Like it or not electric bikes are going to take over, but with Zeroes, Hayabusa prices for SV650 performance, it ain't gonna happen yet. Got to admit though, the purchase price and recharging time are the only things that put me off.
Where are all these electric vehicles going to get charged if you do not have a drive or garage?How much will electricity cost when everyone is trying to charge their emission free vehicle and the goverment is getting no money from fuel and excise duty?
Just think of all the GAS powered power stations they'll have to build in every town to feed all the quick charge stations we're going to need?! Wait hang on! Did no one ask where the electricity was going to come from? ...or are we going to have a program for building nuclear power stations? Or a wind turbine on every street corner?
Burning gas in a power station is cleaner, and using it to subsequently power a motor car is more efficient.
Generation and transmission losses mean only about 33% of the energy in the gas appears as electricity by the time it reaches the end user.
The big drawback,as I see it, preventing long term strategic & coherent planning re energy, health & social services,etc etc is that we "elect" a party who are in power for the short term(4-5 years) between elections.There is no doubt that we all now face unprecedented problems re overcrowding, diminishing air "quality", increased demand/competition for finite resources and global warming. I see no signs that our present bunch of politicians have any idea what to do about the really important issues that affect all of us & more so our children & grand children.Whatever happened to the hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles that Honda trialled in California? These required liquid hydrogen as power source & the only exhaust was water vapour resulting from this clean burn vehicle? Could this be a way forward?I agree that we are probably going to be the last generation to enjoy hydrocarbon burning personal transport-the age of the autonomous vehicle is almost here & the oil reserves are being consumed at ever increasing rate as the East embraces the internal combustion engine the same way we in the West did in the last century. Electricity is a wonderful energy provider but lets not forget the hidden costs/side effects of generating it. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in our universe.
The big drawback,as I see it, preventing long term strategic & coherent planning re energy, health & social services,etc etc is that we "elect" a party who are in power for the short term(4-5 years) between elections.
The industry (as was many at the time) was privatised to reduce the effect the unions could have and the result - a distinct lack of strike action and disruption following privatisation.Simples!However, this thread has drifted slightly from the original post - I do not think I will be investing in either an electric car or bike. The cost will be stupid and not just in pound notes. It will be public transport for me after the last infernal combustion engine goes..........