As a chemical engineer who worked on hydrogen vehicles I know that they are too expensive and impractical. Synthetic fuel is a pipe dream also. The inefficiency would make them 6x more expensive.
@@MatthewEng2593 The Americans are producing ‘lab’ seaweed petroleum for $1 per litre. One imagines that this drops dramatically when developed on an industrial scale. Fuel duty would also need to be reassessed for green fuels. It’s therefore a political rather than economic issue.
In time, natural gas will power most vehicles. As a byproduct of oil, you can't give natural gas away in some places. The amount of the stuff under our feet is almost unimaginable.
@@Reallyreallywho You can laugh now but you will be humbled when you find out I was right. Why do you think we have the 15 minute city now?? Why do you think Covid happened?? I had Covid 19 twice but the first time it made me the sickest I have ever been in life. Covid was engineered in a lab and released onto the population. Then the lockdowns happened, and the list went on. There is money to be made off the "Climate Crisis" idea. Billions upon billions of dollars. Certain people's pockets are getting flush while the rest of us become slaves to their country's Government. This isn't the stuff of Hollywood, this is real life.
James May is knowledgable and insightful on the tech . Richard , less so, but demonstrates the emotional attachment to the combustion engine which many of us are going to find hard to give up . Synthetic fuels are very expensive and have a lot of downsides.
I view it as the new "person with a black and white TV", "person who can't program the VCR", "person who can't use a computer", "person who still uses the landline". Or "old person who can't learn new things".
Synthetic fuels? Forget it, ditto hydrogen. James May is knowledgeable on the tech but he doesn't study the market, this obvious when he says that living in a terraced house or flat is an 'insurmountable problem'. Has he noticed where the highest concentration of EV ownership in the UK is!?...which is in wealthy west London where no one can get their cars off the road to charge. It's the same here in France where I live, wealthy Parisians are the biggest buyers of EVs here and they all live in flats, as do the Chinese who buy more EVs than anyone. I was in Chelsea earlier this year and couldn't believe the number of EVs parked in the street, though I did notice that every 3rd or 4th lamppost was adapted for EV charging.
James may needs a back up actual car cause the tech doesn't do well driving anywhere but around his town/ city. If he only had to rely on his electric he have a very different opinion of it. Electric cars are a massive step backwards
@@davidlloyd1526 Yep. It's change basically. Unfortunately people who do not want change seldom have the answers to the problem necessitating the change either.
It's interesting that the constant claim that EV sales are collapsing, slowing, falling etc in the UK goes without challenge. No statistics are ever provided to support this assertion. It's just made and accepted as the premise for the discussion that follows. However, a quick search shows that we are on track for record EV sales in the UK in 2024. Sales of EVs to end October totalled just under 300k, compared to 270k for the same period (Jan to Oct inclusive) in 2023. So, where does this apparently baseless claim come from that EV sales are in reverse? From what I can see, it's from those who just oppose EVs (e.g. confirmed petrol heads, of which I was long one), and from legacy car companies who appear to be terrified of the coming wave of high quality, value for money, long range and genuinely good Chinese EVs that they cannot compete with. The petrol-heads I can forgive. They are entitled to their preference. I still love the idea of a roaring V8, or a smooth-as-silk V6. The legacy auto-makers I have less sympathy for. They are peddling falsehoods in a desperate attempt to protect their failing businesses. And, how many petrol heads are really lamenting the imminent demise of unrefined small capacity 3 and 4 cylinder cars with boring exhaust notes and rev limiters. These are the bread and butter of the legacy manufacturers, not the V8s and V6s. Compared to such offerings, almost any EV is a revelation in performance and refinement.
@ I assume you are directing this reply at Elon Musk, not me. I got mine because it’s cheap to run, pleasant to drive and a tax dodge via salary sacrifice.
@@johnfranklin6394 Aren't they removing the tax incentive to buy and own one and looking into higher road tax just so you pay the same amount as a ICE owner?
@ to some degree, but far from entirely. EVs currently pay no benefit in kind company car tax. That is changing from April 2025 and BIC will apply to EVs on an increasing scale over the coming years. EVs will be subject to the luxury car tax from next year as well. So, any EV over £40k will pay the additional £450 per year VED for the first five years. The good news is there are many good EVs under £40k now, which was certainly not the case for a long time. My Tesla was £39,950, and remains so today. Salary sacrifice schemes are not being axed from what I understand, so people who have access to one via their employer will still be able to pay the lease, maintenance and insurance from gross income. For me, that saves 40% income tax and 2% NI on my monthly payments. It also reduces my taxable income, which helps on my self assessment. There are no other EV incentives for private or company car drivers. The Conservatives got rid of the lump sum discounts off the retail price of new EVs some years ago.
The thing is, car enthusiasts like James and Richard (and me) are not the average car buyer. The vast majority of car buyers view the car as an appliance that gets you from point A to point B. In fact, I've encountered many young people here in the US who are completely unenthusiastic about even getting a driver's license. Cars are too expensive to buy, too expensive to insure, and too expensive to fuel. They would be happy getting an Uber when they need it or bumming a ride off a friend or family member. People like this just want a car to be comfortable, reliable, and inexpensive to own and operate. I think the inherent reliability and low maintenance requirements of electric cars bodes well for their future.
If people want to get the train or the bus, that's fine. If they want to drive an electric pod that they call a car, that's fine. The rest of us will still drive petrol and diesel cars.
I live in Australia and have a 13kW solar system on my roof. I've had my EV for just over a year and have done nearly 14,000 kms. According to my app, 98% of the electricity to charge my EV has come from my solar system.
Lucky you!. 1. For having a house to give you this luxury and 2. For driving an EV You do know the population growth is all in units and apartments and houses are a pipe dream for many So you are a small %
@@zzhughesd yep, not all equal. My mother always said never brag about what you there is always someone worse off than you. The tale of two stories,I live in the suburbs and could have the solar and EV and the charging and the battery but at what cost. I save per year but pay upfront for all the start up costs, in 5 years time in needs to be upgraded… more costs Then I have my brother who lives near the city in an terrace the size of a box, no parking, no solar… and wants the EV perks but just can’t have it.
I'm in north Wales. I'm sure if I put solar on my roof they would send energy to the sun If it ever came out. @@zzhughesd I have just ordered an EV tho, mainly because I realised I was anti EV without really knowing if they are as bad as I thought. So I have an Cupra born on order. It's the only one I've tested that is actually fun to drive. Also my kids have all grown so I really fancied a little hot hatch, over years of 'warn' estates. My first want was a fiesta st150 or 200. But somehow I ended up settling on the Cupra born, the seats won me over.
I do not have a problem with electric cars.... I just have a problem with this being forced and shoved to everyone... If someone wants electric... sure... if someone wants petrol or diesel... also fine...
We saw this in the US with cellphones. US Telecoms found it cheaper and more lucrative to push consumers away from landline phones and into cellular devices. Now the vast majority of Americans have already ditched landline phones for cellphones, and it wasn't really their choice.
where is this notion that the government is "forcing" electric vehicles towards you? there is some policies and benefits that ENCOURAGE people to buy one, but ICE vehicles will always be a thing especially for newer drivers where they are likely to buy much cheaper vehicles for their first car.
@@upsilondiesbackwards7360on the contrary they are not easier to produce at all. Even Toyota never went then EV direction. It's easier to build an ICE vehicle and just fuel it which is available everywhere
I've seen representatives of the National Grid saying categorically: the grid is ready for full EV adoption. It's a back issue of the Fully Charged Show.
I'm a Fully Charged subscriber and Patron. Until this year I attended every UK show they put on. You are quite right. Representatives from every level of the National Grid have repeatedly stated at FC talks and in videos that not only can the Grid cope, but it would not even approach the highest demand levels the Grid has faced in the last 30+ years. What's more the storage and Grid-to-load capabilities of EVs would actually LOWER the burden on the Grid. The naysayers are so desperate that they repeat lies that are further and further from the truth with every passing month.
As it has become utterly obvious... current electric cars are monopolising the repairs to the vendor only. The industry is trying to squeeze out more money of the customer - and tries to prevent the customer repairing his car in any way thinkable of. the right to repair has gone completely out of the window with current electric cars.
7:00 This is perfect example why maths and science is so important for everyone at school. Richard has lots of opinions and very little understanding about anything. Synthetic fuels DO NOT EXIST as a commercially viable product - just like carbon capture, these are all PR tools used by Oil lobby to distract and delay decarbonisation. To make these fuels you have to use massive amounts of energy , that’s just basic chemistry and 2nd law of thermodynamics , so the total carbon footprint and the cost will never be low. It’s the same story with Hydrogen. If you don’t know much about engineering or science, here’s a handy analogy: having cars powered by synthetic fuels or H2 is like heating your home with special kind of wood burning stove that can only take IKEA flat pack furniture :) ppl who propose we take electricity to split water, then cool down H2 to -270 C, than store it, ship it, than distribute it into EVs equipped with an expensive fuel cells made of precious metals, so the H2 can be used by that vehicle to reverse the whole process and make electricity from hydrogen, charge the onboard battery and propel the car. Do you see the problem yet? I also have an EV - my process is tiny bit shorter: I take electricity, put it in my car’s battery which is used to propel it :)
7:00 - This is perfect example why LISTENING is so important for everyone, not only those at school... Richard said that synthetic fuels exist but would have to be SCALED UP... and then they can make use of an existing infrastructure that has already evolved over the last 100 years. We can argue whether that is viable or not commercially (and physically!) even with investment but he clearly did not say that it is a commercially viable option right now. As for the Oil Lobby 'delaying decarbonisation' - well, the irony is that we require enormous amounts of fossil fuel applications to build EVs.. AND to build installations that create electricity generation and transmission.... there simply is no 'magic wand' which is what the politicians and ideologues are trying to sell us
@@markovilla1 except they never did, scale up. Which is why I wrote: "...as a commercially viable product". Just like CCS, billions are poured into the development of something that is limited by Physics - you cannot "scale up" over the fact that it takes massive energy (electricity) to synthesize compounds...which you then plan to burn to make energy in an engine with 40% efficiency. There's plenty of research and analysis done by respected Unis and publications - just google and read.
Disappointing to read that. I thought this was a great balanced interview. My area of knowledge is around the electrical infrastructure side, and Hammond's claim regarding rewiring the grid is inaccurate. By the time EVs become mainstream, EVs will be used as both storage and generation on the grid, balancing out the overall extra consumption on the grid to be a minimal increase over the existing conditions for the grid. To then also learn that his claims re: synthetic fuels aren't entirely accurate either, really changes the dynamic of the conversation. One side factual, the other not.
I bought a 15 year old civic. Presently it is excempt from ULEZ and I own it, outright. Theres no finance, I only have the normal repairs/replacements and runnings costs that one would expect with an older car but even if it failed catastrophically, a replacement car would only be a fraction of the cost of a new battery in an EV. Its this cost above all that puts people off buying one. Those on lower incomes could never afford a new EV, let alone a new battery in say, 7 years time. I just want something that will get me from place to place, reliably and without having to work out where all the salvation charging points are.
Batteries dying after 7 years is false, will happen in a handful of numbers as with any electronic, but most manufacturers batteries warranties are longer than that anyway.
It will be possible to buy and run ICE cars after the 2030 ban on new ICE car sales. You are not going to be forced to drive an EV. However, I think you might be surprised how good an EV is to drive and own compared to a 15yr old Honda Civic. A new EV battery will not be required in 7ys time, please don't listen to the 'Man in the pub' nonsense constantly puked out by the media, there is plenty of evidence out there, even on UA-cam, of Tesla batteries lasting well over 7yrs with the car having travelled 500000 miles. Autotrader recently ran a series of UA-cam videos on a Tesla Model S which was used as an executive taxi since new. It was rapid charged constantly, and never serviced yet had covered over 460000 miles.Reliable as they are, I don't think many Honda Civics are going to achieve that mileage.
@vwthings your 7 year battery replacement myth is the most ignorant opinion used and has never been proved. What happened to the 75 litres of oil that were replaced in the 15 years prior to you owning the car and where do the billions of litres of waste oil go each year from all the other vehicles globally?
@@Phuc_Yhou agreed! Additional even in a Rare case where a battery is not car usable in 7 years, by then there will be an industry to turn your cells to battery home storage.
Richard and James seemed to be struggling with the reasons. I expect, because of their wealth. Straight off the bat, both should have said cost to buy and charging infrastructure. These are the reasons I hear time and time again. Yes, there’s also long term uncertainty of reliability plus cost to repair if a battery issue arises but cost of the car and charging are the main ones. Boys, I love you both, but I fear that the only ‘working class’ people you’re around now are either those who serve you or those who work for you.
"Straight off the bat, both should have said cost to buy and charging infrastructure." They didn't because they both know it's not true. "These are the reasons I hear time and time again." Really? Is this from people who actually drive an EV and use the charging network or from click bait confirmation bias anti-EV UA-cam channels? Or from a fella in the pub? All the anti EV FUD has been disproved time and again.
Hold on here, fact checking here : ' sales are plummeting' SMMT figures Oct 24 / Oct 23 29,800 up 24%, YTD 299,700 up 14.2%...how's that plummeting? fact check : ' run my car on guilt free synthetic fuel... So how much energy was employed to make said fuels, and there are similar co2/exhaust emissions at the tailpipe! For the record I am in a Victorian terrace and happily charge my EV from public charging , while I shop/eat at pubs , supermarkets, malls etc. As for access my local area (Tamworth) has 9 rapid charging stations with 28 charging points....it's not difficult! What a load of FUD.
