1 hour ago, Winston_Woof said:

So rather than outright banning them why not concentrate efforts on somehow "filtering" the emissions to reduce them? Gets rid of waste whilst producing power.

Burning rubbish now UK’s dirtiest form of power

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3wxgje5pwo

Very good to bring this into attention. 

 

There's 2 thing at play here: the amount of rubbish being produced and the need for cleaner energy. 

 

The former is the real problem, and as you mentioned, if there is any method to "filtering" the emission, it solves both problems. But I guess we can also go back to questioning if we could reduce the amount of rubbish we produce in the first place or recycle more of it etc.

 

The latter can be easily solved with other forms of energy generation. The power generation is somewhat incidental to the decision to incinerate the rubbish.

15 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

 The power generation is somewhat incidental to the decision to incinerate the rubbish.

although it is effectively "almost free" fuel ;o)

13 minutes ago, Winston_Woof said:

although it is effectively "almost free" fuel ;o)

Well, just because the fuel is effectively free does mean burning it is problem free. Adding carbon capture will only push up the cost, I personally suspect there is a high likelihood pushing to beyond economical without government subsidies, judging by current carbon capture costs. 

 

The level of per unit energy emission from it means it is extremely far from free in my books, in its current form. 

 

2 hours ago, Graham Butcher said:

We have had electric taxis for a while now in Chelmsford. 

We have PHEVs (mostly Toyota P(r)ious) in Glasgow. That said they are mostly UBERs, and most of the ones I have seen parked outside a likely keeper's property are on a public highway, not on the keeper's  non-existent drive.

3 hours ago, Ootohere said:

Dundee Council encouraged EV Taxis, allowed use of Council Car Parks and Chargers, while next door Angus Council were years behind approving EV Taxis.

There were Dundee Licensed Taxis taking passengers out of Dundee and to Angus.

Angus Taxi Drivers with an EV had to hold a Licence / Plate for Dundee and go from their home location to do their trade in Dundee.

It was a farce. 

 

................

There are still Limo Bike / Taxi services, and then there are like this.

 

Different rules in England Private hire can register anywhere and work anywhere.

Wolverhampton has the highest number of registered PHV per head of population they have 85 for every 1,000 people but loads work elsewhere.

 

https://www.prodrivermags.com/news/new-data-reveals-how-wolverhampton-dominates-uk-private-hire-licensing/

 

Greater Manchester is home to over 11,000 private hire drivers licensed by Wolverhampton Council, with 1,749 of these based in Bolton, according to recent data from the City of Wolverhampton Council.

 

 

At the Airport i was able to see a Hybrid Black Cab (White) and a Diesel Black Cab. (Maroon.)

Drivers door for the driver and the front door passengers side for Luggage. No seat.

 

So basically 2 doors for passengers, and the front doors are not emergency exits.

If there is no driver in the cab then no need for a door for the driver.

..............

 

Part of the Issue for some regions / areas were the requirement for Wheel Chair accessible vehicles for Taxis / Private Hire an the purpose built TAXI people carrier EV,s or Converted People carrier EV not passing some councils rules, or not being suitable for the operator because of the lack of public charging even though the council in that region would allow the vehicles use as a plated vehicle.

(Lack of range as they were back with a Nissan NV200.)

 

 

Edited 15 October, 20241 yr by Ootohere

6 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

So basically 2 doors for passengers, and the front doors are not emergency exits

 

I would be suprised if there were not 5 seats for passengers though

There is. In and out of 2 doors.  

Maybe 2 in the back or 3 and luggage if the Driver does not put cases / luggage in the kerb side front door. 

 

The point is that Autonomous Vehicles say at Airport Parking or Events taking people to the terminal or event might well be just 2 or 3 seater vehicles.

Public Transportation on or not on the Kings Highway in the UK in the not too far distant future. 

