Electric vehicles: New homes will be required to have EV charging stations from 2022, Boris Johnson to announce
The UK government wants to ban the sale of traditional petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, with hybrids allowed until 2035.
Choice? What's that? Must be one of those weird words oldies use.
11 comments:
I suppose that high-rise blocks of flats will have a dedicated building for all those 13amp plugs, that's if we can get the car up the stairs as the lift usually won't be working either!
It's a ridiculous 'policy', and yet another stupid mistake to appease the green mob!
Don't worry, all those living in older terraced houses will be allowed to store up to 500 gallons of petrol under their stairs.
The buggers will ban your owning your own generator eventually.
Therefore once there are hybrids available that you could press into service as a generator, buy one.
Scrobs - I think there is some kind of Christmas competition going on for the most ridiculous policy introduced before December 25th. This one is probably in the lead, but MPs will try to beat it somehow.
Sam - that should beef up the central heating when the electric meter has to be fiddled with.
dearieme - I've heard of someone doing that with a current hybrid, a Toyota I think. I can imagine kits being developed to do it. Maybe they already exist.
"Therefore once there are hybrids available that you could press into service as a generator, buy one"
The Americans seem to be ahead in this field - I've seen quite a few posts and videos about using hybrids, and also pure EV's to run domestic appliances. There are now hybrid versions of Ford's "F" series pickups, with all the necessary gear built in. They appear to be aiming at building trades who would otherwise need generators for site work, but (from memory) the top version pumps out around 7kW - more than enough to keep most UK spec homes running. Considering how many pickups we have in the UK (tax advantages) I'm surprised no manufacturers have gone down this route yet.
It's also worth remembering that the much hyped "Vehicle to Grid" proposals mean the cars have to incorporate an inverter, so as to feed back into the mains grid. So long as the software will (or can be hacked to) allow this "Export" function on demand, it only needs a proper mains isolator/changeover switch in your property, and you've got backup for as long as the battery or fuel holds up.
A petrol genny converted to run off a gas bottle is a convenient back up.
Don't have to worry about the petrol going off in storage.
microdave - interesting, 7kW is certainly enough to keep us going. May have to be careful but it would work.
Nessimmersion - out of interest I've been looking at gas generators. If we have blackouts I can see sales going through the roof.
If you're looking to run your house from a genny or other external power source, you should be thinking about what items you NEED to keep running, NOT everything! If you're all electric then heating is going to be out of the question, unless you have bottomless pockets. But if you have gas or oil heating, and gas cooking, then the essentials are powering the CH pump and boiler, the fridge and freezer, and some lighting. The first will most probably be no more than a few hundred watts, the fridge and freezer less than 200w each, and lighting (if you've already got LED's) another 100-200w. But bear in mind that any motor driven appliance will have a substantial "Start Up" surge (can be 5-10 times rated power, for a split second). This generally rules out very small gennies, and inverters, but I've found I can run fridge & freezer from a 1.5kw inverter, so long as they are started sequentially.
What you must consider is HOW you connect them - I have a proper changeover switch, which needs to be rated for the incoming mains, as it will be in circuit normally. But extension leads can be pressed into service in emergencies. The CH supply is usually via a fused spur plate, so this would need altering to a 13a socket & plug (not that I'm suggesting HOW you might do this...).
"Generator Guru" supply a huge range of parts for generators, and do LPG conversion kits for many of them. Here's one example:
https://www.generatorguru.com/carb-carburetor-91465304-with-lpg-regulator-Tri-fuel-conversion-kit/
You'd have to go to "Parts System" and select your particular model to see what's available. Obviously, this is only relevant if you've already GOT a genny!
A few years ago I picked up a brand new 2.5kW petrol genny for £150 delivered, from this outfit:
https://www.ukhs.tv/Tools/Generators/Petrol-Generators
It's worth regularly checking their site for clearance & end of line stock - that's how I made my lucky strike...
microdave - thanks, I'll bookmark those sites. All we'd really need to keep going in winter would be the central heating, fridge and freezer. We could cook on the gas hob and we have enough battery led lights to manage.
The picture in that link of Boris holding the charging power cable, brings visions of where I would like to connect it.
Wiggia - good idea, I'll switch it on when you are ready.
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