Why The Obsession With Electric cars?

[LOL The Irony]

I really don't get the obsession with them. It's false clean power. Just because they don't produce emissions, doesn't mean they're clean. This Top Gear segment perfectly shows how bad they are. (Link in spoiler)

Spoiler

 

[Bletchleyite]

I really don't get the obsession with them. It's false clean power. Just because they don't produce emissions, doesn't mean they're clean. This Top Gear segment perfectly shows how bad they are.

In cities, reducing emissions at the point of use is important. They do achieve that.

 

[DarloRich]

and that Porsche one they had on top gear goes like stink of a shovel!

 

[LOL The Irony]

In cities, reducing emissions at the point of use is important. They do achieve that.

I get that, but couldn't car manufactures have found a cleaner way of zero emissions?

 

[AndrewE]

I get that, but couldn't car manufactures have found a cleaner way of zero emissions?

I had one as a kid: a pedal car!
In reality the govt is pandering to the generally lazy and selfish electorate, while hoping to maintain economic growth by propping up the car industry.
Car-lovers (and lots of other people) will not accept that we have to drastically reduce overall fuel use anyway, and electric cars won't have any effect at all on this & could make things worse given the inherent inefficiency of electricity generation. For some reason people see having to use public transport as indicating their poverty, but it's not like that abroad...

 

[Howardh]

Horses. Should all go back to horses and cart. Think how good the roses will be, put emissions to good use.

 

[Geezertronic]

If the roads were in a better state, we could all have Flinstones cars

 

[underbank]

For some reason people see having to use public transport as indicating their poverty, but it's not like that abroad...

For a huge amount of people, public transport is simply not a viable option. It's fine for people in big cities where millions have been spent on modern public transport infrastructure, but for lots of people, not just on remote hill tops, but in smaller cities, towns, villages, etc., it's a completely different scenario. As it is for people who need to transport stuff around with them for their job. Provide a "fit for purpose" public transport system and far more people would use it.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I get that, but couldn't car manufactures have found a cleaner way of zero emissions?

Research is ongoing. Got any ideas yourself?

 

[LOL The Irony]

Research is ongoing. Got any ideas yourself?

Begin's with H, is grayling's new toy.

 

[Edders23]

I get that, but couldn't car manufactures have found a cleaner way of zero emissions?

FUEL CELLS the exhaust is H2O

there is plenty of tech out there that can reduce emissions BUT politicians seem fixated with Electric which I suspect is at the behest of the car Industry who want to sell us loads of battery cars which are probably cheaper to develop than fuel cell technology

 

[jonty14]

When I go to England I have to drive 1,500 km one way. That would take a long time in an electric car having to charge up all the time.

 

[Bletchleyite]

When I go to England I have to drive 1,500 km one way. That would take a long time in an electric car having to charge up all the time.

The car is really not the optimal way to make that journey, least of all in one go where driver fatigue would make this rather dangerous, and is furthermore probably one of the more expensive ways of making it. And most people will not make that journey in that way, they'll fly or take the train, or it'll be the kind of family holiday where the journey is part of the holiday and you stop off in places where charging could be carried out.

 

[Geezertronic]

When I go to England I have to drive 1,500 km one way. That would take a long time in an electric car having to charge up all the time.

I would love to know what that one way journey is. Penzance to John O'Groats is under 900 miles (1,450km approx)

 

[Bletchleyite]

I would love to know what that one way journey is. Penzance to John O'Groats is under 900 miles (1,450km approx)

He appears to be in Germany.

 

[PeterC]

Why electric? Because the infrastructure to deliver electricity is in place and the majority of users can recharge at home.

(NOTE I said "majority" not "all", I am aware that there is a significant minority of car users who either have to park on street or in communual parking without power supply)

 

[Howardh]

When I go to England I have to drive 1,500 km one way. That would take a long time in an electric car having to charge up all the time.

If there is a limit on battery capacity and no amount of technological development can improve that limit, I suppose one day we will have to go back to how steam railways coped...collecting the water as they went along out of a trough. But how could that be done regarding cars driving along? Like trams and trolleybusses where there are overhead cables down the M6??? On the ground collected by shoes where pedestrians can't access??
But I suppose the answer will be fast-charge pints, say 10' to give you 90% capacity, as long as they are widespread. Mind you I start to fret when my mobile phone starts to hit 69%...
Anyway, I'll probably be 6' under when we are forced to drive electric cars; meanwhile I'd love to have the return of electric trolly busses, and wonder where in Europe one can still use them (not nostalgic lines)?

 

[alex17595]

It is a lot easier to reduce emissions from one large power source rather than millions of cars.

 

[thejuggler]

Purely because its the technology Government expects us to transition to.

I have driven a Nissan Leaf for hundreds of miles and now have access to a Prius hybrid plug in.

They both do their jobs as a tool for moving you from a to b, but neither are adequate for my needs. A Leaf could do as our second car, but as it only does about 4,000 a year fuel costs are a small opportunity cost I am happy to pay.

 

[EM2]

When I go to England I have to drive 1,500 km one way. That would take a long time in an electric car having to charge up all the time.

The basic version of the Hyundai Kona EV has a range of 200 miles (321km). Let's say 250km before range anxiety sets in. A 20-minute fast charge would mean six charges, or two hours in stops.

 

[MotCO]

Does the country have enough power generation capacity to recharge electric cars if we all changed over? Or even if 25% change over? We are closing down fossil energy power stations, but not replacing the capacity lost.

 

[EM2]

I really don't get the obsession with them. It's false clean power. Just because they don't produce emissions, doesn't mean they're clean. This Top Gear segment perfectly shows how bad they are. (Link in spoiler)

Spoiler

A Prius isn't an electric car, it's a hybrid.

 

[MotCO]

The basic version of the Hyundai Kona EV has a range of 200 miles (321km). Let's say 250km before range anxiety sets in. A 20-minute fast charge would mean six charges, or two hours in stops.

I've often wondered whether there will ever be a time when we have replaceable batteries. When you're running low on charge, you pull into the now defunct petrol stations and exchange your battery pack with a fully charged set. Clearly there would have to be a common size / standard, but would it not be possible for an automaton to take out the old battery and replace with a new set? The old battery set would be recharged for a later customer.

 

[jonty14]

I've often wondered whether there will ever be a time when we have replaceable batteries. When you're running low on charge, you pull into the now defunct petrol stations and exchange your battery pack with a fully charged set. Clearly there would have to be a common size / standard, but would it not be possible for an automaton to take out the old battery and replace with a new set? The old battery set would be recharged for a later customer.

That would be a great way for long distance journeys but as you say standardisation would have to be implemented.

 

[jonty14]

I would love to know what that one way journey is. Penzance to John O'Groats is under 900 miles (1,450km approx)

I live in the south of Germany in the Black Forest but I originate from Seaham in County Durham. I drive home 2 or three times a year.

 

[LOL The Irony]

A Prius isn't an electric car, it's a hybrid.

The principle of Lithium Ion batteries.

 

[PeterC]

I've often wondered whether there will ever be a time when we have replaceable batteries. When you're running low on charge, you pull into the now defunct petrol stations and exchange your battery pack with a fully charged set. Clearly there would have to be a common size / standard, but would it not be possible for an automaton to take out the old battery and replace with a new set? The old battery set would be recharged for a later customer.

Something that I have brought up on motoring forums in the past. It would need a sea change in battery technology to bring car batteries down to a sensible size. With that model there is also the fact that you wouldn't know how much residual life was in the replacement battery, it simply wouldn't hold charge for as long as one new from the factory.

At the moment nobody really knows what the useful life of a battery will be in real world use. Replacing a built in battery in a car is going to be an expensive business.

 

[radamfi]

Does the country have enough power generation capacity to recharge electric cars if we all changed over? Or even if 25% change over? We are closing down fossil energy power stations, but not replacing the capacity lost.

I assume you are talking about the UK (or maybe England or Great Britain), but there are other countries in the world as well, some ahead of the UK in terms of electric car penetration, and therefore lessons could be learned.

Incidentally, whilst electric cars are a step forward in terms of local air quality, they are not strictly zero emission, because there is particulate pollution from tyres and brakes.

 

[radamfi]

meanwhile I'd love to have the return of electric trolly busses, and wonder where in Europe
one can still use them (not nostalgic lines)?

There are many trolleybus routes still running, especially in central/eastern Europe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolleybus_usage_by_country#Europe

 

[krus_aragon]

Horses. Should all go back to horses and cart. Think how good the roses will be, put emissions to good use.

The trouble is collecting those emissions. The arrival of motor cars in the early 20th century was welcomed because city streets were so much cleaner without horses leaving their makr everywhere.