February Magazine - Nick Lomas EVs

+1👍🏻, I can see ‘pay per mile’ coming soon(Govt soon). Every other form of road use taxation amalgamated into one weekly/monthly payment👍🏻

I hope I am wrong but by the Information I am receiving ( naysayers proved wrong agaIn as to my information sources😁) , I would be surprised if our grandchildren see the demise of ICE vehicles

Me too, I’ve just replaced my pickup for another👍🏻. Even in the future I’ll need an EV that is an estate version or SUV🤷🏻‍♂️

Hibrids, i understand will not cease production until 2035 and if they can be improved enough in the future to give reasonable mpg then i would expect them to be more viable for the future 

Those that I have seen on sites and are local to us , are  not as economical as first advertised according to some owners, there is a phev in our road at six years? and used as their only car mostly for local and work is they advise , is now needing a charge more often, ,which is for them ,as the majority of us here, getting close  to their house means parking it on a grassed green, or a 100+yd cable over a footpath

The over riding consideration in all this is dwindling fossil fuel stocks and dependency on non uk providers for fuel. The idea was to get as many domestic users onto alternative power whilst leaving avavilable fuel stock to keep the economic and social structure going. Another proposal was to tax according to usage, this can be relayed back via computer systems. (We can press a ceiling button in our car if we need emergency contact with BMW that's the level of contact built into these vehicles at present and our is four years old.) It maybe that alternative renewable power sources come along in the next few years so this discussion isn't fixed, it's ongoing.

We made a decision to try out the EV, we felt that it had reached a viable point in development. What it lacks is towing capability, a major consideration for us as our trailer now stands empty and we have to ask a family member to take stuff away etc. The system also lacks charge points and more importantly, ones that work when you need them! Somehow we've overcome these difficulties but it won't work for the majority until major upgrades take place.

I'm not interested in the "no can do" attitudes of some as this always stands in the way of progress and going back to the OP the running costs are very low compared to fossil fuelled cars some of which cost far more to buy than the more basic EVs. So great savings after the initial outlay. We were looking for a run around not a motorway goliath and it's always a shock now when we fill up the motorhome, it's an expensive way to travel (our year old motorhome purchase cost more than our EV.) 

It will be great to see new developments coming along, they'll probably be unexpected and just as thought provoking.

I know next to nothing about EVs so, to an extent I have to believe what people tell me about them.

Talking to a guy the other day, who seemed to know what he was talking about, the conversation got onto rapid charging of EVs at home. What he was saying is that very new housing estates  have power supplies of a suitable capacity to supply rapid charging points installed in the infrastructure of an estate when it is being built. That, though, leaves a colossal number of roads in a city, town or village where capacity is below what is needed for rapid chargers.  Nobody could stipulate that a particular road can only have X number of rapid chargers. The more users of rapid chargers the bigger the cables will need to be. The questions are: will councils upgrade power supplies in every road? How soon will this be done, if at all?  Who pays for the upgrade?

There are probably many roads where the number of people living there using an EV is very low. Do these roads get left out of the upgrades even though there are a few residents who want/need a rapid charge facility? 

Personally I don't think expecting EV users to go to a rapid charging point away from home is an idea that many will put up with long term. They will soon get fed up with queues and broken chargers.   Recharging, no matter how fast, will still take far longer than putting in a few litres of diesel or petrol.

One "Blue sky thinking idea?" Is to use lamp posts? that our local  CEGB retired engineer advises unless a higher power cable supply in installed would not work as many present supplies are upwards of 60yrs old and would not cope with power required

One thing is guaranteed-it’s coming, the death of the ICE vehicle is unstoppable just like the ICE replaced the Horse in the early 20th century.

This is different in an essential way. The motorcar (also motorbike and side cars) gave a travel freedom to more and more people. The EV will replace ICEs but provide a similar freedom once the infrastructure is in place.

Insofar as the environment the ICE age(see what I did there👍🏻) was a retrograde step🤷🏻‍♂️☹️

You can pick the charging element apart a bit. For those people who have a property with its own parking will be the ones where charging an EV will be most convenient. Even if not supplied with a ready made charging facility when the house is built they will either be able to use a standard plug via what I believe is called a "Granny Lead" or pay for the installation of, I think, a 7Kw charger. (Government grant available to help with this currently) I am sure in time there will be innovative solutions to those issues that JVB has raised on roads with no off road parking. I would be interested to know what Brue's charging regime is but surely an EV won't need charging every day unless you do a daily high mileage? If I had an EV, with the exception of the odd long journey, I doubt I would need to charge it more than once or twice a week. We all have to go shopping so that seems to be the place where most will do their main charge with little inconvenience whilst they do their shopping. On other occasions they may have to drive to their nearest charging point which will eventually be much more numerous than they are now as one would fill up with petrol. I think the more proactive Councils are already thinking about the installation of charging points. It should be something all councils are thinking about now.

David