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New Diesel and Petrol Vehicles To Be Banned From 2040 In UK (bbc.com)
New submitter puenktli writes: The UK is joining the list of the countries which are making a commitment towards diesel and petrol free vehicles. Other countries might be more progressive with such a ban (e.g. the Netherlands: by 2025), but at least it's a step in the right direction. However, if new bans are put forward at such a high rate as now, in 2040, the UK might be the only western country where petrol-fuelled cars are still on the road. Tesla at least will be happy about this ban, especially now with their Model 3. But these bans will inspire other car makers as well to invest more in EV. Maybe not such a bad idea after all: oil will run out one day, but the sun will always shine.
oil will run out one day, but the sun will always shine
Maybe another 4 billion years but hardly always.
> if new bans are put forward at such a high rate as now, in 2040, the UK might be the only western country where petrol-fuelled cars are still on the road.
they are not banning all petrol fueled cars from being on the road, they are banning the sales of new cars. I drive vehicles over 30 years old (and am looking to move to a different one that's even older)
We'll see what happens to their economies when these bans are ready to take place, I will bet that they end up backing off rather than crippling themselves (or people will end up using a lot more used cars and trucks until they vote the bums out)
2040 is far enough off that the current politicians can make all the promises they want and not suffer any repercussions from failing to meet that goal nor any backlash from folks who object.
2040 is also far enough off that we might reasonably make the transition from fossil fuels by then as that is a long time in technological terms.
On the other hand, I have 1968, 1986, 1996 and 2004 delivery vans and there is not a whole lot of difference between them. They all get about the same gas mileage. In fact, they get about the same mileage full or empty. The biggest thing you can do when driving a larger vehicle is make sure you're always carrying at capacity for this reason. It's called backhauling. When we make deliveries we also pickup up spent barley and such for our pastured pig farm to optimize our time and vehicle usage. That makes more difference than doubling the gas mileage.
In Vermont, where we're located, they aren't quite as optimistic as the UK politicians so they set the deadline for this sort of thing to be 2050 to give another decade of slack.
Lithium is the 25th most abundant element in the Earth's crust. Running out of it is roughly as big a concern as running out of iron or aluminum.
The "fuel" price difference between an EV and ICE is almost entirely due to the price difference between coal and gasoline.
No. The main difference is due to the 4 - 5 times higher efficiency of an electic car.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Most people settle into the same state where they were born. Your idea of "real" is unrealistic. You should try getting out more to understand that there is a whole world around you, filled with people with different needs than yours.
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2008/12/17/who-moves-who-stays-put-wheres-home/
Among all respondents to the Pew Research Center survey, 57% say they have not lived in the U.S. outside their current state: 37% have never left their hometown and 20% have left their hometown (or native country) but not lived outside their current state.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba