K I completely agree with you. It's probably my bad English again. I wanted to present exactly your argument. Politicians must finally realize that it takes time to be able to produce affordable EV cars for everyone. Not even a rich country like Germany can afford to achieve this through subsidies, and depriving a large part of the population of mobility creates major social tensions. But the time will come and EVs will be the cheaper option.
Deprive them of mobility or of a planet?
Of course its not as simple as that as we all know. But the level of moaning about this change is frustrating. There are times in life when hard decisions have to be taken and this is one. A car isnt a human right and indeed when I was a youth, most families didnt have a car. They walked to work, or took the bus, or used a bike. The doctor had a Rover. The shopkeeper a small van. The "businessman" maybe a Jag. My three uncles all had motorbikes and sidecars.
Your English is excellent and a damn site better than my German !
P.S. To add one constructive comment, current vehicles are wildly bigger than necessary - just look at the size of an Audi SUV! Maybe if we went back to cars the size of the original Mini and with a corresponding weight reduction, they would be way cheaper to build.
Howard, there is no question that we need to take better care of the planet. The question that arises is how we should go about it. In countries like England, which is responsible for global CO2 emissions of 1% (Germany 1.8%), how can we explain to people that they should give up their mobility? The last thing people accept is regression. Acceptance is only achieved by the masses when the costs are the same or lower. This is my experience when I talk to people from different income groups. Of course, nobody has to agree with me.
K I completely agree with you. It's probably my bad English again. I wanted to present exactly your argument. Politicians must finally realize that it takes time to be able to produce affordable EV cars for everyone. Not even a rich country like Germany can afford to achieve this through subsidies, and depriving a large part of the population of mobility creates major social tensions. But the time will come and EVs will be the cheaper option.
Originally Posted by Image
CLPlusFour .... your English is just fine! 🙂 ... my only addition to your post was to note that, in the case of the original introduction of the car, the previous, and wholly functional, transport system was left in place until the new one grew naturally to supplant it .... whereas today political zealotry seeks to destroy the working system our whole society depends on before the new one is anywhere near able to replace it for huge swathes of society.
K
It seems there may have been little time pressure to convince populations to contemplate the possibility of accepting the advantages of the combustion engine over horse power to then end up where we find ourselves today..?
On the assumption that global warming may be a reality, combined with how many in the population of the planet might believe it to be so, then perhaps time would seem to be the critical factor agreed upon in terms of guiding the population towards a better outcome for the planet...?
Whether EV might be part of the solution towards improving life on the planet in general or not, I have no idea, and unfortunately given the nature of human beings it seems neither politicians nor scientists can seem to fully agree, thus once again it seems to come down to whoever might have the most power...and as ever their will be a mix of fundamentalists types on opposite sides creating argument, through to those who might be more inclined to discuss before arriving at that which they might hope may be a reasonable way forward...?.
As an old petrol head with Luddite tendencies, and being the custodian of both a 3.5 litre, and 3.8litre internal combustion engined vehicles in company with an EV... I suspect I may be thought to be keeping my options opened..?
What irks me is the filling up of cars with so much tech, "extras", convenience gadgets. Enhanced safety features are ok up to a point. There are a lot of potential distractions in a car that can encourage use, drawing your attention away from road awareness. These add cost, weight, complexity, increased chance of failure. OK, manufacturers tend to design in common parts with options for extras based on model version but there is scope for reducing things. Quite often to get a feature you want/need you go up a level (s) in model spec but then get all the rest too. It helps the production lines in flow of vehicles. My CX Morgan has significantly fewer such add-ons then our Kia but with low volume manufacture there is scope to enable it. Spare wheel, heated seats, aircon cover my extras list for year round driving. Are memory electric seat adjusters really needed? Electric windows? Multi zone aircon? Fill the car with tech but take away a spare wheel to save weight! Aluminium and plastic replacing steel for weight saving. Replaced weight by tech.
