Are Electric Cars the biggest con on the planet?
Discussion
Anyway, reason for coming back to the thread was this video - no idea if it’s been posted elsewhere but, errr, if it’s real and I think it is, it’s not good. Fields of Chinese EVs left to rot. Ignore the wallet sales bit in the middle, it gets better after that..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SEfwoqKRU8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SEfwoqKRU8
andy43 said:
Anyway, reason for coming back to the thread was this video - no idea if it’s been posted elsewhere but, errr, if it’s real and I think it is, it’s not good. Fields of Chinese EVs left to rot. Ignore the wallet sales bit in the middle, it gets better after that..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SEfwoqKRU8
They belong to a ride-sharing/rental company in Hangzhou, which had 11,000 cars at its peak. Its business model failed in 2019 as they overestimated demand (both due to competition and increased private ownership). Disposing of assets in a bankruptcy in China remains a long and difficult process hence why they were sitting in a field. Most of the footage we see dates back to 2019. It's all been falsely claimed to be a graveyard in France.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SEfwoqKRU8
Luckily that YouTuber uses one of those accents that warns you he is probably talking out of his arse a lot of the time.
Given Covid, a ride share business set up in 2019 was going to struggle at the best of times.
Ride sharing is an odd one as frankly, who the juddering f
k wants to pay money to be in a small box with some random punter? One of the driving reasons to get up each morning and go and earn money is to not have such horrors in your life. It's like thinking everyone in society wants to ride a pushbike when everyone in society is very clearly getting up every morning to do whatever they can to never have to ride a pushbike.
I think they even have mountains of pushbikes from failed rental schemes in Asia?
People just want a fking car and one without some stinky, weirdo stranger inside it. It doesn't need to be a 2 tonne prestige chattel either. People will grab those if the credit will let them but when it zones to the absolute crunch, people will drive absolutely anything if it avoids stinky random punters or riding a bike like some Victorian peasant labourer or 20th century Chinamen trying not to be shot in the back of the head for failing to comply.
Is China bent? Hell yes. It's up there with the best. Which begs the question, why make stuff up? There's so much overt corruption in places like this there's just no need to distort for clicks and cash, that just makes you as corrupt as them.
Given Covid, a ride share business set up in 2019 was going to struggle at the best of times.
Ride sharing is an odd one as frankly, who the juddering f
k wants to pay money to be in a small box with some random punter? One of the driving reasons to get up each morning and go and earn money is to not have such horrors in your life. It's like thinking everyone in society wants to ride a pushbike when everyone in society is very clearly getting up every morning to do whatever they can to never have to ride a pushbike. I think they even have mountains of pushbikes from failed rental schemes in Asia?
People just want a f
king car and one without some stinky, weirdo stranger inside it. It doesn't need to be a 2 tonne prestige chattel either. People will grab those if the credit will let them but when it zones to the absolute crunch, people will drive absolutely anything if it avoids stinky random punters or riding a bike like some Victorian peasant labourer or 20th century Chinamen trying not to be shot in the back of the head for failing to comply. Is China bent? Hell yes. It's up there with the best. Which begs the question, why make stuff up? There's so much overt corruption in places like this there's just no need to distort for clicks and cash, that just makes you as corrupt as them.
the uptake of EVs and indeed the general renewable rollout in china is staggering. i watched an analysis that reckoned, yes coal plants are being thrown up, but might end up being operational for a couple of years before being monthballed/ decommissioned. an acceptable price of progress.
tamore said:
the uptake of EVs and indeed the general renewable rollout in china is staggering. i watched an analysis that reckoned, yes coal plants are being thrown up, but might end up being operational for a couple of years before being monthballed/ decommissioned. an acceptable price of progress.
A lot of what is driving their need for coal as well as non ICE is that they have to import every drop of oil and the US could switch that off whenever they wish by blockading the Malacca Strait. At the same time as the shorter and cheaper shipping route over the top of Russia gets closer to being open all year round due to global warming, that shipping lane is at risk of blockade by the US using the Straits of Taiwan, hence why the rhetoric over that island has increased between the two super powers. And of course there is the rise of Indians an Asian rival to international energy deals and could also prevent Chinese shipping from accessing the ME and Suez etc. Hence why while both nations build out their coastal fortifications using strategic islands they're becoming ever more frosty along their land border.
