Cheaper holidays EV charging

The problem is after the eco zealots have finished with us the only place you will be able to experience that G force will be between the speed humps and 20 signs.

As the regulars on here will know, I am an EV objector. The point for me is that if they are so good, the change would happen naturally, not by legislative force. Granted all the current objections - range, cost, infrastructure - will improve over time (or not!) and if it does then EV's may become the "go to" means of transport. My objection to the whole political project is the way we are being forced into EV's by (upcoming) legislation, although it is now looking as though that legislation will probably delay the cliff edge until 2035.

As a byline, I have just returned from a 2000 mile trip around Europe in my ICE car taking in some of the most beautiful parts of the Alps in Switzerland and the Italian Dolomites. I saw remarkably few EV's, particularly in the more remote parts of Switzerland. Both my petrol and diesel cars qualify for the French Crit Air system.

We seem to have come a long way from the topic of charging EV’s on CAMC sites but you’re quite entitled to your view, Nutsy.

Thank you TW - I'm pleased about that.

Nutsy, do you object to EVs as a technology or market manipulation as a policy? If the latter, do you also object to the subsidies associated with the oil industry?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/31/fossil-fuel-subsidies-almost-doubled-in-2021-analysis-finds

CT

First of all I note that whilst you totally reject Daily Mail reports, you happily quote from the Guardian. Have you seen the Governments own Transport Committee report on EV's? Not exactly in support. What you can't debunk is the fact that the UK generates a tiny proportion of the world's carbon compared to China, India, Asia in general and the USA (although Biden is giving huge subsidies to change this).

To answer your question - no, I do not object to the technology nor do I object to financial market subsidies. However, you must recognise that if we listen to the Just Stop Oil fanatics we would be all living in caves again. Oil and coal will be around for many years, like it or not. Transition should be slow and occur naturally.

My objection is the political manipulation, which to a certain extent is also financial in the tax breaks that are available. HMG are being totally dishonest (nothing new there) in their promotion of net zero in general (not just EV's) without coming clean on what it is going to cost the ordinary "man/woman in the street".

I'll say this again - if EV's were so good, legislation would not be required to make us all buy them. I totally accept that in the right circumstances EV's have their place - regular town/city driving, home charging facilities, no great mileage needed between home and back.

My wife could use one for her daily trip to the gym, and probably will when her next car change comes along - but she should not be forced to do so by politicians who will be long gone when the poo hits the fan in a few years time. However, she would not even attempt to do a 200 mile round mway trip including the M25 to see our daughter in it, one of my proper cars would disappear off the drive.

To keep this thread caravan based - Winter trip to Southern Spain towing the caravan? CMC paying for charging points? By all means allow it from the pitch and pay for it, but don't load the cost of installing charge points on to the rest of us.

I also wonder how road charging would work. If restricted to EV's only then fine as GPS could do the job , but that couldn't possibly work for the 30m plus ICE cars that will be around for the next 20 years. There simply is not the finance to erect cameras and gantries nationwide.

If the technology could be found for ICE cars, I would welcome it as my mileage is low, and in the case of my summer toy 90% of its 2400 a year mileage is not in the UK but I pay the usual VED for it.

EV's have their place, I fully accept, but should not be compulsory.

Nutsy

I think the problem, had the Government not decided to set a deadline by which new ICE cars could not be sold, would not have provided the incentive for manufacturers to switch to EV production? The decision acts as a catalyst for action. I don't think it would have worked any other way. 

The problem for those of us on forums like this is that to continue our hobby an EV is generally not at the right stage of development in terms of range. Chocolate Trees and Andrew Ditton are perhaps pioneers in the use of EV's for towing but the compromises they are willing to make I suspect would not sit comfortably with the majority? As far as I can see motorhomes are even further behind and because its a much smaller market I suspect it will be some time before we see a conventional motorhome powered by batteries. There are a few prototypes around but until I see at least one EV motorhome in the range of all the major motorhome builders its difficult to see where the future is leading us. It will come I am sure.

I have always quite liked the idea of road pricing and was disappointed that the idea was dropped by a previous Government mainly because of the hysterical  reaction by the motoring press. How could road pricing not be a fairer way of replacing the rather blunt instrument we now have VED. I think the technology could be quickly put in place as it's already in use, and example would be motorway tags in France. 

David

I can't remember who the politicians were, unfortunately, but on two occasions recently on TV the word "hydrogen" was used in the same sentence as "electric cars". Is this "diesel-gate" all over again when there was a push by the government for us all to convert to diesel cars- and now they have changed their corporate minds and electric is the be all and end all  - or will it be hydrogen?.

I've no objection to electric vehicles in principal but I don't think the dots have, even yet, been joined up properly regarding the unintended consequences and the hidden, less obvious costs of a mass changeover. As nutsy commented, it should be evolution not revolution driven by our want to change to electric vehicles for their own sake and not because of any incentives or compulsion to do so. 

Hydrogen vs EV is todays Petrol vs Diesel, just an alternative & until it is all fully researched & used practically no one can definitively say which is best JM🤷🏻‍♂️

 No-one is being forced into EV ownership and it might well be that other technologies take over far beyond our present knowledge.

In the meantime caravan owners can tow with a variety of vehicles and it's good to see hybrids etc in the mix. At present the best ones give good local mileage on batteries and good conventional towing. What's missing with CAMC is rapid charge facilities to make the whole thing more user friendly. Even if CAMC goes over to glamping people will be increasingly arriving in cars which need charging.