What's all this 'greener car' stuff about then?

[heatemyfather]

#17
You're dead right there Ken, The technology is already in existence for a workable hydrogen engine but unfortunately with so much of the world's economy dependant on oil I reckon that higher powers are suppressing any large scale development.

Was it not Mr Bush Senior or Mr Clinton who's government ordered a recall and discretiting of a truly efficient hybrid car that was released in the US? You probably didn't hear much about it, they did it on the quiet.

[sleepyweasle]

I remember hearing something about that. I think it was around the time of Bush Snr

[damian_steele]

Just out of interest:

When the Diesel engine was first invented and used, diesel as a fuel source did not exist. The inventor (named Rudolf Diesel) actually used hempseed oil. It was only later that the Petro/chemical industry came up with diesel as a fuel.

[ArtisanUK]

I've just bought a biofuel manual off eBid actually. The allowance, without me nipping back into the other room to check, is 2,500 litres a year.
I think I remember this being brought in after people first used it duty free, then they clamped down and put duty on all of it, and then they remembered they were supposed to be encouraging environmentally friendly fuels and brought in the allowance.

I don't know what I think about all this greener car/higher duty on current models stuff. Thing is, my truck is 26 years old and I do about 50 miles a week. How exactly do I benefit the environment by buying a car that has to be made from scratch, which I presume, will be of higher detriment to the environment than having to scrap my old one (landfill etc) when I do such limited mileage?

Yes, due to the oil situation we certainly need to develop more advanced methods of fuelling vehicles, but taxing people off the road and encouraging them to buy 'new?' I dunno, it will help car manufacturing, but in the short term it is probably doing more harm than good ...?

[heatemyfather]

I thought the new greener car tax rules only applied to cars manufactured after 2001..

[ArtisanUK]

dunno, are you talking about the new duty that Brown has just brought in? Which really makes it even worse if you think about it, scrap newer cars in favour of buying something even newer?

I think I was talking more about car tax and fuel consumption on mine. I get hammered on both, despite the fact I actually need a vehicle like this (and so do a lot of other folk going on the number of times I have towed them off fields/sand and the like!)

It's still going, utilizes very little in the way of spare parts, yet I seem to be being pushed towards getting something 'better' for the environment.
I'm just questioning the current knee-jerk reaction to governments efforts to reduce global warming, really.

[kengillam]

I should think the biggest fuel users are aircraft, their fuel is tax free, about time it was taxed I reckon, holidays are a luxury, going around day to day generally isn't.

[ArtisanUK]

I've been thinking about this and think I have this fuel consumption thing sorted.
What we actually need are more cars like mine! - Not as big of course but we need to make cars less comfortable - job done.

If we had cars that had no power steering, power assisted brakes, or come to think of it, no power assisted anything (including electric windows) plus the seats should be hard, no heaters - ever! - and no radio. They shouldn't be able to go fast either - my top speed is 52mph.

Now, how do you think that would reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions? The effects, I believe, would be drastic - nobody would actually want to drive anywhere unless they had to!

Somebody give Gordy a prod and let him know, would you?

[heatemyfather]

If we had cars that had no power steering, power assisted brakes, or come to think of it, no power assisted anything (including electric windows) plus the seats should be hard, no heaters - ever! - and no radio. They shouldn't be able to go fast either - my top speed is 52mph.

Can I keep my 1990's Nissan Micra please? It's actually quite comfy but the radio isn't great, no CD player, and I don't think there's any power assist except perhaps a vacuum thingy on the brakes. I find driving a power assisted vehicle quite scary, the lack of feedback and reliance on electronics. My self-imposed top speed is 65 (because I want to keep fuel consumption down!)

[evingartrading]

Can I keep my 1990's Nissan Micra please? It's actually quite comfy but the radio isn't great, no CD player, and I don't think there's any power assist except perhaps a vacuum thingy on the brakes. I find driving a power assisted vehicle quite scary, the lack of feedback and reliance on electronics. My self-imposed top speed is 65 (because I want to keep fuel consumption down!)

I know were you're coming from
I have a 1990s Pug 106 diesel - Pretty basic and goes forever on a tank of fuel. I hope I can find somewhere to fill it up before the end of next week though. Everywhere around here seems to be out of diesel ATM !

I'll be forced to use the MX5 - which has power assisted everything