Electric vehicles

[Spectric]

In other BEV news we'll hear what future the Vauxhall plants at Ellesmere Port and Luton have

Probably go the same way as Fords and production ends up elsewhere including any R&D.

 

[Jameshow]

In other BEV news we'll hear what future the Vauxhall plants at Ellesmere Port and Luton have, or haven't, in the next few weeks as Stellantis consider if the UK's ZEV mandate is realistic.

That will be a really stupid Labour gov then, making us close our plants before the EU EV switch over deadline!

 

[Noel]

That will be a really stupid Labour gov then, making us close our plants before the EU EV switch over deadline!

It was a Tory move towards end of last year some time and now seemingly continued by Labour. I don't recall all the figures but I think for this year manufacturers have to SELL 22% of their stock as BEVs. Next year it goes to 28% and so forth to 100% in 2035.
SELL is the operative word rather than manufacture or produce. Of course the problem is if the market isn't buying the applicable amount of product why would the manufacturers make product that won't sell? The other issue is that there is a fine (£15 grand I think) per BEV car that is not sold so it'll be a case of losing cost and profit as well as a fine. I think manufacturers can swap and borrow their ZEV vouchers amongst one and other but still not an answer to basically throwing money, twice, in the ditch. Makes little sense to me.
Other markets have similar mandates but most have adjusted them, to include Hybrid etc and many have financial subsidies to tempt buyers.

 

[Vulcan]

This is a very interesting video if you have time to watch it.

 

[Ozi]

well the weather is a little warmer round here and I've always got my heated steering wheel if I'm driving


The figures published have actually been achieved in a testing lab. It's not real world I agree but is accurate for comparison between models.


BUT it consumes more fuel when first started than if it wa sleft running dependent on the time it's left running. If you stop for 2 seconds and the engine is shut down I feel it's highly likely more fuel would be used compared to leaving the engine running. It depends really on how long the stop is.


As stated above, it depends on the length of time it's stopped. If for example it's bumper to bumper traffic, move forward a couple a metres then stop for a couple of seconds (the engine stops) then move forward another couple of metres etc Im sure that would use more fuel than leaving the engine idling. If youre stopped for 50 seconds for traffic lights then the jury is out if that would save fuel, my guess is it wont, it may reduce emissions a little.


How about you getting your head around that?

There has been a lot of testing done on the benefit of cutting the engine, it varies vehicle to vehicle but the break even point is generally around 12 to 15 seconds, driving style makes a lot of difference but generally don't move up if it's less than a car length. to state the very obvious some of the best things you can do to improve economy are, keep your tire pressures correct, keep air filters clean and don't carry unnecessary weight around.

 

[Noel]

I honestly don't know the difference but why is this any different from France for example investing in their car industry https://www.ft.com/content/8e84e13b-d02f-4d90-839d-f99c3a0c1d95? Why is that not unfair?

For a start it's China we're talking about..... : )

UK and European governments do throw money, a lot of it, to the local manufactures but it tends to be on a one off basis, such as the example you linked to.
Thatcher gave funds to Nissan to set up production in Sunderland whilst some years later Toyota set up shop with a nice golden gov hello.
I think Nissan got more help if they located further production in the UK last year. You'll find similar situations across Europe and the Americas.
With China it's a different ball game altogether. Something over 300bn, at least, has been given to the Chinese motor industry by Beijing in recent years. Some estimates put the figure much higher. On top of that various long term tax exemptions, subsidies given to suppliers, long term free rental of property and gifts of land and property. Think of the old nationalised BL but run properly on a solid financial footing and considerably better product. China will not stop spending in their quest to overtake the US as the world's richest and biggest economy. .

 

[Dabop]

Thats because most of them started under compression (although not all did- we had a Lister 'single banger' diesel that was hand started- you hit the 'decompress' lever, spun it up to speed easily, then flipped the level back over and it fired every time- even a kid could do it...

I've been looking at pure EV, but BYD have just announced the Shark is coming here within a few months in its hybrid form (so best of both worlds in a way- although I'd still prefer a pure EV) but its a true 4wd rather than the ATTO 3 I was considering earlier- it has double the towing capacity (2.4 tonnes against 1.2 tonnes) and has a real world driving range of 60-80km on the batteries alone (so thats 99% of my driving covered purely from my offgrid solar panels)
Grrr- getting spoilt for choice now... a true 4x4 hybrid ute (shame it only comes in a crewcab instead of a single cab like I'd prefer), or the pure EV 'SUV'...
(plus its actually $10k Au cheaper than the Hilux that was my other 'ICE' choice... they are saying it will be around $64kAu, the Atto about $54k, or the Hilux diesel is $73k...)

ARGHH!!!!! what to do... what to do...

 

[Vulcan]

Seen on social media. It’s a fair comment in my view. Manufacturers like Audi, BMW and Mercedes only seem to make small cars to entice buyers to the brand, and they are hardly cheap. I’m sure they could have made something much more economical but I suppose it would have spoilt their brand image? When a BEV can do 1000 miles, chargers are in virtually every car park and cost much less than an ICE cars, what will be the next made up excuse?