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

So was there any mention of flying in the green bill? Are we planning on developing electric planes?

Small electric planes do exist. A full electric airliner is probably some way off. Hybrids will most likely come first.

So was there any mention of flying in the green bill? Are we planning on developing electric planes?

don't know about passenger electric planes.
but there are developments wrt carbon neutral fuel (from algae) and lighter planes. plus more energie efficient routes and flighing altitudes.

I really don't think the timeline on this is unreasonable. More well off people and people in towns will buy earlier, but the more people go electric, the more infrastructure will spring up. ten years from now there will still be plenty of gas cars around, and it doesn't apply to lorries and tractors and such. By the time all the gas vehicles bought in 2029 are gone, I would think that there will be a lot of options that don't exist now.

People may be travelling a lot less by then, anyway.

Gas vehicles?

I'd love to make my next car an electric one. However, where I live currently, it would be impossible. I have no off road parking and am lucky if I can park outside my house. When I can, as my house opens straight onto a street, it's not practical to be running a cable across a pavement to the car to charge it (lots of children playing on the street who don't look where they're running). So, I either have to make my next car a self charging hybrid or petrol/diesel, or wait to change my car until I move somewhere with off-road parking so I can charge at home.
That said, I'm not against looking into EV ownership as, I don't generally travel very far so, as one of the shopping centres I use has charging points (and the supermarket), I could charge the car while I do my shopping. The only thing I'd worry about is how heavy the charger would be and how fiddly to connect/disconnect as I suffer with pain in my wrists and struggle on some days to even lift a kettle. If it's not too heavy or fiddly, I'd be willing to give it a go as my next car.

Come on, people. The government can't fund schools properly🤷🏻 As if they will be able to create some solid infrastructure

@Jasmin82 I have severe rheumatoid arthritis and the electric car chargers are easy peasy not heavy or fiddly at all and much easier than using a petrol pump which I could no longer do.

@wonkylegs that's good to know, thanks. It's a further expansion on the list of possible next cars I've been compiling.

One thing I don’t understand is road tax. I know different classes of vehicles pay different rates, but what about these ‘0’ rate cars such as electric?
Surely road tax was made to help pay for road infrastructure? Even if a car ran on fresh air it would still cause wear and tear in our roads.
Same with congestion zones. Even ‘green’ cars are part of the traffic problem.
Wouldn’t it more sensible if we all paid road tax rather than being taxed in other ways?
I get it’s to encourage people to drive greener cars.

@Hearwego no one in the UK pays road tax. We pay Vehicle Excise Duty which is based on emissions. The upkeep of roads is usually covered by council tax, which most people pay.

I drive hundreds of miles a week for work I don't have time to spend waiting for a car to charge!
My car is parked on a communal car park how would this work?

Sorry if I sound naive but do you think cars will end up with a charger battery that you take into your home to charge then put it in the car. Like an electric drill type situation?

@CherryCherries

Sorry if I sound naive but do you think cars will end up with a charger battery that you take into your home to charge then put it in the car. Like an electric drill type situation?

Not unless there's a major breakthrough - electric car battery packs are the equivalent of dozens of drill ones - it would be too large and heavy to move about with present tech.

So, I either have to make my next car a self charging hybrid or petrol/diesel, or wait to change my car until I move somewhere with off-road parking so I can charge at home.

Self charging Hybrid has a petrol engine.

Sorry if I sound naive but do you think cars will end up with a charger battery that you take into your home to charge then put it in the car. Like an electric drill type situation

A Makita 18V electric drill battery has 10 cells. A Tesla Model 3 battery has 3000 of a similar size.

@Bwlch

So was there any mention of flying in the green bill? Are we planning on developing electric planes?

Small electric planes do exist. A full electric airliner is probably some way off. Hybrids will most likely come first.

Electric airliners will never happen. They wouldn’t get off the ground. Hydrogen airliners however will happen. Rolls Royce, Aerospace etc are already in the process. Aerospace mooted they could have a zero emissions aircraft in the air by 2035.

@DynamoKev Yes, I know a self charging has a petrol engine, but, as I pointed out, currently, given where I live in on street parking only and parking outside my house is a lottery. If I change cars before I move somewhere with off street parking and room for a charging point, The closest I can get to being fully electric is a self charging hybrid. It's that or go to the nearest shopping centre/supermarket with charging points more often than I do now, which would kind of defeat the whole point of having an electric car, as I'd be using it more than a regular car.

"Self-charging hybrid" is marketing pulling the wool over your eyes. Environmentally it's little better than a petrol car. It gains some fuel efficiency but you're still burning fossil fuels for 100% of your motoring. Almost all current ones would be banned under 2030 rules.

"The closest I can get to being fully electric" is a plug-in hybrid. Capable of being charged from the grid which has a significant portion of renewable energy now, will do typically 30 miles on the battery, with the engine available for longer journeys or if you haven't been able to charge it.

If I was buying a new car today, I'd make it a plug-in hybrid.

Removable batteries aren't something the manufacturers have gone for. As mentioned EV batteries are big and heavy, you'd need a machine to remove and replace them. Car makers prefer to put their batteries in the best place for the car's design which means they wouldn't be easily accessible for removal.

Cars will eventually have two batteries, therefore making charging easy as you’ll just swap over the batteries, in much the same time it takes to fill up with petrol

Electric airliners will never happen. They wouldn’t get off the ground. Hydrogen airliners however will happen.

Ba boom tish!

There's a joke in there about hydrogen too. Of course hydrogen will be much more efficient at getting airliners off the ground. Look how well it did for the Hindenburg.

(Yes I know it won't be like that at all and will involved compressed gas in cylinders powering an engine, rather than as in inflation medium).

thenextweb.com/cars/2020/01/21/ev-battery-swapping-technology-not-dead-yet-thank-you-china-electric/

@ivykaty44

That seems unlikely. The batteries are massive, heavy and integral to the vehicle.

Fast charging and large capacity are far, far more likely.

If China can get it to work it’ll happen elsewhere as many cities will have similar issues with charging

electrek.co/2020/06/02/nio-battery-swap-electric-cars-completes-500000-swaps/

As governments gives dates for liquid fuel cars to cease then the car manufactures will work harder and quicker for an easy solution to charging