Perhaps electric motorhomes will be okay after all?

[Raul]

Yep...... Nuclear power is about as clean as it gets...... Until you have to dispose of the radio active element.

Just ask Musk to send it in space, he will do it.

 

[bigwood]

I agree there has got to be a lot of changes to the infrastructure to suite electric vehicles. Camp sites having charge points are ok but I can see wild camping will have to be thought out carefully. I suppose you would have to be charged before you parked up.
It will change breakdown services for ever. Being called out to a flat battery will be different to my my days working at the roadside.

 

[Raul]

Somebody in collaboration with victron, has developed a 10kwh mobile charging for this very reason. There will be breakdown charging vans to get you to next charging station. A company has implemented this already where are few charging points between stops.

 

[frogijock]

Back in the 1940s/1950s Glasgow corporation used to have a fleet of electric bin wagons that were used on the night shift, they were powered by approx six batteries, probably only covered around thirty miles per shift before recharging all day,

 

[Ernesto]

Electric is here to save the air quality. Hydrogen will be the cleaner fuel for future vans and trucks. Campsites can’t and wont invest in the sort of charging facilities that would be required

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[Googlebot]

Electric is here to save the air quality. Hydrogen will be the cleaner fuel for future vans and trucks. Campsites can’t and wont invest in the sort of charging facilities that would be required

I think it will require a government funded initiative to upgrade the electric grid to the capacity required. The climate change is more expensive long term to any government.

The current pandemic has proven that ignoring a risk costs much much more in the long run.

 

[robnchris]

So what happens when everyone plugs in at the same time to charge the environment friendly vehicle it's bad enough now around lunchtime over the festive season when the country is cooking the turkey.
What do power stations use to produce the electricity?
Personally I don't think many on here will see a new power station come online in their lifetime.

What about all those living in high rise flats and all those that can't remember to charge their phones.

This has disaster written all over it.

 

[Googlebot]

So what happens when everyone plugs in at the same time to charge the environment friendly vehicle it's bad enough now around lunchtime over the festive season when the country is cooking the turkey.
What do power stations use to produce the electricity?
Personally I don't think many on here will see a new power station come online in their lifetime.

What about all those living in high rise flats and all those that can't remember to charge their phones.

This has disaster written all over it.

The intelligent management of the grid has already started with smart meters, typically there is always a surplus at night as well when use is low.

Having a flat car due to grid limitations is hardly a disaster.

The bush fires in Australia and floods in this country in February were disasters.

I don’t disagree with the points you make, they all need sorting, we do need to start somewhere though and a car charged with solar panels is better than one fuelled by an internal combustion engine.

 

[Ernesto]

The intelligent management of the grid has already started with smart meters, typically there is always a surplus at night as well when use is low.

Having a flat car due to grid limitations is hardly a disaster.

The bush fires in Australia and floods in this country in February were disasters.

I don’t disagree with the points you make, they all need sorting, we do need to start somewhere though and a car charged with solar panels is better than one fuelled by an internal combustion engine.

I get the need for change and the end of ICE vehicles. But I just don’t think the long term answer is expensive vehicles with 800kg of lithium batteries that need massive expensive wall chargers, long cables, huge amounts of electricity from the grid
They’re a valid and useful but temporary solution before the hydrogen based technology arrives

 

[westhamman]

My electrician neighbour is forever telling me that the system will not cope. He claims that every road will have to have new electric cables laid as the current system will not cope. I no nothing, I want to get into my vehicle, drive as far as I want, I don't want to be told no, I will not want to pay for new batteries or the disposal cost of the old ones. Yes I know lots of i's.

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[Jewellbags]

Technology accelerates , hasn’t stopped in our lifetimes . Today’s 4 hour charge and 100 mile range will be tomorrow’s 20 minute charge and 400 mile range . A replacement for lithium will be needed though

 

[gpat]

My electrician neighbour is forever telling me that the system will not cope. He claims that every road will have to have new electric cables laid as the current system will not cope. I no nothing, I want to get into my vehicle, drive as far as I want, I don't want to be told no, I will not want to pay for new batteries or the disposal cost of the old ones. Yes I know lots of i's.