Huge geopolitics at play which tends to make it even more important for the U.K. to develop oit renewable energy independence and why EVs play an essential role in getting us as far away from the economic fallout of USD and Oil markets as those larger nations duke it out.
I'll miss my petrol cars but being free of USD dominance and OPEC dominance are truly great things for the U.K. to strive for as soon as possible.
The rate of EV charger installation is really, really picking up.
Take J47 M4 services. About a year ago they had 2 old Electric Highway rapids.
Now they those plus 6x350kW chargers, plus 12 Tesla 250kW chargers, and planning for 4 Instavolt chargers at the adjacent McDonald's carpark.
Just down the road at J36 Sarn, a dozen older Tesla Superchargers and Gridserve charges have been joined by 8 Applegreen Chargers this year.
The A465 has McDonald's to thank for the electric charging infrastructure that now covers another critical road in South Wales.
Take J47 M4 services. About a year ago they had 2 old Electric Highway rapids.
Now they those plus 6x350kW chargers, plus 12 Tesla 250kW chargers, and planning for 4 Instavolt chargers at the adjacent McDonald's carpark.
Just down the road at J36 Sarn, a dozen older Tesla Superchargers and Gridserve charges have been joined by 8 Applegreen Chargers this year.
The A465 has McDonald's to thank for the electric charging infrastructure that now covers another critical road in South Wales.
Evanivitch said:
The rate of EV charger installation is really, really picking up.
Take J47 M4 services. About a year ago they had 2 old Electric Highway rapids.
Now they those plus 6x350kW chargers, plus 12 Tesla 250kW chargers, and planning for 4 Instavolt chargers at the adjacent McDonald's carpark.
Just down the road at J36 Sarn, a dozen older Tesla Superchargers and Gridserve charges have been joined by 8 Applegreen Chargers this year.
The A465 has McDonald's to thank for the electric charging infrastructure that now covers another critical road in South Wales.
Certainly seems to be keeping pace with the increase of EV numbers too - which is pretty much all that matters.Take J47 M4 services. About a year ago they had 2 old Electric Highway rapids.
Now they those plus 6x350kW chargers, plus 12 Tesla 250kW chargers, and planning for 4 Instavolt chargers at the adjacent McDonald's carpark.
Just down the road at J36 Sarn, a dozen older Tesla Superchargers and Gridserve charges have been joined by 8 Applegreen Chargers this year.
The A465 has McDonald's to thank for the electric charging infrastructure that now covers another critical road in South Wales.
Also more chargers don't just help accommodate more EV's of course, they also make the network denser so all EV's are generally closer to more chargers on any given journey.
Cars charging incrementally faster will also bump up the availability of chargers.
On a very positive note, it's now in the rules, all new public chargers MUST accept card payment without requiring registration/apps etc. That's going to make things far less frustrating over the next few years.
DonkeyApple said:
Ride sharing is an odd one as frankly, who the juddering fk wants to pay money to be in a small box with some random punter? One of the driving reasons to get up each morning and go and earn money is to not have such horrors in your life. It's like thinking everyone in society wants to ride a pushbike when everyone in society is very clearly getting up every morning to do whatever they can to never have to ride a pushbike.
Ehm, lots of people enjoy riding bikes.k wants to pay money to be in a small box with some random punter? One of the driving reasons to get up each morning and go and earn money is to not have such horrors in your life. It's like thinking everyone in society wants to ride a pushbike when everyone in society is very clearly getting up every morning to do whatever they can to never have to ride a pushbike. ZedLeg said:
Evanivitch said:
ZedLeg said:
Ehm, lots of people enjoy riding bikes.
For leisure. Outside of cities very few people in the UK ride bikes for practical reasons.We can tell that's true because almost nobody uses a bike to get to work when if they wanted to, they could.
ZedLeg said:
It's beside the point of the thread obviously, just though it was a silly thing to say.
DA produces posts and words at a frankly astonishing rate.Quite a lot is satire, just need to sift through it to extract the nuggets and not get hung up on every word.
It's part of the rich tapestry of PH
SpeckledJim said:
Almost nobody wants to use a bike to get to work.
We can tell that's true because almost nobody uses a bike to get to work when if they wanted to, they could.
Why i used to love it? Not every day though as it was 45km each way into the centre of London. Now it is handy to get to the local shops. We are just not accustomed to cycle use in the UK but that continues to change particularly in our cities and towns where the vast majority of our population live and work. We can tell that's true because almost nobody uses a bike to get to work when if they wanted to, they could.
