Electric cars and the grid..... it has begun.

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Making cars for profit is great for shareholders. Diabolical for the planet.

How many different alternators. Starter motors. Fuel tanks headlights etc etc etc etc etc are made for 100s of different vehicles.

And the die already seems to be set for electric vehicles.

We could shut this country down and revert back to Roman levels of pollution tomorrow. How much difference would it make globally? Faf all.

We are a petty greedy selfish species happily heading for catastrophe.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Until we stop being petty and start acting as a species without borders what's really going to change.

We could wipe out hunger and poverty worldwide if we wanted to.

 

[daleyd]

Making cars for profit is great for shareholders. Diabolical for the planet.

How many different alternators. Starter motors. Fuel tanks headlights etc etc etc etc etc are made for 100s of different vehicles.

And the die already seems to be set for electric vehicles.

I’m not disagreeing with you - but that’s simply the way it is.

No one is going to make anything for nothing, a change in that thinking goes way beyond cars and into the whole way we live our lives - of which cars are one small part of.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

I’m not disagreeing with you - but that’s simply the way it is.

No one is going to make anything for nothing, a change in that thinking goes way beyond cars and into the whole way we live our lives - of which cars are one small part of.

That's what's needed. The aggressive unchecked capitalism that's now rampant is not going to save our planet long term. It's certainly done a bloody good job of ignoring all the signs for many many decades while plundering the planet of resources that belong to us all.
Even renewables is another method of extracting cash from the populace.

 

[GRW]

Why are you obsessed with the idea of electric cars suddenly “failing” when there’s no evidence that this happens any more than in an ICE vehicle? There are Tesla’s that have got well over 100,000 miles on that are still perfectly ok. (Those are the ones that have been around the longest, I’m sure there are others) as well as which battery tech has moved on from those early cars anyway.

There is little aftermarket support for these vehicles at the present time but do you think that won’t change as they come into the secondhand market and out of warranty? Of course not - garages will move with the time and the tech. What you see today is not what’s going to be there in 5,10 years time…

Audi TFSI piston ring problems, VW DSG gearboxes anyone? Both of those have been well documented and have basically written off plenty of otherwise perfectly good cars, or at least cost many thousands to put right.

If you read what I wrote - I wasn't singling out EV'S for unreliable electrics and electronics (or motors/boxes come to that). The ICE's seem poor in that respect now also (a part of that has to be the designed-in product lifespan to promote repeat business - it's simply bad for business to provide a sustainable product!).
Both ICE and EV cars now, have service, mtce and repair costs that have and are escalating exponentially and making ownership more and more expensive in real terms.

 

[daleyd]

10-yr-old EV trying to get an affordable vehicle - has to play the lottery that the cars cells etc won't suddenly fail, with that expense immediately writing the car off and leaving the owner skint and car-less

Ok that’s the bit I was replying to, which kind of does sound like you were saying it’s a phenomenon that only affects an EV - I was saying that problem is not exclusively an EV issue. It’s simply a “modem vehicle” issue - irrespective of the mode of propulsion.

 

[GRW]

Town planners have a lot to answer for, all well and good sterilising small towns and villages of industry in favour of housing but they never consider where these people will work. Nobody wants to waste three hours plus of their day on a commute but many do.There should be a big push with incentives to bring the workplace closer to home, offices can be anywhere and bigger manufacturers could quite easily be spread out a bit more evenly.

Bob

You can say thr same with regard to fuel stations only on main trunk roads, and out-of-town supermarkets.
There was an agreement over 30-years-ago among the fuel giants that none of them would renew contracts with small independents. This would force buyers to spend their own fuel & time travelling to a big (mostly Giant-owned) stations, that were easy access for artic tankers, and which had the tank capacities to accept a full article tanker-load in one hit. The fuel giants simplified their distribution chain and drastically lowered their delivery costs....by making the customer come to them.

The supermarkets priced out the corner shop, and pulled the same trick pretty much.

The effect of the above is of course, far greater in rural areas.

So, we get our dependency on the car increased - and then we get shafted fir actually USING the damn things.

 

[premmington]

You can say thr same with regard to fuel stations only on main trunk roads, and out-of-town supermarkets.
There was an agreement over 30-years-ago among the fuel giants that none of them would renew contracts with small independents. This would force buyers to spend their own fuel & time travelling to a big (mostly Giant-owned) stations, that were easy access for artic tankers, and which had the tank capacities to accept a full article tanker-load in one hit. The fuel giants simplified their distribution chain and drastically lowered their delivery costs....by making the customer come to them.

