Half a month’s worth of rain fell on the Isle of Wight in one night this week, where only a few days previously Mona and I had sweated in a 5-day 30 degree heatwave. My son and his family are staying in our van now, and report too many instances of torrential rain beating on the roof.
More extremes of weather are now becoming commonplace, as the effects of global warming kick in. To combat any further warming of the planet, the Government want sales of new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars banned by 2035 and replaced with electric.
I don’t know if they’ve thought this through enough. The demand on the National Grid of millions of cars all charging away is going to be alarming, and we may even be faced with blackouts. Also at the moment there does not seem to be anywhere near enough charging points. To make matters worse, the Government’s loss of revenue on sales of petrol and diesel will no doubt be compensated by a higher price for electricity. This will make our electric bills soar skywards if we have to keep charging our cars every night. Currently an electric Smart car has a range of only 59 miles (charging costs £2.43 each time), but a Hyundai Kona Electric vehicle can travel 259 miles without needing a charge (charging costs £8.65 each time).
The time taken to charge a car will also have to be taken into consideration when planning a journey. With a 50kw rapid charger you can add 100 miles to the battery in around 35 minutes. To charge from empty will take around 8 hours.
The cheapest new Smart electric car is around the £20,000 mark, which is not really suitable for the average family of 4. Therefore it will be a case of paying not only more for electricity, but also more for a new family car. There will be no road tax for any electric car under £40,000, but this won’t be enough to offset the cost of changing from petrol/diesel to electric.
Global warming will bite us in the wallet for sure. I envisage many people trying to keep their petrol or diesel car running long past its sell-by date. By then the planet might have warmed up another half-degree or so. When it comes down to money, the majority might well think of their own personal finances rather than the planet, and this I fear will be the undoing of us all.
With the exception of two scheduled Book Funnel promotions, this may possibly be the last blog for a couple of weeks. Our van currently has no computer, and my granddaughter will doubtless keep me very busy until 7th August. I’m off to the IOW to catch up with her on August 1st when my son, his wife and younger daughter come home, and so I’ll say a fond farewell for now.
HowieRich said:
If thats the case, who will be the ones that will the supply and who wont?
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Stevie Turner said:
The ones with the most money probably…
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HowieRich said:
The only thing to suggest is contact local electricity company, and see what they suggest, for your area.
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OIKOS™- Art, Books & more said:
Wait, stevie! I think these terrible predictions about the climate are about to change after most people realize they don’t have as much money, as they needed in the past few decades to continue to be comfortable. More than 10 years ago, they had the opportunity to build a huge solar system in Saudi Arabia. Nothing happened. We need electricity for everything. Too much, to ever be able to produce in a timely manner to maintain the standard of living. xx Michael
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Stevie Turner said:
Too true. There won’t be enough electricity for everyone.
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OIKOS™- Art, Books & more said:
;-(
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OIKOS™- Art, Books & more said:
Reblogged this on NEW OPENED BLOG > https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
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Stevie Turner said:
Thanks Michael for the re-blog.
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OIKOS™- Art, Books & more said:
:-))
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dgkaye said:
Enjoy you busy girl! xx
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Stevie Turner said:
Lol! x
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petespringerauthor said:
I think electric is clearly the direction we’re moving. Gas prices are at a ten-year high where we live.
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tidalscribe.com said:
Undoing our lifestyles or just normal living is going to be very complicated. Older son is very happy having an electric company car – he paid extra towards it and running costs are really cheap But they still have a real family car as well!
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jwebster2 said:
Enjoy your time away 🙂
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Stevie Turner said:
Thanks Jim, I’ll certainly try to.
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Clive said:
When did this government ever plan anything sensibly? No doubt it will be the usual mess, though hopefully we’ll be long rid of the lot in charge now. Have a wonderful time at the van, and I hope you get better weather than the current stuff!
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Stevie Turner said:
Thanks Clive.
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Phil Huston said:
Ah, the supreme vanity of politicians and pandering for votes. Mother Earth is self correcting and to assume we can undo the damage of plastic and petroleum with another carbon footprint for charging cars is silly. The Little Ice Age, not so well named followed the heating of Medieval Times. Drought, water temperature and a zillion other factors beyond our control from increased or decreased solar activity, volcanoes spewing clouds into the atmosphere, dust, fires… space junk, gravitational shifts all have little or nothing to do with our activity. Forest fires burn more available oxygen for water life than we do. Our residual trash might make the planet uninhabitable for our kind and others but the cockroach will remain. 200 million years from now whoever is here will find a use for whatever plastic has become by then. Lather, rinse, repeat. The Earth sneezes and we are gone. Otherwise, enjoy the time. I am almost through two weeks of grandkids and I need a vacation. Or a week long nap.
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Stevie Turner said:
Livelihoods and profit unfortunately come before any further damage to Mother Earth. She’s exacting her revenge though, and future generations will suffer more. Two weeks of grandkids definitely calls for a holiday.
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Phil Huston said:
Along with prescription narcotics and delivered meals.
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Stevie Turner said:
Sounds like you’ve had a lot of fun…
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Leon Stevens said:
There is no simple solution, and technology will advance to make electric vehicles better, but at least there is effort being put into it.
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JamieAdStories said:
I think we have to look to countries that are already doing it well, such as Norway. They have harnessed energy from nature and have made electric cars efficient.
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Stevie Turner said:
Let’s hope we can learn from them.
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beetleypete said:
There is no provision (and can be no retro-fit) for the millions of people who live in high-rise flats on big housing estates to charge electric cars. New homes being buitl at the moment in Norfolk are not being constructed with charging points built in to them. The whole thing is a nonsense that has not been thought through. Another ‘soundbite’ that can never happen in reality, at least not within the stated timescale.
Have a nice time with your family, Stevie.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Stevie Turner said:
Thanks for your comment, Pete. Yes, your point about housing estates is a good one. Like you, I don’t think this will all happen by 2035.
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