Adventures in an all electric vehicle.

[Ubique]

I saw something the other day, where someone was giving a lecture on global pollution, the environment and "saving the planet".
The gist of it, is that it's utterly irrelevant what we in the "first world" here in the UK (with our 1% of the global emissions) - or even Europe.
Why? He went on to use numbers that I don't recall, but essentially he said that the massive places like Eastern Europe & China - have massive populations that are focused on only one thing.... survival & betterment of themselves and their children. When the vast majority don't even have a toilet, let alone indoor plumbing etc etc - these millions of people have "saving the planet" and reducing emissions so far off their radar it's not even a blip on the periphery.

What I resent is we are being asked/told/taxed into a position where we as a country will 'do our bit' (notwithstanding the deluded 'just stop/ insulate/ get back to the caves you f***s type protesters, I now carry a big bag of cable ties so that should the need and/or opportunity arise, I'd attach them to a suitable piece of street furniture) by moving over to BEV's, thereby forcing the developing economies to up their emmisions to meet the need for things like battery material mining, production, shipping etc. No doubt they'll also be producing the transformers and cable required for us to upgrade our infrastructure... How about looking at not supercharging an unsustainable economy, we all know that the income won't go to those in China, India & Africa that need it. It's about time we looked at 'souring the milk' we're giving to those that only benefit from, not contribute to lowering worldwide emissions - whether things are as bad as portrayed - who knows? lowering emissions can only be a positive though, whether they need to be as low as the lobbyists say is open to reasoned un-sponsored debate (one that I think we'll never see given the bias, cherry picking and partially hidden agendas from all with a dog in the fight.) A very good friend of mine is a Geologist, used to measuring things in millions or billions of years, he (and most of his peers) are quite ambivalent on the whole climate range of cause & effect and potential course alterations to try and counteract the accepted predictive narrative.

I don't usually give the hidden agenda / conspiracy theory deep thinkers much time, there are those that say the climate 'scare' is a good moneyspinner for industry & government alike. Corporates and governments think and plan ahead far longer than individuals do - we only have our lifetime to plan for, they can look ahead many times that.

 

[Agrismith]

I don't usually give the hidden agenda / conspiracy theory deep thinkers much time, there are those that say the climate 'scare' is a good moneyspinner for industry & government alike. Corporates and governments think and plan ahead far longer than individuals do - we only have our lifetime to plan for, they can look ahead many times that.

I agree with everything you say bar the last sentence,they don't look any further than the next election.
And they definitely don't think about anyone further afield than there friendship circle

 

[Ubique]

I don't mean the politicians! - I mean the real government, the 'blob', the 'workfromhomers' Have you never watched 'Yes Minister'?

My father was CS, he worked for both colours of politician, he was equally scathing and dismissive of them all, the difference from then to now is that he did his job without letting his own views get in the way.

 

[redlig]

The fact that the aliens have invented inter-stellar travel would mean they most certainly are more intelligent than us and will probably scour us from the face of the planet

What's left of it.

 

[brewdexta]

So, the UK is responsible for 1% of global pollution.

"The United Kingdom population is equivalent to 0.87% of the total world population."

Pollution per person - we are above the average - only slightly - but we are.

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In the year of my birth 1967 - there was 3.47 billion people on this planet

This year there is 8 billion

And by the time I die it will 10 billion.

In my short lifetime the worlds population has tripled - this is where the problem lies

Too many people consuming too much!

I honestly believe this is route cause of all the earths resource problems - too many successful breeding medium sized mammals = US

(Try getting your MP to sell that concept as a vote winner!)

Its 1.1% and doesn't take into account indirect action such as buying all the almost straight to landfill carp from elsewhere. So other countries look worse because of our greed and irresponsible attitude.

 

[Ubique]

Maybe the producers of said tat could help by not making it?

 

[DAPPH]

Bit harsh to just wipe out car ownership from anyone who lives in a high rise just because ... they live in a high rise though...? Although Sadiq is pretty much saying poor people cannot own a car if they live within the M25 so I guess he has paved the way for sweeping policies like this that remove choice from normal people.

Pavement hockey sticks are starting to appear . Where you open the access plate in the foot way very close to the kerb and put the handle end of the stick in the charging point that's under the cover , taking a lead to from the edge of the pavement to the charging socket on your car . Didn't discover how they stop water ingress into the socket but no doubt t it will be sorted .

 

[DAPPH]

View attachment 403531

perhaps it came from the recycled loins of a scrapped daddy car & some old Lada's .

 

[redlig]

Maybe the producers of said tat could help by not making it?

Repeat after me : PROFIT PROFIT PROFIT etc.

 

[Ubique]

Repeat after me : PROFIT PROFIT PROFIT etc.

All the fault of the buyers for being too weak of will, apparently.

 

[DanZac]

Maybe the producers of said tat could help by not making it?

They'll only ever make what we'll buy.

Stop buying it and they'll stop making it. They're only trying to put food on their plates and shoes on their kids at the end of the day, just like we all are.

Bit of a vicious circle unfortunately.

