The Alternative Green Energy Thread

JKenH

In an attempt to maintain harmony on Martyn1981’s Green, Ethical, Energy issues in the news thread, Mart and I have agreed that I will no longer contribute to that thread but instead start a separate thread which Mart has agreed not to participate on.

The intention of the thread is that green energy issues can be discussed in an open and less prescriptive manner. While most people will continue to use the original thread you are free to post on here on any green energy topic including electric cars.

To avoid some of the acrimony that has arisen on the original thread could I request please that contributors endeavour to be courteous in their posts and their language and avoid pejorative comments. If you want to be rude and use bad language please post elsewhere. Thank you.

JKenH

Octopus Investments has said it intends to list an infrastructure trust in London that will purchase and operate clean energy assets, such as wind and solar farms, in an attempt to raise around £250m.


Initially, the company will direct 60pc of its investments in to assets that are already operational, and the other 40pc will go on building things like solar farms from scratch.


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2019/11/17/octopus-float-clean-infrastructure-trust/

JKenH

It’s old fogies like me who suffer from range anxiety while the young aren’t so worried. I suppose nothing changes; when I was in my early twenties I used to run out of petrol regularly and have to hitch a lift to and from a filling station so it is no surprise that having a flat battery when there is free recovery is no big deal for the young.

New research by professional services firm KPMG has found that the public’s reluctance towards electric vehicles is mainly an issue for the over 55s. The survey found that when considering the purchase of an electric car, range anxiety (which is the distance the car can travel on one charge) was the top concern for 75% of people over the age of 55. However, less than half (40%) of those surveyed between the ages of 18-34 shared the same worry.

...those aged 18-34 were more concerned with the time it takes to charge, than how far one charge would take them.


https://home.kpmg/uk/en/home/media/press-releases/2019/11/over-55-s-reluctant-to-join-electric-vehicle-revolution-kpmg-survey-finds.html

1961Nick

JKenH wrote: »

Octopus Investments has said it intends to list an infrastructure trust in London that will purchase and operate clean energy assets, such as wind and solar farms, in an attempt to raise around £250m.


Initially, the company will direct 60pc of its investments in to assets that are already operational, and the other 40pc will go on building things like solar farms from scratch.


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2019/11/17/octopus-float-clean-infrastructure-trust/

It’s encouraging to see a smaller energy company actually adding to RE generation rather than just greenwashing. Energy consumption shouldn’t be guilt free until it’s truly green & we’re a long way from that goal ... especially with gas.

JKenH

PHEV sales are soaring in Germany

https://cleantechnica.com/2019/11/17/open-the-plug-in-hybrid-floodgates-germany-ev-sales-report/

Something clicked in the German plug-in vehicle market after the summer holidays. The market had a record month (9,452 registrations) in September, and then October came and set a new record, this time 26% above the previous one! 11,926 plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) were registered, more than doubling last year’s result.

1961Nick

JKenH wrote: »

PHEV sales are soaring in Germany

https://cleantechnica.com/2019/11/17/open-the-plug-in-hybrid-floodgates-germany-ev-sales-report/

Something clicked in the German plug-in vehicle market after the summer holidays. The market had a record month (9,452 registrations) in September, and then October came and set a new record, this time 26% above the previous one! 11,926 plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) were registered, more than doubling last year’s result.

PHEV sales in Germany have taken off because they're replacing traditional 3.0 litre 6 cylinder vehicles. The Mercedes E300 diesel makes 286bhp whereas the E300de makes 316bhp. In addition, the hybrid costs less to purchase & incurs lower taxes.

JKenH

PHEV sales in the UK had recovered well after the initial phase of Grant removal a year ago and sales were on a par with BEVs so far in 2019. I wonder what effect the the last of the hybrids losing their grants just over a week ago will have. To be fair the old scheme was being abused as they were being bought for tax rather than fuel saving reasons. I wouldn’t be surprised if the grants on BEVS aren’t cut again soon.


Jesse Norman said in May:

“I expect the prices of electric cars to come down dramatically in the same way, and I’m not prepared to spend tax payers’ money incentivising technology that doesn’t reflect this changing market.”

Personally I think PHEVs are a great idea and I suspect a lot of other oldies would say the same.

1961Nick

JKenH wrote: »

PHEV sales in the UK had recovered well after the initial phase of Grant removal a year ago and sales were on a par with BEVs so far in 2019. I wonder what effect the the last of the hybrids losing their grants just over a week ago will have. To be fair the old scheme was being abused as they were being bought for tax rather than fuel saving reasons. I wouldn’t be surprised if the grants on BEVS aren’t cut again soon.


Jesse Norman said in May:

“I expect the prices of electric cars to come down dramatically in the same way, and I’m not prepared to spend tax payers’ money incentivising technology that doesn’t reflect this changing market.”

Personally I think PHEVs are a great idea and I suspect a lot of other oldies would say the same.

Contract hire companies have remarked upon the number of cars that have been returned with the charging cable still inside the sealed bag! Clearly giving someone a tax incentive to lug 200kg of batteries & sundries around for 3 years is crazy ... especially as it's probably using more fuel than the equivalent ICE vehicle.

When do you get your V2H charging station installed?

EricMears

JKenH wrote: »

I wouldn’t be surprised if the grants on BEVS aren’t cut again soon.

I'm sure the BEV incentives were only ever meant as a 'pump priming attempt' just as the FIT scheme was designed to increase the take-up of RE and was removed when price reductions had made it redundant.

I hope BEV prices do indeed drop in response to increased demand and would therefore welcome reduction or even removal of artificial subsidies.

JKenH

EricMears wrote: »

I'm sure the BEV incentives were only ever meant as a 'pump priming attempt' just as the FIT scheme was designed to increase the take-up of RE and was removed when price reductions had made it redundant.

I hope BEV prices do indeed drop in response to increased demand and would therefore welcome reduction or even removal of artificial subsidies.

I seem to recall VW dropped their prices in response to a previous cut in grant level on PHEVs. Perhaps other manufacturers did as well and will do so again if the BEV grant is cut.

EricMears

JKenH wrote: »

I seem to recall VW dropped their prices in response to a previous cut in grant level on PHEVs. Perhaps other manufacturers did as well and will do so again if the BEV grant is cut.

I've always believed that manufacturers work out an affordable price then add on whatever grants the customer would get