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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.

53 of 417 comments (clear)

  1. Short-sighted view by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    oil will run out one day, but the sun will always shine

    Maybe another 4 billion years but hardly always.

    1. Re:Short-sighted view by cayenne8 · · Score: 2
      Hey, it's all cool with me all these other countries going EV....that just leaves more oil and gas for the US!!!

      I'd like to keep big V-8's going throughout my lifetime, after that....meh, I don't care.

      ;)

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    2. Re: Short-sighted view by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 2

      Kids will go "whee" instead of "vrr" when they play with toy cars.

      Unlikely. They'll learn to make those noises from their older relatives. Just like people still say they want to "roll up/down the windows" in a car. My daughter says it and she was in a vehicle with hand cranked windows once in her life when she was 8 years old. People still "dial" a number on their phone and hang up their cell phone, pump gas, rewind a scene in a video, been through the wringer, etc.

    3. Re: Short-sighted view by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Informative

      The link is from the EIA. Dispute the numbers with them.

      You are reading the chart wrong. It is barrels per day, not week, so the production is seven times what you said. The chart is confusing because it also says "per week", but that is because the figures for daily production are updated once a week.

    4. Re: Short-sighted view by zieroh · · Score: 4, Funny

      How about not making complex diagnosis of rare personality disorders online from a few lines of text?

      You're paranoid.

      --
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    5. Re:Short-sighted view by kaatochacha · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm buying a new car, and just ran the numbers for a volt versus a normal gas engine.
      In my commute? I save an amazing $321 a year.
      That's less than $1 a day. in a car which is $3K MORE than the gas car, even after $9K in gov't /state bonuses.
      You wannna push electric vehicles? Lower the cost of Electricity.

    6. Re:Short-sighted view by green1 · · Score: 2

      Considering the timeline picked, and the age of most politicians. It seems they feel the same way as you do.

    7. Re:Short-sighted view by mpercy · · Score: 2

      I thought that was going to happen by 2018 or so, what with all the global warming and such?

    8. Re:Short-sighted view by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The Green River Formation has 200+ years of oil reserves at the current US rate of ~20 million barrels consumption a day. And that is just one oil reserve within the US. We could be 100% self-sufficient, free of any foreign oil dependence, for literally centuries.

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    9. Re: Short-sighted view by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 2

      I gave up toys when I turned 35

      I didn't, the toys got more expensive though. ;-)

    10. Re:Short-sighted view by UnknowingFool · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Not it does not. From your own link

      The Green River Formation contains the largest oil shale deposit in the world. It has been estimated that the oil shale reserves could be equal up to 3 trillion barrels (480 billion cubic metres) of shale oil, up to half of which may be recoverable by shale oil extraction technologies (pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution of kerogen in oil shale). However, the estimates of recoverable oil has been questioned by geophysicist Raymond T. Pierrehumbert, who argues that the technology for recovering oil from the Green River oil shale deposit has not been developed and has not been profitably implemented at any significant scale.

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    11. Re:Short-sighted view by mspohr · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Fuel cost alone is EV=0.03 cents per mile and ICE = 0.20 cents per mile. (YMMV)
      Also, EVs have low maintenance cost. Tires are about the only cost. Brakes last forever; no oil changes; drive train has a few thousand fewer parts to wear and break.
      The more you drive, the more you save.

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    12. Re:Short-sighted view by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 4, Insightful

      oil will run out one day, but the sun will always shine

      Maybe another 4 billion years but hardly always.

      Major changes in the planet aside, oil will never run out. Rather, at some point it will not make economic sense to drill for it any more. That will hopefully happen some time within the next 20-30 years.

    13. Re:Short-sighted view by hipp5 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'm buying a new car, and just ran the numbers for a volt versus a normal gas engine. In my commute? I save an amazing $321 a year. That's less than $1 a day. in a car which is $3K MORE than the gas car, even after $9K in gov't /state bonuses. You wannna push electric vehicles? Lower the cost of Electricity.

      Don't forget to factor in maintenance costs. EVs are much simpler with fewer moving parts. No oil changes, no muffler replacements, etc.

      But yeah, I'm not surprised the math doesn't pencil out yet. Modern EVs are still relatively new in the grand scheme of things, and there's a lot of optimizing still to be done. But the math will work out sooner or later. In the meantime the people buying them are doing so for reasons other than hard dollars and cents (i.e. the same reason anyone buys a $30k car in a world where $15k cars exist).

