On the subject of pollution hotspots this takes some beating, and easily cured with a move to all-electric taxis....
This is where Taxi's wait in line mostly, if not 100%, diesels with their engines ticking over under the Central Station in Newcastle, before emerging out front to get to the head of the rank at the front of the station. Gives the opportunity for some of the drivers to light up while they wait too!
Not great photography but the tunnel is about 100 metres long and full of Taxis, at all times.
So name shame and photograph your own pollution hotspots and post them up here.
Regards Neil
Electric cars-Conversions
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc
Only taxi drivers would be stupid enough to do this, day in day out.
What is going on between the ears?
What is going on between the ears?

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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc
Tesla hitting the news again and a couple of quotes from Elon Musk on twitter.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... -australia
Regards Neil
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... -australia
Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
This will be the highest power battery system in the world by a factor of 3. Australia rocks!!
July 7, 2017
I presume that is how to close a deal!!Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
Tesla will get the system installed and working 100 days from contract signature or it is free. That serious enough for you?
March 10, 2017
Regards Neil
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc
white exec wrote: ↑07 Jul 2017, 18:25Only taxi drivers would be stupid enough to do this, day in day out.
What is going on between the ears?![]()
Taxi drivers are a breed apart Chris... They are not of this world...
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc
Another good video of the Rimac Concept one:
They certainly are positioning themselves as the Tesla of the Supercar segment of the market. Pity I will never be able to drive or afford one.
They certainly are positioning themselves as the Tesla of the Supercar segment of the market. Pity I will never be able to drive or afford one.

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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc
Might do, but before it does, I would be optimistic that something better/cheaper will take its place as Battery tech advances.
Within the article this very valid point was made
While some of the assumptions could be challenged, and maybe recycling of the lithium in "spent" batteries wasn't taken into account it was a decent discussion of the subject.What happens when China and India and the rest of the developing world push en masse for personal car ownership and all the privileges that this brings? Well, the world definitely can’t handle that transformation under today’s fossil-fuel system, and it very likely can’t handle it under an EV-focused alternative system either, due to the resource constraints discussed above. We need to think hard about alternatives to passenger cars even while we recognize that EVs are far better than petroleum internal-combustion engine vehicles. We face a real conundrum as the developing world races to become more like the developed world.
The entire world can’t run on cars
Even this little sketch of the issue highlights the obvious conclusion: we need to do our best to get away from single passenger cars -- even EVs -- and rely more on smart city design, walking, biking, carpooling, trains, shuttles, etc.
Regards Neil
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc
The solution is very obvious and is laid out quite clearly at the end of the article...
I have a couple of neighbours who use their cars for every journey and some are clearly very short ones... They are up and down the close in their cars like a whore's drawers all day long...
Surely they can walk, they are all very able-bodied, or modify their lives to avoid this needless use of cars? I feel no need to be in and out all the time like a cuckoo in a cuckoo clock but a lot of people clearly do...
Working near where you live so you can walk or cycle to your place of work would help too... Commuting must be the most miserable of all the human activities...
EVs will help but are only a very small part of the overall solution...
It boggles me just how many cars are on the roads. Where are they all going all the time?Even this little sketch of the issue highlights the obvious conclusion: we need to do our best to get away from single passenger cars -- even EVs -- and rely more on smart city design, walking, biking, carpooling, trains, shuttles, etc.
I have a couple of neighbours who use their cars for every journey and some are clearly very short ones... They are up and down the close in their cars like a whore's drawers all day long...
Surely they can walk, they are all very able-bodied, or modify their lives to avoid this needless use of cars? I feel no need to be in and out all the time like a cuckoo in a cuckoo clock but a lot of people clearly do...
Working near where you live so you can walk or cycle to your place of work would help too... Commuting must be the most miserable of all the human activities...
EVs will help but are only a very small part of the overall solution...
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc
Stickyfinger wrote: ↑08 Jul 2017, 19:29Lithium will come up very short ?
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles ... -Battery-M
That's the trouble with environmentalists and conservationists, they don't stop to think that one man's clean environment is another man's huge quarry hole, mineshaft or spoil tip.
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc
Gibbo2286 wrote: ↑09 Jul 2017, 09:29Stickyfinger wrote: ↑08 Jul 2017, 19:29Lithium will come up very short ?
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles ... -Battery-M
That's the trouble with environmentalists and conservationists, they don't stop to think that one man's clean environment is another man's huge quarry hole, mineshaft or spoil tip.
Yes! Couldn't put it better myself

