Are we being forced to go electric?

[Chislenko]

And my car lives about a hundred yards away from my upstairs flat. Do I throw a cable out the bedroom window and run it across the car park?

You have missed the point @tyred EV's are for the upper echelon of society with a nice house with a block paved drive and probably a summerhouse in the back garden.

They are not for the rank and file who live in flats / apartments / tenaments / terraced housing etc.

I sympathise with your frustration.

At this point I should add that I do actually have a four car drive (not block paved) and a summerhouse but I still don't endorse EV's as I feel that for a lot of the UK population they aren't feasible.

 

[cougie uk]

Well what you save on council tax you might have to pay on charging away from home.
But its only electric. It's not like you have to fill them with something rare that doesn't come out of every power socket.

Lots of places you drive to will have facilities to charge and this will only increase.

 

[icowden]

You have missed the point @tyred EV's are for the upper echelon of society with a nice house with a block paved drive and probably a summerhouse in the back garden.

I'm not sure you have to be in the upper echelons to have a driveway. Plenty of lower priced houses around here (well, when they were bought) that have driveway space.

 

[tyred]

I have done that on holiday...

Do your flats provide parking ? Have you spoken to anyone about their plans for electric cars ?

I do have parking and no I haven't asked about plans for electric cars as I could never afford to buy one anyway. There is also the matter of who would pay for such work?

 

[Alex321]

I do have parking and no I haven't asked about plans for electric cars as I could never afford to buy one anyway. There is also the matter of who would pay for such work?

Presumably then, you can never afford to buy any car?

In which case, this whole discussion is a bit irrelevant for you.

 

[tyred]

Presumably then, you can never afford to buy any car?

In which case, this whole discussion is a bit irrelevant for you.

I can afford to buy a car, just not a new one. It will be many years before EVs come into my price range.

 

[Alex321]

I can afford to buy a car, just not a new one. It will be many years before EVs come into my price range.

Which is fair enough, but not never.

I'm not likely to buy one for a few year either. Technically, I could afford to buy one new now, but part of the reason I could is that I have never bought a new car, and I'm not going to start with EVs.

 

[cougie uk]

I can afford to buy a car, just not a new one. It will be many years before EVs come into my price range.

Well I'm sure the problem will have resolved itself by then.

Carry on as you are in the meantime.

 

[CXRAndy]

EV's are for the upper echelon of society with a nice house with a block paved drive and probably a summerhouse in the back garden.

Well that's around 70% of the UK households. Gosh I must be in rarefied company

 

[KnittyNorah]

Well that's around 70% of the UK households. Gosh I must be in rarefied company

You clearly are.
It all depends on where you live, so the fact that five out of six rural and semi-rural dwellers (and probably similar figures for suburbanites, too) have access to a driveway or other off-street parking rather skews the picture; 60% of homes in major cities and town centres do not have access to off-street parking of any sort. Surely it is in the most densely populated areas - which are likely to be among the most heavily polluted - by noise as well as emissions - where EVs will be of most benefit, at least in the short term.

 

[lazybloke]

Well that's around 70% of the UK households. Gosh I must be in rarefied company

Gosh, in your world, EVs are affordable to anyone with a drive.

 

[Alex321]

Gosh, in your world, EVs are affordable to anyone with a drive.

I wonder where you think he suggested any such thing?

 

[CXRAndy]

You clearly are.
It all depends on where you live, so the fact that five out of six rural and semi-rural dwellers (and probably similar figures for suburbanites, too) have access to a driveway or other off-street parking rather skews the picture; 60% of homes in major cities and town centres do not have access to off-street parking of any sort. Surely it is in the most densely populated areas - which are likely to be among the most heavily polluted - by noise as well as emissions - where EVs will be of most benefit, at least in the short term.

I suggest they catch the new electric bus 🚌 or walk or cycle if you live in a major city. Absolutely no need to own a personal vehicle.

My eldest daughter currently lives in London, cycles most days, her commute is 10 miles

Rents a car when she needs to go further a field.

Stop bleating about what inner city haven't got. They have far more facilities available than where I live. I'm not complaining I like the lack of infrastructure, keeps the scuffers away

 

[KnittyNorah]

I suggest they catch the new electric bus 🚌 or walk or cycle if you live in a major city. Absolutely no need to own a personal vehicle.

My eldest daughter currently lives in London, cycles most days, her commute is 10 miles

Rents a car when she needs to go further a field.

Stop bleating about what inner city haven't got. They have far more facilities available than where I live. I'm not complaining I like the lack of infrastructure, keeps the scuffers away

London is very much an exception to the 'usual' conditions in towns and cities. There are many, many places - particularly in the midlands and the north of England - where miles of narrow streets are lined with rows of terraced houses. There is no provision possible - within easy walking distance - for electric charging. These are not necessarily large cities, either - so people living there must often commute to jobs elsewhere. A paucity of reliable, regular public transport and bike facilities is endemic in, and between, a great many towns and cities in this country - especially in the areas where they would be of most use.

To compare the situation of your daughter (a relatively young woman I would imagine) in London, with its TfL policies, public transport subsidies, and bike superhighways, with that of a perhaps-much-older and less fit person, or someone with a couple of children, in a small Pennine mill town and a bus service to the nearest big town once an hour between 9am and 4pm, and never on Sundays or Bank Holidays, is not merely laughable, it is insulting.

 

[icowden]

To compare the situation of your daughter (a relatively young woman I would imagine) in London, with its TfL policies, public transport subsidies, and bike superhighways, with that of a perhaps-much-older and less fit person, or someone with a couple of children, in a small Pennine mill town and a bus service to the nearest big town once an hour between 9am and 4pm, and never on Sundays or Bank Holidays, is not merely laughable, it is insulting.

@CXRAndy didn't do that. You said:-

60% of homes in major cities and town centres do not have access to off-street parking of any sort.

@CXRAndy then pointed out that in major cities, it isn't an issue. It's a bit disingenuous of you to then count small Pennine mill towns as a major cities.

So this/-:

To compare the situation of your daughter (a relatively young woman I would imagine) in London, with its TfL policies, public transport subsidies, and bike superhighways, with that of a perhaps-much-older and less fit person, or someone with a couple of children, in a small Pennine mill town and a bus service to the nearest big town once an hour between 9am and 4pm, and never on Sundays or Bank Holidays, is not merely laughable, it is insulting.

Would be insulting but @CXRAndy didn't do that as it would be silly. Bristol, London, Manchester or Leeds are hardly going to be comparable to say Skipton.

If we look at somewhere like Skipton, it's an issue. Miles of terraced housing and streetlights set back against the wall. I'm sure it won't be too long before solutions are invented though...
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money...nswer-charging-EV-without-street-parking.html