    14. Re:Short-sighted view by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      Maybe another 4 billion years but hardly always.

      I'm panicking here. Is that short scale or long scale billions?

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    15. Re:Short-sighted view by swillden · · Score: 2

      I'm buying a new car, and just ran the numbers for a volt

      Don't forget to factor in maintenance costs. EVs are much simpler with fewer moving parts.

      A Volt isn't. It's more complex with more moving parts, since it has all the complexity of an ICEV, plus all of a battery EV, plus all of the complexity for transitioning between the two.

      A BEV is much simpler, though. And can be *much* cheaper. I expect that my TCO for owning my originally factory-new Nissan LEAF for 200K miles will be about $20K, or $0.10 per mile.

      Granted, I kind of lucked out on the cost of the car. I leased it in 2013. At the time, it was a $37K car ($30K after tax credits, which went to the lessor), compared to $40K for a Chevy Volt. But with all the new greater-range EVs coming out now, the value of those older LEAFs has dropped like a rock, so I was able to buy it off lease for $6K. Three years of lease payments added up to just under $7K, so my cost for the vehicle has been just under $13K, including the interest I paid on the lease (I paid cash when I bought it off lease).

      I average 4.2 miles per kWh, and pay about $0.11 per kWh, so my energy cost is 2.6 cents per mile. Assuming $2.50 per gallon, I'd have to get 95 miles per gallon in an ICEV to get the same per-mile energy cost.

      Then there's maintenance. Or not. I've put 50K miles on my car and the only maintenance I've had to do is $200 for a set of new tires. Oh, and refill the windshield wiper fluid reservoir. Brakes are still great (EV brakes last longer than ICEV brakes, because much braking is regenerative). Oil changes aren't a thing.

      Looking into the future, I can expect to replace the tires at normal intervals, and eventually it'll need brake pads. There is no transmission. No clutch. There are no spark plugs or wires, no catalytic converter or other emissions system, no muffler. At some point I'll need to replace the 12V lead acid battery (normal auto battery).

      Of course, eventually the big lithium ion battery will need to be replaced. So far, in 4 years and 50K miles my battery has lost 3% of its capacity. It's warrantied to maintain 80% for 100K miles, but judging by the experience of other LEAF owners in fairly cool climates like mine (very hot climates are a different story!), it's more likely that it'll go 200K miles before it falls to 80%.

      When the battery does need to be replaced, I'll be looking at a cost of about $5K, which is pretty comparable to the cost of a new engine for a small car, and quite a bit less than the cost of a new engine & transmission. Plus, by the time I buy a new battery pack, the replacement will almost certainly be higher-capacity and longer-lasting.

      Anyway, assuming I drive the car until the battery needs to be replaced at, say, 200K miles, and then junk the car, I'll have spent around $20K, which is a TCO of $0.10 per mile. To go beyond 200K I'll probably looking at CV joints and similar components in addition to a battery, but it seems reasonable that I could get another 200K miles for an additional $7K or so in repairs (incl. battery), plus another $5K in electricity, so about $0.06 per mile.

      The downside, of course, is that this is not a road trip vehicle. It's great for running around town, though. And it's a lot more fun to drive than comparable ICEVs.

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    16. Re:Short-sighted view by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 2

      Fuel cost alone is EV=0.03 cents per mile and ICE = 0.20 cents per mile. (YMMV)
      Also, EVs have low maintenance cost. Tires are about the only cost. Brakes last forever; no oil changes; drive train has a few thousand fewer parts to wear and break.
      The more you drive, the more you save.

      On the maintenance, a lot of "maintenance" items I see in cars are outside the base powertrain. I will grant you the brakes(hybrid versions of my car have significantly longer brake life), and I also live in snow country which isn't kind on cars (from corrosion and potholes), but I see people struggling with:
      -Tie rod ends
      -Ball joints
      -Wheel bearings
      -Shocks
      -body work from corrosion
      -random shit failing (instrument cluster, switches, fans, stereos, lights [bulbs or wiring problems], power window motors, power lock solinoids, water leaks, etc).

      Electric cars are great and all, but they still have the above.

