Electric cars are NOT the future, are they?

[Isometimeswonder]

I am genuinely torn. I need want a new car but really don't want electric.
But so few smaller petrol cars are made now.
I haven't got a place to charge a car at home.
AIBU I should accept electric is the future.
AINBU I should get petrol. (Please recommend a small city car)

People are getting bigger
Our bums are getting wider

I’ve sat in many a classic car and they’re a real squeeze and so much smaller than the standard car today

Its just a reflection on today’s population

@StandingSideBySidena Ozempic will reverse that 😂

I think you might be surprised. If you check the apps that show you the ones around you, there are a lot more than you'll likely have been aware of (there were for me).

I've never had to find a petrol station. They're everywhere. Takes 5 mins to fill up and go.

and banning Brazilian butt lifts 🤣

Why on earth do you assume that people who don't like EV's haven't tried one? OF COURSE I have tried them. For years every time my car is in the garage they lend me one, and every time I I dislike them.

The so called advantages are completely spurious.

1. I don't care if they are quiet, I love engine noise.

2.High quality automatic petrol cars also provide instant acceleration. 3.The 'one pedal driving' is just what driving an automatic car is. When learning in an automatic the first thing to learn is only to use one foot. 4.Cost is not a problem for me, either for maintenance of fuelling, but I do keep my cars for around 10 years so the capital cost of the car is minimal. I suppose if you rent them costs work out differently. 5.They are no simpler to operate than an automatic ICE car.

1. They may be more environmentally acceptable in town, but here in the country where people inevitably have to drive more,big reliable petrol and diesel cars are the only sensible choice. Our local environment is very likely to be completely trashed by turbines and miles of pylons in order to provide the electricity for low mileage town dwellers cars.

So drive whatever you like, I will, but don't try to pretend that electric is better. It may be for some people in some situations but is definitely not as versatile as ICE.

We recently got rid of our petrol car and now have two electrics, I love them, but I would hate it without a home charger, we live rurally and it just wouldnt be viable if we didnt have a home one.

It’s not just “a plan”. There are 1,000s of lampposts chargers in London and being installed elsewhere in the UK already. They have been there for years.

We couldn’t have an EV without them - we don’t have a driveway. They give us 2-4 weeks of local driving on one overnight cheaper rate charge.

We like many others have struggled with this conundrum.

We needed an additional car so we ended up spending £1500 on a vw lupo which was over 20years old, but it’s automatic and a genuine 33,000miles on the clock. It is beautiful.

Have a look at old Lady/Gentleman cars, they aren’t a bargain. Whilst looking we saw a 51plate 1litre automatic corsa which are rare with 16,000miles it was mint and the insurance was very good. They wanted £3000.

Lupo
seat arosa
corsa
dacia
perodua

how much do u want to soend
fo u need ULEZ?

if u don’t do many miles have a look at an automatic Saab thst is 2005 or older for cheaper tax and check out if you qualify for classic car insurance

good luck

So where will the supply of second hand cars come from and with a shortage the cost of the second hand cars will rocket. I drive a plug in hybrid which is the best of both worlds. I cannot see myself ever going full electric as having just watched my son go electric without a home charger there is no way I would subject myself to that. As to fitting more chargers etc people have their heads in the sand over the cost and disruption this will cause. To enable every house in a street to have a charger will require a full dig up of the road to lay cables to carry the current needed. Currently there are solar panels that cannot export to the grid because they cannot get the licence to do so because of inadequate infrastructure in their area. The date for electric cars will have to move right to allow for the infrastructure required and by then Hydrogen or some other method will be in favour.

EVs will not be the future until pay-per-mile (or other revenue generation scheme) is in place.

We cannot afford to drop or even heavily reduce the revenue from petrol tax (+VAT on top) until an alternative is in place.

Running an EV more cheaply than an ICE is not going to happen for much longer.

i’m with you the parts of the elec cars that come from awful mines are horrific

100% of petrol comes from fossil fuels

Never heard of E10 - it's 10% ethanol?

On a recent other thread, quite a few people were saying that increasing in the countryside where they live, they have to drive easily 15mn to get to a petrol station 🤷🏻‍♀️

Also, I would have thought that people who live in the countryside would be ideally placed to use EVs - as they are more likely to have driveways?

“our local environment is very likely to be trashed… in order to provide the electric for low mileage town dwellers cars”:

I would be interested in any statistic you might have showing that there is marked higher electricity consumption due to EVs and how it’s driving the growth of renewable energy such as wind turbines. As opposed to more wind turbines to increase renewable energy production across the board.

