BBC Top Story. Diesel & Petrol cars banned from 2040

Aylesbury_Duck

Strider590 wrote: »

Re: Self driving cars... No, won't happen.

A self driving car has to follow the highway code to the letter, not the "my way code" but the actual highway code. Try it for yourself, see how many people you p*ss off on your way home and see how many more near misses you have.

For a start, at a merge point a driverless is going to use lane 2 if lane 1 is backed up, it will attempt to merge in turn and then it'll either get forced into oncoming traffic OR end up sitting there for several hours.

You're talking absolute tosh. You'll be left behind and have to fit in with what's coming, whether you like it or not. A bit like the car in your hypothetical scenario.

scaredofdebt

I suspect the number of miles driven by commuters will be far fewer than today, as more and more people work from home and more and more jobs are replaced by computers/robots.

With driverless cars there will also be fewer cars on the roads so the electricity demands will be manageable.

Le_Kirk

I have followed this thread with interest and, whilst someone touched on it briefly, no one has asked what the Government are going to do to replace the tax we currently pay on fuel when we don't buy it. Yes, I know it won't be instant because there will be ICE cars bought in 2039 that will last for 10 years or more but eventually ..............

scaredofdebt

n217970 wrote: »

Rubbish, there will be plenty of other driverless cars in lane 1 which will let it merge in.

The bigger issue with driverless cars will be people like me will be sat at a junction and see said car coming along with priority and think "f*** it, it'll brake".

I suspect legislation will come in to punish that kind of behaviour along the lines of how speeding offenses are dealt with today - but every driverless car will have the necessary equipment to ensure if it is impeded the police are informed.

Driverless cars will happen as they will be safer, the only question is when.

Aylesbury_Duck

jack_pott wrote: »

Freezers already have thermostats, what AD is talking about is the proposal for smart freezers that are capable of deferring demand at peak times.

Exactly, thank you.

It's very easy to quantify demand on the grid by measuring the change to the normal frequency of 50Hz. It's an experiment you can do in any school physics lab. It's a simple step to then adjust power draw accordingly.

scaredofdebt

Le_Kirk wrote: »

I have followed this thread with interest and, whilst someone touched on it briefly, no one has asked what the Government are going to do to replace the tax we currently pay on fuel when we don't buy it. Yes, I know it won't be instant because there will be ICE cars bought in 2039 that will last for 10 years or more but eventually ..............

More VAT on electricity possibly. Hike in VED for EV cars, special taxes for driverless cars etc.

The government will have far bigger problems than this!

50Twuncle

jack_pott wrote: »

Freezers already have thermostats, what AD is talking about is the proposal for smart freezers that are capable of deferring demand at peak times.

That sounds like an extension to HIVE - A way of british gas reaping even more funds from the unwary consumer - I mean - WOW ! The ability to turn your central heating on/off using your phone - from the other end of the country - sorry but have they not heard of timer switches and in any case - they should be banned - wasting energy when nobody is in the house !!

50Twuncle

scaredofdebt wrote: »

More VAT on electricity possibly. Hike in VED for EV cars, special taxes for driverless cars etc.

The government will have far bigger problems than this!

They can't charge extra VAT on household electricity - they will have to differentiate between energy used for charging vehicles and normal household use - somehow !!
Perhaps add a safe red food dye to Household electricity ?

n217970

The obvious answer will be scrapping car tax in favour of a pay per mile system.

kmb500

almillar wrote: »

Agreed, I don't like the ban. But petrol cars may stop being economically viable vs electric before that anyway, and market forces will make them stop production before any ban matters. Niche producers should be allowed to make them. No point in an A-B car being petrol in the future, but can't we have a place for sports cars etc?!

Yeah that's what I mean. If electric cars become commonplace and take over then fine. But there will always be a place for that niche audience who wants the feel of an engine. Completely banning petrol is just unfair.