    17. Re:Short-sighted view by UnknowingFool · · Score: 2

      If it can be done for $30/barrel, why wasn't it done? When crude oil was $100/barrel why wasn't it done? You can't really answer that can you? The fact of the matter since it wasn't done, it is probably a safe bet he was right.

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    18. Re: Short-sighted view by KGIII · · Score: 2

      I do love my ICE, enough to have a moderate collection - going back to the 50s. I've posted pics previously.

      Even though someone tried to kill me with their car, I still maintain my bike license. I haven't picked out a new one, but I'm probably going to go with another BMW.

      But... Holy balls! Could you imagine a electric bike built for acceleration? I'm pretty sure that would be almost as much fun as an ounce of coke and a rented chimpanzee. I don't even care if the range is just 50 miles. That will only barely make it to town and back. I still don't care.

      I wouldn't really want to replace a ICE with one, but I'd consider buying one to just play with it. Being an EV, it could even have power to both wheels. I'd troll the fuck out of Harley riders.

      Trivially related, make sure you have good leathers and don't skimp on your helmet. I'd avoid overly expensive leathers. They don't care. They will cut that right off you. I did get a free replacement helmet. I got it for sending mine back to the company so that they could cut it and study it.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    19. Re:Short-sighted view by thunderclees · · Score: 2
      A lot of EVs are getting free electric as it is being subsidized.

      EVs have a big cost in batteries, most of the value of the vehicle is in them and they have a short life.

      From a Tesla tech talk:

      • The battery degrades everyday
      • Battery degradation is non-linear over time; meaning it starts very very slow, but after 4-5 years, it gets faster
      • After the first 5 years, degradation may be as low as 5%. But by the 8th year, they expect about 30% degradation.
  2. the UK might be the only western country where pe by fred6666 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    the UK might be the only western country where petrol-fuelled cars are still on the road

    No, the USA will be dead last

  3. Clever Politicking by hipp5 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Car makers stay profitable by making the same car and selling it around the world (with a few planned modifications, such was flipping the steering wheel, and maybe a renaming). It keeps supply chains simple and amortizes design costs. If major markets in the rest of the world are banning new gas cars by 2025, 2030, or any year before 2040, then the UK won't actually have to do anything. GM isn't going to make an electric cars for other markets, and then have a special gas car for the UK; they'll just stop making gas cars. Legislation or not, by the year 2040 you won't be able to get a new gas car in the UK.

  4. Probably moot by that point... by taiwanjohn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Some analysts are already predicting that the car market will be 50% EV by the mid-2020s, and will "tip" rapidly thereafter. This trend is mostly driven by the cost of Li-ion batteries, which has been falling at about 15%/yr for the last couple of decades. When it becomes possible to buy an entry-level EV for $20k or less, why would you even want an ICE vehicle?

    The "fuel" price for EVs is a fraction of that for ICE, as is the maintenance cost. EVs only have a couple-dozen moving parts, compared to thousands in an ICE car. Of course, there will still be "gas car" enthusiasts in 2040, just as there are hobbyists who still maintain antique steam-powered farm equipment. But even by 2030, there will no longer be a need for this law, because the market will already have flipped.

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    1. Re:Probably moot by that point... by Frederic54 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      > Because they have limited range, take too long to charge

      Mostly this, right, trying to do a 1600km (1000 miles) trip in an ICE vehicle? I can do it with just 2 tanks of gas in 16h. However with an AV? This would need a station where you can swap your depleted batteries for full charged ones. Maybe one day this will exist at enough places?

      --
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    2. Re:Probably moot by that point... by voislav98 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      These analysts are typically guys who are not automotive analysts, but technology analysts. They have large misconceptions about the automotive industry and how quickly can the technology change. The transition from ICE to electric engines is a huge one with a number of technology and production issues to still be resolved. Reasonable analyses I've seen from automotive industry guys have hybrids jumping to 25-35% of vehicle sales by 2030, with full electrics staying below 5%. 50% by mid-2020's or even 2030's is a pipe dream.

      To put it simply, Tesla's Gigafactory will take 5 years to build (2015 - 2020 for full capacity) at a cost of $5 billion and will supply batteries for 1.5 million cars. European vehicle sales (passenger cars and light commerial vehicles, which includes SUV's) are in the 10 - 15 million per year range, US are 15 - 20 million per year range. So to supply this volume of vehicles (50% of 25 - 35 million per year), you would need 10 Gigafactories, with building to start by early 2020's. I haven't seen any plans for this to happen, so the battery supply will not be there to build these vehicles. Infrastructure is the second issue. It takes time to build out the network of charging stations and there are no widespread plans to do this either.