 

http://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-65175447

 

 

http://bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr5nvg9nr4ro

 

 

http://bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cewljvg7jr0o

 

 

 

Edited 15 October, 20241 yr by Ootohere

4 hours ago, Winston_Woof said:

although it is effectively "almost free" fuel ;o)

Also it does prevent becoming landfill and thus polluting the ground and it makes sense to leveridge power generation from the resultant heat so we are preventing one form of pollution and getting almost free energy so almost a perfect win-win, especially if the exhaust gases are scrubbed before being released to the atmosphere.  

Landfill can produce methane gas which is captured and then generate electricity. 

 

There is a ban coming on biodegradable waste into landfill and there should be processing & recycling.

There is a ban coming on new incinerators in Scotland but before that comes in there are new plants approved. 

The ban has been suspended in England. 

Edited 16 October, 20241 yr by Ootohere

Yes, there is a new incinerator being built a few miles from me that is causing a stir at the moment as there was no consultation with locals, and the flue is now going to be 35 metres lower. It is supposed to burning single use plastics. 

It has twigged with me that range in electric cars can be, within quite a wide range and much over WLTP, what you need/want it to be.

 

Again a trip to Liverpool from Worcester this morning.  WLTP of the Zoe, did it in the Scenic 2 weeks ago and that went fine despite have the smaller 60 kwh battery, and made the 120 miles journey with 55% of the battery left should should be fine getting home. Zoe has a WLTP range of 238 miles so should not be able to make it.

 

Journey cost about £4.40 in night time charged electricity.  Reclaim off HMRC for about £50 for the  unclaimed 45p a mile (as I get car allowance etc).

 

Happy days.

 

22 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

Yes, there is a new incinerator being built a few miles from me that is causing a stir at the moment as there was no consultation with locals, and the flue is now going to be 35 metres lower. It is supposed to burning single use plastics. 

The incinerator at Westbury has approval, but construction has not yet started, so it seems it will go ahead despite the report yesterday that emissions from incinerators is as high as the now closed coal fired power stations so it's hard to see how these incinerators can be seen as part of the greening of our energy supply system.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3wxgje5pwo

52 minutes ago, lol-lol said:

It has twigged with me that range in electric cars can be, within quite a wide range and much over WLTP, what you need/want it to be.

 

Again a trip to Liverpool from Worcester this morning.  WLTP of the Zoe, did it in the Scenic 2 weeks ago and that went fine despite have the smaller 60 kwh battery, and made the 120 miles journey with 55% of the battery left should should be fine getting home. Zoe has a WLTP range of 238 miles so should not be able to make it.

 

Journey cost about £4.40 in night time charged electricity.  Reclaim off HMRC for about £50 for the  unclaimed 45p a mile (as I get car allowance etc).

 

Happy days.

 

IMHO you (as in everyone not you specifically) should only be able to claim back a maximum of the amount you've actually spent as supported by receipts.

£50 back for spending £4.40, that's disgusting, sort of thing MPs get dragged across the front pages for ;o)

^^^ Agreed, a total pith take those getting mileage allowances and actually paying for very cheap off peak electricity.

But all a nonsense the very high public tariff and 20%, but then business users getting to claim back on the 20%. 

 

A charge to use a charger like where the first kWh is £2, then the following kWh price being a fair price could work.

The issue is where the charger cuts out as some can and you are paying again to start a charge. 

 

 

 

 

Edited 16 October, 20241 yr by Ootohere

1 hour ago, Winston_Woof said:

IMHO you (as in everyone not you specifically) should only be able to claim back a maximum of the amount you've actually spent as supported by receipts.

£50 back for spending £4.40, that's disgusting, sort of thing MPs get dragged across the front pages for ;o)

It's the same for petrol/diesel is it not? The money claimed back is always more than actual spent on fuel alone. Are you advocating for the same to be applied to petrol/diesel? If not, why not?

 

We all know there's other associated cost running petrol/diesel, namely expensive servicing requirements. I believe by capping the money to actual fuel spent may be more detrimental to those running petrol/diesel.

 

Only difference here is lol was able to take advantage of cheaper home charging. Something cannot be done with petrol/diesel/hydrogen.

If that 60 kWh were charged on public charger, at 79p/kWh, it could be as much as £47.40. Now that £50 claimed back is pretty reasonable.