The supermarkets priced out the corner shop, and pulled the same trick pretty much.

The effect of the above is of course, far greater in rural areas.

So, we get our dependency on the car increased - and then we get shafted fir actually USING the damn things.

Valid points.

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

And there me thinking they sucked oil out of the ground and shipped it around the world for huge profits.

 

[daleyd]

And there me thinking they sucked oil out of the ground and shipped it around the world for huge profits.

View attachment 357428

They’re not wrong though - they are “reimagining” energy into cash

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

They’re not wrong though - they are “reimagining” energy into cash

A valid point

I bet they spend far more on marketing than they do on the environment.

 

[GRW]

Our wonderful Welsh Assembly are bringing in a 20mph speed limit for EVERY 30mph road including dual carriageways. There is uproar over it but they don't care. They want to FORCE people to cycle or walk to walk. Wales is largely rural and doesn't have as good a transport network as London!

Sign the Petition

Stop the Welsh Govt imposing blanket 20mph speed limits across the whole of Wales by 2023

www.change.org

Worse riding car ever - kia anything. Especially the tall one sportage I think my neighbour had. Puke inducing stiffness. They must have smooth roads in the land of eating dogs.

The missus' wee mkII Kia Rio (2011, just when the new model came out) is actually a pleasant small car to drive, and the suspension isn't harsh, just nicely damped.

 

[Morrisman]

We could shut this country down and revert back to Roman levels of pollution tomorrow. How much difference would it make globally? Faf all.

We are a petty greedy selfish species happily heading for catastrophe.

I've raised this very point many times across the interweb, and the usual reply, even from my own MP a few years ago: "we have to lead by example, to the rest of the world"

 

[minimutly]

The missus' wee mkII Kia Rio (2011, just when the new model came out) is actually a pleasant small car to drive, and the suspension isn't harsh, just nicely damped.

Actually, I think you’re probably right, the early ones were ok. Take a new sportage for a spin on the B roads of West Wales...

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

I've raised this very point many times across the interweb, and the usual reply, even from my own MP a few years ago: "we have to lead by example, to the rest of the world"

Lead. Bahhaha. They don't lead. They're being lead by those with the deepest pockets.

 

[Seadog]

I've raised this very point many times across the interweb, and the usual reply, even from my own MP a few years ago: "we have to lead by example, to the rest of the world"

That might have mattered when we had an empire. Now, as a 3rd rate backwater, who gives a toss?

 

[GRW]

You can't have it both ways - anfew posts back you were saying heavier cars ride better. If thats the case just fit lighter springs and shocks to match.
Round and round...

It's not simply about vehicle weight.
It's actually about sprung v unsprung weight.
The lighter the wheels, tyres, brakes etc are - as a percentage / ratio of the sprung mass of the vehicle - the better the suspension will work - simply because its easier for the wheels etc to move up n down than it is to move the sprung mass.
That is why generally heavier cars ride nicely (& often can do so on less exotic and heavier wheels etc).
The lighter the car, the more exotic, sophisticated and light the running gear and suspension needs to be - because the ratio of sprung v unsprung gets harder and harder to maintain (until it can't - so the suspension gets uber-expensive to compensate (and/or the ride quality diminishes).

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

I've raised this very point many times across the interweb, and the usual reply, even from my own MP a few years ago: "we have to lead by example, to the rest of the world"

That might have mattered when we had an empire. Now, as a 3rd rate backwater, who gives a toss?

We may have dropped a few places recently. Just a sideshow at the Circus. I'm appalled at how these people behave towards each other

 

[Morrisman]

I've raised this very point many times across the interweb, and the usual reply, even from my own MP a few years ago: "we have to lead by example, to the rest of the world"

That might have mattered when we had an empire. Now, as a 3rd rate backwater, who gives a toss?

Exactly. India, Indonesia, China, Africa, all with a huge population that makes the U.K. look like a small village in comparison. How many of those countries are making any sort of active move towards 0%?

None of them are thinking "Look at the U.K., let's be like them, go England, go.

 

[daleyd]

Exactly. India, Indonesia, China, Africa, all with a huge population that makes the U.K. look like a small village in comparison. How many of those countries are making any sort of active move towards 0%?

None of them are thinking "Look at the U.K., let's be like them, go England, go.

Is that what they mean when they say take a lead, or is it something more akin to getting ahead on the technology and or/building of this stuff , which we can (maybe, if we don’t give it away or they simply copy it ) then export to other countries if and when they adopt it? It’s a bit of vacuous statement and can be interpreted in a few different ways, though it’s probably ultimately meaningless…