Following up on your aspirations for massive investment in rail and bus it seems that it is either one or the other with rail losing as I witnessed today. As a nostalgic I find it extremely sad that rail travel is in decline, bring back steam I say .
The following photos of a once busy travel hub confirm that rail travel doesn’t pay and unlike in UK when someone would be quick to buy up the redundant land abd turn it into a retail centre there isnt the need or the appetite inFrance.
People want door to door personal transport.
At least the station still provides a terminus for bus travel!
Closer to home (my home) up until 3 years ago our local station was on the line from Perigueux/Limoges/ Brive. Now it is the end of the line with no access to Brive and at least one change of train to get to Perigueux/Limoges coupled with long waits when changing trains. Certainly no good for the supermarket or any other trip.
This I think is the most important point for the ‘EV - buy or wait?’ decision:
The EU’s first-mover status might not last long, since parts of the U.S. such as California and New York are eyeing up their own 2035 clean car mandates, while other developed economies are now considering similar policies. Global electric car leader Norway, for example, will get there in 2025.
The new EU rules won’t affect older cars already on the road by 2035, but the overall ambition is to make sure that all vehicles inside the EU are zero emissions by 2050.
My guess - and hope - is that more progressive countries will follow Norway’s lead and move from fossil fuels earlier - and this will snowball, as the fossil fuel infrastructure shrinks - disappears in some places people want to drive to - and fossil car second hand values fall through the floor.
Considering the UK are looking to ditch the EV 2035 idea it shows the capatalism side of the UK and how out of step they may become with other major counties of the world. I probably didnt put that very well but you get what I mean.
Is destroying twitter bad, I dont know, never been on it.
Consider if Musk hadnt shown the world EV’s could really compete we would be way behind so I forgive him some of his maddness.
Good reminder - EVs are a temporary compromise while we get governments to invest in comprehensive electric public transport, and housing that allows people to work and shop without going miles.
Maybe they wont have as many accidents so saving a lot on repairs/replacement and choosing an eco drive over an ego drive will save more.
Sound like that article was funded by the fossil fuel industry.
Well who else would pay for a BS report to reinforce the belief there is a future in fossil fuels?
Its as bad as the US tobacco industry paying scientists to lie and cover up the truth.
If unlike the US you go in the direction of Scandanavian countries you build data centres along with district heating systems and leisure centres you can recover the heat for use elsewhere so saving a fair amount of energy used elsewhere. Its about sensible use.
Well, maybe with intelligent design the heat from the control system can be used to heat the cockpit of the car in winter instead of drawing separately from the battery.
A lot, not all models have heat pumps for heating which use very little power from the huge battery. Even where resistive heating is used it takes only a small amount of a large 60+ kW battery. The battery pack does need to be kept at optimum temperature so most will warm the batteries when its cold outside but the heat when running is harvested for use on later models.
