Electric cars

[Jocko]

It's shameful that people are expected to live in a home that they cannot afford to heat.

Thats us OAPs up and down the country.

[sparky Paul]

It's shameful that people are expected to live in a home that they cannot afford to heat.

Thats us OAPs up and down the country.

My parents have faired okay in their council house, it's been well insulated and has modern gas central heating. It's always toasty warm as they feel the cold, certainly more than I do.

[Westy36]

Folk on pre-paid meters pay more for their energy too. Sometime households with the lowest incomes pay the most for their energy. That should not be allowed.

Oh, and how come we have to pay 5% VAT on energy? If there are a lot more cars charging at home, will the fuel tax loss be balanced by an increase in energy VAT?

[Westy36]

As I posted a couple of weeks ago:

Scotland generated enough electricity from renewable sources last year (2019 - my brackets) to meet the equivalent of 90.1% of its total electricity consumption, according to latest figures.

Its not constant though - and it needs to be at times when it is useable. 

Look at this to show how variable renewables really are.

https://gridwatch.co.uk/renewables/percent/

Scotland is doing very well with renewables. All those hills and mountains with wind turbines I suppose.

Culzean - The gridwatch website is interesting. Thanks for the link.  It would appear we lean heavily on Gas Turbine at the moment. Apparently we import upto 50% of this gas.

https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/our-green-energy/energy-independence/an-energy-independent-britain

[Jocko]

I would imagine that the greener option, locally for the UK, is to import the generated electricity via cable rather than import the gas and generate electricity. Makes no difference to the world though.

[madasafish]

As I posted a couple of weeks ago:

Scotland generated enough electricity from renewable sources last year (2019 - my brackets) to meet the equivalent of 90.1% of its total electricity consumption, according to latest figures.

Its not constant though - and it needs to be at times when it is useable. 

Look at this to show how variable renewables really are.

https://gridwatch.co.uk/renewables/percent/

Scotland is doing very well with renewables. All those hills and mountains with wind turbines I suppose.

Culzean - The gridwatch website is interesting. Thanks for the link.  It would appear we lean heavily on Gas Turbine at the moment. Apparently we import upto 50% of this gas.

https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/our-green-energy/energy-independence/an-energy-independent-britain

Gas turbines keep the Grid running. Approx. 50% plus of electricity in winter.

NO plans to replace them so we will fail -abysmally - to meet CO2 emissions targets.

And for tidal to work it needs energy storage on a massive scale...  HUGE peaks and troughs.

[sparky Paul]

Oh, and how come we have to pay 5% VAT on energy?

Because that Gordon Brown fellow reduced it to the minimum 5% in 1997, it had been 8% prior to that. The Conservative government at the time was defeated during the 1995 budget debate on their intention to raise VAT on domestic fuel to 17.5%

Now we are no longer members of the EU, we could now reduce VAT on fuel to zero... as was very vocally promised by Messrs Gove and Johnson back in 2016.

[sparky Paul]

And for tidal to work it needs energy storage on a massive scale...  HUGE peaks and troughs.

That's the beauty of tidal flows, all the peaks and troughs are at very different times around the coast.

[Jocko]

I have suggested to our new member that he posts here to get this thread back on "Electric cars" track.

[peteo48]

Yes - a welcome addition to the forum having been down the EV route.

[sparky Paul]

Here's something else to think about.

Established European, Japanese and US manufacturers are pushing EVs decidedly upmarket, and Chinese brands such as MG are beginning to chip away at western markets with cheaper alternatives. Will they allow Chinese manufacturers to secure a significant slice of this mass market, or will they respond?

Many western auto makers have tie ups with China producers, sharing both technology and production facilities for local markets. Are they hoping to use these arrangements to limit the Chinese expansion into western markets?

[culzean]

And for tidal to work it needs energy storage on a massive scale...  HUGE peaks and troughs.

That's the beauty of tidal flows, all the peaks and troughs are at very different times around the coast.

Excerpt below from and article on renewable power, 10GW would be about 25% of the demand today,  and that is if we could block off areas like Severn Estuary ( the biggest source of tidal by far ) and Solway Firth,  which would spell the end for many birds and animals that live there.  As soon a blocking off estuaries is mentioned the environmentalists go into a fit....

The UK’s tidal power resource is estimated to be more than 10 gigawatts (GW), representing about 50% of Europe’s tidal energy capacity.

[Jocko]

Blah, blah blah blah blah.

[Jocko]

Watched an interesting YouTube video of a couple of used car dealers looking at and discussing a high mileage Tesla Type 3. Seemingly they sell well despite a high price. Bit amateurish but worth a watch.

[sparky Paul]

The Tesla S is a fabulous car, but the performance is just mental. Makes a lot of sense as a used buy though, with the use of the supercharger network.