Nightmare journey back from Cornwall today around 6 hours - stop start all the way up from St Austell to Cardiff 190 miles? anyway at times we were either stationary or doing no more than 60 then stopping again and again - noticed a brand new golf was doing only 30 Mph in the inside lane as everyone else had now got up to 60 I thought ??? then I noticed it was a Golf E so my guess he was crapping himself just how far he could go to a charging point after being stuck in all that traffic - VW site states around 142 miles in normal mode :bugga: my m8 has bought an electric motorbike - a Zero? That has a range of 104 so he does nothing but go back and for to work just in case! I have to say it's a good looker but £18k and just a short range ? Wer is the fun in that !
Our govt is busy making bus lanes, building cycleways and promoting electric vehicles.
But really they would like us to walk or cycle. Traffic jams around our bigger cities have become a real problem.
I don't think electric vehiles will fix it.....
As you mention Notty, very likely to cause more.
Bus lanes in Cardiff can be used by motorcycles, some 12 years after the council said they were looking it - BUT not all bus lanes so you have to look at the signs ! however, I will admit on the few times I have had to ride into town it does make a huge difference and I guess I could pick up some passengers from the bus stops and make a few quid ! :rofl2:
I just dont see how electric transport is cheaper :confused1: they dont travel far before you have to charge them ... so we would be using huge amounts of energy that has to be generated by power stations which in turn us huge amounts of energy ?
And lets face it renwebles are way off from producing enough energy !... its just kookoo land :facepalm:
Wait for the government to tax electric vehicles to death as well!!
They gotta make as much money from the motorist!
I dont get it either Sanered, then they say but there is no emitions.....but you just put extra load on the power stations that emit more emitions and the battery needs to be disposed of at some stage in its life and they are not your standard lead acid or calcium batterys that cost more. Just baffles my 2 brain cells 😂😂😂
Quote from: shanered6 on Saturday, 18 August 2018, 07:00 AM
I just dont see how electric transport is cheaper :confused1: they dont travel far before you have to charge them ... so we would be using huge amounts of energy that has to be generated by power stations which in turn us huge amounts of energy ?
And lets face it renwebles are way off from producing enough energy !... its just kookoo land :facepalm:
Electric vehicles are cheaper to run because petrol engines are incredibly inefficient. Internal combustion engines lose a lot of energy as waste heat, pumping losses, friction and so on. A power station can turn fossil fuel into electricity far more efficiently than an engine can - there's a good reason why we don't all have individual generators in our houses.
Renewable energy (wind, wave, solar) generated 29% of the UK's electricity last year - more than nuclear, which was just 21%.
A recent study in the US showed that electric vehicles are less polluting than the petrol/diesel equivalents, even if you charge them with electricity from coal-powered generators.
I agree with you that range is a problem, or more specifically the time it takes to recharge. But the technology is improving all the time.
I'm not ready to buy an electric bike yet but I am seriously thinking about going electric for my next car. Most of my car journeys are just cabbing about locally to and from work and I rarely drive more than 100 miles. That's within the range of most electric cars you can buy already. We have more than one car in the family so we'd still have an option for those odd long trips.
Some great advantages to electric drive as well. You get all the torque at 0 revs, so they take off very nicely in town. They are quieter, smoother and the maintenance costs are way lower because there's no gearbox and the motor never needs servicing.
What annoys me with the promotion of electric vehicles is the BS about range..
Yes you may get 100 or even 200 miles in Sunny California but what happens in places like the UK in winter when your lights and windscreen wipers are on?
Then of course there is the little "skipped over" fact that in the UK and other cooler places you just might want some sort of heat !!!
As we all know anything thats heated electrically gobbles up the juice...
So in the UK when its winter its still dark at 8.30am and maybe 3 or 4C outside OR below freezing..
Lights and demisters on.. Heater on.. Wipers on.. Blower on..
I wonder what my 150 mile range now is?
Strangely we dont seem to be told this..
Then there is the little issue of every car owning home in the country having to have a charging point.. In the UK there are MANY terraced homes...
I cant see an electric extension lead running from every home to the vehicle outside..
One other point.. Have you ever been to a motorway service station for fuel (or any other fuel station) and got a tad impatient at having to wait 5 or 10 mins for a free pump?
To fill a petrol / Diesel takes maybe 5 mins...
How long does the fastest electric car take to charge?
I think its a fair bit longer that 5 minutes!
So the queues would be irksome to say the least..
Lastly even if the government introduced a £10,000 "scrappage" scheme (and they wont) I and many others could not afford a new electric vehicle..
I used to run a Citroen Xsara Picasso 1.6 Diesel which on my commute to work and back (10 miles each way) did 52mpg and 65mpg on a run !!
