There are currently too many problems with fully electric cars and I don't see the problem being resolved any time soon. The stress of going on a touring holiday around the country not knowing if you'll be able to charge your car for the next leg of your journey makes for not a very relaxing time. When I used to drive up to Glasgow, I could get there on one tank of fuel. If I had an electric car I'd have to stop somewhere, maybe several places before I can find a working charger that has not got a queue to use it. What about people who live in flats? What about people with no garage or driveway? How is this going to be resolved in the not too distant future? Hydrogen cell cars seem the better option.

The programme on BBC1 last night at 8pm was very interesting.

If the "green" crowd would actually open their eyes, they would see that electric cars are far from zero emissions. I'm sure I'll be attacked here the same way I am elsewhere for that statement. That's fine.

I agree with you. I also agree that we need to do something, but like so many other things, the powers that be continue to make wrong decisions.

I drive a hybrid car and below is why, taken from The Top Car magazine.

"What are the benefits of a hybrid car?

Driving a hybrid is similar to driving a conventional automatic car; you needn't worry about changing gear.

Most strong hybrids will have a choice of power modes, too, ranging from eco to power, enabling the driver to choose maximum efficiency or performance depending on the driving conditions.

Unlike pure electric cars, you'll have no concerns about running out of battery range because the combustion engine is always there when you need it. And, with a parallel hybrid, you don't need access to a charging point because it can charge its own batteries as you drive. You will need a handy charging point, though, if you want to make the best use of a plug-in hybrid's fully electric mode.

Although the tax benefits of hybrid ownership aren’t as great as they used to be, company car drivers still pay less benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax than drivers of petrol or diesel cars, and cars emitting less than 75g/km may be exempt from regional clean air zone or low emission zone charges."
Some hybrids use a combination of electricity and fossil fuel to improve performance, but most use their electric power to increase efficiency. Hybrids can save fuel by using solely electric power at low speeds around town, and they can also use electric motors to aid the internal combustion engine under harder acceleration. Both reduce the amount of fossil fuel used.

Hybrid cars can retrieve energy too. When braking, hybrid cars can recooperate kinetic energy, and return it to the battery as electricity. This energy is usually lost in conventional ICE-powered cars, and it’s another way hybrid cars can save energy and money. Take the Toyota Corolla for instance; featuring a mpg figure of 62.8, it’s one of the thriftiest cars you can buy.

Regenerative braking (described above) relies on resistance from the powertrain in combination with traditional braking systems. As a result, the braking systems on hybrid cars tend to be under less demand, and therefore consume brake pads at a slower rate than their ICE counterparts. Add that to the fuel savings, and hybrid cars can be considerably cheaper to maintain in the long run.

Hybrid cars may use a petrol or diesel engine, but they’re still much cleaner to run than a purely fossil fuel-powered car. For example, the hugely popular BMW 330e can achieve up to 138mpg, with 39g/km CO2. Compare that to the standard car, which can achieve 51.4mpg and 127-145g/km of CO2 in diesel form

Electric cars may come with several benefits, but they suffer from a reduced range compared to their fossil-fuel counterparts. And when things do run out, they’re harder to recharge on the go than a conventional car. In contrast, hybrid cars use electricity exclusively, but can easily switch to petrol or diesel power if the battery is empty. This provides increased peace of mind, especially in areas with a patchy charging network.

The presence of an ICE also means that hybrid cars – and particularly self-charging cars – can provide a very similar owning experience to conventionally powered cars.

I think one of the biggest problems with electric cars is the fact that they are being f orced on us. California, for example, recently passed legislation that will make it illegal for gas powered cars to be sold there after the year 2035. That is only a little over 11 years away!!

And now with the current heat wave, they are asking owners of electric cars to refrain from charging them during certain hours in order to avoid blackouts!!

Not only is the affordability nowhere near ready for the majority of people to accept it, but our infrastructure isn't ready for the extra burden on it.

