Adventures in an all electric vehicle.

[premmington]

Cheap shots? Underpants? Referring to them as “milk floats”?


I’m fine with a bit of banter, if you’re getting a bit sniffy I’ll stop

I not got a problem with "milk float" - I recall them when I was kid.

They were quiet - they carried a lot of weight - crates of glass milk bottles were heavy.

I did not have to fetch my milk or have spare longlife stuff in the house.

At Mums you just opened the front door and the milk was it a little cage thing in the mornings.

Doing away with milk floats was not progress - not progress at all...

When we lived in the country they had noisey diesel flat bed trucks - but the urban EV milk float was OK.

Milk float - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[cheb]

No idea mate...?

But the "smoking joke" - did make me smile

I'm on all week, try the organic, vegan, human shaped, oat based biscuit.

 

[premmington]

I not got a problem with "milk float" - I recall them when I was kid.

They were quiet - they carried a lot of weight - crates of glass milk bottles were heavy.

I did not have to fetch my milk or have spare longlife stuff in the house.

At Mums you just opened the front door and the milk was it a little cage thing in the mornings.

Doing away with milk floats was not progress - not progress at all...

When we lived in the country they had noisey diesel flat bed trucks - but the urban EV milk float was OK.

Milk float - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

@daleyd

So what killed the delivery of milk?

Supermarkets - ladies of the house going to work and milk geting left on the doorstep. Cost?

These milk floats looked old - they looked like they lasted OK.

Flooded wet acid batteries like a forklift? Yes?

 

[daleyd]

@daleyd

So what killed the delivery of milk?

Supermarkets - ladies of the house going to work and milk geting left on the doorstep. Cost?

These milk floats looked old - they looked like they lasted OK.

Flooded wet acid batteries like a forklift? Yes?

We still have milk delivered so I’m probably not best placed to answer. But I guess the prevalence of supermarkets and how cheap they could provide it has done for most milk rounds. I think dairy farmers have had a real bum deal from supermarkets over the years, but that’s probably a discussion for another thread.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

They were quiet - they carried a lot of weight - crates of glass milk bottles were heavy.

All that glass was so cumbersome...plastic is so much more convenient...not so environmentally friendly though!

As a kid I remember a milk float near us caught fire...of course all the kids turned up to watch it burn (me included)....it was very impressive I have to say (milk man lived at the end of our road as it happens).

 

[premmington]

We still have milk delivered so I’m probably not best placed to answer. But I guess the prevalence of supermarkets and how cheap they could provide it has done for most milk rounds. I think dairy farmers have had a real bum deal from supermarkets over the years, but that’s probably a discussion for another thread.

@daleyd

I was trying to change the direction of this thread as it was getting abit "toxic".

I thought talking about milk delivery would be a nice thing to do...

Simple stuff milk - you can have skimmed - semi skimmed - full fat - and real good quality Jersey milk with gold tops.

Red/green/blue/gold....

Plus there is even - lactose free stuff you can give cats! (yeah I am feeding a stray cat in my workshop yard now - even wormed it - dry food - wet food and special little 200ml boxes of cat milk).

First cat that has crawled into my yard for years not with an infected airgun pellet wound in it. At one point - my workshop was nearly a field hospital for wounded cats.

 

[premmington]

All that glass was so cumbersome...plastic is so much more convenient...not so environmentally friendly though!

As a kid I remember a milk float near us caught fire...of course all the kids turned up to watch it burn (me included)....it was very impressive I have to say (milk man lived at the end of our road as it happens).

EV fire and no lithium involved... Odd?

 

[Ubique]

EV fire and no lithium involved... Odd?

Motor windings shorted / overheating, accumulated crud & fibreglass - a bit like the Kings Cross fire but substitute wood for fibreglass, and open air with an interested audience.

 

[daleyd]

@daleyd

I was trying to change the direction of this thread as it was getting abit "toxic".

I thought talking about milk delivery would be a nice thing to do...

Simple stuff milk - you can have skimmed - semi skimmed - full fat - and real good quality Jersey milk with gold tops.

Red/green/blue/gold....

Plus there is even - lactose free stuff you can give cats! (yeah I am feeding a stray cat in my workshop yard now - even wormed it - dry food - wet food and special little 200ml boxes of cat milk).

First cat that has crawled into my yard for years not with an infected airgun pellet wound in it. At one point - my workshop was nearly a field hospital for wounded cats.

I don’t think there’s anything toxic in some robust (ahem!) debate and a bit of healthy banter, but maybe that’s just me

I certainly wouldn’t take anything to heart over a discussion about battery cars, despite whatever differences I might have with anyone.

I think it’s good to have an open discussion and while I of course acknowledge they aren’t perfect, my own experience tells me they are not as bad as are sometimes made out - and in my (“our” really as it’s my wife’s car more than mine) case I’m perfectly happy with the way it’s worked out - having bought one without really knowing what to expect.

But yeah, I do like a bit of gold top!

 

[Erie Fred]

Simple stuff milk - you can have skimmed - semi skimmed - full fat - and real good quality Jersey milk with gold tops.

