spot on, although Nissan, as a 'proper and affordable car', was first in this country, I agree with you, it is easier to count those manufacturers who are not involved in the production of EV's.
But in tne UK they'll still be on the roads in very large numbers for at least another 30 years. That's the minimum time I estimate it will take us to build enough new generating capacity for over half our cars to be replaced by pure EVs, and that's being very optimistic, given our poor past record.
We are probably at cross purposes here - P36 of 132 (P25) has a pie chart labelled "Where cars park at night" showing 25% parked on the street so if the 70% + figure is on private property then the majority of cars can be accessed by private or home charging ( albeit extra cabling may be necessary). The UK Govt strategy is that public charging should be provided for the rest but that by 2040 every new car will be "ULEV" ( the Dutch have even more optimistic targets)
Many 'early adopters' took the ownership of EV to the next level, mine is served by a solar array, which is sized such that sufficient actual energy is produced to cover the total driving distance per year, and for the sceptics re costs, my PV's were installed when there were no incentives and at £10 per watt, I believe you can now purchase PV's at less than £1 per watt
I think you were probably a pioneer ahead of the rest of us early adopters Bob, thats possibly how you got your user name. I delayed my 3 kwP PV system until 2011 just before the FIT payment and 25 year term was due to be reduced. It cost just under £9k (about £3 per watt and I know the price for a similar system now is well under a half that. It's averaged 2500 kWh/year since so with a LEAF getting 4 miles/kWh worth a good 10,000 miles of motoring pa. I rented/trialled my first leaf in 2012 primarily to try and store the surplus solar energy and then bought one of the last Japanese Leaf imports in May 2013 when they halved in price as soon as the improved Sunderland ones were introduced. I used to pack a bike in the back of these which I used when I left them at charging points for a few hours. I used to go up to a charging point a few miles from Kielder reservoir but the uphill cycle used to knacker me and reduced the distance I could cycle round it, so looking forward to my folding elec bike getting me bit further. It's battery seems to take only about 45 watts when charging so wonder whether you charge it up via the EV's 12 volt cigarette lighter outlet.
I agree with much of this and have the view that ULEVs in hybrid form are most likely the future in the shorter term. I also think that batteries are no longer the problem they once were.
if the battery contract wasn't obligatory, something like this
I found a respectable Twizy at only £2.5 k, so car cost is not an issue.
I already understood that, but as admitted, the refining is not only for petrol and diesel. Substitution of refining in favour of electric cars can only work if we abandon all the other products, including the vast quantities of plastics we now depend on and the vast quantities of fertilisers we also now heavily depend on for our food.
From my experience of the Solectria EV back in 1994 to present day, yes, painfully slow, but now, with so many prominent manufacturers on board, I truly believe that it will speed up.
I really hope so, but judging by the dithering over Hinckley Point currently and delay in even facilitating build of the other intended stations, it will be the 2030s before we start to receive power in any quantity from them. Meanwhile a return to the power cuts of the 1970s seems more in prospect!
I remember them well and those petrol rationing coupons we didn't need to use in the end. After their tsunami and nuclear shut down the Japanese came up with this solution although I might wait for the Dyson version.
It may not be a bad idea in these early days to include, PV panels and EV purchase together as a single package, thereby ensuring sufficient energy needs, for the majority of EV owners. Now, I know that it then sounds like an exclusive club and would exclude those who have insufficient, solar efficient roof span, but the pessimists on this thread have already excluded a vast majority of people anyway, but at least this way, there would be a massive increase in the use of solar energy
Unfair!
