A recent discussion with a couple of pals of mine about the switchover to electric cars in 2030 raised the concern of safety regarding pedestrians not being able to hear them. 

It transpires on the drawing board artificial noise of some kind is going to be possibly added to them so they can be heard in the distance.

So my mate Terry say's "if that's the case I want mine to sound like a V12 Ferrari". "Yeah okay then you have the money to buy a Tesla then?" Replies my other pal Mark.

So the question is next bounced off me, in which I replied "if I'm able to have the choice I would want my car to sound like it had a 1750hp English Electric 12CSVT diesel engine fitted to it, with a pair of brass Desilux air horns bolted to the roof !" 

Mine will probably sound like a petrol engine, as a month or so before that law comes in I may replace my current petrol car with another.
Is there anyone who believes the infrastructure and support will be in place in time for the change?
Mind you, I probably won't need a car by then

I'll be about 76 Mick, so still should be problem for other road users! 

Quote from: Newportnobby on March 13, 2021, 04:27:20 PM
Mine will probably sound like a petrol engine, as a month or so before that law comes in I may replace my current petrol car with another.
Is there anyone who believes the infrastructure and support will be in place in time for the change?
Mind you, I probably won't need a car by then

and you'll get a good deal, cause dealers will need to get rid of their petrol and diesel models before the ban.

I used to drive from here up to our house on the Moray coast in one hit, stopping for a few coffees on the way, and an hour's snooze at the last services before Glasgow.

guess with an electric car I'd need to allow a week.

No way will the infrastructure be up to us all going electric by 2030, As long as I can get diesel I will stick with my Merc 300h diesel hybrid.

personally I still believe the idea of a petrol / diesel engine [small] driving a genny which charges the batteries at the most efficient and environmentally friendly rate is the way to go.

oh, hang on, isn't that how diesel locos work 

I remember the proper top gear team doing a comparison years ago between the environmental impacts of building, running for 10 years, and then scrapping a Range Rover V8 petrol and Toyota Prius.....

overall..

the Rangie won hands down.

so we'll forget that shall we, it won't fit in with the 'correct thinking'

My car already makes fake noise in the cabin to make it sound more sporty than it is!

Whilst I conceptually don't disagree with the need to make cars noisier how do people deal with things like cyclists which are potentially silent?!

If i did have an electric car I'd settle for a louder 'electric' sound, so I could at least pretend I was in Back to the Future 2. I agree that the infrastructure will never be there. How do you deal with anyone who lives in flats, or frankly has to rely on on-street parking?

Have to admit a DeLorean hadn't crossed my mind, now that would be pretty cool!

I forgot that I live in a flat and share the carpark with 9 other residents I cannot see the freeholder installing enougth charging stations to keep us all mobile. So that's another reason to stick with my Diesel Hybrid for as long as I can.

I want my next car to be powered by unobtanium.

Seriously, I had petrol all my life as I knew as a scientist it was the cleaner fuel compared with diesel, for local environmental impacts, that is.
My cars got more and more fuel efficient and exciting. Honda 1.8 VTI VTEC and then a Toyota VTEC Celica that did 45mpg.
I progressed ultimately to Mazda's RX8 Wankel engine so I could have a seriously sporty car to drive (and one I could afford) even if it only did 25mpg.

When I had bought the first one, I got all the evangelists telling me that I was destroying the ozone layer (wrong - I was generating a lot of CO2 per km, but never mind).
They didnt care about particulates then. It wasn't politicised like CO2 was.
I then got a second RX8 with even worse fuel economy. 16mpg. But it had lovely black alloys.

But it was time to slow down. I had trouble with the clutch pedal and had a bad left knee.
So I got an automatic BMW. It was delightful. It was a diesel. It was the only engine BMW bothered to supply it with.

Then the air quality brigade, after persuading me to sell my nice fast petrol car, as it was emitting too much CO2, told me I was now emitting particulates and killing everyone.
I of course knew this when I bought the car, but no-one was listening to me then.
So I still have a diesel.
It's the wrong engine and fuel for doing 25,000 miles in five years of ownership.
But the car is still lovely.

I'd like an electric car, or a plug in AND self-charging hybrid (why cant I have both?), but I want the infrastructure to support it. And I want the politics to support it. But most of all I want the science to support it. And that means longer battery life, lower risks of battery explosions or fires, and rapid charging.

The petrol engine is currently back in fashion, because electric is still too costly for most of us, but what is really needed is someone to de-politicise our energy policy and make it consistent and long term. Because only then will I be able to say I've got the right car with the right fuel that is right for the local environment and right for the planet.

Hmmmmm.  Lets go mine some unobtanium and destroy someone else's Eden.

Bob

much the same here, always had petrol cars or my favourite a V8 Landy county, but hen the politicians / scientists etc said I was a bad person, destorying the world using petrol, and diesel was what I should be driving.....
so like a good lad, I got a diesel, then another, now on a Volvo XC70, best car I've ever had, but now I'm a criminal again, destroying the world again, even though I took their advice  :'(

you just can't win.

wind power is best = oh birds fly into the blades and get killed 

solar power = we'll pay you to put it on your roof = err no we won't now 

Nuclear, now that is good =err no it's not 

still, by next week we'll all be being told to drive cars fuelled by cow-dung / methane 

I GIVE UP

Quote from: Ditape on March 13, 2021, 05:09:56 PM
I forgot that I live in a flat and share the carpark with 9 other residents I cannot see the freeholder installing enougth charging stations to keep us all mobile. So that's another reason to stick with my Diesel Hybrid for as long as I can.

I can see purpose built flats with dedicated parking spaces being able to offer charging points but a large chunk of Eastbourne is old Victorian houses converted to flats where there is zero parking. It's a case of hoping to find a hole within walking distance of home so charging will be an impossibility.
Other issues I see already exists where there are public charging points. A couple of years back whilst attending an event at the NEC we needed to be there by 7am with a finish time of 7pm. 2 of my 'colleagues' have Tesla's so upon arrival parked by the charging points and plugged their cars in and there they stayed until the evening when they returned to them. Yep, there may be charging points available but they're useless if they can only charge one car a day!
I can't see there ever being the infastructure to support everyone having to have an electric car unless by 2030 there have been some considerable advances.

I'm doubtful there will be the infrastructure also. That's why a got a self charging hybrid a year ago.  It's a Toyota Auris, same engine/drive train as a Prius, and I'm really happy with it.  Totally silent except for tyre noise when on electric.  My son has a BMW 535e, also a hybrid, but plug in.  His makes a whirrring noise when on electric, the sound increases as the speed increases.  I believe the law changed in 2019 so electric/hybrid cars must be audible, at least here in the UK.

Quote from: thebrighton on March 13, 2021, 05:50:41 PM
I can't see there ever being the infastructure to support everyone having to have an electric car unless by 2030 there have been some considerable advances.

Quote from: TrevL on March 13, 2021, 06:35:08 PM
I'm doubtful there will be the infrastructure also.

Even if there are sufficient charging points installed, from where is the massive increase required in electricity generation to come - especially if, as has been proposed, gas central heating has been outlawed for new builds and yet more electricity is needed to replace that?

I'm with the school of thought that pure battery electric is ultimately going to be a dead end other than perhaps local short range delivery vehicles (e.g. milk floats!)
For the majority of private vehicles, some form of onboard generation using clean fuels such as the hydrogen fuel cell is the way to go. Current H-FC technology offers around 65-70% of the range of petrol for the same volume tank, similar refill times and converting existing fuel stations is not a massive job.