Electric cars

[Sorastro]

Having watched this mornings "Rip off Britain" [B.B.C.] it confirms what I've always believed, electric cars and the infrastructure required is nowhere near satisfactory enough to roll it out in the amount the Government and the climate wallah's are asking for.
One guy on the programme bought a brand new electric car went on holiday to Cornwall and the trouble he had finding a plug in point on the way back bordered on the insane, at one point he was forced to turn round and go back towards Cornwall for a few miles to use one, total driving and re charging time from Newquay to Halifax almost 12 hours, he said it would have been quicker by coach.
Among the problems he faced {daily} apart from lack of points was, plug in points not working, points that did not recognise his car so he couldn't use them, and the one that grated the most was {especially if in large car parks} ordinary vehicle owners just parking in electric re charge spaces meaning electric cars could not get to re charge.
It's like you driving to a garage to fill up in your Vauxhall and when you get there it says "Sorry only Fords can fill up here" and so on, it's a joke.
The outcome, after much discussion with the garage, they agreed to take his car back and he's back driving a diesel, good for him I say.
 
When the world has all electric planes and all electric ships, and stops burning rain forests, that's when I'll re think it, until then it will be a cold day in hell before I consider getting an electric car. 

[Alsatian]

I agree with everything you said and they are my sentiments entirely.

I watched a YouTube video of a motoring journalist who borrowed a Jaguar I Pace and drove it from Somerset to Glasgow. He encountered exactly the same problems as you outlined above.

They should only promote electric vehicles when they've got all the necessary and working infrastructure........ hold on a bit though - they didn't do that with the smart meter roll out did they?!

[Sorastro]

They should only promote electric vehicles when they've got all the necessary and working infrastructure........ hold on a bit though - they didn't do that with the smart meter roll out did they?!

Yes Alsatian I'd totally forgotten the governments many achievements,
Brexit.........HS2...........Universal Credit, the list is endless.

[Alsatian]

Yes Alsatian I'd totally forgotten the governments many achievements,
Brexit.........HS2...........Universal Credit, the list is endless.

Plus Personal Independence Payments (PIP), my 70 year old sister suffers from Cerebral Palsy with mental and physical impairments, meaning she has a mental age of an 8year old and is unable to stand or walk without assistance.

This situation hasn't and never will change in her lifetime - you wouldn't believe all the hoops she had to jump through (pun intended) to keep her benefits.

Now if that isn't a complete waste of time and money by the government, I don't know what is!

[Sorastro]

Sadly Alsatian I do know what your sister, and many others go through, luckily I have no personal link to this but I'm reminded of a chap in our village {same age as me} always worked, paid his way, was quite active as he spent many years as a postman then got a debilitating disease, I don't know the medical term but basically his bones started to turn to "powder" to the point he was in a wheelchair and right to the very end he was classed, by the powers that be, as a malingerer, so never received the help {physical or financial} he so desperately deserved.

Lets hope someone somewhere will finally see your sisters plight.


 

[Tarzan]

Get a generator, fit a towbar..Problem solved !
Oh .. and reinstate the hardshoulder on motorways, it will be needed more than ever !

[Sorastro]

Went to Tesco's in Clay Cross a couple of days ago, they've cleared a space in the car park {basically opposite the A.T.M's} to install electric car plug points, it will be interesting to see whether the space allocation is adhered to.

[bransoj]

Two charge points installed at Morrisons on Chatsworth Rd recently.

[Sorastro]

Boris says they are planning to ban the sale of diesel/petrol cars by by 2035, although far into the future they have a lot to do now to prepare.
By then.....
All electric cars MUST be self charging, as this idea of recharge points up and down the country is a no brainer.

Besides if you buy a brand new diesel/petrol in say 2034 you will still be using it into the next decade and as I have remarked before it would take a lot of advanced technology in electric cars for me to even consider buying one, besides by 2035 I will be in my eighties so I very much doubt I will be driving then.

[wollygobble]

They are planning to ban the sale of new diesel/petrol cars by 2035.  Presumably it will still be o.k. to buy second-hand ones, which will rapidly be in very short supply with prices to match!

Personally I don't like the silence.  And I particularly don't like the idea of a car moving off from a parked position without any prior audible warning that it's alive (i.e. the sound of an engine starting up).  If I had one, I'm sure I'd run over a cat within a week.

[bransoj]

I think we are a long way off where you can rely on electric cars as a main car with no other option when you are going to be doing longer journeys.

We currently have two petrol cars but we are seriously considering an electric car to replace one of them. Like the vast majority of people our main journeys are well within the range of most electric cars and general nipping to places etc is fine but we would have the other car for longer journeys like going away on holiday etc where to be honest with the two of us, the little one and everything that goes for her and the dog we need a big estate anyway so its fine. The range of most electric cars would easily do the daily commute to and from work for both of us or when we are knocking about the rest of the time with charging at home plus my wifes employer has a number of charge points installed that she can use to leave it charging whilst she's sat at her desk. Also some off the newer ones would probably do the trips to Scarborough that we do fairly often as well without a charge although we can park it up to charge once we get there if we want to. I wouldnt fancy our 1700 mile round trip to France that we do some years in one though as it stands!!

[Tarzan]

Forget electric cars, this has to be the future, https://youtu.be/jZ0cmw3CXbM 

[Fly]

Love it 

[Sorastro]

I have just discovered an interesting fact concerning our carbon footprint and planting trees to offset it.

Apparently, according to some boffins, a tree is actually carbon neutral, so basically it does not "eat" the carbon it collects from the atmosphere all it does is stores it {sucks it up like a sponge} so at the end of the trees life, like rotting away or being burnt, the "stored" carbon will be released back into the atmosphere.
This means possibly chopping down trees on an industrial scale could be worse for the planet but places like the Brazilian rain forests and the recent fires in Australia haven't helped.

[Old Cruser]

Plus Personal Independence Payments (PIP), my 70 year old sister suffers from Cerebral Palsy with mental and physical impairments, meaning she has a mental age of an 8year old and is unable to stand or walk without assistance.

This situation hasn't and never will change in her lifetime - you wouldn't believe all the hoops she had to jump through (pun intended) to keep her benefits.

Now if that isn't a complete waste of time and money by the government, I don't know what is!

The forms they give are soul destroying. By the time you have completed them and realise just what you or the person can't do it makes you realise just why some take their own lives!