Ban on new petrol/diesel cars by 2030 - AIBU to be excited?

[almostautumn]

The government are set to announce a ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. As someone who lives in a polluted city (London) and worries about the effect that carbon emissions are having on my family’s health, I’m so excited by this news because I think it will really change our children’s lives for the better. And it’s fantastic that it’s only 10 years away!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-54981425

Itll be great for London, no surprise there.

Well, it’s very much needed in London:

www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/15/nearly-9500-people-die-each-year-in-london-because-of-air-pollution-study

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/31/proof-air-pollution-killed-my-daughter-ella-new-inquest

@Jkrowling92 Why do you think it's expensive - I switched my first petrol car for an EV lease and paid for the lease with the savings in petrol.....(I did do more miles then but even so!)

You need to do the numbers as the cars are very much cheaper now they are available second hand and they are reliable and cheaper in fuel - what's not to like?

Too long in my opinion. An opportunity missed also to get people to have a car that is a normal size, not a Chelsea Tractor.

I do all my local motoring in the electric car and it amounts to about 8000 miles per year, so I am saving £1320 (approx) per year in fuel costs. There is no question it saves me money, and many people also get their electric free by using free charges an/or a variable electric tariff, but I can't be bothered with that. We do have a second car to go longer distances which my husband drives - it's also electric.

How do you charge the second car when driving long distances? Say 300 miles? Do you have to leave it in a car park or charging station overnight? What do you do if the charging station isn’t near to where you are staying?

I can't see how they're going to be able to put the infrastructure in place in time in order to make this viable, especially in areas like here where there's huge areas of terraces with on street parking only.

I'd rather see better investment in public transport, cycle and walking routes.

Yes, it's a good idea.
But how are people who live in flats or have shared car parks going to charge their cars? I never drive to the supermarket or work (I walk) so can't charge there.
I assume all the car parks on our estate will need to be pulled up to install cables. And there isn't enough parking anyway. It's going to be a nightmare.
Funnily enough our local council have just had a climate change consultation and I put this down as a point to consider.

@AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii My (older) EV will do about 100 miles in a charge (and I wouldn't recommend that in your situation), but many are available now that will do 160 plus real world miles. The Nissan Leaf comes now with a 40kw or 62 kw batteries and is fab, and would do your mileage.

Too long in my opinion.

Better late than never though. Also the ban was originally proposed for 2040, so they’ve brought it forward by 10 years!

So where's all this extra electricity coming from? Coal and nuclear power stations. Hardly green energy.

Where's all the extra lithium coming from for the batteries? Bigger lithium mines.

The carbon footprint on making electric cars is massive. Plus the batteries don't last the life of the car, so extra batteries need to be made and disposed of, which is far from carbon neutral.

A massive push needs to be made for charging points. Not just on journeys, but for where people park overnight at home - we don't all have driveways and have to park were ever we can on the street.

I dont think electric cars are the answer.

What about those of us who don’t have private driveways to charge our cars? The village I live in is basically a main road through a row of about 15 houses and my car is parked out on the street we we don’t have a drive

This. There are 3 charging points currently in my small town and 4 petrol stations.
Population 33,000

I'd rather see better investment in public transport, cycle and walking routes.

I agree that would be good too, although we have very good public transport in London and the roads are still clogged with cars.

Are they going to address the environmental concerns surrounding the production and life span of batteries for electric cars?

Are they going to improve the batteries so if doing a long journey you don’t have to stop mid journey and hang about charging it?

Are people going to be able to tow caravans with them? I’m aware this last point isn’t the end of the world snd maybe caravanning will become a historic pastime but as a keen caravanner I’d like to be able to carry on.

I do also wonder how the national grid will cope when we all get home at 5.30 (obvs. generalisation) and put the cars on charge and put the kettle on...

