[conti_rowland]

Let me explain why EVs don't work for me.

I live in a terrace house and there are no charging points.

I can't guarantee I'll even find a space let alone that it will be close enough to my house to run a wire.

I drive at speed on the motorway to work every day 60 miles (95km) each way.
I can't charge at work.

At the weekend I need the freedom to go out for the day, with my young family, sometimes about 200 miles each way, at speed without stopping.

About once a month I need to drive to site for my work, 200 miles each way. When I do this I still need to drop my son at school and pick him up from school so I can't be hanging around!

As I understand it there are millions of people like me in London alone...

Andi

 

[Kevan]

Can you afford the 30 of your favorite currency per liter that it (currently) costs? It take over 7 KW to make 1 KW worth of synthetic fuel and if it is really "neutral" that has to be from renewables.... so... why not just pump it into something that can use the 7 KW directly?
Surely the big oil and chem companies are only thinking of what is best for us!

What about those of us who don't have 30k+ to buy an electric car and have to make do with what's affordable with an IC engine?

 

[Trisha]

Whereas there are people like me. After nearly 2million miles of motoring, I've been banned from driving for ever. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. No more 29mph Nissan Micras in the way, no more 32-year-olds who think they're onto something behaving badly, and no more wasting life and petrol in endless traffic jams.

And no more rip-off bills from garages.

 

[beardy56]

Laurence, all you need now is one of these with the middle row and one rear seat replaced with a slot track for when Mrs grumpy takes you out for a drive. 😂 😂 😂

 

[Trisha]

An excellent idea, Keith. Thank you. Most tempting. I fancy a trip into Wales for the weekend with a slot set in the car, and a set of ear mufflers. I can hear the first Force 10 now...

 

[Kevan]

There's going to be trouble at'mill...

...Effing1 scribblers now claiming the bigwigs at Mercedes-Benz gave Wolff and co. an ultimatum: be in a winning position by Race 4 (Azerbaijan), or risk playing second fiddle to Aston Martin.

 

[tangerinedream]

Think I'd heard that Aston would likely be getting the latest spec Merc engines pdq.

 

[driver#8]

Won't F1 just go electric?

Surely Fe is just preparation to get the technology up to grade?

At a certain point the tech will transfer across. Once it catches up.

Maybe, the concept of not having a physical audience will transfer across too? 🤔

Formula E’s promoter, Alejandro Agag/Liberty Media, has a 20-year exclusive on all-electric. So F1 couldn’t do it until 2034 even if it wanted to… and it doesn’t.

At present, people interested in EVs aren’t interested in motor racing and vice-versa. FE has miserable audience numbers. Also the catastrophic cost of building EVs is finally, belatedly being realised, so by 2034 the conversation will have moved on anyway.

I hope so Kevin I'm about to buy a petrol car!

My diesel is dead after 11 years and EVs just don't do what I need them to.

Thanks to the climate conversation being hijacked by London’s mayor and turned into a means to prop up his failing public transport services, I am having to lose my gorgeous 50mpg diesel Alfa this year. I can’t afford a small capacity turbo petrol car, so my fuel bills are going to go through the roof, my consumption is going to rocket and so are my emissions.

And yes, I live 10 miles beyond the M25 and never drive into central London. But now there’s a consultation underway in towns across the country on adopting ULEZ, including my town, which means that it’s a given.

Diesel will remain essential for trucks, trains and military vehicles and can be replaced with biofuel as quickly as you can cook a burger and fries. The FIA truck championship gets its fuel from a commercial deal with McDonald’s. But no, let’s ban diesels.

This when all transport on land, sea and air accounts for a total 17% of annual human carbon emissions. And Covid lockdowns changed things not one jot.

The trouble is that politicians are all hooked on the 15-minute city model now. We will live in our workspaces, check our pronouns and experience the world digitally with taxes and fines for travelling beyond our communities. It’s going to suck to be alive in 50 years.

 

[tangerinedream]

Bio fuels do have a future, it's going to be a case of what their cost is though, JCB, no fools in business and three miles down the road from our village, are well on the road, no pun intended, with their Hydrogen engine, easier to start than a diesel, the same torque curve and economy, don't weigh a ton and of course clean at the tailpipe.

On YT theres a brilliant video of his visit to Bamfords to see the new engine and talk to Anthony,by Harry's garage, this was posted a couple of weeks ago, it's very well worth watching, everyone and their dog, knows Khants expanded ULEZ is a rush tax grab, so every city or big town is going to be jumping on that revenue stream opportunity tax grab.

Yes we do need to cut pollution, it will technically arrive in time, but this headlong rush to electrics isn't ready for that to happen.

