A sleek, shiny car breezes along an open road, zipping easily through narrow city streets. Its paintwork is pristine, its electric engine is clean and silent. When it arrives there is parking right outside the front door.
So much for the advert. In reality, traffic in the UK is often slow and the roads can be clogged. A 60-mile (96km) journey on 60mph roads is reckoned to take 85 minutes - an average speed of 42mph (67km/h).
Drivers already own 32,000,000 cars - that’s up 28% since 2001, during which time the population has only risen by 13%. And by 2050 there will be 44,000,000 cars in the UK - so start looking for that parking space now.
Last year, the government announced a £2.8bn package to encourage drivers to switch to greener vehicles. This included a £1.3bn investment in charging infrastructure as well as discounts of up to £2,500 on low emission vehicles costing under £30,000.
Yet the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) warns that, rather than improving air quality by lowering exhaust emissions, these incentives risk making highways far busier and even slower - as people buy so-called “zero-emission, guilt-free” vehicles.
In June, the RAC Foundation published a report that revealed cars are empty and parked 23 hours out of every 24. They’re only used for an hour a day. And there aren’t enough car parking spaces to go round.
Unless all 18,000,000 car-owning households have access to charging there is likely to be a rise in what she calls “parking politics”.
“People who have electric vehicles (EVs) are going to feel entitled to certain car-parking spaces, and those without EVs are going to get further squeezed in terms of space,” says Leeds University’s Prof Jillian Anable .
At the current rate, managing these neighbourhood battles over territory will require more space to be surrendered from either the road or the pavement.
More and more care are being parked on the pavement now. Its terrible for pedestrians. I can’t really comment on anything else as I don’t drive or own a car, but I do wonder if “going guilt free” only relates to the type of car, and not the amount of cars per household!
Omah…if cars obstruct the pavement here, we can report it to 101.
I parked on the pavement once, not realising I had obstructed it, I was in a rush at the time, visiting as a home career, someone reported me to the police, I had a phone call from them ( police) on my mobile……
Parking on the pavement is not illegal, except in London, but it can be considered by the police as obstructive or anti-social. Some local authorities have additional rules. Moves are afoot to change the law, though.
It is if it causes an obstruction in this part of Hampshire, many don’t report it though. as I explained I was reported for obstructing a pavement…the police were soon onto me,I got a right ticking off.
Anyone can report it but if the police do nothing, then what can a member of the public do about it?
It doesn’t help when traffic a wardens comments, after giving out a ticket, “had you parked with two wheels on the pavement and two on the road, you would not have been given a parking ticket”!
Here, in some rural villages ‘drivers’ park all four wheels on the pavement, pedestrians have to walk in the road to get past. The problem I reckon comes down to lack of thought and lack of respect for others, which adds up to the selfish attitude seen so often in some people.
Once upon a time…families had a family car. These days there are the same amount of cars as there are people in the family. Often one car in the front garden which is no longer a garden but a concrete slab. The other four, owned by Mum and the three kids, all parked out in the road. Where will it all end? I have no idea but luckily I won’t be around to see it.
I am too caricature, and It will probably be my last motor. I’ll be looking to buy a diesel again, easy servicing and the engines go on forever…However, I don’t think the problems in the future will be as serious as they make out. There will not be enough electricity to go round and I can see it been rationed in the future. The new smart meters will give the government the control they need to do this by turning off power remotely, so not as many vehicles on the road as forecast. The supply of Lithium batteries is also going to be problematic, as the quantities of lithium and cobalt will become harder to obtain, and the countries where they are sourced will again be controlled by something akin to OPEC. When you consider how many things require lithium batteries these days there will be problems ahead, and it’s not just cars…
I’m the same. When we renew this car, perhaps in 2-3 years, it will certainly not be with an electric one. I’d find them totally impractical on a number of counts including range and time to charge. Then there’s resale value which I’m sure, the older the electric car, will include the cost of changing the battery which, of course, will cost an arm and a leg.
There is, however, the concern about the supply of petrol and diesel once electric cars become more common. I’d like to think that enterprising companies will continue to provide filling stations sufficient for all of us who reject electric cars. After all, we have the money to spend so there must be people still willing to take it.
No, I have a feeling that the ‘trendy’ moves toward electric vehicles - and you see adverts for them all the time on the telly! - might begin to slowly fizzle out in time as more people become wise to their drawbacks and the nonsensical push toward them overcoming climate change!
I’m thinking of the diesel route again, previously had a 1.9 Zafira, presently a 1.4 turbo Astra petrol, we are thinking of brand spankers, so it’ll be the last one we buy. Supposed to be problems reported with getting new cars because of shortages of chips, like you say conversion to electric won’t be an east ride.
I have a diesel Skoda Yeti 4x4 at the moment and I hate the new diesel ones, I wish it was petrol. Since the newer cars have that blasted filter (dpf) built into them driving has become a blooming pain for me. Every other week the light comes on in the dash to say it’s all sooted up and it has to be cleared. It either goes into the garage for a declog or I have to roar along an empty bit of road in 2nd gear with the revs at 35/40 untill it burns off.
I used to have a diesel, but I don’t think that would be practical for me now.
They are more efficient, but unfortunately due to the more recent additions to the engine they become impractical unless you drive quite a high number of miles regularly. We don’t, so it will have to be petrol again.
Having owned Hybrid cars for the last six years I would never go back to petrol/diesel cars again. Very very economical to drive as long as you leave those lead boots at home, self charging as you drive, Automatic gear box, may be boring to some of you older boy racers but suit me well in my “later years”
