Britains diesel scandal

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by Groundsman Willie

Give it a few years, caravans will be banned for being ecologically unsound. The increase in the drag coefficient will take the fuel economy of a car over the legally permitted 10% variance. Same will go for roof boxes and driving with a window open.

I am certain technology will continue to steadily move forward - remember the old joke about the first mobile phones? Where the phone fitted in your pocket but you carried the battery aaround in a suitcase!!

Also remember that in Star Trek The Next Generation - you see people walking around with Tablets taking “face time” calls and downloading info. Back in the late 1980’s early 1990’s this was Science Fiction. Now, just a few decades later we live with that technology every day.

So I have no doubt at all that our ‘next generation’ will see a significant change in how we power our vehicles.

[Darcydog]

Meant to add - SWMBO and I were avid caravanners and we towed a twin axle Senator Wyoming with a V8 petrol/LPG Discovery.

On LPG the 4litre V8 was more economical than the diesel version but towing a caravan obviously reduced the overall mpg.

As well as this, we came to realise that as caravaning became more popular - the site-costs increased such that compared to other ways of taking a break - caravanning was an expensive option.

We now use Airbnb for regular breaks - and use the trusty cdti ZT-T that give between 45 to 50 mpg.

We get away more than we did with the caravan as an Airbnb City Break is still enjoyable whatever the weather such that we get away over the full 12 months of the year.

So - I put my hand up here - we have changed our lifestyle - facilitated by a significant development in “independent” travel holidays - such that caravanning is no longer what we do because of the cost, cost of fuel and inconvenience of lugging your own accommodation around with you.

[Lovel]

Originally Posted by Groundsman Willie

Give it a few years, caravans will be banned for being ecologically unsound. The increase in the drag coefficient will take the fuel economy of a car over the legally permitted 10% variance. Same will go for roof boxes and driving with a window open.

I’ll just have to jump on fuel guzzling airliner then, surely more use of a finite resource?

Can’t wait for YouTube videos to appear soon about leccy point charging rage and fights breaking out in remote locations up and down the country which have the token charging station.

Geez as if charging my iPhone didn’t take up half my life already, a battery car would tip me over the edge for sure

[wraymond]

Has anyone who has the latest generation 'Smart' meter seen the overnight charging cost? (Overnight being usually free of other appliances being used).

[Phil th Barrow]

I look at it like this.

Deasil is dirty. Because there's to much un sold petrol in th economic system.

[mileshawk56]

Are the production pollution costs of electric cars and batteries less or more than using a petrol powered car?. I don't know but I can be convinced, maybe. I'm a lifelong pedalcyclist a long time to! and when of late it started to become the thing to do I used to hear much virtue signalling about how "green" it was to ride a bike. Until it was pointed out the cost to the planet in making aluminium wheels and parts, rubber/synthetics tyres, leather and plastic saddles and now carbon fibre., and Lycra Chris S.p.s. I still ride but try not to wear bits out.

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by mileshawk56

Are the production pollution costs of electric cars and batteries less or more than using a petrol powered car?. I don't know but I can be convinced, maybe. I'm a lifelong pedalcyclist a long time to! and when of late it started to become the thing to do I used to hear much virtue signalling about how "green" it was to ride a bike. Until it was pointed out the cost to the planet in making aluminium wheels and parts, rubber/synthetics tyres, leather and plastic saddles and now carbon fibre., and Lycra Chris S.p.s. I still ride but try not to wear bits out.

Totally agree - sadly it makes more financial sense to bin a white good when it breaks and buy a new one rather than get it repaired. But things are changing at long last.

Even Gardeners World on the BBC is now saying that the throw away plastic seed pots are not a good idea.

And a significant move is the supermarket Iceland now banning Palm oil in its own brand products.

I hope other chains follow Iceland’s lead as we in the West have such an appetite for cheap vegetable oil rather than cheap mineral oil that our greed has caused thousands of square miles of Rain Forest and other pristine habitats to be destroyed because we “want” green biodiesel and cheap chocolate and chips.

And to do this we sanction the destruction of the Orangutan’s habitat.

