to feel a concern about electric transport?

[firthy85]

hello. i am a disabled person who wonders about the safety for pedestrians once all vehicles become electric. i am visually impaired so i rely on my hearing. i walk with a white stick. all these vehicles do appear to be very quiet meaning you may hear what seems like a quiet engine and step out to cross a road thinking it's clear to walk over the road. nobody seems to think or be talking about this. aibu to think more should be talked about to help this situation? you must have elderly relatives or a disabled dc what do you think? we seem blinded by the green issue rather than the overall situation that faces people daily.

*noise not mouse

But consider that they cost very little to run.

They cost very little to run now because there is no duty on the fuel. Not even the full rate of VAT. The government will need to replace the revenue lost on petrol/diesel sales. Expect some form of taxation or road pricing in future.

Servicing is a lot cheaper as nothing to go wrong.

There is lots to go wrong but less, overall, to wear out. They are very complex machines.

I do understand your concern. However, a lot of the e-cars have a noise thing on them, so that people can hear them (I can't comment on older models though).

I have an e-car (work car), which I got in November and you can definitely hear it. It's not as loud as some petrol/diesel cars can be, but apparently it sounds like a quiet airplane!! There's a button you can press to turn of the noise, but I prefer to keep it switched on at all times so that people (and animals!) can hear the car.

If large numbers of people have EVs, that could potentially cause issues for balancing the grid (which is going to become increasingly more challenging anyway).
But it doesn't have to.

The real game changer will be bidirectional charging (cars and chartering points aren't set up that way yet).

Take power from the grid when demand is low and prices cheap. send it back when demand is high or when supply is low (for a financial incentive).
(Or, if you like, don't because I am sure no-one will force you to charge your car when its cheap).

But if a large number of people have EVs, there is an opportunity there. The way we pay for and use electricity is going to change over the next few years, and if that seems impossible to imagine, then think back to how you used to pay for and use telephones (as an example) in the 90s. One land phone, internet on dial up, phone bill with every call charged for. Huge changes.

Problem is though that a number of different interconnected technologies need to be developed, rolled out, improved etc. And that is hard, when each technology really needs the others to be in place first before the benefits can be seen.

(Btw, I earn my living in the oil industry si I have NO personal incentive to big up renewables and EVs. But I think change is coming and its fascinating).

Yanbu. They can be really quiet on corners.

You will get used to it- as noise from other vehicles decreases the electric engine sounds will be more noticeable. Also, you're brain will adjust to recognise the sounds it needs to be aware of.

It's not unlike a bike, and we tend to manage to avoid them with a combination of eyes and ears.

They do have noise generators.

Lots of petrol cars are very quiet, a neighbour has a honda jazz mark 2, you cannot hear the petrol engine. Our car park is underground, despite the acoustics making noises louder you can still can’t hear it behind you. We can however hear the tesla and honda-e.

One problem with internal combustion engines is, (as anyone who has studied thermodynamics knows) they are very low efficiency.
They convert chemical energy into kinetic energy via heat. Extracting mechanical work from thermal energy is very inefficient. Even in an ideal cycle, you will see most of this energy "wasted".
It is related to the 2nd law.

Converting chemical energy into electrical energy and then into work is, theoretically, much more efficient. But of course there are huge challenges associated with moving (slowly) towards renewables and there is no neat, easy solution.

Bikes are also silent. How do people who are visually impaired (or indeed anyone else on this thread who has been almost hit by a silent electric car) cope with them? I appreciate the impact of being hit by a bike is a lot less than by a car, but I still wouldn’t want to be hit by one.

There's alot of 'can't do' attitude when it comes to electric cars. Daft arguments about running out of charge in traffic etc. Cars can run out of petrol aswell you know! As if its a load of nonsense as one poster said. They are how cars are going and I think in 10 -15 years time most people will have them and look back aghast at the dirty, polluting petrol/ diesel cars we drove . Green energy has to increase because how can we carry on as we are? There has to be a green alternative and workable solutions are being invented because basically humans have no choice. We've wreaked the planet so changes have to be made.

Bikes are also silent. How do people who are visually impaired (or indeed anyone else on this thread who has been almost hit by a silent electric car) cope with them? I appreciate the impact of being hit by a bike is a lot less than by a car, but I still wouldn’t want to be hit by one.

People are constantly stepping out in front of bikes. They simply don't look at all, just step out. Visually impaired people are usually a lot more careful than sighted people, who seem to rely entirely on their ears!

@Rollmopsrule

There's alot of 'can't do' attitude when it comes to electric cars. Daft arguments about running out of charge in traffic etc. Cars can run out of petrol aswell you know! As if its a load of nonsense as one poster said. They are how cars are going and I think in 10 -15 years time most people will have them and look back aghast at the dirty, polluting petrol/ diesel cars we drove . Green energy has to increase because how can we carry on as we are? There has to be a green alternative and workable solutions are being invented because basically humans have no choice. We've wreaked the planet so changes have to be made.

Completely agree.

