Clean Air Zone = ZTT going! What next?

[Lancpudn]

I can see the tipping point coming before 2030! Mercedes have just announced they're culling their ICE's (Internal Combustion Engines) by 70% & manual gearboxes to save money & re-tool their engine/transmission plants for electrification https://www.iol.co.za/motoring/indus...d-b2dd3a956dc2 There is a new carbon tax across EU countries from the 1st January 2021, Germany has already voted to raise petrol, diesel & even heating oil with 'green taxes' and as we mirror & underpin the EU standards it's expected in the UK too. https://www.thesun.ie/news/6016866/b...rease-ireland/

[genpk]

Whilst understanding the need for clean running engines, i really love it when
these law makers who are all on massive public purse salaries driving the latest vehicles (paid for by us all) start enforcing these green laws that have no effect on themselves at all.

[steve-45]

Originally Posted by genpk

Whilst understanding the need for clean running engines, i really love it when
these law makers who are all on massive public purse salaries driving the latest vehicles (paid for by us all) start enforcing these green laws that have no effect on themselves at all.

Nothing changes, its always been like that!

[Bogbrush82]

Originally Posted by r44flyer

. This is about encouraging people to take up electric vehicles which they will have to do anyway by 2040 or whenever it is. Slowly the prices of these cars will come down and the investment in their infrastructure will increase, and right now we are managing the tipping of the scales.

Problem is as soon as electric cars become popular the powers that be will start charging more for the electricity, since they'll be taking a financial beating once less and less people start visiting the pumps. And lets not forget the demand for more charging ports will put more strain on the coal fired power stations, meaning the risk of potential brownouts will go up.

[r44flyer]

Originally Posted by Bogbrush82

Problem is as soon as electric cars become popular the powers that be will start charging more for the electricity, since they'll be taking a financial beating once less and less people start visiting the pumps. And lets not forget the demand for more charging ports will put more strain on the coal fired power stations, meaning the risk of potential brownouts will go up.

Well of course they will... it's called an economy. Did you want it all for free?

When we get to the point where many more people are commuting in electric cars the vast majority will be charging them up over night (perhaps incentivised by cheaper rate electricity) thus spreading the demand. Or, again, battery technology for home storage of solar energy. It already exists, electric car battery packs being repurposed for use in the home, extending their life before they do need to be remanufactured.

[bl52krz]

Originally Posted by AndyN01

Have a go and see just how difficult it is to try and find out the true environmental impact of building a car before it even turns a wheel on the road.

You start the journey from digging the minerals etc. out of the ground but all we ever hear about is how wonderful they are when they're driving around saving the planet.

Maybe there's some vested interests in play somewhere.

And how is HM Govt going to recover all the lost ££££'s in car tax/fuel tax etc. I wonder

Vested interests? Yes, and vested countries. China being the main one.

[Bogbrush82]

Originally Posted by r44flyer

Well of course they will... it's called an economy. Did you want it all for free?.

No, but neither do I want to choose between eating or heating, because the rise in electricity bills will mean I wouldn't be able to do both.

[torque2me]

Originally Posted by victorgte

The petrol version is ULEZ friendly and will return 45 mpg on a long run. Very spacious and well screwed together. I pay £228 insurance and VED is £125 per year. Diesel is as low as £30 per annum which is ironic as it’s the “dirty” car!
There is lots of choice out there so take a long look.

That is the point some of us posters are making in the story of diesel vs petrol. Gordon Brown in his effort to save the world and to make the UK carbon neutral by the next day for the Kyoto shindig. Both forms of emissions are bad for humans (certainly in higher volumes) but I recon NOX is much worse than co2.

Brown obviously never attended a science class and thus encouraged people to purchase NOX emitters by putting them into lower VED bands.
When the whole scam of diesel emissions was bust open by the Americans(like an euro 3 engine suddenly able to be categorised as Euro 5 after the "necessary" engine emission research) the diesel car should have been re-banded. It would have been simpler to have just the one list of bands again (say the mean of diesel VED and petrol VED).

There is now no logic in this discriminatory action.

Baah, humbug

Kev

[bikerdude666]

Originally Posted by steve-45

Never realised that you could get a normal fully electric vehicle for under £5K.

The advertising for electric cars seems to gloss over higher insurance costs .

They’re the older models, but yes, they can be that cheap.

Originally Posted by torque2me

I would also gen up on battery life expectancy and cost of replacement plus cold weather performance.

Kev

Originally Posted by Steamdrivenandy

Isn't the issue that they might be nearing the end of battery life and they'll be early models with very low battery range anyway. So a buyer might have to factor in buying a new battery, which is presumably a costly item.

At least 2 of the ones I saw were where you rent the battery, so I believe you don’t have to pay for a new one when it’s dead. And the lack of monthly tax would go some way to covering the cost of the rental. Range was around 100 miles I think on the Renault, which as a 2nd car for city driving to work should be fine. Savings on fuel and tax, and emissions charges, should outweigh anything g else.

Just to add, I’m still not convinced on electric cars in general, but for city driving, if you’ve got the space for a charger, I can see the benefit.

[r44flyer]

Originally Posted by Bogbrush82

No, but neither do I want to choose between eating or heating, because the rise in electricity bills will mean I wouldn't be able to do both.

You won't be paying more for your electricity because of electric cars if you don't have an electric car, any more than you're asked to pay fuel duty if you don't own a car at all. I imagine there will be different tariffs, and you will still pay for what you use. This may or may not go hand-in-hand with tolls for road use. Again you pay for what you use.

At the moment energy tariffs can be and are incentivised to encourage uptake of electric cars. A colleague of mine owns a BMW i3 which he charges at home, and his energy provider switched him to a tariff for users of electric vehicles and his annual bill went DOWN by nearly £400. He's basically charged it all year for free!