Then came along the recent anti Diesel scaremongering, so I bought a lowly Ford Fiesta 1.4 petrol.. This averages 37mpg to work and back and 41mpg on a run!
Biggest mistake I ever made was to get rid of the Citroen !
Why would you buy a Ford 1.4 petrol when you already have a Suzuki 1.4 petrol? Ya like Fords or sommit? :lol:
What was the scaremongering on diesel over your way? Surely 60odd mpg has gotta be good in anyones books?
This happened.......im on my bike and 55kms from home. Theres been an accident and now the road is closed. The detour now makes my journey home over 155kms.
In my electric car l would be stopped in the middle of nowhere.
Talking to a geologist, he reckons you have to mine for a mineral that is in the batteries.
We dont like mining in NZ. It is possible we may ruin the habitat of a rare and endangered snail.
I get the point about power stations being more efficient ....but and its a big BUT ! ... how many of these efficient power stations will need to be built to power the millions of cars ,trucks, buses and lord only knows what else ! more power stations more emisions .The renewables have there part to play but they are way off the mark at the minute , as the cost of maintaining the current stock is almost out waying the generation of electricity .
Sure it was great when they were being handed money by government hand over fist but now thats all stopping there not looking quite so attractive anymore !
Quote from: KiwiCol on Saturday, 18 August 2018, 02:20 PM
What was the scaremongering on diesel over your way? Surely 60odd mpg has gotta be good in anyones books?
mpg wasn't the issue. After the government promoting people to buy diesels a few years back, they now advise against it due to pollution and possible health risks from the fumes. Also there have been the issues with various companies like VW/Audi who lied about mileage, cleanliness of engines etc. So now the government is now looking to put people off diesels.
There is now much more promotion around the Eco petrol engines, for instance the 1.0 Ford Eco engined cars do similar mpg to a diesel and go like a rocket with their turbo charged 3-cylinder engines, really surprised how well they perform for a 1.0!
I don't think they've hit the shores down under yet Dave, but that'd be interesting to see. 3 cyl 1L motor, 333cc / cyl, that's been a winning formula for a long time. 333cc for a cyl just seems to work great.
Surely you had a 3 cyl Diahatsu Charade Col. I think they made them with a sunroof.
:rofl2:
I quite like the idea of an electric car as most of my trips are just o the shops and back. However my mother lives 220 miles away an my outlaws 260 miles, the only electric car that can do those distances is the £85-90,000 tesla and that's not going to happen. I will stick to my 60mpg diesel until it's made illegal by the powers that be.
my daughter decided today to fill her diesel nissan with ulp. something for me to do on monday.
Quote from: grog on Saturday, 18 August 2018, 08:33 PM
my daughter decided today to fill her diesel nissan with ulp. something for me to do on monday.
There you go - one more advantage of electric vehicles, you can't fill them with the wrong stuff.
Daughters do things like that and then run home to daddy .... oh dad can you do it ? :facepalm:
My little darling has just returned home. Whats that knocking noise from your engine ?? "Dunno dad, been like that for a while."
Bless her. :facepalm:
I am not anti electric but we are far from it being justified .
Many good points mentioned so far.
Tesla has battery exchance stations on some of the main roads that do just take 2-3min to swap and go.
I would love a electric bike but when its worth it.........not in my life time so I will enjoy my 14 for as long as I live or the 14 lives whom ever expires first.
Good luck with your daughters guys I feel for you, my daughter told me a while ago she has now had enough of adulting and its over rated 😂😂😂😂 I then promptly reminded her of all her rebelian to finish school and move out and do what she wants.......oops all of that cost money and you have to earn it in some way 😂😂😂😂
I am quite interested in electric vehicles.
A mate has an all electric bike he commutes to work on, our kids have a Prius hybrid and we have heaps of hybrids at work.
As an all electric vehicle they made great progress for a while, and have now reached a stage that they are justifiable as short distance sprint racers, or city commuters, as well as 'lecky dirt bikes being quiet and not getting neighbours complaining etc.
Outside suburbia not so great. To quote the move Snatch, in Australia you'd be "proper fucked!". I can't think of a car or bike that's going to sit with me over a Sunday ride out. Admittedly this is with current tech, but I'm not one to get excited over possibles and maybe's that may never happen.
Who knows what the future will bring?
DVD's were the future over crappy Video cassettes.
Blue-Ray disc's were the future of a normal DVD.
Not everything great has a future.
I do see electric vehicles as being a way forward. Not because they are so great but because of legislation, pollution levels in city's, maybe oil supplies etc.
The goal of no new petrol vehicles after about another 10 years is very questionable here in Australia. Maybe OK on a little Island like the UK but there would have to be some HUGE advances in technology for it to be workable here.
Just spotted this.....