@@pja7except that sales of non EV vehicles are declining. Look at cell phone sales since 1996 - when I got my first one. It started so slow many of the early leaders failed.
I love these two guys, watched all TG and GT. I'm afraid to say, as a transport engineer and a Chartered Fellow of a professional transport body, and a household that has 4 EV's and have only had EV's for 5 years, EV's are good enough NOW and so is charging infrastructure. Over 70k public chargers today, 300k in a few years time and EV sales in 2024 in UK are at record sales. 338k EV's (Not PHEV or Hybrid, pure electric) sold in UK up to November 2024, 38k in November alone, making up 25% of ALL car sales in the UK. EV sales are not slowing down and the early adopter stage has long since past. A little fact checking goes a long way.
Where is the idea that sales of EVs are falling come from? Industry stats show more EVs were sold in the last 12m than the previous 12m. Whilst fewer ICE cars were sold.
What they mean is the increase in EV sales is slowing - not the actual number of sales. This shows that we are reaching the stage where all the car buyers who want an EV have already got one. The car industry is beginning to find it difficult to flog EVs without heavy discounting and EV used market is already suffering from severe depreciation issues.
@@saddoncarrs6963 Because the lacklustre overpriced euro EVs are being shown up by Chinese Evs that are being released with 400-450 miles guaranteed range, we want value but don't want to pay over 25k for a small hatchback
Evs have only seen a very small growth this year in the UK from 16.3% market share 2023 to 18.1% 2024 that's a 1.8% growth in Market share. I have taken these figures direct from The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders SMMT, you can easily check on their website. Don't look at the % growth because that is misleading if you sold 1 car last year and two this year that's 100% increase. Sounds good but any percentage of very little is still very little. A market share growth of only 1.8% is financially a disaster which is why Ford,VW, Nissan, etc are in trouble..They are all being rushed into putting out cars that won't in the words of Akio Toyoda fit everybody's needs. We need to take a step back before the manufacturers we rely on to develop new evs go bust before they can.
@@truebrit3670 He was pointing out the contradictory statements being made. They can't be both not selling and selling at the same time. So, like, someone here is wrong / lying.
Take up is not slow. 82% of the car market is used cars and that makes it much less likely people will buy them as they are still for the most part new or almost new cars. Piston cars been around for over 100 years and we have become familiar with them so why would we all change so quickly. So what if it takes another 20 years for the tide to turn, it will as it’s inevitable….just like we aren’t lighting homes with candles and heating with parfin lamps
I was an early adopter. My EV is nearly 9 years old but only done slightly more than 40 k miles. It now has 42% degradation, which makes the always present range and charger anxiety critical. I would never ever buy another one ever again after my experiences. I have enjoyed it so much I gave it to the wife, now used as a shopping trolley, tethered to it's octopus go home charger range. ( much like a milk float ? )
As a 4 year Tesla owner I can honestly say its an amazing car. Cheap, fun, reliable, and no problem at long distance trips. I will never buy a petrol again.
@ I don’t understand what I do for a living has to do with anything but, to answer your question, no I don’t work in the car industry. I only ever charge from home as I’m happy to benefit from a low overnight tariff, which makes fuelling my EV only a twelfth of the cost of fuelling my ICE car.
@@helipeek2736very droll. Took me three readings to get your joke. Now I'm wondering how he got enough money to buy the car at that age. But maybe his mommy and daddy gave it to him for Christmas.
It will not take 20 years to adopt electric cars in the UK. What we see in China, Norway and other places is that things tend to snowball. Once the infrastructure is in place the switch can happen very quickly.
There's that word again - infrastructure. The UK is well behind most Countries with its ability to bring in investment. We've had a great history of inventing things, sadly much of that has gone to other Countries who have invested in them.
Yeah found that an odd comment. Zeekr in china have a 400 mile minimum range SUV with super fast charging in sub 10minutes, out now. In 5 years we're probably going to see most cars having 300 miles as standard with 500-600 mile ranges
One of the key limiting factors is on street charging for those without driveways (vast majority of homes in the UK). Once there is a genuine affordable solution to that, they will sell like hot cakes.
I have recently purchased an EV for the wife. It's smooth, fast and have gone from £45 per week fuel to £4.50 per week electricity. Yes the car may loose more in depreciation, but if I wanted a cheap car I'd buy a used diesel that's already lost a chunk of money. I too was an EV hater, but my next car will be EV, the roar and rip of petrol is great fun, but a nice brisk rapid ride in an EV is a pleasure. I think the worry is that china have a lot of cheap EVs ready to sell, and will hit our shores (if not already) will crash the ICE market.
I am seeing similar fuel savings going from a 2.0 litre BMW to a Tesla Model 3. My lease cost is a little more, but that was my choice, I could have gone for a cheaper EV and saved even more. But, having tested a lot of EVs, I liked the Model 3 the most (including the lack of dials, buttons and even indicator stalks!). I don't see myself going back to ICE.
@@nozyspy4967 can u afford to change your engine? You're asking an equivalent question. Battery degradation is exaggerated. Engine and BHP degradation on an ICE car is dramatic and happens sooner, you don't hear anyone complaining that their 10 year old 3 series isn't as fast as it was on the day it left the showroom. There are Teslas out there with over 300k miles. Do keep up to date
I can only assume you must have a very good electric tarrif for your house, as our EV costs roughly half of the equivalent petrol car for the same journey. Either that, or you replaced a large American v8….
A global survey of 23,000 EV drivers shows gas-powered cars are becoming the ex you never text back. Fewer than 1% of EV owners return to gas, proving that “range anxiety” might just be a learning curve. Lower operating costs are the main hook-because saving money and the planet isn’t a tough sell. The message to policymakers? Make EVs more affordable, and gas cars will stay in the rearview for good. Source: Global EV Driver Survey,
Sensible adults. I love my noisy ICE cars and bikes but I bought an electric Ioniq 6. It’s absolutely fabulous in every respect. It’s a great long range quiet tourer.
@@benfroughi 1050 miles in a single day is my current EV record, 20 minute break every 4 hours of driving gives you infinite range, it's just not that difficult, 400 miles is nothing. For those with a more open mind than the Times Radio "journalist" (his entire intro was false information) try renting an EV for a week, that will settle the last 20 years of anti EV misinformation the UK public has been spoon fed, and continues to be fed by such illumanary publications as the Daily Mail.
Why aren't electric cars selling? They're too expensive, the overwhelming majority of us are completely skint, and there's nowhere to charge them for the majority of us (we all live in flats). This is not complicated.
I found the premise of the interview a bit odd. Perhaps I live in a bubble here in Oxford, but on every journey I take I see more and more EVs around me all the time.
If you are fairly well off and own a house where you can charge your EV, of course it is great. If you are lower income and live somewhere where you can't easily charge an EV, then of course it's not great. How do people who live in Oxford or Cambridge not understand this fairly simple dynamic?
I live in China, electric vehicles are absolutely everywhere, as are charging stations or even battery swap stations. Western governments have simply dragged their feet, failed to get infrastructure set up, and even slapped excellent EVs with massive taxes or tariffs. Something like the XiaoMi SU7 Max or the Xpeng P7 Performance are far from boring.
@motopeter2409 no, I don't mean that at all. There's a reason why the CEO of Ford in America imported a Xiaomi SU7 and has been driving it constantly... It's an excellent car. And if you don't think other government's give subsides, tax breaks and other benefits to companies, especially in the pursuit of large environmental goals, then you're just wrong.
@@Enoch-Root If a CEO of Ford drives a Xiaomi, that probably means he is paid by the Chinese to promote their product. Nothing more. A good technology will sell no matter what. E-cars need bans to keep selling. They are not the superior technology. Yet. When they get there, then will be the time to mass adopt them. Not now. E-cars are a political decision, nothing more. They will ruin the economies of EU and USA. Only China will benefit as they have all the resources.
I recently purchased the cheapest Tesla Model 3 Long Range I could find-it already has 240,000 km on it! No worries, though; after doing some research, I discovered the battery is designed to last up to a million kilometers. It’s easily the most cost-effective car I’ve ever owned. Charging it at home costs just €2 for a full charge, giving me 450 km of range. Incredible! That said, I can see how charging could be a challenge for people who rely on public stations. Expanding the number of charging points would definitely make EV ownership more convenient. Oh, and here’s a fun fact: I even tow a small caravan with my EV! It’s been a fantastic experience all around.
I’m going to guess you live in the Netherlands. Makes complete sense to run EVs in NL, there are many more public chargers in NL than in the U.K.- for a quarter of the population. U.K. charging is a decade behind.
You might be right about that, but there’s a major shift happening in the automotive world, and it’s reshaping the industry. The competition between electric vehicles (EVs) and fossil-fuel-powered cars is heating up, with survival at stake. Companies like Tesla and manufacturers in China are making bold moves, focusing heavily on reducing costs and advancing AI-driven self-driving technology. Traditional car manufacturers, in many ways, seem to be falling behind because they’ve slowed down on innovation and stopped making significant investments in transformative technologies. Meanwhile, China, the U.S., and parts of the EU are pushing full steam ahead in the EV revolution. The UK, however, appears to be lagging, potentially due to a lack of investment in electric infrastructure and national innovation. If China manages to produce an EV with an 800-mile range priced at £15,000, it could render traditional cars-and even some current EV players-obsolete. The game is changing fast, and only those who adapt will survive.
" I discovered the battery is designed to last up to a million kilometers" Yeah, that phrase "up to" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. How's your 10 year old laptops battery?
I drive up to 15,000 kilometers a year, and the car is currently at 255,000 kilometers. In 10 years, it will reach around 400,000 kilometers. The battery has only degraded by 8% so far, which is significantly better than what you’d expect from a laptop battery-it’s a completely different technology.
@@bannjaxx Tesla car batteries are significantly larger and more durable than laptop batteries, designed to store much more energy and handle thousands of charge cycles with minimal degradation. They use advanced thermal and battery management systems to optimize performance, safety, and longevity under demanding conditions. In contrast, laptop batteries are smaller, less complex, and designed for portability, which leads to faster degradation over time.
Starts with "why is electric car take up so slow", so you know straight off that facts are not on the menu. Electric cars are still outselling petrol, diesel and hybrids. And the lies just keep coming. But May, Hammond and Clarkson did make an enormous amount of money when their live shows were sponsored by Shell. I'm sure there's no bias when they go on about speed and power all the time but downplay it when an electric car blows every ICE car away on the track. The Hyundai Ioniq 5N has beaten V6s, V8s and run suprisingly close with a $3.5m V12. The Lucid Air Sapphire made the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 look like it had broken down on the start line. But, somehow people still try to picture EVs as boring. How boring was it when Ken Block chose an all electric Audi e-Tron for what turned out to be his last hooning film? I wanted to give this video a fair chance but in less than three minutes the BS was already too much to bear. James May going on about how he needs to get in his Porsche for long journeys when EVs have been driving Land's End to John O'Groats for years. Repeating the lie that EVs have been for the wealthy when I've had one for eight years and never earned more than an average wage. He talks as if the Tesla was the first and only EV in existence. About a hundred and thirty years too late for that I'm afraid. In the early days of modern EVs there were the I-Miev and the Nissan Leaf. Even the Leaf has done LE to JOG multiple times. Mine has taken me everywhere I want to go and even done an 890 mile round trip in two days which is more than THREE times as far as I have EVER gone in two days in any of my three ICE cars. And that was when the infrastructure was a fraction of what it is now and the chargers maxed out at one quarter of their current speeds. It's all so ingenuine and ignorant. I could give endless examples of the The Three Unwise Monkeys of Top Gear undermining EVs with false statements and not just the lie about the Tesla Roadster running out of battery. But it's a waste of their time. When people actual experience an EV for themselves they are overwhelmingly impressed. Even hard nosed petrol heads have to admit they were educated when they actually got in an EV and actually found out first hand for themselves. The first time I test drove an EV I knew I was going to buy one and never go back to ICE. And over 90% of EV owners say they will never go back. And many people who buy an EV as a "second car" end up fighting over who gets to drive it. The ICE gets left on the driveway most days. And it's not because they want to save the world. It's because EVs are better and cheaper despite the FUD that is constantly spread by vested interests.
Pressing on the go pedal in my Model Y, and feeling the gobs of torque that could easily blow the doors off my '67 GTO, feels simply amazing. Doing it quietly and elegantly just adds to the experience, for me. I charge with solar eneregy and I give no more money to the greedy oil companies. I love it.
'EV sales are plummeting' as a throw away 'fact' by the interviewer ot typical of many in our media. They are not plummeting they are just not growing as fast as the politicians wanted and the manufacturers were forced to plan to supply. The interviewer is showing his bias and should get his facts right.
Isn't plummeting and not growing as fast the same thing though? Either way they haven't sold well which tells me more that the customers aren't ready and want to stick with what they've got.
They are plummeting, 85 percent of all new EV that are registered aren't sold. A lot of car dealers are pre registered them because the government are taxing the car dealers on unsold EV.
Not to mention the fact that in bad economies people can't afford luxuries like new cars. People are holding on to their cars longer now than anytime in history. Also the vast majority of new vehicles not being sold are ICE. People have to use very specific definitions and data sets with apples to oranges comparisons to try and spin narratives to their bias. There are over 100 million unsold new ice cars sitting on lots in America right now, only 10,000 electric vehicles sitting on the lot.
People are clinging on to Efuel like it's a possibility that it will save engines, no it won't, the best you can hope for is it allows people to continue using classic cars into the future. The reality is people like James (and also me) who can afford an EV and still own some ICE vehicles and have a drive and garage ETC to keep them and charge them, can really enjoy EV ownership, but someone on a budget who lives in a high rise might need to wait another 10yrs until an affordable fast charging EV is available to better suit their needs.
