|
Title: Electric cars coming, but not a single electric train here yet! Post by: grahame on September 18, 2021, 09:08:17 From the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58602884)
Quote The UK government department overseeing the phasing out of diesel cars still relies on them for its own fleet. Figures obtained by the BBC show the Department for Transport operates 1,234 cars - 672 run on diesel, 63 on petrol, with the rest electric or hybrid. The sale of new diesel and petrol cars is to be banned from 2030, under plans to tackle climate change. The department said it was committed to switching to greener vehicles. A spokesperson added it had "already exceeded" a government-wide target to electrify more than a quarter of its fleet by next year. But a campaign group said the government should lead by example - and the figures would make it harder to persuade the public to switch vehicles. About a half are now running on electricity then? Perhaps that's not too bad in context. Do you realise that every single passenger train starting from a station in the Wiltshire (unitary) area still does so under diesel power? And nowhere is there any work underway on the ground to change that! Title: Re: Electric cars coming, but not a single electric train here yet! Post by: TaplowGreen on September 18, 2021, 10:04:36 From the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58602884) Quote The UK government department overseeing the phasing out of diesel cars still relies on them for its own fleet. Figures obtained by the BBC show the Department for Transport operates 1,234 cars - 672 run on diesel, 63 on petrol, with the rest electric or hybrid. The sale of new diesel and petrol cars is to be banned from 2030, under plans to tackle climate change. The department said it was committed to switching to greener vehicles. A spokesperson added it had "already exceeded" a government-wide target to electrify more than a quarter of its fleet by next year. But a campaign group said the government should lead by example - and the figures would make it harder to persuade the public to switch vehicles. About a half are now running on electricity then? Perhaps that's not too bad in context. Do you realise that every single passenger train starting from a station in the Wiltshire (unitary) area still does so under diesel power? And nowhere is there any work underway on the ground to change that! Careful Graham, if Broadgage finds out about all that diesel being burned in Wiltshire he'll start a campaign to cut your subsidies off! (so to speak!) :) Title: Re: Electric cars coming, but not a single electric train here yet! Post by: broadgage on September 18, 2021, 13:21:58 HMG could in my view do better by use of electric cars in its own fleet, but public opinion in such matters can be very fickle.
Suppose that they HAD gone almost entirely electric ? Someone would have protested about the "extravagance" in replacing "almost new vehicles with many years of useful life remaining" I believe that ALMOST ALL new government vehicles should be 100% electric. I would support the retention of small numbers of fossil fuel vehicles in case war, natural disaster, or some other extreme emergency required long journeys beyond the range of electric vehicles, or if electricity for charging was not available. Under ordinary circumstances such long journeys should be made by train, but government need to be prepared for wars and disasters when neither trains nor electricity are available. Title: Re: Electric cars coming, but not a single electric train here yet! Post by: Bmblbzzz on September 18, 2021, 14:14:17 Wouldn't it make more sense to replace the cars and vans with electric vehicles as they come up for replacement anyway, rather than just because? I imagine government departments replace their vehicles fairly frequently as it is, so in practice this would be a quite rapid replacement cycle (for light vehicles).
Trains, of course, have a far longer replacement cycle, but what's needed there is knitting not vehicles. Perhaps we should get the WI involved? Title: Re: Electric cars coming, but not a single electric train here yet! Post by: stuving on September 18, 2021, 14:18:35 Wouldn't it make more sense to replace the cars and vans with electric vehicles as they come up for replacement anyway, rather than just because? I imagine government departments replace their vehicles fairly frequently as it is, so in practice this would be a quite rapid replacement cycle (for light vehicles). Trains, of course, have a far longer replacement cycle, but what's needed there is knitting not vehicles. Perhaps we should get the WI involved? Wiring Industries? Title: Re: Electric cars coming, but not a single electric train here yet! Post by: Bmblbzzz on September 18, 2021, 15:24:20 Them too, and the craftivists!
Title: Re: Electric cars coming, but not a single electric train here yet! Post by: grahame on September 18, 2021, 16:21:58 Under ordinary circumstances such long journeys should be made by train, but government need to be prepared for wars and disasters when neither trains nor electricity are available. So you're telling us that trains are not all they're CRACKED up to be? ;D Title: Re: Electric cars coming, but not a single electric train here yet! Post by: TaplowGreen on September 18, 2021, 17:28:47 Wouldn't it make more sense to replace the cars and vans with electric vehicles as they come up for replacement anyway, rather than just because? I imagine government departments replace their vehicles fairly frequently as it is, so in practice this would be a quite rapid replacement cycle (for light vehicles). Trains, of course, have a far longer replacement cycle, but what's needed there is knitting not vehicles. Perhaps we should get the WI involved? Yes, that makes much more sense. Many of them are leased, so as each lease expires, replace with an electric vehicle where possible. This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net |