Many of us in the know wondered what the hell the government was doing encouraging diesels in the first place. If I'd bought a diesel, I think I'd be a little miffed at present developments.




Source and full story: Standard

I don't see that electric cars will less polluting. Because of heavy metals in the batteries, and scrapping the cars after a while , 10 years or so.

It's been a while since I had anything to do with electric vehicles, but when I did (electric Metro) one of the problems we identified was that the motors gave off ozone and it hung around at low level. Not nice at all!

Another issue with electric vehicles is that our grid doesn't have the capacity to handle a mass switch-over. - Ever wondered why the government are so keen on you taking 'smart' meters? It saves upgrading the grid.

One thing not talked about at all though is that batteries have a finite life. I wonder how people are going to feel when after x number of charges they need to buy a new battery pack? I'm not sure if it's still the case but at one time you only leased the batteries as a way round this.

I also worry about the quality of mechanic that will be needed to service and maintain these vehicles properly. I don't see our current crop of mechanics as being up to the job. Let's face it, the electronics on existing cars are a trial for plenty of them. Computer diagnostics only goes so far as I saw when I forced a manufacturer to buy back a vehicle of mine at less than 6 months old.

Suffice to say, I'll not be looking at taking on an electric vehicle anytime soon.

Quick aside...

When I worked at MIRA we had a guy there (Frank Wykes) who was very interested in electric vehicles. He had an electric racer called the 'kneeler wheeler'. We had it on the proving ground one lunchtime to do some 0-60 times. I was at the end of the timing strip. I flashed my car lights to indicate OK. Suddenly the kneeler went backwards at a great rate of knots. Frank had connected the battery the wrong way round! A co-worker who was at the start line swears to this day that as the vehicle went backwards Frank's eyes stood out on stalks like some cartoon character.

And here is Frank with Kneeler....