E cars and the change to the urban landscape

[661-Pete]

*are you sponsor€d...

In a few weeks' time, you won't be allowed to use the word "sponsor€d" anymore. It'll have to be "$pon$ored". Or maybe even "$pon$oяed"....

[kwackers]

*are you sponsor€d, like someone else on these fora who is so enthusiastic about w*****s pubs seems to be?
(irony alert )

Why do I need to be sponsored?

I'm enthusiastic in that I'd rather people be driving EV's than IC's - that's about the sum of it.
EV's are a step in the right direction, nothing more, nothing less.
Most of my posts are about addressing the usual 'old' myths that perpetuate about them.

I'm also enthusiastic about closing town and city centres to traffic. Also anything that removes the need to own a car or removes the ability of the driver to compromise the safety of the vehicle and those around it.

And making stuff - I love making stuff.

[pwa]

*are you sponsor€d, like someone else on these fora who is so enthusiastic about w*****s pubs seems to be?
(irony alert )

Why do I need to be sponsored?

I'm enthusiastic in that I'd rather people be driving EV's than IC's - that's about the sum of it.
EV's are a step in the right direction, nothing more, nothing less.
Most of my posts are about addressing the usual 'old' myths that perpetuate about them.

I'm also enthusiastic about closing town and city centres to traffic. Also anything that removes the need to own a car or removes the ability of the driver to compromise the safety of the vehicle and those around it.

And making stuff - I love making stuff.

I respect your enthusiasm. And the process of closing town and city centres to traffic began in the 1960s and has been creeping along ever since, so it should not be all that controversial as a concept. We called it pedestrianisation. My home town of Bolton was one of the first town centres (I think Coventry was another) to take motor vehicles off the busiest shopping street some time in the 60s. Off the top of my head I cannot think of any big town that does not have some pedestrianised streets in the centre. So a precedent is established. What you desire is expansion of the "traffic-free" zones, presumably allowing access for deliveries outside busy periods.

[kwackers]

What you desire is expansion of the "traffic-free" zones, presumably allowing access for deliveries outside busy periods.

Indeed.
I'd like to see entire centres closed to traffic rather than a few pedestrianised streets which seems to be the way at the moment.
I guess what I want to see is traffic moved away from people, I want to see people feeling safe walking and cycling around their environments. Parks, gardens etc. Stuff we'd probably once have expected of the future but which now have been relegated to some form of 'lefty utopia' by those with the desire to cram more of us into smaller and smaller spaces whilst they live in their Mc Mansions with manicured gardens.

[pwa]

What you desire is expansion of the "traffic-free" zones, presumably allowing access for deliveries outside busy periods.

Indeed.
I'd like to see entire centres closed to traffic rather than a few pedestrianised streets which seems to be the way at the moment.
I guess what I want to see is traffic moved away from people, I want to see people feeling safe walking and cycling around their environments. Parks, gardens etc. Stuff we'd probably once have expected of the future but which now have been relegated to some form of 'lefty utopia' by those with the desire to cram more of us into smaller and smaller spaces whilst they live in their Mc Mansions with manicured gardens.

I agree that keeping heavy traffic away from people who are not in motor vehicles is something worth aiming for. How best to achieve that will vary from one place to the next. It will be less difficult for example where there is already an inner ring road of some sort. It will be more problematic where "through traffic" is fed in to the centre due to the historic layout of major roads. So it must be a case by case thing. But yes, every time I go somewhere I haven't been for a while and see the pedestrianised area has grown, I smile.

[mercalia]

so this is how we will charge our ecars in future?

any one see the health and safety issues here?

hundreds on hundreds of power cables all over the place? ( what voltage do they use by the way?)

[pwa]

so this is how we will charge our ecars in future?

ecars.JPG

any one see the health and safety issues here?

hundreds on hundreds of power cables all over the place? ( what voltage do they use by the way?)

I expressed concern over power cables being draped around public areas before and was told it was not going to be a problem. Imagine how this might affect partially sighted folk. Or anyone looking up at the traffic rather than down at the floor as they step between two parked cars to cross the road. I visited a house recently that had a car on charge in the drive and the lead was draped across the only space with enough room to get to the door, so any visitor was confronted with a trip hazard. When the compo claims start coming in somebody will start taking this seriously.

