EV opposition in the media is ramping up

[Gadget Geek]

Whoops! Here comes the 'fail' again...

We use Britain's biggest EV hub - paying is a nightmare and expensive

Britain's enormous new super hub for charging electric vehicles (EVs) has a major shock in store for eco-punters - it's more expensive than fuel, and drivers claim that paying can be a nightmare.

www.dailymail.co.uk

It's dreadful... apparently it can 69p a Kw and it's difficult to pay...

The guy in the photo is plugging into a destination EVSE, so no wonder he's having problems. Another hatchet job by the Daily Fail.

And I'd like to know how they work out their vehicle efficiencies. Advisory fuel rates on the governments website states 18p/mile for a 1401cc to 2000cc engine. That matches 69p/kWh if you get 3.8 miles/kWh. The 25p/kWh stated by a salesman they interviewed would be an efficiency of 2.7 miles/kWh.

Although, they did interview a tourist who was very positive, I wonder how that one slipped through.

And have you read the comments from from the Ludites? What a laugh.

 

[jackois]

The guy in the photo is plugging into a destination EVSE, so no wonder he's having problems. Another hatchet job by the Daily Fail.

And I'd like to know how they work out their vehicle efficiencies. Advisory fuel rates on the governments website states 18p/mile for a 1401cc to 2000cc engine. That matches 69p/kWh if you get 3.8 miles/kWh. The 25p/kWh stated by a salesman they interviewed would be an efficiency of 2.7 miles/kWh.

Although, they did interview a tourist who was very positive, I wonder how that one slipped through.

And have you read the comments from from the Ludites? What a laugh.

Yup... main reason I check the 'fail' out on-line... Luddites, fools and a lot of idiots who'll rage against anything the 'fail' want them to...

 

[Gadget Geek]

The COP summits used to be where global leaders got together to discuss how to mitigate climate change. COP 28 is being hosted by the UAE at the end of November, and surprise, surprise, they're turning it into an opportunity to lobby global leaders to use more fossil fuels.

UAE planned to use COP28 climate talks to make oil deals

Leaked documents show how the COP28 host planned to use its role to strike fossil fuel business deals.

www.bbc.co.uk

As Fraser kept saying in "Dad's Army", we're doomed, we're doomed.

 

[STMDUK]

To be fair, I've reached a point of complete disconnection when it comes to arguing with the anti-EV brigade. There is nothing we can say that will ever convince them that Katie Hopkins, the Daily Fail, Jeremy Clarkson or anyone else are spouting utter sh**e into their heads.

I'm nearly 12 years into EV ownership now, never had a battery fail, never had a car collapse and die on the side of the road because there's not a charger within a 30ft radius, never had a EV catch fire (had a ICE 7 week old Tiguan burst into flames while I was driving it though, if anyone wants to hear that tale, let me know), never had to scrap a car because it's destroyed my sex drive, made my wife cheat on me or kidnapped the kids.

The reality of the matter is, if you want to drive your ICE car, I'm not going to lecture you. If you want to pay £1.60 a litre for fuel, crack on. You want to stay in the past, good for you. The difference between us and them, is that we can carry on regardless without going off like a misfiring moped to anyone who will listen about how we don't like about their choices.

We don't like it? We don't buy one. They don't like it? They tell us we shouldn't buy one. Same turd, different nappy.

 

[Gadget Geek]

Another excellent piece in The Guardian from Stop Burning Stuff.

How problematic is mineral mining for electric cars?

In part two of our series exploring myths surrounding EVs, we weigh up the issues of resource extraction

www.theguardian.com

More ammunition to shoot at the naysayers.

 

[Deleted member 7316]

In the second paragraph:
"Drivers claim that using the nation's largest 'Gigahub' is much more costly than charging at home"

Duh! Did they really think the electricity was going to be cheaper despite land costs, infrastructure costs and maintenance costs? Somebody was in cloud cuckoo land if they thought otherwise.

 

[Gadget Geek]

More news from Stop Burning Stuff;

As you will probably be aware, COP28 is being held this week, which has undoubtedly instigated a number of activities and announcements regarding the transition to cleaner transport and energy solutions.

Earlier this week, UK government voted and passed the ZEV mandate into law, by a large majority - 381 for, and 37 against. This will come into force on 1st January 2024 and is the single biggest policy initiative the government has lined up to reduce the UK’s CO2 emissions. A definite step in the right direction! You can read about the details here:

Government sets out path to zero emission vehicles by 2035

There was also some initial talk of EV sales slowing, following the SMMT's announcement that year on year EV sales in the UK had dropped in November by 17.1%. (Fleets fuel new car market but only four weeks left to fix EV trade challenge). However it does seem as though this is a blip, as in general, EV sales are increasing - as Bloomberg reports 'No sign of an EV slowdown'

Zero-Emission Vehicles Factbook: COP28 Edition | BloombergNEF

We've also seen some positive news that the EU are set to suspend Brexit tariffs on EVs for three years, which is very good news for the UK car industry, and EV transition A 10% tariff on UK EVs being exported to EU (by far the biggest export market) would have been disastrous. The Guardian have provided a good summary:

