Electric Vehicles Poll - the Public speaks and votes. They don't want them Polls show.

That looks like a No then........ 

a very big NO........

The China EV industry threat - could we see World car makers out of business? And a full return to Petrol and Diesel vehicles?

 

A new chapter in the Electric Vehicle folly -

potential collapse of the EV project and a future return to liquid fuels.

China is a 97% monopoly holder of access to the rare Earth metals used in production of Electric Vehicle batteries and for the Green industry. That should be worrying for the world's motor manufacturers and people who might buy electric vehicles.

The ability for China to 'turn off' and immobilise electric vehicles touted in the press recently is not new technology, this facility has been inside vehicle software for years. 

Some few years ago, a tractor that was ploughing a field in Britain stopped, the owner rang the dealer who said it had been remotely turned off because the owner hadn't made a payment. So this is a reality.

Imagine a theoretical scenario with the danger for the British motor manufacturers for example, that China 'dumps' a massive amount of cheap electric vehicles onto the Western markets, cheaper than the resident manufacturers can make them for in the first place.

Such a move could make these other manufacturers stop producing vehicles and essentially go out of business because they could not compete. Or they would have to go back to recommencing petrol and diesel production to survive.

This move would allow China then to set the price of their own produced EV vehicles for sale in the West at whatever price they choose, you would have no other purchasing choice except not to buy and go back to walking.

As such, then China could with effectively near complete market control, could choose as a geopolitical policy, not to produce electric vehicles and sit on the access to the required minerals so no one else can either. Or sell the minerals at a very high price if it chose to.

Thus, the West would be forced to again to start production of Petrol and Diesel vehicles from a point zero if it could start from the ashes of the EV folly.  

If the western motor industry collapses totally, China could then become virtually one of the only providers of motor vehicles and the result would be that the electric vehicle project could be eternally doomed, the street chargers then being little more than monuments to the stupidity of the whole project. 

China could decide that it would only produce liquid fuel vehicles and as such the EV market could almost collapse. In effect it could control most of our transport by default. 

No one seems to have woken up to this potential problem.

No one seems to have seen that the early technology of the EV is dangerous to pursue as a sole alternative to other forms.

The EV policy is being presided over by people who often of not have the technical ability to understand the great steps needed to drive alternatively.

It is easy to grab headlines by making bold statements of intent, but these are often at the expense of the technology to do so not being a proper solution that is ready to go.

Legacy older vehicles on the roads are a direct result of the failure of the 'Net Zero' electric vehicle agenda being pushed by people without a clue.

 

The legacy of older vehicles on the road -

as people are turning away from electric vehicles back to ICE vehicles

Manufacturer 'funk' is now showing, as vehicle makers sit on the fence waiting for clear demand indicators before totally ditching the internal combustion engine (ICE) and going fully electric.

The sensible players like Mazda, are seeing the EV trend as a phase and likely as a failing one, as they produce new ICE powered vehicles for production and sale. 

Companies like Mazda will soon be seen to have taken the right direction. 

EV production is not globally viable, being based on a finite supply of materials largely controlled by China and Chinese interests in Africa and other countries.

We are now entering a 'transport apartheid era thanks to the Green lobby and the dangerous opinions, agendas of pressure groups and woke individuals from largely unaccountable and unelected interests. The realities of these 'green' utopias are now showing as they are unaffordable and unobtainable 'wank fantasies'. 

No one voted for Net Zero as a standalone policy, yet it is being foisted on the population, who are now being inconvenienced and taxed for the privilege of often essential travel - where there is viable alternative, the obvious solutions in Synthetic Fuels for example, are being largely ignored. 

Except apparently for airlines and air travel use, much of which is unnecessary.

However, there is no ban on buying abroad and importing an ICE vehicle after 2030. Yet.

But also little to no support for synthetic fuels by those in power. Why not? Read on...

My recent poll on the journey to work noted a ratio of 1 electric vehicle to 62 Petrol or Diesel vehicles on the road in a 20 mile journey, in a semi-rural area of the Midlands. 

Extrapolated out, this data shows the EV dream of 2030 complete replacement falls far short. 

