http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40505671" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looks like they're going to start phasing out Diesel and Petrol engines.

If electric cars do gain in popularity over the next ten years or so will the national grid be able to cope with the extra demand, especially at the traditional busy period from 5pm onwards when people get home from work and will inevitably plug their car in to charge it up? I'm not sure of the drain these cars will have on the grid but i'm sure 1 million or so going on charge eventually at around the same time would have some impact.

I am totally in favour of the move to electric, i just hope it doesn't result in electricity price hikes and blackouts when we all have one.

I want a lecky car for my next one

I had a look at the cost of an electric VW Golf and it might just happen.

Sidney1st wrote:I had a look at the cost of an electric VW Golf and it might just happen.

Make sure they get the figures right for charging as the emissions will increase at the power station

Does look nice though..

Why don't electric cars come with solar panels?

It Will cost the government billions in loss of tax on fuels if everyone switches over.

Look at this sexy f***er

https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/new/5YJSB7E14HF187219

Quickenthetempo wrote:Why don't electric cars come with solar panels?

It Will cost the government billions in loss of tax on fuels if everyone switches over.

They'll introduce road tax again for electrics once everyone has switched over, stop panicking.

Great, but I still won't be buying one. Vulvas are for old men and those that have already given up.

The comment above reminded me of the classic ClaretsMad thread 'what your car says about you' - can we bring that back for a reboot?

Also, bugger off, I drive a Volvo and I'm not that old and have only given up slightly.

There'll be electric flexes across the pavements from houses to cars.

And kids running up and down unplugging em!

karatekid wrote:If electric cars do gain in popularity over the next ten years or so will the national grid be able to cope with the extra demand, especially at the traditional busy period from 5pm onwards when people get home from work and will inevitably plug their car in to charge it up? I'm not sure of the drain these cars will have on the grid but i'm sure 1 million or so going on charge eventually at around the same time would have some impact.

I am totally in favour of the move to electric, i just hope it doesn't result in electricity price hikes and blackouts when we all have one.

It's not just the national grid that will struggle, the local distribution wires won't be able to handle it if there are 10 cars all wanting to charge at the same time in one street.

It might be easier to go hydrogen powered fuel cells: the only emission is water and refuelling is as simple and quick as petrol/diesel is now.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -2040.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

France planning to ban the sale of Diesel and Petrol vehicles by 2040.

Sidney1st wrote:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -2040.html

France planning to ban the sale of Diesel and Petrol vehicles by 2040.

'Swedish car giant volvo'..... I think the daily mail will find that volvo are now Chinese owned.

Yes they are, but people still assume jaguar Land Rover are British when they aren't.

I've been in two friend's Tesla cars. Expensive but very nice. Apparently new models only come with free charging for first 3 years. Previous offer was for lifetime of the car.

I know someone who bought an electric KIA. Does about 150 miles on a charge and has cost roughly £120 in electricity over a year, with pretty much no servicing costs.

Electric, self-driving cars looks to be the way we're going, whether people like it or not.

dushanbe wrote:I know someone who bought an electric KIA. Does about 150 miles on a charge and has cost roughly £120 in electricity over a year, with pretty much no servicing costs.

The only problem with electric cars is the amount of charge the batteries hold. The last thing I want to do if I'm doing a long distance trip is having to stop for an extended period whilst i wait for the batteries to recharge.

You've then got the issue of making sure your destination has a charging port.

That said, I'm sure battery capacity will increase over the coming years.

As much as I love cars and engines, electric power is the way forward, and I'm willing to play my part in helping the planet.

Home charging could be a problem too. How do you charge your car if you don't have a driveway? Many people have to park on busy main roads with a pavement right outside their house. You can't trail a wire from your house, across the path to your vehicle.

Thibk it will be phased in due to the battery bank charge capacity. Hybrids are a very good happy medium gives the flexibility of using fuel for longer distances.

Agree with the hydrogen fuel cell though. The technology is already there except the oil conglomerates made it disappear in the early 90s

I'll stick with Mr Fusion.

Good news in that it will help reduce the toxic emissions that we are all forced to breathe in, killing people by the thousands. Governments of all flavours have literally been getting away with murder for not controlling it.

The electricity of course has to be generated somewhere, not necessarily from green sources, but definitely a step in the right direction.