Over here, it seems that one of the many problems is that the Roads and Car Parks will not cope.
These Cars/Vans are far more heavy.
From half as much again to twice the weight.
We have enough road Pot Holes already and many multi-story Car Parks are said to not be able to support them when full.

Meh, am not totally sold on vehicles that are totally electric. There is this thing called range anxiety, because infrastructure is not yet in place for travelers, to accommodate all the EVs that need constant charging. My daily driver is still an old, powerful, naturally aspirated V6. Lots of fun, with modern features as well like a touch screen and USB port. They just don't make cars like this anymore, might as well enjoy.

100% electric vehicles can catch fire just because, but it is said that hybrids are more fire-prone that EVs and combustion-engined vehicles combined. Ah well. But hey what have you, flying cars are now just about ready to go. The Jetsons era is upon us.

The push for EV is about limiting mobility and by default, liberty. Controlling mobility = same as violating the Right to Aseembly. EV's no more address the alleged climate change than eating raw vegetables does.

While there is nothing wrong with and really as a global society ending fossil fuel use should end but not like we are seeing in 2023. Let the market do it and get government out of it.

Even if you can charge the god dammed things,
How long does it take ?
And if on a " fast charge ",
How long do the batteries last ?

Or how bout the bigger question.

What becomes of the batteries when they are no longer usable?

One can only wonder....

Could they be reprocessed ?
Could they be put into huge climate polluting Rockets and dumped in Space ?
Or how about sending them to The Moon ?
Perhaps dump them at the bottom of The Sea, to increase The Worlds Gravity.....

They go to the same place that used windmill blades do. Buried in the ground would be my guess.

Man was I wrong!! I'm happy to learn this!!

https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a44022888/electric-car-battery-recycling/

Potholes are created by road freight vehicles, regardless of the weight of an electric car or van they will not contribute significantly to the potholes. In NZ we had a fixed weight for trucks which meant our roads were only so thick. This weight limit was removed; however, the thickness of the roads were not done. Also potholes are created by poor workmanship. After our earthquake many roads were repaired including completely rebuilt, potholes quickly occurred.
The distance an electric car will travel requires a dedicated contribution and policy from Government. The problem with that is it has become a political issue of the right vs the left, rather than one of saving the planet.
The current government here is building charging stations across the country , there is an election coming up and the opposition has stated they will stop that.
Many companies including freight are buying into electric vehicles and it’s actually quite simple the free market will also improve the number of charging stations as supply and demand factors occur.

First of all. The biggest creator of potholes is what's call "The freeze/thaw cycle" which occurs mostly during early winter and mid to late spring. Water seeps into small cracks in the asphalt and lays underneath. When the temperature drops below freezing, that water freezes and expands, causing what is called asphalt heaving. When it thaws, it leaves an empty space where the ice once was. When traffic drives over it, it pushes the asphalt back down which sometimes causes it to crack and break apart, resulting in a pothole.
Where I work, we use a machine that heats up a product that we pump into the cracks to prevent water from entering. It works pretty well but it is tedious work.

In respect to charging stations. Building enough of them to serve an entire nation full of EV's is one thing. Generating enough electricity to power them is another.

Mining all the minerals to build these "planet saving" EV's is an unimaginable challenge.
Have you ever seen a Lithium mine? How about a cobalt mine?

It isn't pretty and they definitely don't use electric digging machines and trucks. They need to move approximately 500 tons of earth in order to mine enough material to manufacture one EV, including the battery. I bet you didn't know that those machines they use to do the mining use over 100 gallons each of diesel fuel every day, 7 days a week. Not to mention the devastation that has been done to the landscape and the wildlife that has been displaces or destroyed.

EVs are a great idea, for 2050 or 2060 perhaps. Right now the tendencies for governments to force the issue (by new-EV only mandates) are horseshit, really.

