To think that people that drive diesel cars know that they're killing children

[dieselKiller]

Diesel cars are destroying our towns and villages. The health effects on kids are particularly bad. People must know this by now. So AIBU to think that people who drive diesel cars know that they're killing kids (and everyone really)?

It's like smoking: it's not possible to smoke in public without affecting others' health. This seems to have been accepted by most people. What makes diesel different?

Well I'm buggered if I'm going to change my car because a random on t'internet told me to

Quite a few chargers in the South of France: www.plugshare.com

Paris is banning all diesel cars by 2024, and France overall from 2040.

And no we aren't resistance to change or anti green. We just aren't rich and don't live in a heavily populated area.We are a one car family with one of us cycling several miles to work everyday. We recycle everything,reuse as much as we can,eat very little meat and are as green as we can be.

Being green in many ways costs money many don't have. I really hate the smug m/c attitude that looks down on anybody not able to buy organic,shop in farm shops etc. All my cleaning products are Ecover. I don't look down on others who can only afford Lidl and say they are resistant to change. Like many we simply can't and won't be able to afford an electric car for an awful long time.

I am not looking down on anyone.

I just wanted to point out upthread that an EV is more affordable than many people think if you buy 2nd hand, because "it's too expensive" is often used as an argument against them.

And it's only going to get cheaper and better - think about how mobile phones have changed in just a few short years.

I agree that for many people, owning an EV won't be viable yet for some years. But I also want to debunk a few myths.

Doesn't say the range between each. Fewer the further down you get over quite a large distance. All seem to be on the busy expensive toll roads. What happens when you are at your destination a long way from said roads. France is a big country. 106 miles isn't that far. How do you know for sure you are covered in the rural areas before you travel?

And again where do families get this £20k they haven't got from for new cars?

zzzz asked about trucks. Many fleets are now switching to biomethane - which is very green and can be generated from food waste.

But there probably won't be enough of it to power all the trucks in the UK.

They are a bit too heavy to be electric though.

I bought my 2014 eco diesel Renault captur two years ago and the evidence was it was more environmentally friendly on emissions than petrol and I pay zero car tax because of this. In recent months the government or research appears to be saying the opposite but as neither new petrol nor diesel cars will be built after 2040 it does not appear that petrol are any better. My daughter is very environmentally aware and recently changed her old petrol car. She wanted an electric but as they are too expensive and no infrastructure as such for charging it she settled for another newer petrol car because of the hysteria whipped up about diesels. It is difficult to know who to believe but personally our local city is still as clean now as it was when we first moved here 30 years ago. The air quality in certain cities may be down to the number of vehicles on the road due to bad public transport links in rural areas such as ours.

I am deliberately ignoring the goody thread title as there is no substantial evidence proving this is true any more than petrol car drivers.

Yes, like here they focus them on the main routes because most people driving EVs use public chargers for the longer journeys.

Most of the time people charge their EVs at home or at work. I know, not always possible for everyone.

As for buying a new car, I think very few people pay cash for a new car - most people get finance from the car company - PCP deals.

@IroningMountain @PortiaCastis jwhy so grumpy about electric cars? No one is telling you you MUST BUY ONE NOW.

They are merely pointing out how rapidly the tech is improving, how they are already suitable for a lot of people (if expensive) and how very clearly EV is the (near) future. They are only going to get better and cheaper with better charging solutions.

You have to be pretty obstinate to say that you honestly do not think the vast majority of new cars purchased are going to be EV in the medium-term.

Or the many tourists France won't want to lose.

Anyway, if my car can hold out another 4 years i'll probably get an EV if I replace it. Or might just use car-sharing which I also thing will increase even more.

I would love an electric car, but can't afford one. I do however, get public transport for most of my journeys. In order to clean up our act, government need to take away all polluting cars and replace them with clean ones. That is never going to happen of course, so I have no idea how to fix things. In London if we had more cycle lanes I would happily cycle but won't do it now as I want to live!

Where does the electricity come from to charge all these cars? How green is that, does anyone know?

The future isn't just ev,hydrogen is a possibility. The fact is the infrastructure isn't there for both, the electricity generating board are concerned.

Not as green as a bike but greener than diesel and petrol!

@Rebeccaslicker 20% of the UK generation is from renewables at the moment.

This will increase massively when storage tech improves, at the moment the issue with renewables is that they are intermittent generators and we still need conventional coal-fired (generally) base load. Once we have large scale storage then intermittent generation can be stored to be used in periods of low solar/wind/hydro etc.

Silver Sorry to correct you, it's already about 29%:

www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/renewable-energy-electricity-new-record-uk-wind-solar-a7972266.html

I drive my children around IN a diesel car. Do I get extra points?

@GrumpyOldBag and I think it hit >50% for the first time one day in June or July?

Once we have large scale storage ... yes - and older EV batteries in houses are going to be used to do that!

Nice circular solution!

ironingmountain I have to disagree. I really do think the future is in EVs, you only have to look at the sheer number of concept vehicles being put out there that shows that this is where people are going. Tesla are leading the way in EVs, solar power and battery storage and are dragging the rest of the car industry along with them.

They are rapidly expanding their network of superchargers, which in all likelihood will be available to other car brands in the future. Plus charging an EV isn’t challenging, yes it takes some time, but they can just be plugged into any normal socket. You’ll have a full battery by the morning.

Electricity companies are in consultations with EV drivers as they are planning on how to keep up with demand. An awful lot of current EV owners also use solar power and battery storage to help power the cars. Or they use renewable electricity suppliers.

There is a long way to go, but the introduction of the Tesla model 3 to the UK market in 2019 will help. It’s a state of the art car for approx £26,000. Not cheap, but a damn sight more attainable than the current models. What other car for that price range will drive itself?

Batteries are an extremely environmentally unfriendly method of storing power. Its one of the reasons that EV will never take off. Expensive as they are , EV without subsidies are even more expensive.

Why should anyone else help to pay for your vanity car that is environmentally destructive ?