I personally would be able to install a charging point in my garage and I have a secure drive to park my car, I’m alright thanks Jack!!!!!
However... where I live there are exactly 2 charging points on a supermarket car park for people who do not have the ability to park outside their own homes, there will be huge queues of people trying to charge their cars. The next charging points are 18 miles away according to the local newspaper, not so handy!!! The other charging points are also on a car park that you have to pay to park on...double whammy for some poor souls. Motorway services will also be gridlocked with people trying to charge their cars etc.
Until the infrastructure is in place to allow secure charging/parking it is not going to work for the vast majority of people.
What about people who live in high rise flats, or any flats come to think of it? What about people in terraced houses? Most people can’t even park near their homes, never mind charge their cars securely.
Who can afford to buy new cars to replace their existing cars?
A lot of people can hardly afford to live now as it is, buying a new car is completely out of their range, some people are living in La La Land to think that everyone will just be able to buy a new car and then charge it securely outside their home/work place.
Until the infrastructure is in place, this is just a pipe dream.
This won’t work for people who live rurally and can’t work for people who live in cities either.
The government is going to have to look at the logistics of this before unilaterally deciding that everyone must have an electric car.
Nice dream though!

It is ludicrous and hopefully will not happen. Also, the carbon footprint involved in producing an electric car is obscene.

What about those of us who don’t have private driveways to charge our cars? The village I live in is basically a main road through a row of about 15 houses and my car is parked out on the street we we don’t have a drive

This //\

I live in a slightly larger town, but locally there are only a handful of public charging points. There are also many flats with limited parking, and houses with no off street parking. How are these people supposed to change their cars?

I read something a while ago about hydrogen cars, that these may be the solution rather than electric cars. Sounded like we’re at the Betamax vs vhs battle of the 1980s so will be interesting to see what happens.

I don’t know much about them but the article said they’re greener than electric cars and also talked about hydrogen filling stations which sound better than having to hang about charging a car.

@LondonlovesLola

I do all my local motoring in the electric car and it amounts to about 8000 miles per year, so I am saving £1320 (approx) per year in fuel costs. There is no question it saves me money, and many people also get their electric free by using free charges an/or a variable electric tariff, but I can't be bothered with that. We do have a second car to go longer distances which my husband drives - it's also electric.

How do you charge the second car when driving long distances? Say 300 miles? Do you have to leave it in a car park or charging station overnight? What do you do if the charging station isn’t near to where you are staying?

For my motoring we don't generally do very long distances - all our family live within 160 miles of us - so we drive there and charge when we arrive - using the 3 pin socket.

If I'm doing a motorway journey there are chargers at virtually every service station, but the truth is electric is good for me as I don't travel generally long (160 miles+) distances.

My regular journey - 8 miles to school twice a day, 4 miles to work and back, 4 miles to my parents, 5 miles to local large town is eminently suited to electric.

We started by having on electric and one petrol car - now we are used to it and understand what we are doing we have two electric.

Who can afford to buy new cars to replace their existing cars? A lot of people can hardly afford to live now as it is, buying a new car is completely out of their range.

@Greeneyedminx why would you need to buy a new car? The article says there will be a ban on new petrol/diesel car sales in 2030, so you can continue to drive your current vehicle after that date.

@AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii

What about those of us who don’t have private driveways to charge our cars? The village I live in is basically a main road through a row of about 15 houses and my car is parked out on the street we we don’t have a drive

There is talk about putting a charging point on every lamppost. Still won’t be enough though in areas where it’s all on street parking. Lampposts are fairly spaced out.

Greeny (nice username there!) sums it up perfectly. 👍🏻

What happens when you live rurally and have no public transport options? Are you supposed to move to the nearest city with decent infrastructure?

Good idea but badly thought out.
Can the National Grid manage the increase in demand? How will this electricity be generated? Where will people charge cars if they don't have off road parking- too much street furniture on narrow pavements and trip hazards? Who will mine the dirty metals needed for the batteries? How will the batteries be recycled once spent? How will the roads stand up to much heavier vehicles as batteries are heavy? That's just for starters

@Winterwoollies

It is ludicrous and hopefully will not happen. Also, the carbon footprint involved in producing an electric car is obscene.

Absolutely. There is very little difference over the lifecycle of petrol/diesel and electric cars.

I'm horrified by it and glad I've probably only got another 10 or 15 years driving time left. Where do I plug in my electric car? I'm on an estate of about 200 flats. Bus service is fairly abysmal and nearest town of any size is 6 miles away. How do you think the gov will recoup the lost fuel and road tax if we're all electric? You are naive if you think electric motoring will still be cheaper once they've whacked a few taxes on. In cities it could work (I was impressed with Brighton's all-electric buses) and London's pollution does need addressing. Crack on with your cycling and walking but for a lot of us who are less able it's not an option. No, I don't see all electric as something to look forward to.