FactualFrank wrote:Electric, self-driving cars looks to be the way we're going, whether people like it or not.

I'm all for it, I get really hacked off with people who can't even do the basics of driving, especially on the motorways.

Plus it will be easier to get around the country for me if the car will drive itself.

karatekid wrote:Home charging could be a problem too. How do you charge your car if you don't have a driveway? Many people have to park on busy main roads with a pavement right outside their house. You can't trail a wire from your house, across the path to your vehicle.

I expect there will be charging bays, in both senses - you pay money and you get juice while it's parked.

Sidney1st wrote:I'm all for it, I get really hacked off with people who can't even do the basics of driving, especially on the motorways.

Plus it will be easier to get around the country for me if the car will drive itself.

Me too Sidney.

I watched Horizon last week which had an episode on self-driving cars. It mentioned the problems that could occur. One of them was the transition from manual to self-driving... you'd have manual drivers purposely cutting up self-drivers, because they know it'll stop for them.

Dash cams Frank would solve that.

If you had dash cam proving that you'd been cut up people would soon learn when the police spoke to them.

Yeah, that could possibly work. I'm sure any problem would be short-term, anyway. I think I read that one company (forget which one) plans to have their self-driving cars on the roads within the next 4-5 years and for us all to be able to buy one within 10.

I hope so, my son will be much better off with a self driving car.

Self driving cars have already been tested in a few places round the world and also due or already being tested in the UK.

Sidney1st wrote:Self driving cars have already been tested in a few places round the world and also due or already being tested in the UK.

We're building an autonomous transport system here Sid, https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/press/news- ... completion" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; although, it will be a year or two away from being in use

Hold on, people are busy running around telling us the Uk automotive industry is doomed...

I hope you like my Volvo........................... P1800
Its a 1968

Picture taken at Greystones Wicklow Ireland

UTC

Sidney1st wrote:Hold on, people are busy running around telling us the Uk automotive industry is doomed...

Latest figures show 4.4% drop in output, and that's on top of the huge drop in funding, as we discussed the other day.

I'll bet you're no 'Saint'

UpTheBeehole wrote:Latest figures show 4.4% drop in output, and that's on top of the huge drop in funding, as we discussed the other day.

Yup and as has been pointed out, the automotive industry is always in a state of flux.

Think Transit...

Your one example...

The point being missed here is the global appetite for hybrids. Toyota are struggling to show growth on Prius, in fact are combatting reducing unit sales. What's driving this is the relatively low cost of fuel in the huge geographies (the fact you pay fortunes in the UK not impactful). So at the industry level this is an interesting and in many way risky from Volvo

https://www.carkeys.co.uk/news/which-ca ... -in-the-uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Have a look at the list of cars that are built in the UK.

VAG cars are not made in the UK but are some of the best sellers, because lots of people oddly think they're the most reliable when in many cases they aren't.
VAG = VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda, just in case you aren't sure.
Also includes Porsche, Bugatti, Lamborghini and some other brands, including Scania.
I think Bentley is the only VAG brand that's built over here.

Mercedes aren't made over here, nor are American models.

I used Transit as an example because it was recent and Brexit wasn't used as an excuse for its moving to Turkey, it was simple cost saving measures.
Not my issue that you didn't like the example I've provided despite it being perfectly valid.

PSA (Peugeot/Citroen) closed their plant in Coventry 10yrs ago, due to production costs being cheaper in places like Slovakia.
There's a 2nd example, here's a link for you to read -
http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/l ... d-12298655" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Now that Peugeot/Citroen own Vauxhall/Opel I'd expect them to possibly shift production to mainland Europe, probably down to costs, but you can blame Brexit if it makes you feel better.
If Brexit wasn't happening they'd probably still move production.

Fiat-Chrysler Automotive don't make any models over here either.
Now they're one of the biggest car companies in the world, including brands such as Fiat, Jeep, Chrysler, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Maserati, yet none of their models are made over here oddly enough.

Ford stopped assembling cars over here just under 20yrs ago and the Transit you already know about.
Which of those are you going to blame on Brexit?

JLR (Jag Land Rover) have 3 plants across the world and are making a 4th in Slovakia, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll close Halewood in the UK, they're just being sensible.

The Renault-Nissan group have the one factory over here but the majority of their cars aren't made over here,

I can list more vehicles that aren't made over here but are sold over here than I can that are built and sold here.

