Although he backed away slightly since Morrison's attack on electric vehicles at the last election was the very epitome of a backward thinking government.

Claiming “It’s not going to tow your trailer. It’s not going to tow your boat. It’s not going to get you out to your favourite camping spot with your family,” with his puerile sidekick Cash pledging to “stand by our tradies and … save their utes” from Bill Shorten.

But almost anyone keeping an eye on the progress in EVs knew the big revolution was going to be in EV work utes.

Recognising the future appeal of a work vehicle capable of powering and recharging tools on a worksite yet knowing Morrison was determined to actively campaign against the inevitable a mate of mine formed a company with a couple of others to start doing electric conversions on older 4WDs. Their strong chassis allowed for retrofitted electric motor battery installation. Orders went through the roof.

Other countries which weren't so determinedly backward have charged ahead. An article from Bloomberg shows us where this is headed.

The extended-range Lightning’s 131 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion pack boasts almost 10 times the capacity of a Tesla Powerwall, an $11,000 home backup battery that can’t be driven to the supermarket. The Lightning is “a mini powerplant for your home,” says Jason Glickman, executive vice president for engineering, planning and strategy at California utility PG&E Corp. “It can support the grid on a hot summer day, when we have demand spiking.”

"While electric vehicles are often referred to as batteries on wheels, the Lightning might be better described as a mobile power strip. The extended-range Lightning I test drove featured a 240-volt outlet in the truck bed that can power heavy-duty machinery from 9.6 kilowatts of carbon-free electricity generated onboard. There are also two 120-volt outlets in the cab, four in the bed and another four in the cavernous front trunk that Ford calls a “Mega Power Frunk.”"
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-31/how-the-ford-f-150-can-be-a-backup-home-generator

With a backlog of 200,000 vehicles already this is the future and we need to catch up and be a part of it

Good Morning Steele,

I admit that I don't understand all the pros and
cons of electric vehicles. Perhaps any new things
are going to come up with a certain amount of resistance
at first. You know the old adage - about denial in the
beginning and then acceptance in the end as if it was
always the case? Remember what migrants had to put up
with regarding their various food choices that were
so criticised and condemned by the local at first?

Dill pickles, sour cream, yogurt, were all thought to
be yuck! And today?

Solar panels were not acceptable by everyone at first.
People are still anti nuclear. But with time - things
do change as the technology is improved. If that wasn't
the case we'd still be travelling by horse and cart.
Still there are people who are terrified of flying
and prefer if possible to go by train.

I will never own an EV because of my age and the fact that the car I now have will see me out. But, the silliest thing to me is, that with the price of electricity sky-rocketing, and the increasing possibility of blackouts, the wide-eyed and gullible are barracking for more ways to use electricity.

Dear Foxy,

This is very much about missed opportunities because of our backward thinking former government.

One of the roles of government is to plan for future directions rather than dig their heads in the sand or even actively discourage innovation that will take advantage of that future.

Tradies are shelling out $60,000 to convert older 4WDs into these type of vehicles in small business enterprises. Just imagine if that sort of innovation had been supported by government and the job done on a far bigger scale.

We have the highest tradie ute ownership in the world and should have been leading this charge.

Dear Steele,

Of course you're right.

We've seen the election results for the former government
and the former PM. Their election campaign was targeted to
a 1950s Australia.

It will be interesting to see just how innovative our new
government will be - and in which areas.

It will be interesting to see if people like these two will be able to just gloat about the victory of the Green Labor Teals without continuing to rubbish the LNP to no good purpose. There has been a democratic change of government; good luck to Labor. Hopefully they won't be as nasty in victory as some of their supporters like these two are.

ttbn,

R U all right?

ttbn,

We're only expressing opinions - with which you're welcome
to disagree - but lose the insults.
After all the election results came from more than just two
people.

SR banging on about Robodebt? really? Many more people were impacted and are still impacted by your mates dumb jab mandates. Shortages so bad even Popeye in WA has to eat crow and give them up. Your bestie the Victorian Hunchback will have to drop them too.
Still you won so I will be eating the proverbisl for s little while.
Last thing, what about the battle between the equally hopeless Hydrogen cars or electric cars, where do you stand? See electricity cuts are not very conducive to electric vehicles but you are little Miss smartypants, you tell me.

Hi JBowyer,

When a government that pursues those who keep it
accountable, ignores ministerial codes of conduct,
is unconcerned by conflicts of interest, and is
intent on shielding its workings from the public,
and distrusts its own agencies and institutions
something has to give sooner or later.

To the Coalition government, citizens were as the
saying goes - like mushrooms - to be kept in the
dark and fed BS.

The inevitable had to happen.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and
all of the people some of the time, but you can not
fool all of the people all of the time.
(Abraham Lincoln).

The Coalition learned that the hard way.

Now lets move on to an inclusive government that's prepared
to negotiate - and watch their achievements increase for us
all - including investments in new technologies.