      So, all these plans and commitments are meaningless unless they are accompanied by major investments into battery and electric component production and infrastructure investment. When that happens, I'll believe that electric cars will have meaningful sales.

    3. Re:Probably moot by that point... by jittles · · Score: 2

      I can do it with just 2 tanks of gas...

      You have a vehicle that gets 500 MPG? Somehow, your claim is less than believable.

      You probably misread what he said. My car (which I drive about once every week or two) gets 24 miles per gallon on the highway. Assuming I don't drive it until it's completely empty, I can go about 350 miles per tank. That means I can do a 1000 mile trip in less than 3 full tanks. Drive something smaller and more practical and you can easily get over 500 miles in a single tank. My parents car has a 14 gallon tank and gets over 40MPG on the highway. That means they can do a 500 mile trip and still have 1.5 gallons to spare.

    4. Re:Probably moot by that point... by taiwanjohn · · Score: 2

      The question is: what percentage of the market will be put off by refueling time? Most people only gas-up a couple of times a week. And most of the time EV users simply charge overnight while the car is parked in the garage. Unless you're a field-rep or salesman, very few people have a frequent need to drive 500 miles in a day without taking an hour to recharge (both mentally and electrically).

      In any case, what are the chances that they won't have ubiquitous availability of battery swap by 2030, or a new battery chemistry that allows super-fast charging? No one can predict the future, of course, but judging by the trends in the last 15~20 years, it's quite reasonable to expect the "refueling time" problem will have been solved by then.

      And remember that self-driving cars will also have a huge impact on the market. Car ownership is already declining, among millennials in particular. The average car sits parked 94% of the time. An entire "fleet of major assets with a six-percent utilization rate is a technology disruption waiting to happen." (Quoted from Tony Seba, in the video linked above, in my original post.)

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    5. Re:Probably moot by that point... by jeff4747 · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.

    6. Re:Probably moot by that point... by Solandri · · Score: 2
      The "fuel" price difference between an EV and ICE is almost entirely due to the price difference between coal and gasoline.
      • Coal costs about $50/ton and contains about 24 GJ of energy. That's about 0.21 cents/MJ.
      • Gasoline costs about $3/gallon and contains about 120 MJ/gallon. That's about 2.5 cents/MJ.

      Gasoline is about an order of magnitude more expensive than coal per unit of energy. This is why Hawaii has the highest electricity prices in the U.S. - they generate most of their electricity by burning oil, not coal.

      This is what a lot of EV proponents seem to miss - EVs do not have zero emissions. All they do is shift the emissions from the tailpipe to an electrical power plant. If you then simultaneously eliminate the cheapest sources of electricity (coal and gas), the cost of EV "fuel" will go up. Likewise if every garage has an EV charging in it overnight, the overnight price of electricity will go up. (Also, the EPA's decision to base MPGe rating on battery capacity, although necessary to normalize for differences in how electricity is generated, completely cuts out inefficiencies at the power plant, transmission, and battery charging. It's like measuring ICE mileage starting with engine power output, instead of how much fuel was burned. So EV MPGe is not directly comparable to ICE MPG. From an energy efficiency standpoint, EVs use almost as many Joules per mile compared to ICE vehicles; it's tough to peg an exact comparison because most EVs use things like skinny low rolling resistance tires which typically aren't found on ICE vehicles.)

      Brazil produced cane sugar ethanol for about 83 cents/gallon a decade ago. Ethanol contains about 79 MJ/gallon (66% of gasoline), so this works out to 1.05 cents/MJ.

      • Gasoline ICE: 35 MPG @ $3/gallon = $8.57 per 100 miles
      • EV: 30 kWh/100 miles @ 12 cents/kWh = $3.60 per 100 miles (ignores charging losses so actual cost is slightly higher)
      • Ethanol ICE:23 MPG (66% of gasoline) @ $0.83/gallon = $3.60 per 100 miles

      So the story isn't over yet for ICE vehicles. Ethanol (produced from the right source, not corn) can potentially beat EVs in terms of fuel cost. But without the headaches of developing battery technology, having to haul a massive battery around, replacing existing gas station infrastructure, waiting 30 minutes for a supercharge, installing an overnight charger in your garage, figuring out a new way to implement road maintenance taxes. What's missing is a way to scale ethanol production up without dramatically impacting food production. If someone cracks how to produce ethanol from cellulose (all the weeds, brush, and spoiled vegetables which we currently throw away), then EVs are dead.

