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As 2035 looms closer, Govt looks to encourage buying EVs

Infinite Chaos

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"The government will make it cheaper to buy an electric car (EV) to get more drivers to make the switch,
the Transport Secretary has said.

However Heidi Alexander, nor the Department for Transport would not explicitly confirm reports in the Telegraph
that the government will offer drivers thousands of pounds in grants to cut the price of buying an EV."​

Electric cars will be cheaper to buy, pledges Heidi Alexander

The Transport Secretary says she will announce measures to cut the cost of buying an electric car.
www.bbc.co.uk

I'm still not convinced the UK (or even Europe) are ready for bigger take-up of Electric vehicles, I'm not ready to deal with range anxiety either.
Cars are far too expensive these days anyhow and more people are hanging onto their ultra-reliable little Toyotas and Hondas and I can't blame them. If your car will run the clock twice and still be as reliable as it was when you got it - why change?

Have to laugh when the article suggests:

"The average price of a new EV in the UK is nearly double the cost of a typical petrol car at £22,000"​

Where the *** are these £11,000 petrol cars unless they are talking about 2nd hand cars? I'd like to see where the BBC got this from.
 

You might be misreading that (bolded above). Perhaps that means new EVs are priced at £44,000.
 
ICE have range limits too.

Don't buy into the claims that drivers are unable to handle planning long trips.
 
Just one problem. EVs don't reduce CO2. And no one wants them. OK, that's two problems. And they suck for long trips. Three! Three problems!
 
eman623 said:
Just one problem. EVs don't reduce CO2. And no one wants them. OK, that's two problems. And they suck for long trips. Three! Three problems!
Click to expand...
Evs can reduce carbon depending on how the electricity is generated

France has a lot of nuclear power, Iceland geothermal so evs will reduce carbon emissions in those areas
 
Lord Tammerlain said:
Evs can reduce carbon depending on how the electricity is generated

France has a lot of nuclear power, Iceland geothermal so evs will reduce carbon emissions in those areas
Click to expand...
The CO2 costs come in when we mine and refine the rare earths needed to make all the batteries.
 
eman623 said:
The CO2 costs come in when we mine and refine the rare earths needed to make all the batteries.
Click to expand...


Which are also a factor in oil and gas gas production, along with the mining for the iron and aluminum among other metal to make the engine and transmission for gas vehicles
 
Lord Tammerlain said:
Which are also a factor in oil and gas gas production, along with the mining for the iron and aluminum among other metal to make the engine and transmission for gas vehicles
Click to expand...
The environmental impact of a EV battery pack is orders of magnitude higher than that of a combustion engine and transmission.
 
aociswundumho said:
The reason the tariff exists is because of the UAW.
Click to expand...


The poster I was referring to is from the uk. The EU has tariffs of Chinese evs, i mistakenly thought the UK would have them too ( which I don’t now believe they have)
 
Lord Tammerlain said:
The poster I was referring to is from the uk. The EU has tariffs of Chinese evs, i mistakenly thought the UK would have them too ( which I don’t now believe they have)
Click to expand...

Sorry for the misunderstanding. You're right they don't, and apparently the the UK is a key target for chinese ev makers.
 
eman623 said:
Just one problem. EVs don't reduce CO2. And no one wants them. OK, that's two problems. And they suck for long trips. Three! Three problems!
Click to expand...
There are other drawbacks with EVs. One is that they are not user-serviceable like ICE vehicles are. EVs require highly-trained and highly skilled technicians to perform any needed service or repairs. Independent automotive repair shops won't touch 'em. So the EV owner is forced to take the EV to the dealer for any service or repairs, which ALWAYS cost a fortune - - typically 2 to 3 times as much as comparable service/repair for ICE vehicles.

And of course, the EV battery fires. The chemicals and metals used in EV batteries burn so hot, Fire Departments cannot extinguish them. They just drag the EV to an open area and let it burn itself out.

EVs suck so hard - I don't know why anybody would want one other than the novelty, and I don't understand why governments are forcing these nasty things on us.
 
The range aspect fear is mostly unwarranted. We are not Americans. Europeans rarely do road trips (relative to Americans). Most drives are sub 100km each way, and of those a vast majority are under 50 km. European tend to live within 50 km to 100 km of their work...most in fact under 50 km. A quick Google states that the average European has 25 mins to work...an EV could easily service that need.

And yes I just did a road trip with a friend around Portugal and Spain. 400 to 500 km max a day with multiple stops a day. Could this have been done in an EV? Easily. We drove a maximum of 250km in one go and then took a 2 to 3 hour break being tourists looking at old Roman stuff...or eating.

Also not many people would do a 1000km a day trip..I know a few who do, and they are nuts....but the rest of the sane people could easily switch to an EV for day to day travel.
 