Even some scientists and academics to their credit, believe that the arbitrary dates of 2030, 2050 are unworkable if no established alternative technology exists. 

ICE power plants are at their most efficient and clean ever, EV technology is in its relative infancy, by pushing the EV agenda on by contrast in the current 'primitive' development stage is an obvious recipe for failure, when it cannot assume the mantle of the ICE power plant's advantages yet and the obvious deficiencies in charging etc prevail.

With six and a bit years until the '2030 ban' on ICE vehicle sales, the uptake of electric is hardly looking like it is being lovingly embraced or sufficient to do the replacing. 

The EV project is doomed to fail, it was tried in America in the early 1900's and the practicalities were then as now. They were impractical. They gave way to the ICE vehicle. The same practicalities and impracticalities remain. The only place EV's score and are viable is in short, urban journeys, reliant on whether you can find a charger and it is actually working.

The CO2 arguments used to 'promote' the EV and Net Zero lobbies are a farce -  the actual CO2 content of our atmosphere after 250 years of industry, 2 world wars, 70 plus years of consumerism and air travel is that CO2 constitutes a mere 1/2 of 1% of the total of atmospheric gases. 

There was far more CO2 in the time of the Dinosaurs as the fossil plant records bear out and the planet was much warmer, allowing cold-blooded Diplodocus et al to survive, which no one in the activist lobby seems to acknowledge. 

This CO2/Net Zero agenda is about one thing - control. Alternative energy has been around since 1954 but America as the key world power and a major oil concern doesn't want that to be known. Oil and money makes the world go round and makes America rich.

If you refine oil for plastics, you get fuel and lube oils as by-products. If we do not use them, other countries less squeamish about CO2 or who laugh at our EV folly, continue to buy and use them.

Scaremongering about 'rising CO2 levels  is just that. Skewed 'science' is being used to drive this lobby forwards down a road to which they have no road map and on which unforeseen factors are emerging. Talk of 'rising levels of CO2' is never borne out by any data. Just scaremongering. The real population is the rising population in some countries.

People are holding onto older 2000's era vehicles because they see no future in electric or want the costs or the attached inconvenience. Synthetic fuel alternatives are available but can they be taxed as they are 'Net Zero' and produce no CO2? Not logically.

For electric vehicles only

Here's why the CO2/Net Zero agenda fails

Firstly, no one decided at the outset of the EV folly to unify the plug layout or size, now we are stuck with multiple chargers rather than one unified system. A schoolboy error.

The pavement mounted EV chargers cannot deliver superfast charging - and never will.

Apparently booming second hand EV sales are because people are dumping EV's and going back to ICE vehicles before they cannot get a decent return on them.

Many used car dealers do not want to take an EV in a part exchange.

Heavy EV's wear out tyres quickly, tyres made largely from Oil.

EV battery performance life peaks at around 5 years and declines rapidly thereafter.

EV range is affected by cold, hills, drain on the system for battery maintenance etc.

Some EVs as the battery level declines slow down to 40mph max speed hardly what you want on a motorway. 'Non-essential' items self shut down on some cars - like the suspension.

As your range declines on a journey, you have to decide what to shut off i.e. heater, radio etc.

If the battery fails can you get out of the car? Ask Radio 2 DJ Scot Mills, he found this out. If the rear tailgate of his EV had not been completely closed he would have been trapped in there.

The ticket cost price of the first generation EV's has dived, with used values diving further and many people grossly out of pocket as almost the same cars are available new, at a third off in many cases.

Original EV cost is much more than for a Petrol or Diesel car and with rising electricity costs for charging and short battery life, the likelihood of recouping the difference is about nil or worse, a deficit.

The reality of distance driving is obvious in an EV - it isn't a viable option if you want a hassle free journey where you don't get 'range anxiety' and hope that the next charger is working or there is actually going to be one in that area, ICE is and always was the only conveniently viable alternative to the EV.

The promised fast charge rates are not attainable on current street or domestic power supplies, only in factory testing where large capacity supply is available.

Having to waste hours charging up is not really progress when refuelling an ICE vehicle is 5 minutes or less. Not 2 plus hours. Up to a day and a half at home for some cars.

EV battery minerals are finite and will not service the expected global demand.

Minor damage to battery packs is an MOT failure and negates any savings when the battery is required to be replaced at a cost of £10,000 plus. This is an obvious gold mine for the unscrupulous.

An ICE vehicle can last 20 plus years - EV's to equal that lifespan, require 3 x replacements this is hardly green, let alone the costs involved.

ICE fuels do not involve human slavery or the damage to the environment that EV battery minerals prospecting and extraction does. 

ICE oil extraction is highly regulated, with a health and safety system in place, this cannot be said for EV minerals where child and slave labour is often used and health and safety seem absent.

That's why ICE vehicles are being kept going, hopefully we can get someone in authority who has the ability to see through the hype of the EV and not wish to hobble our people with expensive and unworkable transport solutions based on hype.

EV Car Battery 'lottery' swap to avoid charge time - will you get a rubbish battery in exchange?

 

Fancy a 'rubbish' Battery in exchange for your new one?

A recharged Battery swap for your EV?

The latest twist to the great EV folly is the proposal to provide 'Battery Swap' facilities. Here, you 'exchange' your own flat battery for a charged one. Ok so far?

But....

The problem is most EV batteries are built into the car, secondly they vary in size and shape, thirdly they are bloody heavy, up to 1 ton and also require expert disconnection. 

Reconnection may mean that all your personal vehicle settings may be lost if not retained externally on some device.

Worst of all is that if your own battery is nearly new, you might then get an exchange one that is somewhat aged and below par in performance and storage of power. 

If you are stuck with a badly aged battery that they won't take in exchange, your car is effectively scrap unless you shell out a ton of money to buy a new battery.

Its a lose lose all round I think.

That is if the supply of rare earth elements are going to exist that long to supply the need for all these mythical replacement batteries that are going to be needed.

More reasons that this folly should be dumped as soon as possible!

Electric Vehicles, ULEZ and 15 minute cities - is this the start of 'Transport Apartheid'???

 

Does Transport Apartheid - start here?

With vehicles cleaner than ever, is justification for the Congestion Charge or ULEZ zones valid?

Heathrow Expansion - ULEZ for vehicles nothing for the Jets

When the Heathrow expansion was mooted the announcement was it 'would be good for business' but not for the local residents with increased air pollution from airlines or local drivers. Why?

Because the wisdom was to make an ULEZ area around the new Heathrow expansion, but not to penalise the airlines creating the real extra pollution.

Jets taking off and pushing out same emissions of the average of 10 years of average car driving use - equalling 75,000 miles in total in just a few minutes from one airliner.

The joke of it is or isn't, is that vehicle drivers around this new Heathrow zone are being penalised with an extra charge on top of the 80% duty included in the cost of fuel, whilst the airlines pay nothing to pollute?

Or perhaps this ULEZ launch is something to divert attention away from dealing with the real issues Londoners want resolved such as the explosion in knife crime? Any answers?

The Electric Vehicle bubble might be soon bursting

The EU 2030 Ban on Petrol and Diesel vehicles is running into trouble, from German car makers and also manufacturers in Italy. People are slowly waking up to the fact that these EV cars are not viable, are expensive to charge and to buy and are being dumped by many owners back onto the used car market, although car dealers don't want them, before the batteries are only useful for a 20 mile round trip.

Only being able to buy EV's after 2030 is a form of transport apartheid and will mean that those unable to pay for these expensive 'hobby horses' may become unable to travel, or is that parts of some agenda?

Mazda for one company has recently introduced a new Diesel car, it can obviously see the future and it is not volts, but Diesel.

15 Minutes of fame or infamy?

The deal is you walk 15 minutes to do all your business and shopping. So what does this achieve? Not much. 

All these policies will achieve is to restrict people's freedoms of movement, this has been known for some years and now we are seeing the reality of what was only being hinted at by people often referred to by some sections of the media as 'conspiracy theorists' - in other words a cheap and throwaway 'catch-all' slur on people who might have a different and correct point of view, as we may be seeing here and now..

Net Zero is not achievable - humans exhale CO2 for one thing so they can never be truly Net Zero, unless China makes great changes and we become less of a consumer society, all this Net Zero baloney is just window dressing and used to justify policies to restrict the freedom we fought two world wars to enjoy and make us much poorer.

