Electric cars.

It didn't do too badly at first here in the UK. Quite cheap, no licence needed, no road tax and no insurance because it came under the pedal cycle regulations as it weighed less than (I think) 130lb and the battery was less than 250w. I seem to remember that they sold about 10,000 in the first six months. The first Tesla sold about 150 in its first year and if it ran out of charge you couldn't move it by pedal power

 

There is no way they sold that many C5s! It was a pile of cack from start to finish, it tried to satisfy multiple markets and missed in every respect
It's done nicely in niche reselling though, for those quirky enthusiasts

 

Just checked. They made 14,000 but only sold 5,000 in the first year. Don't know how many of the other 9,000 were sold later to the enthusiasts.

I remember seeing a lot of them around the West End 40 years ago.

 

Electric cars and steam cars were used in the USA at the turn of the last century. I think electric cars were quite popular to begin with.

 

Don't forget the electric milk carts used by the Express Dairy Company. Those go back to the 30's I think and could move reasonably fast.

Not to mention Ernie!

 

Coincidentally, we signed up to a new milk round yesterday - not specifically for milk to be fair as they also do meat, veg, eggs etc and you order on their app the night before delivery day for next morning delivery... and prices aren't massively more than supermarkets, somewhat surprisingly. Anyway, I digress...

There have been loads of attempts at electric vehicles over the decades, without much success - mostly because they were restricted by the battery technology (usually lead-acid, so heavy, relatively low capacity for the size); the game-changer has no doubt been the advent of lithium based battery technologies, as they have increased the capacity for the size, and indeed current availability (or grunt, for want of a better way of putting it), plus they are capable of charging much faster.

There is no doubt that under the right circumstances a modern EV can be an ideal vehicle for many, many people. But, there are unanswered questions about safety - namely how they should be handled in the event of accident or fire (this one is always deflected by the 'they catch fire less than ICE vehicles' rhetoric) and the sheer cost/inconvenience that they can bring to some people's lives.

Mrs C has been travelling by taxi this past week, arranged through her work, as she is working in a different location for a couple of weeks. Night before last, she came home in a car that she was so impressed with, she tried to take a sneaky photo of the inside... "lovely squishy seats and really smooth ride" were some of the things she said. The photo was pretty rubbish, but I did some sleuthing and managed to deduce that she had been in a Mercedes EQC (she doesn't like Mercedes) which is an EV (she doesn't like the idea of EV's) - a quick glance at one during my search showed that prices of them have now reached the equivalent of the Volvo I currently have and that (if I were to charge at home on an overnight tariff) I'd be able to run it for roughly a tenth of the cost in fuel - with a half decent range, it would cover at least 95% of our use too.

But - the downsides are still there... hugely expensive to charge away from home, very inconvenient to do so too (I usually go London to Edinburgh, or vice-versa, without stopping), then there is the cost of getting a charger installed (I understand circa £1k at least, assuming that the house wiring doesn't need any upgrade work) and the fact that I'd have to evict the old girl off the driveway onto the roadside as I only have a one-space driveway. I am one of the fortunate ones too - in as much as I do have that possibility. What would the folks in the flats at the top of our road do?

 

I'm not convinced hydrogen is it either - sure, it is safe enough if it escapes to atmosphere... as long as that escape is not ignited before it dilutes of course... but, it requires a hell of a lot to handle it safely and presents even bigger risks than batteries if involved in a fire - and that is all before we get to production of the fuel itself.

 

I think EV's could well be part of the mix - but they are not going to be fully the end result.

 

Absolutely - I think the main difference is that hydrogen in particular is known to cause metal to go brittle and fracture, but has to be carried in metal pipework as anything else isn't gas tight... so whilst it works, there would need to be very regular checks of the fuel system - and not just 'Harry' at the MOT station whistling whilst he casts an eye over it either, it would need to be the equivalent of x-ray inspections to ensure safety. It has been tried in public transport more than once and as yet it has not been successful, at least not beyond experimental.

Having said that, EV is still not there fully either, although better than it was.