- Nov 11, 2009
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I did read it and the situation has been mirrored in towns and cities across the country for as long had there has been technological or commercial change. Grangemouth is no different.
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- Mar 14, 2005
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Buckman
The days of a job for life have virtually disappeared, and anyone who still thinks like that is going to have a rude awakening.
I'm not without sympathy to those who are unfortunately made redundant. I have been there myself when a company I was working for closed down making about 120 employees redundant. I'm sure many other PC contributors will also have experienced the same thing, but most who for whatever reason still need to work, have managed to find alternative employment, and not just sat at home moping and taking benefits and not looking for work.
When a major employer does close down life can get difficult,. Necessity is the mother of invention, and usually these days most people do find alternative employment albeit sometime further afield, or possibly in a differnt type of activity. The national employment figures do show this.
Few people like change, but if you don't change, then you'll never discover other exciting things.
It's always the doom and gloom scenario you seem to like to spread.
The days of a job for life have virtually disappeared, and anyone who still thinks like that is going to have a rude awakening.
I'm not without sympathy to those who are unfortunately made redundant. I have been there myself when a company I was working for closed down making about 120 employees redundant. I'm sure many other PC contributors will also have experienced the same thing, but most who for whatever reason still need to work, have managed to find alternative employment, and not just sat at home moping and taking benefits and not looking for work.
When a major employer does close down life can get difficult,. Necessity is the mother of invention, and usually these days most people do find alternative employment albeit sometime further afield, or possibly in a differnt type of activity. The national employment figures do show this.
Few people like change, but if you don't change, then you'll never discover other exciting things.
It's always the doom and gloom scenario you seem to like to spread.
- Jul 18, 2017
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In this case the large number of redundancies at Grangemouth could easily have been avoided and was caused by a governmental decision and not poor management. During my lifetime I had been made redundant twice. First time I was lot younger and no issue finding another job in my field of expertise even though I had to relocate.
At the time no such thing as job seekers allowance or free medical. Second time at 59 years of age and no one wants to employ a 59 year year old so you need pick up the crumbs. Plus the fact that I lost 6 years of paying into my pension fund. I know that it is like to be without work and the struggling to make ends meet!
- Nov 11, 2009
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Grangemouth had been under a cloud at least since 2009 and changes of ownership didn’t manage to turn it around. What was the Government decision that caused it to close?
- Financial Losses: The refinery was losing significant money (around $500,000 daily) and wasn't globally competitive.
- Infrastructure & Maintenance:Aging equipment required huge capital investment to maintain its license, and a critical "hydrocracker" unit failed to restart after planned maintenance in 2023.
- Market Changes: Declining demand for traditional fuels like petrol and diesel, alongside the rise of electric vehicles, made refining less profitable.
FFS explains: why Grangemouth shut – and what happens next
The closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery in April has cast a long shadow over Scotland’s plans for a fair transition away from fossil fuels. As The Ferret reported this weekend, many of the 400 workers who lost their job at the site feel abandoned. And with energy set
www.theferret.scot
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- Jun 20, 2005
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Very sadly Grangemouth is yet another political victim of successive governments who were some will say short sighted.
This dissertation from University of St Andrews is very close to the truth
Like our steel industry and others before we seem to have a death wish on British manufacturing, preferring cheaper from PRC and other not so friendly nations.
History clearly shows any Country that is not self supporting in energy etc will not last long when hostilities start😢
- Mar 14, 2005
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Surely a person such as yourself would find it easy to work out the answer without needing help from myself?
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An interesting paper which as you say mirrors other industries such as steel, coal, chemicals, but just how far can government intervention go when markets change and intervention doesn’t necessarily lead to good economic outcomes, thus costing the taxpayer one way or another. Best then to ramp up wind, solar, renawables, interconnectors, and nuclear, whilst increasing storage for gas and fossil fuels.
“History clearly shows any Country that is not self supporting in energy etc will not last long when hostilities start”
Your comment above doesn't recognise that in WW2 Gt Britain was self sufficient for coal to generate electricity. But the small oilfields in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire only provided less than 1% of the country’s wartime needs. The remaining 99% came from America as crude or refined product, some from the Caribbean and some came from Iraq and Iran via the Cape.
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To answer the OPs original question, no you can't use these for parking. Whether a non-EV + trailer, or EV + trailer or non-EV truck or EV truck. These are charging bays, not parking bays. If you are not charging, about to charge, or finishing charging, you should not be here.
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Yes - it does, it's a European wide standard called Type-2 CCS. The available power for a truck _may_be higher than a car can consume (but also may not). Pretty much any car made after about 2018 that can rapid charge (with a couple of notable exceptions, the Nissan leaf pre-2024 and Lexus UX300) can physically use these.