The technology for hydrogen power for a vehicle already exists. The problem is how to generate the hydrogen. It can be made by electrolysis of water using sustainable sources of electricity. It's not very efficient but if the electricity used is free is allows a means of storing power for when there is no wind or sun. So, it has great potential. It could be stored in liquid form and then burnt when needed.

I cant see it being used directly in vehicles any time soon. Too dangerous to handle. But for generating electricity it has huge potential and can be 100% sustainable with no CO2 emmissions

 

[glenn2926]

Technology accelerates , hasn’t stopped in our lifetimes . Today’s 4 hour charge and 100 mile range will be tomorrow’s 20 minute charge and 400 mile range . A replacement for lithium will be needed though

They just need to get that 20 minute charge down to 5 minutes and the price down to the same as ICE vehicles and we’re good to go.

 

[Lenny HB]

I cant see it being used directly in vehicles any time soon. Too dangerous to handle. But for generating electricity it has huge potential and can be 100% sustainable with no CO2 emmissions

Already 7 Hydrogen filling stations in England.

 

[Janecambridge]

“In a recent R4 prog ('Costing the Earth') I learned that 80% of the world's cobalt needed for batteries is from polluting mining in the Dem Rep of Congo and shipped by heavy oil vessels to China where it is processed and used in battery and EV production,”

Yes and children (some as young as 4) are doing the mining,40,000 of them in Congo, UNICEF and Amnesty international are working flat out on this.

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[TinaLes]

I think this well know Caravan & Motorhome vlogger/reviewer, Andrew Ditton answers many of the questions of where we are right now, and where the future may lead us.
Stick with it, you may well be surprised by the content & the outcome, I wont spoil the last word of advice but he does make a valid point.
LES

 

[BILL 875]

I would have thought a 200 mile a day range would be more than enough if we all end up paying 75p a mile, easy to work out when the batteries flat that £150:00 gone then its ground hog day .

 

[robnchris]

Very informative video, I can only say after watching it there is still a long way to go, certainly the decision of compliance by 2030 is plain madness made by fools with NO knowledge of the task at hand.

 

[denisejoe]

100 miles shouldn’t be a problem as most hospitals have a queue of ambulances waiting out side waiting for a nurse to be free to take patients of their hands, plenty of time for recharging.

 

[nicholsong]

He did not mention wildcamping.

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[SpeedyDux]

I'm sick of being lectured to by all these let's save the world nutters.

Many many many years ago our milk was delivered to our home in glass bottles by an electric vehicle, it also delivered Bread and Eggs and we cycled to work and they think they have thought a new idea....doooh

Our local milkman delivers at night with a noisy Transit truck.

Maybe it’s a conspiracy........... but by whom?

I could tell you but I might get banned.

Back on topic, the e-Ducato which is still a bit of a dog's breakfast EV, costs about £70k before conversion so roughly £50k increase to the list price of an electric MH compared against its diesel equivalent today. You won't be trampled in the rush to order one.

 

[bexleyjohn]

There are four main issues for me at the moment:
1. Initial cost of an electric Motorhome - looking at the prices of electric cars they could be prohibitive.
2. The range - a reliable 300 miles minimum is needed
3. Charging times
4. Infrastructure for charging Across Europe
Mind you - by the time its all sorted I expect I’ll be too old to benefit so just have to wait and see.

 

[Gromett]

When I see a range of just over 100 miles...

I doubt it sees many jobs where it has to go 50 miles out and 50 miles back.

yes it takes 4 hours to charge.

Only if it needs a full charge.

The time to 80% is a lot lower and they are likely to install a charge point at the unloading point (probably not the correct term) and get 5-10 mins splash in each time.

I suspect it will be possible to keep it topped up over the day. 80% charge is the normal level to charge an EV to. 0-80% takes 10's of minutes it is the last 20% that takes the most time.

 

[Gromett]

Half way to a shout and ya gotta charge up.

