UK switching to electric vehicles discussion

BananaRepublic said:

For goodness sake, you can still buy a Black & White TV licence in 2026, when such TV's haven't been available to buy for at least over 40 years and any old sets, if still working (doubtful ???) can't receive today's live broadcasts anyway.

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Some older Freeview boxes have the ability to connect a coaxial cable to a TV enabling you to tune in the Freeview broadcast on a specific UHF channel, which would work for any 625 line TV from the 60s onwards. If it doesn't have that but has SCART, then you can connect it via a VHS video recorder.

There are even enthusiasts who maintain and repair vintage 405 line TVs and use converters so they can show modern broadcasts. 405 line was the UK TV standard from 1936 until it was superseded by 625 lines in the 60s. 405 line TV broadcasting in the UK continued in parallel with 625 line until 405 line ceased in 1985 but by then almost nobody was using it.

Of course, I fully understand and agree with your point!

Peter Sarf said:

I am afraid there will always be an anti car brigade.

But a problem I have is that the growing dependency on cars was not stemmed when it could have been. We have over recent decades watched the growth of out of town shopping centres and entertainment venues. Ironically leaving town centres often to run down. This could/should have been controlled by planning authorities.

Instead we have public transport networks centred on redundant town centres (principally buses) and the need for people to own and operate a car.

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Well a lot of this is the result of local authorities and campaigners trying to 'Canute' the car.
If bus and other public transport networks shifted to support the places people want to go, rather than the legacy town centre, we'd be in a much better spot.

New developments should include dedicated public transport routes in their fundamental design (nothing in the way).

I also feel money should be put into proving low capital cost automated or semi automated transport solutions and making them available for widespread deployment

From a transport perspective I think we should probably encourage or outright develop properly managed home delivery system that can eliminate many shopping trips entirely.



The psychic impact of the 'high street' remains powerful, but I think webe reached the point that political obsession with it is counterproductive.

HSTEd said:

Well a lot of this is the result of local authorities and campaigners trying to 'Canute' the car.
If bus and other public transport networks shifted to support the places people want to go, rather than the legacy town centre, we'd be in a much better spot.

New developments should include dedicated public transport routes in their fundamental design (nothing in the way).

I also feel money should be put into proving low capital cost automated or semi automated transport solutions and making them available for widespread deployment

From a transport perspective I think we should probably encourage or outright develop properly managed home delivery system that can eliminate many shopping trips entirely.



The psychic impact of the 'high street' remains powerful, but I think webe reached the point that

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Personally if I'm forced on to public transport for shopping trips I just don't visit the location whether it's a high street or out of town shopping centre. I buy it online with home delivery.

marshlinker said:

Personally if I'm forced on to public transport for shopping trips I just don't visit the location whether it's a high street or out of town shopping centre. I buy it online with home delivery.

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Online shopping is more convenient even that going tom the shops by car
Any queueing is done in comfort of your armchair rather than standing in line.
|And the product is more likely to be in stock on line.

HSTEd said:

Well a lot of this is the result of local authorities and campaigners trying to 'Canute' the car.
If bus and other public transport networks shifted to support the places people want to go, rather than the legacy town centre, we'd be in a much better spot.

New developments should include dedicated public transport routes in their fundamental design (nothing in the way).

I also feel money should be put into proving low capital cost automated or semi automated transport solutions and making them available for widespread deployment

From a transport perspective I think we should probably encourage or outright develop properly managed home delivery system that can eliminate many shopping trips entirely.



The psychic impact of the 'high street' remains powerful, but I think webe reached the point that political obsession with it is counterproductive.

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Trouble with out of town is where do you run the busses from/to ?.

Do you provide a fast and frequent link to the nearest town centre so that people can connect with existing transport. That means an extra leg for many peoples journeys.

Or
Do you completely change the bus routes to radiate out from the out of town shopping which then means less flexible longer distance public transport like railways is left behind at the old town centre. And the bus routes no longer radiate from the town centre.

Or
Do you just bite the bullet and thoroughly re-develop town centres ?.
(to be fair Croydon has half heartedly done that. Demolish and planning blight but no new build)

The reality I see is we have a few token bus routes provided to the out of town shopping area. Most people use their car be it ICE or EV. The town centres are less polluted because no one wants to go there by car. Witness the smell on the A23 outside central Croydon compared to the town centre.

Talking of EVs. Many (most ?) of our out of town shops around Croydon now have parking restrictions - typically time limits. This seems to have appeared at the same time as EV charging has appeared in the same car parks. I wonder if there is a connection (no pun intended) with EVs perhaps being left all day ?.
(fast charging makes me assume not).

Peter Sarf said:

Talking of EVs. Many (most ?) of our out of town shops around Croydon now have parking restrictions - typically time limits. This seems to have appeared at the same time as EV charging has appeared in the same car parks. I wonder if there is a connection (no pun intended) with EVs perhaps being left all day ?.

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No connection I‘m aware of.

It’s owners of free car parks clocking on to cheap technoogy which will raise their revenue, from a not insignificant part of the population who appear not to be able to notice signs.

Bald Rick said:

No connection I‘m aware of.

It’s owners of free car parks clocking on to cheap technoogy which will raise their revenue, from a not insignificant part of the population who appear not to be able to notice signs.

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I agree. It is another income stream for the freeholders who are no doubt under pressure not to put up the lease charges on the actual store on the same plot.

On the subject of not being able to notice signs - I am anally good at that BUT two near misses :-

The Morrisons near me is 2 hours maximum no return within two hours. We did actually get close to two hours once, while waiting for a promised delivery to appear on the floor. It was our normal shopping amount BUT in addition compost at a good price so the car was taken. I abandoned waiting as I was unsure of our arrival time - later worked out we can within ten minutes.

Where I can see my family coming unstuck is the no return within 2 hours rule. We had a near miss as my stepson asked me to nip out with his car and get some cases of lager for the party the next day while he continued with his home working. For drinks my store of choice is Morrisons, usually cheapest by a good margin and nearest anyway. I was just about to turn into the car park when I recalled him taking his mother out in the car at lunchtime and I had no idea where they went. Transpired it was Morrisons and was within two hours. Near miss.

I wonder if two hours maximum stay is a bit tight for charging an EV ?.
(perhaps an old EV with no battery management).

Peter Sarf said:

I wonder if two hours maximum stay is a bit tight for charging an EV ?.

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Supermarket chargers are not normally high popwer, you are only every going to use them to ‘top up’, rather than as a main charge.

Bald Rick said:

Supermarket chargers are not normally high popwer, you are only every going to use them to ‘top up’, rather than as a main charge.

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True.

I suppose it could be part of handling the risk of someone leaving their car on the charging bay long after its full.

As an aside I have started wondering EV owners/drivers that are disabled fare. The reason is I notice disabled parking bays are near the store entrance (quite rightly) but I think all the supermarket chargers I have noticed are at the far corners (so to speak) of the same car park. Seems obvious it avoids ICE drivers inadvertently parking in an EV charging bay (never underestimate peoples power of observation) but hard on disabled drivers.