Before I bought a run flat for my Volvo, I had a puncture outside my house and did not want to use the squirty stuff which tends to ruin the tyre anyway. My friend opposite had bought a V90 a few weeks before I had mine. He had a run flat which he ordered before getting the car. When I went to borrow his Jack etc we discovered they had sold him the wheel, jack , the cover but no brace !! Customer service “No sir you did not order one”. Fat lot of good selling him a run flat and no way of changing the wheel .
I won’t buy a car without a spare wheel again, especially a Morgan that just looks right with one . 2 summers back we spent time on a Croatian Island with 65 inhabitants, no garage, a mile or so of dodgy road surface. Gave me some peace of mind. Best MM PS Last night had to get up at 1.30am to ensure a lost TFL Red Double Decker could turn round without smashing mine and others cars. Cars smashed (mine written off in the past) by lost lorries and following sat nav shortcuts, regularly unfortunately. PPS spare wheel should have come with the flocked floor pan alteration panel - sold it me but in the end Volvo hadn’t ever made one so no cover! Thankfully has a floor on top so just a little noisy
The first car I knew of without a spare wheel was as best I can remember a 1980 Renault Fuago, and I am pretty sure the MMC got round to thinking that a spare wheel was no longer a requirement in vehicle design when it seems even Morganeers carry mobile phones and rely on breakdown services, as opposed to getting their hands dirty...? Call it evolution if you will.
I too get frustrated with all the extraneous gizmology in vehicles, which just seems to add to the cost of maintenance and as has been stated can reduce reliability and cause distraction..... However, being a selective Luddite, I often make use of my phone prior to leaving the house on frosty mornings to ask my Tesla to warm the cars interior up to my preferred temp setting and defrost the windscreen , and when reversing into a parking space it is handy that it displays any lines if present, as well as the adjacent vehicles and my distance from them on the screen, providing both a visual and audible warning if I get too close, and that if I am indicating to turn left at traffic lights, if the filter lane arrow comes on and I don`t notice it... once again I get an on screen depiction of the traffic lights and an audible bong to warn me to pay more attention.... and, and, and... Oh well, as I have previously typed the Tesla and perhaps at least some of it`s software well suits the old man I have become... (-:
K I completely agree with you. It's probably my bad English again. I wanted to present exactly your argument. Politicians must finally realize that it takes time to be able to produce affordable EV cars for everyone. Not even a rich country like Germany can afford to achieve this through subsidies, and depriving a large part of the population of mobility creates major social tensions. But the time will come and EVs will be the cheaper option.
Originally Posted by Image
CLPlusFour .... your English is just fine! 🙂 ... my only addition to your post was to note that, in the case of the original introduction of the car, the previous, and wholly functional, transport system was left in place until the new one grew naturally to supplant it .... whereas today political zealotry seeks to destroy the working system our whole society depends on before the new one is anywhere near able to replace it for huge swathes of society.
K
It seems there may have been little time pressure to convince populations to contemplate the possibility of accepting the advantages of the combustion engine over horse power to then end up where we find ourselves today..?
On the assumption that global warming may be a reality, combined with how many in the population of the planet might believe it to be so, then perhaps time would seem to be the critical factor agreed upon in terms of guiding the population towards a better outcome for the planet...?
Whether EV might be part of the solution towards improving life on the planet in general or not, I have no idea, and unfortunately given the nature of human beings it seems neither politicians nor scientists can seem to fully agree, thus once again it seems to come down to whoever might have the most power...and as ever their will be a mix of fundamentalists types on opposite sides creating argument, through to those who might be more inclined to discuss before arriving at that which they might hope may be a reasonable way forward...?.
As an old petrol head with Luddite tendencies, and being the custodian of both a 3.5 litre, and 3.8litre internal combustion engined vehicles in company with an EV... I suspect I may be thought to be keeping my options opened..?
Luddite you're right, we should show more speed when it comes to climate change. But it's mainly the USA and China that need to reduce CO2 emissions. But I don't see the new US president and the Chinese as the drivers of this process. Unfortunately, it is also a human trait that it has to really hurt before anything changes and sometimes it is then too late.
You know it makes sense! 