E fuel is going to be more useful for racing off road, track cars, dirt bikes in competitions etc. I don’t see it being used widely for day to day road vehicles myself.
@@stewdeanNo one needs to drive 400 miles daily, but most people will drive hundreds of miles occasionally to go on family trips, or to drive across the country to see relatives etc. everybody makes long journeys at some point and EVs just aren't good enough for that yet. Let's not even mention how range is affected by towing something like a caravan or having a bike rack on the roof. I have relatives in Poland. How would I drive from the UK to Poland in an EV with todays inadequate infrastructure?
Fossil free fuel for a ICE car will still produce CO2. And the nice thing 'bout filling up a electric car is that you do it at night, when electricity is cheap and the grid has a low utilization.
You really think you could replace all ICE vehicles with EV's and power everything, all vehicles, homes and industry via wind farms and solar all year round, in Britain? It would only be possible with a massive expansion of nuclear and a huge overhaul of infrastructure. We cannot do those things in Britain. I'm not saying it can't happen in a more advanced and prosperous country with a smaller population and more resources. But it's not happening in Britain. I guarantee that.
@@intelligenceofacertainkind Well, I live in South Australia, here renewables are supplying more 70% of grid electricity, and that is with electric car usage climbing. We will be 100% renewable in 4 years.
@@glennmcc64 I live in the San Francisco Bay Area but have worked in Germany, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. I never had a need of a car. I don't hate cars, just no need. My solar produces more energy than I need and would easily power an EV if I needed one. Once I hit 80 I plan to get an E-trike. It's all I need for shopping and with the money I save I can have some very nice vacations. It all depends on what one wants in life. I was just never of the Vroom! Vroom! set.
@@stevemawer848 Well a third of all households do not have a car in the UK. And from what I've seen of statistics 78% of the population (Wales + England) lives in a houses or a bungalow. And funny enough 22% of families in the UK doesn't have acces to a Car/Wan at all. I would say that UK is very well suited for electric cars, more than for example Denmark where I live, where the number of people living in houses/bungalows is only 66%. And car ownership is only 62% of all families.
Good quality, reliable EVs have been around for over a decade. People have been scared by merchants of doubt, people have been made to overblow the concerns of range or reliability totally unnecessarily. There is no problem with EV for long range travel or charging speeds. Hammond is being childish, most people need a car, not a toy. Hammond is wrong about grid capacity, it's a canard that's been disproved endlessly. EVs are just a better technology, people are being misled by merchants of doubt, don't be drawn on their nonsense.
The merchants of doubt usually include most of the rightwing press, Telegraph, Mail, Express, GBeebies, Talk TV et al constantly bashing EVs yet are up in arms when Vauxhall close their EV van plant in Luton due to weak demand which has been caused in part by negative articles in the media.
The battery will not last past 8 years, and the car will be worth less than the batteries at that stage. We will then have disposable cars. Not worth it
It’s because electric cars don’t work for the majority of the population. It works if you have a driveway and somewhere to charge it, if you live in a flat or apartment or an old style house that you have to park on the street , it doesn’t work. The majority of people in this country don’t live in a home with a driveway. And those types of homes have become so expensive and out of most people’s affordability
I don't have a driveway and no way to charge at home and i have been driving an EV for 5 years now without any issue. They do work for the majority of the people but the majority of the people also act like they drive 350 miles a day.
@@TheGalantir They are not affordable to most people, and Chinese knockoffs are not the answer either. I've actually heard people quoting Chinese EV manufacturers claims in this comment section.....a bunch of people who have zero clue about Communist propaganda and how the world really works over in China. Go look at their tofu dreg projects and then imagine that in a car.....
I'm due to get my first EV in a couple of weeks. The only reasons are that my employer is providing it, and the cost to me is £30 a month. Of the limited choice, I've chosen the one with the best interior and most like an ICE car. Its replacing a VW Golf with 129,000 miles on it. If i could have had a Golf again, I would have chosen that. The EV list price is twice as much, it weighs 800kg more, interior space is the same, and I'll have to learn about charging. Quickly as it turns out, as on the day i get it, I'm driving from Liverpool to Swansea.
I cant think of One reason to buy an EV, I don't see any positives only negatives, it wont save the world, it will only make it worse with even more pollution, you are just digging a different hole.
But more importantly...why is take up being slow a bad thing...customers are free to choose whatever they want from the market. If they dont dig electric cars...then thats their purogative
NOPE! All ev battery and motor except tesla ARE FROM CHINESE. The car maker ONLY MAKING THE BODY!!! What is this mean? THIS MEAN IF YOU WANTED A GOOD AND CHEAP EV, JUST LET CHINESE CAR IN. But the government doesn't want that. So? Do you wanted to go green? Letting Chinese ev came. This old car reviewers get this WRONG. They try porche EV, jag EV, etc. YOU SHOULD TRY CHINESE EV because there are the advance one
Well I've been driving electric exclusively for 6 years. These 'problems' are out of date or downright wrong. I have never run out of electricity, they are faster, cheaper to run and , more to the point, much less polluting. Nobody arguing for ICE includes the environmental costs.
The environmental costs of manufacturing an EV far exceed those of an ICE. Disposal is an issue that has not yet been confronted (what does one do with the old battery packs?). EVs may have lower CO2 emissions over a vehicle's lifetime but it's not clear cut.
@@iliyakuryakin4671the manufacturing of combustion engine cars only accounts for 10% of their lifetime emissions. So doubling it (it's less than that) doesn't matter , as the emissions from the refuelling are so much less it's unbelievable. The break even point on this is about 13,000 miles now in the UK as electricity gets greener and greener ( remember no coal now in the UK) It's very much clear cut, by a country mile. I'd suggest googling carbon brief EV myths and learning something.
@@iliyakuryakin4671 Yes it is. ICE car pollutes for its entire life, and as the reciprocating parts it relies on wear out the pollution gets worse. Also add in all the oil changes required in an attempt to keep the ICE car performing close to where it was when new as well as disposal of used oil. EVs require virtually no servicing just checks.
@@iliyakuryakin4671 Nonsense. I can't believe people still peddle this misinformation.... "Disposal is an issue that has not yet been confronted" Oh dear. You really need to catch up. I suggest you watch the UA-cam video posted by Volkswagen, of their EV battery recycling plant in Zwickau, Eastern Germany. Renault also have battery recycling facilities now. And not all older EV batteries will be recycled. Many will be repurposed by the energy industry for energy storage. Examples could be the huge sports stadium in Utrecht, Holland, which uses around 100 old Nissan Leaf batteries charged via solar. Another example is the large wind farm in South Wales, which has ex BMW i3 batteries for energy storage. I've tried looking, but have yet to find anyone recycling or repurposing old burned petrol and diesel....
The podcaster " Geoff buys cars " is worth looking up . The problem with this debate is that youve got two relativly wealthy blokes talking about a market were the average price people pay for cars is closer to £5 k and those £2k cars at the bottom end of the market are generally rust free and relyable . To the extent that i can drive without range anxiety my 20 year old belingo to anywhere i want. Not sure i'd buy a ten year old electric and that matters without the second hand market the new sale buyers are stuck
at some point in the past people said automobiles would never replace horses. They probably said things like cars have no personality, that fuel for horses is more abundant than fuel for cars etc. Battery technology will only improve while petrol will mostly stay the same.
@@didibu5754 Indeed...... I had not long been driving when unleaded fuel became the law. Older work colleagues were saying engines would disintegrate without lead in petrol and were in despair that their motoring days were doomed to regular engine failures.
@@karlhulme8014 A very long time ago with VERY old, inadequate technology and notions (e.g. have your servants convey your EV to charge at a depot overnight rather than simply park it in your garage at home and start every day with a full battery), which, I think, is the flaw in your particular argument here. The world has moved on in the hundred or more years since then, technology is VASTLY improved, and EVs already are perfectly functionally appropriate for most ordinary motoring applications and this will only get technically better and definitely *cheaper* from now on. They may not always be the answer for *everything*, but already they are an answer for *most* everyday car needs. Most of our driving is home to work to home, and EVs have had that nailed for a decade already.
Absolutely true. We'll just wait 20 years for the perfect battery?? Blissfully unaware of what we need to do to prevent catastrophic climate change, just because Hammond likes a brum brum noise
I have had an EV for 4 years and I still love the driving experience, better than any of my previous cars. I am lucky that I can charge at home, however if I need to charge at a fast public charger in the U.K. when on a journey, the costs are phenomenal! So if you have to rely on public charging, they are not cost effective.
Although if you *have* to use public chargers, you can reduce the cost - sometimes by up to 30% - by subscribing to the charge network you want to use....
Thats right and you're still have to burn it to power the car, Ultimately still putting roughly the same amounts of pollution in the air. There is no free lunches period. And electric cars are not clean in any respect. All they do is release the pollution somewhere else.
Could be a market for keeping vintage cars running but that is a limited market. Makes more sense for planes though, that's gonna take some time to go electric.
@@zapfanzapfan There will NEVER be electric planes. Not for the masses and mass transport. There is and will be electric planes, but they will only be fun hobby type and sport planes. And just like small and ultralight planes and helicopters, they will never be adopted as personal transport other than an extreme select few. Think flying cars were going to be the big thing back in the day We can barely control airspace now let alone if ever, aircraft are used as personal mobility vehicles. Total pipedreams.
@@ScatManAust Yes, absolutely. Synthetic fuels at scale will very likely be needed for aviation. People often miss the concept of energy density. It's even more critical to aviation than automotive applications. We still need to burn fuel because there is no practical energy alternative with the required energy density. You can't just stuff big batteries in airplanes so they have extremely limited utility. The concept is that the carbon is scrubbed out of the atmosphere so we're not adding more. That's what "net zero" means. People don't get it. There are people working on making synthetic fuels viable. It's not going to be easy but it's probably necessary.
Anyone who wants synthetic petrol can buy it now. Aspen synthetic petrol has been sold in Britain for decades. It costs around £25 per gallon......it's available from Amazon and the places who sell chainsaws and other petrol powered garden tools....
@@mjcamp01 We are seeing more flexibility in home tariffs now too, with some suppliers offering cheap rate EV charging during the daytime, but *only* for charging an EV. All other daytime usage is at the normal rate....
Everything produces emissions The manufacture of lithium batteries is particularly grubby The whole EV fad is based on a lie that somehow if all one billion passenger cars on the planet switched to electricity we would “save the planet” The planet can’t be saved One day the sun will expand and engulf this rocky habitat of “intelligent” life and nothing human beings can do will save us from that Even Mars will be vaporised and Elons great dream will be extinguished
EVs work perfectly well as they are; These two are just at that stage in life where they are starting to reject everything "new fangled". EVs are faster, quieter, more spacious, simpler to maintain, cheaper to run, cleaner, smell better and are more reliable than any alternative; They will shortly be cheaper to buy and they already are on the second hand market. Nobody apart from enthusiasts will be buying new cars that are not EVs by 2030 so it doesn't matter what the government does. And that nonsense about the National Grid is absolute BS. The National Grid currently delivers less that 85% of the peak it delivered in 2004 and would easily accommodate all EVs right now. Obviously there are areas that don't have the right level of supply but that is a minor issue that will be resolved - and EV owners have already adopted smart charging; This will continue.
I have been driving Renault Zoe 40kWh for the last year. I have done 37.000km. It is such a loveable thing to drive, and it covers 90% of distance driven easily. But 10% of driving was a pain, as it does not have enough range for long distance. So my next car would be an old diesel estate. That does not mean I hate Zoe or that I would sell it. It is not simply designed for long distance and it will never be. But everything else - it is a joy.
Being an early adopter I loved my Leaf but the range was atrocious. Next Yaris hybrid great! Determined to go back to BEV only available 2 years ago Zoe. Worst choice of vehicle I ever made. Only car I have ever had that has no part exchange value over what is owed to finance company! Back to fossil fuel for me nobody else seems to be worrying about the planet.
Working as a Firefighter, the advent of EVs has brought with it so many extra issues when dealing with car fires. The chemicals given off not only being extremely hazardous to the environment and people around it, the biggest issue is definitely the event of Thermal Runaway, which often re-ignites a fire in an EV sometimes weeks after it's put out. Typically taking the area the wreckage has been stored in with it. A friend of mine admits that it's essentially cheaper to just buy a new EV than attempting to repair one, in which we've seen so many EVs just abandoned in fields. The technology is great, but a lot of work needs to be put into making it safer and more affordable.
None of this is true. And it gets less true every month as EVs develop. And why is a firefighter not more worried about ICE vehicles that are up to 60 times more likely to catch fire and contain many toxic materials that are hazardous to health and life?
@ because electric car fires are near impossible to extinguish, and, like the original commenter mentioned , are prone to re ignition way after the fire was originally put out.
@c0mplex564 Not entirely true. And battery tech is improving all the time. It is already EXTREMELY difficult to make EV batteries ignite even on purpose. Of course it is infinitely less likely than in a car full of petrol.
@@themightydash1714 Not true; they only work when the engine is fully warmed up. Filters do nothing about the CO2 that is going to make life for your grandchildren extremely hard.
From personal experience with a Tesla 2022 model 3 that my wife uses. Its range and time it takes to charge. Tesla has enough chargers around to provide the chargers needed. She hates adding and hour to what should be a 3 hour trip. Me, I’ve got a 2014 Model S P85. Love and don’t care the time it takes to charge or the shorter range. My gear head son who was a firm ICE man and preferred standard gearboxes, just bought a 2024 Ford lightning. He is raving about it.
