Petrol ban now 2030

[Dave Mann]

One of the problems is we are being subject to a form of censorship, it is not what we we are told but what we are not being told. Unless they plan to ban diesel HGVs at the same time the refinerys will be producing diesel for HGvs and kerosene for aircraft well after 2030 so what will the refinerys do with the petrol? The electric car makers boast about the vehicles range, presumably in summer when the electric heater isn't in use, whats the range in a nice cold winter? Then we are not told there is a minimum temperature below which you must not charge a lithium iron battery. Strangely I haven't heard of the AA or RAC being called out to an electric car with a flat battery, we hear of cars running out of petrol or diesel.
Germany burnt it's fingers with green energy when they had a massive blackout at least one aluminium smelter ended up with it's furnaces full of solidified aluminium which resulted in a big compensation claim.
All these politicians and experts ignore the elephant in the room which is global population rise, everyone needs to earn a crust by fair means or otherwise for housing (which needs heating or cooling) food and travel.

[Dave Wortley]

This is all getting very serious so (light heartedly) I am hoping that when I run out of electricity in my brand new Nissan Leaf  I will be able to get my electricity can out of the boot and stroll along to the filling station and pop in a gallon of amps.

[Austin Nippy]

Good evening everyone,
Whilst not Austin 7 related, this kind of fits in with some of this thread. A friend of mine stood for the Green Party at the last general election and was, as he often does, extolling the benefits of "green power" and berating the dreaded internal combustion engines of which we are all fond. He then began on another rant about how great the nearby wind farms were and how they were the future for cheap, clean energy.

After a while, I managed to get a word in and explained to him that they weren't quite as green as he thought. His puzzled expression got me on a role as I told him that on the end of the "windmill bit" was a mechanism which drove a shaft - not to turn a generator as he thought but to drive a drill bit! This was being used to drill for shale gas and the wind farms were actually a clever cover story for fracking in our local area.

This induced a fairly manic episode of behaviour in him although he still wasn't totally convinced. As such, he wrote to various agencies to confirm the reality of the situation. Probably with a bit of a chuckle, they replied and told him it wasn't the case and the wind farms are generating electricity - not drilling for shale gas. However, he is now convinced there is a conspiracy going on between the companies and the government and that they are obviously trying to cover things up - so the wind farms MUST be drilling for shale gas!!

He has now even gone as far as to buy banners saying things like, "Say NO To Fracking - Frack Off!" which he has been convincing the residents of some of the local villages which he represents as a local councillor to put up in their gardens. He has even managed to get a few to lobby their MP to ask for his support in stopping the secret fracking farms which are on his patch.

I don't know if I should tell him or not - any thoughts anyone?
Best wishes,
Nick

[Howard Wright]

Ha ha

Reminds me of the trick our two sons played on their little sister.

They convinced her that the word “gullible” had been removed from the dictionary.

Cheers

Howard

PS I’m not totally convinced that all the “green - electric car” stuff is so improbable.  Manufacturers have come a very long way in a short time and if the public see kudos in owning an electric then money can be made and obstacles can be overcome.  Likewise having a passive house could become oneupmanship in the suburbs! I still think it will be a long time before we need to worry about petrol though. Maybe not so long before we need to worry about coal burning stoves!

[Austin in the Shed]

According to the geological society the last ice age in the UK ended around 10,000 years ago.At its peak ice was several hundred metres thick and ice was as far south as London.
 I would think,given there has been several ice age in the last 500,000 years at some point in time this is likely to happen again?
The one thing no one seems to want to address is capping the world population.

[Tony Griffiths]

...has even managed to get a few to lobby their MP to ask for his support in stopping the secret fracking farms which are on his patch.

I don't know if I should tell him or not - any thoughts anyone?
Best wishes,
Nick

In no way must you enlighten him. A great story!

[Alan]

This whole idea is doomed to failure. Our Goverment can't even organise PPE for the Health Service so what chance is there of enough charging points to service 30 million electric vehicles? Then we come to a bigger question, is the rest of the world going to follow, because if not will the supply of electric cars be there? Ever wondered why the petrol filler of your German car is on the Right hand side furthest from the kerb? Its because it is on the kerb side in that manufacturers major markets and they wont stand the expense to change for the UK market. So, what chance they will provide enough electric cars, if the demand is not there elsewhere?
And where is the major market? well in the car company I worked for 80% of production went to China and America. Europe, even, was relatively minor. Can you see China installing charging points for 240 million vehicles anytime soon? Until this changes, maufacturers will regard electric cars as something they are obliged to produce to satisfy a legal requirement and they will be priced accordingly. Currently, that price difference amounts to a tax of £10,000 on buying an electric car, how long are people going to stand for that once they realise?
And then, the Government of the day will have to explain why we dont have the latest generation IC engine technology which is cleaner, greener and less expensive than the electric cars we have bankrupted ourselves to produce.

[Ivor Hawkins]

The greenest car you can buy is an old one!

[Charles P]

 Can you see China installing charging points for 240 million vehicles anytime soon? 

Bear in mind that whilst in the whole of the UK we have 200 electric buses China has 400,000 of them. On a per capita basis they are already 100 times ahead of us. Whether this commitment to electrifying public transport (presumably replacing the old vision of bicycles) will extend into private vehicles I don't know. I wouldn't bet against it. 

Charles

[Andy Bennett]

I think that the timing of this announcement says a lot.

It comes days before G20, with UK as hosts and trying to reposition itself outside of the EU as a Global player and Driver (excuse the pun) for post Jan 1st Brexit.

Then you have the motor industry. They cannot possibly say it can't be achieved. If Audi says 'no problem' but BMW says 'that's stupid, we won't be ready' then Audi shares double and BMW halves, with BMW Chair losing his job. So what happens? All the car manufacturers line up to say it will be fine and they will be ready with the right cars at the right price. Then they privately hope it won't happen and all lobby behind the scenes to get the date moved on.

But, when it comes to China, we need to watch and learn (not from their political system). I have spent a reasonable amount if time working in China from late 90s, including setting up a representative office, and learnt to never underestimate their desire to be seen as world leaders and to throw whatever is needed at a stated 5 year plan objective. China, like the UK, is running at just sub 40% energy from renewables. But their energy use is expanding rapidly so they are actually storming ahead with renewable installations (alongside too much coal).

This is a picture I took in 2004 on a sunny summer's day in Beijing. You could taste the pollution. It was pretty much the point that the Communist party decided to do something about it and thy realised it could be a technology they could lead the world in.

   

I remember when I installed a solar hot water system at our house 20 years ago. I was quoted £15k for a German system and £1K for a Chinese copy. I bought the Chinese one and it is still working well. 2 years ago we installed PV panels, Chinese of course. But this time not Chinese copies, this time Chinese designed, leading technology for domestic solar panel efficiency.

The West spends half its life suggesting that China is a polluting third world country. Meanwhile, China quietly takes over the world of green technology.
It would not surprise me one little bit to hear that a charging centre was being built on the outskirts of Beijing capable of charging a thousand cars and that charging points were to be installed in all new houses and in streets. It is just what they would do.

Andy B