Electric cars

[mrsmelly]

9 hours ago, LadyG said:

I notice that drivers round here stop if anyone is near a pedestrian crosing, I thought they only had to stop if I was on the crossing itself. 

That depends on the type of crossing.

[Dr Bob]

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

I hate driving round supermarket car parks, people just pop out between cars and often dont look, its worse when its raining. I could be sarcastic and say I have never taken a car inside Tesco but pushing a trolley is bad enough. ?

Ha!

...ok, being more specific, when driving in the car park of Tesco, the worst is when you get someone ambling down the road and you come up behind them. In an ICE car, you just rev the engine, they hear you and move out the way. In the EV, they just dont hear you. You have to crawl along hoping they see you in their peripheral vison. You cant honk the horn as they would die of shock and then you would have to reverse and go out another way.

[peterboat]

1 hour ago, Dr Bob said:

Ha!

...ok, being more specific, when driving in the car park of Tesco, the worst is when you get someone ambling down the road and you come up behind them. In an ICE car, you just rev the engine, they hear you and move out the way. In the EV, they just dont hear you. You have to crawl along hoping they see you in their peripheral vison. You cant honk the horn as they would die of shock and then you would have to reverse and go out another way.

I used to go to Tesco when it had fee car charging, I would go every week to charge up have a coffee and do my shopping in the market and town center. I had a number of places where I could charge it for free, and only sold the Twizy when those places started charging for charging! It was a complete and utterly brilliant little car which I bought cheap and sold for a profit to a guy from London

[JohnEW2912]

On 01/11/2020 at 22:31, peterboat said:

New electric cars will make a noise but I think it's at slow speeds only if I remember what I read 

Our three year old Zoe has a facility to make a humming sound at speeds up to 20mph - it can also be disabled. Above 20mph tyre noise is louder.

[peterboat]

15 minutes ago, John Wareing said:

Our three year old Zoe has a facility to make a humming sound at speeds up to 20mph - it can also be disabled. Above 20mph tyre noise is louder.

My Twizy was the same 

[ditchcrawler]

On 03/11/2020 at 10:38, Dr Bob said:

Ha!

...ok, being more specific, when driving in the car park of Tesco, the worst is when you get someone ambling down the road and you come up behind them. In an ICE car, you just rev the engine, they hear you and move out the way. In the EV, they just dont hear you. You have to crawl along hoping they see you in their peripheral vison. You cant honk the horn as they would die of shock and then you would have to reverse and go out another way.

I have had that happen down the lanes in our village, look round and found a car patently following us. That's with ICE

[LadyG]

On 03/11/2020 at 10:25, mrsmelly said:

That depends on the type of crossing.

A pedestrian crossing, the oroginal ones, not the ones with bells and whistles.

On 01/11/2020 at 23:05, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I would agree with that, but I do distinguish the sensible from potentially insensible by a 'glance'. Have I made eye contact with the driver? yes? then he's probably seen me, no? then assume that he hasn't and act accordingly. Because it is more difficult to look behind isn't really a reason not to do so.

If you can make eye contact with a driver in the second or two you turn round you must be an amazing person, it's not a good idea to stop looking in front of you, anyways, it is the car driver's responsibility not to hit you or cause you inconvenience.

[LadyG]

On 01/11/2020 at 23:05, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I would agree with that, but I do distinguish the sensible from potentially insensible by a 'glance'. Have I made eye contact with the driver? yes? then he's probably seen me, no? then assume that he hasn't and act accordingly. Because it is more difficult to look behind isn't really a reason not to do so.

If you can make eye contact with a driver in the second or two you turn round you must be an amazing person, it's not a good idea to stop looking in front of you, anyways, it is the car driver's responsibility not to hit you or cause you inconvenience.

[mrsmelly]

5 hours ago, LadyG said:

A pedestrian crossing, the oroginal ones, not the ones with bells and whistles.

If you can make eye contact with a driver in the second or two you turn round you must be an amazing person, it's not a good idea to stop looking in front of you, anyways, it is the car driver's responsibility not to hit you or cause you inconvenience.

Ahh, a zebra crossing. You are quite right until you put your foot on it cars do not have to afford you precedence. However any half decent driver has his foot off the go pedal on the approach to any such crossing and if it obvious someone wants to cross then a good driver always stops, much like always passing all boats moored on a narrow canal at tickover ?

[LadyG]

On 03/11/2020 at 13:30, peterboat said:

My Twizy was the same 

My goodness, such talented children with such amazing forenames.

[bizzard]

Fit a Stuka dive bomber siren. Or resurgence of those dreadful car BOOOOOM boxes.

Edited November 5, 2020 by bizzard

[Mike Todd]

1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

Ahh, a zebra crossing. You are quite right until you put your foot on it cars do not have to afford you precedence. However any half decent driver has his foot off the go pedal on the approach to any such crossing and if it obvious someone wants to cross then a good driver always stops, much like always passing all boats moored on a narrow canal at tickover ?

from the Highway Code 

 

Zebra crossings. Give traffic plenty of time to see you and to stop before you start to cross. Vehicles will need more time when the road is slippery. Wait until traffic has stopped from both directions or the road is clear before crossing. Remember that traffic does not have to stop until someone has moved onto the crossing. 

[LadyG]

4 hours ago, Mike Todd said:

from the Highway Code 

 

Zebra crossings. Give traffic plenty of time to see you and to stop before you start to cross. Vehicles will need more time when the road is slippery. Wait until traffic has stopped from both directions or the road is clear before crossing. Remember that traffic does not have to stop until someone has moved onto the crossing. 

