Our7kw charger is installed on Monday, £909list price £559with go grant fitted. Charges our Mini in 4-5hrs apparently from flat. 22kw is available as are lower powered ones but as Prof says you may well need a home power supply upgrade.
I'm not condoning the negative prospects for caravanning. It would be nice to see some recognition for the sector, but we may have a rather inflated view of its importance in the grand scheme of things.Evening Prof
We’ve done this debate to death over the years.
Technology is moving at a pace way beyond my comprehension. Remember the Eagle comic and Man On The Moon!
I am struggling to understand how any Government, all here for the short stay, can so categorically write off an entire Industry, caravans, sites and all the supplementary supporting businesses etc just to, be green. My Wife‘s Kia diesel is tax free it is so clean 👍. Have we taken the he wrong fork or maybe missed the crossroads?
I had not appreciated the ban did not apply to hybrids and there area few out there that will tow caravans well enough so that should mean they are not dead yet. Diesel and petrol cars will not disappear even if the ban is implemented in 2030, which looks impossible unless the infrastructure to support it is developed far faster than most believe possible. Even the mains cables in the street may need to be upgraded and how you deal with areas where people do not have a private drive to keep the car on is still in the air. Possibly the diesels and petrol models will get a boost in value as people who prefer them will want the last ones. Certainly the demand for petrol and diesel will remain for some time but as yet we do not know the cost.
The battery range has increased rapidly and there is every possibility they will be up to towing by 2030 although charging will still have to take time and the room needed to charge with a caravan on the back could be a problem.
I know people doubt we will have the generation capacity, by my nephew who is CEO of one of the suppliers is happy that this will not be a problem. I just hope he is not over optomistic.
I had not appreciated the ban did not apply to hybrids and there area few out there that will tow caravans well enough so that should mean they are not dead yet. Diesel and petrol cars will not disappear even if the ban is implemented in 2030, which looks impossible unless the infrastructure to support it is developed far faster than most believe possible. Even the mains cables in the street may need to be upgraded and how you deal with areas where people do not have a private drive to keep the car on is still in the air. Possibly the diesels and petrol models will get a boost in value as people who prefer them will want the last ones. Certainly the demand for petrol and diesel will remain for some time but as yet we do not know the cost.
The battery range has increased rapidly and there is every possibility they will be up to towing by 2030 although charging will still have to take time and the room needed to charge with a caravan on the back could be a problem.
I know people doubt we will have the generation capacity, by my nephew who is CEO of one of the suppliers is happy that this will not be a problem. I just hope he is not over optomistic.
Here’s one for you Clive.
New caravan post 2030 will be fitted with axle mounted electric motors , on board battery banks to supplement the towing range of the EV. Like we have spare wheels, all will come with a rapid charge ICE generator for emergencies 🤪🤪👍
Not so revolutionary actually!Here’s one for you Clive.
New caravan post 2030 will be fitted with axle mounted electric motors , on board battery banks to supplement the towing range of the EV. Like we have spare wheels, all will come with a rapid charge ICE generator for emergencies 🤪🤪👍
A development of the concept launched by Swift now the successful Basecamp. Knaus have a “ functional” smaller van with many different configurations. Even get your motorbike inside if required.The reality come post 2030 could be so low a number of owners with the B+ E license that caravans like our leviathans will have too low a market to remain products anyway?
Anything serving what we regard as a "caravan" will be lightweight, therefore easier married with the cars available.
I suspect there will be a resurgence in what we these days think of as a trailer tent or folding camper, to get both the weight and drag loading way down, so towing uses up less battery energy. I have little doubt these will be revamped styling wise to be given a "cool" image.
A development of the concept launched by Swift now the successful Basecamp. Knaus have a “ functional” smaller van with many different configurations. Even get your motorbike inside if required.
Hello Ray,
I think you underestimate the push that IS going into EV infrastructure, and that push will accelerate quite dramatically . There is a long way to go but it is eminently possible, as Norway has proven. There companies who are actively pushing to introduce charging points built into street furniture like street lamps, and bollards.