Lord Tammerlain said:
Evs can reduce carbon depending on how the electricity is generated
Click to expand...

It's pathetic when you see a diesel generator driving an EV charging station here though.

Lord Tammerlain said:
Remove the tariff on Chinese evs and you can get ones priced fairly evenly with ice vehicles
Click to expand...

I know you now know about UK not putting tariffs on - however our security service has strongly advised anyone in Govt / military / emergency services not to connect their phones to their EV for security reasons.

aociswundumho said:
Sorry for the misunderstanding. You're right they don't, and apparently the the UK is a key target for chinese ev makers.
Click to expand...

Yep, especially the security reasons as above.

SkyChief said:
EVs require highly-trained and highly skilled technicians to perform any needed service or repairs.
Click to expand...

Apparently faulty EVs in my county have to be taken 60 miles to another county for repair. An ICE can be fixed by any one of 30 garages in my town.

SkyChief said:
And of course, the EV battery fires. The chemicals and metals used in EV batteries burn so hot, Fire Departments cannot extinguish them. They just drag the EV to an open area and let it burn itself out.
Click to expand...

Yep, I've been involved in producing the training videos at the Fire dept I work for. In the Netherlands, there's talk of putting chemical "baths" along certain motorways to drop burning batteries.
It's not just that EV batteries bun hot - they also provide all the materials needed to keep burning which is why it's pointless cutting oxygen to an EV fire.
 
Infinite Chaos said:
Apparently faulty EVs in my county have to be taken 60 miles to another county for repair. An ICE can be fixed by any one of 30 garages in my town.
Click to expand...

That's one of the biggest drawbacks, imo. Everything breaks eventually, and with an EV good luck finding someone to work on it, and parts for EVs can be outrageously expensive.
 
aociswundumho said:
That's one of the biggest drawbacks, imo. Everything breaks eventually, and with an EV good luck finding someone to work on it, and parts for EVs can be outrageously expensive.
Click to expand...
That and charging stations can be an issue outside the big cities.
 
The simple fact that you can get a decent EV in China for like $15k (with all sorts of bells and whistles) and the cheapest car you can get (in the US) is $18k for inferior technology tells me that EVs are the future.
 
Lord Tammerlain said:
Evs can reduce carbon depending on how the electricity is generated

France has a lot of nuclear power, Iceland geothermal so evs will reduce carbon emissions in those areas
Click to expand...

There even in a country like Poland can electric cars lifecycle emissions be lower than fossil fuel cars because they are so much more efficient.

How clean are electric cars?

How much CO2 can electric cars really save compared to diesel and petrol cars? To answer this question we have developed a tool (see below) that compiles…
www.transportenvironment.org

Also the big emission from electric cars are from the production of the battery. So it good there are now advancement in reducing those emissions. While also that the lifespan is now increasing so electric car batteries can get a second life as energy storage.

100,000 EVs Will Retire This Year. What Will Happen To Their Batteries?

The second-life EV battery market is on the cusp of explosive growth thanks to companies such as Redwood Materials.
insideevs.com
 
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Slartibartfast said:
The simple fact that you can get a decent EV in China for like $15k (with all sorts of bells and whistles) and the cheapest car you can get (in the US) is $18k for inferior technology tells me that EVs are the future.
Click to expand...

Yes China show that cheap electric cars and rapid technology advancements is possible. While the problem is that legacy car makers didn't want electric cars to cut into their very lucrative profits of selling fossil fuel cars. While tarriffs on Chinese electric cars and also Musk focusing on Cybertrucks and far right extremism instead of producing cheaper cars have shielded those car companies from competition.

How China’s EV Boom Powers Its Tech Rise

Once an auto underdog, the country’s current dominance of the global electric-vehicle market says a lot about why it brims with confidence in other fields.
time.com

What's wrong with electric car prices?

The average price of an EV in Europe has increased – despite battery prices hitting record lows
www.transportenvironment.org
 
The details are being released and there's a grant to reduce price for new EV cars under £37,000

Under the scheme, discounts will range between £1,500 and £3,750 and buyers will be able to claim a discount at the dealership.
The grants to lower the cost of EVs will be funded through a £650m scheme, and will be available for three years.
There are around 1.3 million electric cars on Britain's roads but currently only around 82,000 public charging points.​

Electric cars: Drivers offered up to £3,750 discount

Government will subsidise prices cuts to encourage a shift away from petrol and diesel.
www.bbc.co.uk

It all seems madness to me, there are only 82,000 public charging points in Britain and to put chargers in some homes will cost a minimum of £20K to convert the electrical supply from single phase to triple phase that would allow more people to charge at home.

Really needs to be a proper alternative and I am becoming more and more convinced that purely Lithium battery based EVs are not the long term solution.
 
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