acorb
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The Electric Car - saving the climate or just polluting in other ways?
acorb replied to Sky Full's topic in Climate Change
Probably about £40 a month compared to £150 a month previously in fuel. Electric cars have adjustable torque, usually via an eco mode or some now have a snow mode button - this reduces the amount of power put down on the road. Overall handling is excellent, the low batteries mean it is grounded in the road and holds corners remarkably well for a heavy car. If there was that much snow on the road I would not be driving in it anyway, in petrol or electric! However, I would add that the country with the highest number of electric cars per person is Sweden - not known for its mild winters! A 50kw battery holds enough power to run an average home for a week, a few hours powering a heater in a car won't bother it.. I'm not pretending electric cars will suit everyone (yet!), or they are going to save the planet on their own (they're not) - but the amount of scaremongering that is being published by some media at the moment is especially laughable to someone who actually owns one! -
The Electric Car - saving the climate or just polluting in other ways?
acorb replied to Sky Full's topic in Climate Change
Well I drive one (which from reading the thread so far nobody else does!), so let me provide some facts from 2 years & 35000 miles. -Affordability. Yes they are expensive to buy, but most people use finance or lease. Mine is on a business lease and it was more affordable than hybrid or petrol. Given I charge mine at home I have saved a fortune on fuel in those 2 years. -Practicality. I live in the middle of rural Wales. I use my car every day, but virtually all my journeys are under 150 miles, so I don't really need to use the public charging network. However, in the last 2 years nearly every town near me has acquired a charge point. Many are now used frequently. -Useabilty. Once you have driven one, you will be amazed with the performance. Instant power. Far from new untried technology, my car has been fault free, reliable and a pleasure to drive. Several of my colleagues have now ordered EVs. -Green? They are emission free, but only as green as the electric that goes in. New battery technology uses far less rare metals than ev batteries 10 years ago and are now recyclable - but they aren't perfect. But lithium batteries are in all sorts of portable electronics including mobile phones, do we boycott them? -Power supply - I hear this a lot. EVs can already be programmed to charge off peak, that's when I charge mine. New technology means EVs can be used as portable storage, storing electricity at times of plenty and are capable of providing power, to remove the grid's peaks and troughs. Let's get solar onto roofs and pair them with EVs where possible, your EV could power your house for free potentially and actually reduce grid dependance. -Are EVs the future? For me yes, it works and I'm impressed with the technology. It is still developing, new EVs go further and charge quicker than just 2 years ago. But I agree with the poster above, we still need to better develop public transport - nothing is greener than an electrically powered train for long distances or cycling / walking for short distances. -
The continuing snow and frost brought an unusual visitor into the garden first thing this morning, never seen one in the daylight in the garden - must be starving. A reminder to remember our furred and feathered friends in this prolonged cold snap! Still seems considerable uncertainty in both the short and medium term over on the other thread, all I know was that we certainly weren't expecting to still have snow on the ground now!
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Just been for a walk around town, glorious conditions out there. Very little thaw and snow still quite thick widely. Temp has struggled up to 1c, has been much colder this week than forecast and doesn't look much warmer tomorrow. Hopefully the snow will last well into the weekend. Netweather forecast for next week seems to have backtracked on much of a warm up and shows colder conditions returning mid-week? Certainly no sign of the Atlantic deluge we enjured since Christmas, thank goodness.
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Had to drive to a meeting in Newtown earlier. After 30mins of clearing the snow and gritting, managed to get both cars out safely, temp was - 3. On arrival in Newtown not any snow to be seen and felt quite warm in the sun, temp 6c! On the way home the sky darkened and by Llangurig there was a full on blizzard! 0c and A470 was starting to white over in places. Continued all way back to Rhayader. Partial thaw in the sun here, but temp only 1c, will freeze hard again tonight.