And also, why should city dwellers continue to breathe in polluted air by driving ICE vehicles just because a minority of people want to keep their nice views across the moors?

Until all electricity is renewable, or the hydrogen engine is a viable option for private vehicles, I’ll be sticking with petrol. I can’t afford an EV, and have no charging at home point, so unless the purchase price comes down, and the car came with free solar panels it’s not an option for me.

(I would consider a self-charging hybrid though, as long as the boot is big enough for my long dog to stand up in)

And do you think that all the people in your immediate surroundings love "hearing the engine roar"?

Living in an environment with constant traffic noise has been proven to increase stress and lessen wellbeing.

I'm autistic, and loud engine noises go right through me. It feels like someone taking the top of my head off with a chainsaw. The sooner all traffic on our roads goes 100% electric and we're free of the noise the better, as far as I'm concerned.

@crackofdoomI doubt it’ll be in your lifetime tbh. Even if they do manage to ban them when they hope to, they’ll be on the roads a long time yet. Plenty of us plan on importing too.

They are the future and i love mine.

Are you really that selfish that you relish the thought of doing something that harms others though?

(That's a rhetorical question, as you evidently are).

Do you also chuck litter out of your window onto roadside verges?

The elephant in the room, though, is that we're being eventually forced into it - whether we love it, don't mind or hate it.

If the situation were that EVs will be freely available for those who want them and ICE cars will be equally available for those who want them, there wouldn't be any need for strife or disagreement.

It would be like people furiously arguing as to whether tea or coffee are better, and which one everybody 'should' drink, when every cafe sells both and will do indefinitely.

If you take something like smartphones, the government has never hinted at making them compulsory; but the vast majority of people now have them, because they saw all that they could bring to their lives and actively chose to buy one - albeit you can get used ones for £50 or so, rather than having to spend thousands.

Nobody has ever banned fax machines, video cassettes or film cameras, but how many people now still have and use them? As soon as people saw that there were far better, much more desirable alternatives available, they actively chose to dump them in favour of newer, superior tech.

I think, if EVs genuinely are as revolutionary and amazing as proponents and governments claim they are, they wouldn't need to do anything to promote them - as word would spread, people would discover and try them for themselves and be eager to make the jump to them without any bans ever being necessary. Indeed, plenty of people have made the jump and say they would never go back; but they don't and can't decide for everybody. Consumer choice and free markets are very important things in a democracy.

It's so fucking weird how obsessive people get over this. Do people get this irate about whether people have gas or electric hobs?

EV's suit some people, ICE suit others. Just pick whichever one is better for you, ffs, without the need to slag off other people's choices.

I agree
Its insane
I could have a rant myself. I could say that I have paid out for solar panels and a battery, but I am also paying out more tax to fund charge points in street lamps etc to fund those who dont have a drive
But I dont as I accept its easier for some than others, and that's just life!

Nobody is saying that it isn't annoying and expensive to run and maintain ICE cars. Obviously people would rather not get a £1,000 bill for an essential repair, or be without them for a day whilst they have their MoT and service.

Of course you can't sleep or go to the loo whilst filling your car; but as it only takes 5 minutes to fill your car and pay for it, and then you're good for maybe another 500+ miles, that's neither here nor there. You could flip it around and say that you can completely fill up a car in the time that it takes one of your passengers to go to the loo; unless they have severe constipation, the same is absolutely not true when it comes to fully charging an EV.

The big thing, though, is the flexibility. You have a month window to get your car MoT; and although regular services are wise, it doesn't really matter whether you get it done today or a week on Tuesday. I think an equivalent would be if you were away on holiday and your car would suddenly refuse to move because it had to have a routine service NOW. Not tomorrow, not in a week but right now.

Also, services, MoTs, repairs and such are occasional things - maybe 4 or 5 times in a year at most for the majority of people with a reliable car. They aren't something that you have to think about and do every single day/couple of days/week. Don't EVs have to have services, MoTs and repairs as well, though?

People aren't getting obsessive about what other people choose; it's that the government have made it clear that, at some time in the not-too-distant future, they will take away our choice.

'Live and let live' is a great principle; but 'live and force other people to live the same way as you choose for them to live' not so much.

A 400kwh charger can take an EV battery on a standard car from 10% to 80% in less than 10 minutes. That's not much longer than it takes to pull up at a petrol pump, fill up and pay. The technology is getting there to make this a non-argument. It's also far easier to transport electricity than it is fuel, so the potential for having charging spaces everywhere is there.

And besides which, most people with EVs just plug their car in at home and forget about it, because most people are not covering enough distance to need charging away from home. Imagine how convienient it would be if you had a petrol tap at your house. That would be great, wouldn't it?