[kwackers]

as they step between two parked cars to cross the road.

Do they really do that?
If I was partially sighted the last thing I'd do is step from behind a parked car, that's gotta be asking for trouble surely?

(Mind you I did nearly hit a guys 'blind' dog once because he did precisely that, slightly different timing and a car and the guy and his dog would have been toast)

[kwackers]

When the compo claims start coming in somebody will start taking this seriously.

Which is exactly has it should be.
I have read anecdotal stories of folk being politely told by the council to use anti trip covers for the cable. It does seem a bit daft that you'd string a cable across a pavement with no protection.

Perhaps it's time to do what the Japs do and not allow folk to buy cars who haven't got official parking spaces.

[mercalia]

I cant see the national grid being able to meet the demand? how many more power stations will need to be built? ok do charge in the night - but what about winter time when all the low cost power is used for heating?

[mercalia]

as they step between two parked cars to cross the road.

Do they really do that?
If I was partially sighted the last thing I'd do is step from behind a parked car, that's gotta be asking for trouble surely?

(Mind you I did nearly hit a guys 'blind' dog once because he did precisely that, slightly different timing and a car and the guy and his dog would have been toast)

well in the road in question its full of parked cars what do you do? in fact in London all the residential roads are full of parked cars. you have no choice. I was thinking of a thread discussing these metal vermin worse than rats all over the place.

[pwa]

as they step between two parked cars to cross the road.

Do they really do that?
If I was partially sighted the last thing I'd do is step from behind a parked car, that's gotta be asking for trouble surely?

(Mind you I did nearly hit a guys 'blind' dog once because he did precisely that, slightly different timing and a car and the guy and his dog would have been toast)

You don't need to be registered blind to have dodgy eyesight, enough to miss a lead draped across the floor at ankle height. Many folk over 80 fail to see things like that. If I draped leads around the floor like that in a factory it would be deemed a health and safety issue. And in the hours of darkness... Those leads need to be up in the air, descending vertically from a boom or something like that. But it looks as though we will follow the time honoured route and wait until we have enough blood on the ground before we address what seems to me to be the bleedin obvious.

[kwackers]

I cant see the national grid being able to meet the demand? how many more power stations will need to be built? ok do charge in the night - but what about winter time when all the low cost power is used for heating?

It's a bit of a myth.

The national grid itself reckons EV's will add a 10% extra load but then due to increases in efficiency we use something like 16% less energy anyway since the mid 2000's.
On top of that pretty much everyone that can charges their car up overnight using one of the cheap rates which means that even that extra 10% is tucked away using power that nobody else wants anyway.

Not sure about winter requiring all that low cost power either.
The load overnight drops through the floor so if folk are using it for heating they're not using that much.

[mercalia]

I cant see the national grid being able to meet the demand? how many more power stations will need to be built? ok do charge in the night - but what about winter time when all the low cost power is used for heating?

It's a bit of a myth.

The national grid itself reckons EV's will add a 10% extra load but then due to increases in efficiency we use something like 16% less energy anyway since the mid 2000's.
On top of that pretty much everyone that can charges their car up overnight using one of the cheap rates which means that even that extra 10% is tucked away using power that nobody else wants anyway.

Not sure about winter requiring all that low cost power either.
The load overnight drops through the floor so if folk are using it for heating they're not using that much.

There are or used to be special electricity rates eg Economy 7 for storeage heaters that used cheap night time power. Is that still around?

[Oldjohnw]

I cant see the national grid being able to meet the demand? how many more power stations will need to be built? ok do charge in the night - but what about winter time when all the low cost power is used for heating?

It's a bit of a myth.

The national grid itself reckons EV's will add a 10% extra load but then due to increases in efficiency we use something like 16% less energy anyway since the mid 2000's.
On top of that pretty much everyone that can charges their car up overnight using one of the cheap rates which means that even that extra 10% is tucked away using power that nobody else wants anyway.

Not sure about winter requiring all that low cost power either.
The load overnight drops through the floor so if folk are using it for heating they're not using that much.

There are or used to be special electricity rates eg Economy 7 for storeage heaters that used cheap night time power. Is that still around?

I believe so. I've just been going through the process of changing power supplier and I was asked if I use that tariff. I used to have it when I lived in the back of nowhere and had storage heaters.