electric cars

Discussion on living for a better and more responsible future
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saint-spoon
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electric cars

Post by saint-spoon »

The promise by the government to ban the sale of any new petrol and diesel cars in an interesting one. Firstly it is so far in the future that I do not doubt that there will be several waves of new technology that make the electric car obsolete in its current form. Fuel cells, hydrogen as a fuel and bio fuels are all currently available technologies that will be improved and adapted; and there will be new concepts in energy production in the next 23 years.
Secondly I wonder how they are planning to generate all of the extra electricity required to charge all of the electric cars (if it happens)?
And then we have flight, are we to have electric aeroplanes.
Anyway, hydrocarbon fossil fuels are a finite resource that will run out and cleaning up our act seems like a good thing to me, I just hope that here in the UK we can become part of the leading edge of any new technologies being developed rather than relying on foreign invention and manufacture.
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lancashire lass
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Re: electric cars

Post by lancashire lass »

saint-spoon wrote:I just hope that here in the UK we can become part of the leading edge of any new technologies being developed rather than relying on foreign invention and manufacture


I think the far east have cornered the market on both accounts but we are still a force when it comes to inventing stuff.

saint-spoon wrote:Firstly it is so far in the future that I do not doubt that there will be several waves of new technology that make the electric car obsolete in its current form.


You only have to see how much technology in general has changed in the past 25 years to wonder about the future. From my perspective, I feel as though the changes have almost been exponential and left me behind!

saint-spoon wrote:And then we have flight, are we to have electric aeroplanes.


{warn} {warn} we'll have teleportation by then - "beam me up Scotty" LOL

Seriously, the current clean air strategy is just for cars. On the other hand, will motor racing become all electric?

And then we have high speed rail UK mainland - now, for the life of me I cannot see a reference to what fuel these trains will be using. Will they be electric or diesel?

I very much doubt I'll be around to see it by 2040 but I'm quietly optimistic - I think cars will be sooooo expensive, no-one will be able to afford them and that should sort out the number of cars on the roads )j;
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Re: electric cars

Post by p.penn »

This might be a bit blonde, but I just can't help imagining all these dead cars all over the motorway, rather like the Duracell bunny advert {rofwl}
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Re: electric cars

Post by Gwenoakes »

{rofwl} p.penn
I heard that it will take 35 mins to charge a car, so everyone should expect looooooong tailbacks on the road.
In its present state it is not feasable imho, but I don't think I will be around to see it, as it would make me 92!!
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Re: electric cars

Post by wendy »

Yes I, also, will be 96, so I am not concerned.

What does concern me is they persuaded us to get diesel cars and now
we haven't any chance of selling the ones we have. As no one will want them.
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Re: electric cars

Post by Trev62 »

)de: Devils Advocate Alert )de: So everyone will be able to afford to replace their vehicles with these super efficiencient electric cars will they? Hmmm.... Sounds like another plan to keep the population from travelling allowing the rich and elite to have sole use of the road system. Next they will want you microchipped like companies in America and Sweden are currently doing to its employees, it is all about companies being able to make profits and people being controlled to ensure this happens. If the Government wanted to improve the air quality stop dropping bombs all around the world they cause more pollution than any car in the UK. )de: )de:

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Re: electric cars

Post by wendy »

)t'
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wildlifemad
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Re: electric cars

Post by wildlifemad »

Good thread!! Hubby & I have these discussions about electric cars & as we holiday in Scotland 2 or 3 times a year because we would have to keep stopping to charge the battery how long would it take to get there?! Perhaps we would end up meeting ourselves coming home!!!! Now there's an idea, we should just stay there!!! At present the service stations have perhaps 3 or 4 charging points but there would have to be many more available for use. Never thought about what SS said with regard to generating the extra electricity to charge them, unless they clean up their act with power stations then we would just be passing the pollution on to another source.Slightly off topic but LL's point about High speed rail & what they will use is a fair point as well, I haven't spoken to 1 person yet that believes High speed rail is even worth the money it's going to cost to build & the upset to people who will lose their homes & the devastation to wildlife it will cause. There are many other areas where the money could be better spent. I am a bear with little brain but have been told that lorries have an additive put into their engines that takes out the "nasties" so why can't we do that with the diesel cars?
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lancashire lass
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Re: electric cars

Post by lancashire lass »

Gwenoakes wrote:I heard that it will take 35 mins to charge a car


wildlifemad wrote:At present the service stations have perhaps 3 or 4 charging points but there would have to be many more available for use. Never thought about what SS said with regard to generating the extra electricity to charge them, unless they clean up their act with power stations then we would just be passing the pollution on to another source


We are still thinking 20th century technology - the advances in generating electricity from sustainable sources and storage by 2040 alone should be much improved. Instead of expecting to charge your car up from a charging station, think outside the box .

1. You may be familiar of solar cars with solar panels (built into the design of the car shape rather than great big flat panels like some of the earlier ones) but imagine if the paint on the car generated electricity - nanotechnology research is producing some amazing results.

2. The paint might use solar power but it's not guaranteed there'll be sunny weather, so also consider "friction" (the air passing over the car when driving - the paint might not be how we see it now as smooth and glossy to reduce friction for speed and keep out water to prevent rust, but could be rough like sandpaper ... it could look more appealing than how I'm describing) And car bodies made of lighter non-metal material so there is less drain on power.

3. Or small openings in the front of the car which act like funnels to turn mini-turbines

4. Wheels on cars could be manufactured to generate electricity - like having some form of dynamo (not sure what they are called so I'm making it up as I go along)

5. And tyres could be redesigned so they interact with the road surface (either using friction, or perhaps contact of certain materials embedded in the road surface which interacts with something on the tyre surface. In this LINK there is a proposed project to test the idea of using cars driving on special roads to generate electricity for cities, so something like this could be adapted for cars. The biggest problem with new technology is how to apply it so it is affordable.

Then there's the storage of electricity - batteries generally are getting smaller because materials have changed. Graphene alone is big in the battery industry as making significant improvements to performance. Cars in the future might be designed to become one huge battery on wheels but not in the conventional sense - lightweight cells could be embedded within the cavities of doors and floor rather than have a single lead lined battery under the bonnet.

Even a charging station at home need not necessarily be connected to the national grid (if you had your own wind / solar power installations .... I wonder if the incentive to encourage people to go down that route will be back on the agenda?)

So a car of the future might have multiple sources of electricity - it just needs people to design and refine the technology.

..... I think I watch too many Sci Fi movies {rofwl}
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Re: electric cars

Post by HedgeHugger »

Not unreasonable future thinking at all.
Could even come down to simple stuff like having several batteries, and switching between them. At least one charging while another is depleting X4 and you could maybe drive all day with no stopping in theory.

Or by then Individual ownership may not be so common, anyone can subscribe, and you just pick up the next vehicle at the 'swap shop'.

Will it make the petrol cheaper for motorbikes, if the car demand isn't there? Or will we be expected to pay the business premium?
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