Red/green/blue/gold....

Here you go.....

Pot O Gold Dairy - Just Plain Business

justplainbusiness.com

 

[fizzy]

A mate of mine was a milkman. 3 wheeler electric milk float. Never been so scared in all my life when he gave me a lift.. Thing weighed about 5 tons. No MOT needed. Cab was tied on with a bit of rope

 

[m_c]

All that glass was so cumbersome...plastic is so much more convenient...not so environmentally friendly though!

As a kid I remember a milk float near us caught fire...of course all the kids turned up to watch it burn (me included)....it was very impressive I have to say (milk man lived at the end of our road as it happens).

Current figures actually say otherwise.
I seen some research fairly recently which found the environmental cost of glass milk bottles is greater than plastic.
By the time you factor in the cost of making the glass bottle to start with, cleaning the glass when it can be reused, the transport costs, and the limited number of times the bottles actually last, it results in more emissions than just using plastic.

IIRC for glass to be environmentally friendly, each bottle would have to last more than 8 reuses, but the average was only 5 or 6 uses.

 

[Erie Fred]

Current figures actually say otherwise.
I seen some research fairly recently which found the environmental cost of glass milk bottles is greater than plastic.
By the time you factor in the cost of making the glass bottle to start with, cleaning the glass when it can be reused, the transport costs, and the limited number of times the bottles actually last, it results in more emissions than just using plastic.

IIRC for glass to be environmentally friendly, each bottle would have to last more than 8 reuses, but the average was only 5 or 6 uses.

Part of the savings is the glass bottle goes back for free, the truck normally
would be returning empty.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

By the time you factor in the cost of making the glass bottle to start with, cleaning the glass when it can be reused, the transport costs, and the limited number of times the bottles actually last, it results in more emissions than just using plastic.

I'm sure you are right...I'm just finding it very very hard to believe if I'm honest. Sounds a lot like one of those sponsored "research projects" which basically sets out to prove something that benefits the organisation paying for the research!

Surely most plastic bottles basically end up being environmentally negative (except for a small proportion which get recycled into lower grade plastic products)....vs glass bottles which are inert.

While I was restoring a house I dug up a glass milk bottle which probably dated from the 1950s....a quick wash and it would have been good to go!

 

[m_c]

Part of the savings is the glass bottle goes back for free, the truck normally
would be returning empty.

But the empty bottle weight still costs money to move.
It will be pretty negligible for a single bottle, but if you fill a lorry up with a couple thousand empties, those are going to have noticeable effect on emissions.

Something that does need looked at more, is the complete lifecycle of things, and I do think that the glass milk bottle is a good example. Lots of people trot out that glass is more environmentally friendly, but when you actually delve into the details, the available numbers say otherwise, and I'm sure the same can be said for lots of things.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

It will be pretty negligible for a single bottle, but if you fill a lorry up with a couple thousand empties, those are going to have noticeable effect on emissions.

I think they already thought of that....the milk floats were electric too back in the day....maybe that wasn't factored into the research.

I'm just not buying into the glass is bad argument (happy to be proved wrong)...in my mind glass is superior to plastic in many ways including its ability not to contaminate the liquids being stored and the inert nature of glass in the environment.

 

[premmington]

But the empty bottle weight still costs money to move.
It will be pretty negligible for a single bottle, but if you fill a lorry up with a couple thousand empties, those are going to have noticeable effect on emissions.

Something that does need looked at more, is the complete lifecycle of things, and I do think that the glass milk bottle is a good example. Lots of people trot out that glass is more environmentally friendly, but when you actually delve into the details, the available numbers say otherwise, and I'm sure the same can be said for lots of things.

I am interested in this - glass is heavy and would take a lot of cleaning - melting into something else.

Plastic is light (compactable).....

"the complete lifecycle of things" very valid point @m_c

 

[m_c]

I'm sure you are right...I'm just finding it very very hard to believe if I'm honest. Sounds a lot like one of those sponsored "research projects" which basically sets out to prove something that benefits the organisation paying for the research.

Surely most plastic bottles basically end up being environmentally negative....vs glass which is inert.

The big thing is the amount of energy required to make a glass bottle, which would be fine if it could be reused enough times. But the available figures showed otherwise.

Actually, here's a link to the research summary - https://earth.org/glass-bottles-environmental-impact/
(original study was done by the University of Southampton, but I can't find a more detailed summary just now)

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

The big thing is the amount of energy required to make a glass bottle, which would be fine if it could be reused enough times.

Yea but what if all the energy comes from renewable sources....basically the same stuff thats used to charge up all the electric cars

I think your research is for single use beverage containers...milk bottles are multi use beverage containers Im thinking.

The product life cycle is a very valid point thought....my other half washes all the plastic recycling and I was wondering whether the impact of all the water use has been factored in.

 

[GRW]

We have glass bottle milk delivered. We pay more of course, but it's one of several little things we do to try and reduce our use of landfill crud etc.
Seems its possible that it's not actually helping anyway then?