Back on topic it is great to see the gradual reduction of ICEs in favour of EVs locally. Many of these are not bought just because of tax breaks as they are being purchased by those no longer working.
ZedLeg said:
Ehm, lots of people enjoy riding bikes.
Not really. It's a fun hobby like golf and has seen a lot of growth since women were allowed into golf clubs 
but what we are really referencing here is the use of the bicycle as mass commuter transport in a country with high population, low road capacity and hilly terrain and inclement weather. To get that switch back to pre war, mass factory style commuting you really need an efficient system of shooting those who don't comply in the back of the head. Nomme de Plum said:
SpeckledJim said:
Almost nobody wants to use a bike to get to work.
We can tell that's true because almost nobody uses a bike to get to work when if they wanted to, they could.
Why i used to love it? Not every day though as it was 45km each way into the centre of London. Now it is handy to get to the local shops. We are just not accustomed to cycle use in the UK but that continues to change particularly in our cities and towns where the vast majority of our population live and work. We can tell that's true because almost nobody uses a bike to get to work when if they wanted to, they could.
Back on topic it is great to see the gradual reduction of ICEs in favour of EVs locally. Many of these are not bought just because of tax breaks as they are being purchased by those no longer working.
DonkeyApple said:
People just want a fking car and one without some stinky, weirdo stranger inside it. It doesn't need to be a 2 tonne prestige chattel either. People will grab those if the credit will let them but when it zones to the absolute crunch, people will drive absolutely anything if it avoids stinky random punters or riding a bike like some Victorian peasant labourer or 20th century Chinamen trying not to be shot in the back of the head for failing to comply.
When I lived in Surrey for 10 years I rode a motorbike in/out of the West End in all weathers, to avoid being squashed together with stinky, weirdo strangers in (usually late and expensive) trains/Tubes. Here in the Genevan countryside for the past ~25 years I often assume the character of a Victorian peasant labourer to avoid public transport for similar reasons, plus the obvious benefits of working off the fattening effects of the local red wine and filets de perches cooked in inordinate amounts of butter.king car and one without some stinky, weirdo stranger inside it. It doesn't need to be a 2 tonne prestige chattel either. People will grab those if the credit will let them but when it zones to the absolute crunch, people will drive absolutely anything if it avoids stinky random punters or riding a bike like some Victorian peasant labourer or 20th century Chinamen trying not to be shot in the back of the head for failing to comply. Otherwise it's again a motorbike, or, as there is no real rush-hour traffic to speak of and I have a dedicated parking space at the office, an (electric) car. For longer trips I do sometimes take the train, e.g. business trips to northern Italy, as the risk of being caught in heavy traffic (e.g. the Milan tangenziale, Mt Blanc tunnel, etc). is too high. But it is worth the premium of a 1st class ticket to ensure that the possibility of encountering too many stinky weirdo strangers is kept to the strictest minimum
TheDeuce said:
On a very positive note, it's now in the rules, all new public chargers MUST accept card payment without requiring registration/apps etc. That's going to make things far less frustrating over the next few years.
This is the game changer for me. When it's as easy as paying for petrol, and charges the car while I'm shopping / getting a brew/ other then it's a massive problem removed. All I want to do is plug in, charge, pay and carry on with my journey. Making it as simple as "pay at the pump" is for petrol refuelling will be a significant step forward. IMHO.DonkeyApple said:
ZedLeg said:
Ehm, lots of people enjoy riding bikes.
Not really. It's a fun hobby like golf and has seen a lot of growth since women were allowed into golf clubs but what we are really referencing here is the use of the bicycle as mass commuter transport in a country with high population, low road capacity and hilly terrain and inclement weather. To get that switch back to pre war, mass factory style commuting you really need an efficient system of shooting those who don't comply in the back of the head. 
Silenoz said:
This is the game changer for me. When it's as easy as paying for petrol, and charges the car while I'm shopping / getting a brew/ other then it's a massive problem removed. All I want to do is plug in, charge, pay and carry on with my journey. Making it as simple as "pay at the pump" is for petrol refuelling will be a significant step forward. IMHO.
That's precisely how the Gridserve and Instavolt chargers work in my experience.The only issue is Tesla superchargers require an app because there's no payment interface! No issue on Tesla car as it recognises the car, but non-Tesla need the app to authorise the charge.
Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff