edz
Established Member
No, not a new syfy mini series!
A little background:
Recently down here in darkest Dorset our local UA has been more and more active in shutting down local road use for cars. Given the new found love that our glorious* leader Boris has found for Cycling and act-first-consult-with-the-locals-later-or-not-at-all grants that followed, the local lib-controlled council has gone bonkers with many restrictions and closures for all bar cycles and pedestrians, no electric vehicle exceptions.
Some have been stopped before they were enacted as the public found out about them (they weren't publicised beforehand) but it's likely some will get put in over express objections from the locals as they are classed as "experimental" 6 to 18 month projects and will be reviewed before being made permanent or removed. Of course these things, once in, are never removed unless huge council changes happen or an election is imminent and they begrudgingly need to deal with the public.
But a moan and waileywailey about how cyclists ruin my life as a driver is not where I am heading. I'm not and they don't (although council and ill thought out road planners do ) I've been a cyclist and a motorcyclist and dabbled with scooters. But gave up on all of them 5 years or so ago as the weather in this country just made it a miserable experience to pursue in any major way - e.g. work, shopping etc - (for me anyway - those that like it cool go for it, one less car in traffic!) I've no intention of getting on a bike in the UK ever again (my BMI is under 21 so no lardy here) although I do walk a fair bit when the weather supports it.
No, what I wanted to open up was where are we heading?
I recently had to change my car as my PCP was 2 years+ in and I wanted to maintain warranty etc, so I changed to a Skyactiv-X Mazda CX30 (which I really like) and have seen my fuel usage drop quite a bit while my CO2 emissions have dropped from my old CX5. This in turn is part of our plan with the house we moved into in February (after many years in a maisonette) to widen our drive and have a major re-wire / solar installation before then looking to go full electric. We did consider it this time but charging may (well, definitely would) have been an issue at present and costs were out of our budget for anything we'd have liked.
I also don't see anything in the sub-40k market at present I'd want to drive. The BMW, VW and even Mazda MX30 offerings are pretty low-end in comparison with the ICE versions at a similar cost, those electric cars I'd like are way over 50k at a minimum for new so a two year window for the market to mature seems sensible.
Is the future going to be electric in city with longer range electric on motorways (or rented ICE vehicles for long haul)?
Or with (what seems to now be) open hostility toward cars (including electric vehicles) from the Prime Minister and some very vocal ultra militant cycle lobbies (who I already know do not represent normal cyclists) as well as local authorities and green lobbyists with their own agenda is it literally going to be forcing the public to stop using cars and damn the fallout to personal and country consequences?
Interesting (and to me extremely depressing) times.
So over to you am I massively over reacting (a fair chance of this!) or do others think the same?
* your opinion may vary
A little background:
Recently down here in darkest Dorset our local UA has been more and more active in shutting down local road use for cars. Given the new found love that our glorious* leader Boris has found for Cycling and act-first-consult-with-the-locals-later-or-not-at-all grants that followed, the local lib-controlled council has gone bonkers with many restrictions and closures for all bar cycles and pedestrians, no electric vehicle exceptions.
Some have been stopped before they were enacted as the public found out about them (they weren't publicised beforehand) but it's likely some will get put in over express objections from the locals as they are classed as "experimental" 6 to 18 month projects and will be reviewed before being made permanent or removed. Of course these things, once in, are never removed unless huge council changes happen or an election is imminent and they begrudgingly need to deal with the public.
But a moan and waileywailey about how cyclists ruin my life as a driver is not where I am heading. I'm not and they don't (although council and ill thought out road planners do ) I've been a cyclist and a motorcyclist and dabbled with scooters. But gave up on all of them 5 years or so ago as the weather in this country just made it a miserable experience to pursue in any major way - e.g. work, shopping etc - (for me anyway - those that like it cool go for it, one less car in traffic!) I've no intention of getting on a bike in the UK ever again (my BMI is under 21 so no lardy here) although I do walk a fair bit when the weather supports it.
No, what I wanted to open up was where are we heading?
I recently had to change my car as my PCP was 2 years+ in and I wanted to maintain warranty etc, so I changed to a Skyactiv-X Mazda CX30 (which I really like) and have seen my fuel usage drop quite a bit while my CO2 emissions have dropped from my old CX5. This in turn is part of our plan with the house we moved into in February (after many years in a maisonette) to widen our drive and have a major re-wire / solar installation before then looking to go full electric. We did consider it this time but charging may (well, definitely would) have been an issue at present and costs were out of our budget for anything we'd have liked.
I also don't see anything in the sub-40k market at present I'd want to drive. The BMW, VW and even Mazda MX30 offerings are pretty low-end in comparison with the ICE versions at a similar cost, those electric cars I'd like are way over 50k at a minimum for new so a two year window for the market to mature seems sensible.
Is the future going to be electric in city with longer range electric on motorways (or rented ICE vehicles for long haul)?
Or with (what seems to now be) open hostility toward cars (including electric vehicles) from the Prime Minister and some very vocal ultra militant cycle lobbies (who I already know do not represent normal cyclists) as well as local authorities and green lobbyists with their own agenda is it literally going to be forcing the public to stop using cars and damn the fallout to personal and country consequences?
Interesting (and to me extremely depressing) times.
So over to you am I massively over reacting (a fair chance of this!) or do others think the same?
* your opinion may vary