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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc
Is this the day that mass adoption of EV's really starts to ramp up ? Or is the Model 3 still too expensive and over-hyped ?
Either way, the first production unit finally came off the assembly line last Saturday....
https://electrek.co/2017/07/09/tesla-mo ... -pictures/
Personally I don't like the minimalist dashboard with the centre screen being the only form of instrumentation, and I think the front end around the bonnet line and the headlights looks a bit generic compared to the Model S, but in other regards I do like the look of it...
Either way, the first production unit finally came off the assembly line last Saturday....
https://electrek.co/2017/07/09/tesla-mo ... -pictures/
Personally I don't like the minimalist dashboard with the centre screen being the only form of instrumentation, and I think the front end around the bonnet line and the headlights looks a bit generic compared to the Model S, but in other regards I do like the look of it...
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc
Mandrake wrote: ↑10 Jul 2017, 09:17
Personally I don't like the minimalist dashboard with the centre screen being the only form of instrumentation, and I think the front end around the bonnet line and the headlights looks a bit generic compared to the Model S, but in other regards I do like the look of it...
The side view is very nice, but it looks like it still has a steering wheel.....going to look pretty old fashioned when/if Hiro's new Leaf becomes a reality

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=57635&p=531924&hilit=hiro#p531924
I did like the squabble in the comments below the article in Elektrek, between those in favour and the odd dissenting voice, and within the comments the odd decent quote (or miquote as the case may be it is the internet after all!) like this one attributed to Sheikh Zaki Yamani former Saudi Oil Minister.
“The Stone Age did not end for lack of stone, and the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil.”
Can't imagine the model3 will kill off the oil age on its own but is an important landmark in scaling up EV production and forcing the major car manufacturers to follow suit. Something smaller and cheaper like Carlos Ghosn's $8000 BEV is going to have to assist.
Regards Neil
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc
A replacement for the soot spewing London black cabs ?
http://www.evperformance.co.uk/levc-unv ... tric-taxi/
Looks a bit odd from the side, but existing black cabs are not exactly good lookers either..
It's also a plug in petrol hybrid rex not a pure EV, with 70 miles of electric range and 400 miles total range, but that's got to be an improvement over 100% diesel running somewhere like London. No idling while waiting for a fare for a start!
Lets just hope these Taxi companies install their own rapid chargers instead of hogging the existing public charger network.
http://www.evperformance.co.uk/levc-unv ... tric-taxi/
Looks a bit odd from the side, but existing black cabs are not exactly good lookers either..

It's also a plug in petrol hybrid rex not a pure EV, with 70 miles of electric range and 400 miles total range, but that's got to be an improvement over 100% diesel running somewhere like London. No idling while waiting for a fare for a start!
Lets just hope these Taxi companies install their own rapid chargers instead of hogging the existing public charger network.

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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc
It's awful, a tiny electric range, and a small-engined petrol hydrid.
Shouldn't have expected anything better, I suppose, from the dinosaur London Taxi outfit.
Disappointing offering from the Chinese - they must have better (just look at their BEV buses which London is buying) - but it's no doubt what London Taxis asked them for.
If I were Mayor, I'd tell them to think again, and not license those things.
Shouldn't have expected anything better, I suppose, from the dinosaur London Taxi outfit.
Disappointing offering from the Chinese - they must have better (just look at their BEV buses which London is buying) - but it's no doubt what London Taxis asked them for.
If I were Mayor, I'd tell them to think again, and not license those things.
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Re: Electric cars/vans/bikes-Conversions/Secondhand..etc
Mandrake wrote: ↑11 Jul 2017, 16:04A replacement for the soot spewing London black cabs ?
http://www.evperformance.co.uk/levc-unv ... tric-taxi/
Looks a bit odd from the side, but existing black cabs are not exactly good lookers either..
It's also a plug in petrol hybrid rex not a pure EV, with 70 miles of electric range and 400 miles total range, but that's got to be an improvement over 100% diesel running somewhere like London. No idling while waiting for a fare for a start!
Lets just hope these Taxi companies install their own rapid chargers instead of hogging the existing public charger network.![]()
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/cars/news/excl ... spartanntp