when the tree huggers ban the use of petrol cars due to emissions

Renewable energy is already the cheapest way to produce electricity. That’s what’s closing down carbon heavy power stations (coal, oil etc). The argument that you’ll still be creating pollution with fuelling an electric car is bunk. At least you have options for power generation that won’t add to climate change.

The problem with renewable energy is that it also has its own limits. I believe that in most countries we are already using what we could have used from hydroelectric power. On the other hand solar energy and energy from the wind are from their nature unstable, and until we could be able to store electricity for the moments that clouds appear in the sky, or the wind stops blowing, the percentage of electricity from these sources that we can introduce in the grid is rather limited. If you dismiss coal and oil as dirty and unfashionable, you are left with nuclear power. This in its turn might be fine for some, but honestly, taking the waste to bury in the colonies at a "safe" distance, isn't really a solution. The subject is a whole lot complicated than the blurb for that "climate change" thing would let us believe. So, progress in electric car technology does advance, but it is also true that for the near future we cannot substitute fossil fuels with something else.

It won’t be electric cars that kill classic world, it’ll be whether we will be allowed to drive our own cars. The next generations are less interested in driving, an autonomous vehicle is of more interest to them. They’ll be a point where getting insurance to allow you to drive your own car will be very expensive.

This is probably sad, but true. Judging by the number of teenagers that i see checking their smartphone while riding their bicycle, perhaps this will be the future. Honestly, i will try to resist, teach my children the difference between the real and virtual life, but still we would probably be a minority.
 
In the future I can’t see anyone even owning a car anymore, as there will be driverless cars about that pick you up at your door much like a taxi, I think to travel in them will be very cheap it will be cheaper easier and more cost effective to not to own a car.
 
It will soon be fashionable not to have ever travelled more than ten miles from the place of your birth. I'm all for nostalgia but there are limits.
 
I think the autonomous car future is a bit pessimistic and is just one scenario in the very distant future 100 years possibly.

I base this thought on my experiences with China where public transport is incredibly cheap and will get you everywhere with little to no inconvenience indeed it is so good that it is entirely illogical to personally own or drive a car. However even in this environment it has become a status symbol to own your entirely unnecessary car.

It seems to be an inbuilt genetic reason that drives us to own and drive our own personal piece of prestige also keeping up with the Jones's I am sure factors in to.

For myself I never envisage the need to own or drive a car in China, just too much hassle when all can be accomplished for literally pennies on the public system or for not a lot more super cheap taxis.
 
The argument that you’ll still be creating pollution with fueling an electric car is bunk. At least you have options for power generation that won’t add to climate change.
With the recent developements in solar technology, electricity is becoming easier to produce cleanly, BUT, the tecnology involved in producing the batteries and other exotic materials used in the vehicles is dirtier by far than any coal fired powerstation, so the argument that electric cars are "cleaner" only really really applies once that car is built and sold.
 
It's quite possible that one day you'll have a lot of tree-hugger friends who might be very keen to hitch a ride with you to get somewhere. Once they wake up to the real world of the future they might rethink how useful it can be to have your own means of transport. A good old Rover might be very handy.

I might keep a gas producer kit handy for when/if the fuel stations stop working. I can't see public transport reaching too far out of the big cities.
 
In the UK the sun does not shine all the time, it is sporadic. The amount of fields needed to be covered in solar panels to net any decent power would mean there would be none left for food production.
The wind does not blow all the time either, every day I pass 4 massive turbines on the way to work, very often they are not turning. I am also led to believe that the turbines cannot sit idle for long and have to be turned to stop bearing issues developing therefore using power.
We have a nuclear power station on the coast, Sizewell A and B reactors, which are ageing. Sizewell C is planned, but is years away.
OK so if you manage to sort the supply then the delivery infrastructure wont cope. I live in the sticks, if 10 people plugged in their cars to charge then the overhead supply would simply not deal with it.
Its not easy. The rush to electric vehicles is not at all well thought through and sales are already plummeting as owners realise the pitfalls.
I can see power outages and rationing in our futures, the push for smart meters will allow the suppliers to turn off neighbourhoods at will to eek out supplies.

Its not easy being green ;)
 
The UK (especially England) can't produce enough "renewable" electricity to power all the road vehicles if we went over to electric power so will still have to have old style power generation unless as someone has already pointed out we invest in nuclear which we aren't. Renewable energy (other than hydro) is very unpredictable as well and all the windfarms/solar panel fields would not be enough to generate enough electricity.

Would agree with your second point, though I'd suggest that in many parts of the UK there is no "pleasure" in driving now due to overcrowded roads... I think back to when I first started driving in the 70s and how clear the roads were back then compared with now. For most people it's already become a chore and the sooner autonomous cars come along which relive that stress the better.
 
The solution is more Coal Powered electrical generators, there is no shortage of coal :) unlike petrol it wont run out for years.

I think the solar solution is quite silly as this will lead to rapid and dramatic global cooling which unlike global warming will see us all dead much quicker.

Graeme
 
Dosent that defeat the object of having electric cars if your having to use coal power station to keep them going? I really don’t think it will be 100 years before driverless cars are on the road I think it will be much sooner there are many companies already working very hard on the idea,
Slightly different I know but it always reminds me of when the government was suddenly pushing for everyone to have diesel cars with huge savings a lot of people made the change after a short while the diesel fuel was taxed to death and everyone told to go back to petrol :oops:
Public transport is always a blessing but you can’t carry heavy items on a bus and if your a plumber you can’t carry tools and a whole load of pipe just impossible.
 
That it will happen is true without doubt. Problem is it's a very expensive way of decarbonisation. Private motoring is about 7 percent of the UK's emissions. An all electric infrastructure would still have a carbon footprint regardless. I'd argue if you were to use carbon at all it's be where portability and energy density are needed most. Buildings and industry have two huge advantages from this perspective there are large and don't move and secondly cheap viable alternatives exist and are proven. The reason we should move on from petrol and diesel is toxic pollutants in citie
 
It always amazes me when you drive past some lots office buildings at night and some supermarkets not a sole in them but there lit up like a Christmas tree Obviously some will have night workers but I am sure there are a lot that are empty I hate to think of there electric bill :rolleyes:
 
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