2:22 “And I’ve also got a a Porsche…” for long distance… complete bullocks statement. I’ve got a Model 3 Performance and Model S Long Range And the last car I want to do a long distance in is my Golf R…
EV are good for transportation….. just don’t understand why need to be a cell phone too….. just battery and drive unit….. the rest mechanical will do as transportation…..not need communication between…. Expensive features as self driving….. just a simple car.
I've traveled to the UK several times with my EV, it's very hit and miss and there's an almost total lack of on street charging outside of the city centre. Shocking really, we've got chargers in all neighborhoods here in NL.. is a real culture shock. 6:05 James... Battery tech is there. Synthetic fuel is greenwashing, there isn't enough land to grow fuel. Hydrogen requires more energy and it's still an EV. 8:44 there isn't an infrastructure for synthetic fuel either Richard 😉 Btw Richard, synthetic fuel still releases co2 and it's still mightily inefficient, as most energy is converted to heat and noise. That's just physics I'm afraid.
'Sales are plummeting' - they're not. EV sales have been rising and now is at 20% of all new cars - they out sell diesel cars by almost 4x. We're now got lots of cheap EVs appearing (from about 16k) and the infrastructure is getting better every day - we already have more public charging points than petrol stations. About 60% of people have off-street parking, which can have home charging. Synthetic fuels don't work. They don't save much Co2 and will work out more expensive as petrol. Hydrogen is very very dead. Richard is very very wrong about the grid. It can handle all the cars going electric now, we're just making it better. No 'nitrogen cooling' required.
Sales of EVs are simply not failing to take off or plummeting - the opening statement is simply untrue!> “Almost 14 million new electric cars1 were registered globally in 2023, bringing their total number on the roads to 40 million, closely tracking the sales forecast from the 2023 edition of the Global EV Outlook (GEVO-2023). Electric car sales in 2023 were 3.5 million higher than in 2022, a 35% year-on-year increase. This is more than six times higher than in 2018, just 5 years earlier. In 2023, there were over 250 000 new registrations per week, which is more than the annual total in 2013, ten years earlier. Electric cars accounted for around 18% of all cars sold in 2023, up from 14% in 2022 and only 2% 5 years earlier, in 2018. These trends indicate that growth remains robust as electric car markets mature. Battery electric cars accounted for 70% of the electric car stock in 2023” Source: International energy agency.
It is very very simple actually - if we switch to something for the Environment and CO2 in particular - THE ONLY SOLUTION is the GOOD OLD ICE!!! Really only the Internal combustion engine fueled with synthetic have the potential for ZERO EMISSION dew to the circle economy of the e-fuels. EV will always add CO2 even if we put aside the huge environmental cost of the transition itself! P.S. and I'm with Richard on the boring side of the EV - funny their only advantage is 0-60 time but they fail even here as deliver it in the most boring way possible...
Australia's national electrical grid is 1million km and $1million per km, which is $TRILLIONS. More grid capacity is more $TRILLIONS. Rooftop PV and v2g EVs and feedin takes 80% of the load off the grid. Savings $TRILLIONS and TRILLIONS. No new grid capacity. No imported petroleum. No imported gas. International prices. No new grid central generation plant. Hot rooftops shaded by PV panels. New Rondo Heat Battery industrial tech. Industrial users moving away from fossil fuels would require the feedin electricity from the millions and millions of original customers. Millions and millions of customers can keep the grid connected for emergency backup with their vehicle being serviced.
The introduction to this article is absolutely nonsense, the host claims EV sales are plummeting but actually with 2 months remaining of this year 2024 EV sales have already exceeded 2023! The false narrative peddled by this misinformation is further putting people off from buying EV.
I don't know if it's actually putting anyone off from buying. Anyone that actually considers buying EV will likely do at least a small amount of research, all of which easily shows the benefits (and facts about sales) of EV's versus ICE. While ICE does have its benefits as well and I don't like government interference in the market, all the cringe whining and lies about EV's are by manbabies who have absolutely no intelligence, sense of humor, or appreciable personality and their only option is to make as much noise as possible (by running their mouths and using loud engines) to try and impress girls.
Green grows out of CO2, more CO2 = more 02, the loss of atmosphere share happens to inert gases. We are polluting, the CO2 bit is just politics scapegoat
There's a few things to point out IMO: 1. EVs won't get cheaper. They are often subsidized by governments, but also by manufacturers themself. EU has fleet emissions, the UK even has a EV mandate requiring a percentage of cars sold to be EVs. Thus, most manufacturers subsidize their EVs with profits from ICE Cars. 2. Fuel, at least in EU/UK is heavily taxed. If there was a big shift towards EVs, those taxes would be applied elsewhere. Cause one thing we all can agree on is that our governments won't settle for less taxation of the common folk. 3. EVs heavily rely on finite resources. Those resources have to be mined or otherwise gathered. Recycled Lithium Ion afaik costs 3 times as much as blasting it out of the desert with lots of water. Not to mention sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide, which effectively turn the area into spoiled wasteland for 300 years. Copper mines have to go deeper and copper is in heavy demand from all sorts of electronic devices etc. so prices won't fall there either. Let's not get into the mess with Cobalt. In other words: IF you want a new EV, make sure to get it before they become mandatory in your country, as prices will skyrocket the moment manufacturers can't cross finance them anymore. 4. The charging network will indefinetely remain a hollow promise by politicians. The few charging stations you see are subsidized. They require land, they need insurance (or pay damage), maintenance etc. From a economic perspective, it would be silly to cover the land in charging stations, as they'd be used too infrequently to pay for themself... and at some point, they will have to. At the same time, people will try their hardest to avoid said charging stations and instead charge at home, which on a price point is impossible to compete with. Imagine your petrol/diesel car had only 200km range, but you could fuel it at home for less than half the price. 5. Parking garages, ships etc. aren't build to handle a Lithium fire at all, but in order to not contradict the agenda, no regulations have been put in place (in most countries, as far as I am aware).
The UK can improve there GDP by changing to renewable power and EV. UK spent more than £125.7bn on fossil fuel imports. Renewable power can be produces in country to power the UK EVs.
Electric cars have killed the entire auto industry and made the notion of driving utterly miserable. Because of govt bribes (and now govt mandates) car makers haven't bothered to try and innovate for ICE engines anymore. BTW, EVs came before ICE vehicles, we are literally going backwards.
Don't get an EV people! Why, well I spend 5p for 4 miles in my lovely 250 mile real-world range, 3 year old 33k highly depreciated purchase. Sure EV cars are not for everyone but everyone who does live in a house with a drive could easily have one. The massive issue is the energy production/grid couldn't cope with everyone moving over to EV. If the government had any clue what it was doing, it would now be building four more UK nuclear power stations to meet this massive demand increase that's coming. WHat will happen is the kwh price will just keep rocketing up as EV adoption grows. This is extremely worrying as the UK already has the most expensive electricity in the world. The level of negative propaganda towards EV cars is massive online and in the media and a bit of an eye opener if I'm honest as the reality is not what you see. I love combustion as much as I love EV's, for me it comes down to real world use and the cost to own and run. Currently, the EV makes massive financial sense for my one car family vs my old Benz 220D. Everyone complains that new EV cars depreciate massively but isn't that obviously a good thing for purchasing a 2-3 year old EV?
Meanwhile in Norway: 90% of new cars sold in 2024 so far have been BEVs. Yes yes. I know they are heavily insentivized. But most people are happy with them. We have an excellent charging network in norway and a lot of us are able to charge at home.
3 reasons why people hate EVs. 1) Missing infrastructure 2) No option for charging at home 3) too poor. All other reasons can be easily falsified. But people tend to spread lies instead of being honest. I drive EV and ICE. I like both but tend to use the EV for daily. I charge at home and don't have to go to the station. And I have less range fear in the EV. My V8 goes maybe 400 km if I am lucky.
@ oof. Yes. Roughly 3X the price if my quick google search was correct. Coupled with higher purchasing price for the cars it's no wonder EVs are a tough sale in the UK.
A podcast with May and Hammond would wipe the floor with any other motoring podcast …
Or they can make a new series with james and jeremys' speed of birds and hammond in a play as buttons.
Freaking True....
...meh... I am 54 and know these guys. That said... I see a lot better. Just my opinion.
@courtney5796 everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how wrong it is.. ❤️
The Maymond Hour
As a chemical engineer who worked on hydrogen vehicles I know that they are too expensive and impractical. Synthetic fuel is a pipe dream also. The inefficiency would make them 6x more expensive.
I wonder if Hydrogen could be used for trains where electrification may be too impractical or expensive.
Yes, hydrogen is a pipe dream, glad we have it from the horse’s mouth.
@@MatthewEng2593 The Americans are producing ‘lab’ seaweed petroleum for $1 per litre. One imagines that this drops dramatically when developed on an industrial scale. Fuel duty would also need to be reassessed for green fuels. It’s therefore a political rather than economic issue.
Similar experience, a lot of hype but in reality the delivery is not what is claimed.
In time, natural gas will power most vehicles. As a byproduct of oil, you can't give natural gas away in some places. The amount of the stuff under our feet is almost unimaginable.
"the electric car is not designed to save the world, its designed to save the car" May's clarity is on point
A very sensible comments in the by Captain Slow.
The BEV is NOT designed to save the car.
The BEV is designed for one, single purpose >-----> Population Control.
@@extremedrivrHAHAHAHAHA
@@Reallyreallywho
You can laugh now but you will be humbled when you find out I was right.
Why do you think we have the 15 minute city now??
Why do you think Covid happened??
I had Covid 19 twice but the first time it made me the sickest I have ever been in life.
Covid was engineered in a lab and released onto the population. Then the lockdowns happened, and the list went on.
There is money to be made off the "Climate Crisis" idea. Billions upon billions of dollars.
Certain people's pockets are getting flush while the rest of us become slaves to their country's Government.
This isn't the stuff of Hollywood, this is real life.
@@extremedrivr Don't you worry your tiny tin foiled head, they don't need you to switch your car to control you, they have countless other ways.
James May is knowledgable and insightful on the tech . Richard , less so, but demonstrates the emotional attachment to the combustion engine which many of us are going to find hard to give up . Synthetic fuels are very expensive and have a lot of downsides.
I view it as the new "person with a black and white TV", "person who can't program the VCR", "person who can't use a computer", "person who still uses the landline". Or "old person who can't learn new things".
The economic damage projected by continued use of fossil fuels is astronomical. They don’t seem expensive now but the cost is coming.
Synthetic fuels? Forget it, ditto hydrogen. James May is knowledgeable on the tech but he doesn't study the market, this obvious when he says that living in a terraced house or flat is an 'insurmountable problem'. Has he noticed where the highest concentration of EV ownership in the UK is!?...which is in wealthy west London where no one can get their cars off the road to charge. It's the same here in France where I live, wealthy Parisians are the biggest buyers of EVs here and they all live in flats, as do the Chinese who buy more EVs than anyone. I was in Chelsea earlier this year and couldn't believe the number of EVs parked in the street, though I did notice that every 3rd or 4th lamppost was adapted for EV charging.
James may needs a back up actual car cause the tech doesn't do well driving anywhere but around his town/ city. If he only had to rely on his electric he have a very different opinion of it. Electric cars are a massive step backwards
@@davidlloyd1526 Yep. It's change basically. Unfortunately people who do not want change seldom have the answers to the problem necessitating the change either.
It's interesting that the constant claim that EV sales are collapsing, slowing, falling etc in the UK goes without challenge. No statistics are ever provided to support this assertion. It's just made and accepted as the premise for the discussion that follows.
However, a quick search shows that we are on track for record EV sales in the UK in 2024.
Sales of EVs to end October totalled just under 300k, compared to 270k for the same period (Jan to Oct inclusive) in 2023.
So, where does this apparently baseless claim come from that EV sales are in reverse?
From what I can see, it's from those who just oppose EVs (e.g. confirmed petrol heads, of which I was long one), and from legacy car companies who appear to be terrified of the coming wave of high quality, value for money, long range and genuinely good Chinese EVs that they cannot compete with.
The petrol-heads I can forgive. They are entitled to their preference. I still love the idea of a roaring V8, or a smooth-as-silk V6.
The legacy auto-makers I have less sympathy for. They are peddling falsehoods in a desperate attempt to protect their failing businesses.
And, how many petrol heads are really lamenting the imminent demise of unrefined small capacity 3 and 4 cylinder cars with boring exhaust notes and rev limiters. These are the bread and butter of the legacy manufacturers, not the V8s and V6s. Compared to such offerings, almost any EV is a revelation in performance and refinement.
If you don't want people "peddling falsehoods" maybe don't force people to buy them whilst waffling about the climate 😂
@ I assume you are directing this reply at Elon Musk, not me. I got mine because it’s cheap to run, pleasant to drive and a tax dodge via salary sacrifice.
@@johnfranklin6394 It wasn't directed at you or Musk tbh
@@johnfranklin6394 Aren't they removing the tax incentive to buy and own one and looking into higher road tax just so you pay the same amount as a ICE owner?
@ to some degree, but far from entirely.
EVs currently pay no benefit in kind company car tax. That is changing from April 2025 and BIC will apply to EVs on an increasing scale over the coming years.
EVs will be subject to the luxury car tax from next year as well. So, any EV over £40k will pay the additional £450 per year VED for the first five years. The good news is there are many good EVs under £40k now, which was certainly not the case for a long time. My Tesla was £39,950, and remains so today.
Salary sacrifice schemes are not being axed from what I understand, so people who have access to one via their employer will still be able to pay the lease, maintenance and insurance from gross income. For me, that saves 40% income tax and 2% NI on my monthly payments. It also reduces my taxable income, which helps on my self assessment.
There are no other EV incentives for private or company car drivers. The Conservatives got rid of the lump sum discounts off the retail price of new EVs some years ago.
The thing is, car enthusiasts like James and Richard (and me) are not the average car buyer. The vast majority of car buyers view the car as an appliance that gets you from point A to point B. In fact, I've encountered many young people here in the US who are completely unenthusiastic about even getting a driver's license. Cars are too expensive to buy, too expensive to insure, and too expensive to fuel. They would be happy getting an Uber when they need it or bumming a ride off a friend or family member. People like this just want a car to be comfortable, reliable, and inexpensive to own and operate. I think the inherent reliability and low maintenance requirements of electric cars bodes well for their future.
If people want to get the train or the bus, that's fine. If they want to drive an electric pod that they call a car, that's fine. The rest of us will still drive petrol and diesel cars.
@@benfroughi Oh. Sorry. I should have consulted the spokesperson for the world market.
@KawaTony1964 no one cares who you encountered. You're wrong.
@@KawaTony1964 why do you think it's all about you?
@@KawaTony1964 "I think" no, you clearly don't.
I live in Australia and have a 13kW solar system on my roof. I've had my EV for just over a year and have done nearly 14,000 kms. According to my app, 98% of the electricity to charge my EV has come from my solar system.
Lucky you!. 1. For having a house to give you this luxury and 2. For driving an EV
You do know the population growth is all in units and apartments and houses are a pipe dream for many
So you are a small %
Grey north west UK here. We do get sun. We just don’t get it enough.
@@zzhughesd yep, not all equal. My mother always said never brag about what you there is always someone worse off than you.
The tale of two stories,I live in the suburbs and could have the solar and EV and the charging and the battery but at what cost. I save per year but pay upfront for all the start up costs, in 5 years time in needs to be upgraded… more costs
Then I have my brother who lives near the city in an terrace the size of a box, no parking, no solar… and wants the EV perks but just can’t have it.
I'm in north Wales. I'm sure if I put solar on my roof they would send energy to the sun If it ever came out. @@zzhughesd
I have just ordered an EV tho, mainly because I realised I was anti EV without really knowing if they are as bad as I thought.
So I have an Cupra born on order. It's the only one I've tested that is actually fun to drive. Also my kids have all grown so I really fancied a little hot hatch, over years of 'warn' estates.
My first want was a fiesta st150 or 200. But somehow I ended up settling on the Cupra born, the seats won me over.
Hope you like where you live because you don’t have the range to drive across the areas like the outback.
I do not have a problem with electric cars.... I just have a problem with this being forced and shoved to everyone... If someone wants electric... sure... if someone wants petrol or diesel... also fine...
EVs are much simpler to produce, which is why the Carmakers themselve want to get rid of ICEs. You don't have a choice.
We saw this in the US with cellphones. US Telecoms found it cheaper and more lucrative to push consumers away from landline phones and into cellular devices. Now the vast majority of Americans have already ditched landline phones for cellphones, and it wasn't really their choice.
@@Cakebattered Mild take: I'd say deservedly so. The combustion engine and the landline are/were both the inferior product.
where is this notion that the government is "forcing" electric vehicles towards you? there is some policies and benefits that ENCOURAGE people to buy one, but ICE vehicles will always be a thing especially for newer drivers where they are likely to buy much cheaper vehicles for their first car.
@@upsilondiesbackwards7360on the contrary they are not easier to produce at all. Even Toyota never went then EV direction. It's easier to build an ICE vehicle and just fuel it which is available everywhere
What a brilliant talk about electric cars. They both talk such sense. Let’s hope the government(s) watch this and take note.
I've seen representatives of the National Grid saying categorically: the grid is ready for full EV adoption. It's a back issue of the Fully Charged Show.
I'm a Fully Charged subscriber and Patron. Until this year I attended every UK show they put on. You are quite right. Representatives from every level of the National Grid have repeatedly stated at FC talks and in videos that not only can the Grid cope, but it would not even approach the highest demand levels the Grid has faced in the last 30+ years. What's more the storage and Grid-to-load capabilities of EVs would actually LOWER the burden on the Grid. The naysayers are so desperate that they repeat lies that are further and further from the truth with every passing month.
@@trevorberridge6079 Exactly. I've attended virtually every FC South and National Grid representatives all say it. And they are the experts here.
As it has become utterly obvious... current electric cars are monopolising the repairs to the vendor only. The industry is trying to squeeze out more money of the customer - and tries to prevent the customer repairing his car in any way thinkable of.
the right to repair has gone completely out of the window with current electric cars.
7:00 This is perfect example why maths and science is so important for everyone at school. Richard has lots of opinions and very little understanding about anything.
Synthetic fuels DO NOT EXIST as a commercially viable product - just like carbon capture, these are all PR tools used by Oil lobby to distract and delay decarbonisation. To make these fuels you have to use massive amounts of energy , that’s just basic chemistry and 2nd law of thermodynamics , so the total carbon footprint and the cost will never be low.
It’s the same story with Hydrogen. If you don’t know much about engineering or science, here’s a handy analogy: having cars powered by synthetic fuels or H2 is like heating your home with special kind of wood burning stove that can only take IKEA flat pack furniture :)
ppl who propose we take electricity to split water, then cool down H2 to -270 C, than store it, ship it, than distribute it into EVs equipped with an expensive fuel cells made of precious metals, so the H2 can be used by that vehicle to reverse the whole process and make electricity from hydrogen, charge the onboard battery and propel the car. Do you see the problem yet?
I also have an EV - my process is tiny bit shorter: I take electricity, put it in my car’s battery which is used to propel it :)
Succinctly put, thank you. I find it hard to believe absolute idiots like James were hired for tv; put them through an IQ test first.
7:00 - This is perfect example why LISTENING is so important for everyone, not only those at school... Richard said that synthetic fuels exist but would have to be SCALED UP... and then they can make use of an existing infrastructure that has already evolved over the last 100 years. We can argue whether that is viable or not commercially (and physically!) even with investment but he clearly did not say that it is a commercially viable option right now.
As for the Oil Lobby 'delaying decarbonisation' - well, the irony is that we require enormous amounts of fossil fuel applications to build EVs.. AND to build installations that create electricity generation and transmission.... there simply is no 'magic wand' which is what the politicians and ideologues are trying to sell us
@@markovilla1 except they never did, scale up. Which is why I wrote: "...as a commercially viable product". Just like CCS, billions are poured into the development of something that is limited by Physics - you cannot "scale up" over the fact that it takes massive energy (electricity) to synthesize compounds...which you then plan to burn to make energy in an engine with 40% efficiency.
There's plenty of research and analysis done by respected Unis and publications - just google and read.
Disappointing to read that. I thought this was a great balanced interview.
My area of knowledge is around the electrical infrastructure side, and Hammond's claim regarding rewiring the grid is inaccurate.
By the time EVs become mainstream, EVs will be used as both storage and generation on the grid, balancing out the overall extra consumption on the grid to be a minimal increase over the existing conditions for the grid.
To then also learn that his claims re: synthetic fuels aren't entirely accurate either, really changes the dynamic of the conversation.
One side factual, the other not.
@@AdamCiernickiagreed 👍🏾
I bought a 15 year old civic. Presently it is excempt from ULEZ and I own it, outright. Theres no finance, I only have the normal repairs/replacements and runnings costs that one would expect with an older car but even if it failed catastrophically, a replacement car would only be a fraction of the cost of a new battery in an EV. Its this cost above all that puts people off buying one. Those on lower incomes could never afford a new EV, let alone a new battery in say, 7 years time. I just want something that will get me from place to place, reliably and without having to work out where all the salvation charging points are.
A 15 year old car will drink petrol, road tax, and cost a fortune to maintain.
Batteries dying after 7 years is false, will happen in a handful of numbers as with any electronic, but most manufacturers batteries warranties are longer than that anyway.
It will be possible to buy and run ICE cars after the 2030 ban on new ICE car sales. You are not going to be forced to drive an EV. However, I think you might be surprised how good an EV is to drive and own compared to a 15yr old Honda Civic.
A new EV battery will not be required in 7ys time, please don't listen to the 'Man in the pub' nonsense constantly puked out by the media, there is plenty of evidence out there, even on UA-cam, of Tesla batteries lasting well over 7yrs with the car having travelled 500000 miles. Autotrader recently ran a series of UA-cam videos on a Tesla Model S which was used as an executive taxi since new. It was rapid charged constantly, and never serviced yet had covered over 460000 miles.Reliable as they are, I don't think many Honda Civics are going to achieve that mileage.
@vwthings your 7 year battery replacement myth is the most ignorant opinion used and has never been proved. What happened to the 75 litres of oil that were replaced in the 15 years prior to you owning the car and where do the billions of litres of waste oil go each year from all the other vehicles globally?
@@Phuc_Yhou agreed! Additional even in a Rare case where a battery is not car usable in 7 years, by then there will be an industry to turn your cells to battery home storage.
That conversation was far more intellectual than I had estimated it to be, before giving it a listen!
Cheers from California! 👍
Completey agree with the points made here thumbs up 👍👌
Richard and James seemed to be struggling with the reasons.
I expect, because of their wealth.
Straight off the bat, both should have said cost to buy and charging infrastructure.
These are the reasons I hear time and time again.
Yes, there’s also long term uncertainty of reliability plus cost to repair if a battery issue arises but cost of the car and charging are the main ones.
Boys, I love you both, but I fear that the only ‘working class’ people you’re around now are either those who serve you or those who work for you.
"Straight off the bat, both should have said cost to buy and charging infrastructure." They didn't because they both know it's not true.
"These are the reasons I hear time and time again." Really? Is this from people who actually drive an EV and use the charging network or from click bait confirmation bias anti-EV UA-cam channels? Or from a fella in the pub?
All the anti EV FUD has been disproved time and again.
Hold on here, fact checking here : ' sales are plummeting'
SMMT figures Oct 24 / Oct 23 29,800 up 24%, YTD 299,700 up 14.2%...how's that plummeting?
fact check : ' run my car on guilt free synthetic fuel... So how much energy was employed to make said fuels, and there are similar co2/exhaust emissions at the tailpipe!
For the record I am in a Victorian terrace and happily charge my EV from public charging , while I shop/eat at pubs , supermarkets, malls etc. As for access my local area (Tamworth) has 9 rapid charging stations with 28 charging points....it's not difficult!
What a load of FUD.
❤ excellent comment, fud destroyer
Fake nonsense. Sales are stalled at 15%
For the record private sales have bottomed out. They are only bought by tax conscious companies. They are an unnecessary expensive indulgence
@@jimbrown2688 Show your data or shut up!
@@pja7except that sales of non EV vehicles are declining.
Look at cell phone sales since 1996 - when I got my first one. It started so slow many of the early leaders failed.
What a couple of nice guys. I wonder if they have ever met before.
They are just so genuinely intelligent and full of wisdom when it comes to vehicles..
I love these two guys, watched all TG and GT. I'm afraid to say, as a transport engineer and a Chartered Fellow of a professional transport body, and a household that has 4 EV's and have only had EV's for 5 years, EV's are good enough NOW and so is charging infrastructure. Over 70k public chargers today, 300k in a few years time and EV sales in 2024 in UK are at record sales. 338k EV's (Not PHEV or Hybrid, pure electric) sold in UK up to November 2024, 38k in November alone, making up 25% of ALL car sales in the UK. EV sales are not slowing down and the early adopter stage has long since past. A little fact checking goes a long way.
Where is the idea that sales of EVs are falling come from? Industry stats show more EVs were sold in the last 12m than the previous 12m. Whilst fewer ICE cars were sold.
The uk is behind most of Europe, America and China 😊
What they mean is the increase in EV sales is slowing - not the actual number of sales. This shows that we are reaching the stage where all the car buyers who want an EV have already got one. The car industry is beginning to find it difficult to flog EVs without heavy discounting and EV used market is already suffering from severe depreciation issues.
"The increase is slowing". That's like accelerating less hard, right?
@@mgutkowski Yep
@@saddoncarrs6963 Because the lacklustre overpriced euro EVs are being shown up by Chinese Evs that are being released with 400-450 miles guaranteed range, we want value but don't want to pay over 25k for a small hatchback
EV'S aren't selling, so it's a disaster. EV'S are selling so well that ICE manufacturers are going bankrupt and its a disaster.
Aren't selling where? In your head?
@truebrit3670 I suggest that you read it again slowly. I was being ironic, in case you missed it!
Evs have only seen a very small growth this year in the UK from 16.3% market share 2023 to 18.1% 2024 that's a 1.8% growth in Market share. I have taken these figures direct from The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders SMMT, you can easily check on their website.
Don't look at the % growth because that is misleading if you sold 1 car last year and two this year that's 100% increase. Sounds good but any percentage of very little is still very little.
A market share growth of only 1.8% is financially a disaster which is why Ford,VW, Nissan, etc are in trouble..They are all being rushed into putting out cars that won't in the words of Akio Toyoda fit everybody's needs. We need to take a step back before the manufacturers we rely on to develop new evs go bust before they can.
...but the ICE manufacturers are predominately the ones making the EVs, and also the ones lobbying governments hard to continue support for them.
@@truebrit3670 He was pointing out the contradictory statements being made. They can't be both not selling and selling at the same time. So, like, someone here is wrong / lying.
Please keep this as weekly section with hammond and may
Great discussion 👍🙏
This needed to be double the length - so great to have James and Richard chat on about this issue from their separate viewpoints.
Price is a big thing and the charging infrastructure isn't there yet
This is one of the issues far too important and complicated to be entrusted to the universally recognized incompetents we call politicians.
