stevebrooks wrote: ↑Mon Nov 13, 2023 6:02 pmThey would have to start from scratch and build out refueling stops whereas EV stops are already spreading, slower than they should, but at least they are spreading.
I was quite impressed by the UK report "Absolute Zero", which was critical of hydrogen because it's still too far in the future. It said hydrogen could be ready after 2050... an eternity. That report was four years ago, people still haven't got the message.
Even in heavy industry, where hydrogen was supposed to have an edge, they are now planning for electric trucks and trains to replace diesel vehicles.
stevebrooks wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 2:15 pm
The future, what service stations will look like eventually!
Couple of them along the hume hwy from Melbourne to Sydney, then to Brisbane would be a great start..
Would be nice, mind you in the UK there are 850,000 EV's and 530,000 PHEV in a tiny land area compared to Australia, we only have 130,000. To match UK penetration per the total number of vehicles we would need to be in the 900,000 range, we are lagging far behind the UK. However surveys in both the UK and AU show a remarkably different opinion on EV's and whether people will be purchasing one. In the UK only 9% of the population surveyed suggested EV's would be their next purchase, with 87% rejecting EV's entirely. In Australia, arguably with far less access to EV's, 10% responded that they would be purchasing an EV in the next 12 months and fully 41% suggested they would be buying an EV in the near future, presumably because their current vehicle didn't need replacing yet.
If EV makers and sellers can get their act together in the near future we should soon catch up!
stevebrooks wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 11:35 pm
If EV makers and sellers can get their act together in the near future we should soon catch up!
The problem for adoption though is also I think that we need to have the infrastructure first.. For example you cannot safely do the great ocean road currently with an EV, there simply are no chargers at all working down there. People hear that kind of thing, that even popular routes have no ability to charge and even though they want to buy an EV, they are turned off..
If the government really cared about getting EVs out there (in Victoria I actually doubt that) they would help build the infrastructure (council run if need be).
"Now this is the command: Do to the doer to make him do." - The Eloquent Peasant (2040–1650 BCE)
“Religion the protector of the well fed and consoler of the hungry.” - Mikhail Bakunin
stevebrooks wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 11:35 pm
If EV makers and sellers can get their act together in the near future we should soon catch up!
The problem for adoption though is also I think that we need to have the infrastructure first.. For example you cannot safely do the great ocean road currently with an EV, there simply are no chargers at all working down there. People hear that kind of thing, that even popular routes have no ability to charge and even though they want to buy an EV, they are turned off..
If the government really cared about getting EVs out there (in Victoria I actually doubt that) they would help build the infrastructure (council run if need be).
Yep, I agree with every single thing you just posted, we need to be building charging infrastructure like crazy, every single service station with the necessary space should be given incentives to install EV charging stations. Going back to my post earlier about the imminent collapse of the fossil fuel industry, Australia can't hope to support it alone, and if all other countries realise the importance of building out EV infrastructure except Australia and the price of fossil fuels does skyrocket as I expect we are going to be in the shit pretty quickly. Pretty soon it won't be a case of "hey having EV charging would be nice" it will be "hey having EV charging is a national priority."
But really I am surprised the EV charging situation is as bad as you say over there, with a smaller state and higher density I would expect Victoria to be one of the prime areas for EV charging stations.
stevebrooks wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2023 12:19 pmBut really I am surprised the EV charging situation is as bad as you say over there, with a smaller state and higher density I would expect Victoria to be one of the prime areas for EV charging stations.
Ohh it gets worse, we are the only state currently without a rebate or stamp duty reduction when buying an EV and we were the first state to introduce a TAX for EVs*, though the high court overturned that..
* I accept there should be some sort of road usage fee for EVs, but a state tax that involved taking a photo of your odometer (each year and sending to vicroads) and being charged per KM was absurd.. How do they know what state I drove in? I pay Vic government when I got to NSW? They also charged the same fee for plug in hybrids, but that means when they were running on petrol (which could be a lot of the time) they were double paying tax.
We do have the 2nd highest EV sales, after NSW, thanks to the people though, not government incentives/assistance.. There is however a lot of anxiety I see on Victorian EV forums (facebook groups) about going too far out of Melbourne with them (especially west).
"Now this is the command: Do to the doer to make him do." - The Eloquent Peasant (2040–1650 BCE)
“Religion the protector of the well fed and consoler of the hungry.” - Mikhail Bakunin
The tax, distance and lower population making teslas expansive here hasnt helped either. Other countries have large amounts of charging infrastructure because telsa are selling lots of cars so they are building lots charging stations. The UK has over 1100 tesla charging stations while Australia has less than 50. The UK has over 51,000 charging stations in total while Australia has ~3000. The government doesnt seem incentivized to build them so its going to take a while for us to catch up.
Irrev-Black wrote: ↑Mon Oct 16, 2023 7:36 am
Too much autonomy?
He said: "I realised something was wrong when I was coming up to a roundabout, and went to slow down - but it didn't do it. Then I heard a loud grinding noise that sounded like break pads - but because it was such a new car I knew it couldn't be a problem with them.
"I managed to get around roundabout going at about 30mph, and and then had long road ahead of me, so I assumed it would stop without me accelerating - but it didn't. I have mobility issues, so I couldn't even jump out - I was completely trapped inside the car going at 30mph.
The notoriety of General Motors' Cruise programming failures became more widespread after an incident in October. In this incident, a pedestrian was hit by a driver, thrown into another lane, and then hit a second time by the self-driving vehicle. The vehicle dragged her twenty feet and eventually came to a stop on top of her.