    7. Re:Probably moot by that point... by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2

      Perhaps you are not aware that many - dare I say most, or even all? - petrol powered cars have tanks larger than 1 gallon? I know, insanity! But it is true! Why, even my petrol powered motorcycle has a tank that can hold 3.2 gallons...

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    8. Re:Probably moot by that point... by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.

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    9. Re:Probably moot by that point... by Nemyst · · Score: 2

      Manufacturers are eyeing 400km-500km range in 2020 with 30 minutes to recharge 80%. That means you can do the whole trip in 4 stretches of 4 hours, with an extra 2 hours of breaks between it all. By 2030, we'll probably be at or close to 1000km per charge, which is the tipping point, since you really shouldn't be driving for more than 8 or so hours a day. Every step of the way, though, fewer and fewer people will see the need for more range. Some people are already fine with 200km range.

    10. Re:Probably moot by that point... by green1 · · Score: 2

      Why swap your battery when you can fully charge it in less time than it takes to eat lunch?
      Or do you regularly drive 1000 miles at a time without any bathroom or food stops?

      Battery swaps were a dead end idea that have no place in modern EV infrastructure. They're too expensive, too complex, and provide no real benefit over modern fast charge systems.

      I regularly drive an EV 1000 km at a time, and it takes me no longer than it used to take me to do the same trip in my old diesel vehicle, sure it takes longer to charge, but I didn't eat any faster before, nor could I use the bathroom any quicker. If anything the EV is more convenient because I don't have to stand at the pump the whole time it's fuelling, I can eat while I charge instead of fuelling and then eating.

    11. Re:Probably moot by that point... by beelsebob · · Score: 2

      The range needs to be infinity because they take too fucking long to recharge.

      Why? Current EVs can charge at 24kW, giving them 100 miles of range per hour. ChargePoint's new DC chargers can charge at 100kW, giving vehicles 400 miles of range per hour. Humans sleep for at least 7 hours per 24, giving the vehicle a potential 2800 miles of range per sleep cycle, which is way above the distance they can drive in the other 17 hours.

      Given that, it seems like there's an upper bound on the "what range is enough range" at 2800 miles. In practice, that upper bound is also way too high. In practice, humans really want to be able to drive continuously from 7am until 11am, eat lunch, drive continuously from 11:30am until 5pm, eat dinner, and drive continuously from 6pm until 9pm, and sleep, in even the most extreme examples.

      In that example, we've got 4 hours of driving, at average 80mph (way higher than anyone realistically can actually average) = 320 miles. DC charge over lunch at Chargepoint's new rate gets them another 200 miles of range = 120 miles used. 5.5 hours at 80mph + 120 = 560 miles of range used. An hour of charging gets us back down to 160 miles of range used. Then 3 hours of driving at 80mph gets us back up to 400 miles of range used. The most drained the battery ever got in that journey was 560 miles, so we've established a lower upper bound here.

      Any vehicle with 560 miles of range and Chargepoint's new 400A charging system is sufficient for all reasonable driving a human will do.

      In practice, vehicles with 300 miles of range, and 100A charging are sufficient for 99.9% of the driving that people do. That 0.1% remaining can easily be filled by special purpose vehicles.

  5. Hold on a second! by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What if this global warming thing is a big hoax and we make a better world for nothing?! ;)

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    1. Re:Hold on a second! by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's arguable. Lithium is the irreplaceable element in batteries, and lithium is recyclable.

      --
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    2. Re:Hold on a second! by taiwanjohn · · Score: 2

      Umm... maybe that's because Lithium is an extremely light element, and only comprises a small fraction of the weight of the battery?

