Government electric car grants.

[#1]

The government looks set to cut the grants for electric cars from £3000 down to £2500, but to be quite honest I must have taken my eye off the ball here as I thought they'd been done away with all together. 

Not sure if the cut is a good or a bad thing as they say more people can access the grant as a result. I also get that it is applied by the dealer on purchase but how I wonder (and if anybody here knows) how might it be applied if you imported a car yourself.

It's and old topic guys but one worth kicking around again at times like this as lets not forget, it's now less than ten years before the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars comes into force with hybrids for a little longer... but not much. 

[#2]

Hi @Minivanman

The National Grid has purchased WPD the power company who supplies where you live I think and is selling the Gas company they own

I find that very interesting 

HD

[#3]

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@Minivanman wrote:

It's and old topic guys but one worth kicking around again at times like this as lets not forget, it's now less than ten years before the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars comes into force with hybrids for a little longer... but not much. 

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In ten years plus and if I am still here I very much doubt that I will be driving.

In the meantime I shall remain avoiding wasting my remaining time waiting for a battery to recharge by driving a hybrid.

In the coming years there will have to be a massive expansion of rapid charging points and for it to be as easy and quick to recharge a battery as to refuel with petrol/diesel or there will be a massive increase in the sale of non electric cars in 10 years time before the ban kicks in.

[#4]

@Baldrick1 

Well never say never, and if I'm not here then the Mrs being that much younger should be so at least I can have it sorted for her before I shove off into oblivion.

Rapid changes under way towards rapid charging and the 'el cheapo' electric car I have my eye on for next year does so in only three hours, plus if that subsidy applies there is and additional £500 grant for a home charging point - although this particular one plugs directly in your existing mains socket. 

To paraphrase something read earlier - if we keep fouling our nest then we foul our future... however much of it some of us have got left.  

[#5]

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@Minivanman wrote:

To paraphrase something read earlier - if we keep fouling our nest then we foul our future... however much of it some of us have got left.  

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I'm afraid that I'm less optimistic. The nest is already fouled to the extent that the human race is doomed as climate change will causes a massive change in temperature. Life will go on, but not for many species including we humans, just like when most dinosaurs died out.

Whilst China et al keeps building coal fuelled power stations to continue fouling the earths atmosphere and the world population keeps expanding at an uncontrolled pace I doubt that my burning of a 100 gallons or so of petrol a year in the rural area where I live will make much difference.

I was reading somewhere that we have put so much rubbish in the upper atmosphere that this is blanketing the planet, keeping the heat in and causing climate change BUT the smoke etc in this pollution is reducing the amount of sunlight getting through. If you clean up the atmosphere more sun will get through but the blanket will remain, hence climate change will speed up.

It's interesting when you read the damage that a few degrees of average temperature will be catastrophic and think a bit more about it. Generally we think of temperature in terms of degrees Celcius, so say a 3 degrees rise at average temperature of 16°C  seems a massive increase of 19%. In truth, we should be thinking in degrees Kelvin (0°K equals -273°C), that is, absolute zero. So in nature the average temperature is not 16 degrees but 289°K, with a rise to 292°K being catastrophic, that's not 19%, it's 1.1%!

[#6]

Long term you may well be right as lets face it, it's not looking good is it. But I was thinking more of the immediate along with the short time many some of us have left and trying to make some sort of provision for it.

Gotta start somewhere even if it looks like leading nowhere. 🙁

[#7]

Well I can honestly say that the grant reduction will not effect me in the slightest.

By the time second hand electric vehicles are affordable, for me, and reliable enough I'll probably have to choose a little one that goes on the pavement.

[#8]

Rapid changes under way towards rapid charging and the 'el cheapo' electric car I have my eye on for next year does so in only three hours, plus if that subsidy applies there is and additional £500 grant for a home charging point - although this particular one plugs directly in your existing mains socket. 

Not sure how that's going to work? Your existing 13 amp mains socket will deliver just over 3kw. So in 3 hours you can put 9 kwh back into the battery. That's not going to get you very far... unless its a very small light car.

As for home fast charging points, will your average house incoming supply be capable of running the fast charger and any other electrical appliances at the same time ? probably not , so any charging will have to be overnight and then what happens to the grid when all these fast chargers are running at the same time...

[#9]

I've got no interest in owning an EV until Toyota enter the market & launch there offerings with the new solid state battery technology.

Reports say 300 mile range & 10 minute recharge time.

[#10]

@MisterW 

This one is a small car, and taken from the 'tech specs'   "....is equipped with a 6 kW electric motor operating at 48 V. It also receives a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 5.5 kWh, rechargeable to 80% in 3 hours on a 230 V household outlet, giving it a maximum range of 75 km WMTC"

Horses for courses and it would not suit everybody of course, but for urban driving or rural pottering around it's ideal. 

Not everyone's cup of tea, but for us it's milk and two sugars. 😃 

[#11]

@PowerLee 

Blimey O'Reilly, that really is something.

I think we are on the cusp of some major advances in battery technology which will leave future generations wondering why on earth we polluted our towns, cities and ourselves with fossil fueled transport. 

Next up, batteries manufactured in the UK? 

[#12]

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@Minivanman wrote:

Next up, batteries manufactured in the UK? 

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Possibly @Minivanman ...

UK Lithium

[#13]

@RobPN 

Indeed yes, and there was talk of building one of those so called Tesla type 'Gigafactories' to manufacture them in Newport, Wales but like so much else that seems to have fallen by the wayside. 

[#14]

@Minivanman 

I remember back in the old days when colour TVs were catching on a factory being set up to manufacture CRTs in this country. This was geared up to build 90° tubes. This came on line just in time for the development of 110° tubes to come on line from Japanese maufacturers, allowing much shallower TVs to be produced. No-one wanted the bulky old designs and the millions invested all withered away.

These lessons never seem to be learnt so I can imagine a mega factory being set up to build today's lithium ion battery to come into production only to be too late to the market as the new solid state versions come on line.

I agree that your choice of car is not everyones cup of tea. When I go out at in the dark mid winter I want good lights, demistors, heater, heated seats and still have enough energy available to travel somewhere. I agree what it's probably fine for crawling around busy, well lit city streets in summer. It's horses for courses.

[#15]

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@Minivanman wrote:

@MisterW 

Horses for courses and it would not suit everybody of course, but for urban driving or rural pottering around it's ideal. 

Not everyone's cup of tea, but for us it's milk and two sugars. 😃 

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You are correct about that, I would rather walk or use the free bus than use that, imagine being in a accident, doubt your chances would be good compared to driving a average size car.

Equally older cars which fewer people want will be around for the next 20 years or more, likely to get cheaper to buy and whilst the cost of fuel will rise if used for short trips may not be that much more expensive to run than a electric car.