Cable puts brakes on UK car industry

[Randy Winkman]

PRTVR said:

rypt said:

MX7 said:

I hope the £5,000 subsidy for buyers of electric cars is scrapped.

why?

Electric cars are a joke! no body has thought it through,every time you see one it is on a sunny day,
most of the time in Britain its cold, take the last winter how many of you would want to get in your car on a morning and not have a heater? or if you use the heater you can only get to the end of the road,I think that they are not really practical for our climate, may work in california but not in the UK.

Phil

Have you tried one? I have - commuting through South London in the dark, cold and rain. With everything on, including the radio. No problem at all and it made much more sense than an internal combustion engined car. Silent, smooth and cheap to run; with plenty of performance at urban speeds.

[MX7]

rypt said:

MX7 said:

rypt said:

MX7 said:

I hope the £5,000 subsidy for buyers of electric cars is scrapped.

why?

Several reasons.

I don't think it's the role of the government to subsidise a private industry. Of course, there are cases where a company/industry needs bailing out in an emergency, but this isn't an emergency.

It's been suggested that car manufacturers inflated their prices to compensate for the scrappage scheme. I can see something similar happening with this, which is counterproductive if your aim is to increase electric transport.

If it's sold as a way to support British industry, then it should only apply to cars manufactured in Britain, which can't happen due to EU competition laws.

I think we have more important places to spend the money at the moment.

Lastly, the electric car market should be able to survive on it's own merits. While the initial outlay might be relatively high, the cost of fuel should be enough incentive to sway people. If it isn't, so be it.

I think that's all.

Many manufacturers have UK R&D sites, many employ British ex-pats in their R&D operations overseas.

Electric cars are the probably future, but in order to speed up their development and uptake we need some government support (perhaps the smarter move is to make electric cars be VAT free, road tax free for the next ~5 years rather than just giving £5k sum - though this would cost more to the government)

We waste enough money, but this is a just cause imo.

British people are employed in every industry all over the world, but I don't consider that a reason to subsidise everything.

Electric car may be the future, but that should be down to market forces. As the car industry have allegedly been somewhat obstinate in the past over battery technology, I don't see why we should be assisting their industry in this way. I would prefer it if VAT was lower on new electric vehicles (10%?), if we really do need to give them a leg up. Who's to say that it won't be the Hydrogen Cell that wins the battle, or something else altogether.

While the hard times that GM went through have been well publicised, Ford made a profit of $2.1 billion for the first quarter of this year, and VAG €848m. I see no reason to ask the taxpayer to make a donation that they simply can't afford at the moment. If the industry thinks it's worthy, let them take initiative.

I'm also unsure about how viable the whole concept is. To make it viable, they are going to have to produce a lot of batteries, and I'm not sure that's even possible. There's an article with some interesting views here. If what he says is true, it will never become a realistic alternative.

At the core, I believe that the government should provide the relevant facts, and let the consumer steer the market as to what they want.

[PRTVR]

rypt said:

PRTVR said:

rypt said:

MX7 said:

I hope the £5,000 subsidy for buyers of electric cars is scrapped.

why?

Electric cars are a joke! no body has thought it through,every time you see one it is on a sunny day,
most of the time in Britain its cold, take the last winter how many of you would want to get in your car on a morning and not have a heater? or if you use the heater you can only get to the end of the road,I think that they are not really practical for our climate, may work in california but not in the UK.

Phil

Batteries are constantly improving, motors generate heat also that can be re-used, as do brakes

But nobody is looking at the problem, all the cars I have seen all they go on about is range and speed, never the comfort of the occupants,what will happen in a traffic jam, no motor heat no brake heat, sounds fun, but not for me, I will stick with petrol/diesel till a working alternative comes out.

[PRTVR]

Randy Winkman said:

PRTVR said:

rypt said:

MX7 said:

I hope the £5,000 subsidy for buyers of electric cars is scrapped.

why?

Electric cars are a joke! no body has thought it through,every time you see one it is on a sunny day,
most of the time in Britain its cold, take the last winter how many of you would want to get in your car on a morning and not have a heater? or if you use the heater you can only get to the end of the road,I think that they are not really practical for our climate, may work in california but not in the UK.

Phil

Have you tried one? I have - commuting through South London in the dark, cold and rain. With everything on, including the radio. No problem at all and it made much more sense than an internal combustion engined car. Silent, smooth and cheap to run; with plenty of performance at urban speeds.

Can I ask the make? and did it have a heater, probably good for commuting but what if you want to say go to the next city, say London to Birmingham it would be no good so you would need another car for that or use public transport, that is in all honestly is not up to the job.
Edit to add
cheap to run
and what do you think that the government will do when it starts to miss the tax revenue from petrol, do you think it will remain cheap?

Edited by PRTVR on Friday 2nd July 20:56

[Randy Winkman]

PRTVR said:

Randy Winkman said:

PRTVR said:

rypt said:

MX7 said:

I hope the £5,000 subsidy for buyers of electric cars is scrapped.

why?

Electric cars are a joke! no body has thought it through,every time you see one it is on a sunny day,
most of the time in Britain its cold, take the last winter how many of you would want to get in your car on a morning and not have a heater? or if you use the heater you can only get to the end of the road,I think that they are not really practical for our climate, may work in california but not in the UK.

Phil

Have you tried one? I have - commuting through South London in the dark, cold and rain. With everything on, including the radio. No problem at all and it made much more sense than an internal combustion engined car. Silent, smooth and cheap to run; with plenty of performance at urban speeds.

Can I ask the make? and did it have a heater, probably good for commuting but what if you want to say go to the next city, say London to Birmingham it would be no good so you would need another car for that or use public transport, that is in all honestly is not up to the job.
Edit to add
cheap to run
and what do you think that the government will do when it starts to miss the tax revenue from petrol, do you think it will remain cheap?

Edited by PRTVR on Friday 2nd July 20:56

Smart. As far as I can remember, it had a heater and everything a normal car would have. It certainly demisted the screen without trouble. No - it would be no good for London to Birmingham. Lots of people/families have more than one car, in most instances an electric car would have it's place alongside a regular one.

[philthy]

Parrot of Doom said:

fk those fking fkers.

A noun an adjective, and a verb!

Sir, I salute you.