Diesel cars and vans

[cromwell]

Jo, they are saying that maybe wireless charge up may become possible in the near future, so no cables would be needed. How healthy that would be I've no idea.

Would the cost of electricity rise for everyone, regardless of whether they own an electric vehicle? Atm the government gets circa 70p in tax for every litre of petrol sold. They are going to want that money to keep rolling in. But electricity isn't like petrol, you can re-charge your electric vehicle at home; so in order to keep the quids coming in the government has to start taxing electricity, surely?

LPG. I have wondered why that hasn't become more popular. There are other options, such as adding ethanol to petrol, which makes the car run a bit cleaner and also the hydrogen fuel cell cars currently being developed by Toyota, Honda and Hyundai.

If what you say is true Suff there is no way we will be all electric by 2040. Governments going back for years have been kicking the can down down the road re building new power stations and they still are, as far as I can see.

[Suff]

LPG. I have wondered why that hasn't become more popular. There are other options, such as adding ethanol to petrol, which makes the car run a bit cleaner and also the hydrogen fuel cell cars currently being developed by Toyota, Honda and Hyundai.

E10 (10% ethanol), is quite common here. It's a bit cheaper but it also provides about 11%-12% less power/mpg. Which, in my mind, leaves me wondering why bother?

As for fuel cells, I hope you have a good imagination. Now imagine 45m tonnes of Hydrogen. What it costs in electricity to separate it from water (the cheapest source) and just how damned difficult it is to transport and store. Hyrdogen, simply, just leaks away through almost any seal known to our current technology. Graphene was muted as a possible seal as we can assemble graphene to seal at the molecular level. Any less of a seal and hydrogen simply leaks through it.

The only known way to store hydrogen for any time is to cool it to the point that it turns into a liquid which can't breech the borders.

I worked for the largest Hydrogen producer in the world. They start and stop production operations, daily, based on the fluctuating electricity prices in the world. They literally buy electricity futures to produce hydrogen, oxygen and other gasses.

There is no simple "I want to do" way out of this situation. It has taken us over 100 years to get here and will take extensive planning and investment to get us out of it.

[saundra]

It won't happen it's pie in the sky as normal something else to spend money on by the government
I just wish they brought all the train fares down and reopen all the long lost stations then I could visit both my son's mega easy that won't happen either

[Workingman]

It will happen in some way and on some day, Saundra, maybe not by 2040 and maybe not in its current form, but it is coming.

You are right, though, about the small stations and small lines. The country has become big city oriented, or more correctly, London oriented. In the closed minds of business people and politicians everything, but everything, must be connected to London.

Way down the list of their priorities is connecting other big cities to each other, and light-years away comes connecting towns and villages to, well, anywhere. If you live outside the immediate commuter belf of any city you are stuck - you need a car. Even if you are lucky (?) enough to live in a commuter belt a car is still essential in some places as many of the old branch lines from the cities out to local places are all gone.

If politicians were being honest with us they would admit that transport policy in the UK is in a mess and has been for decades. Banning petrol and diesel vehicles is not going to solve that.

[TheOstrich]

They have already had to backtrack and clarify that hybrid cars will not be outlawed under the 2040 proposals .....

[Suff]

They have already had to backtrack and clarify that hybrid cars will not be outlawed under the 2040 proposals .....

True but still, hybrid petrol and diesel are supposed to be banned. What does that leave? LPG really.

WM is absolutely right when he says the transport policy in the UK is a mess. The point is that it is also a mess, pretty much, everywhere in the EU. Sweden, great place, wonderfully environmentally focused. Live outside the city? Drive. Even if you live in the outer suburbs you'll still have to drive to the tube or rail station.

We desperately need solutions but we need whole solutions. Not one precipitate action and a prayer that the rest will fall in place by osmosis...