Electric cars.

Well reviewing the article you provided I literally says "costs depends on where you charge". The easiest and most convenient way to charge is at home during night-time. Also giving you lots of cheap electricity since demand is low (yes even when a quarter of the population plugs in during night-time, the overall usage is still below average).

With a range of 300-600km the typical user will use the rapid charge technology only when traveling for long distances at a time. And be honest here - how often per year do you REALLY drive 500km without stopping? So charging for double the price on those rare occasions shouldn't matter at all.

It gets even cheaper if you own your own solar roof. What your normally get for selling your surplus electricity is only a fraction of what you need to pay to buy it. So why not use that power to charge your car. "But I'm at work during the day so I can't make use of those times" I hear you say. Well believe it or not, most people don't work from dawn till dusk, 7 days a week. And they normally don't have to travel 600+ kilometres in a single workweek so charging during the weekend and evening hours should be feasible.

Electric cars aren't for everyone. And no one wants to replace every car in your country within 10 years. But for more than half the population it would be a viable alternative.

 

@Fat Controller
Yes... One of the main issues in buying an EV is the steep price. But they are falling and falling and falling. To bridge that gab there are lots of government programs to ease that hurdle until they get more accessible.

But there's also a lot of hidden costs that make them cheaper compared to liquid dinosaurs. No gearbox, no oil that needs to be changed, no starter, no more exhaust system, no ignition. All in all, a LOT of moving parts are missing in there that normally need to be replaced.

And with battery producers now giving guaranteed 100.000 miles warranty the operating costs are cheap. Hell, even insurance companies offer special low-cost coverages because electric drivers tend to drive a lot safer and slower to conserve battery (in addition to those cars being jam packed with security assistants)

Edit:
With more electric cars on the road, do you think the number of gas stations will stay the same? Gas is becoming more and more expensive every day even without EVs

 

Oh I did understand you correctly. And of course the government will find a way to tax electricity once the demand rises.

That's why I think producing your own electricity is one of the cheapest ways to fuel your EV.

And yes, mercedes takes an arm and a leg once you bring your car in for repairs. But so do a lot of premium manufacturers.

"Mandated"? Really? I think it's advised at the moment but you can still buy a combustion car, can you not? And even with a set date (2035?) They won't scrap all the other ones. I think it's more like the chance from conventional lightbulbs to LED. Everyone protests at the beginning but when the time comes the new product is so sophisticated, no one even WANTS to buy the old stuff, except a few old people because the new ones just work better

 

On the subject of light bulbs, now you mention it.

We were all pretty much forced into buying these expensive dim ones at first.

Only for them to be superseded by led ones.
That was a big ripoff.

 

I wouldn't mind betting that the hybrid car goes the same way.
Expensive and obsolete.

 

@pete
I'm with you on hybrid cars. They are an expensive step in between. Useful in the cities, as they balance out the negatives of pure EVs and combustibles. But sadly lots of companies just use them for greenwashing and to get tax deductibles. Company cars are usually sold after a few years for the charging cable still in the original wrappings. So yeah, hard pass in this regard.

Wow, I didn't know electricity was that cheap over there.... We pay at least double (0.30 € per kWh) and 1.50+ € per litre of gas. When selling electricity it goes for as little as 0.08€ (but you can generously buy it back for 0.24€ later on). The golden days are over in that regard, but thankfully the prices for solar panels came crashing down, so there is still profit to be made if you use the electricity yourselves.

Shame with those light bulbs, but we actually skipped directly from the old bulbs to LEDs. Sure there are spots that still run the old ones (like dark corners in the attic) but they only run a few hours per year.

 

Predicted fall in electric costs?

When is that going to happen?

 

@Black Dog are you saying there is not tax on electricity over there? Wow!! We get charged an environmental tax on top of the cost of electricity and delivery charges, then we get charged 13% Harmonized sales taxes, (both federal and provincial), on that total. So a tax on a tax. Same thing happens with our natural gas for heating our homes. Fuel charge, delivery charge, carbon tax and then HST on that.

Our electricity, at the lowest rate during the night and weekends is $1.20 kwh or about 70 of your pence. Plus taxes. If we use the electricity during the day, it is about 25% more. Stupid smart meters!

 

That sounds.... Expensive. In the EU it is customary to always include taxes in the price. So paying 0.30-0.35€ per kWh also includes all kinds of taxes and other costs. Curiously lots of (mostly older people - sorry) tend to stick with the company they always have been with, although they are the most expensive at that. Often enough there are cheaper and better suited options but the thought "if I change something, I might end up worse than before" is strong. My mother was the same paying an aweful lot for sub-par phone&internet connection because "they might cut us off otherwise"

But in my experience, lots of those costs are balanced somehow. You might pay a lot for electricity, but no taxes on the house themselves. In Austria you pay for using the highways, but less car taxes. Some countries have dirt cheap gas, but food is a lot more expensive. Unless you put them into perspective and really write down what you actually pay for something from start to finish (total cost of ownership) most people vastly over- or underestimate the total cost of ownership.
Suddenly cars are cheap because you only have to fill the tank once per month but disregarding all other costs coming with it. They see how much rent they are saving by having their own home, but don't take into account how much supporting and heating it costs. They use a high end BBQ grill because "quality" but fire them up only twice per year resulting in really expensive meals.

The list goes on and I start rambling. But that's why it is hard to introduce new things and theories. People have "gut feelings" and trust them all to often. And it's easier to say "It's not for me" than to actually think about it and make a decision based on facts.

 

Well, to be honest I wasn't thinking about you personally @shiney

But with horror I remember the times we tried to convince our grandfather that cordless phones are not the devil's work. Or the time we children begged our parents to change the Internet provider as this would result not only in faster, but also a lot cheaper service.

And as my wives family TV died at her home, everyone was cheering to finally get a new, flat one with all the features they dreamt of, only for him to find the exact same 80s model on some flea market because "the old one worked so well"

If more people, young and old, thought like you do, all the expensive companies (most of them "traditional") would have died a long time ago.