2040

Electric cars are OK for running around on short trips but for long trips they just aren't practical. The fast chargers installed at service stations are woefully unreliable, I worked on a design for one for a short while but there are just too many compromises that have to be made its just not workable so I moved on. We also worked on a battery storage device for the same, very large, customer, we used to call it the lithium bomb, it would only store 2kW but that requires twice the amount of Lithium than you're legally allowed to transport, we are a very long way off being able to store enough electricity to make solar and wind energy a practical alternative. Governments love to make plans for many years ahead, its easy to do as they won't be around to implement it., big promises, no liabilities.

I see the latest Tesla is an "affordable" model at £30000 !! lol
You could have 5 Celerios for that.

gilburton wrote: Let's get it right only pure petrol/diesel driven cars will be banned. If you dig down hybrids and alternative fuel cars will still be allowed.

That's how I understood it too so micro-hybrids like the new Ignis will be acceptable which basically means that things will be allowed to continue much as they are, all you need is a fancy starter/alternator/electric supercharger device.

Interesting, but at 1770 kg its certainly no lightweight... but 200 miles range, thats already better than a jimny !
Electric 4x4 would be awesome with great ground clearance and no need for lockers...
Got to laugh when its compared to the G wagon though, i think they missed the point about the merc, its a status thing as no one in their right mind would offroad a 90k+ car...

The early hybrids just used the battery to augment a smallish engine to help improve consumption and were not really meant to be used on battery power alone.
The latest ones are able to switch to electric power and go for quite a few miles and certainly enough to enter/exit large cities.
This would be the answer for those rural areas if bans come in to force in towns/cities.
It won't affect me unless I live to app 100 although I'll try my best

gilburton wrote: I see the latest Tesla is an "affordable" model at £30000 !! lol
You could have 5 Celerios for that.

That's comparable to a pretty ordinary VW or BMW. And all that really matters is how much it will be a month on finance. If they get that bit right then you will see millions of them.

gilburton wrote: You could have 5 Celerios for that.

I'm on my way then with my one.

I've only ever been able to afford one brand new car in my life and that was a £10k Swift.
Now that I'm retired I'm back on used cars so £30k would be pie in the sky for me.

gilburton wrote: I've only ever been able to afford one brand new car in my life and that was a £10k Swift.
Now that I'm retired I'm back on used cars so £30k would be pie in the sky for me.

It's very much the same for me - I have had maybe three new ones in my life and partly the reason for getting used is by choice because for many years I don't like the responsibility of driving a new car but partly the reason is the cost.
Do you still have the Swift, they seem like nice cars?

No I had it for app 3 yrs. It was an 08 1500 version which they don't do now but I chose that because it would easily pull my small caravan.
It was a great car and very economical. I got 42 once pulling the caravan.
Only reason I changed it was because I thought it a bit bland so I bought a low miles Jimny lol.
The latest Swift looks good as they have improved it a lot inc a larger boot.
Loved the original boot as it was very deep so what it lacked in length(with the seats up) it compensated with the deep compartment which had a cover so you could hide stuff under there and stack on top of the cover or leave the cover off.
Unlike some reports on here my local Suzuki dealer is very good and always asks or explains what they are doing when the car goes in for an MOT or service. No complaints there.

I love the little Suzi cars and have bought several new ones over the years. Currently driving last years Suzi Celerio, their smallest on the market. It has a 3 cyl 1 litre engine and cvt transmission. Cruise all day at 120-130 kph and delivers better than 20 kilometres per litre. Did 40,000 k's in first year and should do more in this, my second year of ownership from new. An utterly reliable car that is a bit like the Jimny in being fun to drive, great view all round and a bit of a TARDIS (Bigger on the inside)