Phasing out of petrol & diesel vehicles

[Charles Levien]

This subject is creating quite a lot of heat, without carbon emission ( well to talk of) but before we get too concerned about 2035 let’s remember that this lot of politicians got there by making promises they won’t be able to deliver on and getting shot of our beloved ic engines by then is one of them.
Maybe fifty years ............

[Michael D]

let's hope smaller airplanes will remain internal combustion engined planes.... then find your local airfield or get your club to bargain a deal with Shell for AVGAS https://www.shell.com/business-customers...avgas.html.
As Avgas is 100 octane we even shoudn't have problems with running HC heads...

[Duncan Grimmond]

Just using this forum is responsible for an enormous generation of power. The huge industrial units housing all the motherboards etc. for the internet require UPS systems and aircon to stop overheating, probably more than enough to power a few third world countries...

[robert regan]

a couple of questions for the better informed than me, what is the cost of scrapping a conventional car compared to the electric car,there must be measures in place concerning disposing of what lies within what I assume are a lot of batteries per car, my other thoughts are if every car in the U.K were electric today what would it take to charge that lot !, would we have to have more power stations or could we manage with what we have , regards to all Rob.

[daveg]

This site gives a good insight to the UK national grid showing electricity demand and where it is coming from:-

http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

Current demand is about 35 GW (GW = gigawatts = 10 to the power 9 watts = 1 thousand million watts = 1 billion watts)

The major suppliers currently, in round numbers, are :-
Gas 28%, 10GW
Wind 28%, 10GW (High because we are being battered by storm Ciara)
Nuclear 17%, 6GW
Coal 6%, 2GW

If 60 billion kilowatt hours per year will be needed for electric cars the extra continuous generating capacity needed will be 60,000 billion watt hours divided by 8,760 (24x365 = 8,760) which is 6.85GW.  

Assumptions:- 1 billion = 1,000 million in Simons post. I have got my sums right!

["Slack Alice" Simon]

Thanks for that - so only another 20% supply required to replace all those gallons with volts.

I bet something else will come along, though, before we get anywhere near that situation.

[Reckless Rat]

I suspect that this is just political virtuel signalling, ie bollox. Fully viable and sensibly affordable electric only vehicles are at least a generation away.

[Duncan Grimmond]

The Fe solar powered car has just completed a 500 mile tour, kerb weight 600kg(approx) average speed 56mph IIRC. A research project from Portsmouth and Oxford Universities with funding from industry.
I wish I hadn't thrown into the recycling bin the copy of Production Engineer which carried the report.

In the haste to be seen doing something we're wasting millions on a prestige project for completion in 2026-8 (oh yeah, I believe that) when we need local stuff sorting. Here a 5 mile trip using public transport to the nearest town involves a 1.5 mile walk to the bus stop unless you can wait for one of the "three stage coaches a week " that allows you a 2 hour visit.

[jansens]

I wouldn't worry (yet). The politicians make these claims but they never hit the targets. California has been doing this for years. The ZEV programme in California run by CARB (never did work out if the name is meant to be ironic) has been going since 1990 and they are continually shifting the goalposts.

https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs...gram/about

I worked for a company doing electric vehicles in 1995 and it is amusing that 25 years later all the same questions keep coming up. Batteries and motors have improved greatly since that time but many of the same issues are there. I find it amusing that people keep suggesting that all those cars plugged into the grid can be used as supplementary storage putting power back into it if the need arises as if that's a new idea. The company I was at was doing that back then.

Simon

[Malcolm Parker]

Don't worry about it, just keep using your Austin 7.
I have already developed the driverless Austin 7.  It was tested in Reeth, North Yorkshire, a few years ago.  It crashed into a council litter bin and the idea was shelved!

ps  The handbrake works better now.