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    3. Re:Hold on a second! by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's not a "better world". It's all about ridiculous exaggeration and globalization and creating the structures necessary to confiscate money from nations that create wealth and move it to others that only consume, and once and for all get rid of that poverty eliminator, capitalism. It's a precursor to world government and the end of democracy. But don't listen to me, let's hear their own words:

      (OTTMAR EDENHOFER, UN IPCC OFFICIAL): Basically it's a big mistake to discuss climate policy separately from the major themes of globalization. The climate summit in Cancun at the end of the month is not a climate conference, but one of the largest economic conferences since the Second World War... First of all, developed countries have basically expropriated the atmosphere of the world community. But one must say clearly that we redistribute de facto the world's wealth by climate policy. Obviously, the owners of coal and oil will not be enthusiastic about this. One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with environmental policy anymore, with problems such as deforestation or the ozone hole.

      Christiana Figueres, leader of the U.N.'s Framework Convention on Climate Change: "This is probably the most difficult task we have ever given ourselves, which is to intentionally transform the economic development model, for the first time in human history."

      Former U.S. Senator Timothy Wirth (D-CO), then representing the Clinton-Gore administration as U.S undersecretary of state for global issues, addressing the same Rio Climate Summit audience, agreed: "We have got to ride the global warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing in terms of economic policy and environmental policy."

      Christine Stewart, former Canadian Environment Minister: "No matter if the science is all phoney, there are collateral environmental benefits.... climate change [provides] the greatest chance to bring about justice and equality in the world."

      Daphne Muller, green-progressive-liberal writer for Salon: "This moment requires we the people to rethink democracy as a global mechanism for enacting policy for and by the planet."

      Peter Berle, President of the National Audubon Society: "We reject the idea of private property."

      David Brower, a founder of the Sierra Club: "The goal now is a socialist, redistributionist society, which is nature's proper steward and society's only hope."

      Mikhail Gorbachev, communist and former leader of U.S.S.R.: "The emerging 'environmentalization' of our civilization and emerging 'environmentalization' of our civilization and the need for vigorous action in the interest of the entire global community will inevitably have multiple political consequences. Perhaps the most important of them will be a gradual change in the status of the United Nations. Inevitably, it must assume some aspects of a world government."

      Emma Brindal, a climate justice campaigner coordinator for Friends of the Earth: "A climate change response must have at its heart a redistribution of wealth and resources."

      Monika Kopacz, atmospheric scientist: "It is no secret that a lot of climate-change research is subject to opinion, that climate models sometimes disagree even on the signs of the future changes (e.g. drier vs. wetter future climate). The problem is, only sensational exaggeration makes the kind of story that will get politicians' - and readers' - attention. So, yes, climate scientists might exaggerate, but in today's world, this is the only way to assure any political action and thus more federal financing to reduce the scientific uncertainty."

      Researcher Robert Phalen's 2010 testimony to the California Air Resources Board: "It benefits us personally to have the public be afraid, even if these risks are trivial."

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  6. Re:reasonable gamble by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Maybe not... By the time the ban comes it, it might be hard to buy a combustion engine car. I expect there will be some specialist vehicles still on the market, but the vast majority will be electric.

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  7. Even works well for fossil fuels by omnichad · · Score: 2

    Even if you're burning gas and diesel at electrical plants to generate the electricity, there has to be some economies of scale at work here to give better efficiency. More than enough to outweigh transmission losses and battery charging losses.

  8. You left out the road tax on hydrocarbon fuel by Latent+Heat · · Score: 2

    At least for USians, a substantial part of the cost of gas or diesel is the tax earmarked for new roads and maintaining existing roads. That the EV owner currently does not pay these taxes could be regarded as a subsidy to encourage use of electric cars, but when EVs are numerous, this will change the fuel-cost calculation, especially against the coming generation of more fuel efficient IC engines.

  9. Re:Rolling Coal by Creedo · · Score: 4, Funny

    In other news, rolling coal is alive and well in the US.

    Yeah, those fucking idiots. I really, really hate those assholes. I fully support their right to do this in the confines of their garage. Preferably, with all of the doors closed and any ventilation sealed shut.

    --
    All that is necessary for the triumph of good is that evil men do nothing.
  10. Far Enough Off... by pubwvj · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  11. The floating electric car by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 2

    > Because they have limited range, take too long to charge

    Mostly this, right, trying to do a 1600km (1000 miles) trip in an ICE vehicle? I can do it with just 2 tanks of gas in 16h. However with an AV?