For those who may not have access to home or street side charging there will be the network of public fast charge points at supermarkets and other retailers, carparks and of course service stations. Zap Map has recorded 118 new public chargers added in the last 30 days . There are no almost 9000 public charging points available - and growing.
I shall repeat, The National grid has stated it can cope with the increase in EV's without needing to put in major upgrades to the supply cable capacities. The reason this is likely is becasue domestic charging units will be typically limited to about 7Kw (which is no greater than an electric shower) and the demand to recharge EV's is unlikely to coincide with daily peak demands for other reasons.
Most EV's manage to do between 3 to 5 miles per kWH, and as commutes on average are less than 30 mile round trips, that only needs between 6 to 10kWh of energy to be replenished. Even allowing for some of the losses in the charging systems, most cars will be topped up in 2 to 3 hours of charging!
I have done some rough calculations:-
We currently have about 38M cars and small vans on UK roads. there are typically 2.3M new cars added annually (and something in the region of 1.2M taken off the roads. This means we have an net increase of about 1.1M yearly that is roughly 3% turnover annually. Figures to the end of Sept 2020 indicate we have 370K EVe and hybrids on our roads that's roughly 1% of the car population. Even if all new cars sold from to-day were EV's at 2030 (10 years ) we are not likely to have more than 31% of the car population registered as EV's. Realistically it will still be less than that as not everyone will buy electric. It's more likely to be about 20%.
Based on a 3% turn over it will take something like 40 years to effectively remove all ICE cars from our roads. There may of course be other factors introduced that might accelerate the change.
There is ample time (provide people plan adequately) to manage this changeover with little pain or risk of the system collapsing. It needs most drivers to drop the conventional approach of running a vehicle till it's nearly empty of fuel and adopt the idea of topping up every day (or over night).
EV's combined with localised storage systems in homes is actually good for the power generators as it can be used to balance and even out distribution issues when faults occur or maintenance is required.
There is a long way to go but it is eminently possible, as Norway has proven
Development is most certainly increasing, but I am a little sceptical about car manufacturers investing with caravanning in mind as its a very small proportion of the number of vehicles they do produce. I totally agree the weight and torque characteristics of EV's in theory makes them potentially great for towing.It all feels a bit cup half empty-batteries are heavy, range will improve; could be the ideal combo for a tow car! Development is upping a pace.
I thought the hit to public finances was more like £200 bn+ Rather than cutting right back on public services I’d prefer an increase in income tax despite the manifesto saying this would not happen. I don’t think they anticipated Covid. Also an increase in VED and fuel duty. To my mind it’s a nonsense foregoing VED with such low or zero rates for small cars or hybrids that managed to skirt the old rules. Not only was VED zero or low for some but the Government also lost out by reduced take on fuel duties too. If you use roads you should pay towards their use. Fairest would be to lump it all on fuel. (Incoming) 🤭 or a flat fee for electric vehicles. Then in the future decide what might be the best way to charge IE road charging by usage.What is the chancellor of any government going to do to plug a £40 billion black hole. If you do not use a vehicle at all, will you still be penalised i.e. increases on public transport etc?
Surely the reduction in VED as you describe was to encourage people, to buy “green “ cars.I thought the hit to public finances was more like £200 bn+ Rather than cutting right back on public services I’d prefer an increase in income tax despite the manifesto saying this would not happen. I don’t think they anticipated Covid. Also an increase in VED and fuel duty. To my mind it’s a nonsense foregoing VED with such low or zero rates for small cars or hybrids that managed to skirt the old rules. Not only was VED zero or low for some but the Government also lost out by reduced take on fuel duties too. If you use roads you should pay towards their use. Fairest would be to lump it all on fuel. (Incoming) 🤭 or a flat fee for electric vehicles. Then in the future decide what might be the best way to charge IE road charging by usage.
That view is counter to a lot of good evidence!I wonder just how much pollution will be saved by EVs? Ie what is the pollution cost of manufacture and batteries using rare metals? Say an average person does 10 k pa,a lean burn ice may not actually be a big pollution contributor . After all ice and ev manufacturing costs must come into the equation?