(https://gsx1400owners.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi63.tinypic.com%2Fxle1cx.png&hash=019702f016152e900f2e49e0802e7fa1f89bb497)
I like the idea of electric vehicles and agree it's probably the way forward if the range issue can be solved but... I am a bit old School. The one thing missing from an electric engine? Sound... I like to hear a big engine burbling away... electric engines will never replace that. Mind you... they said that about horses as well in the past!
my electric golf cart worked perfectly today. oil companies pretty much rule the world, are they going to die without a fight.
The solution to traffic jams is and always has been an internal combustion engine motorcycle.
Quote from: ARH on Sunday, 19 August 2018, 06:09 PM
I like the idea of electric vehicles and agree it's probably the way forward if the range issue can be solved but... I am a bit old School. The one thing missing from an electric engine? Sound... I like to hear a big engine burbling away... electric engines will never replace that. Mind you... they said that about horses as well in the past!
The beauty of electric is you can have any sound you like. I've driven heaps of modern cars where the sound inside is not coming from the engine! Lots of manufacturers do fake engine sound and it's getting quite good.
Although...l.
Quote from: VladTepes on Sunday, 19 August 2018, 06:37 PM
The solution to traffic jams is and always has been an internal combustion engine motorcycle.
Seeing videos about the masses of "bikes" in some Asian areas I doubt it.
There are to many vehicles. And there will be more.
Quote from: Andre on Sunday, 19 August 2018, 07:34 PM
Quote from: VladTepes on Sunday, 19 August 2018, 06:37 PM
The solution to traffic jams is and always has been an internal combustion engine motorcycle.
Seeing videos about the masses of "bikes" in some Asian areas I doubt it.
There are to many vehicles. And there will be more.
I was in China a few years ago on a business trip and I noticed there were a huge number of electric scooters nipping about. I wondered how they solved the recharging problem and they had a really simple scheme - lots of little old blokes fronting shops and stalls, with stacks of batteries on charge.
When your scooter is running low you pull in, give the bloke your flat battery and a couple of quid (or the local equivalent) and he swaps it for a freshly charged one.
I can only assume they all use the same size battery, or at least a small range of them, but whatever, it seemed to be working fine for them.
Humans are ingenious creatures really.
Last time I was in Paris there were lots of charging points in the streets.
(https://gsx1400owners.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi67.tinypic.com%2Fa2eqtz.jpg&hash=9d9f0d829a979437e93cb16faae4784b3b28a9df)
It's not a bad idea and cuts down on pollution in built up areas.
I know they want to push this tech in AU but it's got a LONG way to go to be anywhere near useful away from the coast.
Here we would need a shit load of coal/nuclear power plants. That would be a lot of fun getting them build. The Green party would be up in arms. Lots of protest, some violent, just to continue digging for coal or getting a final solution for nuclear waste.
Also lots of resistance against wind power generators.
Not to speak of the infrastructure. Can't even manage adequate Internet access across this country :happy1:
Charging points in the streets of our cities :rofl2: The existing ones are often used for parking as that is a big problem already.
Quote from: Andre on Monday, 20 August 2018, 05:46 PM
Here we would need a shit load of coal/nuclear power plants. That would be a lot of fun getting them build. The Green party would be up in arms. Lots of protest, some violent, just to continue digging for coal or getting a final solution for nuclear waste.
Also lots of resistance against wind power generators.
Not to speak of the infrastructure. Can't even manage adequate Internet access across this country :happy1:
Charging points in the streets of our cities :rofl2: The existing ones are often used for parking as that is a big problem already.
I'm sure it will happen at different speeds in different countries. And of course, petrol/diesel engines aren't going to disappear overnight. One thing's certain though, we can't continue burning fossil fuels forever.
http://www.theweek.co.uk/94371/west-wing-star-films-burning-tesla-model-s-why-electric-cars-catch-fire
Quote from: grog on Monday, 20 August 2018, 07:25 PM
http://www.theweek.co.uk/94371/west-wing-star-films-burning-tesla-model-s-why-electric-cars-catch-fire
Petrol cars aren't exactly fireproof...
Quote from: Mister Fishfinger on Monday, 20 August 2018, 06:48 PM
Quote from: Andre on Monday, 20 August 2018, 05:46 PM
Here we would need a shit load of coal/nuclear power plants. That would be a lot of fun getting them build. The Green party would be up in arms. Lots of protest, some violent, just to continue digging for coal or getting a final solution for nuclear waste.
Also lots of resistance against wind power generators.
Not to speak of the infrastructure. Can't even manage adequate Internet access across this country :happy1:
Charging points in the streets of our cities :rofl2: The existing ones are often used for parking as that is a big problem already.
I'm sure it will happen at different speeds in different countries. And of course, petrol/diesel engines aren't going to disappear overnight. One thing's certain though, we can't continue burning fossil fuels forever.
Most of us here only need it to last another 20 years or so :whistling: