raymw

In many towns there are barber shops next to butchers. Not sure of the nationality, 'tho.

Austalian grid is destroyed already https://www.thegwpf.com/the-disastrous-electricity-situation-in-australia/

Don't be racist, Haven't you seen some similar looking types 'walking?' around Walmart? (or Asda in UK) I know which ones I'd want on my side if a got into a fight.

The people get the government they deserve.

So, why did the councils not build and operate petrol filling stations? Maybe so many of them would not have gone bust, as was mentioned before. Gradually, LA's have had to take on duties for which they are ill equipped. So, then the task is subcontracted, so that the contractor can make a profit. By pigeon holing finances, it means that some departments have too little, others have to waste it, since if it is not spent by April, they get less next year.

I am aware of that, having come across that stupidity a number of times. I have little confidence in the 'councils', even with all the opportunities they have, as you say, they become insolvent. It is 'us' that pays the grants, one way or another, even if it just money being printed. It's all about control, of course, you/they must tick the right boxes. Anyway, this has little to do with what we can discuss on this forum, since it is of course of a political (not partisan) nature - e.g. the way our British society has evolved, and the direction in which is is heading, the freedoms that have been given up.

It was a bit slow going up Wraxall Hill, pretty fast going down. They had massive drum brakes, which were quite effective for the time. Kept up with the rush hour traffic just fine, but iirc it fizzled out over about 45 mph on the level. You could put an umbrella on the 'shelf' behind the seats, but I seem to remember it was too narrow for a brief case. I think the early ones were fibreglass, but after nearly 50 years ago, I can't swear to that, but definitely mini doors, with no trim, and the pull wire for the inside handle.

It is different than providing new car parks. They are selling energy, or facilitating others to sell energy. I can't think of when they ever did that, other than perhaps in the early days of electrical generation. I've a feeling that a lot more people would prefer the existing potholes to be filled, rather than obstructing footpaths with charging points, which will most likely be not used in future (being low power, wrong placement, never maintained/whatever). I would be interested if you can find out the income that a la gets, and how it is allocated. All I seem to find on line is rough details of services being cut. I'm not sure how the LA's around airports, for example, have much impact wrt pollution, the ratio of pollution from cars and airliners being what it is. Air quality due to traffic is different in cities, compared to rural areas. One size does not fit all - it's not just a North/South difference. Anyway, there will be no rural areas soon, if it's not housing estate sprawl, it's windmills, solar farms and transmission lines.

Having a ton and a half of lead acid batteries, on a firm road surface, it could beat an e-type jag from a standing start, at least up to the first 5mph, maybe more. I was using it for commuting, maybe 15 miles each journey, it was fine for that, I'm not doing that anymore and would prefer something different. I owned a 'proper car'* at the time, so the two seats were not a restriction for the commuting use. A lot of cars back then were 'god awful', but people liked them (reliant, say?) * I think back then my 'proper car' was a Triumph Spitfire - probably doesn't count, but I carried an 8 by 4 ft sheet of hardboard on the roof of it once - not much visibility, didn't have to drive far, but don't think I'd try it these days!

I don't think I said I don't like ev's, (I was quite happy with the Enfield of 50 years or so ago) and I personally couldn't care less what others think or do, provided it does not effect me. If, the local councils decide to spend money from my council tax on something that I think is not their business, then I am expressing my opinion. I'm not sure if Tesla charging stations are subsidised by the local authority, for example, although I expect planning permissions will have been relaxed, as it was for the mobile phone towers. Personally, I am in the ideal location for an electric car, but currently, even with the 'subsidies' the pricing does not fit my requirements. Since my annual mileage is low, any fuel cost benefit is negligible, and the capital cost is far higher than an equivalent ic vehicle i would want to buy, new or second hand. Not much point in having a discussion forum, if everyone has to sing from the same PC hymn sheet.

I suppose i could find out the actual cost of installing the equipment, and the time to get payback, but if it is low power chargers, in a few years time they will most likely be unused. At the moment, nobody really knows what it will end up at, so everyone is trying a shotgun approach. I am looking forward to how the general public will handle a cable and connector capable of handling 220kW.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g29994375/future-electric-cars-trucks/ Probably please some, maybe disappoint others. So, local councils taking tax payers money, and spending it for the benefit of a few wealthy out-of-towners? In a few years time, there will undoubtedly be fewer car owners, and they'll end up paying a lot more for the privilege (and so will everyone else).

How many of those were of the equiv price of an ev? A new Honda jazz is about 18k, 2 year old about 12k (different model, but still OK). What is the price for an equivalent ev? Is there a half decent ev for under 20K new? If they maintain their prices, there will be no cheap second hand vehicles (obviously, if they maintain their prices), so those who buy second hand, and that is most likely the majority of current drivers, will not be able to afford a car. As many companies are going to be downsizing, it is likely that company car numbers will be reduced, so it may be that cheaper ev's will be made, or maybe they just give up? There is no penalty for a company to stop trading.

I'm not sure if ev's new or second hand, will ever be as cheap as ic cars. They sort of come with a necessarily expensive fuel tank. £500.00 can get a usable ic car, one some may not want to use, but good enough for many. You can buy two, use one for spares, you have options. But how useful will a £500. ev be. I guess a new battery would be the least that was needed. I expect car ownership will dwindle. A different form of public transport may evolve. (Unlikely to be hyperloop xD). The Sheruts in Israel, is a very good system in the interim, but their driving/parking is not as in UK. Disney-land has/had a very interesting monorail. But whatever happens, living out in the sticks will be more expensive for traveling, but with the increase in home delivery, that will work out fine, just won't be able to do the Sunday driving trips, which may be a benefit to everybody.

Sheep and goats, for example, eat stuff we can't in areas where we can't grow or harvest crops. Wrt supermarket chickens, it used to be 42 days from a day old chick to a 3.5lb bird - a straight chemical conversion - the feed being matched to the breed, and vice versa.

And then you get so called celebrities on so called entertainment tv shows, making out how smart is is to take drugs.

Well, It's cheap enough for a 'fun car'. My first thoughts are to see if I could chop off the lower trim, see if could raise the ground clearance. No idea of the power train, but if motor on each wheel, may be good off-road instead of a quad bike. Won't be in UK for a year, I guess, and other than 75km range, i can't understand any of the other info, if there is any. Ideally needs a boot or useful hatch back, and fogetting the ugliness, functionally it could be what is needed by many folk.

So, for existing lamp post chargers, who is paying? The 'Portsmouth situation' seems OK for two cars, who decides which two, any one have priority? As it's a one way street, can two charge from the same point, are leads long enough? Is there enough room for all cars to park, with four reserved spaces for electric, or have a couple of ic car owners got to go elsewhere. Although, no individual normally owns the space in the road outside their house, how about someone from the next street parking their electric car, and the house owner can't? Will it be further divided into 'electric disabled vehs', etc?

An electric car would suit me just fine, for now and the foreseeable future, as a second car. Could easily home charge, etc, no long journeys, whatever. But, for what I need, far too expensive. I'm pretty certain a number of folk feel the same. By the time my vehicle is available, I will be well past driving, I expect. An updated version of the little Enfield from 50 years ago would suit most people. Reliable lead acid batteries, but that is out of fashion. simple controls, no fancy electronic nonsense. But, no added value for the manufacturer to be able to pump up the price. Cars used for short journeys most like pollute more /mile than on longer journeys, so if car emissions are the driving factor to get evs, I wonder why that group is being ignored.- (rhetorical question I've answered it many times before)

How far apart were the lamp posts? What power was the previous lamp? How many cars could be/need to be charged in that street? I believe some local councils charge for on street parking, So I guess funding could be taken care of, but you won't be getting it for free, and it will be unlikely, if it's a 'community' system, that you will get access whenever you want. It's been 25 years since I retired from the supply industry (Thanks, Maggie ;-) ) and i was never involved in street lighting, but a quick search found this - https://www.wlclighting.co.uk/post/how-are-street-lights-connected which basically explains the two types of ownership in UK, and then this is a spec. to which it is being installed in Durham, (I expect other LA's will be similar) - https://www.durham.gov.uk/media/3075/Street-Lighting-Specification/pdf/StreetLightingSpecification.pdf?m=636736461026070000 Some of this stuff is not as simple as you may think. They are also sticking 5g transmitters on street lights, but I doubt if they use much power, but may give maintenance issues.

I remember the fibre cable being installed around Bristol, being an engineer with sweb back then. iirc, we had a fixed cost of about £30.00 for cable damage at the time. The fibre laying contractors did not bother to locate the electricity service cables, just chewed the slot for their cable along the pavement. It being cheaper to pay the few thousand pounds per street for chopping off everybody's electricity supply, instead of doing the job properly, and avoid existing infra structure. In many places, I expect there are still street lighting cables, these are often low current rated single phase conductors. They may not have much spare capacity, neither will many of the 'mains' cables. Currently, for the few electric cars, a few lamp post chargers may be helpful, but not sure how that will cope with every car in the street being electric, if it is the same number of cars as now. I wonder how it will be prioritized when it is necessary to switch off areas when we can't generate the electricity required. 'Or in other words, going back to a system where ability to travel is determined by wealth rather than need. Not something anyone in their right mind would want, surely? ' I think that is exactly as it is now. Depends what you mean as wealth, and who the anyone is and if their right mind is the same as your right mind, and whoever decides which mind is 'right'. If I'm wealthy, and others are not, then my self-drive car can drive on emptier roads, sounds OK to me. Much travel is unnecessary, certainly not commuting for office work. Even well before this current pandemic, I knew many, who thanks to technology were working from home with some benefits - later on they'll most likely be replaced by a piece of computer software. Anyway, will they need a car? Why? To go to the shops. There'll be fewer shops, so maybe it's not worth traveling further to get to them when on line shopping is so easy. It is all about control. As individuals, over the years we've lost various freedoms, some quite subtle. Many folk are controlled by what happens on facebook/twitter, etc., must have latest iphone, etc. are hooked on drugs like Starbucks, MacDonalds, Hornby, etc. But you can stop that, there are alternatives. But electric cars, software updated remotely, smart meters controlled remotely, is taking away the control from the individual. When push comes to shove, it is us that have to do the shoving, nothing new about that, I guess. It's pretty obvious, has been so, well before Al Gore started his bandwagon, that it was about time for world wide changes, not necessarily of the climate type. It is easier to herd sheep compared to free thinking cats, say.

That confirms one of the aspects I was alluding tot. I expect very few buy the phone - the price is included in the 'line' rental. Gradually, fewer folk own their car, its on lease hire/whatever. If the thought is that reducing CO2 emissions from privately owned cars is important, then either reduce private ownership, or remove the ic cars, or reduce the total number of cars. Let's do all three, and a few more at the same time. It is pretty obvious to me, how much car ownership has increased since ww2. There is so much to be gained by having fewer cars, more highly priced, and higher running cost taxes. For an exaple, no need to waste space in new build houses with pretend garages, etc. - we could cram more in per area. It's nothing to do with electric cars/environment, more likely 'slowly, slowly ,catchee monkey' . wrt 7kW charging points overloading the local grid, depends on the diversity factor and the local grid capacity. Any idea on how much it costs, who is paying for it? Someone living in one of the many terraced houses, on street parking - Is he going to pay for the cable laying, etc? Will the local authority issue individual approvals? Will the electrical distribution company arrive on time? Obviously not insurmountable problems, but it is not simply a case of a single 7kW charging point, is it? Plenty of work ahead, plenty of taxes to collect...

Of course, if the car parks had charging points, where would the power come from? Easy enough i suppose the fully charged cars could give some of their juice to those less fortunate. I think you think that car ownership/usage is going to carry on at the same level it is now. Somehow, i think that is not the intention. Currently, one of the cheapest new ic car is under £7000 - Suzuki Celerio from £6,999, loads of second hand stuff for less. Folk on hourly contracts may be able to/do have an ic car. What price the cheapest electric vehicle? And then, there will be an electric fuel tax, or worse, one of the benefits of smart meters, gps/5g, etc. For many, it will be uneconomic to own an electric vehicle, even if they can charge it at home. Have you any idea of the power ratings of street lighting cables? Have you any idea of the quality of planning officers/others in you local councils? Have you any idea, of the impact that electric vehicles will have on the environment, from dust to dust? Why not fit a windmill to the roof of your car, to charge the battery as you drive along - makes as much sense, or even solar roadways.

sure it's not of these at the vets?