MrGrumpy wrote: Tue Oct 27, 2020 2:15 pm However, as with cars, it comes back to the same issue - an elec vehicle will be great for 99% of your journeys, but there is always the 1% that they won't do. Either for holidays, family visits, leisure - every now and again, most people need to do a long journey.

I believe they are called "trains"....

Not a scoot, but Royal Enfield have approved a conversion called a "Photon" for the market.

https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/r ... price-spec

StephenC wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 10:23 am

MrGrumpy wrote: Tue Oct 27, 2020 2:15 pm However, as with cars, it comes back to the same issue - an elec vehicle will be great for 99% of your journeys, but there is always the 1% that they won't do. Either for holidays, family visits, leisure - every now and again, most people need to do a long journey.

I believe they are called "trains"....

Hmmm - they closed a load of those many years ago! Even the journey I regularly make would take longer by train than an elec car even if you inlclude stops for recharging!

MrGrumpy wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 1:48 pm

StephenC wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 10:23 am

MrGrumpy wrote: Tue Oct 27, 2020 2:15 pm However, as with cars, it comes back to the same issue - an elec vehicle will be great for 99% of your journeys, but there is always the 1% that they won't do. Either for holidays, family visits, leisure - every now and again, most people need to do a long journey.

I believe they are called "trains"....

Hmmm - they closed a load of those many years ago! Even the journey I regularly make would take longer by train than an elec car even if you inlclude stops for recharging!

Err..... coach?

I still think the way forward is Hydrogen. And clean power on the spot.

Wave electric plants on the coast, producing Hydrogen CO2 free as such.

Transporting it in Hydrogen powered vehicles to filling stations.

You can take the Fuel cell in from your car or bike to run in the home etc too.

Does anyone know why its so on the back foot ?

Gets you away from all the battery goings on and precious metals and so on batteries need too and the environmental crunch when they go out of service/end.

There's plenty of information on the Internet - I've just had a look.

I suspect there's a certain difficulty for people of a certain age to reconcile 'hydrogen' with 'safe'.

The Hindenburg and R101 spring to mind as well as things in my lifetime which made rather loud flashes and bangs.

Speaking of a certain age reminds me of the days before health and safety when a six year old kid would be sent to the local garage with a glass jar full of hydrochloric acid! It was-the 2 volt battery for the wireless (not radio!) It was every Saturday, and it was bloody heavy! You would pay fourpence and the garage man would swap your one for a charged one!

XP500FUN wrote: Wed Nov 25, 2020 3:02 pm I still think the way forward is Hydrogen. And clean power on the spot.

Wave electric plants on the coast, producing Hydrogen CO2 free as such.

Transporting it in Hydrogen powered vehicles to filling stations.

You can take the Fuel cell in from your car or bike to run in the home etc too.

Does anyone know why its so on the back foot ?

Gets you away from all the battery goings on and precious metals and so on batteries need too and the environmental crunch when they go out of service/end.

I absolutely agree that hydrogen makes more sense but the investment for it would fall on manufacturers who have to completely redevelop power units ( whether IC or fuel cell types) and fuel distributors who have to replace petrol tankers with high pressure tankers and conventional forecourt tanks and pumps with equivalent high pressure ones. Whereas electric distribution is already in place ( naively thought to be adequate! ). Manufacturers see electric as the easy way out because they can buy in existing battery, motor, and control technology. It needs a risk taking visionary to come up with an investment in large scale hydrogen powered car manufacture and I doubt whether there is another Elon Musk to be found.

So just a thought 1 litre of water contains 24 litres of hydrogen ,you can extract it with a phone charger. It is too cheap so big companies need to find ways to make money hence fuel cells and extracting H from CH4 methane.I played around with a hydrogen generator in the car years ago ,stainless steel anode and cathode in water conected to 12 volts via a 5 amp fuse and the gas fed into the air intake,it worked in a diesel motor to suplement the fuel not quite replace it .But the cost was verry low.

wightegi wrote: Thu Nov 26, 2020 10:12 am I played around with a hydrogen generator in the car years ago

Remind me not to accept a lift in your MG!