CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
stickyNew name to me.
Words like 'iconic van' tend to make me drift off...
Seem to be doing EVs for hire / commercial fleets.
https://twitter.com/arrival/status/1445368613494562818
Taking on existing companies making vans is pretty bold. Vans get hammered - E vans won't be different. Driving up on pavements takes a toll on them!
From STV. 200 unused EVs discovered in Glasgow. Of course many organisations have unused e-bikes too but not that many!
@LaidBack Ehh, I think Arrival might be a bit humped. They seemed to be betting big on fleet replacement and ongoing servicing as their primary income stream, but the fact they keep showing basically the same "preview" content over and over for well over a year now makes me suspect that some of the big names that were helping them do the initial round of puff promos have decided "hey, we got our good publicity already when they drove their stuff around with our brand on the side, maybe lets hold off on actually paying them any money until some better government subsidies come in".
Also the niche between proper lorries and ecargos is going to be pretty narrow even for e-vans, assuming cities make the latter viable with decent infra.
Man on radio just said ‘if all transport switched to electric it would only add 10% to electricity demand’.
Not sure if he meant including buses and lorries too, but that sounds ‘easy’ to provide for - not saying it’s the optimum transport solution.
Massive motorbike as the Durney at the UCI world champs looks 500cc. But is I think Electric, thought the boards at Roubaix look a bit dirty?
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The government is to launch a £1.4bn fund to attract more overseas investment into the UK economy, particularly in sectors such as life sciences and electric vehicle production.
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COP26 is going big on EVs. Countries with coal fired power stations need not bother till they get those fixed. So lots of 'look at the shiny Teslas' global citizens. We have the 'hardship' of driving these to help you.
Media love affair out in force this morning with Gary Roberston on Good Morning Scotland. Spokesperson professor from Birmingham in full flow of how his Tesla is a better car than when he bought it. Latest software patch has added features. Stories of the old days when you had to stop every couple of hours. He once had to drive with the heater off for last 100 miles in a Nissan Leaf. Aye... the old days and what you had to endure!
GaryR though is getting an EV so listeners will soon have an ally of this latest form of motoring. Media loves EVs - so easy to promote via them. Follow on presenter Kay Adams still cycles I believe, when she isn't doing her show from home. (I don't listen though appreciate she did start cycling to work way back. Not an e-bike either.)
Given that the largest single source for generating electricity in the UK is burning gas, EVs are not zero emissions. Then there's the embedded carbon in manufacturing new EVs, which will take on average about 16-20 years to recoup from reduced driving emissions. Even if all UK electricity was generated from renewables, you're still looking at maybe a decade of driving an EV to recoup the embedded carbon.
Then there's particulates from brake dust and tyre fragments: these cause localised air pollution, and tyre particles are the largest single source of microplastics pollution in our rivers, waterways and oceans.
For all these reasons, electric cars are not the answer. Electric public transport, electric rail freight, these are better solutions. Not private motoring, even fully electric.
Long queues of single occupant long and fat EVs silently snaking into Edinburgh?
The E-Elite, it's happening now.
On Radio Scotland Morning show from 9-12, Kay Adams will be asking if EVs are the answer? Fuel prices are rising is now the time?
Following on from presenter Gary Robertson now on waiting list for an EV.
Mrs LB days that a friend of hers was notified with an increase in domestic electricity charges - unless she had an EV. She said she did so is on lower rate. She has no plans to own one but if true this lower rate work round is good news! Not sure how easy it is as would expect to provide proof of EV ownership.
@gembo, indeed! I foresee a huge tailback of single occupant electric SUVs as far as the new motorway junction at Winchburgh. The drivers will not be frustrated, angry or upset though. They'll be smugly self-satisfied in the belief they are "doing their bit" to save human civilisation, one gas generated kWh at a time. They'll all be listening en masse to Gary Robertson crooning about how smoothly his EV whisks him every morning from the wealthy suburbs of Glesca metro area, to Pacific Quay.
Oh look! Our bright and glorious future! You see, no need to worry, we can just carry on much the same as now. Don't panic!
More on microplastics from tyres.
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Study: Up to one third of all microplastics released into UK waters come from tyre wear particles
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@crow, nice link to the wynchelburg bypass
@gembo, I expect to see a lot of these on UK roads in the next few years. Build Back Bigger.
@crowriver, afraid so, is Bonkers as Dizee Rascal sang before he became bad.
Behold! Royal Mail goes electric in giant photo op just ahead of Cop26. Politics is a game of course and 'AnyGov' would do similar. (NoordPost in Sweden and Denmark are phasing out bikes as everyone moving big boxes for Amazon now in effect).
The micro EV is in RM England livery.... ooh EiiR (!)
