Electric vehicle switch over seen as mid-2020s

[Tony]

Saw this article this morning:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40723581

"New diesel and petrol vehicles to be banned from 2040 in UK"

Does imply that older ones will be allowed, presumably.  It's a bold statement but not that outrageous if it's considered that most people will be selecting electric vehicles from mid-2020s.

I've been looking at cars recently and second hand you can buy a leccy car for a few grand, plus monthly battery rental from the manufacturer (£50-£75 a month) - but these are typically vehicles with 65 mile range.  OK for my commute but not much else.  And how about towing?

Put a few more years behind us and it might start being a viable option.

As always, that lost fuel revenue will need to come from somewhere, so I'm still sceptical it will lead to reduced cost motoring in the long term.

[Julian]

Makes you wonder how much thought has gone into this.

Do we have the generating capacity in this country to cope?

Do we have the space in towns, cities and on motorways to have thousands of cars parked up charging their batteries?

I'm guessing lorries will be exempt, as technology would need to be light years ahead for them to have sufficient storage capacity, but what about delivery vans and taxis.  Many run 8 -12 hours a day and would probably have to charge up at least two or three times.

And then there's the inevitable scrappage schemes that will most likely accompany this move.  It's way more environmentally damaging to build a new car than it is to keep an older car on the road.  You just move the pollution elsewhere on the planet.

[Tony]

The lorry thing may be doable:

https://electrek.co/guides/tesla-semi/

But it looks like it would be expensive - and as the article argues, what about the supporting charge infrastructure?

I imagine you're right, there will be exceptions.

[nigelb]

The lorry thing may be doable but I do wonder about the load carrying capacity against the weight of the batteries. If the equalibriam is unbalanced in favour of the batteries then the cost of goods in transit will be higher. Maybe it's a price we need to pay.
Now then....electric passenger and freight aircraft. As the chief pollutants of the upper atmosphere dare I say that this should be dealt with first.