Picture(s) of the day....

[NewcastleFalcon]

...E-Up!....Today's the day one of the worlds biggest car makers announced it was aiming to produce 30 new models of all-electric vehicles by 2025, when they anticipate that 1 in 4 new vehicles will be all-electric.

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/assets/cont ... tyle_1.jpg

One of the other big car-makers has this sort of view,



With the very big players thinking along these lines the crtical mass for EV/Hybrid/Fuel Cell cannot be that far off, with more of these vehicles on offer fuelling more take up from the public/business customers.

The fuel-cell, hydrogen-based vehicle is probably the "best" option, but the infrastructure to support it appears more difficult to achieve, as was the case of course in the early days of gasoline-powered vehicles when the infrastructure consisted of buying it in cans from the Chemist or Hardware store!

Regards Neil

[Stickyfinger]

e-up

will go down well in Yorkshire

[NewcastleFalcon]

Yes the e-UP! could do with a bit of interest being added. It comes in the usual boring range of colours white, black, blue and two shades of silver, it does need that a cloth cap roof as an option!

Regards Neil

[white exec]

See also e-Citroen all-electrics, including the e-Mehari.
Good to see the Citroen name being used once more, in the context of technical innovation. Not before time!

[elma]

E up has to be an improvement on the up. I've had one in London for a few days, first impression was good. Drive was not very satisfying, it was the engine and box I didn't like. The car itself isn't so bad for a vw but because of the engine I'd place it equal to an annoying wasp.

[Gibbo2286]

How about this then:

http://www.theforestreview.co.uk/articl ... hyear=2016

[elma]

The fuel-cell, hydrogen-based vehicle is probably the "best" option, but the infrastructure to support it appears more difficult to achieve, as was the case of course in the early days of gasoline-powered vehicles when the infrastructure consisted of buying it in cans from the Chemist or Hardware store!

From what I've seen at their factories about half of uk car manufacturer development teams are taking Hydrogen very seriously. There appear to be a number of test vehicles on the highways as the filling areas are usually accessible from the roads more easily than the test tracks. Of course they say nothing, my ideas are deduced from observation and I can't name names because I promised not too.

[NewcastleFalcon]

How about this then:

and the Riversimple vehicle which goes 300 miles on 1.5kg of Hydrogen, 0-60 in 10 secs, and 60mph, looks like this

https://rachel122333.files.wordpress.co ... png?w=1050

Regards Neil

[Sloppysod]

How about this then:

and the Riversimple vehicle which goes 300 miles on 1.5kg of Hydrogen, 0-60 in 10 secs, and 60mph, looks like this



Regards Neil

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... eaner-cars

And there is a German proposal is that all new cars sold after 2030 should be electric, (14 years).

So it looks like the Welsh are leading the race!!


Talk about thinking outside the box.

[Gibbo2286]

Those Welsh ones have a little bit of a 2CV look about them.

[NewcastleFalcon]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... eaner-cars

And there is a German proposal is that all new cars sold after 2030 should be electric, (14 years).
So it looks like the Welsh are leading the race!!
Talk about thinking outside the box.

Thanks for posting up that article, in the top 10 largest companies in the World in terms of revenue the "energy companies" (oil companies) feature heavily. Not surprising really that Shell want to "protect their interests". VW also made it into the top 10 in 2015, although their revenues have taken a bit of a pasting recently, and maybe their latest announcement reflects, just a couple of months later, that they are beginning to swim with the tide.

There is obviously a serious political will in Europe to turn towards electric/fuel cell technologies for cars, and if China as hinted by the article is also of that persuasion, it will be interesting to see how the change develops.

It will also be interesting to watch the strategy of the oil companies in the top 10. Will they fight and block as best they can, or switch focus, and try to make money out of the new networks needed to support electric/fuel cell vehicles. Will they devote R&D to the manufacture of Hydrogen with efficient "carbon-capture" at source, rather than the production of petrol and diesel to be burnt in billions of individual internal combustion engines, from the oil they extract from the earth.

I would probably expect a few blocking tactics to begin with, and maybe with an inevitable fall in demand, price reductions/litre to erode the economic case in individual's buying decisions for new vehicles, and hence slow down the take up of the freely available hybrids and all-electric vehicles even now.

I read a bit of very probably "spinning of the facts to suit your own puproses" in the blurb for the Audi e-tron Hybrid that the average trip length for journeys made in the UK was 7 miles. If this is the case, someone buying a hybrid even with a paltry range on electric-only like the Audi of only 20 miles, is going to be running it on 100% electric most of the time.

Regards Neil

[Gibbo2286]

But they still have to get the electricity from somewhere to charge these things so I think the Germans are going to struggle, they have no natural resources themselves and have a ban on new nuclear, maybe they'll have to raid their neighbours resources again.

[NewcastleFalcon]

I have just watched that video, and if ever there was a company you would wish to make a success out of their products then Riversimple has to be the one! I think it needs at least a thread of its own so maybe more members get the chance to view it rather than such a gem being "lost" on pictures of the day

Brilliant!

Regards Neil

[NewcastleFalcon]

So it looks like the Welsh are leading the race!!
Talk about thinking outside the box.

I have put the video up on this thread here as well now....very impressed

Welsh Car Chat-Riversimple....

Regards Neil

[CitroJim]

When you can get fantastic fuel efficiency and relatively good environmental credentials from the likes of the C1 why bother with other forms of energy? The batteries used in electric cars have a terrible environmental impact and as said, the electricity has to come from somewhere..

Hydrogen looks good on initial looks but the energy needed to manufacture hydrogen suitable for use in cars is massive. Again it has to come from somewhere...

I see both these avenues as dead-end; appealing only to the poorly misinformed eco-warriors... The modern-day sandal-wearing beardie who in former times drove a 2CV...

Much better to try and educate (and tempt) the public at large to use their cars less. I am horrified at just how dependant most are on their cars and use them for the most ridiculously short trips when that same journey could have been walked or cycled - with concomitant health benefits.

I could go on but I won't...