Electric cars.

Lithium is a relatively abundant element on Earth, but its availability in economically extractable concentrations varies. The majority of lithium resources are found in brine deposits in salt flats, particularly in South America, as well as in hard rock deposits in countries such as Australia, Canada, and China.

Estimates of total lithium reserves on Earth vary, but they are generally believed to be around 17-20 million metric tons. However, it's important to note that lithium is not consumed like fossil fuels, but rather it is extracted and used in various applications, including batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage, ceramics, glass, and pharmaceuticals.

As demand for lithium continues to grow due to its increasing use in batteries for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage, concerns have been raised about the long-term availability of lithium. The rate of lithium production would need to increase significantly to meet the projected demand in the coming decades. However, it's worth noting that lithium is a recyclable material and efforts to recycle lithium from used batteries are increasing, which could help to extend its availability.

As for potential alternatives to lithium, researchers and companies are actively exploring and developing alternative battery technologies that do not rely on lithium, such as solid-state batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and magnesium-ion batteries. These technologies have the potential to offer comparable or even better performance than lithium-ion batteries, while potentially using more abundant and less expensive materials. However, these alternative technologies are still in the early stages of development and are not yet widely commercialized. Additionally, research into lithium extraction from unconventional sources, such as seawater or geothermal brines, is also ongoing.

 

Just seen a bit on the news, this bloke was charging his van overnight from a lampost charger, he said it was costing 66p a Kwh but if he had a driveway he could probably only pay 7p a Kwh.
Then they showed a bit where a company puts a channel across the pavement from your house and you can lay the cable in it, wonder what happens when somebody else parks outside your house?

Most areas of older housing around here is pretty much a free for all to get street parking, even though I have a driveway, and all the houses around here do, I often have people parking overnight outside my house.

 

But EVs need a massive infrastructure, not one you can build in 10 or 20yrs.
How long did it take to get ICE infrastructure to where it is now.

I still get the impression that it is to force the peasants off the roads.

 

I foresee the government making life very difficult for those that still own ICE cars in the next 10 to 15 yrs, they are doing it already for those that have high emissions, and have been for some time.
They will put the squeeze on, but EV owners will not be getting away with it either, because the government is going to have to get all that tax from somewhere and as they drive ICE vehicles off the roads, the burden will fall on EV owners who at the moment think everything is wonderful.

 

I'm kind of pointing out that even home charging is pretty unrealistic for a lot of people, and TBH that is where most people are likely to be charging.

 

What they (and we) have to remember is that motorists are voters and if a party comes along that says ICE vehicles are here to stay that is a huge pool of voters that will get behind them. You can see how the current government reacted to their bacon being saved by London's ULEZ. Now the current Tory party is not as green as it was before the by-election result.

 

I dont think I would trust any prospective government in anything they say in their manifesto.
They just say what they think we want to hear, once they get the job they do as they like.

 

They will ramp up road tax year upon year, they will bring in more and more no emissions areas, so basically no go areas for non EVs, unless of course you are prepared to pay them money, then you can pollute if you want to.
They will ramp up fuel duty.
They will use every trick in the book and a few more yet to be invented to stop the use of ICE vehicles , and it doesn't matter who is in power, they will just want to get to the mythical carbon neutral.

 

Which confirms the sales of BEV to the private sector are well below what we are lead to believe.
If it was not for all the perks for the business and fleet sector, the uptake in BEV's would be considerably lower than the current 16.1% market share.

From 2024 the trajectory for new BEV registrations comes into force with 22% of new car registrations having to be fully electric. The price for second hand BEV will inevitably continue to fall but if the private sector is already reluctant to purchase a BEV, will the big second hand car dealers be as keen to stock ex fleet and business BEV's in the future.

Industry calls for urgent support as electric car uptake slows | Autocar

 

I'm going for one of these......................
BURRELL 8 NHP Showmans Road Locomotive - PRESTON SERVICES
or one of these........................................
Gallery (suffolkhorsesociety.org.uk)

 

Hi,

winter 1947 photos - Recherche Google

Blame this on petrol/diesel vehicles?

Kind regards, Colin.