Electric cars - so worried

[Northernlurker]

I keep worrying about being forced to buy an electric car when I change my car in a few years.
Reason being the long journeys and (mostly) self catering we love. In Scotland.
We need a range around 50% higher than the current max. It's no good saying charge it on the way if there are no fast chargers. Been looking at details today, even the fastest chargers need just over 30 minutes. Thousands of people drive UJ the Highlands and Islands annually. There won't be anything like enough chargers to cover that. We can charge overnight using an ordinary plug but it's not going to hit the max. Feel like we will spend the whole time worrying about finding a free charger in the middle of nowhere.
How is this ever going to work? It takes two Minutes to fill up a tank with petrol, electric is going to take hours!

First, sometime soon, and probably sooner than most people think, the electric cars in the showroom will be cheaper than the petrol or diesel ones. They mostly are - wheels, doors, seats, glass etc are much the same, and electric motors and some power electronics are a lot cheaper to make than internal combustion engines. The issue is the batteries; they do cost a lot now but the cost is coming down in leaps and bounds.

Second, petrol and diesel have had a good run, but their time is coming to an end. People. Will. Have. To. Adapt. Maybe you can't just set off to drive wherever the fancy takes you in the remoter parts of Scotland. Maybe people who live in homes without off-road parking won't be able to own cars. Inconvenient for some, but over time we've had to give up luxuries like burning coal in open fires, driving home after drinking eight pints, smoking here there and everywhere, sending small children up chimneys etc etc. These are all things that people thought were fine in their day, but now we realise they were just wrong. So it is with petrol and diesel.

But people are ingenious and solutions will be found. As batteries get cheaper and better they can store more electricity more quickly, so your 30 minute charge might give you 500 miles of range rather than 150. People without off-road parking might have to join car clubs rather than own their own cars. Maybe one day the cars will become smart enough that when you've arrived home at night they'll drive themselves somewhere to charge and then drive themselves back when they've finished. But. We. Cannot.Go. On. As. We. Are.

For all the doubters, all I can say is just drive an electric car for a day, and then tell us whether you still prefer petrol and diesel.

My main concern about electric cars is that they’re frickin silent. Blind people/kids etc will get run over.

@lameasahorse

"Maybe people who live in homes without off-road parking won't be able to own cars." Bloody hell.

Why does their incovenience give them the right to pollute the environment for the rest of us?

@BrutusMcDogface

My main concern about electric cars is that they’re frickin silent. Blind people/kids etc will get run over.

They can add noise over tyre noise

@lameasahorse

"Maybe people who live in homes without off-road parking won't be able to own cars." Bloody hell.

And what is necessarily wrong with that? Car ownership is a pain in the arse. If we could transition to a system of car clubs etc whereby you have access to a car whenever you need it without the stress and cost of actually owning one, is that really such a bad thing?

@BrutusMcDogface

My main concern about electric cars is that they’re frickin silent. Blind people/kids etc will get run over.

Of course. It's happening all of the time already

@BrutusMcDogface

My main concern about electric cars is that they’re frickin silent. Blind people/kids etc will get run over.

LEgally all EVS have to emit a sound at least as loud as an engine at speeds lower than 13mph.

EVs are hardly the total environmental solution, there's still huge costs in their manufacture and electricity has to be generated somehow. But they do reduce some forms of pollution. I live in a street of victorian terraces that has drainage channels in the pavements, it's a posh area so there are a few EVs and owners run the charging cable through the drainage channel and in through their windows, leaving the pavements unaffected. There's also a couple of onstreet chargers and 2 car clubs.

Do they really have to emit sounds? Cos they sound like nothing to me! 🤣

I see a pp’s point re: it not happening yet.....but that doesn’t mean it won’t! 🤔

@lameasahorse

The reason I said bloody hell, is everything proposed hurts poorer people most. Poorer people already have a much lower carbon footprint than well off people. Why is it always the poor who have to suffer?

The poor lose either way - climate change or adaptation

Why? Politics
Did I say this before ?

Yep, they do. Some older ones won't but any manufactured after I think 2019 need to emit a similar level of noise to a normal car at lower speeds.

Scotland has basic infrastructure FFS. We also have a more urgent attitude to the climate crisis than the great albatross we're shackled to. We'd prefer visitors who show some consideration for the wellbeing of our country and the planet we all share.

We also need to look into car ownership and how people use cars if we want real change.

There are some pretty creative solutions to dealing with the issue of ev charging points and in England it is going to become a legal requirement that any new property with designated parking has to have an EV chargepoint.

As others have said lamposts etc can be used as charging points and we will more and more public EV chargers popping up. It's not an insurmountable problem. Yes -like broadband - getting the most rural 5% access is the most challenging part but it's not like ICE cars are going to disappear overnight.

@BrutusMcDogface

Do they really have to emit sounds? Cos they sound like nothing to me! 🤣

I see a pp’s point re: it not happening yet.....but that doesn’t mean it won’t! 🤔

Not all. I can turn mine off so I can cause more chaos.

Ultimately it won't because research has already shown that it doesn't happen.

And don't forget that EV's also have windows so the drivers can see things in front of them. Therefore if someone is walking into the road, they'll be seen and the driver can either steer or brake. And that's not considering that almost all new cars have active pedestrian safety equipment.

Why are you worrying about this now? You really need to get a grip. My elderly parents have an electric volkswagen and took it touring round the highlands and west coast last summer and had no problems at all. They live in England and didn't need to stop to charge between home and their first nights stay, which was fairly remote. By the time you get round to buying an electric car they will have longer range and there will be better charging infrastructure too.

We don't have the battery tech to properly impliment it at the minute, you are basically buying into for forced obsolescence, or essentially 'renting' a system.

That's before we see the ven diagram of those who think it's the future with those who are against nuclear and ignore the mining of the rare earth metals to produce the batterys whilst in full support of ER and the recent no oil hot takes.

@lameasahorse

Also insist all rented houses meet top energy grade by a certain date. Any that don't can no longer be rented out. Rented houses are often the least energy-efficient houses.

At least some house prices might go down when they are all offloaded.

I just hope that the infrastructure can keep up with the demand.
It is easy to take a few minutes to fill up with fuel.

But if you have a lot of people needing to spend 30 minutes to charge a car, that's a lot of infrastructure needed.

Along with all the issues about people who can't easily access charging points at home.

I don't think this Government is capable of that level of planning ahead.