Yet another nail in the diesel coffin, oh & for petrol

[Col Lamb]

On the Beeb this morning the pressure is mounting in Parliament to reduce the transfer date to EV’s from 2040 in order to improve the air pollution levels in Cities and Towns.

Every major City in the UK exceeds the pollution limits to one degree or another with London being by far the worst.

I reckon in 10 years time this forum will be raving about the Macan EV with its 300 mile range and 0-60 in less than 4s and the members then will be casting aspersions on the wisdom of oil burners and greenhouse gas polluting petrol engines of old.

[gtipirelli]

I think your prediction will be pretty spot on

Though hopefully a few of us will still have a petrol sports car in the garage for sunny days

[Deleted User 1874]

City pollution is the elephant in the room for sure. People tend to ignore it and just hope it will go away or not affect them personally. I'm just glad I don't live in a city or even visit them very often!

As you know I've already made the switch to EV and not regretting it in the slightest on any level. I'd take a Macan EV over a diesel or petrol any day. It's going to be quicker, cleaner and smoother to drive. 300 mile range is feasible, although that probably means it will be pretty heavy. That's the only real negative I can think of.

[andreas]

We simply can't generate or buy enough electricity to power a significant numbers of electric vehicles. Moreover, there's no way that we could build new generation capacity in time for 2040.

[mark-yorkshire]

We simply can't generate or buy enough electricity to power a significant numbers of electric vehicles. Moreover, there's no way that we could build new generation capacity in time for 2040.

+1. In addition I remain to be convinced as to how much environmental damage will be caused by mining for the raw materials to manufacture the batteries.

[Deleted User 1874]

We simply can't generate or buy enough electricity to power a significant numbers of electric vehicles. Moreover, there's no way that we could build new generation capacity in time for 2040.

Is that actually a fact?

[Semerka]

They must to improve public transport and make it more affordable and reliable, if councils / government don't want cars in their cities.
There's more and more people, population is growing fast, so it's bound to be a chocker on the roads / streets if majority own and drive cars.

[Rab J]

We simply can't generate or buy enough electricity to power a significant numbers of electric vehicles. Moreover, there's no way that we could build new generation capacity in time for 2040.

A considerable percentage of electricity in the UK is generated from gas kindly sold to us by our Russian friend, Vladimir Putin, so no sure how long that will last. I suppose we could always frack the gas here but who ever wants that on their back door put your hand up. Nobody wants nuclear either so to be it looks like it will be difficult to keep current generation levels up let alone double it to accommodate EVs

[Deleted User 1874]

+1. In addition I remain to be convinced as to how much environmental damage will be caused by mining for the raw materials to manufacture the batteries.

While this is certainly an issue, it's been shown by several very reputable independent studies (e.g. MIT) that lifecycle pollution is significantly lower for BEVs compared to ICE or hybrids. EVs are not of course zero emission from cradle to grave, except at their point of use, but they are certainly less polluting overall than equivalent ICE vehicles. So that's a big step in the right direction, even if battery raw materials mining has its own environmental issues. It's not like fossil fuel mining is good in this respect and certainly burning it is pretty bad for the environment.

It's easy to convince yourself that ICE is still the best overall solution to personal transport, but I think its days are numbered now there are viable alternatives for most people. I very much doubt I'll be ever be buying another diesel/petrol car again.

[Deleted User 1874]

We simply can't generate or buy enough electricity to power a significant numbers of electric vehicles. Moreover, there's no way that we could build new generation capacity in time for 2040.

A considerable percentage of electricity in the UK is generated from gas kindly sold to us by our Russian friend, Vladimir Putin, so no sure how long that will last. I suppose we could always frack the gas here but who ever wants that on their back door put your hand up. Nobody wants nuclear either so to be it looks like it will be difficult to keep current generation levels up let alone double it to accommodate EVs

I agree about the gas supply, all very dodgy. Nuclear is interesting and to be honest is probably the best solution if we are intent on consuming the amount of energy we have become accustomed to for hundreds or more years into the future. We live in this little bubble where we take energy supply and unlimited personal transport totally for granted, but it's totally unsustainable beyond only a few generations, never mind thousands of years into the future. Stephen Hawking was right that we should worry about potential extinction or at least a massive regression in future living standards. Once you start peering up from your daily rat race, the bigger picture is actually quite worrying. Governments are realising that their emissions targets are somewhere in dreamland, while the corporate giants cannot see beyond their profit margins. Not to mention consumer apathy toward change, which is pretty evident in any thread about EVs!