Foxy,
What I’d like to see is an investment in the abolition of GST on the Excise component of the pump price of motor fuel.

This is all I have to say on the matter.
http://youtu.be/Z7V49or8t8M

Thanks Steele for a very incisive opening post. It's unfortunate how the Morrison conservative government has set us back years in not only the development of electric vehicles, but in so many other areas as well. Lets hope we can catch up to the rapidly changing world.

One good thing as we progress forward, we leave the likes of ttbn and his irrelevant thinking further behind.

Hi Foxy,

The 1950's Liberal election campaign would have suited the likes of ttbn and others on the Forum down to the ground, after all in their minds its still 1952.

Hi Paul,

Politics has changed and most of us are watching it
unfold with relief, hope, and great anticipation.

It's good to see new changes taking place so earlier.
The new government is considering reserving gas for
the east coast in a bid to stabilize energy prices.

Matt Thistlethwaite, Minister for Defence and
Veterans' Affairs has now been appointed as Assistant
Minister for the Republic by the Queen's representative
in Australia, the Governor General David Hurley.

The PM has pledged Labor will prioritize a referendum on
an Indigenous Voice To Parliament and Constitutional
recognition for First Nations People in its first 3 years.
The Head of State question will come later.

A discussion on
a republic will be the next natural step. In the meantime
Thistlethwaite said his principal role would be to educate
Australian people about the current constitutional arrangement
and the English monarch as Head of State.

As Queen Elizabeth comes to the twilight years of her reign,
it's a good opportunity for a serious discussion about what
comes next for Australia.

And we have a new government willing to do that.

Before we get on with having more and more electric vehicles we need to make sure that we have the capacity to recharge them.

A couple of voices of reason on here, but still too many off, "in return to nature la la utopian land."
It takes coal and electricity to charge those electric cars.

Any great product that saves people money and works well, just naturally takes the lead in public sales and use. The fact is although the renewables (and I think solar is great).
the fact is renewables,cannot compete with the efficiency and cheaper cost of coal.
Coal doesn't need expensive batteries to work in bad weather or in peak overloads on the grid.

What is going on is, people,( believers that they would make huge profits by investing in solar and solar batteries have found out they are not competing with coal when it comes to the main choices of power in the competitive consumer market place.

So they are demanding huge amounts of taxpayer money from the people, to be used by the government to fund their sales and promotion of their solar battery businesses etc. Plus they want the govt to shut down coal, their superior competitor in the market place

They are basically demanding the govt fund them because after all this time they haven't been able to dominate and compete on the large scale with coal. Consumers vote with their feet and money.
Renewables are a great backup, but coal still rightly holds the no one place for reliable cheap power.

Manmade global warming is a whole other debate.

Hi CHERFUL,

Welcome back to posting.

The new government has many challenges facing it that's
for sure - but give them time. They haven't been in long
enough to warm the seat yet. The future lies with renewable.
And of course it will be expensive at first until it improves.
Remember the size of old computers? And look at today's lot.

Nothing worthwhile is easy. But it doesn't mean we should
keep on doing the same thing over and over again. We won't
get any different or better results that way will we?

FURTHER to my post above:_

Blaming Scott Morrison is an excuse and a cop out.
Blaming Scott Morrison, And I don't like him,is not the reason renewables sit in 2nd place.

It's because this will be decided in the consumer marketplace and at the moment the renewables are only sitting in 2nd place.
Of course the Greens want the Govt to bung up the price of their competitor, coal ARTIFICALLy, justifying it with this Manmade climate delusion. It's more about profits and self interest than it is about manmade global warming.

You know, the old horse called SELF INTEREST, disguised as pure motives, global warming.

Hi Foxy,
Thank you for your kind welcome. Lovely to be on here again with you. We are all trying to do our best in a confusing world.
Make sense of it and the best way forward. I admire people on here who like you, like to debate and don't just ignore what's happening.

Thank you dear Foxy

Thanks CHERFUL. I think listening to the views of others,
debating issues, respecting each other - is the way
things should go. Although I have to confess when the
right buttons are pushed - I can become unreasonable
as mu husband will tell you. But I am a work in progress,
and working on it.

Take care.

Hi Issy,

I had an electric vehicle about 60 years ago, it took one 'C' sized battery and ran perfectly for about 30 minutes, it even had a flashing light on top.

After claiming the Coalition was a "lay down misere" to win the election, you must be all cashed up with those juicy odds you got about Morrison what, 10/1. In fact you must have won so much you can now afford a free bus timetable to get you around.

Paul,
60 years ago I was driving an electric car, full size and road registered on the streets of Sydney, I also used to drive steam cars and a Sentinel and other steam lorries.
When Parramatta Rd had a number of railway lines crossing it it, it was a hoot to be behind a car as it was crossing kone then give a mighty blast on the steam whistle… instant acceleration!
I also used to have the pleasure of being a passenger in a 1906 Detroit electric, that was owned by an engineer who worked in theCBD and drove said electric to work from Tempe every day, it had a range of around 30 miles and he’d recharge at work; never let him down.