Why the EU now plans to delay post-Brexit tariffs on electric vehicles

And today, we've heard the announcement that the UK Government is investing £70 million in a pilot scheme to support motorway services to deliver rapid public charging - a long overdue and very welcome activity:

£70m pilot scheme to help power up motorway service areas - transportandenergy

Lastly, and sadly on a less positive note, across in North America, Donald Trump set out his manifesto at a Town Hall in Iowa this week, where topics such as EVs and green initiatives were slammed. The upcoming presidential elections are likely to put a great deal of pressure on EV and clean energy initiatives (particularly if Mr Trump is elected), and the misinformation campaigns and negative repercussions will be felt much further than just north America. We are already seeing some of this North American misinformation leak into international waters, so are therefore putting plans in place to help counter this. Further updates to follow.

I'll provide a separate SBS update very soon with some details of what we have been working on, but in the meantime, wishing you all a good rest of the week,

Kind regards

Claire

 

[Grriff]

The news about motorway chargers is good news, if it happens. Leicester Forest Services now has two Gridserve Chargers, both wrapped

 

[Stuart Fray]

Good for you. I couldn't stand it!

I had a discussion with a woman after church on Sunday, someone I've known for a long time. I don't know how we got on to the subject, but she started coming out with all the DM fallacies. I said, you're reading too much Daily Mail. She said she never reads it, and I believe her. She's not the type. I think she has been listening to people who do read the Daily Mail, or people who have been listening to people who read the Daily Mail, etc. The narrative spreads well beyond the actual readers of the paper.

EVs are terribly polluting. They're really bad for the roads. The batteries catch fire and explode. Charging is a nightmare. And the rest. Her family has three cars, but sometimes all three need to do long journeys at the same time so they couldn't even manage with one EV. (I think they're loaded, actually, no reason they couldn't go for a really long range model.)

The idea of putting a canopy over the village charge-point (which is just in front of the church) had her up in arms. I totally missed a trick, I should have asked her if she was against the wooden bus shelter that's about 50 yards further down the road. Because that's all it would take.

Some people.

As with all the press and social media one has to take a lot of the news with a grain of salt. I often read the DM but I also read other newspapers, usually online these days. Just like other recent political divides some will never be persuaded.

 

[Roldorf]

She's probably a wind farm hater too.

 

[Rolfe]

The news about motorway chargers is good news, if it happens. Leicester Forest Services now has two Gridserve Chargers, both wrapped

Only two? (I have my eye on Desford Crossroads.)

 

[Grriff]

Only two? (I have my eye on Desford Crossroads.)

Yes, only two for an important service station!

 

[Gomev]

Only two? (I have my eye on Desford Crossroads.)

Yes, only two for an important service station!

I'm sure Gridserve would have liked to install more, like they have at many other locations. There must be a reason maybe grid connection power.

 

[Rolfe]

From what I've seen, I thought they came in banks of six!

 

[Rolfe]

"It was an electric car" in 3... 2... 1...

A9 reopens after vehicle fire near Pitlochry

The road was closed in both directions while emergency services dealt with the fire.

www.thecourier.co.uk

The article doesn't say what type of car it was and the numberplate is engulfed in flames. There's no sign that this happened as a result of an accident - it looks like a spontaneous fire.

Either nothing more will be heard of it because it was an ICE car and that's not newsworthy, or someone will start a conspiracy theory that it was an EV, and this will grow like Topsy when the police say that it was an ICE car. Wild allegations of a cover-up.

Least likely possibility, it was really an EV.

 

[Gadget Geek]

"It was an electric car" in 3... 2... 1...

A9 reopens after vehicle fire near Pitlochry

The road was closed in both directions while emergency services dealt with the fire.

www.thecourier.co.uk

The article doesn't say what type of car it was and the numberplate is engulfed in flames. There's no sign that this happened as a result of an accident - it looks like a spontaneous fire.

Either nothing more will be heard of it because it was an ICE car and that's not newsworthy, or someone will start a conspiracy theory that it was an EV, and this will grow like Topsy when the police say that it was an ICE car. Wild allegations of a cover-up.

Least likely possibility, it was really an EV.

From the photos, my guess would be an engine compartment fire with fuel burning on the road in front of the car. Also, it seems to have been extinguished without the reignition you usually get from a chemical fire.

 

[Rolfe]

That's what I thought too.

 

[jackois]

Let's not get too paranoid, everyone... 90% of the population have no axe to grind with this stuff...

 

[Gadget Geek]

Let's not get too paranoid, everyone... 90% of the population have no axe to grind with this stuff...

Unfortunately, that 90% don't know they are being lied to by the 10%, and being influenced by those lies.

 

[Gomev]

From what I've seen, I thought they came in banks of six!

Tesla Superchargers come in pre-fabricated blocks ready for installation, as far as I am aware they are the only ones that do this to streamline installation. Other fit in as many individual units as they can.