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Unfortunately many people probably cannot understand that concept.
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Current cost per mile in terms of duty on diesel at 7MPG is about 38.5p. I.e. 10 times more than the proposed 3p per mile. I don't think an EV pence per mile at that level is going to change the economics of moving from diesel to electricity forHGV drivers.
- Jul 18, 2017
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By the same token the difference is buying the EV in the first place as they are normally a couple of thousand more than the equivalent ICE vehicle. I wonder if the government took into account the extra VAT generated by the sale of a new EV when they came up with the pay per mile?
- Jul 23, 2021
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Probably for cars. Probably not for HGV, after all almost all HGV purchases will be by a VAT registered business. But the whole 3p per mile is still in early stages with lots of consultation to get through first. I expect it will look different by the time it gets applied. Probably for trucks too. And again, the update of EV for haulage is going to be driven by economics, not ideology. Whatever is cheapest as a solution will win.
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It's inevitable in the private industry led economy we live in. Actually, I should amend that. Best value (not lowest cost) solutions will always be selected as they maximise long term financial benefit. Best value being defined as the lowest cost solution to provide the necessary functionality for the desired time period. I.e. avoid the "buy cheap, buy twice" trap. Whatever solution is able to deliver long term value will always succeed (in the long term) over more expensive solutions. It's simply the world we live in.
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- Nov 11, 2009
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Just like on the M6 northbound at Stafford has a good parking area clearly marked for caravans and motorhomes. But invariably when we turned up some bays were hosting WVM. It is an endemic trait. Plus it happened in France too. Germany played by the rules.
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By the number of EV delivery and work vans I see around their overall economics must be favourable. So as technology moves on I’m sure we will see more heavier lorries move to electric.
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In NZ we call it RUC(Road User Charge) and has be appliciable to all diesel vehicles as there is no RUC built into diesel.
Two years ago it was extended to EVs (diesel rate) and PHEVs(lower rate). PHEVs end up paying twice on long trips ie using more petrol.
Long term plan is to remove RUC from petrol and make charge all vehicles by mile. Hybrids (eg prius RAV4) are to efficient and not paying enough is government story.
Going need tamperproof electronic tracking system to make it viable. I suspect along of private diesel vehicles aren't paying their RUCs ie frauding system.
Two years ago it was extended to EVs (diesel rate) and PHEVs(lower rate). PHEVs end up paying twice on long trips ie using more petrol.
Long term plan is to remove RUC from petrol and make charge all vehicles by mile. Hybrids (eg prius RAV4) are to efficient and not paying enough is government story.
Going need tamperproof electronic tracking system to make it viable. I suspect along of private diesel vehicles aren't paying their RUCs ie frauding system.
- Mar 14, 2005
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Firstly thank you making it clear that your location is not in the UK, and that some of your comments are based on your local experience rather than the UK.
I am currently reviewing in some detail the economics of pay per mile for my own PHEV. I agree that for some PHEV's depending on their use case, may be disadvantaged by the proposed UK system. But its complicated to resolve the process because the dino fuel economy can vary so much depending on the level of charge in the high voltage battery and the drivers selection of driving mode, their style of driving and the road conditions.
If you can complete all your PHEV journeys on electric only power, then the UK system of pay per mile of 1.5p will be advantageous, but as soon as you start to use dino juice, that benefit is depleted and and ultimately you are into the realms of double taxation becasue of the pay per mile and the fuel duty which based on a vehicle that manages 45mpg is 5.29 ppm + the electric 1.5ppm making 6.79pmm.
But it isn't that simple becasue with my own VW PHEV even when the battery is apparently depleted, it still retains some energy to operate the stop start system, and the hybrid technology still regenerates some energy from braking, and engine idling and pays it back when accelerating, so its a very muddy picture to actually establish the true cost per mile and the actual amount of energy used.
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With so many variables affecting a PHEV car I question whether going into its cost per mile is really a worthwhile excercise. My gut feeling is even at petrol duty plus 1.5 pence per mile charge it’s still cheaper than a pure petrol model, unless of course the owner doesn’t use its PHEV capability. Which unfortunately seems to be the case with a fair proportion of owners. In which case they deserve what they get.
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Isn't it true that a PHEV can be used as a normal HEV as there is no obligation to ever charge it. Doing this will decrease the mpg as you will only be using fossil fuel and paying the taxes on each litre however a PHEV will then be lumbered with the 1.5p tax on top of the taxes already paid. Hardly seems fair especially as mpg has decreased?
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If that’s how the owner wishes to use the car that is their choice, and can’t complain about being unfairly charged.
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