Now I'm hoping I've got my point across, that whilst the UK has a long and rich history of building cars, it isn't the manufacturing giant that people think it is.
We aren't even in the top 10 in the world, that's an absolute fact.

The real issue is an over reliance in parts of the UK on those factories, so when one ups and leaves that area takes a real economic hit.
The country didn't really learn from the hard lessons that were handed out when the mining industry was pretty much shut down, or when other car manufacturers shut their doors over the last 50yrs.

The tesla model 3 does 215 miles off a single charge. It will be their first mass production model. It even has auto pilot.

At the college where I work they have had a 100% electric Kia Soul on lease. As the main driver of it I have to say it's the best car I've ever driven. Charging infrastructure has to massively increase though. The environmental officer at college has her own electric car and it took her 13 hours to drive from Kings Lynn to Dover last Easter. Charge points were either broken or there would be 4/5 cars queuing at the working ones.

karatekid wrote:The tesla model 3 does 215 miles off a single charge. It will be their first mass production model. It even has auto pilot.

My Volvo XC90 hybrid (yes, I love it!) has an auto pilot....she sits in the passenger seat!

I didn't want to start a new thread so I resurrected this one.

Here's a really interesting read about old cars and emissions, it was interesting to see that some modern diesels are really quite bad for emitting Nitrogen Dioxide. It really isn't a simple case of all old diesels are bad and new ones are good.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt ... ar_exhaust" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some of the emissions issue is due to people buying a diesel and driving them short distances only.
This means the DPF gets blocked up etc.

Plus of course diesels are generally worse for emissions.
Taxis sit there with their engines running chuffing out emissions and that's making things worse.

Buses are also a culprit.
HGV's in cities/towns, courier firms etc.

It all adds up but people don't want to deal with it.

Land rover are also going Hybrid in the next couple of years.

So how many years before I am shouting downstairs to the wife, "FFS were have you put the ******* car charger"

Sidney1st wrote:Some of the emissions issue is due to people buying a diesel and driving them short distances only.
This means the DPF gets blocked up etc

I get that Sid, I see countless 4x4 diesels on the school run through the village where I live, the furthest they go is to the shops and back.

I'm handing back my Honda Civic 1.6 ES DTEC lease car this week after 4 years and 100k miles - it has been brilliant for me, I got at least 60mpg (quoted at 78 combined) and I wanted another one, but they dont have any diesels to lease at the moment, and word has it that Honda may not even release the new Civic with a diesel engine at all - my nephew is an engineer at the factory and they haven't started prepping the lines to make them yet and he thinks they wont.

So - I had to buy an ex demonstrator instead - 11 months old Civic 1.6 DTEC Sport with 1707 miles on the clock (black with black alloys and privacy glass - mid life crisis drug dealer look for me - tempted to invest in a KITT light for the front, nah scrub that...), I pick it up next week. I am unsure as to whether I have bought the right car or not, but I just had essentially the same car on lease for 4 years with absolutely no problems at all, so I think it'll be OK.

Rick_Muller wrote:I get that Sid, I see countless 4x4 diesels on the school run through the village where I live, the furthest they go is to the shops and back.

I'm handing back my Honda Civic 1.6 ES DTEC lease car this week after 4 years and 100k miles - it has been brilliant for me, I got at least 60mpg (quoted at 78 combined) and I wanted another one, but they dont have any diesels to lease at the moment, and word has it that Honda may not even release the new Civic with a diesel engine at all - my nephew is an engineer at the factory and they haven't started prepping the lines to make them yet and he thinks they wont.

So - I had to buy an ex demonstrator instead - 11 months old Civic 1.6 DTEC Sport with 1707 miles on the clock (black with black alloys and privacy glass - mid life crisis drug dealer look for me - tempted to invest in a KITT light for the front, nah scrub that...), I pick it up next week. I am unsure as to whether I have bought the right car or not, but I just had essentially the same car on lease for 4 years with absolutely no problems at all, so I think it'll be OK.

Just be prepared to get frisked and searched a lot, worry when they put on the rubber gloves and say bend over the bonnet please Sir and spread them

CnBtruntru wrote:Just be prepared to get frisked and searched a lot, worry when they put on the rubber gloves and say bend over the bonnet please Sir and spread them

I don't think you've been using the charging stations correctly mate