They really are green
 

Here in the UK the Government have taken 5 minutes out of ruining everything they touch and turned their attention to promoting electric vehicle sales. Better for the environment, less air pollution, and all that.

Anyway, for a change they have come up with a good idea. They're considering electric cars to be allowed to fit green registration plates, instead of the standard white/front and yellow/rears. It'll cost no more than the normal plates, won t cost the Government anything, but people will be attracted to it as a "badge of honour", a visual symbol that they are at the cutting edge. It'll be keeping up with the Jones's, but in a good way.

I reckon it might just work. What do you folks reckon?

The government will figure out a way to screw it up.

Last time I was there gas prices were around $1.50 per liter, I figured that would be motivation enough.

Yes, that's true. The UK Government are easi,y able to foxtrot up something that simple.

Petrol prices are around £1.43 a litre, or £6.51 an imperial gallon. That doesn't bother me, I don't use much of it myself. I wish they'd double it - it'll quickly force people into more economical cars, and might do something to address this lazy ass British culture of driving 300 yards to the hopemfkr a paper, driving the children less than half a mile to school, and generally clogging up and polluting then place with unnecessary car journeys.

Better than giving rich people a $7,500-$12,500 tax break to purchase a new vehicle.

I'd own an EV in a heartbeat if I lived in the UK. Islands are the perfect place for limited range vehicles, and the "fuel" and maintenance is super cheap, at least in the US. Don't know what electricity goes for in the UK.

I will admit electric vehicles are kind of made for rich people, by people.
It helps to have a house, where you can wire up a 240v charger circuit, some times this can cost thousands of dollars if a service upgrade is needed or several hundred dollars if a sub panel needs to be instslled.
My house near Langley needed a service upgrade when I moved in, it cost nearly $3,000, luckily this was found during inspection and was negotiated into the price of the house.

Sure you can charge with 120v power but on a leaf that can take up to 20 hours to charge a very low battery. Been there, done that, so glad I installed 240v power.

Over in the UK would you need some kind of heavy duty circuit?
Because I remember something about the standard 220 circuit being fused at 13 amps?
A standard intermittent charger is going to want 16 amps. A real charger is going to want 32 amps.

I think it is bad.
It steers away from the notion that having an EV is 'normal'.
Anything that isn't 'normal' causes some to hate it.
Once you are one of 'them' bad things happen.

I was in favor of it until I heard RedDevil. :confused:

I wouldn't want to give up my Pacific Wonderland plates.

I am also not favorable to that, but not really out of fear that it would lead to some "hate" toward EV owners.

I don't trust politicians too.
"We revoked the EV tax exemption. But you can have a free green plate! Enjoy!"

When I bought my Insight is was free of road tax, to stimulate hybrids.
One year later that became a 'slightly reduced' tax, now it is the same as gasoline cars.
If they gave me a different plate now I'd so like to shove it up somewhere.

Well the other thing is if you make 1 type of enthusiast plate, you alienate all other types of enthusiasts. The government shouldn't be in the business of catering to select groups, and that includes enthusiasts.

Oregon has mountain biking plates, among a few others. I like mountain biking, but what about scuba divers, stamp collectors, and couch potatoes? We should have a TV plate, since that's the biggest hobby people have.

It's a very minor complaint of mine though. Oregon's got way bigger problems than what pictures appear on license plates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicl...ates_of_Oregon
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...8525246%29.jpg

The current Pacific Wonderland plate isn't a good color match, and has a sticker for the month. But for my 1979 car, it's as close as I can get.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ense_Plate.jpg

Big fan of the yellow plates. It was among the primary ways I identified unmarked patrol cars back in my days of speeding. Since almost nobody has them on a newer car, it stands out very well. I haven't paid attention to see if they are still running these yellow plates, mostly because I drive at a speed I'm willing to be "caught" doing. I don't slow down when I see an upcoming speed trap, and I don't slow down if I happen to be passing a cop. Mostly it's my way of protesting those who slam on their brakes and go 10 MPH under the speed limit after they had been doing 20 above, and hey, if I'm comfortable going the speed I'm going, I expect a resonable officer to also be comfortable with it.

