New Electric Vehicle registrations in NI still pathetic

[Cooper]

Too expensive. Not enough public infrastructure. That’s the TLDR of this actually very good Beeb article on NIs lack of EV love over the past few years with only 427 BEVs sold in 2019.

I hope that spike from 2018/19 is the start of a trend. 0% BIK for company cars this coming tax year is bound to have a considerable difference.

Electric cars: 'Greater push needed to drive sales'

Battery-only cars accounted for less than 1% of the 51,512 new cars sold in Northern Ireland in 2019.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[stevieturbo]

 

[saxo_man]

I’ve been waiting 4+ months on my new EV, and it’s going to be at least another month before delivery. Due to shortage of battery parts is the reason.

 

[Woodcutter]

Good, I hope people continue not to buy them!

Long live the ICE!

 

[stevieturbo]

Alternative fuels make far more sense, even the likes of ethanol.....yet the government here gives zero support for it.

And there have been many reports of alternatives to diesel too that are totally renewable and cleaner. And of course hydrogen which makes the most sense.

The problem is, they've got themselves so fixated with this CO2 bull****, they've went mental over it and seem to ignore proper options.

But still the underlying problem they all ignore is people. I dread to think what this planet will be like in another 50 years when the population has many more billions of people on it, nevermind a 100 years or more.

 

[corsacj]

Yes @stevieturbo despite occasional ethical problems associated but deffo a good clean burning option. Even support for LPG etc here was minimal, gaseous or green fuel is a step forward, instead of batteries everywhere.

Methane conversion for older petrol cars would 100% outdo EVs on lifecycle pollution and can be sustainably sourced. Ensure extremely tight stoichiometric combustion, or sort out the catalysis of waste methane gas in the exhaust (which means diesel conversion possible too), and you are on to the winner IMO. Bit of a tangent; but people thinking they are helping the environment getting a new electric whip every few years with current infrastructure in most cases aren't wise lol; cars being a consumable 3 year cycle item these days is insane in its own.

 

[-Pete-]

Think of transportation and shipping networks, mining, heavy industry... they wont be getting rid of diesel engines anytime soon, let alone normal engines. scale the situation up for something like a 40 footer or an LNG ship or heavy industry earth mover/D10 dozer etc, you just couldn't even begin to replace any of those millions of machines with electric.
I think the battery tech needs to take a big leap forward to increase its output vs its footprint before it will be fully embraced by the general public.
I wont be going near one anytime soon unless something drastically changes. My current car is perfectly fine so why cause more environmental impact by scrapping/selling it and ordering an ev and its associated NEW co2 /environmental impact by a desire to own a new car. bit counter productive.
Also the increased dent in the household budget and running costs. not going to happen.

 

[mike150]

I was very very close to buying a new BMW i3 only weeks ago but the issue I had was that it didn't make any financial sense, I'd be no better off.

The depreciation was big + the energy costs I figured I was looking at £5000 per year...……£100 per week
My current Audi S3 with tax, depreciation, fuel and maintenance was £5000 per year...………£100 per week

The Audi is in perfect condition, its fast and 4wd so I backed out.

If EV's are the future its just going to take time for good used ones to come onto the market. An old Nissan Leaf with 60miles real range is not a practical option for a lot of people, myself included and then you have to look at it . Used i3's with the range extender have massively expensive potential faults so much so most owners recommend a BMW extended warranty at £900 a year! Golf E's are still around £20K and are rare with old tech. Teslas are big money and as NI has no Tesla backup or charge network they are rare.

I think the VW ID3, Honda E, Mini E and the others coming will change the market in the next few years, I'm hoping it will anyway as I do want an EV car next.

Audi are working on an A3 sized 4WD E-Tron car with 350hp, wish they'd hurry up

 

[Cooper]

Great video but doesn’t really speak to the NI situation. If that guy is in say west coast US the adoption rate is much higher than here.

BIK, more choice (Honda E, VW ID3 out this year) and considerably better range is bound to stimulate BEV sales.

However, the local infrastructure isn’t there yet. Cost is as many have mentioned a big factor.

Personally I find that something like a Model 3 performance which will out perform most things on the road, yet have the ongoing running costs that would make a DCI Clio look thirsty is very appealing.

Demand is also through the roof which is having an interesting effect on depreciation or lack thereof.

Public transport and heavy industry isn’t suitable for this sort of electrification, yet. But as the chap in the video says it can work perfectly well for a passenger car.

Whole CO2 is bottom of most people’s lists including the government. More... generate the CO2 in the third world. No doubt that has to be addressed but the blinkers are on all round.

0-60 in a saloon under 3s.... take my money.

 

[Gaz]

Good, I hope people continue not to buy them!

Long live the ICE!

Hear hear

 

[stevieturbo]

If he is in the US where takeup rate is higher....then it makes an even bigger point that the ICE is not dead.

But buses and public transport are absolutely ideal candidates for electric. Buses are already heavy with plenty of empty space for batteries. Weight less of an issue overall. They operate fixed routes, mileage will never change dramatically, so it's easy to build and plan to ensure battery life is never an issue. And depot charging or battery swaps again make charging a non issue. Really, there couldnt be a better candidate.

