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.
sticky“
Scientists described the quickening rate of carbon dioxide emissions in stark terms, comparing it to a “speeding freight train” and laying part of the blame on an unexpected surge in the appetite for oil as people around the world not only buy more cars but also drive them farther than in the past — more than offsetting any gains from the spread of electric vehicles.
“
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/climate/greenhouse-gas-emissions-2018.html
Car makers are never gonna alienate half their customers by blaming Brexit, innit
“
A closure of Honda's Swindon factory in southern England would be its second plant shuttering in 2022. The automaker said more than a year ago it will close one of its Japan plants in 2022, in an effort to consolidate production as it focuses on new vehicle technologies.
“
“
He added: “Many view the increasing availability of electric vehicles as a panacea for all motoring ills.
"But, self-evidently, the means of propulsion, whilst welcome in terms of emissions, does nothing to alter the dominance of motor cars in our town and city centres, and with it the view that they are more important than pedestrians and cyclists.
“
Yes as these electric cars would all,still just have one person in them. I guess if they were tiny two seaters like the kit cars (haven't seen so many of them Recntly) they would take up less space.
Would that be a way forward? You can bring a car into Edinburgh if it is less than 3 metres long? And you have to drive through The Crusher at the toll which squashes the length to 3 metres?
I saw a Prius being a PHC in traffic the other day. I could barely hear it amongst the usual combustion-traffic noises, even when it was accelerated rashly past me.
Prius, good but too long, will have to go in The Crusher
The quadricycles avoid the crusher and you just need a P moped licence. And 16yo's can drive them with AM licence after doing CBT, theory & moped road test.
Non motorway driving only.
Nice one le-soigneur. Mercury Rev have a new album out, a cover of Bobbie Gentry's second album Delta Sweete Revisited. Couple of stand out tracks. Bonus track of Lucinda Williams singing Tallahatchee Bridge which was not on the album originally. She really mangles it meaning the album is too long by at least one song. Will have to go in The Crusher for a second or too.
Saw someone at work putting stuff into the tank compartment and leaving work silently on an electric moped. This was odd to observe.
Plastic from tyres 'major source' of ocean pollution
The report found between 15% and 31% of plastic pollution came from primary microplastics, of which the biggest contributors (almost two-thirds) were abrasion of synthetic textiles, while washing, and abrasion of tyres, while driving.
“
Special solar-powered car parks where electric vehicles can be charged are to be set up in Scotland as part of a multi-million-pound UK trial.
“
At my place of employment they have replaced a convenient, covered bike rack for about 50 bikes with charging spaces for four electric/ hybrid cars.
Symbolic really.
Electric cars 'will not solve transport problem,' report warns
Car use will still need to be curbed even when all vehicles are powered by clean electricity, a report has said. It warns that electrifying cars will not address traffic jams, urban sprawl and wasted space for parking.
"People are also buying status-symbol SUVs which clog up narrow city streets - the report says banning them in from some areas might be a solution."
Did gembo have a part tyo play in the report?
Thanks @acsimpson
Looks like my Campaign Against Longer Cars is really starting to motor <chortles to self only>
For the record I love an old cinquecento and especially an old mini. These beautifully designed short cars were family vehicles when I were a nipper [just after the South of Italy united with the North- inserts correct name in a minute Regorgimento not bad Risorgimento]
I am not against cars just big unecesary vehicles with a single occupant.
I was picking up a folding bike from CycleService tother day and coming down the pleasance in family car with 4 occupants an articulated lorry turned left up St Mary’s St. Error, then indicated to go right down canon gate error but changed her mind and went down Jeffrey street and got a little stuck then turned right at the bottom, we went left I imagine it is still there.
@gembo
Where do you stand on the Morris Traveller?
They have their place.
My wife has a disability, and becuase of an anke fusion done a few years ago, needs to be in a postion more akin to sitting in a chair, than sitting with legs out.
The latter produces severe pain after not very long.
“They have their place”
Indeed.
The problem is (in general) those with the most need are less likely to have adequate access.
Cars are just ‘normal’.
Any threat to this normality is met with all the special cases - ‘shift workers’, ‘men with tools’, ‘no PT in rural areas’ etc.
@Iwrats
I love all cars with a wood trim
Morris Traveller as long as has 3 or more people in it is Fab
Chap in Currie occasionally takes his out for a spin near the house so he can push it home if it breaks
The original report that @acsimpson refers to does mention people who need cars. They are of course necessary but they are clearly too big. Young folk in the report just hire them etc Also that cars sit not being used 98% of the time. Buying a car means you use it unnecessarily for short trips
“Buying a car means you use it unnecessarily for short trips”
Yes.
And use it more, more.
“Young folk in the report just hire them etc”
And (apparently) fewer young people are getting licenses.
The other new ‘normal’ is financial schemes that actually mean people don’t own cars.
There may or may not be schemes where lease payments vary with mileage.
The mentality (and largely reality) is that ‘extra miles’ only cost the price of petrol/diesel - so even more shameful that Govs make a big deal of keeping fuel taxes down while pretending to care about climate change and air pollution.
@IWRATS on the bonnet or perhaps the roof I'd have thought?
To bring things back on topic, I will be test driving a Tesla Model 3 on Sunday, although I won't be buying one anytime soon despite still having a day zero reservation.
'The other new ‘normal’ is financial schemes that actually mean people don’t own cars.'
It's much cheaper to do than to finance. For example you can get a brand new Nissan Quashqui (base model) for £174 a month with VED included. If you can stomach the website, you can see just how cheap it is to pay for a brand new car:
With the old model of 'owning' a brand new car, you need £1000s deposit + £100s monthly payment, likely with £1000s ballon payment at end too.
If you replace a car every x years, why buy it (I don't lease a car but may in future)?
(I'll let the topic get back on topic now...)
I suspect that'll be the way people "own" electric cars. Why take on the risk of replacing the battery when you can get a clean one every x years.
(see that, talk about a bridge!)
@steveo
the risk of replacing the battery
There isn't much risk of having to replace the battery on an EV. On Teslas, for example, the battery will still maintain 80% of its original full-charge after 200,000 miles - basically exceeding the life of the car.
Although car batteries are essentially the same technology as mobile phone batteries, they are not subject to the same charging regimes.
A phone is typically charged from 20% to full every day.
A car would be charged maybe twice a week (or topped up more frequently).
Lithium batteries are good for around 1000 charge/discharge cycles. That equates to around 3 years for a phone battery, but 1000 charges x 200 miles-per-charge = 200,000 miles for a car battery.
“basically exceeding the life of the car“
Interesting.
So what’s the Lithium recycling prospect/process?
I don't know about the Lithium recycling, but I don't think Lithium is the limiting factor in production - it's the other metals like Copper and Nickel that make up the bulk of the battery and are more likely to suffer from shortages / high prices.
I've seen elsewhere that Lithium batteries are good for 3000 charge cycles, so 1000 may even be a conservative figure.
You must log in to post.
Cycling in Edinburgh Flickr group
Video embedded using Easy Video Embed plugin
posts.jpg){kind=link}