ICE engined ambulance, half way to a shout and you gotta stop at the local Shell garage?

Come on. They fill/charge them up prior to a job.

 

[Gromett]

I find the fixation with battery power frustrating. Other means of propulsion are available (or will be, as much as batteries are) - hydrogen being promising for commercial vehicles for instance. EVs are undoubtedly cleaner than petrol or diesel but batteries are the next re-cycling nightmare we are likely to be foisting on our children and grandchildren unless they work out effective ways recycling them.

Recycling is not going to be an issue. Currently the lithium batteries are not recycled because they are way too small, in too many form factors and have a lot of plastic.

Once cars start needing their batteries recycling it will be more economical to recycle than to mine fresh material. A lithium battery mainly consists of copper and aluminium with a bit of lithium and a small trace of other valuable elements. In a car there is very little plastic around the batteries if any.

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[Gromett]

hydrogen being promising for commercial vehicles for instance.

For limited use cases hydrogen is a possible solution. However, not for the majority of vehicles. It is just way too inefficient and the cost of a filling station is in the millions not the 100's of thousands of a charging station. The cost for a network of hydrogen stations is prohibitive not to mention the cost of producing the hydrogen.

 

[Gromett]

I think it will require a government funded initiative to upgrade the electric grid to the capacity required. The climate change is more expensive long term to any government.

The current pandemic has proven that ignoring a risk costs much much more in the long run.

The grid is being upgraded as we speak. LOADS of work being done rolling out new wind and grid scale storage. This will only accelerate.

The grid is lowest of my concerns. Getting manufactures to speed up production of vehicles we actually want and getting the charging network rolled out is of slightly more concern.

 

[Gromett]

So what happens when everyone plugs in at the same time to charge the environment friendly vehicle it's bad enough now around lunchtime over the festive season when the country is cooking the turkey.
What do power stations use to produce the electricity?
Personally I don't think many on here will see a new power station come online in their lifetime.

What about all those living in high rise flats and all those that can't remember to charge their phones.

This has disaster written all over it.

The same thing that happens now when everyone decides to go to the Local Esso at the exact same time. It just doesn't happen.

Most EV's will be charged overnight so you have a full battery each day, this will massively relieve the infrastructure requirements. Imagine if your ICE car magically had a full tank of fuel every morning? How often in reality would most people then need to use the fuel stations?
The same will apply for the majority of people with EV's. This will just leave those on long journeys and those who don't have the ability to charge at home.

Most of the additional electric demand will happen overnight when demand is low. This will be good for balancing the grid as the generating companies won't have to be paid curtailment fees to switch off the wind turbine overnight.

 

[Gromett]

I get the need for change and the end of ICE vehicles. But I just don’t think the long term answer is expensive vehicles with 800kg of lithium batteries that need massive expensive wall chargers, long cables, huge amounts of electricity from the grid
They’re a valid and useful but temporary solution before the hydrogen based technology arrives

Erm. You do know that you need electric to produce hydrogen via electrolysis. The efficiency is around half that of just charging a battery. If we went 100% hydrogen we would actually need 2.5x the electric generating capacity than just charging an EV battery directly with that electric.
OR you could use Steam reforming of natural gas which is more efficient but then you still have CO2 emissions and you still won't be close to 60% efficiency of the direct to battery charge.
Oh and hydrogen powered fuel cells still require expensive metals AND a battery AND it is more expensive than a straight BEV.

Literally the only advantage hydrogen has is that it can be filled up in less time (For now). In some situation where getting electric to a location then hydrogen may have a place. Long distance trains to remote places and some regional shipping springs to mind.

 

[Gromett]

Technology accelerates , hasn’t stopped in our lifetimes . Today’s 4 hour charge and 100 mile range will be tomorrow’s 20 minute charge and 400 mile range . A replacement for lithium will be needed though

Lithium still has a lot of development to be done. New tech is coming out that will allow much faster charge rates and higher densities.

We are not even close to the theoretical maximums of their capacity.

We are currently at the Ford Model T stage of development. Give it a few years and we will start seeing faster and bigger improvements.

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