1. Go to YouTube
2. Find John Cadogans channel on said & watch every thing on electric/hydrogen/tesla etc
3. Realise that a Wolseley 18/85 II or for that matter a Triumph GT6 is cleaner (over its lifetime (including manufacturing) than a Tesla Muskkretinwagen Ausf. C).
4. Go find your grandpa's old Moisin-Nagant and give it a good clean.
5. Have fun with your mates in a "Pot the Teslidiot" competition.
6. Sell the concept to an American hunting club.
7. Profit.

All electric cars do is move the pollution around - yes if everyone on your street is a teslidiot then your street will be less polluted *locally* - the collective pollution will be the same (or likely worse). Then you've got build out the supporting architecture and replace flaky electrical systems in most older homes - more pollution and CO2 to build the new charging stations, upgrade older wiring and build out more (probably polluting) generation..

Don't get me started on Hydrogen.

Or you *could* use the solar catalytic tech that can make petroleum fuels from solar energy and the CO2 and other pollutants in the air - while using the current distribution network (for liquid fuels) that we already have (saving oodles of that nasty CO2, not to mention money (what you didn't know that concrete *produces* CO2 as it cures & for years afterwards)). Hell you could go the whole hog and force manufacturers to build upgrade kits for current models or a set architecture for engines transmissions (like ISA/EISA/FSB in computing) so you can mix and match a cleaner replacement into your current car.

Aluminium bodywork? Don't make me laugh. It takes 211Gj to melt a tonne of aluminium, it takes 22.7Gj to melt a tonne of steel. Yes you'll do a few more mpg, woo-bloody-hoo.

Singapore government actually took someone to court because he claimed that the sun shone out of his tesla's ass, and promptly proved that because Singaporean energy generation was *all* coal fired the Muskkretinwagen was actually the most polluting vehicle in the country (even making a Hindustan Ambassador diesel look positively green (and I'm talking the original 1.5 litre B Series, not the Isuzu transplant)).

I love it when a plan comes together..

Seven steps to profit is three too many. :(

In fact, now that I look at it, steps 4,5, and 6 taken together — and for certain values of 'Pot' — constitute a call for exporting violence to the United States.

mumble mumble terms of service mumble mumble.

The carbon sequesteration idea is pretty good.

Maybe I'll check this character out as you suggest, but I'm backlogged as it is...

That said, your generalization is generally not held to be true. It's especially not true where I live considering the bulk of the electricity is hydro derived.

Often the efficiency of something is reflected in the price. Electricity costs less per mile as a "fuel", and is therefore more efficient almost regardless of the energy source.

Increasing off-peak load can only improve the electricity infrastructure because it tends to level the differences between base and peak loads.

EVs are no salvation, but neither are they our damnation.

Plus some older Diesels could run on waste frying oil straight from the pan, instead of requiring any processing other than filtering it with a piece of fabric.

Fact check...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_in_Singapore
Singapore generates power using oil, natural gas, LNG and waste. No coal at all.

As most power plants are on the industrial areas of Jurong island and the Tuas peninsula in the southwest, away from the city center 20 kilometers eastward, and the prevailing wind direction is either north of south, driving a Tesla there does make sense.

Tesla does not advertise, no need. Enough people like them anyway, and those who don't usually have their facts wrong, make name jokes, use vulgar language or show a general lack of respect - which only helps the case for Tesla.

EV's really do emit less carbon well-to-road, so to aid the development of the charging network will calculate carbon credits to network operators...
https://www.greencarreports.com/news...edit-standards

Similar things happening in Belgium too.
Subsidized diesel cars up to 15% off sales price -including options- as they were so green and reduced CO2 ...
Diesel fuel was way cheaper than petrol back then.

FF 10 years, diesel cars are taxed more to own, and diesel fuel is taxed more to make it more expensive than petrol, and there's talk of banning them altogether ...

Solar panel were (excessively) subsidized for years
Now they're on people's roofs, they get taxed ....


Net result ?

People have become wary of g'ment-pushed eco solutions
So much it's actually further hampering the introduction of solar, altfuels (there's only fossil CNG here - abroad I buy biologically produced CNG made from "waste" )