National News Incoming changes to (car) mot this weekend

I would get an electric car in a shot if:

a) They went for 300 miles before needing to be recharged or the recharging took five minutes
b) I was that convinced that the overall environmental damage was hugely less
c) They weren't so bloody expensive

Whatever happened to hydrogen cell cars that only produced water as an emission? Are they still a thing?

They all exploded
 
I had a conversation with a friend about electric cars and where the power came from. Suffice to say, they hadn't considered that, or how invasive mining is and the scarcity of some elements in batteries are. Electric Cars are not sustainable or environmentally friendly - I read an article that stated the power grid wouldn't suffer with more ownership as owners would charge them overnight. Which just won't happen in the real world!

Indeed. Where does the electricity come from? Coal-fired stations, that’s where.
 
Indeed. Where does the electricity come from? Coal-fired stations, that’s where.
The UK doesn't have enough spare capacity in the power grid to support a considerable large amount of electric cars being added to it. Unless we invest considerably in Nuclear Power or frack for our lives, something has to give. Hydrogen cells, for better or worse, are a realistic alternative to petrol and diesel.
 
Blotters are the way forward, no emissions, no polluting the air, just put it on your tongue and you get a lovely trip to la la land.....oh sorry ?
 
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Huge changes to car mot this weekend....amongst other changes it appears diesel vehicles (a few years ago the then government told 'us' diesel was the way to go btw), are going to be demonized and legislated off the UK roads, purportedly to make the UK roads cleaner and safer

How about fixing the potholes and co-ordinate roadworks to not cause massive hold ups (Woodstock road AND headley way both ongoing simultaneously gridlocking Oxford City for example, great planning ox county council highways dept-NOT), that would make roads both safer and cleaner I reckon
I 100% agree Sir.
 
I had a conversation with a friend about electric cars and where the power came from. Suffice to say, they hadn't considered that, or how invasive mining is and the scarcity of some elements in batteries are. Electric Cars are not sustainable or environmentally friendly - I read an article that stated the power grid wouldn't suffer with more ownership as owners would charge them overnight. Which just won't happen in the real world![/QUOTE
Its happening. Get with the programme.
 
Not emission wise, it’s more to do with cars with particulate filters, if you’ve got an older car the manufactures had emission limits relevant at that time (higher than they are now) so they can’t expect your old car to conform to today’s limits, if they did, it would wipe out most of the cars on the road. But there are changes to reverse lights, front fog lights and headlamp washers, which, if fitted have to work, excessive fluid leaks.
Also, the failure listings have changed, instead of pass, fail and advise it’s now dangerous, major and minor. I think, if you get a dangerous fail, the tester can stop you from taking the car on the road until it’s fixed or scrapped.
 
Top tip from MSE - use council mot centres as they have no vested interest in failing cars - https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-mot#hidden

From memory I think there's one on Banbury, maybe Oxford too.
Good tip ...but, lets not forget despite the fact that 'we' make cars in Oxford, Oxford City council with relentless pressure from lycra clad cycling ninja nazis, are ANTI cars and car drivers:confused: ...... with that in mind how 'impartial' would an Oxford city council MOT station actually be?:unsure::unsure::unsure:
 
I don’t think a council mot tester would give a s**t about the council politics, he just wants his pay packet.
 
I gave up driving diesel cars in 2010. I consider the petrol cars made are far more efficient than ever before. The one litre ones give up to 75mpg if driven right. I’ve used shell v power for a couple of years and the performance and economy are far better than before.
I don’t know how some of the diesel vehicles remain on the road with the emissions and smells exhaled.
The problem with the electric vehicles,is that they are expensive to buy. A friend has a TESLR coming soon and he says he can charge the car from his solar panels. Way forward maybe.
I had a Toyota Prius many years ago, and I understood it had a cadmium battery. If so the environment wouldn’t benefit too much from those being replaced
 
I had a Toyota Prius many years ago, and I understood it had a cadmium battery. If so the environment wouldn’t benefit too much from those being replaced

Why do you say that?
 
Why do you say that?
Cadmium is poisonous so I’d imagine the environment wouldn’t benefit too much. Having said that I’ve heard pretty good things about them
 
Early versions of the Prius used a Nickel-Metal-Hydride battery system (where the metal is an intermetallic that can be a number of things, but not usually cadmium). More recently, they've moved to using Lithium-ion in some of the fancy models (which also contains nickel, cobalt and manganese, but no cadmium).

Don't believe that the Prius has ever used a Nicad, or other Cadmium-containing battery.

There's some additional environmental impact from the mining of more nickel and rare earth metals for a Prius battery. But no issue with Cadmium pollution.
 
Cadmium is poisonous so I’d imagine the environment wouldn’t benefit too much. Having said that I’ve heard pretty good things about them

Nickel-cadmium batteries are almost 100% recyclable.

Also, cadmium is an element. It's not manufactured. It exists in the environment anyway.
 
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