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21K views 222 replies 27 participants last post by  Pat-H 
#1 ·
These are now out and about on trial. See:

>The Smart< and

>iMiev<

The government has also announced a program of introducing charging points. Is anyone thinking of towing one?

If you have a second petrol or diesel car these could be ideal low running cost vehicles. Light weight, nippy and with electricity supplied at all sites, charge them for free for the short journeys most of us do with a tow car. Even at home my tow car only does short journeys, strikes me as being ideal.

peedee
 
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#38 ·
Hi,
I know someone with a Tesla and a trip to Edinburgh needed careful planning - a stop at a fast charging point near Newcastle for half an hour to get 80% charge - free with the deal he is on. What if there is already someone using it as he found at Meadowhall near Sheffield where a plonker had gone off to do some shopping while charging - for heaven knows how long?

Listening to Govey this morning on Radio 4 he seems to live in a London-centric dream world. What about all the trucks and long distance coaches?

And now they have shelved the Midland electrification! Doesn't anyone in the government talk to each other.

I give up!
 
#39 ·
2040 leaves enough time to get that infrastructure in place.

The same could have been said of mobile phones when they came out. Practically no coverage. It would take a country wide effort to install enough masks to make reception possible for so many over so much of the UK. It was doomed to fail.
And now look at phone coverage and mobile usage.
Installing charging points isn't the most difficult task we face and I'm seeing more and more already and that was before the announcement.

And of course by then actually driving a car will be a rare if not outlawed activity. With autonomous cars they will sort charging themselves.
 
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#40 ·
80% in half an hour is impressive, but it must need quite a large power supply. Multiply that by god knows how many cars on a motorway at around lunch time or evening rush hour in 20 years time and there'll be a need for a great many charging points. I can imagine people walking round looking for charging points which aren't in use because they don't have the power to keep circling as we currently can when looking for parking spaces. I wonder if the current infrastructure can handle the power transmission needs? I doubt it.
 
#42 · (Edited)
Thinking caps on folks, at £175 for one of these cables, securing them from the toe rags is another issue. :surprise:

Gulp, even worse Tesla added.

Terry
 

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#46 · (Edited)
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#47 ·
What about Autogas.
Are all your gaslow systems going to be redundant? Or will we be cooking by electric.
 
#49 ·
It does seem daft and unnecessary complications to have different and dedicated vehicle charging points instead of regular power points.
Apart from the extra costs it cuts down your options.

Ray.
 
#50 ·
The governments plan to stop all internal combustion engine vehicles be sold from 2040 is simply to comply with the latest court decision that they have to have "a plan" to improve air quality. That plan is to ban diesel and petrol vehicles from 2040.

When we get closer to 2040 it will be a case of "Well it doesn't look like we can keep to our plan as battery technology has not improved as much as we hoped, so we won't be enforceing the ban"

Politics my friends, politics!!!

Andy
 
#51 ·
The governments plan to stop all internal combustion engine vehicles be sold from 2040 is simply to comply with the latest court decision that they have to have "a plan" to improve air quality. That plan is to ban diesel and petrol vehicles from 2040.

When we get closer to 2040 it will be a case of "Well it doesn't look like we can keep to our plan as battery technology has not improved as much as we hoped, so we won't be enforceing the ban"

Politics my friends, politics!!!

Andy
I am much more optimistic than that, yes they have been pressured into it by the court decision and France also announcing it but now there will be a fortune pumped into technology, 10 years is a long time when you think how other technology has moved on in that time, let alone 23 years.
 
#56 ·
https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/support/home-charging-installation

This comes from there Ray:

Blue adapter for an industrial socket to charge the Tesla up to 22 miles of range per hour.
An adapter with domestic plug to connect to the Mobile Connector and to charge up to 6 miles of range per hour.

You'd probably need 3 phase to make it charge well enough for a lot of use I think.
 
#57 ·
I wonder if solution is to think laterally.

Rather than drive around car parks looking for spare charging points via a cable, the solution could be the renting of a battery module to a standard size and style..... (Think along the lines of replacement gas cylinders.)

Simply nip into a "garage" and watch them winch out the flat battery, then replace it with a fresh one from a pre-charged stack. (Charging of replacement modules by the "garage" overnight at cheaper rates, spreading the load.)

With elegant design, it could be quick and clean, with minimal waiting, and the Government instantly lobs their tax on top of the charge cost.



.
 
#59 ·
I can't see that we have the generation capacity to meet the likely demand, or the grid to distribute it.

Changing batteries seems the best solution but that would need standardised batteries, say no more than 4 or 5 types/capacities max.
 
#61 ·
That failed batters changing idea was some years ago, and I'm thinking about future technology.

In my world, after paying for your re-charged battery, the system would automatically check the Net to ensure the vehicle insurance, MOT and tax were valid before allowing the vehicle to move off. As the saying goes, the possibilities are endless!!!



.
 
#63 ·
I have driven several battery only EVs and also a fuel cell "B" class merc.

There is no comparison battery only is useless (ATM) unless you do less than 80miles a day and never go out of range of a charger. There is also the problem of not all charging points accepting all account cards.

Fuel cell on the other hand is a direct swap for liquid fuel of either kind, same sort of range, same sort of refuelling time, but much better power delivery - absolutely seamless acceleration with maximum torque from rest - right where you really need it.

The answer (IMHO) is to use windpower to produce Hydrogen (and oxygen which could be sold to the NHS) that means that the "you only get power when the wind blows" doesn't matter any more as the generated energy can be stored as Hydrogen until needed.
It is then used to generate electricity in a fuel cell driving a vehicle whose only emission is water.No need for a large amount of batteries as all the fuel cell car needs is a relatively small battery to act as an energy buffer.
 
#64 ·
Would that be allowed to work though as it would mean a large multi-national wouldn’t be making huge immoral earnings from it.
 
#67 ·
It will never happen. Not totally anyway. There is more chance of me headlining at Glastonbury and marrying Taylor Swift than us all having leccy cars in just 23 years.

What will I do with my ancient Golf and Hank for one thing?

The oil / petrochemical Giants won't have it either. Millions of cars plugged in all over the place? No chance

The hydrogen cell thing was on top gear a couple of years ago though and that sounds interesting but hugely expensive I seem to remember.
 
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