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Royal Mail has worked with BP Pulse in Glasgow to complete infrastructure works and install eight 7kW electric charging points.
The energy to power the vehicles is from 100% renewable hydroelectric, solar and wind sources.
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Guaranteed…
@chdot, I'm assuming your comment was sarcastic, but tone difficult to judge on t'internet, so I'll just add that Gridwatch (.co.uk) would beg to differ from that bland assertion of 100% renewable electricity, presumably repeated verbatim from a Bute House press release.
Quite
Just a wee reminder.
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What’s wrong with electric cars? Are they a (small) step forward or a red herring?
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(TL;DR - They're a red herring).
@crowriver - skim read. Good points in it.
Are you thinking of buying an EV? Our society would be far better off if you drove your current car much less (and more carefully) than you do now. Much more importantly, you need to campaign for a society with real (financial and other) disincentives to drive and incentives to use the sustainable and healthy alternatives. If you already drive the least possible amount and shift to an EV, remember that benefits in terms of greenhouse gas and noxious emissions are small.
The best thing you can do is get rid of your car altogether.
Honestly, you think that you don't use your car much but then you find all sorts of journeys with it.
Speaking from experience, we thought that we didn't use our car much and actively tried to minimise its use. But then when we sold our (only) car, we found that we eliminated a whole load of mostly short car journeys that could be made in other ways (or not at all, e.g internet deliveries)
Owning a car induces driving, consciously or subconsciously, whether you like it or not.
What you don’t realise Mr Gitts (knows his name is Gittes but ignores this) most people in the right circumstances are capable of anything.
This quote from John Huston is about bad things in Chinatown but can be about good things.
It is not yet normal to give up your car but it is possible. Even for the brainwashed and the petrol heads
“It is not yet normal to give up your car“
Yes well but
That’s all part of ‘the (climate) problem’ - getting/expecting INDIVIDUALS to do stuff/change.
Govs need to say ‘it’s normal NOT to own a car’ and put in appropriate measures - stringent licensing, strong financial disincentives etc.
But…
From some discussions I've seen online in places less friendly to climate action, one hurdle I think we'll have to overcome with that approach is the deep cynicism a lot of people have for the whole "you'll own nothing, and be happy about it" line being peddled by some sectors of the elite.
It absolutely does make sense to reduce the ownership of personal motor vehicles in cities and suburbs in favour of public transport, active travel, and collective ownership, but we can't allow ourselves to become midwives to a new era of hyper-rentier capitalism, and we have to be careful we don't *sound* like that's what we're doing when discussing the issue with civilians.
“we have to be careful we don't *sound* like that's what we're doing“
Yes.
Have to be more aware that this and other ways of dealing with ‘the crisis’ are being used by those with large financial interests to be ahead of any changes in regulations/attitudes (at the same time as trying to stop/stall) so they stay in control and continue to siphon off as much money as possible.
It’s all very well for Boris and co to plead/expect ‘the private sector’ to finance the “transition” (etc), but they won’t be doing it for nothing…
Scots do austere very well. See Testament of Gideon Mack
That is different from austerity
Mishima era Japan also into it. It is artificial but my pal and landlord (very cheap rent) put new Blue carpet in my room and I took everything out except a rolled up futon and a folded deck chair. I was digging that whole austere vibe.
See also the leave no footprint Buddhist vibe I dig that too and is easier to give away dvds and CDs now everything can be streamed.
I want cremated up a tree Tibetan style. Was great movie the Horse Thief at film house about 1988 which is where I spent my time instead of writing my PhD
"you'll own nothing, and be happy about it"
I'd argue that rampant consumerism actually makes people unhappy and fat.
Unhappy people buy more stuff, just to get that ethereal endorphines "hit" of consuming.
And so it becomes a self-fulfilling vicious circle. Exactly what big business want - fat, unhealthy, unhappy people who spend lots of money and need lots of healthcare / pharmaceuticals.
As soon as you step off the "consumerism bandwagon" you feel free, more contented, happier.
That's the message we need convince "civilians" of.
“That's the message we need convince "civilians" of.“
Yes, though defining “we” and "civilians" is inevitably problematic.
Interesting discussion on Women’s Hour today, Amber Rudd (remember her? - “is a British energy and cyber security consultant. She is a former politician who served as Home Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2018 to 2019”) was completely honest (from her perspective at least) of the difficulty of taking difficult decisions and expecting to get re-elected.
Conversation included ‘but electric cars are too expensive’, response ‘but they’ll get cheaper’.
“We” have lost the general arguments.
Electric cars WILL save the world. (If not, obviously, it won’t be the fault of Big Motor ‘at least we (they) are trying’).
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