Take up is not slow. 82% of the car market is used cars and that makes it much less likely people will buy them as they are still for the most part new or almost new cars. Piston cars been around for over 100 years and we have become familiar with them so why would we all change so quickly.
So what if it takes another 20 years for the tide to turn, it will as it’s
inevitable….just like we aren’t lighting homes with candles and heating with parfin lamps
But central heating is objectively superior to candles and lamps.
Electric vehicles (despite what the evangelists say) are inferior to ICE engines
I was an early adopter. My EV is nearly 9 years old but only done slightly more than 40 k miles. It now has 42% degradation, which makes the always present range and charger anxiety critical. I would never ever buy another one ever again after my experiences. I have enjoyed it so much I gave it to the wife, now used as a shopping trolley, tethered to it's octopus go home charger range. ( much like a milk float ? )
These guys are remarkably intelligent and well-spoken.
As a 4 year Tesla owner I can honestly say its an amazing car. Cheap, fun, reliable, and no problem at long distance trips. I will never buy a petrol again.
I presume you’re happy to wait thirteen years before you’re able to take your test and drive it.
How do you find the UK infrastructure for EVs ? Do you have a garage?
@ I don’t understand what I do for a living has to do with anything but, to answer your question, no I don’t work in the car industry. I only ever charge from home as I’m happy to benefit from a low overnight tariff, which makes fuelling my EV only a twelfth of the cost of fuelling my ICE car.
I also love my Tesla and agree with you . I am never going back to petrol .
@@helipeek2736very droll.
Took me three readings to get your joke.
Now I'm wondering how he got enough money to buy the car at that age. But maybe his mommy and daddy gave it to him for Christmas.
It will not take 20 years to adopt electric cars in the UK. What we see in China, Norway and other places is that things tend to snowball. Once the infrastructure is in place the switch can happen very quickly.
There's that word again - infrastructure. The UK is well behind most Countries with its ability to bring in investment. We've had a great history of inventing things, sadly much of that has gone to other Countries who have invested in them.
Yeah found that an odd comment. Zeekr in china have a 400 mile minimum range SUV with super fast charging in sub 10minutes, out now. In 5 years we're probably going to see most cars having 300 miles as standard with 500-600 mile ranges
We cannot do infrastructure in the UK. It cannot be done here.
One of the key limiting factors is on street charging for those without driveways (vast majority of homes in the UK). Once there is a genuine affordable solution to that, they will sell like hot cakes.
Public charing grew 43% last year, it's growing faster than the road fleet of EVs.
I have recently purchased an EV for the wife. It's smooth, fast and have gone from £45 per week fuel to £4.50 per week electricity. Yes the car may loose more in depreciation, but if I wanted a cheap car I'd buy a used diesel that's already lost a chunk of money. I too was an EV hater, but my next car will be EV, the roar and rip of petrol is great fun, but a nice brisk rapid ride in an EV is a pleasure. I think the worry is that china have a lot of cheap EVs ready to sell, and will hit our shores (if not already) will crash the ICE market.
I am seeing similar fuel savings going from a 2.0 litre BMW to a Tesla Model 3. My lease cost is a little more, but that was my choice, I could have gone for a cheaper EV and saved even more. But, having tested a lot of EVs, I liked the Model 3 the most (including the lack of dials, buttons and even indicator stalks!). I don't see myself going back to ICE.
Can you afford to replace the battery though, that's the problem.
@@nozyspy4967how big of a problem and how frequent are EV owners replacing batteries?
@@nozyspy4967 can u afford to change your engine? You're asking an equivalent question. Battery degradation is exaggerated. Engine and BHP degradation on an ICE car is dramatic and happens sooner, you don't hear anyone complaining that their 10 year old 3 series isn't as fast as it was on the day it left the showroom. There are Teslas out there with over 300k miles. Do keep up to date
I can only assume you must have a very good electric tarrif for your house, as our EV costs roughly half of the equivalent petrol car for the same journey. Either that, or you replaced a large American v8….
What sensible conversation. Why isn't everybody as level headed?
A global survey of 23,000 EV drivers shows gas-powered cars are becoming the ex you never text back.
Fewer than 1% of EV owners return to gas, proving that “range anxiety” might just be a learning curve.
Lower operating costs are the main hook-because saving money and the planet isn’t a tough sell.
The message to policymakers?
Make EVs more affordable, and gas cars will stay in the rearview for good.
Source: Global EV Driver Survey,
Sensible adults.
I love my noisy ICE cars and bikes but I bought an electric Ioniq 6.
It’s absolutely fabulous in every respect.
It’s a great long range quiet tourer.
Try driving 400 miles 😂
I can drive around 750 miles and refuelling takes around 3 minutes, then another 750 miles. What can your car do?
@@benfroughi 1050 miles in a single day is my current EV record, 20 minute break every 4 hours of driving gives you infinite range, it's just not that difficult, 400 miles is nothing. For those with a more open mind than the Times Radio "journalist" (his entire intro was false information) try renting an EV for a week, that will settle the last 20 years of anti EV misinformation the UK public has been spoon fed, and continues to be fed by such illumanary publications as the Daily Mail.
@@brushlessmotoring 20 minutes is totally unacceptable, and that assumes there's a charger available where you want it.
I've an ioniq 6 as well! Nocturnal black metallic. Fabulous car, sporty and peanuts to run!😊
Why aren't electric cars selling? They're too expensive, the overwhelming majority of us are completely skint, and there's nowhere to charge them for the majority of us (we all live in flats). This is not complicated.
Ask BYD that they are expensive. China has set the market on EV and makes the cheapest car on the market which is an EV.
@@ashelyaustin1955no one wants a Chinese car.
@@ashelyaustin1955 Of course, the BYD workers work almost for free!
Opinion only no facts here at all!
I found the premise of the interview a bit odd. Perhaps I live in a bubble here in Oxford, but on every journey I take I see more and more EVs around me all the time.
Get out of your self imposed bubble .
Same in London and Cambridge. Probably related to intelligence.
@@davidlloyd1526 really????? Did you just state that without thinking?
That because you live in the neo Marxist bubble of Oxford chap…. It’s not the real world… 🤦🏻♂️
If you are fairly well off and own a house where you can charge your EV, of course it is great. If you are lower income and live somewhere where you can't easily charge an EV, then of course it's not great. How do people who live in Oxford or Cambridge not understand this fairly simple dynamic?
Careful gentlemen, your intellect is showing.
I enjoyed this a lot
I live in China, electric vehicles are absolutely everywhere, as are charging stations or even battery swap stations. Western governments have simply dragged their feet, failed to get infrastructure set up, and even slapped excellent EVs with massive taxes or tariffs. Something like the XiaoMi SU7 Max or the Xpeng P7 Performance are far from boring.
buy excellent ev you mean subsidised Chinese manufacturers? lets see why ...
@motopeter2409 no, I don't mean that at all. There's a reason why the CEO of Ford in America imported a Xiaomi SU7 and has been driving it constantly... It's an excellent car.
And if you don't think other government's give subsides, tax breaks and other benefits to companies, especially in the pursuit of large environmental goals, then you're just wrong.
@@Enoch-Root If a CEO of Ford drives a Xiaomi, that probably means he is paid by the Chinese to promote their product. Nothing more. A good technology will sell no matter what. E-cars need bans to keep selling. They are not the superior technology. Yet. When they get there, then will be the time to mass adopt them. Not now. E-cars are a political decision, nothing more. They will ruin the economies of EU and USA. Only China will benefit as they have all the resources.
@@motopeter2409Still excellent EV’s though
I recently purchased the cheapest Tesla Model 3 Long Range I could find-it already has 240,000 km on it! No worries, though; after doing some research, I discovered the battery is designed to last up to a million kilometers. It’s easily the most cost-effective car I’ve ever owned. Charging it at home costs just €2 for a full charge, giving me 450 km of range. Incredible!
That said, I can see how charging could be a challenge for people who rely on public stations. Expanding the number of charging points would definitely make EV ownership more convenient.
Oh, and here’s a fun fact: I even tow a small caravan with my EV! It’s been a fantastic experience all around.
I’m going to guess you live in the Netherlands. Makes complete sense to run EVs in NL, there are many more public chargers in NL than in the U.K.- for a quarter of the population. U.K. charging is a decade behind.
You might be right about that, but there’s a major shift happening in the automotive world, and it’s reshaping the industry. The competition between electric vehicles (EVs) and fossil-fuel-powered cars is heating up, with survival at stake. Companies like Tesla and manufacturers in China are making bold moves, focusing heavily on reducing costs and advancing AI-driven self-driving technology.
Traditional car manufacturers, in many ways, seem to be falling behind because they’ve slowed down on innovation and stopped making significant investments in transformative technologies. Meanwhile, China, the U.S., and parts of the EU are pushing full steam ahead in the EV revolution.
The UK, however, appears to be lagging, potentially due to a lack of investment in electric infrastructure and national innovation. If China manages to produce an EV with an 800-mile range priced at £15,000, it could render traditional cars-and even some current EV players-obsolete. The game is changing fast, and only those who adapt will survive.
" I discovered the battery is designed to last up to a million kilometers"
Yeah, that phrase "up to" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. How's your 10 year old laptops battery?
I drive up to 15,000 kilometers a year, and the car is currently at 255,000 kilometers. In 10 years, it will reach around 400,000 kilometers. The battery has only degraded by 8% so far, which is significantly better than what you’d expect from a laptop battery-it’s a completely different technology.
@@bannjaxx Tesla car batteries are significantly larger and more durable than laptop batteries, designed to store much more energy and handle thousands of charge cycles with minimal degradation. They use advanced thermal and battery management systems to optimize performance, safety, and longevity under demanding conditions. In contrast, laptop batteries are smaller, less complex, and designed for portability, which leads to faster degradation over time.
Starts with "why is electric car take up so slow", so you know straight off that facts are not on the menu. Electric cars are still outselling petrol, diesel and hybrids. And the lies just keep coming. But May, Hammond and Clarkson did make an enormous amount of money when their live shows were sponsored by Shell. I'm sure there's no bias when they go on about speed and power all the time but downplay it when an electric car blows every ICE car away on the track. The Hyundai Ioniq 5N has beaten V6s, V8s and run suprisingly close with a $3.5m V12. The Lucid Air Sapphire made the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 look like it had broken down on the start line. But, somehow people still try to picture EVs as boring. How boring was it when Ken Block chose an all electric Audi e-Tron for what turned out to be his last hooning film?
I wanted to give this video a fair chance but in less than three minutes the BS was already too much to bear. James May going on about how he needs to get in his Porsche for long journeys when EVs have been driving Land's End to John O'Groats for years. Repeating the lie that EVs have been for the wealthy when I've had one for eight years and never earned more than an average wage. He talks as if the Tesla was the first and only EV in existence. About a hundred and thirty years too late for that I'm afraid. In the early days of modern EVs there were the I-Miev and the Nissan Leaf. Even the Leaf has done LE to JOG multiple times. Mine has taken me everywhere I want to go and even done an 890 mile round trip in two days which is more than THREE times as far as I have EVER gone in two days in any of my three ICE cars. And that was when the infrastructure was a fraction of what it is now and the chargers maxed out at one quarter of their current speeds.
It's all so ingenuine and ignorant. I could give endless examples of the The Three Unwise Monkeys of Top Gear undermining EVs with false statements and not just the lie about the Tesla Roadster running out of battery. But it's a waste of their time. When people actual experience an EV for themselves they are overwhelmingly impressed. Even hard nosed petrol heads have to admit they were educated when they actually got in an EV and actually found out first hand for themselves. The first time I test drove an EV I knew I was going to buy one and never go back to ICE. And over 90% of EV owners say they will never go back. And many people who buy an EV as a "second car" end up fighting over who gets to drive it. The ICE gets left on the driveway most days. And it's not because they want to save the world. It's because EVs are better and cheaper despite the FUD that is constantly spread by vested interests.
Pressing on the go pedal in my Model Y, and feeling the gobs of torque that could easily blow the doors off my '67 GTO, feels simply amazing. Doing it quietly and elegantly just adds to the experience, for me. I charge with solar eneregy and I give no more money to the greedy oil companies. I love it.
'EV sales are plummeting' as a throw away 'fact' by the interviewer ot typical of many in our media. They are not plummeting they are just not growing as fast as the politicians wanted and the manufacturers were forced to plan to supply. The interviewer is showing his bias and should get his facts right.
Isn't plummeting and not growing as fast the same thing though? Either way they haven't sold well which tells me more that the customers aren't ready and want to stick with what they've got.
They are plummeting, 85 percent of all new EV that are registered aren't sold. A lot of car dealers are pre registered them because the government are taxing the car dealers on unsold EV.
That's why they're going to force us to buy electric vehicles. We'll all have soulless EVs, rented homes, no real money and WE'LL ALL BE HAPPY!
Not to mention the fact that in bad economies people can't afford luxuries like new cars. People are holding on to their cars longer now than anytime in history. Also the vast majority of new vehicles not being sold are ICE. People have to use very specific definitions and data sets with apples to oranges comparisons to try and spin narratives to their bias. There are over 100 million unsold new ice cars sitting on lots in America right now, only 10,000 electric vehicles sitting on the lot.
People are clinging on to Efuel like it's a possibility that it will save engines, no it won't, the best you can hope for is it allows people to continue using classic cars into the future.
The reality is people like James (and also me) who can afford an EV and still own some ICE vehicles and have a drive and garage ETC to keep them and charge them, can really enjoy EV ownership, but someone on a budget who lives in a high rise might need to wait another 10yrs until an affordable fast charging EV is available to better suit their needs.