 

[stevieturbo]

 

[impact]

Already London size cities in China running their entire bus fleet as EV for reasons Stevie says.

Long distance lorry transport will go hydrogen once infrastructure in place.

Car manufacturers will face a choice over next number of years to either hold back on BEV (like Toyota) or go all in. Running ICE and EV platforms is hugely expensive as they are very different and means most prob run a loss on EV models. Only becomes profitable at mass scale and content stripping ie shared components.

 

[Cooper]

If he is in the US where takeup rate is higher....then it makes an even bigger point that the ICE is not dead.

But buses and public transport are absolutely ideal candidates for electric. Buses are already heavy with plenty of empty space for batteries. Weight less of an issue overall. They operate fixed routes, mileage will never change dramatically, so it's easy to build and plan to ensure battery life is never an issue. And depot charging or battery swaps again make charging a non issue. Really, there couldnt be a better candidate.

We never should have got rid of our trams!

 

[ShaunB]

Someone I know has just bought a Jaguar I pace.
He regularly travels around the country, in particular to and from Dublin.

When going to Dublin, he has to stop off at the Lusk Applegreen for 20 - 30 mins on his way back to charge it.
Don't know why he bought it as its complete inconvenience for him.

All his journeys now must be planned in advance.

 

[Mr.Mint]

Well all I have to say is that the attitude of the staff in Shelbourne Motors Nissan put me off buying one straight away. The guy couldn't have been more unhelpful and even though we are thinking of ordering either 3 or 5no Leafs for the company, he practically laughed at me when I asked for a weekend long test drive.

Disappointing to say the least...

 

[mike150]

Well all I have to say is that the attitude of the staff in Shelbourne Motors Nissan put me off buying one straight away. The guy couldn't have been more unhelpful and even though we are thinking of ordering either 3 or 5no Leafs for the company, he practically laughed at me when I asked for a weekend long test drive.

Disappointing to say the least...

That's largly the attitude from everyone regarding EV cars, I personally don't get it.

I said to my mate I was thinking of buying an i3 and he did laugh a lot, he told me his company sent out a questionnaire about what employees wanted from their company cars and one of the questions was would you want an EV, he said he put a very large X in the no.

Most people who laugh at EV's have never driven one or even been in one, my mate for one.

 

[Mr.Mint]

That's largly the attitude from everyone regarding EV cars, I personally don't get it.

I said to my mate I was thinking of buying an i3 and he did laugh a lot, he told me his company sent out a questionnaire about what employees wanted from their company cars and one of the questions was would you want an EV, he said he put a very large X in the no.

Most people who laugh at EV's have never driven one or even been in one, my mate for one.

Yeah, I would have thought a decent sale would have commended a better attitude but obviously not!

 

[Dusty]

I'd buy an electric car tomorrow if they were comparitively priced. I think the new electric Corsa, a f*cking Corsa, is over £30k. That's just madness.

 

[andy9eleven]

A lot of people and a lot of journeys don't even need cars.

If there was better, safer, infrastructure, e-bikes would make an awful lot more sense for a lot of journeys currently made by car.

 

[Coog]

A lot of people and a lot of journeys don't even need cars.

If there was better, safer, infrastructure, e-bikes would make an awful lot more sense for a lot of journeys currently made by car.

Improvement in the weather also wouldn't go amiss.

Even a small petrol engine'd motorbike makes a lot of sense for round the city. £100 odd taxes and insures one for the year and £5 lasts 100's of miles. Plus free reign over bus lanes city-wide at all times. Not a lot of use for taking two kids to nursery though!

 

[Dusty]

A lot of people and a lot of journeys don't even need cars.

If there was better, safer, infrastructure, e-bikes would make an awful lot more sense for a lot of journeys currently made by car.

The weather here is against us but you're right, a lot of people could get away with that instead of a car. I would take the motorbike to work every sunny day I can.

 

[andy9eleven]

Needs too much of a mindset shift to radically alter things. But this would be more than adequate for a lot of homes doing school runs.

Problem is your face is at exhaust level and you're competing for road space with Range Rovers and XC90s being driven by blind morons with no spatial awareness.

Still, say every household had one of these and a PHEV/hybrid for long journeys and commuting, and we pedestrianized all the town/city centres. Would make some difference.

 

[RallyCiaran]

We never should have got rid of our trams!

I think a tram like system will be a big part of future infrastructure. Run an overhead cable down the "fast" lane of the motorway, lorries etc hook up into it, easy solution for long distance electric travel.

 

[Coog]

Needs too much of a mindset shift to radically alter things. But this would be more than adequate for a lot of homes doing school runs.

Problem is your face is at exhaust level and you're competing for road space with Range Rovers and XC90s being driven by blind morons with no spatial awareness.

Still, say every household had one of these and a PHEV/hybrid for long journeys and commuting, and we pedestrianized all the town/city centres. Would make some difference.

View attachment 265348

View attachment 265347

There's a guy takes his kids to nursery in one of those every day. It appears to be electric assisted (so perhaps not even legal) but what a risk to take. Not a chance. Not here and not on a morning like we had today.