Electric cars.

Anyone from Edinburgh would wet themselves laughing at that suggestion. After having a brilliant tram system that they did away with in the 1950s Edinburgh decided to bring them back and what a fiasco that has been. The time it took, the disruption and the enormous spiralling costs gave us a tram that runs from the city centre to the airport. The trams run almost empty, possibly because the stops are so far apart you need to take a bus to get to the tram stop.
They have almost completed the second phase, which was supposed to be the first but was shelved because of cost. It has also caused massive disruption despite the fact that most of the groundwork (moving services and the like) was done for the first phase.
They are now talking about running a line right out by me to the southern edge of the city and the Royal Infirmary. I will never see it. If it is running in 25 years time it will be a miracle.
The enquiry into the fiasco of the original contract has started and that will probably cost as much as the original contract cost (£776M for 14 kilometres of track). Electric buses would be a far better option.

 

I think it's pretty clear it's to protect the car industry, and to protect the government ministers that would like to keep their jobs. The environment simply doesn't come into, other than as a way to appease those that care about the envelope but don't bother to look beyond the headlines.

 

I foresee this country turning into something like India or Cuba with people just hanging on to their old ICE motors until they fall to pieces.

Well if the government sticks to it stupid ideas that is.

 

There are people like me who already do that anyway. For me, a new car is a distressed purchase! There are a huge number of motorists who have to have a new car every couple of years and see a three-year-old car as a liability. In between are many like my brother and his wife who run decent cars (He has a 2014 BMW 320d xDrive M Sport Touring) but is now seriously thinking of going electric and is looking at three-year-old EVs (cashing in on the must have new brigade). And, as at present, our MOT system will soon thin out the herd.

 

Damn it, I was hoping to get a bargain off you in three years time.

 

In the last what 15 years there has been numerous scrappage schemes to encourage people to part exchange your old or not so old car for a more environmentally car. Was the 2009 scrappage scheme which some organisations even called criminal about the environment or because new car registrations in 2008 fell by over 11%.

They reckon there was thousands of cars just sitting in airfields, minis, triumphs etc etc because the value of scrap had nosed dived, they were not even being dismantled for spares which resulted in a petition being launched.

Petition · Save the classic cars from the scrappage scheme · Change.org

As the demand for sustainable renewables is only going to increase, companies like Renault and others see the EV as vital storage for V2G technology.

 

My test drive of an EV there was no queuing and it only cost a £1 to charge, I did not move an inch.

 

I just tried to get some petrol at morrisons, the queue is down the road for some reason.

 

What was the cost per litre?

I think the supermarkets through this cost of living crisis have been charging more for fuel than small independent garages. When I was out looking at these green waste sites last week a garage in Catterick was cheaper by 5-7p per litre compared to the supermarkets in larger towns.
It was on the news a couple of weeks ago that a garage in Wales is the cheapest in the UK at 129.9 per litre for both unleaded and diesel. I also know that some garages in N'Ireland they are selling diesel cheaper than unleaded. I reckon fuel in the other home nations has been coming down quicker than we have witnessed in England.

 

I saw an advert for Morrisons petrol being 5p per litre off or something. Everyone will be queuing to save a quid or two. I'd just go to a different petrol station on the basis that it's worth an extra couple of quid to avoid sitting in a queue for ages when I could be enjoying my day.