So .. Sales of new petrol and diesel powered cars banned

[hot66]

So the news today, from 2040 sales of new cars powered by petrol or diesel will be banned

This is going to be interesting .

If we're all heading for plugin electric, the current infrastructure can't even cope in mid winter when everyone puts the kettle on after the Xmas special on bbc

Where is the electric going to come from?

Roadside charging points .. Now there's an investment / business opportunity

Flat rate VED

Co car tax will have to be flat rated, no more emission based rates

Huge amounts of tax raised on fuel duty .... How's this black hole going to be filled

Maybe the big picture is getting the population onto mass transit

Loop hole ... Electric car backed up by petrol generator ?


Then what about haulage ? Has anyone even looked at electric vehicles of 44 tonnes etc

[Lightweight_911]

It's in over 20 years time - look how things have changed in the past 20 years & the rate of change is exponential ...

[hot66]

Infrastructure in the U.K. I'm less confident about .

There are still places with no mobile reception or.broadband

Power stations : electricity generation ? They better start now

[hot66]

I have loads of faith technology will be there as yes that side will move on. Hopefully we won't need to rely on a national infrastructure

[Nige]

Don't worry, the zombie apocalypse or something will happen before then and we'll have to live life like Max Rockatansky. So the question is, do you have enough leather clothing, dog food and guzzoline in stock?

[hot66]

Leather thong will be enough won't it ? Have a few sheep in my field if I get hungry / romantic

[orkneydave]

Then what about haulage ? Has anyone even looked at electric vehicles of 44 tonnes etc

Currently no mention of HGVs in the proposal so assume the will still be able to have diesel engines. The issue will be that as the market for diesel falls away with the removal of cars from that market, the cost of diesel is certain to rise. This increase in cost will be passed onto the consumers of everything that moves by road. That is unless the tax is reduced significantly or a viable alternative to diesel in a goods vehicle is developed and becomes viable.

[smallspeed]

Presumably haulage could go the way we've gone in construction/mining equipment for the last 10yrs of having a "locomotive style" on board diesel engine driving a generator powering electric motors? Its not perfect, but it is a halfway house..

As others have said, the rate of change from brick phones to iPhone 7 (even just in battery life and power terms) is phenomenal, the bigger risk is going to be having an infrastructure to support it in terms of power generation and distribution.
I kind of feel like if we'd stuck with development plans for nuclear power in the 60's / 70's then potentially we'd be driving around in nuclear powered cars now rather than battery powered cars charged from a few large high-cost/upkeep power stations and poor-efficiency distribution networks. Or at least the few power stations and the large national distribution network would have been replaced by smaller localised power generation and distribution..

/rantover

on a more interesting note - this article blew me away! if they can crack mass production of this power source maybe all these concerns and problems will disappear!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca ... 8a7045a044

[Darren C]

Hmmm, I used to believe we'd have all that stuff on BBC "Tomorrows World" too

I'm beginning to warm to that Trump fella

[23e Heure]

Electric motors may not be the only or best alternative.

I bought shares in hydrogen fuel cell technology years ago, so I'm busy encouraging people to think outside the box on this

[shambly]

So the news today, from 2040 sales of new cars powered by petrol or diesel will be banned

This is going to be interesting .

If we're all heading for plugin electric, the current infrastructure can't even cope in mid winter when everyone puts the kettle on after the Xmas special on bbc

Where is the electric going to come from?

Roadside charging points .. Now there's an investment / business opportunity

Maybe the big picture is getting the population onto mass transit

Loop hole ... Electric car backed up by petrol generator ?

As a household with an electric car and a plug-in hybrid car (an electric car backed up by a petrol generator, as it happens) as its two main vehicles, 2040 seems a long way away.

There is already a nationwide network of roadside charging points, though this is far (very far) from perfect. But it is there.

The difficulty is the many houses in the country with no off-road parking and where people can't even consistently park outside their own house. How do they charge?

We have plenty of electricity outside of peak demand so this is where smart meters and remote control of devices/ car charging comes in. Consider a company (or companies) that can actively manage a huge number of devices in our homes connected via smart meters selling negative demand to the electricity grid operating companies to help them with instantaneous supply and demand.

The bigger picture is perhaps car ownership going away for the majority. Summoning a car when we need it to take us where we need to go and paying for its use. The maintenance and charging is taken car of by the operator. Mobility as a service. Why drive yourself when you can make better use of the time doing something productive?

Change is coming... the question is, will big data enable the self-driving car in 5 years, 20 years, or longer?

Oh, and i'm not an eco warrior. We save a huge amount compared with the two diesel cars we were running.

Simon

[Winston Teague]

I'm beginning to warm to that Trump fella

hopefully you're one of a rapidly shrinking minority.......

W

[smallspeed]

[RichardBTek]

I agree that there are other better alternatives to electricity. Hydrogen uses similar technology, info structure and will has the same benefits that we enjoy with petrol and diesel. Surely the chemicals used in batteries can't be environmentally sound?

[Winston Teague]

None of it is environmentally sound. The environmentally sound approach is population control and developing a culture of anti consumerism, and not travelling anywhere at all unless on foot. Unrealistic. We are all doomed. All we can do is slow down the demise, starting with getting rid of Trump soonest.
Enough of all that i want an electric classic car because i find the idea interesting, in addition to some of my other stuff (which includes a 15mpg mile eating vintage tourer) .......