 

[brewdexta]

Plus we then outsource jobs to said countries. Again not counted in the figures, but they work in air con buildings fixing our IT, and I'm not just talking about consumer IT, most larger businesses do it. The list goes on, also add the negative impact of our consumerism on deforestation, mining for ore and fuel etc. and the figure gets bigger still. The 1% is a figure pulled out of the air for the fat bloke at the end of the bar to reiterate to the easily convinced.

 

[GRW]

One of the places our intrepid Panorama Presenter visited, was a new (or old being revamped?) factory being built in I think Liverpool to make Vauxhall EV vans.
Presenter noted the large battery packs and asked where they were manufactured.

China.

 

[Ubique]

If their Govt's took the same stance as ours and some of the EU/Nordics, then they would be 'incentivised' to stop producing one-shot tat and move to a more sustainable version. They can be very persuasive in those parts of the world if they think their tax income is going to take a dive.... How is it 'our' fault if there is no choice of supply/quality/sustainability of materials? Cellulose 'plastics' were around nearly a hundred years before oil based plastics but are being touted as a 'new' sustainable replacement, they fell out of favour because they naturally biodegraded, something we'd be glad of now!

 

[Agrismith]

Plus we then outsource jobs to said countries. Again not counted in the figures, but they work in air con buildings fixing our IT, and I'm not just talking about consumer IT, most larger businesses do it. The list goes on, also add the negative impact of our consumerism on deforestation, mining for ore and fuel etc. and the figure gets bigger still. The 1% is a figure pulled out of the air for the fat bloke at the end of the bar to reiterate to the easily convinced.

Whilst there are lots of things to consider they don't necessarily push our contribution percentage up, as whatever we do , the rest of Europe are doing and America is doing worse.

And then other countries are doing other things that we don't. Deforestation would be an example.


And the throw away that is a chicken and the egg situation. Do we buy it because they produce it, or do they produce it because we buy it.

 

[redlig]

All the fault of the buyers for being too weak of will, apparently.

Weak willed as in buying for want and not need.

Whilst there are lots of things to consider they don't necessarily push our contribution percentage up, as whatever we do , the rest of Europe are doing and America is doing worse.

And then other countries are doing other things that we don't. Deforestation would be an example.


And the throw away that is a chicken and the egg situation. Do we buy it because they produce it, or do they produce it because we buy it.

Both . They will supply a demand but will also manufacture a need and then fulfill it .

 

[GRW]

Plus we then outsource jobs to said countries. Again not counted in the figures, but they work in air con buildings fixing our IT, and I'm not just talking about consumer IT, most larger businesses do it. The list goes on, also add the negative impact of our consumerism on deforestation, mining for ore and fuel etc. and the figure gets bigger still. The 1% is a figure pulled out of the air for the fat bloke at the end of the bar to reiterate to the easily convinced.

You're talking here about global business. If there is a subcontractor in (say) India doing work for a (say) UK market (though it could just as easily be for any wealthy nation's market..... then ou cannot ascribe the emissions or consumption of energy in India - to the UK total - that would be mental.
If we are consuming (& we all are), and we are buying goods manufactured abroad (& we all are) - then for sure we are impacting the environment there as well as here - but what do you suggest?
Only buy British?
For a start - you won't be driving any car, let alone your EV.

Anyway, as I said before - while the narrative is "we must save the planet, so we are banning all ICE's & going all EV by 2030 to help achieve this" - but the reality shows every indication of the change resulting in a significant upturn in consumption of resources in perpetuity.
Capitalism & the consumer society & reducing your consumption and recycling, re-using, refurbishing existing equipment etc.... are wholly incompatible cultures!
What an EV does best - is make the consumer spend and consume, & feed the machine.... but gives the user a (false) feel-good factor, as they are sold on the idea that their consumption actually helps the planet instead of harms it.

 

[Roger440]

Anyway, as I said before - while the narrative is "we must save the planet, so we are banning all ICE's & going all EV by 2030 to help achieve this" - but the reality shows every indication of the change resulting in a significant upturn in consumption of resources in perpetuity.
Capitalism & the consumer society & reducing your consumption and recycling, re-using, refurbishing existing equipment etc.... are wholly incompatible cultures!
What an EV does best - is make the consumer spend and consume, & feed the machine.... but gives the user a (false) feel-good factor, as they are sold on the idea that their consumption actually helps the planet instead of harms it.

This has been said already in this thread somewhere..

Its actually genius. Tell everyone to spend heaps of money on "stuff" to "save the planet".

Whilst actually doing the exact opposite, increasing consumption by massive amounts, and getting governments to mandate those purchases, thus ensuring ongoing sales. Forever.

 

[Ubique]

Weak willed as in buying for want and not need.

Want/need are interchangeable terms, certainly when buying tools.... I think most on here are susceptible to that interchangeability.

 

[brewdexta]

Blimey, you couldn't make some of this dribble up with 20 crates of ale, a bag of magic mushrooms, an enormity of superlatives and a random opinion generator. Abandon hope all who enter this thread