BBC Top Story. Diesel & Petrol cars banned from 2040

Jackmydad

It's not just about the sound they make. It's not about how they look or any other one thing. "Excitement" is deeper than that. A combination of things.
If you like the vast majority of modern cars, and think that performance alone makes a car exciting then that's fine. I don't personally.
Incidentally I'm not against electric cars, I see them as an inevitable future. Remember though that you probably won't be driving them, they'll drive themselves, so no matter how good they look, and how many "modes" they have, they won't need any driver input. I suspect that if you use anything other than "normal" mode you'll pay more tax for it.
I honestly think that they'll be seen as an appliance.
Probably won't bother me much if at all. I'm glad to say.

almillar

But it's not free -it is massively distorted by the heavy taxes on fuel, and to an extent by The differential rates of VED.

Yes, fair point, and there's also the £4,500 (full electric) and £2,500(?) (hybrid) allowance when buying new electric cars distorting it further.

Interestingly they have come to the same conclusion as I, 30GW.

No I haven't but I read that 30GW is an absolute worst case, and also read that it could be as little as 5-10%. Doesn't get us very far at this point, and there are so very many variables. Anyone who thinks there will be new nuclear power stations (not already announced) is way off, I think.

Lots of power and good acceleration dont necessarily make for an exciting car.

Zoe's good fun, but I think I can enjoy most cars. She rolls plenty, but compared to a Clio, the battery pulls the weight balance backwards, and it's low of course, and it understeers less round the corners. You can hear the tyres squealing much better too without an engine drowning them out! Would love to easily disable the traction control...

a Datsun 240Z. Popped round on a Saturday morning and asked if I wanted a demo. We went belting down the local dual carriageway, and he asked me what I thought. I said something like it was a nice car, comfortable and fast, but it didn't have anything like the fun factor of the Mini.

And yet we look back at the 240Z as a fun car and hark back to THOSE days! I've even got a 350z which is it's spiritual successor, and I've never felt I'm missing out on 'fun' in it!

You just wait until it becomes mass market (assuming it does). It will not be any cheaper than our petrol cars of today. The government will need to recoup all the lost fuel duty, and the only way will be similar levels of taxation on electric cars.

And all we'll be left with is cleaner air to breathe.

And what about that glorious sound? The leccy car is going to sound of the whistle of the electronics.

In case you didn't notice, a lot of the performance petrol cars are losing cylinders, and having noise artificially pumped through the stereo, or via accoustic engineering, to make them sound better.

forgotmyname

welshdent wrote: »

And MY point is give the manufacturers chance. All tech starts somewhere. Just look at mobile phones.

However you can bury your heads in the Sandra's much as you like. Electric and hybrid cars are coming. They will get better. There will be classics. There will be bog standard run arounds.

I find it laughable how hostile people are to a mode of transit that is significantly cheaper than their present one. Or hostile to making that cheaper transport even better.

In the meantime I'm going to continue driving my practically free car, waving while people spend hundreds of pounds a month to burn it :-).

Can your practically free car tow a 1500kg trailer over 300 miles without stopping? There is a blog on the Tesla site where they towed a tiny little teardrop trailer and the 250 miles range dropped to around 100 miles and worse on the hills. So they are going to have to improve a LOT before they are really a viable alternative to a lot of people.

Why are there so many EVs being sold with super low mileages?

What percentage of the country have no garage or driveway to actually charge an EV?

How many charging points will each of the motorway services need to cope with a bank holiday weekend of traffic?

My local petrol station is busy every single day. Weekdays between 7:30 and 8:30am its heaving and every evening between 5:30 and 7:00. Mostly these as 5 minutes and gone.

If just 10% cannot charge at home thats still a LOT of charging stations required somewhere.


PS regarding the title, that was the original (sensationalist) BBC headline at approx 3am, which most other sites seemed to have copied over the following few hours. Identical text on a lot of other sites.

agrinnall

forgotmyname wrote: »

PS regarding the title, that was the original (sensationalist) BBC headline at approx 3am, which most other sites seemed to have copied over the following few hours. Identical text on a lot of other sites.

The BBC title, and presumably the gist of the story, come from the DEFRA press release, slightly reworded. That says:

"The Government confirmed today that it will end the sale of all new conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2040, as it unveiled new plans to tackle air pollution."

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/plan-for-roadside-no2-concentrations-published

n217970

forgotmyname wrote: »

Can your practically free car tow a 1500kg trailer over 300 miles without stopping? There is a blog on the Tesla site where they towed a tiny little teardrop trailer and the 250 miles range dropped to around 100 miles and worse on the hills. So they are going to have to improve a LOT before they are really a viable alternative to a lot of people.

I must admit I have a fairly negative attitude towards electric cars mainly due to the practicallities but if they put an end to caravans I am sold.

Ectophile

n217970 wrote: »

I must admit I have a fairly negative attitude towards electric cars mainly due to the practicallities but if they put an end to caravans I am sold.

I'm sure the floor of a caravan has plenty of room for a huge back-up battery!

Johno100

agrinnall wrote: »

The BBC title, and presumably the gist of the story, come from the DEFRA press release, slightly reworded. That says:

"The Government confirmed today that it will end the sale of all new conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2040, as it unveiled new plans to tackle air pollution."

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/plan-for-roadside-no2-concentrations-published

BIB So plenty of ambiguity in that phrase as to regards hybrid vehicles.

50Twuncle

What about motorcycles ?
Will they be banned too ?
Lorries / Trucks put out much more pollutants than cars.....
As do coaches and buses

BeenThroughItAll

AnotherJoe wrote: »

I see your point, its well known that petrol and diesel cars never have issues, that there are no "lemons' that constantly break down and have to be rejected as a point of law after being in and out of the garage for months. Never happened. Though if it has can i assume you'll be just as critical of ICE cars?

Well I don't see your point. I haven't criticised EVs in general. If you bother to read my post that you quoted, you'll see I've said I'd have another - but only when it works for my usage.


I've been 'critical' only of my own EV, and of the assertion that a high power, or fast accelerating EV will be 'exciting' by default.


Of course there are plenty of duff ICE-powered vehicles, and I would be equally as critical of one if I'd owned one; but I haven't.

welshdent

Seeing as we are all taking extremely personal examples of specific scenarios as gospel - I couldn't give a flying ho ha if a car can pull a trailer for 300 miles. I've never towed anything in my life and have no immediate plans to do so either.

I'd imagine petrol economy would also drop if a petrol car was pulling a trailer too. I doubt a little 1.2 litre car would enjoy the experience.