    I don't know how you would do a 1600km (1000 mile) trip within Britain in any kind of car, electric or petrol. Unless it floats.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
  12. Re:reasonable gamble by Megol · · Score: 2

    The UK politicians is more into all-controlling than the EU so I don't really know what you are thinking about?

    Is it that UK politicians and state bureaucracy should have the freedom to remove freedoms from the people? Is so, yes exiting EU will provide more freedoms. But not for the people - the part of a society that I (and many others) consider the most important.

    Otherwise you make no sense at all.

  13. Re: Stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    But those incentives aren't free. Everyone is paying for them, including those who purchase 'non-government-loved' cars, and their government is deciding who gets the option to partake (quid pro quo, you buy what the government approves of and they grease your palm).

    Wrong thinking will be punished (if very indirectly); right thinking will be as quickly rewarded. Hold out your hand! Here's a rebate! Woohoo!

  14. Re:Stupid by zieroh · · Score: 2

    Electric cars suck.

    I own an electric car, and am quite happy with it. It meets all my needs as a commuter and errand car. The range is limited, but my commute is only about 15 miles per day, so i only charge it once a week or so on standard US house current (120v).

    Nobody wants one so the government is forcing you to buy a shit car.

    I see scores of electric cars on the road every single day on my way to work. Clearly, your statement is without merit.

    --
    People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
  15. Re:Citation needed by jeff4747 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It will then be replenished by the same processes that produce the oil we use today

    Actually, it won't. Because we have oxygen in our atmosphere now.

    Oil was produced by vast piles of organic matter being covered by sediments and baked for hundreds of millions of years. Once our atmosphere got a significant concentration of oxygen, those vast piles of organic matter no longer formed in the same way. The organic matter oxidizes too much before it can be buried. Instead much smaller molecules (aka natural gas) are created instead.

    And before the post above asks, the problem with just relying on natural gas is it tends to not stay in the ground on its own. You need particular geology to hold it in place. So there's way less natural gas forming than the way oil formed 250M years ago.

  16. Re:reasonable gamble by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 4, Insightful

    American. Cheered for Brexit. A lot of us did

    Of course you did, and were I American I probably would have done so too because it weakens one of your strongest economic rivals and pretty soon the UK will be turning up cap-in-hand to beg/negotiate a trade deal with the US which will be extremely favourable to the US because the UK will have very little leverage.

    From the UK point of view it is going to be a complete disaster though. If you really believe that argument about freedom then are you also an advocate for states in the US all becoming free nations so they can choose their own course rather than being an economic engine attached to Washington's butt? Some of us prefer to think of the EU as our free nation where we enjoyed self-determination along with Germans, French, Poles, Danes etc. in exactly the same way that Californians, Iowans, Virginians etc. all enjoy self-determination together as a single free nation. The UK leaving the EU will be as big an upheaval as say California leaving the US.

    There are certainly problems with the EU but show me a nation that does not have problems. The adult response to challenges like this is to work together to solve them, not to get in a hissy fit and take your ball home. I have always felt far more European than just British and now, having being denied the right to vote in the referendum, my EU citizenship is still going to be stripped from me. If this is the sort of "democracy" that a "free" Britain will have then I want none of it thanks.

  17. Re:Different uses, different cars by Shotgun · · Score: 3, Informative

    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
  18. Re:reasonable gamble by mbkennel · · Score: 2

    It will be easy to buy a combustion engine car, but hard to buy one without an added battery or other energy storage.

    They are thinking of banning diesel & petrol only vehicles, not hybrids and plug in hybrids. The transition will be unnoticeable by then. They won't ban all combustion engines.

  19. Re:Stupid by RhettLivingston · · Score: 2

    They do dribble out periodically. For example:

    There are also many examples of lab successes in charging lithium and other batteries in times that are equivalent to supercapacitors and with cycle counts beyond 10,000 as shown by this announcement-de-jeur.

    So, certainly batteries are going to be hard to beat. But I think supercapacitors will eventually win out due to weight, durability and raw material cost factors. And, I predict that the next 30 years will see as much development in the newly merged material / chemical / biological science as has happened in all of man's history. The problems will be solved.

  20. Re:Stupid by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I propose a deal:
    You consider your use cases.
    And I consider my use cases.

    And please leave me alone while I consider my use cases as I will leave you alone when you consider yours!

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.