The cost will be the killer with efuels. Aspen synthetic petrol already costs around £25 a gallon now....
E fuel is going to be more useful for racing off road, track cars, dirt bikes in competitions etc. I don’t see it being used widely for day to day road vehicles myself.
Evs work just fine
Maybe the problem might be negative media.🤔
No, they just don’t work.
My EV works just fine, and I can tow, haul and do anything I did before with an ICE vehicle.
Which one did you own to reach that conclusion?
@@elta6241 Objectively, they very much do. What exactly do you want a car to do that it doesn't do? Unless you drive 400 miles daily, then they works.
@@stewdeanNo one needs to drive 400 miles daily, but most people will drive hundreds of miles occasionally to go on family trips, or to drive across the country to see relatives etc. everybody makes long journeys at some point and EVs just aren't good enough for that yet. Let's not even mention how range is affected by towing something like a caravan or having a bike rack on the roof. I have relatives in Poland. How would I drive from the UK to Poland in an EV with todays inadequate infrastructure?
Nice to hear an honest balanced view
At last a calm and measured conversation on this topic.
Fossil free fuel for a ICE car will still produce CO2. And the nice thing 'bout filling up a electric car is that you do it at night, when electricity is cheap and the grid has a low utilization.
You really think you could replace all ICE vehicles with EV's and power everything, all vehicles, homes and industry via wind farms and solar all year round, in Britain?
It would only be possible with a massive expansion of nuclear and a huge overhaul of infrastructure. We cannot do those things in Britain.
I'm not saying it can't happen in a more advanced and prosperous country with a smaller population and more resources. But it's not happening in Britain. I guarantee that.
@@intelligenceofacertainkind Well, I live in South Australia, here renewables are supplying more 70% of grid electricity, and that is with electric car usage climbing. We will be 100% renewable in 4 years.
@@glennmcc64 I live in the San Francisco Bay Area but have worked in Germany, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. I never had a need of a car. I don't hate cars, just no need. My solar produces more energy than I need and would easily power an EV if I needed one. Once I hit 80 I plan to get an E-trike. It's all I need for shopping and with the money I save I can have some very nice vacations. It all depends on what one wants in life. I was just never of the Vroom! Vroom! set.
You can do it at night on cheap electricity if you have home charging. I'd guess that for more than half the population that isn't an option.
@@stevemawer848 Well a third of all households do not have a car in the UK. And from what I've seen of statistics 78% of the population (Wales + England) lives in a houses or a bungalow. And funny enough 22% of families in the UK doesn't have acces to a Car/Wan at all. I would say that UK is very well suited for electric cars, more than for example Denmark where I live, where the number of people living in houses/bungalows is only 66%. And car ownership is only 62% of all families.
Good quality, reliable EVs have been around for over a decade. People have been scared by merchants of doubt, people have been made to overblow the concerns of range or reliability totally unnecessarily. There is no problem with EV for long range travel or charging speeds. Hammond is being childish, most people need a car, not a toy.
Hammond is wrong about grid capacity, it's a canard that's been disproved endlessly.
EVs are just a better technology, people are being misled by merchants of doubt, don't be drawn on their nonsense.
The merchants of doubt usually include most of the rightwing press, Telegraph, Mail, Express, GBeebies, Talk TV et al constantly bashing EVs yet are up in arms when Vauxhall close their EV van plant in Luton due to weak demand which has been caused in part by negative articles in the media.
The battery will not last past 8 years, and the car will be worth less than the batteries at that stage. We will then have disposable cars. Not worth it
Do you eat batteries?
They can easily last 20-30 years.
Not sure who told you that nonsense.
It’s because electric cars don’t work for the majority of the population. It works if you have a driveway and somewhere to charge it, if you live in a flat or apartment or an old style house that you have to park on the street , it doesn’t work. The majority of people in this country don’t live in a home with a driveway. And those types of homes have become so expensive and out of most people’s affordability
I don't have a driveway and no way to charge at home and i have been driving an EV for 5 years now without any issue.
They do work for the majority of the people but the majority of the people also act like they drive 350 miles a day.
@@TheGalantir They are not affordable to most people, and Chinese knockoffs are not the answer either. I've actually heard people quoting Chinese EV manufacturers claims in this comment section.....a bunch of people who have zero clue about Communist propaganda and how the world really works over in China.
Go look at their tofu dreg projects and then imagine that in a car.....
I'm due to get my first EV in a couple of weeks. The only reasons are that my employer is providing it, and the cost to me is £30 a month. Of the limited choice, I've chosen the one with the best interior and most like an ICE car. Its replacing a VW Golf with 129,000 miles on it. If i could have had a Golf again, I would have chosen that. The EV list price is twice as much, it weighs 800kg more, interior space is the same, and I'll have to learn about charging. Quickly as it turns out, as on the day i get it, I'm driving from Liverpool to Swansea.
Why is take up so slow?! Seriously?
You want to go there?
They are hellaciously expensive. Most people are struggling with a cost of living crisis.
I cant think of One reason to buy an EV, I don't see any positives only negatives, it wont save the world, it will only make it worse with even more pollution, you are just digging a different hole.
Also, I think the take-up has been surprisingly quick, especially given the cost of living.
But more importantly...why is take up being slow a bad thing...customers are free to choose whatever they want from the market. If they dont dig electric cars...then thats their purogative
I bet if the oil companies all collapsed overnight electric vehicle technology would take off massively!
NOPE! All ev battery and motor except tesla ARE FROM CHINESE. The car maker ONLY MAKING THE BODY!!! What is this mean? THIS MEAN IF YOU WANTED A GOOD AND CHEAP EV, JUST LET CHINESE CAR IN. But the government doesn't want that. So? Do you wanted to go green? Letting Chinese ev came. This old car reviewers get this WRONG. They try porche EV, jag EV, etc. YOU SHOULD TRY CHINESE EV because there are the advance one
Hammond, nitrogen filled cables are not needed for the delivery of electricity by the National Grid. Get educated mate.
I think he was using some hyperbole for comedic effect. The misconception about grid capacity was probably genuine though.
How about you listen to what he says. You're the one jumping to conclusions or you don't have the intelligence enough to understand what he's saying.
Well I've been driving electric exclusively for 6 years. These 'problems' are out of date or downright wrong. I have never run out of electricity, they are faster, cheaper to run and , more to the point, much less polluting. Nobody arguing for ICE includes the environmental costs.
The environmental costs of manufacturing an EV far exceed those of an ICE. Disposal is an issue that has not yet been confronted (what does one do with the old battery packs?). EVs may have lower CO2 emissions over a vehicle's lifetime but it's not clear cut.
@@iliyakuryakin4671the manufacturing of combustion engine cars only accounts for 10% of their lifetime emissions. So doubling it (it's less than that) doesn't matter , as the emissions from the refuelling are so much less it's unbelievable.
The break even point on this is about 13,000 miles now in the UK as electricity gets greener and greener ( remember no coal now in the UK)
It's very much clear cut, by a country mile. I'd suggest googling carbon brief EV myths and learning something.
@@iliyakuryakin4671 Yes it is. ICE car pollutes for its entire life, and as the reciprocating parts it relies on wear out the pollution gets worse. Also add in all the oil changes required in an attempt to keep the ICE car performing close to where it was when new as well as disposal of used oil. EVs require virtually no servicing just checks.
@@iliyakuryakin4671 Nonsense. I can't believe people still peddle this misinformation.... "Disposal is an issue that has not yet been confronted" Oh dear. You really need to catch up. I suggest you watch the UA-cam video posted by Volkswagen, of their EV battery recycling plant in Zwickau, Eastern Germany. Renault also have battery recycling facilities now. And not all older EV batteries will be recycled. Many will be repurposed by the energy industry for energy storage. Examples could be the huge sports stadium in Utrecht, Holland, which uses around 100 old Nissan Leaf batteries charged via solar. Another example is the large wind farm in South Wales, which has ex BMW i3 batteries for energy storage. I've tried looking, but have yet to find anyone recycling or repurposing old burned petrol and diesel....
@@huwjones5879used oil is recycled
I could listen to James talk about anything for any length!
The single most intelligent discussion on electric cars I've heard recently. Who says there's no place for the old guard of British car journalism
The podcaster " Geoff buys cars " is worth looking up . The problem with this debate is that youve got two relativly wealthy blokes talking about a market were the average price people pay for cars is closer to £5 k and those £2k cars at the bottom end of the market are generally rust free and relyable . To the extent that i can drive without range anxiety my 20 year old belingo to anywhere i want. Not sure i'd buy a ten year old electric and that matters without the second hand market the new sale buyers are stuck
Geoff Buys cars is making money from UA-cam anti EV clickbait.
@huwjones5879 we all take money off people , now has he said anything that you think is wrong
..but you will be able to in a few years time. Once the current batteries are on the used market
at some point in the past people said automobiles would never replace horses. They probably said things like cars have no personality, that fuel for horses is more abundant than fuel for cars etc. Battery technology will only improve while petrol will mostly stay the same.
I remember when people panicked after the introduction of catalytic converters and fuel injection. Noone misses a carburetor with choke today
@@didibu5754 Indeed...... I had not long been driving when unleaded fuel became the law. Older work colleagues were saying engines would disintegrate without lead in petrol and were in despair that their motoring days were doomed to regular engine failures.
@@fuzzsidebottom8765 the free market sorted that issue . The Government didnt step in and ban horses .
Let’s not forget that electric cars WERE tried a very long time ago and petrol and diesel killed them off. Maybe your analogy is flawed.
@@karlhulme8014 A very long time ago with VERY old, inadequate technology and notions (e.g. have your servants convey your EV to charge at a depot overnight rather than simply park it in your garage at home and start every day with a full battery), which, I think, is the flaw in your particular argument here. The world has moved on in the hundred or more years since then, technology is VASTLY improved, and EVs already are perfectly functionally appropriate for most ordinary motoring applications and this will only get technically better and definitely *cheaper* from now on. They may not always be the answer for *everything*, but already they are an answer for *most* everyday car needs. Most of our driving is home to work to home, and EVs have had that nailed for a decade already.
Synthetic fuels are made using electricity. There isn't enough electricity and infrastructure to make them. He doesn't know what he is talking about.
Absolutely true. We'll just wait 20 years for the perfect battery??
Blissfully unaware of what we need to do to prevent catastrophic climate change, just because Hammond likes a brum brum noise
And don't forget Hammonds pretend classic car restoration business/TV Show.
Depreciation is absolutely criminal. Might aswell throw your money in the bin.
Words of absolute wisdom.
I have had an EV for 4 years and I still love the driving experience, better than any of my previous cars. I am lucky that I can charge at home, however if I need to charge at a fast public charger in the U.K. when on a journey, the costs are phenomenal! So if you have to rely on public charging, they are not cost effective.
Although if you *have* to use public chargers, you can reduce the cost - sometimes by up to 30% - by subscribing to the charge network you want to use....
Synthetic fuel is just nonsense. You end up using more energy making the stuff than you get from the fuel.
Thats right and you're still have to burn it to power the car,
Ultimately still putting roughly the same amounts of pollution in the air.
There is no free lunches period.
And electric cars are not clean in any respect.
All they do is release the pollution somewhere else.
Could be a market for keeping vintage cars running but that is a limited market. Makes more sense for planes though, that's gonna take some time to go electric.
@@zapfanzapfan
There will NEVER be electric planes.
Not for the masses and mass transport.
There is and will be electric planes, but they will only be fun hobby type and sport planes.
And just like small and ultralight planes and helicopters, they will never be adopted as personal transport other than an extreme select few.
Think flying cars were going to be the big thing back in the day
We can barely control airspace now let alone if ever, aircraft are used as personal mobility vehicles.
Total pipedreams.
@@ScatManAust Yes, absolutely. Synthetic fuels at scale will very likely be needed for aviation. People often miss the concept of energy density. It's even more critical to aviation than automotive applications.
We still need to burn fuel because there is no practical energy alternative with the required energy density. You can't just stuff big batteries in airplanes so they have extremely limited utility. The concept is that the carbon is scrubbed out of the atmosphere so we're not adding more. That's what "net zero" means. People don't get it.
There are people working on making synthetic fuels viable. It's not going to be easy but it's probably necessary.
Anyone who wants synthetic petrol can buy it now. Aspen synthetic petrol has been sold in Britain for decades. It costs around £25 per gallon......it's available from Amazon and the places who sell chainsaws and other petrol powered garden tools....
The price of electricity in the UK counters a lot of the incentive.
Home electricity is far cheaper than the equivalent diesel/petrol!!!!
Overnight charging available from 5p per kWh on tomato energy. Home solar is also a great solution.
@@mjcamp01 We are seeing more flexibility in home tariffs now too, with some suppliers offering cheap rate EV charging during the daytime, but *only* for charging an EV. All other daytime usage is at the normal rate....
@@Brian-om2hh that's useful, especially on a windy weekend when usage is low but generation is high
So expensive it costs less than 2p/mile to run on a home charger
The most expensive thing about EVs is the infrastructure required - a garage with a wall charger, a solar roof...
Had two not ready yet and I don’t want to burn to death !!!!
Sales are not plummeting. 1 in 5 new car sales are electric. Why do you keep peddling this lie.
As for synthetic fuels, they still produce emissions.
Everything produces emissions
The manufacture of lithium batteries is particularly grubby
The whole EV fad is based on a lie that somehow if all one billion passenger cars on the planet switched to electricity we would “save the planet”
The planet can’t be saved
One day the sun will expand and engulf this rocky habitat of “intelligent” life and nothing human beings can do will save us from that
Even Mars will be vaporised and Elons great dream will be extinguished
Electric car sales are now declining after years of increasing
@@benfroughi No they aren't. Sales are up on last year.
@@benfroughisales of electric cars are on the rise.
@@benfroughi nope. On the rise despite falling car sales overall.
2020 108,205 6.6% share.
2021 191,175 11.6% share.
2022 267,203 16.6% share
2023 314,684 16.5%
2024 YTD (Oct) 299,731 18.1%
EVs work perfectly well as they are; These two are just at that stage in life where they are starting to reject everything "new fangled".
EVs are faster, quieter, more spacious, simpler to maintain, cheaper to run, cleaner, smell better and are more reliable than any alternative; They will shortly be cheaper to buy and they already are on the second hand market. Nobody apart from enthusiasts will be buying new cars that are not EVs by 2030 so it doesn't matter what the government does. And that nonsense about the National Grid is absolute BS. The National Grid currently delivers less that 85% of the peak it delivered in 2004 and would easily accommodate all EVs right now. Obviously there are areas that don't have the right level of supply but that is a minor issue that will be resolved - and EV owners have already adopted smart charging; This will continue.
Who locked May in his attic.
His missus.
I have been driving Renault Zoe 40kWh for the last year. I have done 37.000km. It is such a loveable thing to drive, and it covers 90% of distance driven easily. But 10% of driving was a pain, as it does not have enough range for long distance. So my next car would be an old diesel estate.
That does not mean I hate Zoe or that I would sell it. It is not simply designed for long distance and it will never be. But everything else - it is a joy.
I started following times radio for their Ukraine war coverage but if they podcast the good ol three I’m in for it too 😂😂😂
Being an early adopter I loved my Leaf but the range was atrocious. Next Yaris hybrid great! Determined to go back to BEV only available 2 years ago Zoe. Worst choice of vehicle I ever made. Only car I have ever had that has no part exchange value over what is owed to finance company! Back to fossil fuel for me nobody else seems to be worrying about the planet.
Working as a Firefighter, the advent of EVs has brought with it so many extra issues when dealing with car fires.
The chemicals given off not only being extremely hazardous to the environment and people around it, the biggest issue is definitely the event of Thermal Runaway, which often re-ignites a fire in an EV sometimes weeks after it's put out. Typically taking the area the wreckage has been stored in with it.
A friend of mine admits that it's essentially cheaper to just buy a new EV than attempting to repair one, in which we've seen so many EVs just abandoned in fields.
The technology is great, but a lot of work needs to be put into making it safer and more affordable.
And more repairable.
How many EV fires have you attended versus ICE cars? Every measure says EVs are safer.
None of this is true. And it gets less true every month as EVs develop. And why is a firefighter not more worried about ICE vehicles that are up to 60 times more likely to catch fire and contain many toxic materials that are hazardous to health and life?
@ because electric car fires are near impossible to extinguish, and, like the original commenter mentioned , are prone to re ignition way after the fire was originally put out.
@c0mplex564 Not entirely true. And battery tech is improving all the time. It is already EXTREMELY difficult to make EV batteries ignite even on purpose. Of course it is infinitely less likely than in a car full of petrol.
Isn't the argument about not killing people with poison exhaust?
no, with all the filters in the exhaust systems, most modern cars have cleaner cars coming out of the exhaust than goes into the engine to start with.
@@themightydash1714 Not true; they only work when the engine is fully warmed up. Filters do nothing about the CO2 that is going to make life for your grandchildren extremely hard.
I don't want to be BBQed in an accident because the doors will not open on a Tesla
@themightydash1714 I think you inhaled too much "clean" exhaust gases😅 say hi from me to those pink unicorns sitting on your keyboard
@@Terry-q7ySilly comment. Btw, ICE cars are involved in more fires than EVs.
From personal experience with a Tesla 2022 model 3 that my wife uses. Its range and time it takes to charge. Tesla has enough chargers around to provide the chargers needed. She hates adding and hour to what should be a 3 hour trip. Me, I’ve got a 2014 Model S P85. Love and don’t care the time it takes to charge or the shorter range. My gear head son who was a firm ICE man and preferred standard gearboxes, just bought a 2024 Ford lightning. He is raving about it.
2:22 “And I’ve also got a a Porsche…” for long distance… complete bullocks statement. I’ve got a Model 3 Performance and Model S Long Range And the last car I want to do a long distance in is my Golf R…
"We are decades off that" Hammond is on point👌
Few people have any money to buy one. The UK is broke
My family only have EVs and never look back to petrol again!
Same! 2 EV household and very happy.
EV are good for transportation….. just don’t understand why need to be a cell phone too….. just battery and drive unit….. the rest mechanical will do as transportation…..not need communication between…. Expensive features as self driving….. just a simple car.
sorry
I have been driving for more than 60 years AND HAVE NEVER BOUGHT A BRAND NEW CAR, Neither has anybody in my family. AND THAT IS NOT A BOAST.
The sales figures are published ... EVs are continuing to increase sales year on year and other fuel types are decreasing year on year.
I've traveled to the UK several times with my EV, it's very hit and miss and there's an almost total lack of on street charging outside of the city centre.
Shocking really, we've got chargers in all neighborhoods here in NL.. is a real culture shock.
6:05 James... Battery tech is there.
Synthetic fuel is greenwashing, there isn't enough land to grow fuel.
Hydrogen requires more energy and it's still an EV.
8:44 there isn't an infrastructure for synthetic fuel either Richard 😉
Btw
Richard, synthetic fuel still releases co2 and it's still mightily inefficient, as most energy is converted to heat and noise. That's just physics I'm afraid.
'Sales are plummeting' - they're not. EV sales have been rising and now is at 20% of all new cars - they out sell diesel cars by almost 4x.
We're now got lots of cheap EVs appearing (from about 16k) and the infrastructure is getting better every day - we already have more public charging points than petrol stations. About 60% of people have off-street parking, which can have home charging.
Synthetic fuels don't work. They don't save much Co2 and will work out more expensive as petrol. Hydrogen is very very dead.
Richard is very very wrong about the grid. It can handle all the cars going electric now, we're just making it better. No 'nitrogen cooling' required.
This is "Times Radio" so it's fascist propaganda.
*'68 Mustang* 😂😂 *Richard is such a great American* 🇺🇲🇺🇲
Sales of EVs are simply not failing to take off or plummeting - the opening statement is simply untrue!>
“Almost 14 million new electric cars1 were registered globally in 2023, bringing their total number on the roads to 40 million, closely tracking the sales forecast from the 2023 edition of the Global EV Outlook (GEVO-2023). Electric car sales in 2023 were 3.5 million higher than in 2022, a 35% year-on-year increase. This is more than six times higher than in 2018, just 5 years earlier. In 2023, there were over 250 000 new registrations per week, which is more than the annual total in 2013, ten years earlier. Electric cars accounted for around 18% of all cars sold in 2023, up from 14% in 2022 and only 2% 5 years earlier, in 2018. These trends indicate that growth remains robust as electric car markets mature. Battery electric cars accounted for 70% of the electric car stock in 2023”
Source: International energy agency.
Well, I’m getting over 300 miles from my hula hoop but, I’ll admit there’s not enough legroom in the back of my air fryer.
Those pesky air fryers! They're a menace on the road, too. 😅
@@soulcornflake1 an improvement on the Breville sandwich toaster of old though, always a handful on slippery surfaces.
Do you think electric vars could ever become 'classics', especially as new technology can make older cars obsolete so easily?
It is very very simple actually - if we switch to something for the Environment and CO2 in particular - THE ONLY SOLUTION is the GOOD OLD ICE!!!
Really only the Internal combustion engine fueled with synthetic have the potential for ZERO EMISSION dew to the circle economy of the e-fuels.
EV will always add CO2 even if we put aside the huge environmental cost of the transition itself!
P.S. and I'm with Richard on the boring side of the EV - funny their only advantage is 0-60 time but they fail even here as deliver it in the most boring way possible...
In september 2024 96% of all new cars sold in Norway had an electric motor.
But has made no impact on it's fossil fuel consumption.
@@MrLeadb1 search it, they already feel it
Norway got rich selling oil 😂😂😂
@@benfroughi Nearly everyone drives an ICE as well as an EV.....the ICE for serious travel.
All cars have several electric motors, starter motor, wiper motor...
Australia's national electrical grid is 1million km and $1million per km, which is $TRILLIONS.
More grid capacity is more $TRILLIONS.
Rooftop PV and v2g EVs and feedin takes 80% of the load off the grid.
Savings $TRILLIONS and TRILLIONS.
No new grid capacity.
No imported petroleum.
No imported gas. International prices.
No new grid central generation plant.
Hot rooftops shaded by PV panels.
New Rondo Heat Battery industrial tech.
Industrial users moving away from fossil fuels would require the feedin electricity from the millions and millions of original customers.
Millions and millions of customers can keep the grid connected for emergency backup with their vehicle being serviced.
The introduction to this article is absolutely nonsense, the host claims EV sales are plummeting but actually with 2 months remaining of this year 2024 EV sales have already exceeded 2023! The false narrative peddled by this misinformation is further putting people off from buying EV.
I don't know if it's actually putting anyone off from buying. Anyone that actually considers buying EV will likely do at least a small amount of research, all of which easily shows the benefits (and facts about sales) of EV's versus ICE. While ICE does have its benefits as well and I don't like government interference in the market, all the cringe whining and lies about EV's are by manbabies who have absolutely no intelligence, sense of humor, or appreciable personality and their only option is to make as much noise as possible (by running their mouths and using loud engines) to try and impress girls.
@HikuroMishiro summed up well at the end 😂
Green grows out of CO2, more CO2 = more 02, the loss of atmosphere share happens to inert gases.
We are polluting, the CO2 bit is just politics scapegoat
Is that science then?
There's a few things to point out IMO:
1. EVs won't get cheaper. They are often subsidized by governments, but also by manufacturers themself.
EU has fleet emissions, the UK even has a EV mandate requiring a percentage of cars sold to be EVs. Thus, most manufacturers subsidize their EVs with profits from ICE Cars.
2. Fuel, at least in EU/UK is heavily taxed. If there was a big shift towards EVs, those taxes would be applied elsewhere. Cause one thing we all can agree on is that our governments won't settle for less taxation of the common folk.
3. EVs heavily rely on finite resources. Those resources have to be mined or otherwise gathered.
Recycled Lithium Ion afaik costs 3 times as much as blasting it out of the desert with lots of water. Not to mention sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide, which effectively turn the area into spoiled wasteland for 300 years.
Copper mines have to go deeper and copper is in heavy demand from all sorts of electronic devices etc. so prices won't fall there either.
Let's not get into the mess with Cobalt.
In other words: IF you want a new EV, make sure to get it before they become mandatory in your country, as prices will skyrocket the moment manufacturers can't cross finance them anymore.
4. The charging network will indefinetely remain a hollow promise by politicians. The few charging stations you see are subsidized. They require land, they need insurance (or pay damage), maintenance etc. From a economic perspective, it would be silly to cover the land in charging stations, as they'd be used too infrequently to pay for themself... and at some point, they will have to.
At the same time, people will try their hardest to avoid said charging stations and instead charge at home, which on a price point is impossible to compete with.
Imagine your petrol/diesel car had only 200km range, but you could fuel it at home for less than half the price.
5. Parking garages, ships etc. aren't build to handle a Lithium fire at all, but in order to not contradict the agenda, no regulations have been put in place (in most countries, as far as I am aware).
Resale value is worthless
Parts good luck new BATT 1/3 of cost the car
The UK can improve there GDP by changing to renewable power and EV. UK spent more than £125.7bn on fossil fuel imports. Renewable power can be produces in country to power the UK EVs.
Electric cars have killed the entire auto industry and made the notion of driving utterly miserable. Because of govt bribes (and now govt mandates) car makers haven't bothered to try and innovate for ICE engines anymore.
BTW, EVs came before ICE vehicles, we are literally going backwards.
Don't get an EV people! Why, well I spend 5p for 4 miles in my lovely 250 mile real-world range, 3 year old 33k highly depreciated purchase. Sure EV cars are not for everyone but everyone who does live in a house with a drive could easily have one. The massive issue is the energy production/grid couldn't cope with everyone moving over to EV. If the government had any clue what it was doing, it would now be building four more UK nuclear power stations to meet this massive demand increase that's coming. WHat will happen is the kwh price will just keep rocketing up as EV adoption grows. This is extremely worrying as the UK already has the most expensive electricity in the world. The level of negative propaganda towards EV cars is massive online and in the media and a bit of an eye opener if I'm honest as the reality is not what you see. I love combustion as much as I love EV's, for me it comes down to real world use and the cost to own and run. Currently, the EV makes massive financial sense for my one car family vs my old Benz 220D. Everyone complains that new EV cars depreciate massively but isn't that obviously a good thing for purchasing a 2-3 year old EV?
Meanwhile in Norway: 90% of new cars sold in 2024 so far have been BEVs. Yes yes. I know they are heavily insentivized. But most people are happy with them. We have an excellent charging network in norway and a lot of us are able to charge at home.
3 reasons why people hate EVs. 1) Missing infrastructure 2) No option for charging at home 3) too poor. All other reasons can be easily falsified. But people tend to spread lies instead of being honest. I drive EV and ICE. I like both but tend to use the EV for daily. I charge at home and don't have to go to the station. And I have less range fear in the EV. My V8 goes maybe 400 km if I am lucky.
Also the electricity cost in UK is VASTLY more than in Norway!! It always will be with our idiotic politicians.
@ oof. Yes. Roughly 3X the price if my quick google search was correct. Coupled with higher purchasing price for the cars it's no wonder EVs are a tough sale in the UK.