No one voted for Net Zero and the media says nothing about why as a less than 1% emissions contributor that has already cut CO2 output by 40% of 1990's levels, why the UK has to be hobbled by these policies whilst others just do nothing?

On the face of it then, there must be some other agenda for hobbling and taxing the ordinary person whilst at the same time not making other major polluters like China and India do more?

This London Sightseeing EV Bus cost around £450,000 -

It is said to be around two years old and is now in a Barnsley Scrapyard.

Tells you all you need to know about this electric vehicle vanity project.

And you thought that Apartheid was only something that happened in Africa?

Used EV Car sales 'rocketing' - but is this now the end of the electric dream and a race to get out of them before they become worthless?

 

Electric Dream or Electric Nightmare -

Is this the start of the end of the road for Electric Vehicles?

The sales of second hand electric vehicles is now reported to be rocketing, but what does this actually translate into at street level? The end of the electric dream?....

At Christmas, many EV owners decided to travel to long distances in their electric vehicles, however the reality of their oeuvre being the answer to future transport came crashing down around them for a number of reasons. 

Why?

With 1 charger for every 39 electric vehicle, this was hurdle no.1. Second was the availability of a charger to fit their plug-in socket, as very stupidly, no one thought at the outset of the EV project to unify the size and layout of the plug to a one size fits all unit. Third was the Charger being actually working, Four was the cost of the frequent charges and Five the having to leave a 50 mile range reserve to find the next charger available.

Not exactly a cocktail for the most pleasant journey experience?

As expected at this time, the public charging points were oversubscribed with demand and queues for the next available charger formed. (And the charge supplier can set whatever price they like & you have little option but to charge up, you can't bring the 'fuel' to the car in a container like you can with a Petrol or Diesel one.)

Fast forward two months to February and a friend recently stopping at a motorway service station noted that there were NO electric vehicles resident at any of the charging points.

Now, you would expect that some commercial travellers and ordinary motorists might be actively using the road network with their EV's, yet it was strange that the chargers seemed to be so empty. The reality of long distance EV use seems to be now realised - it isn't viable or worth it.

A report of 'record second hand electric vehicle sales' tells its own story - after the EV hype a few years ago, a lot of these vehicles are now approaching the 'sell or bust' scenario. 

Reports that the used EV sales are 'booming' is explainable, people now seeing the charging cost, the battery life issues, difficulty with charging and that they are not getting Dealers wanting to buy their used EV's is causing panic amongst EV owners and they now want out. 

A garage owner said recently he had a customer full of how good her new EV was, a few months later she had ditched it for a Diesel due to the running costs.

Battery life and the cost of charging are the key operating factors I see as driving this used EV  'sales boom', or quiet and rapid exodus, which I see as the true reality.

Get out whilst you can is the thought. 

With an EV's average 7 years of battery life and the fact that many EV's are built around the battery, once the battery fails, they are effectively scrap.

Expensive scrap, that costed the owner half as much again as a Petrol or Diesel car and with a third of the lifespan of those types. And the EV's really do cost the Earth both to produce and use and that's without factoring in the costs to human health and the modern slavery implications of the materials for the battery. 

My analysis is that the factors against the EV have now become blindingly apparent, Mazda has now brought out a NEW Diesel car - manufacturers have been hedging for some years as to go fully electric or wait and see how this EV fad pans out before truly abandoning Petrol and Diesel vehicle manufacturing. 

Mazda's move seems to show that the long watch is over and the manufacturers are seeing that they have to keep an internal combustion vehicle engine option available. 

EV battery ingredients are finite and controlled mainly by China, internal combustion vehicle ingredients are not - and with Net Zero synthetic Petrol and Diesel fuels available fairly cheaply that is likely to be the final nail in the EV coffin.

UPDATE March 2024

The used car industry is now struggling offload used EV's and to sell new EV's. Consumers have woken up to the fact that the EV is the wrong solution, at the wrong price and without the infrastructure to support operation.

The future is not electric now.

 

British Electric Vehicle factory British Volt - has it run out of juice - is this the end of the road for Electric vehicles in the UK?

 

British Volt factory - the end of the road?

is this the factory that never was?

This is just an artist's illustration

The British Volt factory looks set to close following a reported collapse of its share price in recent weeks -  so is this the end of the road for the electric vehicles given that the Tesla concern is also now reportedly heavily discounting the ticket price of its cars?

An electric TFL Bus only a few years old - in a Barnsley Bus scrapyard

at over half a million quid to buy new - was this really good value for money?

When British Volt was established, the Boris Johnson government seemed to believe with some sort of evangelical zeal in the future of the electric vehicle - a pledge of £100 million in funding support to British Volt never materialised as there seemed little in firm orders to secure this finance. 

Perhaps the issues of high inflation, the Ukraine War and cost of charging electric cars are contributory factors leading to people going 'cold' on the wonder machines that are heavily advertised to us as being 'the future' - they are clearly not it would seem and people are now waking up to the realities and pitfalls of owning an EV and avoiding them or getting out whilst they can still get a half decent price for them. And going back to Petrol and Diesel vehicles in many cases.

The primary 'schoolboy error' of the electric vehicle industry was that no one thought at the outset of this quest to establish a common charging plug and socket size, shape and format common to all. 

This was the most egregious, inexcusable, avoidable and fundamental error. 

The recent christmas break led to many electric vehicle owners to make their pious journeys to visit relatives across Britain and finding a lack of chargers, a lack of chargers with the right plug for their car and a lack of the charger actually working has now come home to them.

A driver recently reported a day and half's journey time by EV from the Isle of White to the Lake district, thanks to having to recharge so often and having to leave a 50 mile reserve of battery power showing on the gauge in order that they might get to a charger that worked and that was available on their way. A 'normal' car would have had you there by early evening the same day, on the same tankful of fuel. Probably for less cost.

Many drivers are now waking up to the reality that their few years' old EV batteries are past their best and the cost of replacing the car at half as much again versus a 'normal' car are coming at the wrong time. Or if a battery can be changed, that it will cost around £10,000 plus to change it.

When you plug into a public charging point, they can charge you what they like for your charge and you are stuck with it, you can't just go to another garage or 'fill up from a can' as with a Petrol or Diesel car - if the electric car's car battery is that low your options are limited. 

You've got the prospect of an up to 2 hours waiting time whilst charging takes place, rather than the 5 minutes to refuel at a garage for Petrol or Diesel fuel. A Jaguar battery charged at home can take a day and a half to charge off a 13 amp domestic supply. 

Currently there are 39 electric vehicles to 1 charger. Not counting the fact that not all chargers fit all cars so it is no surprise to see many motorway charging points now empty as many drivers abandon EV's for long distance driving.

Tesla has a new EV Semi tractor unit, problem is unless you dump the trailer, the space for a charger bay would have to be 60+ feet to take the lorry. Then it takes time to charge, the whole EV thing is just becoming a joke.

Probably the full charge of a large EV car battery could now cost the equivalent of the domestic house consumption of electricity for 6 weeks in one go. They use a 60 amp plus charge circuit even when drawn from a domestic supply network via a special link to the mains supply.

The electric vehicle is good for the city and the ultra urban drive, but the interest is just not there nor is there the 'wallet' to indulge in this voltaic whimsy despite the flashy adverts trying to seduce us into the abandonment of the internal combustion engine.

I don't see that many EV's on the road, they are quite a rarity, 2 a day I counted. I view that they are over-hyped and the 'lots of people own them' line is just marketing guff, there are 32 million vehicles on the UK roads and the EV is not making the impacts on ownership that was predicted - perhaps partly why British Volt has not worked out?

The future is synthetic and Net Zero Petrols and Diesels, both viable and in production now. Motor manufacturers are being led up the garden path by governments and influencers who grasp the electric vehicle nettle with some sort of religious zeal. Battery ingredients are finite, the synthetic fuels are not.

The problem is that these people on the electric vehicle hobby horse often do not have the technical and/or practical knowledge of the realities of this sort of entity and are just rose tinted blind to them. 

In the early 1900s there were many electric vehicles around but cheap gasoline and the development of the internal combustion engine led to the demise of ev's then.

Perhaps history will repeat itself again?