Infrastructure problems are massive. Where do you get all the extra power? Windmills and solar panels just won't cut it. Then you have the issue of plug-in chargers. Do people really think every apartment house in America is going to wire up all of their parking spots with chargers, costing them maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars for installing that sort of infrastructure at every apartment complex? LOL. And that's not counting the extra rent costs to cover the cost for the landlords installing that 'improvement'.

Then you have the issue of the electric version of the gas station. Right now the quickest charging for an EV is maybe 15 minutes? But you can fill your gas tank in less than five.

What happens at a charging 'gas station' during rush hour, when there are ten or fifteen cars needing re-charging within 10 minutes or so? Last time I went to the gas station there were maybe 8-9 cars that filled up their tanks within 5-6 minutes max. If we were all EVs we would have blocked the station's aisles for half an hour or more. It would have looked like a 1973 or 1979 gas line.

A lot of individual gas stations today run on thin profit margins. Imagine their profit margins when they go all EV, and they're going to want to recoup their costs. They're going to pass the cost of each and every electrical charge onto the consumer, including any costs of charging station installation. And governments will want to add their taxes, too.

The lithium and cobalt mining issues of course are obvious. Proponents keep saying "the tech is progressing so rapidly! Be patient!" OK, let's wait until the tech is there, then force that shit on us.

That said, I think that if people want EVs, great. The market is improving, and the cars are arguably better than they were 20 years ago. But they are no panacea. There are no panaceas. Hopefully, the tech does improve. EVs are a great idea -- it's just that their time has not yet come.

Agree with TopCat here on the hybrid concept. Best of both worlds, really.

EV's, wind farms, solar panels, it is all a scam called Green Energy.

Solar Paneling should be done with every building but why is it such a big deal?

Wind Farms sound great but are a horror to the landscape, ban them.

EV's do more damage to the planet than any fossil fuel vehicle.

The doomsday predictions are designed to scare humanity into submission to the rules of the Green Energy game.

Fossil Fuel sources should end but with market forces, ingenuity, and breakthroughs that work with none of it controlled by the government.

Finally, what if the Earth and Nature have had enough and doomsday is coming? What then? Seriously? Can a government program stop it???????

There is no "what if" in respect to the Earth's cycle. It's gonna happen just as it has several times in the past and there isn't a damn thing we can do to stop it.

Nor do I think we should try!!

And another ;

Seems that as the cars are more heavy than before because of the batteries underneath,
they have to be closer to the ground so that the tire walls don't cave in.
This means that they can scrape their bottoms (where the batteries are) when going over humps or potholes on the roads.

Oh Raven, for god's sake, do you read what you have written and then think about it? Electric cars are no closer to the ground than petrol or diesel cars, the car makers are quite capable of designing the car to take into consideration the weight of the batteries, you do spout some utter nonsense some times

For me, when I buy a new car, hybrid is the only thing that makes sense at the moment.

Some cars, including gas/diesel powered cars are lowered to improve aerodynamics. I don't think it has anything to do with the tires tho.

Not by me you won't. I agree. And I agree because it's a fact no matter how much proponents try to spin it.

If you would type your concerns into a search engine you would get many articles refuting most of the information posted here. Don't like them, don't buy them! Meanwhile, I and THOUSANDS of others will drive by gas stations on our way to work. It's been two years for us, with no trips to a gas station. I wake up in the morning and my car is fully charged, ready to go.

Yes but how is the manufacturing process of EV's reducing carbon?

Also, were does that electricity originate for that charging station?

Well then. Do tell!! What information being posted here is inaccurate?

ICE cars are more prone to catch fire than electric, much more frequently, and that's a per 100,000 vehicles number, not a total number.

Yes they "make more CO2" during manufacture, but lifetime emissions are far less than ICE vehicles. This includes birth to grave emissions.

What are the emissions from the charging process? How do these EV's get their electricity?

Yeah!! And they still use rubber tires which are petroleum based. They use oil based lubrication on the drive train. The process of building replacement batteries emits C02 gas too.