puntofan01 said:

I just hope they eventually look like normal cars, rather than Nissan Leafs!!

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Sadly, to make electric work it needs to be as aerodynamically efficient as possible, to partly counter the weight of the batteries. A conflict with 'pretty' that early adopters are happy to accept. By the time we all get them, we'll probably have to accept whatever is presented. It may be difficult to love an electric like we do our cars now, so being ugly may not mater so much.

puntofan01 said:

As others have touched upon, a major problem will be the location of charging points. I currently live in a terraced house in a village, ... Ideally, the parking on the main street would consist of individually marked spaces, each with its own charger, something that would happen nationwide, as well as in every car park.

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There are a lot of terraced streets where the house width is less than a car length. If each house has one car, there will not be enough spaces.

portland_bill said:

Sadly, to make electric work it needs to be as aerodynamically efficient as possible, to partly counter the weight of the batteries. A conflict with 'pretty' that early adopters are happy to accept. By the time we all get them, we'll probably have to accept whatever is presented. It may be difficult to love an electric like we do our cars now, so being ugly may not mater so much.


There are a lot of terraced streets where the house width is less than a car length. If each house has one car, there will not be enough spaces.

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I see! But if anybody can make mainstream electric cars good looking, then it'll be Fiat and Alfa Romeo, lol!

With regards to the parking in my village, what I actually meant was that you either swing in or reverse park on the main street, rather than parallel park. It was that sort of situation I was referring to.

Mini stepped up to the plate today with the all electric mini hatch

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/08/30/bmw-unveils-concepts-british-built-electric-mini/

Also today Cummings announced their all electric lorry, which apparently has a range that would make a Nissan Leaf look good, but at least it's a start.

I must admit, given all the government's talks about CO2 targets, etc, I'm surprised they haven't made roof mounted solar panels compulsory on all new build housing, especially as it may well end up with motoring becoming electric.

That's a bit of a sore point at the moment.

The government want people/companies to build lots of new houses to meet demand and so they have scrapped some of the plans from 2008 that were meant to see that houses were routinely built with renewables in mind. At the moment these plans won't get reinstated till after 2020 I believe, keeping the costs of building down to hopefully help drive building.

Fair enough. I'm not a hippie/tree hugger, but I do hope that renewable energy sources are actually given a proper chance. A lot of people complain about wind farms, yet I don't imagine they're any more of a blight to the landscape than any power station!!

puntofan01 said:

Fair enough. I'm not a hippie/tree hugger, but I do hope that renewable energy sources are actually given a proper chance. A lot of people complain about wind farms, yet I don't imagine they're any more of a blight to the landscape than any power station!!

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You obviously don't live near a large wind farm. They (and solar farms) cover a huge area compared to a power station and are visible for miles. They also tend to be built in exposed i.e. visible areas.


Robert G8RPI.

I don't live near a wind farm, but I have visited 1 once in Cornwall: I found it fascinating tbh.

Norfolk is full of wind turbines, I have 4 very large turbines not far from where I live and they certainly don't looks anything like half as bad as a power station, billowing smoke and steam or with a large dome like the not to distant sizewell which is just a big monument to harmful radiation

We have five wind turbines near here. A community project that I put a small investment into when it started up. They are visible on the skyline from all around, but are often not quite where you expected to see them. Great fun seeing where they've moved to each sighting.

They have provided a nice little dividend each year too.

A few people have moaned about the blight on the view. But due to their location, they are only blocking the view of a bit of sky, and there's lots more of that nearby. Being a shareholder I've had teh chance to see them close up. Looking into the door and looking up to the top is quite daunting. Not had the chance to climb one, although the internal stairs look ok, but a long way, so perhaps best not.

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/frankfurt-motor-show/jaguar-has-built-all-electric-e-type

TAKE MY MONEY !!

AndyRKett said:

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/frankfurt-motor-show/jaguar-has-built-all-electric-e-type

TAKE MY MONEY !!

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I'd rather have something new than that. It's a good marketing exercise though. I've just been looking at the 2018 Leaf. That's an impressive car I think if they keep the price down I'd love one as it would mean I could do my commute safely.

Paddynabs said:

I'd rather have something new than that. It's a good marketing exercise though. I've just been looking at the 2018 Leaf. That's an impressive car I think if they keep the price down I'd love one as it would mean I could do my commute safely.

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I've not taken a proper look at the new leaf yet but hearing good things, will probably look tomorrow night.

AndyRKett said:

I've not taken a proper look at the new leaf yet but hearing good things, will probably look tomorrow night.

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It'll be interesting to see if they sink in value like the current leaf once they've been out for a year or two.

There's a few things I love about the idea of the Leaf...

Mainly being able to tell it to defrost itself from an app on my phone from my bed if I'm honest.

StevenRB45 said:

There's a few things I love about the idea of the Leaf...

Mainly being able to tell it to defrost itself from an app on my phone from my bed if I'm honest.

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For I think somewhere in the region of £1000 my golf can do that

AndyRKett said:

For I think somewhere in the region of £1000 my golf can do that

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If you park it in gear do you find it in next doors garden? :devil:

If I want to drive electric, I'll go to the funfair, and step into a bumpercar....
And those japanese hybrids/electrics are the most horrible looking peoplemovers I've ever seen....

Peter Pick-Up said:

And those japanese hybrids/electrics are the most horrible looking peoplemovers I've ever seen....

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All in the eye of the beholder, I rather like the look of my gen 3 Prius, and the current Nissan Leaf.

StevenRB45 said:

There's a few things I love about the idea of the Leaf...

Mainly being able to tell it to defrost itself from an app on my phone from my bed if I'm honest.

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The Russians have had timer controlled petrol burning heaters for many years. Was an option on the UK Ladas, although I've only ever seen one with it.