It is suggested that an Australian 'startup' Recharge has started to look at taking over British Volt, how far will that go if the British concern had no real firm orders? But if there are no firm orders, is that going to also fail?

The last information was that Recharge, the new interest was not investing in producing purely electric vehicle batteries at the yet to be built Volt factory - which is still a piece of rough ground - which is a telling situation - perhaps it was hoped they might produce battery cells for the electric car industry by an optimistic government?

The lack of real sales of these electric vehicles is likely due to customers waking up and seeing that these vehicles are not going to fulfil their transport solution. ICE engine ones will.

And with the rising costs of these cars, the charging and operation issues, the electric vehicle market is open to failure. sometime soon. People are hanging on to those old cars, they are the future.

Electric Vehicle Charging Costs - Could be truly shocking in the future - here's why....

The shocking cost of future electric vehicle  charging -

That might include yours....

With electric vehicles in the UK currently zero-rated for road excise duty, governments will need to recoup lost taxation - through the electric 'fuel' is likely the big choice....

Feel the jolt in your wallet? What will future charging costs look like? 

They won't be cheap and you are likely to end up getting hit by future high costs

Currently, you may be enjoying 'acceptable level' tariffs for charging your electric vehicle that seem cheap now, but that could all be set to change.

Although you can charge a vehicle at home, or on a public charger, the actual cost can be as high as the equivalent liquid Petrol or Diesel fuel alternative to fill the fuel tank up. Surprised? 

Well, there's more to be wary of and you should heed this warning.

Electric vehicles currently enjoy zero road charge costs  - that is, unlike liquid fuelled vehicles using Petrol or Diesel in the UK, they don't get charged duty on the fuel when purchased and/or in some cases a vehicle excise duty charge when the vehicle is used on the road or if they emit over a certain CO2 level. So far so good for the EV's

Vehicle Excise duty as currently levied does not take into account your vehicle usage, it is solely based on engine size and CO2 output - EV's may in future be taxed on their motor wattage. So a 2 seater EV would be cheaper than a 4 seater EV  or SUV-EV to use.

All well and good so far.

I see the future of electric vehicles as great for city use, in short journeys and local travel under 100 miles a day. However, the great uplift in electricity capacity to feed this need for the power to motivate these vehicles will have to be met with more certainty than relying on 'green' energy - did you know that Diesel generators back up 'Green' when 'Green' fails?  Someone will have to pay for the future EV charge-related uplift and Mr or MRS EV Owner, that's going to be you.

How governments may then make you pay...

Yes, there's no such thing as a free lunch and no free rides either. It is a case of have EV now and pay later.

With a massive shortfall in taxable duty with a shift to electric vehicles, you as an EV owner will face one issue - The charging point's costs. Because that is an unavoidable point where you can be taxed.

Likely, these are already 'smart' charging units and have the capacity wired into be updatable by remote methods. Overnight, these could be reset to 'tax' the EV charge you use by any amount that those in control choose to apply. 

So, today's charge of your EV might cost you £30 to charge, tomorrow it could be £100 and there is nothing you can do about it. Except pay if you want to travel by EV.

Having ditched your fossil fuelled vehicle for a 'green' one, you might be looking a bit sour around the chops when your future electricity bill shows how much your EV charges are now costing even if you only charge at home and not out at a public charging point. 

Motorway service areas often have costlier road fuels than otherwise, on motorways, your EV is a captive audience and these establishments need to turn a profit, otherwise they go out of business. 

If you run out of charge, your EV will need a full-suspended recovery - your EV cannot be towed except perhaps only onto the recovery truck and recovery companies will soon realise this and hit you with higher recovery charges in this situation.

Rather than go down the road of unpopular road pricing, my prediction is that governments will  get their pound of flesh another way and tax you at the charging point wherever that occurs - be it at your home or at a public facility. Smart charging with Smart pricing will leave you smarting.

Once you are 'converted' to Green EV's you are a prisoner of the system.

Don't say you haven't been warned. Someone has likely already reached this same conclusion as me on how to make your EV pay like a fossil fuel car does. 

They are just playing the waiting game until there is a large enough EV ownership and no means of escape before applying these cost charges. Then see if I am right.