Yes, I've been using them for decades, but in Retford motorists stop assiduosly, when one is in the vicinity, I wondered if it was related to the area on the approach which is for visually impaired people, small raised spots

Edited November 5, 2020 by LadyG

[Wanderer Vagabond]

12 hours ago, LadyG said:

If you can make eye contact with a driver in the second or two you turn round you must be an amazing person, it's not a good idea to stop looking in front of you, anyways, it is the car driver's responsibility not to hit you or cause you inconvenience.

I'm not really sure why it would be considered 'amazing' to make eye contact with a driver, it's not like they are reading a newspaper or watching TV, he/she should be looking in my general direction in the first place, if not they fall into the category of 'not making eye contact'. I do much the same when crossing the road in traffic, if I've made eye contact with the driver I will consider it to safer to cross than if I haven't.

 

As far as the driver's responsibilty goes, yes, he shouldn't hit you but that is little satisfaction when you wake up in hospital claiming,"But I had right of way!"

[ditchcrawler]

Electric cars got a mention on the lunchtime news car sales down but electric cars up. 6% of the sales https://www.smmt.co.uk/vehicle-data/car-registrations/

 

Edited January 6, 2021 by ditchcrawler

[David Mack]

On 05/11/2020 at 10:04, mrsmelly said:

Ahh, a zebra crossing. You are quite right until you put your foot on it cars do not have to afford you precedence. However any half decent driver has his foot off the go pedal on the approach to any such crossing and if it obvious someone wants to cross then a good driver always stops, much like always passing all boats moored on a narrow canal at tickover ?

I wish someone had told that to the police car driver (no blue lights flashing), who nearly took me out on a zebra crossing about 35 years ago. At the time I was too shocked to take his number before he disappeared off into the distance.

[ditchcrawler]

https://www.publicsectorexecutive.com/articles/westminster-city-council-first-uk-install-1000-ev-charge-points?utm_source=Public Sector Executive&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=12340062_Newsletter 27 Apr&dm_i=IJU,7CHNI,193AZY,TT9F6,1

 

Westminster City Council first in UK to install 1,000 EV charge points

Westminster City Council have installed more than 1,000 on-street electric vehicle (EV) charging points, becoming the first local authority in the UK to reach this milestone.

[Guest]

Meanwhile......

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56574779

 

Electric cars: What will happen to all the dead batteries?

[peterboat]

32 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

Meanwhile......

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56574779

 

Electric cars: What will happen to all the dead batteries?

To valuable to waste so they will be recycled

here is one example of many

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjq7Mbiup7wAhUKVRUIHa1MCLoQFjADegQIBhAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.electrive.com%2F2021%2F04%2F13%2Fjlr-invests-in-battery-recycling-startup%2F&usg=AOvVaw1HEuzkzBVNR0lnLBg_-CPe

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, peterboat said:

To valuable to waste so they will be recycled

here is one example of many

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjq7Mbiup7wAhUKVRUIHa1MCLoQFjADegQIBhAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.electrive.com%2F2021%2F04%2F13%2Fjlr-invests-in-battery-recycling-startup%2F&usg=AOvVaw1HEuzkzBVNR0lnLBg_-CPe

 

Indeed. The article is querying the future capacity and the technology to do it safely.

 

It's just another example of the 'hidden' consequences of EV ownership. I'm sure many EV buyers go into their purchases blind to the full environmental impact of their choice, taken in by the advertising hype around 'zero emissions'. Some seem to think that the fact they don't emit anything when driving that's the end of the problem, when of course the truth is far from that when everything related to the construction and disposal is factored in.

[peterboat]

35 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

Indeed. The article is querying the future capacity and the technology to do it safely.

 

It's just another example of the 'hidden' consequences of EV ownership. I'm sure many EV buyers go into their purchases blind to the full environmental impact of their choice, taken in by the advertising hype around 'zero emissions'. Some seem to think that the fact they don't emit anything when driving that's the end of the problem, when of course the truth is far from that when everything related to the construction and disposal is factored in.

Most recycling is done when packs are repurposed 

[cuthound]

4 hours ago, peterboat said:

Most recycling is done when packs are repurposed 

 

But eventually battery capacity will be reduced to the point where repurposing isn't viable, so they will need to be recycled.

 

Also as low labour cost counties become developed, their labour costs will rise. This makes recycling unviable.

 

What is needed is lithium batters which can be disassembled by robots, thus reducing labour costs. Present designs, using many small cells welded together need changing.

[churchward]

3 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

But eventually battery capacity will be reduced to the point where repurposing isn't viable, so they will need to be recycled.

 

Also as low labour cost counties become developed, their labour costs will rise. This makes recycling unviable.

 

What is needed is lithium batters which can be disassembled by robots, thus reducing labour costs. Present designs, using many small cells welded together need changing.

I agree good recycling processes are required and the more autiomated the better but there are moves in this direction. So far though battry life has been much better than was expected.

 

An example of battery recycling proposals is this

 

Duesenfeld Develops Eco-Friendly Way to Recycle Lithium-Ion Batteries | Observer

 

This is a process in a factory in Germany so not a low labour cost solution.

[ditchcrawler]

[phantom_iv]

4 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

 

Oh dear. Looks like they're opening another 12 chargers in the same town later this year, which are the newer faster type so queues should soon be a thing of the past. But important to note what happens when demand outstrips supply. But equally look what happens in the US every time someone mentions fuel shortage and they start panic buying - queues to fill up everywhere.

 

On the other hand, the built-in sat nav does tell you how busy that particular charger is before you get there so if there's no space you can always choose to go somewhere else if there's no spaces available.