Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms The end is nigh

The reason not many Aero 8s or Plus 8s are sold in Italy: The annual tax (whether on the road or not, ie no such thing as SORN) is € 1,210.30 (£ 1,113 approx.). The Plus 4 costs me € 281.22.

Renault and Connected Energy have just announced an interesting new development, using E-Stor technology. Basically you pile up a load of second-life batteries and charge them at low current from the grid. Then you can charge up your car at high current from the batteries.

This will enable fast chargers to be installed in places where there isn't high-current availability from the grid.

http://press.renault.co.uk/press-release/3a483d7c-2680-4733-987f-1c6581a69492

And in other news, the first Demand Response contracts are now available, allowing owners of electric vehicles to gain preferential access to charging networks and also to sell their power back to the grid - a good way to make money as short-term wholesale electricity prices can get very high where there is critical demand.

Imagine if you had just filled your tank of petrol for £50 and somebody came along and offered you £500 for it? Well this time last year when the base wholesale price of electricity was around £50/MWh, the spot price for 12:00 to 12:30 on the 15th September hit £1500/MWh.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/comp...ers-181773.html

The technology required in the car, called V2G (Vehicle to Grid) is already installed in all Nissan Leafs, I don't know if other makes like Tesla can do it, I suspect they can.

Just thinking out loud really, but do you think the steam guys thought exactly the same way when the internal combustion engine arrived. Before them the horse people and so the cycle continues in the space of a very short time in reality.

I wouldn't mind betting they did and hey nobody died.

I can foresee the horse thing really taking off down here in the country, already a lot of the 2nd home owners have theirs fully liveried whilst they are away. It provides much needed employment in the area too.

I think that's a really good parallel to draw, Rich.

In the olden days horses were pretty much ubiquitous and used for all sorts of transport. These days they are almost solely a leisure activity reserved for the relatively well-off. For many road users, horse riders are a complete PITA, being slow, unwieldy, not fitting into the motorist's idea of a 'proper' road user.

I see much the same sort of future for ICE-engined vehicles. In twenty years or so we'll still be out and about, mainly in rural areas, and we'll be being slagged off by all the EV dirvers as we won't have the software and communications necessary to allow us to cooperate with other vehicles.

It's hardly a mutually exclusive idea to own more than one type of propulsion system, and that is how those lucky enough to afford more than one vehicle will more than likely go. EV for commuting I've for fun etc

I know of one ex work colleague who went totally bicycle and no other vehicles, he was a miserable anti social type who was in his mind always right and everyone else was in the wrong. His answer to not having to cycle 40 miles each way in my case was to move closer to work ignoring any factors like spouses work centre, yes he lived alone.

Maybe that condition will evolve if vehicles effective range won't increase to a convenient scale and the working population will live closer to where they work, in the UK you can imagine the knock on effect that will have with house prices.

If one thinks twice the e-mobility provides either an ecological advantage nor is it practical on the countryside (yet).
Ressourcing for batteries will damage the environment. As long as we have no 100% ecological clean source for electricity we will still burn coal or petrol or we will have to use nuclear power for electricity supply.
I see more future potential in hydrogen technology. Hydrogen avoids the battery problem area and is neutral to global warming.
OR: people will have to reconsider the need for "useless" mobility. Work from home office, bicycles and public transport is an other answer.

I think that's absolutely right, Mark. I can easily see a future in which people will own an EV for the short stuff and keep a petrol, diesel, or hybrid for the less frequent long-range trips. Many people already use bicycles or pedelecs increasingly for very short range trips, and reduce their commute by working from home whenever possible.

I can see that one may have an EV on some sort of PCP, which includes the ability to borrow a long range vehicle for a certain number of miles/days a year.
I have a 9 year old Mercedes CLC and I'm seriously considering a second hand BMW i3 or similar as the "local runabout".

This is what you need for that rôle Peter. Perfect for your hay bales

http://www.leparisien.fr/automobile/e-story-l-autre-mehari-electrique-14-11-2016-6324849.php

Giles,

a delight, but not enough weather protection for the UK!!

Didn't know they were still being made!