New car battery

Does this mean I’ll be forced to use a battery torch instead of my trusty Oil Lamp? :slight_smile:

Tyres have been found to be a source of pollution. It seems there might be no ‘good’ car whether it be petrol, diesel or electric. We’re all doomed anyway.

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Sorry I was confused as the deadline used to be 2030. The last government moved it back to 2035 as they just don’t have the infrastructure in place. I’m not sure what the current government have said on the subject.

There are other targets such as phasing out new gas boilers (which was 2025 but may have moved to 2030. With all gas boilers being phased out I think by 2050). But there are no real alternatives other than electric and our grid just cannot support this idea because we don’t have sufficient nuclear power stations with decommissioning of our current nuclear capacity round about now. Heat pumps are for the rich. There was some talk of smaller nuclear power sites made by Rolls Royce but not sure whether that just frittered out.

So they keep moving the goalposts when it comes to dates when successive governments realise it’s just a pipe dream without the infrastructure required.

There is something called the “gravy train” whenever the government announces big projects in the UK. It makes the cost of any changes prohibitive and a piecemeal approach ensues, with half finished ideas and then a new government scraps them.

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They certainly are trying to phase out ICE cars, but that trend has sent work to part of my family’s investment of refurbishing/rebuilding petrol engine cars. That side of the business is growing quicker than they can cope with. Absolutely new petrol only cars are becming as scarse as hen’s teeth🐔

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That’s a good business because we will end up the way Malta or Cuba used to be and petrol cars will become a sought-after luxury. I would love to find a good garage to make my Ford purr. it seems impossible to find anyone within the M25 these days. Unfortunately Ford seem to make cars that obsolesce in 10 years.

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It is better than many so called rebuilders as they make parts from scratch if parts are not easily found. They work alongsibe a British castings foundry, so anything metal can be made from moulds. You would be surprised how many owners have very deep pockets where price is no barrier to keeping their beloved car running.
Which Ford is it and what year?

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Just briefly here: I’m sure you know that those recommendation were tongue-in-cheek, Bob. We both recall that you introduced that car as the ugliest car you’ve ever seen. :wink:

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I was referring to EU regulations (2035) but , as I said, this may not be set in stone.

Ha Ha yes I knew that Dachs

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I know it doesn’t comfort you or anyone but as consumers we’re in the same pretty mess of not knowing which heating system to bet on, which car to buy nor does the government or experts know. We just got used to cheap energy supplies both as individuals and as a country. I became fully aware of that when my health club had to be closed down after Putin had stopped delivering his oil and gas. Today it sounds strange that before Corona and Putin’s war, it was still viable for a businessman to heat facilities including four large saunas, three large fitness rooms, a couple of squash- and badminton courts covering 6000 m² playing area in total plus restaurants and changing areas. Now these facilities can only be maintained by the state. All private businessmen can profitably run are small rooms where people are squeezed together and no service being offered.

The days of cheap energy supply are over. Alternatives are few and far between . Using offshore wind power is effectively blocked by inhabitants living further south of the country since they don’t want the power lines, Bavaria doesn’t want to have wind turbines but demands a constant power supply. Nobody wants the moonscape-like areas created by open-cast mining, people in Lower Saxony reject biomass plants. This not-in-my-backyard attitude is the strictest when it comes to final nuclear waste disposal sites. Not a single one has been set up in more than fifty years of existence of the nuclear industry and at present radioactive waste is piling up and held provisionally in interim storage facilities.There’re concerns about the one that is going to be set up in Switzerland close to the German border. The heatwaves in central and southern Europe are becoming more frequent and unbearable. The problems France was having a few years ago with cooling their plants and the Rhine almost becoming a trickle are clear indications that nuke power plants are not the way to go. That may answer your question about Germany getting rid of nuke plants completely.

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Yes there is with Hydrogen, but the BIG money in not behing that energy intense gas. Hydrogen can easily power a petrol engine and a methane domestic gas boiler with very little modification and almsot ZERO polution + water vapour as the exhaust. Hydrogen can easily be produced by elecrtically splitting ordinary water into Hydrogen & Oxygen . . SO short sighted!:face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

It is not easy, it takes a lot more energy to break the molecular bonds than you get from the resultant gas, however Port Kembla (Wollongong suburb and industrial port) has set itself as a Hydrogen hub and there are a few hydrogen powered trucks in this area including a garbage truck.