If you read the latest reports from car dealer online on the net, virtually all the dealers are fighting shy of pre owned electric cars at the moment, everything from Porsche to MG, they've just had a massive hit to their value, approx 10%, because Elon has cut the costs of his new product by about 15% , but Pendragon group are showing more faith, well if you believe the PR, they are about to open the first two BYD exclusive dealerships, think it's Birmingham and Milton Keynes, with three others to follow later this year, including one in Park Lane, the times they are a changing.

 

[Kevan]

During testing there was an absolutely fascinating 10 minutes as F1's Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds discusses sustainable fuels and their place in formula 1...probably the best subject matter SkyF1 have ever aired and gives hope for the not too distant future not just for F1 but for us too.

Pat Symonds gives a sustainable fuels lesson and their place in F1

F1's Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds discusses sustainable fuels and their place in formula 1.

www.skysports.com

 

[Trisha]

Franz Tost has told Tsunami to stop shouting over the radio, and concentrate on driving.

 

[vfr750]

Brother of man executed by Saudi Arabia says F1 legitimises ‘heinous crimes’

 

[longdog]

During testing there was an absolutely fascinating 10 minutes as F1's Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds discusses sustainable fuels and their place in formula 1...probably the best subject matter SkyF1 have ever aired and gives hope for the not too distant future not just for F1 but for us too.

Pat Symonds gives a sustainable fuels lesson and their place in F1

F1's Chief Technical Officer Pat Symonds discusses sustainable fuels and their place in formula 1.

www.skysports.com

That is a very interesting interview with Pat Symonds, MotoGP is also committed to using Biofuels as is Effing 1, then they really will be able to claim that technology from F1 filters down to the vehicle you use on the road!

By 2024, fuel in all MotoGP™ classes will be of minimum 40% non-fossil origin
By 2027, fuel in all MotoGP™ classes will be of 100% non-fossil origin

MotoGP™: racing towards the fuel of the future

2024 will see MotoGP™ move to sustainable fuels, launching a new global era of zero carbon fuels

www.motogp.com

 

[beardy56]

The 2026 engines will have to run on fully substantiable fuels as Pat Symonds says in the video.

 

[dvd3500]

The 2026 engines will have to run on fully substantiable fuels as Pat Symonds says in the video.

Technically synth fuels are the same as dino-juice based ones so that shouldn't be a problem...

Oh and most EV owners I know are car buffs/petrol heads and love cars and usually all forms of transport. The problem with motorsport is all the idocracy around it. Like I said, I live 8 KM from the Hockenheimring and go there regularly.

@Kevan "Not being able to charge at work" would theoretically mean you work somewhere that has absolutely no power whatsoever. Every standard plug can provide up to 3.7 KW which on a typical working day of 8 hours is nearly 30 KW. Most EVs can go 100 KM/60 Miles on 20-30 KW so there is your commute already. Why they would not let you use the outlet is of course another matter...
Regarding home: go to PlugShare - EV Charging Station Map - Find a place to charge and search for near your house. There is likely a store, theater, cinema where you can charge. Also use it to look to wherever you are going. There are charging points being added daily.
I am not saying it will work. I am just saying these are the ways it could. It would of course be a change and frankly from what I am hearing from other UK EV drivers the UK is about where Germany was one and half years ago. Now I have some form of charging ever few KM.

 

[dvd3500]

What about those of us who don't have 30k+ to buy an electric car and have to make do with what's affordable with an IC engine?

Yes. Very true. EVs are too expensive. The cheapest I know is a Dacia that starts around 22k€ and it is not for longer distances. But I remember DVD players costing 1500€/3000DM in 1998 and now you can buy them for a tenner.. the price will come down..

 

[stumbley]

What everyone forgets about EVs is that if EVERYONE drove one, they'd destroy the electric infrastructure, which is mostly inadequate for even REGULAR use today. For instance, in the US, California is already experiencing brown/blackouts on a pretty much regular basis, even without having to deal with a plethora of EVs. Californians were asked NOT TO CHARGE their vehicles during a recent spate of cold weather.

Unless and until the infrastructure (and generation capacity) is strengthened, EVs are destined to be only for the wealthy and connected (literally).

Oh, and there's the tricky little part about the toxicity of the batteries, the difficulty of disposing of them after their useful life, and the huge environmental cost of mining the minerals to produce them....but hey, they're GREEN!

 

[tangerinedream]

Not to mention extra wear to the road surface and extra particulates of rubber and brake dust due to the increase in weight.
All these are genuine concerns that get glossed over by those in power,like Sadiq, wonder why.

 

[beardy56]

In theory an EV would be perfect for me but the nearest place I can charge one is at my nearest supermarket but I normally walk there so that's some exercise gone. Also apart from holidays and the odd trip away I only drive about 20 miles a week so I wonder just how many years I can carry on using my petrol car before for I match the carbon footprint of a new EV, before it even hits the road, yet alone the cost.

 

[HiFi]

EV’s are the dinosaurs . . .

Lugging round all that dead weight . . .