Clean energy future and Carbon Tax

[positivetennis]

I remember when leaded petrol was deleted and people with classic cars were concerned about what was going to happen. As we all know, lead additve became part of filling up. However these new environmental bills that were past last year may have more far reaching consequences for people with older cars. With hybred, plug-in electric cars, starting to hit the market in greater numbers in the next few years (i.e: Volt, Leaf) (Even talk of the next zed being hybred) I was wondering whether anyone had any thoughts about this. I know in other countries governmentd have been increasingly making it more difficult to register their cars, as well as offering incentives to trade in their old car if they bought a new fuel efficient one. There is talk in Australia of "Smart Meters in homes " , as well as "Home audits for enviro efficiency", which sounds a bit full on.  Any thoughts on this?

[sco_aus]

For homes, I think its a good thing, they use a lot more energy than a single car.  For cars, the recognition is already there for older cars, eg. classic car and vintage car categories, plus club and rally registrations etc.  I'm not overly concerned about it until oil is no longer in use... I doubt BP, Shell and Mobil will have a bar of that any time soon and by the time it happens, our Datsuns will have fallen to bits with rust...

[dat2kman]

And the EPA will tell us that harmful additives, like zinc, in our oil is banned, as it is in the air and the oceans.
Only thing is, now, all engines will wear out faster, thus causing more and more cars to go to wreckets much earlier in life, ie no more 500,000 kms on the odometer anymore, lucky to get 80,000 out of your poisipnous battery hybrid tractor beam drive!
Where do they end up?
In landfill, and the chemicale leach out into the,,,,,,

Air we breathe and water we drink!

Good on the greenies and the EPA

[peter mc]

just have a look at how much energy it take to make a Toyota bat car its so funny that its called a green car lol

[dat2kman]

Yeah, energy sucker cars!

I chew nails, and spit rust, drink my avgas, fart methane in copious quantities.

Whats that song "You're an backside"??

Yeah, thats me, right, yeah, greenie EPA Sea Sheperd dudley bloody do-rigjts!

[Agno]

 My car which is 35 years old and does 16L/100 will always be more carbon neutral than a brand spanker electric car whose batteries have a life expectancy of 10 years and are loaded with chemicals.

Seems I was born in the wrong era... Ah well nobody said modern Engineers need to be greenies 

[Whittie]

just have a look at how much energy it take to make a Toyota bat car its so funny that its called a green car lol

It takes the average owner 120,000km to bring the prius to "carbon equivalent" to an economical petrol of the same size. It's a funny number because it's also the number that most users get to before the batteries need to be changed, making them INCREDIBLY environmentally UNFRIENDLY compared to a normal car.

But that's ok, they use less fuel to drive and are therefore good for the environment.

I'm not  putting electric vehicles down, I think they are a fantastic idea and the work being done to improve electric/battery technology is fantastic, it's just that they aren't yet as environmentally friendly as everyone touts, the opposite in fact.

[Gav240z ®]

The lithium in batteries is recyclable, I think electric cars are good. But I don't really go in for this Hybrid shiver.

I came across this Croatian guy who build a really quick BMW which he converted to electric when the old ICE blew up.
http://www.rimac-automobili.com/evaluation-vehicles/e-m3-video-gallery-vp12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX-_azD2vNo&feature=related

He has now build the Concept One which is 1 of the nicest looking Super Cars I've seen in a while.

The running cost of an electric vehicle is significantly lower than an ICE powered car, but right now they are relatively expensive along with the battery technology which is still being improved and will only continue to improve. When I think of the engines we use now they just seem so primitive compared to electric and I personally would love to build an electric powered car myself.

In fact my rotary engine decided to flood itself this weekend and I've been trying to unflood it (without much success just yet) and part of me is just over it, part of me is thinking this wouldn't happen to an EV. Now I know EV's will have their own problems, but not needing to worry about radiators (mine is leaking), intercoolers, exhuast systems, intake manifolds, valves, pistons, cylinders, camshafts, crankshafts, bearings, oil pressure, oil leaks and all the other stuff that goes along with current engines seems like a welcome change for me .

Of course i'll always love my vintage cars and I think oil will always be available to them, but they will become more like special occassion vehicles.

When I think of all the possibilities of integration with your mobile phone, ipad, android tablet etc.. and your EV I see lots of possibilities. Like management of range, charge status (when you're at your desk and the car is on charge), maps, navigation, music libraries etc..

I also really like this concept
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/92314-nissan-leaf-can-power-your-house-for-a-day-or-two

 

[positivetennis]

I guess I'm concerned that we might get punished for owning an old car by being made to pay more taxes, higher rego and green slips, restricted usage, making owningship less attractive. I know this sounds a little dramatic, but I do believe that things will get tougher. They are planning to do home audits to rate how efficient your home is. Maybe the 240z owner in 2020 will have a\ some sought of electric motor replacement so as to comply with new emission targets.

[Gav240z ®]

I guess I'm concerned that we might get punished for owning an old car by being made to pay more taxes, higher rego and green slips, restricted usage, making owningship less attractive. I know this sounds a little dramatic, but I do believe that things will get tougher. They are planning to do home audits to rate how efficient your home is. Maybe the 240z owner in 2020 will have a\ some sought of electric motor replacement so as to comply with new emission targets.

Vintage vehicles have always been protected because they have history which is important to preserve. I doubt they would impose that on 40+ year old vehicles.

As we know they make up a very small percentage of cars on the road and hence would make very little difference having them on the road.

What I would like to see however is stricter road worthy laws and testing in Australia. Here in Ireland the UK there is compulsory testing every 1-2 years ( depending on vehicle age) as part of the test there is an emissions test done. This would make many second hand vehicles in Australia drop in value as many would be unfit for general road use and people who have to maintain their vehicles to a higher standard.

Having cars in better tune would reduce emissions, whilst at the same time making newer cars such as electric more attractive. New electrics being lower maintenance etc.. and also attracting less road tax due to no emissions.

40 + year old vehicles could be exempt from this form of testing (as they are here) and will always appeal to nostalgic rev-heads like us. But let's face it most of us would drive a boring electric to work and do all the wear and tear on that rather than drive our 40+ year old classics into work everyday etc.. So they will remain a speciality use vehicle.

[saxon]

Global Warming doesn't exist. Carbon Tax can suck my balls.

[RB30X]

Global Warming doesn't exist. Carbon Tax can suck my balls.

+1

They'll look back at us as the generation that came up with global warming (never existed), and how the government got rich for doing nothing and all the big companies left Australia just like they said they would, which caused massive unemployment.

Oh and the EPA is so two years ago.
It's DERM now. Department of environmental resorce management.

[nizm0zed]

sure its not Department of Environmental Resource Protection.
Because DERP seems a lot more appropriate to the rulings they actually come up with....

[saxon]

sure its not Department of Environmental Resource Protection.
Because DERP seems a lot more appropriate to the rulings they actually come up with....

lol

[sco_aus]

Well, polar ice caps are melting and animals are becoming more scarce, I attribute the ice melting to a natural warming of the planet that is due to occur prior to an ice age.  As for the animals, well lets face it, there way too many humans on this planet than we can sustain, hence mass starvation in Africa etc.  Sure, there probably is enough food in the world to feed the starving and as harsh as this sounds, we can't sustain the resources to maintain that growth of population.  Its a really sad state and we have no idea just how we lucky we are to even own a Datsun, let alone have food on a plate.

But I'm going to continue to enjoy the luxuries I have, I'm here for a good time, not a long time.