Electric cars - NOT amateur radio

My car is infrequently changed. I do not do long miles in my car: most are about 8 miles return with the occasional trip of about 30 miles return. For longer journeys I take the train. In years past I would have thought nothing of doing a 600 mile round trip.

In the past limited range of an electric car was a concern. This is not a concern any more. 

Important factors for me are (a) reliability (b) insurance costs (c) availability (d) home charging (e) space for the weekly shop and the occasional visitors and their luggage.

Which brings me on to electric cars: these are mostly too expensive to buy, but a lease deal might be better. The prices are dropping, but they still are high. However, home charging might offset this to some extent.

Most low cost offerings come from China such as MG and BYD.

I am still not convinced about battery technology that still seems to rely on lithium batteries. At some point I was expecting prices to drop with the advent of solid-state batteries, together with a better range. As far as I know this has not happened yet. Whoever gets there first will have a huge advantage.

At the moment, I shall probably hang on to my 2018 diesel car, but I expect my next car might well be electric.

All Electric - NOT amateur radio

All the "Park and Ride" buses  in Cambridge are going green and will be electric. 

Chinese electric commuter car - NOT amateur radio

The Chinese have launched a very low cost electric car aimed at commuters. It is a joint venture with General Motors. It is outselling Tesla cars by about 2:1. The standards in China are much lower than in Europe and the USA. At the moment it is only on sale in China.

It seems to me they have got their marketing spot on. In the west we have not got our electric car marketing correct. Our cars have (generally) got insufficient range for long distances and yet are far too expensive.

In what appears to be a stupid move, the UK government has today reduced the grant on electric cars under £35k and withdrawn it totally for cars over £35k. So much for encouraging us to go green!

In my view, the UK should launch a no frills electric car that fits the commuter range and can be charged at home. The government could actively encourage sales of these by strongly subsidising low cost electric cars made in the UK designed for commuters and local shopping trips.

See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56178802 .

Electric cars - NOT amateur radio

Electric cars have been on sale for years but today I saw my first electric car in use. This was a Nissan Leaf. To me the electric car is not the best solution. The range, even with new batteries, is quite low. Battery technology is still poor and huge batteries are needed to get quite modest ranges.

Although politically a "good idea", I feel we will see better solutions. Maybe this will be hydrogen fuel cells or power buried in the roads and paid for by the actual amount used? The latter would reduce the weight of batteries. Even with large subsidies, electric cars are expensive. We definitely need a clean, efficient alternative to petrol and diesel cars but I am not convinced by today's electric cars.

I watch the next few years with interest and wonder what motorists will be driving in 20-30 years' time.