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Flat Battery? in The AnswerBank: News
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Flat Battery?

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mushroom25 | 18:07 Tue 17th Jan 2023 | News
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64303149

will the phasing out of internal combustion engine production in the UK prove to be a little premature?
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Looks like another 'in' for foreign investors as the UK shows how utterly useless they are at this kind of thing.

In other climate-related news, Thunberg was huckled at a demo in Germany earlier so not all bad news.
I don't see how the authorites can make this dash for electrical vehicles work. Every day more issues seem to arise. It's almost as if they want to ban private transport even though present day society depends on it. A far better option is to develop better ways to scrub exhausts clean, and to accept that UK transport polution is vanishingly small compared to fossil fuelled power generation, and increases in such, by certain other nations. Setting a good example is a good thing, but no need to go nuts about it and wreck society in the process.
Well O_G, we have a very prominent Tory supporter who regularly posts on AB who openly advocates that private motoring should be priced out for working people, so I think you might be right.
//Well O_G, we have a very prominent Tory supporter who regularly posts on AB who openly advocates that private motoring should be priced out for working people…//

I don’t think the proposal was aimed at “working people”. Rather more at people who cannot realistically afford to run a car (many of whom may be working).

But back to OG’s point, for huge numbers of people who currently run i/c cars, the idea of running an electric car is totally unrealistic. Just a few of the problems:

1. The cost: The cheapest new electric car (discounting the Citroen Ami, which is more of a mobility scooter with a roof) is the Smart EQ Fortwo, at over £22k. This is a two seater and has a range of about 80 miles. Fine for shopping at Tesco’s (provided you don’t want too much shopping) but not much else. There’s nothing else under £25k and a car large enough for a couple and two kids will cost north of £40k.

2. Charging at home: It is estimated that about 60% of car owning homes have access to off-street parking where they may instal exclusive car charging facilities. In some areas (the West Midlands is worst) it is as low as 45%. This leaves an enormous number of car owners with no such facility.

3. Public charging points: There is a complete dearth of public charging points in the country. In my neighbourhood there are a total of twenty-one charging points (that’s total points, not locations – there are nine locations) within about a two mile radius. That’s twenty-one points in about twelve square miles and I live in a fairly heavily populated suburb. At Christmas Tesla drivers (who, apparently have their own network of charging points exclusive to their vehicles) were queuing for up to two hours to get charged.

There is also “range anxiety” and not least, the ability of the Grid to cope with increased demand.

As with many things, the target has been announced without a clue of how it will be achieved, let alone a plan of how to get there. Problem (2) is insurmountable. Problem (3) is very unlikely to be satisfactorily addressed at the current rate of progress. The Grid is on a knife edge at the best of times and will only worsen as nuclear plants are decommissioned with no reliable replacements.

Unless this lunacy is abandoned, one of two things will therefore happen: either large number of i/c vehicles will continue to be driven well beyond the target or large numbers of people will have to give up their cars. And why are they being asked to do this? To reduce the tiny proportion of UK’s emissions produced by vehicles so as to reduce the tiny proportion of global emissions for which the UK is responsible. Meanwhile China is burning more coal than the rest of the world put together with India and the USA burning most of the rest. None of those countries show any signs of changing that habit.
I'm pretty sure the same kind of arguments were raised against the internal combustion engine by the Horse and cart lobby a while ago NJ.

The irony of course being that if the horse and carters had won that argument we wouldn't be talking about going electric now.
B&Q currently have an offer;

2 x 10 Litres Pure Brilliant White Emulsion £45

Thus 80L would cost £180 (Note cost of paint could double depending on your choice of colour and type. Say £400 max for paint. Bear in mind he'll have an account and probably be purchasing at a discounted trade price).

Since most of the work will be done with a paint roller. Add another (being generous) £50 for sandpaper, filler and turps. Gloss paint for skirting boards £20.

Max cost for materials should be under £500.

Therefore £2000 in Labour.

If he spends 10 days on the job that's £200 a day.

Oops... Wrong Thread! Well it is early :0)
Oops Zebo ;-)
My usual excuse is it's late in the day ,,
Morning Oz.

LOL... Both our times and excuses could not be more diametric.
Yes.
Question Author
NJ, in your problem 3, you appear not to have factored in how many of the 21 charging points local to you are out of service at any one time, awaiting parts that always seem to have a lead time of several weeks.
No.
If the UK cannot manufacture the batteries for new cars, there are plenty of other countries that can and will do.

Britishvolt seems to have been a fiasco from start to finish.

It is imperative that the UK gets a foothold in this industry, as it is the future. But we have a Government that is technology dumb and is universally useless at everything.
The good news is the Japaneses are building a new gigafactory plant near Nissan in Sunderland.

// It is the second Sunderland-based battery plant for Envision AESC and will have a capacity of 12GWh and will employ more than 1,000 people once operational in 2025.
Once operational, the factory will deliver a six-fold increase in electric vehicle battery production in the UK. The company added that a traditional Japanese first pillar ceremony was held to mark the first phase of construction for the project.
The facility will be powered by 100% Net Zero Carbon energy, aligning with the company’s global commitment to sustainability, the statement added.
The state-of-the-art facility will produce AESC’s latest generation batteries, with 30% more energy density to improve range and efficiency, and manufacture enough batteries to power 100,000 electric vehicles annually. //

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