Featured If You're Never Going To Go Electric Raise Your Hand!

I laughed when I was reading the latest proposals from energy companies regarding electric vehicles, what a lot of providers are saying (OVO UK is one such company), is to get customers to allow their provider to transfer energy from their vehicles battery, back to the grid at peak times (evenings), given that charging is expected to take place at night ready for the next days travel, how the hell do they think this will work out. It's actually on a lot of providers websites, can you imagine ringing in to work "sorry I can't come in to work today, my utility provider drained all my vehicles energy". There is no such thing as a "free dinner" those days are regrettably long since gone, the cost of installing a charging system at home is expensive, and it requires a separate meter installing. No governments are seriously looking into the negative effects of mining the raw materials for the batteries on the environment, take a serious look into what destruction is being done in these communities. In the UK we have just stopped Fracking because of the detrimental environmental damage, it pales into insignificance to what is being done in the so called move to a "greener way of life" for battery powered vehicles. Those that have smart meters are in for one big shock (no pun intended) very soon, due to providers taking hourly readings and charging customers higher rates at peak times, immaterial of the tariff they are on, and a large number have been found to be giving inaccurate readings, and not in the consumers favour, I don't need a smart meter to inform me if I switch on my electric kettle it's going to use more electric than my television for the same amount of time, gosh I have been managing alright for years, so like the electric vehicles I will stay as I am for as long as I am able.

 

All of the sudden the power companies and the politicians talk like we, the people, are in partnership with them. If you are charging me a fee...we ARE NOT partners. I have chased a number of solar contractors off my property. Thier line is "We are just here to see if your property QUALIFIES for solar". Keep walking until I can lock the gate behind you. ...J.D.

 

For me, the whole electric vehicle thing is a non-issue. As long as the technology is not capable of achieving an appealing range without an extreme increase in weight, that will remain the case. In my home country, but also in all of Europe, we customers will be challenged by the founding politicians if the production of gasoline-powered vehicles is discontinued. Many national politicians in our country believe that electricity is coming from the socket. Despite all alternative energy resources such as wind and water power, we have to import an extremely large amount of electricity from neighboring countries, especially in winter. This is then often produced in nuclear power plants. President MACRON in France is already expanding the nuclear power plant construction program and the EU is already defining nuclear power as "green energy" because they want to avoid an EU-wide collapse of the electricity networks.
In a nearby village, a referendum has prevented the expansion of a solar power plant, as people want to prevent the "paving over" of several hectares of the landscape with solar panels. That's about "green energy" and all....
Apart from this, I can observe almost daily how Teslas and other e-vehicles "creep" from all directions to a large "charging station" in my area and have to queue there, sometimes for several hours, so that they can charge up.

 

I'm not going to get an electric motorbike until I need to get one. Which will probably be due to legislation as petrol/diesel inevitably will be phased out/priced out.
Some of the things they bang on about electric bikes being a good thing such as being quiet, and being twist and go (no clutch or gears) are exactly the things that make motorcycles exciting to us as riders. It's an emotional thing for us.
Being a whiny, lazy, easy going ride might be good enough for the young Hector on his way for a artisan coffee and toasted almond croissant, but there's just no passion in that. Fast? Probably, but not exciting.
I've heard of workplaces that have a electric cars in their fleet, and after only 1 year, the range has dropped from 240 miles to 200 max, because they need to be ready to go all day, every day, so on fast charge constantly.
Where do most second hand cars come from? Ex-Fleet sales. So once these become more common, there's going to be a lot (not all of course) of customers stung by an expensive battery change, or the value of second hand cars will plummet due to the cost of replacing batteries due to being on fast charge.

Also an anecdote on solar panels. In our estate, houses built after a certain time in 2018 had them installed, and they were laughing because if there was a power cut, they'd still be good... Yeah, we had a power cut last month, and they were just as cut off as us, because they're not wired into the house, but just help supply the grid and give you money off
This isn't the case in every solar panel install, but something to look out for if have them.

 

No thank you.

 

Don't see electric as the answer /future long term anyway?
Hydrogen?

Scalextric made motorbikes too!!!

 

I'm holding out for Ion Engines and Hyperdrives.

 

Hydrogen is feasible as more suited to motorbikes, however the biggest problem they are having is storing the hydrogen on the bike. Petrol tanks can be any shape, but as hydrogen is compressed gas (it has low volumetric energy density), it needs to be a cylinder (think gas tanks for cooking etc) to resist the pressure. Not so easy to package in the size required for a bike.

On the other end of the scale, electric batteries are quite energy dense, but with current technology it's about as dense as we are going to get without it creating a mobile bomb. When they talk about "25% more energy in our battery" they mean a 25% bigger battery.

 

.......also, due to it's low atomic number, most materials storing it are porous?

 

Yes, but from what I've read, it's low enough loss to not be an issue unless stored for a long time.

 

i have always tried to swap my wheels preferably to OLDER ones. usually the older they get; more gas they take.
so i raise my hand.
but daily commuting ; when all private vehicle movement gets banned like it seems- who knows how those publicly owned mass transportation systems work. i am afraid of that dystopia any day now to happen. until then, i ride with gas despite the cost. and its today over 7,5 USD a gallon.

 

Not really understanding the solar panel knockers on here, i guess it could be a jealousy thing ?
We had ours fitted about 8 years ago £5200. We get FIT payments totalling between £700 & £1150 a year depending on how much the sun shines and we get cheap electricity. Dishwasher and washing machine always go on during the day as it is better to use it than sell it.
Panels have more than paid for themselves already and we have another 12 years of FIT payments to go, inverter is guaranteed for the full 20 years.

 

I'm not knocking solar panels, as I think they are a great thing to have. I was just giving a little anecdote about them where I live, in that the houses they were on, couldn't use them during a power cut (during the day).

Another wee anecdote, but regarding wind turbines. One of the jobs we had for a supermarket had those little roof mounted wind turbines because it was an 'eco-store'.
When it opened, folk were complaining it wasn't spinning so mustn't be doing anything (it wasn't that windy at the time). So they connected it up to the power supply so it spun constantly and the complaining stopped

 

If I had to commute on short distance, sure I'll try an electric bike, car..
But I don't commute at all..

But yes I'd like to try one of those bike for fun.

 

I don't really get the anti-electric fervor. That's a sarcastic statement, because I do essentially understand it, at least in the US. Here electric vehicles are a political statement. An "R" is passionately anti, a "D" is passionately pro. That's a generalization, but fairly accurate I'd posit.
I love ICE. I've had more than I can remember over my life. I have too many now! That said, I don't really get the hatred. I assume it's the political aspect, along with the fact that electrics are kind of being shoved down our throats. I have only driven on electric vehicle, a Chevy Volt. It wasn't a "true" pure electric, having it's on board gas generator, but it was a hell of a fun car to drive. GM screwed the pooch by not supporting it and killing it.
I've never ridden an electric motorcycle, but I understand they can be impressive. They just don't work for my use case.
I think the market will sort itself out. Manufacturers aren't going to make electric vehicles that don't sell. In the short term I think electrics have their place in urban environments, but not for long distance.
Who knows what the future holds...?

 

Just tell them you rent the property and they need to contact your landlord. Normally they leave at this point. If they ask for contact information tell them it you don't give out other peoples personal information.

 

Some people scored with solar on the original feed in tariff in the UK, the later adopters on lower tariffs are getting their pants pulled down.

 

F*ck a bunch of solar.

 

Feel free to have a butchers at some of mine, earning me money.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/alb...sellcortina/.highres/P1010410_zpsqpwegnjs.jpg

 

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