Turboman said:

And some the other way round, people who have a daily driver, and use the landrover for dump trips at the weekend, or a bit of laneing, or just keep it in case there is snow.

At the moment I am in the affluent Home Counties, commuter belt just outside London, and multiple vehicle ownership seem to be the norm around here, there are plenty of driveways with 3 or 4 cars on them, sometimes more.

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We have 4 cars that work, 2 P38's, a 32 year old MR2 and a 34 year old Renault 11 plus a Transit van and a scrap P38 for spares.

Turboman said:

We will. But the writing is already on the wall.
Already clear that no new IC engined vehicles will be sold after 2040. I would guess that the authorities will give it 10 years to allow for natural wastage to remove the older ones, and then ban them too.

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I think it unlikely IC engines will be gone by 2040. With the current state of battery technology range is a problem, a giant leap forward will be needed. Then you have the problem of producing enough electricity for re-charging. currently the UK has as little as 8% reserve capacity at peak demand. The distribution systems, especially at a local level could not cope and would need the be renewed. Building new power stations takes decades so there is no likelihood of enough new stations being built to cope with an all electric vehicle future by 2040 and power stations are very inefficient.
I see a future for hybrids but I also think IC engines fuelled by Hydrogen are likely. Aeoliens are often idle when the capacity is not needed, a Dutch guy has suggested building local electrolysis plants at aeolien sites to produce pollution free Hydrogen using the surplus energy.

I can't understand why Hydrogen power hasn't been properly utilised.

I mean what. is the government gonna **** out a story of how Hydrogen is somehow really bad for the environment?

Surely manufacturing the batteries for electric cars is an environmental disaster?

Henry_b said:

I can't understand why Hydrogen power hasn't been properly utilised.

I mean what. is the government gonna **** out a story of how Hydrogen is somehow really bad for the environment?

Surely manufacturing the batteries for electric cars is an environmental disaster?

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Mining Lithium and Cobalt is highly polluting, but it doesn't matter to governments as it's not on our doorstep. Li-Ion batteries are currently almost impossible to recycle, very little is recovered.

Datatek said:

Mining Lithium and Cobalt is highly polluting, but it doesn't matter to governments as it's not on our doorstep. Li-Ion batteries are currently almost impossible to recycle, very little is recovered.

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The argument against Hydrogen is the energy needed to produce it. However if waste energy from aeoliens is used, that argument fails.

Turboman said:

And most young people I speak too seem to take the environmental and social concerns about motoring seriously, and don't seem to have the same attachment to motoring that previous generations had.

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This theory is born out by the fact that less young people are learning to drive now (according to official government statistics)

norseman said:

This theory is born out by the fact that less young people are learning to drive now (according to official government statistics)

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Not surprising. When we were young, motoring was a liberating thing, it was fairly cheap, and enabled you to get around quickly.

Now, it is quite the reverse, expensive, and slower than public transport if you live in a city.

Datatek said:

I wonder about the L405, rarer than hens teeth here in France, I wonder if it is actually a big seller in Europe?

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Plenty of them in Moscow - even saw a few in Samara the other week.