An interesting item about electric vehicles …

I was scrolling through the news items and saw what I thought was an interesting one about electric vehicles. Others may not have seen this and be interested to read it, link below:

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A few of problems that have not been considered.

Yes, and that is just a few as there are many, many problems associated with electric cars. The major ones are very limited mileage range, charging points and cost of the vehicles and batteries.

Recently there was a TV programme where the reporter was at a factory producing hybrid Bentleys, not average cars but all the same who would buy a car that only had a 30 mile range before it went over to petrol?

Also mentioned was the average cost of electric vehicles – £33,000, that I would think is way above what the average person can reasonably afford to pay for a car.

No, it will be decades and decades I reckon before the remaining 31 million of the 31.5 million cars presently on the roads are replaced with electric vehicles.

Either that or nobody will have their own car, we will be forced to use driverless, electric vehicles owned by big companies who will make vast profits out of us all. :frowning:

We limit our driving now for necessary use only, and will not consider an electric car because of these problems.

My driving is limited too, I also bought a diesel car five years’ ago. Ironically it was a VW and then not long after that diesels were ‘demonised’ so that was a waste of time and money really.

When I read other items about banning petrol and diesels it really does make me wonder how on earth the country is going to function. The link below to the RAC on this is just one of many, it makes worrying reading when the proposals are only around ten to fifteen years’ away:

We can’t wait to get an electric car. It would suit us because the furthest we usually drive now is down to the city which is 75 km from our place on the motorway or The Blue Mountains which is about 140 km. I know there are disadvantages but all in all I would be glad to kiss petrol goodbye for good.

Using for instance a VW e-Golf you could make the round trip to the city without recharging but the other one to the Blue Mountains would require a recharge to be on the safe side and get back home. The VW e-Golf does about 124 miles (200 kms) to a charge.

I guess it all depends on your use but until the range improves on electric cars probably hybrid vehicles would be better for higher mileage drivers. :slight_smile:

We intend not to buy another car, the roads are simply too crowded and dangerous, roads in a very bad state needing repair.

That’s not an option for many living in rural areas as I do. The bus service was cut back to almost none years’ ago. To do a week’s shopping and get that back home using the one bus a day in and one out would be quite a job.

Using taxis is OK and more convenient but the cost of those to the nearest town is rather expensive, probably £25 or more, round trip. :frowning:

Something that doesn’t get much of a mention is the capacity of our distribution network - the National Grid. That would need to be substantially upgraded if we went significantly down the EV route.

I did see somewhere that if everyone came home from work and plugged their electric cars in to recharge that would create big problems. I couldn’t find that item again but the one below highlights some of the problems:

Supercapacitors are the future of electric vehicles

They may be the future and the way ahead, but I will not be having one. I’ll stick to my petrol one. By the time Electric cars are the only choice left I won’t be driving at all, may not even be around.

So you’re saying that even if the current issues with EVs were overcome tomorrow you wouldn’t have one.

Why not?

Doesn’t remove the need for the infrastructure to deliver the same kWh.

I just don’t want one, no specific reason other than I simply don’t.

Sad that local authority does not provide transport for those without means of getting about or unable/ prefer not driving.

Any developments of HGVs ?
Or is the distribution network not considered?

There is one of those ‘Phone a Bus’ services but I know nothing about that so no idea if that is any good. I am entitled to a Bus Pass but haven’t applied for one as I still drive. :slight_smile:

There is also multi-car ownership. Will it mean properties having multiple charging points outside their property? What about those who live in properties where they have to park on the road outside their house (on street parking). You cannot have charging points sticking out the ground every few meters, it will be a safety hazard.

How is it going to work on service stations. As it is at the moment, you fill up the car with petrol or diesel, only takes a few seconds, then off you go and another driver takes your spot so they can fill up. But how is this going to work with electric cars because it takes hours for them to charge, even a ‘quick’ charge can take up to an hour, so does this mean service stations will fill up quickly due to people needing to charge their car up and others having to waiting patiently in a que for a charging point to become available.

Also, this thing about the national grid not coping and the powers that be saying car owners will have to stager the charging times so as not to put a strain on the network. Just how stupid do these bosses need to be because that is exactly what will happen, the general public will get home from work and there will be a sudden strain on the network from between the hours of 6pm-7pm when they all put their cars on to charge. Then BANG!!! all the power goes out because it blew something at the power station.

It’s all well and good pushing for electric cars but it is the charging infrastructure that is going to be the major problem and i just cannot see it working