Claiming back £50 for £47.50 is very different from £50 for 60 x 6.9 pence, so £4.14.

The approved mileage rate applies to folks using their own cars for company miles and not to company car drivers. It is intended to cover the cost of extra insurance, fuel, wear & tear etc. The same rate applies to all types of cars and has not changed since 2012. So when paying 7p/kWh its a good deal for EV drivers, but paying 79p at a public rapid charger not so much. Company car drivers have a rate of 9p per mile if claiming fuel costs but most will get fuel paid by the company. The 9p rate also applies if drivers reimburse the company for private miles.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-travel-mileage-and-fuel-allowances/travel-mileage-and-fuel-rates-and-allowances

Edited 16 October, 20241 yr by Luckypants

36 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

Claiming back £50 for £47.50 is very different from £50 for 60 x 6.9 pence, so £4.14.

Indeed, but then how would you set the policy? 

 

Distinguishing home charging vs public charging? An offset based on electricity paid (eg. 20p + fuel cost)?

That disincentives people to install home chargers and charge overnight. Also home charging billing is difficult to work out if finances are going to be based on a non-calibrated home charge point reading. 

 

I honestly agree with your view on the disparity, but no idea how to solve this without removing incentives to get people to charge during off-peak times and make their EV be an asset to the grid, acting as load balancing devices. 

It does not remove incentives or disincentives installing home and work place chargers in any way, it just maybe highlights how those with that facilities are making a nice little earner over those that can not.

There are Smart Meters and not Dumb Chargers with Wall Boxes. 

Nothing wrong with actually claiming and receiving expenses fairly.  So that means the cost of not just the Energy, but Charger Installation and vehicles running costs.

 

The system is no longer fit for purpose with HMRC and BIK etc.

Those business users with a PHEV just running on liquid fuel and those BEV,s running for 10 times less than public charging costs. 

6 hours ago, wyx087 said:

 

Only difference here is lol was able to take advantage of cheaper home charging.

It may be legally acceptable but is it morally acceptable ;o)

8 hours ago, Ootohere said:

Claiming back £50 for £47.50 is very different from £50 for 60 x 6.9 pence, so £4.14.

 

As said by Luckypants the mileage allowance for first 10k miles has been set at 45p per mile for years and it represents both all the running cost and depreciation.

 

The 25p per mile is suppose to be be for the running cost but not so much depreciation.

 

As customs/ HMCE Officers we would look to reduce or suspending our cars when the mileage rate and recommence on April 6th when the higher rate returned.  We actually got 63p per mile for cars over 2 litre engine size which was very nice. This was over 30 years ago so with inflation that must be about a £1 a mile. 

 

Whatever the rules are one should work within them. If it is not want the government want then change the rules hence they got rid off the 3 engine size rules to go to one much lower rate.  If one is forced to use public transport the tax collection can become much less efficient.

 

Work to the rules. It is a £100B plus industry for the Big 4.

 

2 hours ago, Winston_Woof said:

It may be legally acceptable but is it morally acceptable ;o)

Same can be asked about 0 VAT for EV's, BIK.

or 0% VAT for home battery install.

or even the cycle to work scheme.

 

If you don't like the rules, work with your MP to get it changed. As the saying goes: don't hate the player hate the game.

12 hours ago, wyx087 said:

Same can be asked about 0 VAT for EV's, BIK.

or 0% VAT for home battery install.

or even the cycle to work scheme.

I would disagree that the morality of those is questionable, they all encourage people to help improve/protect the environment and since we are officially in a climate emergency I would argue measures such as those are morally required, definitely not questionable.

36 minutes ago, PetrolDave said:

I would disagree that the morality of those is questionable, they all encourage people to help improve/protect the environment and since we are officially in a climate emergency I would argue measures such as those are morally required, definitely not questionable.

Then why is it morally questionable to take advantage of cheaper, greener charging during off-peak and pocket the difference?

It is functionally the same thing as paying less BIK, paying less tax for the new bicycle.

 

Just playing devil's advocate, I personally agree with your view.

 

(correction above, meant to say 0 VED for EV)