electric van and when to make the change?

[torqueless]

Re:

Prices will get cheaper as it scales too.

If you ask me, the concept of 'economies of scale' belongs in an era before it became common knowledge that we were f*cking the planet over.

I consider that word "scale" to be shorthand for: "becoming such an intrinsic part of the socio-economic system that it cannot be abandoned, no matter how much evidence accumulates that it has both exacerbated the problems it was ostensibly intended to mitigate, and introduced some new ones, too."

 

[greencat]

Re: Re:

Prices will get cheaper as it scales too.

If you ask me, the concept of 'economies of scale' belongs in an era before it became common knowledge that we were f*cking the planet over.

I consider that word "scale" to be shorthand for: "becoming such an intrinsic part of the socio-economic system that it cannot be abandoned, no matter how much evidence accumulates that it has both exacerbated the problems it was ostensibly intended to mitigate, and introduced some new ones, too."

Interesting. My definition is simpler. It is easier and therefore cheaper to make two than one, three than two etc. Also you can distribute the R&D costs across each unit sold. For example, to produce just one dose of a vaccine might cost millions per unit, but to produce hundreds of millions of doses might only cost pennies per dose. If the demand is there for lots of a thing, then you can move from a hand crafted single thing to consider automation etc.

If you were defining too big to fail, then I would be more aligned with you. There does come a point when no matter how subsidised etc a thing is - people simply don't want them anymore. I bet the demand for horse saddles is a tiny fraction of what it was in the 19th century. Fossil fuel based approaches to doing things is beginning to move in that direction - and that's fine. They've had a good run and proved to be extremely useful in improving our quality of life, but times are a changing.

 

[greencat]

Re: Re:

Whilst out walking down a side street yesterday, I noticed an extension lead running from an upstairs window,into a side window of a VW camper. Charging the battery no less .
The shape of things to come? How on earth are the many folk who live in terraced housing going to charge their car in the future .
In most cases parking out side your house is impossible .
Heating your home with a heat pump another rich toy .

If there is demand, someone will find a solution that people can afford. Personally, I suspect we are on a pathway to reduced car ownership - but it could take 20-50 years to materialise.

There are about 35m diesel/petrol cars in the UK. We can't afford to replace them all with electric. The environmental costs are too high.

Will it be absolutely necessary to have a personally owned car outside your front door? Already if you live in a block of flats, you pick your car up from a car park associated with the lats.

Autonomous vehicles are coming. You'll simply call one up when you need it rather than own one. Other models like community car ownership ie a shared pool you hire when needed and the community gets the financial benefits become more widespread.

Digital innovations like video conferencing, VR, social media may mean further journeys need to be made.

Kerbside chargers might solve the immediate problem.

 

[legrandefromage]

autonomous vehicles are a bit of a red herring at the moment

 

[torqueless]

Re:

"Demand" is another ideologically loaded word. If you are conscripted to fight a war, you might reasonably demand a rifle.

If you are in a socio-economic war, it seems you might reasonably demand a means of getting places faster than your competitors, but nobody demands to be at war with socio-economic competitors in the first place, except psychopaths.

 

[My_Teenage_Self]

Re: Re:

If you are in a socio-economic war, it seems you might reasonably demand a means of getting places faster than your competitors, but nobody demands to be at war with socio-economic competitors in the first place, except psychopaths.

I assume you realise that you've just accused about 70% of the UK population of being Psychopaths?

 

[legrandefromage]

I love lamp

 

[torqueless]

Re:

I assume you realise that you've just accused about 70% of the UK population of being Psychopaths?

Believe it or not, that is exactly what I didn't do. But it may be so.

 

[CassidyAce]

Re: Re:

"Demand" is another ideologically loaded word. If you are conscripted to fight a war, you might reasonably demand a rifle.

If you are in a socio-economic war, it seems you might reasonably demand a means of getting places faster than your competitors, but nobody demands to be at war with socio-economic competitors in the first place, except psychopaths.

My cat demands food but he isn't much affected by the ideology of capitalism. Or warfare for that matter. (Although, he is a ruthless killer.) Anyway, although there are many features of capitalist economies that are ideologically loaded, I wouldn't have put the concept of 'demand' at the top of the list. As a matter of interest, in what way would you say it's ideologically loaded?

 

[torqueless]

Re:

I'm just saying that the 'demand' is conditioned entirely by the socio-economic milieu. There is a demand for mortice locks, alarms, police and prisons because we are led to believe we live amongst thieves and murderers. Or to put it another way, you have to provide fertile ground for the proliferation of thieves and murderers before you can profit from selling mortice locks and alarms and such to people who, under a saner system, would have no concept of the utility of a mortice lock, the 'demand' for which would be a sign of eccentricity, idiocy, or insanity.