Dear Cherful,

You assert: “the fact is renewables, cannot compete with the efficiency and cheaper cost of coal.”
But that just isn't the case.

"By 2023, China will have the capacity to deploy solar power nationwide at the same price as coal, and currently has that ability in three-quarters of the country, according to a joint study from Harvard, Tsinghua, Nankai and Renmin universities.
“Today subsidy-free solar power has become cheaper than coal power in most parts of China” in a trajectory spreading across the country, study coauthor Xi Lu said in a statement."
http://thehill.com/policy/equilibrium-sustainability/577412-solar-power-now-cheaper-than-coal-in-most-of-china-study

You then opinion:

“Blaming Scott Morrison is an excuse and a cop out.”

Hardly, although there should be a fair amount of blame distributed to Abbott who really set the anti-renewable pro caol agenda while Morrison just saw a good marketing opportunity to follow him.

We are now well behind so many of our developed nation counterparts and while we can still catch up rejigging our energy sector has become all that much harder due to those pair.

We don't have an energy problem we have an energy storage problem- mainly in vehicles and grid. The Lithium batteries in the Tesla apparently weigh 500kgs and the range is half a gasoline car- because of the low energy density to volume and mass. Acceleration and pulling power for electric cars are good- as Musk's uphill truck pulling competition demonstrates (similar to the screw vs paddle steamer competition about 200 years ago) because the torque curve for electric and ICE engines are different.

In order to provide high power AC voltage in an electric vehicle I'd expect that either you'd need to have the electric motor running or have an expensive inverter fitted- both which will reduce an already limited range- still it might work for around the city.

But I think that we are likely to run out of cheap Lithium to build the batteries for a Global Transport System. There's a whole complex economic situation that comes into play here- also the current infrastructure would need to be junked- at least the ICE engines themselves- and the expertise and infrastructure to maintain electric vehicles is different- so also junked.

I like the idea of doubling the car battery for home use.

Anyone that has a brain wouldn't buy an electric car other than to virtue signal for 3 main reasons:

1 Given that 75% of electrical energy in Aus is still fossil fuel-based and more so at night when EV cars are charged, the odds are that the emissions/km for an EV car are higher than the equivalent petrol car.

2 Even if the charging was emissions-free the huge amount of energy going into making the car and batteries means that an EV would have to drive roughly 70 000 km to emit less than an equivalent petrol car.

3 The resale value of an EV is crap. After 7-10 years you would be lucky to get 20c on the $. So EVs are far more efficient in reducing your bank balance than your carbon footprint.

Perhaps when electricity is carbon-free and the cost of batteries is a lot lower, it may be different, but that will be in a decade or two.

SR, I stand corrected! I thought solar only worked when the sun came out but China by next year will be self sufficient with panels all over the country to supply all their electricity. Great news although why do all these right wing journalists keep saying about all these new coal plants across Asia.
You are holding up four fingers telling me there is five fingers? I am really trying to see the five fingers perhaps more torture will help? Everytime I re-read 1984 or watch the movie I see just how great Orwell was and how delusional some people can become.

SteeleRedux

You surprised me by saying China will be able to supply so much renewable energy by 2023. Did you mean 2O33?
From all the reports I hear, China is building more and more coal fired power stations. I think China just says what it thinks
the world wants to hear,but China plays a secret chess game with all of us.
I don't think China will shut down their economy to install just renewables

Germany was actually one country that had the most renewables but they
have gone back over, more to coal and gas and that's why they are 70% dependent on Russia for their country's power supplies at the moment.

Those big windmills have an arm fall off about every 5 to 10 years and the cost of replacing
one of those windmill arms is extremely expensive.

They were killing a million birds a year in Germany. And particularly the big birds like Eagles

To repeat what I have said before, electric cars are becoming the
the intended design for all cars has nothing to do with co2 emissions.
As the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell put it to their AGM in 2017 the
company has formed a group to study how Shell can exit the oil industry.
The reason given was that search and development of new oil fields
is no longer a financially viable business.
It can be noted that BP changed its motto to Beyond Petroleum.
The motor manufacturers must have been spoken to by the oil companies
because the small EV projects they already had suddenly two years
later resulted in a string of new EV announcements.

Re renewables I noticed at 7pm the other day that while the coal &
gas were the major power suppliers only about 6 % was wind.
By dividing the wind generation into the demand gave this result;
The implication from that is that any viable renewables would need
to be enlarged 16 times to make up what coal & gas were generating.
Already $billions have been spent, how much more is needed ?

Forget batteries, before you join that argument make sure you
understand the difference between MWatts and MWatt/Hrs.
Too many people shouting their heads off on TV and elsewhere do not
have that fundamental knowledge !
Then none of the battery backers explain where you get the power to recharge them.