Should families be restricted to one car?

@kmax87 said
At some future point the cost of electric cars will fall below that of similar sized ICE vehicles and the stampede to own EV's will begin. They already are cheap to run and have low maintenance costs. The major stumbling block to wide scale adoption is sticker price and to some extent range anxiety. But they will represent the overwhelming value proposition in the not too dist ...[text shortened]... y smelly slow buzzbox, when you could own a cheap silent nimble quick runabout that's oodles of fun?

Couldn’t agree more. The govt could help by rolling out a serious charging point programme. I’ve heard a few people complain about availability but the biggest incentives will be innovation regarding charging times, battery range and a drop in unit price which often hinges on uptake. I would expect the first reasonably priced models to come from the east rather than Tesla or BMW.

@kmax87 said
The major stumbling block to wide scale adoption is sticker price and to some extent range anxiety.

I disagree that labeling it "range anxiety" is honest, on either account.

First, just blatantly asserting that people having doubts about the long-range viability of electric cars are merely "anxious" is as dishonest as sticking the same label on people preferring the telephone over WhatsApp and other on-line media. It's an argument from a comfortable position, looking down on those who do not have the options you have and are justifiedly worried about having even the options they do have taken away from them, just because you can do without them. That's not anxiety. That's a justified objection.

Second, the problem is not really the range. It's the charging time. If I run my petrol tank down, I have it filled within 15 minutes, and on those 15 minutes I can visit my sister and come back home - twice! That's enough in an emergency, even if I forgot to fill up last night.
Now try that with an electric car. To fully charge up takes hours! And yes, it's got better - you can now charge up to some level within half an hour - but how far will that get me? Will I get to my sister today if my niece falls ill? Or will I have to spend half an hour emergency-charging, reach about three-quarters of the way there, and then have to hope that there's another speed charger somewhere along the highway so I can get there just in time to see doctor shaking his head? At this point in the technological progress, I cannot take that risk yet.
And please don't tell me that I can charge my car overnight. You know that that doesn't always happen, and it always does not happen at the worst moment. Nobody is "anxious" about electric cars on days when there isn't an unforeseen emergency. It's when there is that petrol cars step up to the plate, and electric ones might as well run on steam engines.

Now, as it is, I don't have a car at all, so if my sister has an emergency, I'm no help anyway. But. If I bought an electric car, right now, I'd be just as unreliable as if I didn't. In my situation, electric cars would be good only for the kind of trip I ought to do on my bike anyway - and actually do! Only a petrol car would be any good for me, because I could rely on it to take me to the other end of the country in one trip. That is not enough reason for me to buy one; but buying an electric car would be even less reasonable.

Why would you want an expensive noisy smelly slow buzzbox, when you could own a cheap silent nimble quick runabout that's oodles of fun?

Ah, yes. That's another argument against electric cars. They are pedestrian-killers. You can't hear them coming, so you have no hope at reacting to them when they barrel around a blind corner; and they corner much quicker and much more blindly than petrol cars, so they have a better chance of hitting you in the first place. Also, their drivers tend to be smug, self-satisfied yobs who care even less about the plebs than white van drivers.

@shallow-blue said
I disagree that labeling it "range anxiety" is honest, on either account.

First, just blatantly asserting that people having doubts about the long-range viability of electric cars are merely "anxious" is as dishonest as sticking the same label on people preferring the telephone over WhatsApp and other on-line media. It's an argument from a comfortable position, looki ...[text shortened]... vers tend to be smug, self-satisfied yobs who care even less about the plebs than white van drivers.

Well put. An electric car or hybrid is a good second or third car to have. Thats for sure not going the be the only car in my garage even 20 yrs from now when they have almost perfected the technology.

The answer to the Thread Title question is: No, they should instead be restricted to one child.
To paraphrase Bill Burr, "There is nothing wrong with driving a gas-guzzleing car. The problem is that there are just too many people doing it".
-----This wasn't intended to be taken seriously. It's just some of my sick humor.

In reality the human race is using up the planet. Since we are supposedly the most intelligent species around, we are in trouble. Take a look and check the news from around the world. It should become obvious that we are not all evolving at the same pace. 🙂

@mwmiller said
The answer to the Thread Title question is: No, they should instead be restricted to one child.
To paraphrase Bill Burr, "There is nothing wrong with driving a gas-guzzleing car. The problem is that there are just too many people doing it".
-----This wasn't intended to be taken seriously. It's just some of my sick humor.

In reality the human race is using up ...[text shortened]... s from around the world. It should become obvious that we are not all evolving at the same pace. 🙂

agree

@mwmiller said
In reality the human race is using up the planet.

Feel free to do something about that, and remove one.

The post that was quoted here has been removed

Too easy, duchie. Way too easy.

@mwmiller said
The answer to the Thread Title question is: No, they should instead be restricted to one child.
To paraphrase Bill Burr, "There is nothing wrong with driving a gas-guzzleing car. The problem is that there are just too many people doing it".
-----This wasn't intended to be taken seriously. It's just some of my sick humor.

In reality the human race is using up ...[text shortened]... s from around the world. It should become obvious that we are not all evolving at the same pace. 🙂

“ It should become obvious that we are not all evolving at the same pace.” lol


I say that and get called racist 🙄

The post that was quoted here has been removed

Yup. You consistently prove that with yours.

Too easy.

@yo-its-me
The UK is on the road to killing fossil fuel cars and running on battery power instead. They hope by 2030 or so to have no gas cars on the road.

Ambitious but maybe they can do it.

It all hinges on being able to generate enough electricity with renewables. Solar, wind, wave, and really advanced battery storage.

Then make thousands of electric charge stations, charge in a few minutes.

In a small country like Britain, electric car range wouldn't be such a big deal as in the US or China or Russia with multi thousand miles to travel.

@yo-its-me said
That's where public transport needs improving though, isn't it.
This needs to be tackled across the whole of the UK. It can't just be a new law or something- there needs to be the infrastructure to make it work in place first.

But things need to change, don't they.
In other European countries (I know we left the EU, but we're still European) there's public transport th ...[text shortened]... lean energy. I guess a better debate is how do we get the public transport to be efficient in the UK

Hate to be a broken record, but the way it is dealt with in Finland or in Nova Scotia has NOTHING to do with the way it is handled in other countries> Nothing. I don't get how an 'answer' (there is none) ;can be arrived at or resolved in this thread. Impossible . Hell, I have a great little antique Austin Healy in it 's own private garage,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Would I have to get rid of it? Who could buy it if one is restricted, as suggested in this threaD??? HELP ME RHONDA!!!!

@AverageJoe1
I believe that is what those giant car shredding machines are for.
The real issue is getting fossil fuels off the roads, go to electric or hydrogen powered vehicles. They are even working on a passenger jet running hydogen and electric motors (Superconducting because they weigh less than half that of a room temp motor)