Taking a step back and ignoring what manufacturers are involved the Hefalump in the room is the range and the price of any EV. Until they square that particular circle it just doesn't make economic sense. I'd buy one in a heartbeat if they could, it is the future, our current fossilised dinosaur burners will be museum pieces that we show our grandkids and join the London to Brighton run in a new class.
There are already Electric cars out there with ranges of up to 300 miles on a charge, pricing is becoming comparable to ICE equivalents the sticking point at the moment is time to recharge. Similar situation with bikes. Mrs Four or Five is looking at a Renault Zoe as one option when she changes her car next year, 8 year battery warranty 150 mile range and running costs around £15 a week makes it very attractive.
It's all about the batteries, once there are enough EV's kicking about the battery refurbishers will pop up and make 2nd hand EV's viable. At the moment, in the UK, you are at the mercy of the manufacturers and their prices - one duff cell, ooh sir, that'll be a complete new battery pack..... I know you can get new single cells easily in Merca for Prius and its not too hard to replace a cell (the diagnostics tell you which one is duff) so once that kind of service starts here then it becomes much more attravtive for tight wads like me
It's a kind of mexican standoff. Battery prices won't reduce until there are more sales and there won't be more sales until prices drop. When the likes of Ford and the components of what became British Leyland. started mass production, then cars were became very cheap. Prices shot downwards when they became mass-produced. Everyone could afford one!
Hydrogen fuel-cells are the future, not batteries that need to be charged. I for one will be sitting out the "Plug-in" phase. They'll be like 'Betamax' very quickly.
What better than VHS, but the free licensing of the technology means we get the second best technology to dominate the market place?
Lithium mining impacts Lithium is found in the brine of salt flats. Holes are drilled into the salt flats and the brine is pumped to the surface, leaving it to evaporate in ponds. This allows lithium carbonate to be extracted through a chemical process. The extraction of lithium has significant environmental and social impacts, especially due to water pollution and depletion. In addition, toxic chemicals are needed to process lithium. The release of such chemicals through leaching, spills or air emissions can harm communities, ecosystems and food production. Moreover, lithium extraction inevitably harms the soil and also causes air contamination.13 The salt flats where lithium is found are located in arid territories. In these places, access to water is key for the local communities and their livelihoods, as well as the local flora and fauna. In Chile’s Atacama salt flats, mining consumes, contaminates and diverts scarce water resources away from local communities.14 The extraction of lithium has caused water-related conflicts with different communities, such as the community of Toconao in the north of Chile15. In Argentina’s Salar de Hombre Muerto, local communities claim that lithium operations have contaminated streams used for humans, livestock and crop irrigation.16 There has been widespread speculation about whether Bolivia could become a lithium superpower, possibly overtaking Chile, by unlocking its massive resources, which may exceed 100m tonnes in its salt flats.17 Lithium exploration and investment is also taking place outside the Andean region. The American Nova mining corporation, for example, is moving ahead with the purchase of licensing agreements for lithium mining properties in Mongolia, in response to the current boom in sales of electronic goods.18 Bolivia has, so far, resisted large-scale industrial mining of lithium, although it has plans to build a pilot project as a precursor to the possible development of a lithium mining industry in the future.19 However, the lithium-rich Salar de Uyuni is near to the San Cristóbal Mine, which, since it opened in 2007, has caused an “environmental and social disaster that affects all of Southwest Potosí” including through the use of 50,000 litres of water per day.20
Graphene composite batteries with no cobalt in will be the point where they become a viable substitute for I.C.E power trains.
They must all be in wheelchairs by now? Maybe they have mass rideout/push to their nearest PO to collect their pensions...
Petrol or electric, Harley riders are up their own backsides. The only group of riders who do not acknowledge other riders on the road. I don’t know why they think their overweight tractors are a cut above the rest.
Agree but that is why I see the electric Harley and Long Way Up as a good thing. It should do much to wreck Harley's old image!
I don't dispute anything that you are saying (because I know nothing) but what is the poor mug punter supposed to do? We are told that sales of new bikes/cars that run on petrol will stop in 2030 and all that you can buy now that is electric has Lithium batteries? We are told that petrol is bad and electric is good. So if you are in my position where you can afford to buy a new electric/petrol car in a few years time, what to do?
Yeah..OK...but that wasn't my point. Anyway, they were both redundant technologies on the road to digital. I think the life span of 'Plug-in' vehicles will be much shorter. Nitrogen is abundant, with no geographical boundaries, can be harvested carbon neutral and the only emissions are water.
Nitrogen isn't very reactive as an element. Further it isn't a component of water, but don't let that fact spoil your fantasies... You'd make Rutherford proud...
All kinds of people riding all kinds of bikes. I have met some great people who ride Harleys and complete twats who ride Ducatis. The opposite applies too.
It’s not that long ago that the Government were encouraging purchase of diesel cars and vans as the “Greener” alternative to petrol. Electric vehicles will be demonised just as quickly once numbers increase and the global impacts are more widely seen.
Government is run by business, do not expect anything close to common sense, fact or fairness from them.
HD had one of these on a set of rollers on their stand at the NEC last year, and had people doing silly speeds on it standing still all day. It was strange to stand beside something supposedly doing 100mph with just mechanical noise. I'm not at all into the whole Harley thing, but this doesn't really look like one, and I have to say I was impressed. Nasher.
