Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms What Does 2030 or 2035 mean for Morgan?

My concern remains the charging infrastructure... in the UK it simply isn't available in many places.

Two examples: Shell is rebuilding a petrol station on the A36 road out of Salisbury, but I understand no EV charging points will be possible as the electricity distribution organisation cannot provide the level of power needed at a cost that Shell is willing to pay. Instead the company is doing work on a shop upgrade, including new petrol pumps and transforming it into a little Waitrose store.

Tesla has been trying to connect Superchargers on the Southbound Services at Fleet on the M3 for some years. Exactly the same problem, to get power a new line and transformer are needed and the landowner I understand wants a wayleave payment that Tesla considers unreasonable.

Salisbury, a city of 140,000 has NO EV chargers above 7kw: the nearest are in Amesbury.

I suspect a rush of orders & purchases in the last few months, maybe some dealers & makers will limbo under the ban by pre registering ? As sales of used are obviously allowed beyond the 'ban' dates

CostCo have just gone through most of their locations installing fuel forecourts. No Electric spots.

Given you never spend less than 2-3 hours (and £300!) in one it would have been an ideal candidate.

I thought the whole purpose of designing the new CX Chassis was to future proof Morgan for the next 110 years by building it to be easily tailored to new engines as required including electric engine when/if the time is right. I have also seen pictures of a Frontline MGB on Peterson EV website so I think Frontline are trying to build an EV using gauges etc. from Peterson EV. So I feel small companies like Morgan, Frontline etc. are dong R&D on EV's because they need something to future proof themselves. They don't want to rely on other companies still making suitable engines for them, plus even if they can get petrol engines there will be customers who will want an EV option.

I feel for my personal use there are two options that make sense.

• A car like the PHEV Mitsubishi Outlander that I can charge up at night and do 80km a day around town, but fill it with petrol and use for a longer trip if required.
• A small EV to use around town and a good Petrol car for longer trips.

There is no way I could rely just on an EV. I have had a few day trips where I drive 700km and am happy that my Octavia does trips like that with 200km left in the tank.

Exactly this - and given the time and cost to develop car it's likely Morgan already know what the first PHEV & EV variants will be, and how they'll adapt the CX platform for them.

I've long had a £iver on BMW's i3 powertrains reappearing in a Morgan - there's both a bike engined PHEV, and full electric. I doubt if Morgan sells enough cars to offer both though, as well as petrol. So you'd think there would be a period where ICE & EV are offered, and over time the ICE is sold in fewer markets.

The last i3 has a 120 Ah battery and 150+ mile range - and weighed 1350kgs. The electric Mini uses a development if the i3 powertrain*, which does have rapid CCS charging, and gives 140+ miles in a 1775kgs car - put that in a lighter Morgan, and you'd have a useable EV.

Will

* https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-reviews/mini/se-electric-ev/

Hmm..
Motor where the fuel tank sits at the back, battery under the bonnet?.....

I test drove a Mini e. It was fun.

There are other mounting pressures which will influence the rate of change from ICE, HSBC the world's largest bank this week has announced (along with many other banks) they will not finance any NEW oil field exploration.

Secondly, the hydrocarbon companies/energy companies are being hit by windfall taxes, therefore reducing their internal funding for new replacement/future non hydrocarbon income streams and for exploring new oil/gas fields. They have to demonstrate to investors that they will still have business model post fossil fuels.

Already some hydrocarbon companies are being pursued thru the Courts for their failure to demonstrate they will meet climate change commitments both at a corporate and individual operations in different countries.

So whilst we may still have oil and gas being produced in OPEC countries like the Middle East and Russia, increasingly they are reducing production to maintain oil prices and their economy revenue streams, which may push prices beyond the affordability of the man in the street and certainly 3rd world countries are already suffering hydrocarbon energy poverty which may make the ICE unaffordable..

With the UK just opening the first carbon neutral coal mine, these debate and the way forward still has a long way to go as to the eventual outcome. We will find the increasing spread of 'clean' air zones around towns and cities will also conspire to reduce the 'moral' acceptability and affordability of driving a polluting ICE. I don't particularly like the current alternatives to fossil fuels, but the choice maybe taken out of my hands either on the grounds of too many prohibited clean air zones/areas or simply affordability to justify the ICE.

I'm also sure that as the range of alternate powered cars start to expand their ranges to include soft tops and sports cars, their acceptability will change

Thanks for sharing your thinking John. I am but a simple chap with neither the capability or confidence to predict the future relative to all that is in progress at this moment in time but given the strength of my automotive interests as they have existed for many decades, all I might suggest for those of us who may be of a certain age, is to enjoy what we can while we can, and to any degree that seems ...err..reasonable. Judging that which might seem reasonable is the hard part..?

As for the future of Morgan...I suspect it is just a matter of evolutionary process that Morgans may have become almost accepted as disposable assets for some time now, which is quite different from the aspect of Morgans that attracted me to them in the first place as a child of the make do and mend generation who was ever very hands on relative to any mechanical interests.

It was the simplicity and potential longevity relative to pretty basic if not primitive technology that was built into a Trad Morgan which attracted me to the marque, all be it alongside their wonderful Vintage appearance, the history and heritage, all together a whole sports car package with potential content enough to enjoy, and for me to forgive a Morgan it`s occasional foibles. Truth be told my Morgan has proved it`s self to be almost foible free over the 20 years I have owned it and the almost 30 k miles in both cold and ice as well as the heat of what at the time was the hottest temps experienced in Italy in decades while touring there... My old Morgan has proved it`s self to be a very capable machine in all weathers..

I guess it might be a case of horses for courses and my horse suited me well whereas any Modern machine does not fit the ideals I held 20 years ago. Since vehicles became digitally controlled such can be my frustration with digital system design, programming, rate of change to the next ver 1.1 and well beyond in jig time, placing ever more complexity and thus expense on home repair/maintenance for the old man I have become, that I gave up even trying all but the simplest of tasks quite some time back on my good lady`s modern vehicle choices. Whereas I can still look after my old +8 to a reasonable degree..(-:

I remember reading sometime around Y2K of a lady in the US who would happily knock you up a Trad chassis if required, and here in the UK I suspect almost any part for a Trad might be found and fitted at home in one`s shed to restore or repair older Morgans.... I suspect shed repairing/rebuilding a CX might be a bit more complex, though I am equally sure there will be those more than capable, just many fewer of such folk who might be motivated to engage in such processes than may have existed the case in times past...?

I guess I grew up in a time when it was accepted that many machines broke down, leaked oil, and rusted away before your very eyes, though over the years it seems non UK manufacturers taught us it could all be so very different to the extent that vehicles can stay functional and looking smarter for much longer, to a stage where they might be scrapped while still looking smart, but worn to some degree where repairs are not thought to be worthwhile, given replacement possibilities..? All of which seems to be not only an evolution in technological advance but also our motoring desires and expectations, evolved from the easy money years..?

Me..? I am happy to have a mostly pre digital Morgan (other than it`s immobiliser) in the garage that I can look after to a reasonable degree. It sits along side it`s tin top contemporary which I have maintained by a stealership and also pay out circa £1k insurance annually to cover it for any possible manufacturers defects..! Such can be the multi thousand pound cost of engine or gearbox failure, which despite the general perception of the marque (non-Mog), it has been known for such unfortunate occurrences to crop up out of the blue for perhaps 3% of the marque/model..thus I would not wish to be without such insurance back up..

For sure everything evolves with the passage of time. It seems even selective Luddites have to learn to go with the flow....

Me too Will, I've had two versions of i3's and have said before would make a great powertrain for MMC given the BMW relationship, the range extender version stops EV anxiety and even at 1350kg goes like s**t off a greased shovel, plus the motors have torque vectoring built in for RWD

Not a fan of EV ... but in a world of speed cameras, top-end is already at hypothetical levels ... the acceleration that electric motors give however would make for an exciting package whilst retaining your licence. I'll be clinging to my dinosaur burner as long as I live or am allowed to by law ... I still fear that even obviously 'driven by reality' legislation won't please the quasi-religous fervour of the likes of the XR/JSO amorphous activist groups and we'll see current vandalism of petrol stations and SUV tyre slashing escalating into direct physical attacks on ICE cars and their drivers ... you can read in the swivel-eyed robotic rhetoric of their 'spokespersons' that such would be seen as perfectly appropriate action to take against 'planet-killers'.

K

Ps ...I could see the Super 3 as the first EV .... it's already broken the mould and aims at the right demographic to weather the change with little comment