I have an electric vehicle and I love it. I get the argument about charging on long journeys being a pain, but I think the technology will develop to give cars a bigger range and quicker charge times.

this has turned into an interesting thread. making noises optional is a bit worrying so hope your right about the newer models having to make some noise and can't be switched off. sadly i am someone who has to rely on hearing for everything i do in life because i can see nothing. been almost hit by bikes before who don't even ring the bell round here they just expect you to move. seems the attitude is move or get squished. it is a bit stupid to suggest your going to hvae to keep charging up your car. i'm guessing you can buy longer life batteries so you can make the long journey right?

@firthy85

this has turned into an interesting thread. making noises optional is a bit worrying so hope your right about the newer models having to make some noise and can't be switched off. sadly i am someone who has to rely on hearing for everything i do in life because i can see nothing. been almost hit by bikes before who don't even ring the bell round here they just expect you to move. seems the attitude is move or get squished. it is a bit stupid to suggest your going to hvae to keep charging up your car. i'm guessing you can buy longer life batteries so you can make the long journey right?

Hmm not really. Mine has a range of 150 ish miles. I don’t think I can change or add extra batteries. I just have to stop and charge on route if I want to go further than that, and it does take a bit longer than filling up with petrol.

It’s something that does worry me too, some of them are really quiet. I would like some kind of artificial noise to be fitted, wouldn’t have to be as loud as a normal engine but just so there’s a bit of warning.

I didn't know about the electric car making a music sound. Dh has a hybrid.
The quality of the hybrids isn't that great currently I don't think.

@Biribift

I have an electric car but it makes a sound like a whine when I'm driving it, people do appear to hear me coming because I've been down a few country paths where pedestrians are on the road and they've stepped to the side without looking back.

At speed the noise of tyres on tarmac will make them heard. It's in towns where they're really dangerous.

I didn't know about the electric car making a music sound

Like an ice cream van? Greensleeves.

haha would be quite comical in a place such as london which is highly populated every car playing a musical ditty lol.

@nitsandwormsdodger

I live next to 10 lanes of constant roaring traffic with a family with lung issues ( !) and definitely can't wait till the whole world is electric Definitely don't want mouse added I'm sure technology can be created so you are safe too

What on earth made you buy a house there?

I was looking at buying an electric car and the safety restore of it making a noise was an optional extra you had to pay for!!! Not sure if the change of law is very recent or this is an additional noise above and beyond what is required by law but I was very cross about it.

@Tal45

I don't understand how electric cars are so much greener? I appreciate that the cars themselves are great for emissions but where is all the electricity for the whole country to be using these cars coming from? Is the whole country going to be covered in solar panel 'farms' and super ugly wind turbines? Or from nuclear (the waste certainly isn't green) or from coal - not green. I just don't get it.

I think it's like when they decided diesel cars were all greener because they produced less CO2 I think it was - and everyone bought huge diesel vehicles - but they had just ignored all the other extra pollutants diesel produced.

Th company eon are spouting all sorts of crap like - everyone will produce their own energy to power their cars by going off grid - really?? If they're not doing it now to power their heating and water why would they do it to power their cars??

They also say if people can't produce their own energy it won't matter as not everyone will want to charge their cars at the same time so it won't affect the national grid - DUH most people will get home from work and charge their car. All those people sat in traffic jams will all get home and charge their car. It just all seems like a load of non sense to me and will either be scrapped or a poorly thought through disaster.

If you're on Twitter, give MyGrid UK a follow. It tweets every 4 hours about where electricity is generated. Coal is usually 0%, solar, hydro and wind usually very low %, gas low 50s, nuclear between 15-20%.

@Rollmopsrule

There's alot of 'can't do' attitude when it comes to electric cars. Daft arguments about running out of charge in traffic etc. Cars can run out of petrol aswell you know! As if its a load of nonsense as one poster said. They are how cars are going and I think in 10 -15 years time most people will have them and look back aghast at the dirty, polluting petrol/ diesel cars we drove . Green energy has to increase because how can we carry on as we are? There has to be a green alternative and workable solutions are being invented because basically humans have no choice. We've wreaked the planet so changes have to be made.

I live in a flat, have no driveway and often have to park in another street so charging will be a huge issue. Until you can charge a car as quickly as filling up with with petrol and they have the same range as a petrol car I'm not interested. I'm planning on renewing my car (it's on finance) until I can no longer get a petrol car and then driving it until it dies.

I do appreciate we can't carry on as we are forever, but I think 9 years is way too optimistic as we have such limited infrastructure

I think hydrogen fuel cells will be the way to go, or if it can be used in a tank in the boot as LPG can be, then that would make it easier.

I think EV will be the betamax to hydrogen's VHS iyswim.

YANBU. The dog nearly got killed the other day by an electric car reversing out of a driveway. He was on the lead and only about a foot ahead of me. The driveway was obscured by conifers on both sides. Suddenly with no sound this car reverses out inches from the dog's head. I yanked him back.
The driver shouldn't be reversing out of a driveway like this anyway. I was always taught to reverse in and drive out for safety reasons but if it had been a normal car I would have heard it.