Where is it going to come from.

[Slime]

My biggest wonder about electric cars is whether they'll be able to produce the extra electricity to charge and power 40 million cars...how many power stations will they need to build..?
Add to that the problem of charging points.

Six nuclear power stations, apparently.
And just how much will it cost to have charging points for everyone, especially those who don't have off-street parking?
Hydrogen fuel cells must surely be the way forward.

 

[Imurg]

Easy, put a solar panel on the roof!

That's the people of Manchester buggered then.....

 

[clubchamp98]

Can you imagine the road works to lay all the cables for all these charging points.

 

[Tashyboy]

Tashyboy has solar panels on his roof. Best investment I ever made. However I don't think I am getting the most out of them. I had a phone call from a guy who wanted to sell me storage batteries for home. I turned it down. He then said. He would do the same, and to wait until we have to subsidise nuclear power. Then get batteries installed in the house. He reckoned the technology on batteries is coming on leaps and bounds, using a phone battery as an example. He also said the price of electricity will go through the roof once we subsidise nuke power. I have looked at home batteries and £5K seems the average price. But if it is my power supplying my battery charging my car. Is it win win win. God knows.

 

[robinthehood]

Can you imagine the road works to lay all the cables for all these charging points.

? its already there...

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Electric cars/transport never was or is the answer. Hydrogen fuel cell is the answer.
People forget that the lithium required to make the batteries isn't an infinite resource, dug out of infinite holes in the ground predominately in China.
Thankfully I will probably have stopped driving before all the fairy tale Tomorrows World stuff thats being spouted now ever comes close, and probably dead not long after they realise they royally screwed it up.

 

[robinthehood]

Electric cars/transport never was or is the answer. Hydrogen fuel cell is the answer.
People forget that the lithium required to make the batteries isn't an infinite resource, dug out of infinite holes in the ground predominately in China.
Thankfully I will probably have stopped driving before all the fairy tale Tomorrows World stuff thats being spouted now ever comes close, and probably dead not long after they realise they royally screwed it up.

electric car is a bit of a catch all, as in a car thats not using an internal combustion engine.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

electric car is a bit of a catch all, as in a car thats not using an internal combustion engine.

But why? Its just as polluting if not more to produce and build the electric car, let alone charge it.
Braking systems on electric cars create more particulates due to the heavier braking, let alone more dangerous to pedestrians either from cable trip hazards of not hearing the electric car coming.
To spend millions building a suitable intrastructure for electric cars is short sighted, when they could future proof themselves by building the hydrogen fuel cell infrastructure that would be forward thinking.

 

[williamalex1]

Should be an opportunity for us to make/produce some British made electric cars.
It's an ideal time to start making things for ourselves rather than importing .

 

[williamalex1]

Can you imagine the road works to lay all the cables for all these charging points.

Live supplies are already at most lamp posts.

 

[Wolf]

But why? Its just as polluting if not more to produce and build the electric car, let alone charge it.
Braking systems on electric cars create more particulates due to the heavier braking, let alone more dangerous to pedestrians either from cable trip hazards of not hearing the electric car coming.
To spend millions building a suitable intrastructure for electric cars is short sighted, when they could future proof themselves by building the hydrogen fuel cell infrastructure that would be forward thinking.

Tesla and Mitsubishi have both already solved that with their cars having a switch inside to allow the car to make an audible noise for pedestrians, instead of having it as an option in the car make it compulsory.

As for car tech, no leaps and bounds are needed Tesla have been doing it for a few years now with cars that have good range and relatively fast charging, just need other manufacturers to follow suit.

The real issue for consumers isn't the worry about the electricity as the infrastructure is there underground, new power plants needed would create jobs for people so far that's a win win situation. The actual issue is how does the average family or member of public afford to buy a new electric car!

The tech in them doesn't come cheap, Mrs Wolf and I are lucky enough at moment to both have had our cars from new and still under 3years old, however there is no way even trading those in we'd be able to afford to replace both or either cars and going down to a singe car is not feasible due to work and family. This is the area the biggest break through is needed is the simple costs of replacing what we have and affording the cost of fitting charging units.

 

[SocketRocket]

Tesla and Mitsubishi have both already solved that with their cars having a switch inside to allow the car to make an audible noise for pedestrians, instead of having it as an option in the car make it compulsory.

As for car tech, no leaps and bounds are needed Tesla have been doing it for a few years now with cars that have good range and relatively fast charging, just need other manufacturers to follow suit.

The real issue for consumers isn't the worry about the electricity as the infrastructure is there underground, new power plants needed would create jobs for people so far that's a win win situation. The actual issue is how does the average family or member of public afford to buy a new electric car!

The tech in them doesn't come cheap, Mrs Wolf and I are lucky enough at moment to both have had our cars from new and still under 3years old, however there is no way even trading those in we'd be able to afford to replace both or either cars and going down to a singe car is not feasible due to work and family. This is the area the biggest break through is needed is the simple costs of replacing what we have and affording the cost of fitting charging units.

The cost of replacement batteries is worrying for people.

 

[Wolf]

The cost of replacement batteries is worrying for people.

Agreed, the cost of replacement cells is far beyond what most can afford until a way of making purchase costs affordable I cannot see the feasibility of everyone going all electric

 

[larmen]

There was a (German?) documentary recently where they had the biggest issue as the peak net demand.

You know what happens if England plays in the World Cup semis and everyone puts on the kettle at half time? They put more juice into the net because they expect it these days.

Now you have millions arriving home from work at 6pm/7pm and wanting to charge their car for tomorrow, that’s not going to work (yet).

It’s a challenge, but not a stopper.

 

[Lazkir]

I saw a segment on a news feed only a few days ago regarding something along these lines, slightly different but bare with me..so it was an island community whose needs couldn't be met with wind and solar year round........the solution? Every car will be electric which in itself isn't amazing but the trick is this........the charger is two way so the car takes a charge to run and when you park up and plug back in, it reverses the charge back into the grid, providing energy needs 24/7 for all as a back up to solar and wind..Was amazing and seemed a great solution to at least some of our coming issues although it didn't address revenue it did give a glimpse of the future and how costs can be saved

This.
As a driver of an electric vehicle I'm always looking at future developments and the above is an answer to a chicken/egg problem.
One of the problems with renewable power is that we aren't able to store it when supply is high in order to use it when the wind/sun disappears. A solution that has already started to happen is new charging units that are two way, so that you can charge your car when supply is high, and put back into the system when it's low. Now one or two thousand cars aren't going to make much of a difference, but when you have 10/20 + million of them then it becomes viable.
Just think of all the time that your car is parked up at work. It could be storing or releasing energy into the grid whilst it's sat there 8 hours a day. But it will always be set so that you have enough for your own needs.
It's not simple, nor is it going to happen quickly. But it will be a long term solution.

One of the other things mentioned is infrastructure and charging points. There are already lamp posts out there with charging points on them. It's a relatively simple upgrade to change old ones for new. The underlying cable upgrades are a slightly harder problem, but they're working on it. Oh and solar panels are a non starter, they just don't create enough output to recharge a vehicle anywhere near fast enough.

 

[Hobbit]

When buying a new car 15 months back my first choice, ideally, would have been electric but the lack of charging points suggested it wasn't a wise choice. I bought a hybrid. 1.6 petrol motor + an electric motor. Bearing in mind the technology and infrastructure is still evolving it seemed like the wisest choice.

15 months on, am I happy? Its a Kia Niro, a slimmed down Sportage. It will take 5 adults. Decent boot space that takes a cart bag comfortably without taking the driver out. Driven with a heavy foot it will do around 60 MPG, and will easily return around 70 MPG when I'm 'driving Miss Daisy.' And, here in Spain, I get a 75% reduction in road tax.

I don't doubt there's better technology out there, and even better technology on the horizon but sitting on the fence waiting for that technology to arrive in the marketplace at an affordable price seems a little daft. I'm benefitting from what is available now, and can always shift to better technology when it arrives.

 

[Crazyface]

I've been saying for years now. MOVE TO SOMEWHERE SUNNY!!!! This will mean cheap electricity, SOLAR, which you will be able to generate yourself. None of this will matter in my life time, 30 years if I'm lucky, but will effect my children and grandchildren etc etc

 

[robinthehood]

I've been saying for years now. MOVE TO SOMEWHERE SUNNY!!!! This will mean cheap electricity, SOLAR, which you will be able to generate yourself. None of this will matter in my life time, 30 years if I'm lucky, but will effect my children and grandchildren etc etc

Like sunny Europe ..... Good job we all have the right to live and work there eh......

 

[Dibby]

And you base this optimisum on what exactly? There is no substance to your opinion.

I base it on fact. Technology is improving all the time, even if we never fully get off fossil fuels, the percentage of electricity coming from cleaner sources and the efficiency of fossil fuel based generation has already and will continue to improve. If you have electric cars, where electricity is generated at a few centralised sources, it is less disruptive in terms of infrastructure to make changes as technology progresses.

As an example, ignore the current political climate and consider just the technology side for a minute. if everyone had electric cars, even with current technology, fossil fuel plants could gradually be replaced with nuclear, massively reducing carbon and particulate emissions. As the change was introduced noone would have to change their cars to have personal reactor engines, and charging infrastructure would remain the same, it would be seamless. Whereas with something like hydrogen vehicles, there will be massive disruption as a huge change in infrastructure would be needed.

Moving the power generation (and currently pollution) source, allows you to improve that source without impacting the end users of vehicles.

Hydrogen is no different, with current tech, all you do is move the pollution source to the current dirty electricity generation point when you use the electricity to make hydrogen in electrolysis, or you still consume natural gas and have to produce steam presumably using fossil fuels. If the tech gets to the point where you can capture hydrogen from existing sources, why wouldn't you move to hydrogen-based power stations, instead of having to change car engines and fueling infrastructure?

 

[Swinglowandslow]

Tesla and Mitsubishi have both already solved that with their cars having a switch inside to allow the car to make an audible noise for pedestrians, instead of having it as an option in the car make it compulsory.

As for car tech, no leaps and bounds are needed Tesla have been doing it for a few years now with cars that have good range and relatively fast charging, just need other manufacturers to follow suit.

It may be that you have a house with a drive where the parked car can be connected to your electricity supply, but are you seriously telling me that there is no massive problem for those living in terraced housing, flats etc.
How many are households like that? I suggest millions.
And do you think that having your car connected to a lamppost whilst you sleep is going to survive the night without some yob(s) having their version of fun?
Until the battery can be taken into the house for charging, then electric will not take off. It is so much better to go the hydrogen route. What puzzles me is that the powers that be don't seem to consider that, nor even discuss the merits of the two systems.
Again, I ask. What is it they are not telling us?