But it’s OK!!!!!

We are reducing our “carbon footprint” - so the planet is safe.

[alanaslan]

Originally Posted by andymc

Luckily, most people don't need to drive a car round Europe on a regular basis. For example, my own normal weekly driving covers about 100 miles, so in a new Leaf or an Ioniq just one charge every 9-10 days would be enough for me. In fact, I might even manage it on one charge a week with a previous generation Leaf, although it'd be pretty tight.

In terms of long-distance driving, seven or eight times a year I do a 560-mile round trip over a weekend. So a 300-mile range would easily suffice for that, allowing for an overnight slow charge. It takes me about 4.5 hours each way to do that trip without significant traffic delays and frankly, that's as much driving as I ever want to do either in a day or in a weekend, even in my incredibly comfortable Rover 75. So some models already available, and more models coming out this year and next would cover that.

Battery charging times are also coming down a bit but in any case, with 300 miles per charge starting to become available from this year on, there won't be as much need to rapid-charge so frequently.

In the end it is horses for courses. If like me you need lots of torque to pull the Caravan then it has to be diesel! If you are just pottering about town and going the odd distance then petrol is the way to go and if you are going petrol you are as well going LPG.
If you are Mr Green then it is electric and a very long cable all the way back to the power station generating you electricity by burning fuel making the dreaded co2 that you have bought electric to avoid.
Every type of vehicle has its place and its use but to suggest that one type fits all is rubbish. I can still remember when the milkman retired the horse that pulled his cart for his electric float and he delivered to every house in the village and Jack came round with his van selling groceries. Tuesdays was Pat the Fish man Thursdays the farmers boy came around selling Veg. Saturday morning the cream boy came around and the lemonade man in the afternoon with the exception of the Farmer and lemonade man who drove Albion trucks the rest of the bunch used comer vans.
I should also point out that when you got married your wife was expected to give up work and tend house whilst raising the children.
I would like to think we have progressed. But who is to say progression is the right way to go. In my youth you walked to work or cycled worst case you took the tram. Food was delivered to your door by those selling it your milk was on your door steep every morning. The French man came around with the onions on his push bike once a week. You got to chat to your neighbours whilst waiting at the back of the van to get your groceries.
Now we drive five to ten miles to a shopping centre to buy the goods we used to have delivered. Or if you are like me and find walking very difficult due to living too long, then Mr internet delivers my groceries, I get free TV my car spares come from China via the internet and my local Garage carry out the work to my car that I am now unable to do. Which I find very depressing.
The tourer is going in for its Service in the morning.
I never thought I would see the day when I would put my car in for three filters to be changed, one filter to be blowed out and re oiled.
The oil drained from the sump and the filled back up with the good stuff. A quick check of all bushes and alike then buttoned up for another year. Before I retired I used to do this seven times a year and it took under an hour from start to Finnish or if there was a problem with pads you could add thirty mins to the job.
Now my mileage is down to one service per year and I am old and broken I can still do the job but it takes several hours, much pain and little satisfaction, also takes a week to recover. So the garage get the work. The boys do what I used to. The tourer went in for its MOT last week and as expected passed. The saloon will be doing the same in four months time. My neighbours change cars every one or two years, they tell me I should buy a new car. Other than fuel I probably spend £300 pounds a year on the car between parts, tyres, MOT, and Garage bills, yes I still manage some myself.
My neighbours cars probably average 20k to buy they always owe around 12 to 14k. Even with my poor maths that means they loose around 3 to 4K per year. This means that they are spending ten times as much as me on their car and they are always in debit never owning the car they drive.
Both my Rovers were bought and paid for cash. They are big and comfy. Have all the toys my neighbours would like in their cars.
It does not matter if Hamish is wet and dirty after his walk the leather wipes clean. Put the Caravan on the back and away you go.
A very hard act to follow yes they are diesel but that is why they are so good for the job they do. Don’t pamper to Government pressure drive what you are comfortable in and what you feel safe in. What you do will make no difference now. Further the rules/guidelines change to suit the needs of the times. Just look at the WHO guide lines on air quality when the olympics found themselves in an extremely polluted country a few years ago. Suddenly the MEL & OEL for certain gases in the air were raised by 40 times that of which they previously were. I have to assume the text books previously published were wrong.
Every organisation have their pressure points and will bend with the political needs. As an individual do what makes you happy, believe me life is far to short to have regrets.
Alan


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by alanaslan

In the end it is horses for courses. If like me you need lots of torque to pull the Caravan then it has to be diesel! If you are just pottering about town and going the odd distance then petrol is the way to go and if you are going petrol you are as well going LPG.
If you are Mr Green then it is electric and a very long cable all the way back to the power station generating you electricity by burning fuel making the dreaded co2 that you have bought electric to avoid.
Every type of vehicle has its place and its use but to suggest that one type fits all is rubbish. I can still remember when the milkman retired the horse that pulled his cart for his electric float and he delivered to every house in the village and Jack came round with his van selling groceries. Tuesdays was Pat the Fish man Thursdays the farmers boy came around selling Veg. Saturday morning the cream boy came around and the lemonade man in the afternoon with the exception of the Farmer and lemonade man who drove Albion trucks the rest of the bunch used comer vans.
I should also point out that when you got married your wife was expected to give up work and tend house whilst raising the children.
I would like to think we have progressed. But who is to say progression is the right way to go. In my youth you walked to work or cycled worst case you took the tram. Food was delivered to your door by those selling it your milk was on your door steep every morning. The French man came around with the onions on his push bike once a week. You got to chat to your neighbours whilst waiting at the back of the van to get your groceries.
Now we drive five to ten miles to a shopping centre to buy the goods we used to have delivered. Or if you are like me and find walking very difficult due to living too long, then Mr internet delivers my groceries, I get free TV my car spares come from China via the internet and my local Garage carry out the work to my car that I am now unable to do. Which I find very depressing.
The tourer is going in for its Service in the morning.
I never thought I would see the day when I would put my car in for three filters to be changed, one filter to be blowed out and re oiled.
The oil drained from the sump and the filled back up with the good stuff. A quick check of all bushes and alike then buttoned up for another year. Before I retired I used to do this seven times a year and it took under an hour from start to Finnish or if there was a problem with pads you could add thirty mins to the job.
Now my mileage is down to one service per year and I am old and broken I can still do the job but it takes several hours, much pain and little satisfaction, also takes a week to recover. So the garage get the work. The boys do what I used to. The tourer went in for its MOT last week and as expected passed. The saloon will be doing the same in four months time. My neighbours change cars every one or two years, they tell me I should buy a new car. Other than fuel I probably spend £300 pounds a year on the car between parts, tyres, MOT, and Garage bills, yes I still manage some myself.
My neighbours cars probably average 20k to buy they always owe around 12 to 14k. Even with my poor maths that means they loose around 3 to 4K per year. This means that they are spending ten times as much as me on their car and they are always in debit never owning the car they drive.
Both my Rovers were bought and paid for cash. They are big and comfy. Have all the toys my neighbours would like in their cars.
It does not matter if Hamish is wet and dirty after his walk the leather wipes clean. Put the Caravan on the back and away you go.
A very hard act to follow yes they are diesel but that is why they are so good for the job they do. Don’t pamper to Government pressure drive what you are comfortable in and what you feel safe in. What you do will make no difference now. Further the rules/guidelines change to suit the needs of the times. Just look at the WHO guide lines on air quality when the olympics found themselves in an extremely polluted country a few years ago. Suddenly the MEL & OEL for certain gases in the air were raised by 40 times that of which they previously were. I have to assume the text books previously published were wrong.
Every organisation have their pressure points and will bend with the political needs. As an individual do what makes you happy, believe me life is far to short to have regrets.
Alan


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Excellent post -

[Lancpudn]

I read the other day that VW is putting up it's truck division (Scania, MAN and some others) for sale to help pay for it's new EV line up. it alone has placed an order for €20 billion of batteries/technology.

I wonder if the tipping point will be something like these pictures of Newyork from 1900 to 1913. that's the time it took to go from horse & buggy to motor cars.