Categories
Allegra Stratton is right to raise questions about EVs – politicalbetting.com
Allegra Stratton is right to raise questions about EVs – politicalbetting.com
Former Newsnight reporter and Number 10 spinner, Allegra Stratton, has caused a bit of a stir by raising questions about the current feasibility of electric cars and the the lack of infrastructure to support them. This has been accentuated by her current role in handling the PR for the Glasgow UN climate change conference. When asked about her getting an electric car she said she didn’t fancy one yet and preferred her diesel Golf.
0
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
⚽️ They say they work for a convicted criminal.
⚽️ The story should end here.
⚽️ It doesn’t.
⚽️ Discover how the men #SellingFootball wash dirty money through the beautiful game.
THREAD 👇🧵 https://t.co/qUy0EWIHPp
Samuelson also claims Chinese investor, Tony Xia, who bought @AVFCOfficial in 2016 was a front for an unknown investor.
He says he doesn’t know where his client’s money really came from.
#SellingFootball https://t.co/5UqE99NwVC
https://twitter.com/AJIunit/status/1424847506626777096?s=19
Having watched the full documentary (reminds me when panorama did these kind of things), hard to tell how much is billy bullshitting to impress clients, but there are some serious questions about EFL, corruption in the plod, dirty money from places like Russia in the UK....
Things we have heard before, but this story seems to bring together the insection of a load of issues.
But afaik it isn't a realistic option anytime soon, if ever. The chemical process for the enormous and efficient level of production required hasn't been solved, let alone being built and that is before you consider the transportation and storage issues even when you can produce the necessary volumes at the required cost.
Its one of those things that has been thought about for donkeys years and not really any closer to reality, beyond on a small scale.
- New cases: 164,153
- Average: 115,863 (+3,716)
- In hospital: 68,984 (+2,591)
- In ICU: 16,828 (+643)
- New deaths: 460
More data: https://t.co/YDZSbYO7l7
Performance:
Battery 10/10
ICE 7/10
Hydrogen 3/10
Infrastructure:
ICE 10/10
Battery 6/10
Hydrogen 1/10
Car's interior:
Battery 10/10 (they're using on the floor)
ICE 7/10
Hydrogen 2/10 (petrol sized engine, massive hydrogen tank taking up half your luggage space)
Fuelling time:
ICE 10/10
Hydrogen 9/10*
Battery 2/10
* Assumes you are right next to one of the three places with hydrogen "on tap". Otherwise 1/10, because you'll have to go out your way to find a station
Environmental impact:
Battery 6/10
ICE 3/10
Hydrogen 1/10 (it's *really* inefficient to go natural gas -> hydrogen -> fuel cell -> motion)
Handling:
ICE 10/10
Battery 5/10
Hydrogen 2/10 (all the extra weight of batteries, none of the performance)
Range:
ICE 10/10 (unless it's the Ford Escape I rented the other day, then 6/10)
Hydrogen 7/10 (the Mirai does get about 350 miles to a tank of hydrogen)
Battery 4/10 (up from 2/10 two years ago)
The cricket T20 World Cup is in November.
The last two Grands Prix are in December which might be too late for Lewis Hamilton.
Olympics:-
Jason Kenny: Britain's most successful Olympian
Laura Kenny: Britain's most successful female Olympian
Charlotte Dujardin: level with LK on number of medals but fewer golds
Adam Peaty: first British swimmer to defend an Olympic title
Duncan Scott: most medals at one Olympics
(ht Racing Post and Daily Telegraph)
Despite only costing $50k (and being eligible for a $7.5k grant), it's fair to say demand has been... tepid.
Billions flow virtually unseen through the system.
Yet few people are arrested for, or even accused of, corruption.
It's almost as if no-one in any position of power, governmental or private, cares.
So why is anyone surprised about this?
Football is utterly corrupt, especially at the top level.
It was the intersection of lots of soft and hard corruption that in itself isn't new, but was interesting to see how it can all be interconnected. Of you got criminal convictions, you need to do this with your money, then you need to speak to my mate about finding out who is investigating you, then we will introduce you to how to get an EU passport. All of which happens well outside the corrupt world of football.
What the BBC could do is make the cyclists Team of the Year which might reduce the votes for the main award, although I'd expect that to go to the England football team. It's all just speculation.
And it is not just SPotY. We might also be able to bet what gongs will be dished out in the New Year Honours, assuming Boris does not bring forward a special Olympics honours list to coincide with the party conference season.
As @StuartDickson told us, Tom Daley has taken over favouritism from Jason Kenny. Fwiw, the Telegraph reported Tom was the most popular of the returning Olympians, at least at the airport, and he will be auctioning the Olympic cardigan he knitted to raise money for (or rather against) brain tumours.
I only saw one couple wearing masks on the beach
Applications to study medicine and nursing are up, though we are still chronically dependent on importing doctors from overseas. Since 2018, we have recruited more foreign doctors than we have trained.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/09/failure-train-doctors-uk-hurts-developing-world/
Are football's finances so opaque now? Surely we can see where the money flows through the system, as transfer fees and salaries are published, as are television deals. What we cannot see is where the money to buy clubs comes from in the first place.
I suspect that won’t happen. It didn’t happen in 2016.
And in any event, you would have though that someone paid to communicate on behalf of the government could come up with a less clumsy way of justifying her car choice.
In optimal conditions this should be fine for the latest generation of electric cars but, like Allegra, I am cautious. If EVs are to really take off the makers need to persuade people like me that this journey, including the sitting time, is nothing to worry about. They haven't done it yet.
The air pollution from older diesels is appalling though, quite apart from the carbon dioxide production. Air pollution from road vehicles causes many deaths per year.
https://www.britsafe.org/publications/safety-management-magazine/safety-management-magazine/2018/diesel-linked-to-10-000-premature-deaths-each-year-finds-university-study/
Commercial, agricultural and marine vehicles present real problems, but for cars? It is right to ban diesel cars. Having someone who doesn't understand this as spokesperson shows how tin earned this government is.
Somewhat brighter this morning; forecast is for sunny intervals and a gentle breeze. Which, if it happens will be very pleasant.
I've commented before about electric cars; if I didn't need to have the ability to make occasional long journeys I think I'd have had one by now. Elder son managed very happily with his while he worked locally; now he may well have to make some longer trips he's not so sure. So I agree with Mr DL, at 6.43
However, our big family issue this morning is Younger Grandson's A level results.
If I were going to a hotel and it were (say) 100 miles away, I might call and see if they have a charger. (Spoiler, nearly all hotels do these days.) But for an 85 mile trip, I wouldn’t bother.
Every year, the infrastructure gets better. Every year, charging rates increase. Every year, battery capacity improves. And every year the difference with an ICE narrows.
I am waiting for a compact eV with better range before scrapping my Fiat 500, which probably just has a couple more years to go. The Renault Zoe is perhaps the only compact with good range.
Do electric car enthusiasts have any concerns regarding the cost of manufacture and the potential difficulty of disposing of batteries once they're done?
Not a driver, but I am wondering if this is going to be akin to the biofuel situation where something that seems very good environmentally turns out not to be so when the full lifetime (and aftermath) of the car is accounted.
https://twitter.com/afneil/status/1424744371551973380?s=20
If climate change activists can’t hold their conference remotely, then what chance of them persuading the rest of us to change our behaviour?
It's true, though, that for the next few years there just won't be enough EVs for everyone, even if they wanted one.
Which is why second hand cars are in demand, and new models not so much.
There’s also some evidence that the lifetime of an EV is less than an ICE car, there will be very few 15 year old EVs on the road in future.
That said, the battery technology is quickly improving, and there’s Tesla taxis in the States with half a million miles on them.
In the meantime, the most environmentally friendly car is one that’s already on the road, so keep your old car running for a little longer, rather than buying a few one every couple of years.
Oh, and the ‘fun’ cars are going to go away, so get one now while they’re still around #SaveTheV8s.
The other question about electric cars is - what do we do about people who cannot afford, or do not want to, buy new? With the amount of driving I do I cannot see the utility of spending more than a few thousand on a car, and many people of course can afford much less than that. I have never bought a new car and see no reason to start now.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/insideevs.com/news/524282/25k-tesla-prototype-built-rumor/amp/
I guess they’re the same idiots who don’t want to get vaccinated against a pandemic virus, so maybe that explains a lot!
Not that it matters much as everyone will come into contact with Delta sooner or later.
I looked at going electric when my 16 year old diesel finally gave way last October. But I couldn’t make the numbers work. Instead, I bought a six year old petrol for £6000 which does everything I need pretty cheaply. Once you factor in the extra cost of the car, I wouldn’t have been saving money with an electric.
At least that’s my excuse for buying a nice car, albeit a used one.
All the big manufacturers are betting their future on them, and those plans include recycling, probably for economic more than environmental reasons.
There isn't much second hand market in eV yet, and those made 10 years ago have much shorter ranges, so not representative of what is sold now.
Kia have a 100 000 mile guarantee on the battery, and by the time we get there, I am sure that replacement cells will be both cheaper and recycled. I expect that I will be driving mine for a long time into retirement. There are fewer moving parts to wear out.
The slow adopters always have an excuse for not changing, but will be left with unsellable old bangers in a few years time.
Whatever happened to that German firm? Slap on the wrist?
If you can afford one, and have off road home charging, then they are easy to live with.
Charging infrastructure is improving all the time and a major problem, Ecotricity at motorway services, is now undergoing a massive improvement by Gridserve.
I charge overnight at 5p/unit, this equates to about 1.5p/mile, and I can easily charge 300 miles per week at this low rate.
Finally, there is no going back, once you have driven one, you realise how good they are, instant torque, which is very addictive,and very quiet.
I have an order in for a Kia EV6, the Koreans will dominate this market.
It needs to be done on a global basis though, unless you want the unintended consequence of airlines tankering return trip fuel, which makes the plane heavier, which makes it burn more fuel…
An A380 can go from Dubai to London and back, without refuelling in London, and they will if it’s more economical to do it.
New Model 3 Standard Plus £42k
2.5 year old Model 3 Standard Plus £36k
OK, that’s a Tesla. A luxury item sold by a man who frankly comes across as a narcissistic attention junkie rather than somebody genuinely interested in our transport or environmental problems. But if other EVs hold their value to that extent until the battery actually dies, where are ordinary people going to pick up an affordable second hand car like I did last October?
Unless I'm wrong, and someone here will, unquestionably, know!
The M156 is definitely on the to do list. A W211 E63 Wagon would be a keeper, when everyone else is driving around in applicances.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58150025
I do not buy the saving the world argument at all. The benefits of EVs are simply to do with air quality and possibly noise. However. there is nothing at all virtuous about driving a 1.5 ton lump of metal 1 mile to work or school. When you think about it, it is absurd. Walk, cycle or get an electric scooter.
Firstly, whilst some older ones are fairly polluting, the current generation is actually very clean - as with so many things, a fighting a war on diesel is actually fighting the last war - the problem is actually pretty much fixed, there really isn't much in it between petrol and diesel.
Secondly, not all pollution is equal, and different pollution matters in different contexts. Older diesels in urban areas are a problem because they produce a lot of Nox and particulates. They are low on Co2 emissions compared to petrol engines.
In rural areas the Nox and particulates don't really matter (it's only really an issue where there are lots of cars and people to breathe the resulting pollution). It's much better for the planet for me to do the 25miles fast driving across empty Derbyshire countryside to work in a diesel car than a petrol car, and the Nox and particulates won't do anyone any harm.
For a lot of usage (basically everywhere outside the M25), diesel hybrids designed to do urban driving on battery then kick onto diesel for longer distance travel would be the best of all possible worlds - you could probably pretty much GPS block the engine starting in urban areas. Unfortunately because our politicians all live inside the M25, sensible stuff like this is discouraged, and they want everyone to go full electric which is only really practical for rich urban users - like surprise surprise - politicians.
The price of electric cars is going to have come down considerably before I can afford to make the switch, as well as needing a huge improvement in charging infrastructure, especially in rural areas.
Incidentally, why doesn't Allegra have a petrol car rather than a diesel one? I thought the latter were even worse for the environment.
I bought it with 8 miles on the clock and it has now done 19,250 miles and I can travel the 450 miles from our home here to Lossiemouth and back to Perth without needing to refuel
To be fair I just have no interest or incentive to change the car which is fantastic, and certainly not paying many thousands of pounds for an EV
Some London boroughs are installing chargers on lamp posts, intended for overnight use so need only be 32A or so. There is some headroom as they change the lights themselves over to LEDs.
Supermarkets and malls are adding chargers all the time, but if we are all going to drive EV there will need to be a lot more of them!
The fact that out of warranty EVs may well have the potential to turn into utter nightmares if they go wrong is the icing on the cake. I work close enough to the production teams for a couple of the manufacturers that I wouldn't touch their EVs out of warranty with someone else's barge pole.
Eight year old Tesla, just out of battery warranty. $30k car that needs a $20k battery replacement.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=EbrIQioiv8k
Eventually the battery will be recycled, the Lithium will still be there to be extracted and re-used.
1. Once you go electric you don't want to go back. A gearbox is such an antiquated thing
2. With such mechanical simplicity on an EV there is no reason why they won't run for decades. We are already seeing a successful battery upgrade programme available for 1st gen Nissan Leafs where only the battery was knackered. Slap a newer battery on and its good for another 10 years
3. The infrastructure network is what makes EVs unattractive. Until we have a national payment scheme that works on any network AND genuine rapid chargers AND the bloody things actually work and or already in use or ICE'd then long trips in an EV are a lottery
4. Electrification doesn't have to mean full EV for all. PHEVs are a great compromise if you need a vehicle / do trips that aren't suitable for full EV yet
5. I don't see how we electrify trucks and farm machinery. Hydrogen needs to be looked at - its a solution for many buses.
We now run an Ioniq EV and an Outlander PHEV. Full EV for all the shorter trips, hybrid for longer runs where long charge stops would make the long trip unviable or where the charging infrastructure is missing. Up here a vehicle with ground clearance is a Good Idea and I use both that feature and the huge internal load space regularly. If someone wants to build a full-size EV SUV and install a glut of hyper chargers, I'm interested.
Many people cannot - yet.
Personally, I’d get up at 4 in the morning, and find a good B-road while we still can.