Not a lot wrong with hybrids. Best of both worlds but initially relatively expensive which offsets any future savings.
I’ve a petrol hybrid, there is definitely savings on petrol or diesel, wouldn’t dream of going full electric though, the infrastructure isn’t there.
It's going to be a long time before I'm convinced!! I'm not against new technology but, as far as electric is concerned, the infrastructure is still not in place, particularly for those of us who live in rural areas. In 2016 I visited the Tesla pop-up at Cribbs; the guy I spoke with was brilliant - not an out-and-out salesman, but a spokesman/educator about the future and their vision of it. He said then that infrastructure was the big issue and that governments and big business had to properly get on-board, not only to drive down the purchase cost of a mass produced car, but that it could be easily and efficiently "refuelled". Eight years on, things are obviously better, but there's a long way to go! With hydrogen possibly coming into the scrap it could be an interesting time ahead. I've also said before that I believe there are more classic cars on the road. Whilst these obviously cannot be leased (which seems to propel the new car market), many can be bought for a fraction of the price of a new car and most can be worked upon by the owner at home - not a "technician" plugging in the vehicle at a main dealer! As it stands, I'll stick with my 2011 Passat diesel estate, now with 208k on the clock. It cost me £2,600 just over 3 years ago, but I still get 700 miles to a tank with road tax at £35 pa. I'm happy with that thank you.
Petrol engines and to a lesser extent diesel too are much cleaner than they used to be unless you drive a Lamborghini or something. Hydrogen could well be the future as it's the most abundant element in the universe, but a lot of car manufacturers fell over themselves to come out with heavy electric cars that are frankly an expensive status symbol. And if you need a new battery for your electric car and it's not covered under the warranty, then the costs are eye watering.
My petrol hybrid is on order for February. The lack of infrastructure is the reason for our choice. One EV salesman/person told me not to worry 'there are fast chargers at Exeter Services'. He didn't tell they've employed stewards to stop fisticuffs between waiting EV drivers.
We’ve got a c class 300e (wife’s car) . Still waiting to get home charger (10 week waiting time with energy provider). It does 65-70 miles on electric rest on petrol. Her work is 35 miles away so she will charge at home and her work. So won’t be using if any petrol. Confuses the life out of me when I get in and start it thinking the thing won’t start as I can’t hear it. Win win for me, as my company are only going to be doing electric company cars so this way she won’t go mad when we needed the charger. I’m probably going for a Polestar with over 400 miles charge. Plus paying over 11k from my personal allowance in tax for my current car I’m going to be saving a fortune in BIK monthly.
I was awaiting the RAC a couple years ago and was left awaiting "further transfer" down the M6 I was dumped facing the petrol forcourt a bp one so not very busy really as these SS's seem to most expensive! IT HAD 24 FUEL POINTS and whilst there was not ever more than about 6 vehicles waiting for a couple hours I kept myself occupied "logging " the vehicles in attendance at at each station ... in an hour they served about 234 total in 2 hours was 468.. According to [rounded down to 30 mins with no time to change over] OS at 30 mins that would need in excess of 500 charging points!????
JGF - I don't think anyone has done a projection on the downtime consequences of all electric refuelling. The sheer time alone taken to "refuel" these electric beasts is going to clog up service stations up and down the country. The current infrastructure in place can barely cope with demand - can you imagine the snarlups when every vehicle on the road will be looking for a charging point given the downtime involved for each vehicle.
tesco have a number near me I did a quick shop pre christmas and came out after about 45 mins the same car was on one of the plugs! when will it be an "offence" when the private parking companies that "pay the supermarkets a set annual fee" start monitoring the electric points and you get fined for not leaving the bay after 30 mins? DONT KNOW MUCH ABOUT ELECTRIC CARS AND CHARGING BUT DO YOU HAVE TO PAY TO CHARGE? if so how much for how long?
Did any of these pioneers in electric cars ever look at the map of Canada? How would you like to have one if you lived in Nowhere Saskatchewan and the nearest town is so far away that a single charge won't get you there? Then there is the minus 40C factor whereby the output of your battery diminishes greatly for every 5 degree interval below freezing point and frankly you have a snowball's chance in hell to get your vehicle even thinking about making a move. I think a radical rethink is needed to find other fuels for use in motor driven vehicles or try to reduce entirely the dangerous side affects of using fossil fuels. Surely there has to be another way and if you think the major oil companies aren't complicit in the holding back of other better inventions, then think again. There is too much money tied up in fossil fuel marketing for the thing to disappear in an instant and there is starting to be movement to push back the original targets for the banning of cars running strictly on gasoline because they just are not viable. The cost of installing a satisfactory number of charging stations across the second largest country in the world is astronomical and due to the vastness of the land is absolutely never going to be completed in my lifetime, or indeed anybody's. And then there is Australia to address the same territorial issues as us here in Canada.
Ask thje average man in the street " . .......a barrel of crude oil comes out of the ground [ most 99% would agree ] then ask name 3 products they extract from it? [most 99% could ] Then ask name 10 products not petrol/oil/diesel ! % would drop quite a bit. then ask 10 products but not petrol/oil/diesel/ road tar / plastic /aviation fuel .......... you would be down to probably down to 20 -25% who could go down to 1 or 2% who could name 50! well here is a list from a list that has over 140 products dependant on it .................... ..............Vitamin Capsules Antihistamines Purses Shoes Dashboards Cortisone Deodorant Footballs Putty Dyes Panty Hose Refrigerant Percolators Life Jackets Rubbing Alcohol Linings Skis TV Cabinets Shag Rugs Electrician’s Tape Tool Racks Car Battery Cases Epoxy Paint Mops Slacks Insect Repellent Oil Filters Umbrellas Yarn Fertilizers Hair Coloring Roofing Toilet Seats Fishing Rods Lipstick................ should we decide to stop using petrol/ diesel/ oil / aviation fuel/ etc but just make use of the 120 plus "minor things" we get from it what do we do with the lakes of petrol/ diesel/ oil / aviation fuel/ etc ? When I was in my first job [ major 1 as an apprentice ] natural gas was in the process of being piped to St Annes board mills. A twice weekly classroom event we learned not just about tree's and making boxboard but the enviroment and continuity of the raw products........... The teacher said to me " do you know when you retire in x years at 65 or in your retirement oil & gas will be close to running out! It was a common belief back then late 60's oil and gas would run out in 50 /60 years time! NOW they are still saying that! I always wonder, they remove the oil from the rocks 1000's feet down , and gas so they must fill the voids with water? sea water is acidic and so is rain. Caves are formed in 2 ways one is dissolution where the acidic water simply dissolves the rock till that water become negative, but it does have a flow so maintains acidity and carves out chambers and passages.... Florida is a prime example! .. sink holes. eventually will the ocean / sea beds / land above oil wells eventually collapse?
So much stuff is made from oil, would we manage if we stopped oil production?, I don’t think so, reducing its use as much as possible is a positive, but to stop it altogether I’m not sure would work, even if all cars were electric/ bio fuel or whatever, and electricity could be produced by 100% green methods.
the key is by product that is the problem now all but maybe 5 products of crude are automotive .. using crude to make all the other things then those 5 products become by products!
I remember a scam on a TV programme from many years ago (candid camera?) where a car pulled into a petrol station and filled up with water and then proceeded to pop a pill in the tank to supposedly turn the water into a fuel to run the car - if only we could do that***.
