough renewable electricity to split the water in the first place. On the upside, we're now at a tipping point where wind and solar are cheap enough that, for example, it's a better economic bet to build new solar farms in the US than to continue to invest in running old fossil fuel power stations. On the downside the scale of production required to make transport fuel is vast and it'll take a long time to ramp up to meet the kind of capacity we now meet by just digging stuff up and burning it. From the driver's point of view the tipping point we'll notice is when petrol stations start to close. It'll probably take quite a long time but when it starts it'll likely happen faster than you expect. Once the early adopters all have their electric cars the rest of the why-would-I-bothers will resist until hassled by stuff like congestion charges to drive into cities. I think that'll be the main driver of uptake. Sort of depends on how the used market develops. 20 years ago I worried the bottom would drop out of the used car market because nobody would want a £1000 car with a knackered £750 cat converter. Of course the solution was that cat converters got much cheaper and everyone carried on. But now here we are again: you can buy a 10 year old petrol car for a grand and it'll be absolutely fine for years more use, but who wants a 10 year old electric car with a knackered battery? Will batteries become as cheap as non-branded printer cartridges? |
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Post by Zed. on Jan 27, 2020 16:53:50 GMT
Alternatively, and as the ecomentalists so carefully avoid discussing, we need to depopulate the world - perhaps through enforced maximum family sizes, withdrawal of medical care for patients with ultimately terminal prognoses, or just letting pandemic illness go untreated. (Anyone for some Coronavirus?) the 70 - 100 year cycle is overdue..... natural selection? Logun's run maybe?  theres a lot of chineese students in the uni (BOTH uni's in Swansea...), everytime someone sneezes the place go's quiet  but I would not want to give up a fossil fuel vehicle, or live in a world where we cannot travel 'off-radar' if we want to, thanks to Electronic Vehicle Identification and GPS tracking, both of which the EU are mandating and enable pay-per-mile taxation and tracking, which could be enforced in a world with reduced fossil fuel taxation income.  Rich. |
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Post by dickie on Jan 27, 2020 16:57:14 GMT
Is Greta of legal age to  yet !!! I think that there will be a lot of advance in fuel cel technology before very long. As soon as the Ice caps melt we will have plenty of Water to make the cell's but just need to extract the H and the Two O's And you can give the dog a drink out of the exhaust pipe. |
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Post by atlex on Jan 27, 2020 16:59:54 GMT
world pop, well, it'll reach some limit and come back down at some point I just hope we don't completely denature the planet in the process. I'm a big fan of large nature reserves.
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Post by dadbif on Jan 27, 2020 17:59:16 GMT
Greta looks like she has just walked off the set of a demonic film....
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Post by wannabe on Jan 27, 2020 18:41:41 GMT
Alternatively, and as the ecomentalists so carefully avoid discussing, we need to depopulate the world - perhaps through enforced maximum family sizes, withdrawal of medical care for patients with ultimately terminal prognoses, or just letting pandemic illness go untreated. (Anyone for some Coronavirus?) the 70 - 100 year cycle is overdue..... natural selection? Logun's run maybe? I have thought previously that the invention of antibiotics and modern medicine has removed the 'reset' button and meant us humans have exploded in number:  Is it a good thing? Arguably not really! |
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Post by martiny on Jan 27, 2020 19:01:20 GMT
theres a lot of chineese students in the uni (BOTH uni's in Swansea...), everytime someone sneezes the place go's quiet On the upside, one curious thing about this new virus is there are hardly any reported cases at all in under-25s. Doesn't help China, but it might be a relief to every other country with thousands of Chinese students who just popped home for New Year. |
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Post by Rickster on Jan 27, 2020 20:06:42 GMT
Many great comments on here, yes the grid capacity isnt there for all to have EVs in the UK, Im not sure how that will pan out but to be honest 80% of people live in big towns and cities and most of them would have a problem parking a car where they could charge it. They will probably find that they cant drive their IC cars anywhere in urban areas anyway eventually so perhaps car ownership will start to decrease, poor sods, because i bet the public transport will still be crap and expensive in the UK!
I travel in Switzerland alot for work and it is great in terms of public transport, we could learn alot in terms of quality and connectivity, havent done alot of driving there but everyone warned me to watch my speed very carefully! Though in the town where i stay they do have a bit of a boy racer problem at night, I quite like it - th elocals get very cross!!!
As far as lithium goes, yes it is a finite and geopolitically sensitive resource (much like oil!) so alternatives (like sodium) are the answer.
I think that as EV ownership increases, so investment in development, infrastructure, new technology etc will increase, lets face it Ford, GM. Nissan, Toyota, Tailgate McNoIndicate, VAG, Merc and the rest arent going to let Tesla (and other new emerging manufacturers) have all the market.
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Post by atlex on Jan 27, 2020 20:55:28 GMT
I enjoyed this vid..
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Post by randomfactor on Jan 27, 2020 22:30:00 GMT
I’ve had plugin hybrids for the last 4 1/2 years (Golf GYE and 530e) and they’re a waste of time from an enviro stand point but make a great option for a company car driver. Terrible fuel consumption, rubbish electric range, very heavy, but very low BIK tax.
I’ll be going full electric when the Tailgate McNoIndicate goes back in September 21. Most new full electric cars now have a good range and prices are coming down as new entry level models are released (MG have a small SUV with approx 200 mile range for around £25k). I can’t see any issues for my 60 mile/day commute and business meetings which rarely take me over 200 miles/day.
Regarding charging, hopefully we will be able to make use of the unused/wasted capacity in the grid at night making energy consumption more efficient in terms of generated:consumed. Some electric cars (e.g. Jag I Pace) can now charge overnight and push electricity back into the house to meet demand during the day if not being used.
They certainly aren’t the whole answer but I believe they are a big part of it in the short term while other solutions are developed.
One answer to the folk who don’t have charging space at home might come from self driving tech. You could schedule for your car to arrive as required, drop you home again and then head off to a parking/charging station. It would reduce parking congestion and could be facilitated by making use of empty car parks at night. This also ties into the predictions around reduced car ownership and more pay as you go car usage.
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Post by wannabe on Jan 28, 2020 0:42:20 GMT
Jeez, and I thought tracing a fault in standard vehicle wiring would be complex enough... Not exactly a DIY job for the average Jo(e)! Not sure I'd like to crash in it... |
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Post by dadbif on Jan 28, 2020 8:10:52 GMT
We have induction charging for phones, how about induction loops or similar embedded in motorway surfaces that would charge car batteries as they drive over them. Not exactly powered coils under the road, more like a deconstructed generator...
Magnetic field under road and coils in car?
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Post by martiny on Jan 28, 2020 13:00:20 GMT
We have induction charging for phones, how about induction loops or similar embedded in motorway surfaces that would charge car batteries as they drive over them. Not exactly powered coils under the road, more like a deconstructed generator... Magnetic field under road and coils in car? Well, you might have noticed a phone induction charger barely works if the phone is in a thick rubber case; it needs very close coupling to make an efficient magnetic connection. So one basic problem in getting a kilowatt or so from the road to the car is the car's ground clearance. Roads emitting very powerful and loosely constrained magnetic fields like that would probably be lethal to anyone fitted with a pacemaker quite apart from the massive electrical interference to all sorts of other equipment. |
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yet !!!
le sigh