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Electric Cars - The Future?

matthewgcole said:
If anything, this target is not ambitious enough.
23 years to set up a charging point infrastructure, (most cars will be charged at home on existing mains anyway) and development to get an extra 200-300 miles range out of a battery? 23 years!
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If only it was that simple.

Charging technology needs to progress significantly, if I am undertaking a long journey that exceeds the range of my car I do not want to have to wait for hours at an overcrowded service station whilst my car re-charges. Rapid charges at the moment can take between 30 and 60 minutes to charge to 80%, however there are only just over 2000 of these across the country. These charging points, ideally with even faster charging times, need to be available on demand.

This is not just a technological change, it is a cultural change. There could be a significant impact on the way we go about our lives and those adjustments may take longer than it takes for technology to develop.

Service stations need to become super service stations to cope with the additional parked cars that all need charging.

This is a far bigger change than any than have happened in the last 23 years.

:)
 
It's a bigger change that's happened in the auto industry in forever but it's on a similar or smaller scale as to what has happened in other industries. Whether that be home computing, or other things related to the digital age.

Also, we don't need to get hung up on the year - that's relates to production, not a date when there will be no petrol or diesel cars.

People pondering about how they're going to make it through a journey in 2050 based on the capabilities of 2017 technology make me shake my head.

 
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IanSR said:
Don't get me wrong, I don't disagree with the ban.

A question though, which Countries are involved in this and when will it happen? I can't see the little old UK making much of a difference to Worldwide emissions if there's only a handful of us doing it.
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We'll probably be the last significant country in Europe to make the switch. Germany, France & Italy are already way ahead of us.

The problem is the 'mericans...
 
The electrical infrastructure that will be required for this is likely to be the biggest challenge. Battery technology will improve, that's a given. Range and recharge times will therefore become less of a concern, but the national grid will need a radical overhaul if we're to generate and distribute enough power to take over the current liquid fuel distribution for millions of vehicles.
 
I understand that is a massive change, but I think people underestimate just how long 23 years is.

The industry has gone from virtually no electric cars to Teslas' (or novelty tech to actually practical) in just a decade. The answer to all of the "how will I get to London and back on 1 charge?" type questions is more than likely already sat on some boffins hard drive somewhere.

Internal combustion has developed far further in the last 23 years than electric is being expected to in the next 23 years. The industry can easily sort these pracnicalities but it hasn't as of yet because it hasn't so far needed to. It's mostly market forces that are dictating what car manufacturers spend their r&d cash on, and us punters like our fossil fuels.

I'll put my neck out now and say I'm willing to bet 1000 miles out of a single charge will suddenly be possible in no time at all now that an ICE ban is looming with shareholders getting nervous.

As for infrastructure.... well let's face it, it's little more complicated than plug sockets! Worth noting that between 1958 and 1981 (23 years), almost every major motorway in the country was built from the ground up!
 
Looks like in 23 years time, I'll be 5 years away from my pension and having to renew my driving licence, I suppose at that age, I might be getting my free bus pass, so owning an electric car might not be an issue for me ;)

I think the biggest challenge will be converting all those HGV lorries into reliable electric for long distance hauling
 
I thought I read that certain classes of vehicles were exempt, i.e. HGV, but I might of been dreaming that.

Once they crack magnesium-ion batteries 1000 miles from a Tesla will be theoretically ppossible.
 
I really don't think the government has thought this through

What happens will happen in 23 year years time?

1. There will be a high demand for electric cars, only the wealthy will be able to afford a new electric cars as there will be a short fall of good reliable second hand ones?

2. What will happen to all those unwanted petrol/diesel vehicles? Will the scrap yards be turning these away?

The true cost of Electric cars, children as young as age 4 used to mine cobalt for use in electric cars :cry:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4764208/Child-miners-aged-four-living-hell-Earth.html
 
"Government thinking through decision" isn't something that ever really happens.

If they really wanted to make a difference they'd ban the sale of diesel cars immediately, since they are causing 80% of the problems.
 
I'd love to jump on the "evil of diesel" bandwagon, but let's have a bit of perspective here. Diesel is getting a bad press because car manufacturers have exaggerated how efficient their engines are at dealing with nitrogen oxide deposits. At no point did anyone ever claim that this was not dangerous to health or that diesel fumes did not contain it.

Car manufacturers and European governments moved towards favouring diesel as they were coming under pressure from piers and environmentalists for Co2 emissions. Whilst newer cars where omitting more NOx that legally allowed, which is absolutely scandalous, the media has spread gross misinformation (sound familiar?) about diesel powered cars.

Other than NOx omissions, diesel is still far more fuel efficient, cleaner, sustainable and pumps less Co2 into the atmosphere than petrol. Nothing has changed on that front. The engines last longer too and Bio diesel can be farmed and doesn't have to rely on oil drilling, which is why the American Senate hate it so much and have done everything in their power to try and smear it as a bad alternative fuel to petrol.

Don't get me wrong, I'm keen for diesel to go as soon as decent electric hardware is available. I have a train station 5 mins walk from my house that is located less than 20 miles west of Bristol Temple Meads. As @Diogo has already mentioned, anyone who lives west of BTM doesn't have lungs as important as those of the yuppies in the east and doesn't deserve the extra few £M to bring the mainline into the 1990s. Alas, 50 year old diesel powered cast off's from the rest of the rail network will continue to operate here for decades to come....
 
Indeed. It was only a couple of years ago they were telling us to ditch petrol for diesel because it's cleaner.

Give it a few years for the evils of battery production to become more widely known, and they'll be telling us to go back to horses.
 
Ah the wafer thin resilience of government policy. If I recall correctly, Unleaded pumps where couloured GREEN in the 80's for a reason.
 
This government doesn't even know what it's doing tomorrow, let alone in 23 years. Not that it will still be around for much longer.

Bring it on anyway. If they can make cars last for 50+ years in Cuba, I'm pretty sure we can. There is no need for this constant production of cars, other than for the government to preserve its tax receipts via more and more people getting cars on the never-never.
 
There are no MOT's in Cuba, basically if the car runs it's allowed on the road, safety features like emissions, brakes, mirrors, proper seating is a secondary concern.
 
Tom said:
Bring it on anyway. If they can make cars last for 50+ years in Cuba, I'm pretty sure we can. There is no need for this constant production of cars, other than for the government to preserve its tax receipts via more and more people getting cars on the never-never.
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But as long as technology advances, so will cars (no matter how they may be powered). People will always want a new car with new gadgets and gizmos at some point. Will this change? Again it would take a huge culture shift.

:)
 
That problem seems to only be certain generations that suffer from it, I'be had my car from new, and will continue to run it until the day it dies, it's only the third car I've ever owned.

My new neighbour on the other hand, has had four different cars in the year he's lived here.
 
IanSR said:
That problem seems to only be certain generations that suffer from it, I'be had my car from new, and will continue to run it until the day it dies, it's only the third car I've ever owned.

My new neighbour on the other hand, has had four different cars in the year he's lived here.
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Sounds like my attitude to phones.
 
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