always said this

[5tft]

The US doesn?t mandate stuff like that.

The EU might.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I wouldnt say 'never'

It is not beyond the bounds of possibility to have 5-6 basic battery 'sizes' that would cover a range of cars from supermini to limo ..

But are electric cars the answer anyway?

I am not sure that the greens wont push us onto public transport anyway.

If Carrie Antoinette gets her way.

Leaving Zil lanes for the Party commissariat.

[Dave Plowman (News]

You can find 98,97 and 95 octane petrol easily enough in the UK. Other countries have lower octane on sale.

To standardize on a 'traction' battery or batteries and placement across every make and type of vehicle so they could be easily changed by an affordable robot would require cooperation between makers (and countries) totally unheard of to date.

And you can imagine The Mail "How dare BMW (or whoever) tell us how our cars must be made"

[Dave Plowman (News]

We already have catalytic convertors welded in place, but they still get stolen.

And a universal battery would be a prime target.

[Dave Plowman (News]

Not as big a problem as the morphing Wodney.

[Steve Walker]

Registration number read; vehicle make and model retrieved from the DVLA; pre-programmed paths for each battery, for that make and model, used - as supplied by the vehicle manufacturer.

As I've said, each vehicle can be totally different. The way to define the paths to use is all that needs to be standardised and provided by the car manufacturer.

[Steve Walker]

Why would it? If everyone owns their battery, then they may be targets, being able to be sold on to people desperate because their expensive battery has failed. If defective batteries are taken out of circulation and replaced by the companies involved, the market disappears.

[Steve Walker]

So the US didn't mandate 7" headlamps for decades, forcing every manufacturer to use them, preventing better lighting and smoother airflow?

[Steve Walker]

WFH was another thing that I have been advocating for years!

[5tft]

Nope.

Nope.

Nope.

[5tft]

Your sig is sposed to be last, with a line with just -- on it in front of it, child.

Even a terminal f****it such as yourself should have noticed that that was more than 60 f****ng years ago now and that they don?t do that shit anymore.

Your sig is sposed to have a line with just -- on it in front of it, child.

[5tft]

Plenty of countries can't do that and it doesn?t work when the driver has swapped plates with another vehicle, its using stolen plates or fake plates.

Pity about the ones that have gone broke as some inevitably will.

Pity about the ones that choose not to do that.

[Jethro_uk]

And which was "impossible" when requested for years. Until it was "go bust or use homeworking" at which point it was possible.

As I get older I am much much less inclined to accept "impossible" as a synonym for "we can't be bothered". Especially when you remember that every single advance in society has been "impossible" at one time.

I'm thinking we'll end up with a hybrid and a lot of "offices" will become or be replaced by hub-style premises. Which means there's probably a growing industry in providing such facilities. I know hourly rent office space isn't new. But I'm thinking we'll get offerings with inbuilt infrastructure as standard. All you need to do is turn up - pop in your companies cloudy URL and connect the systems to your companies for the duration.

The best argument I heard against flextime was in a management meeting as an employee rep. They'd already decided it wasn't happening, but had to make a show of there being a reasonable reason :) Finally the MD said

"Yes, but then we'd have managers having to oversee peoples work, and make sure they are doing their share and that projects are properly resourced and that we know when people are in."

I was that person who asked WTF managers had been doing up until then :)

[Dave Plowman (News]

They had odd headlight regs well beyond that. The Rover SD1 federal version was fitted with 4 round headlights. Which looked very odd.

[alan_m]

Some people cannot manage to park in suitable position beside a pump so how are they going to manage parking for the robot to change the battery?

[alan_m]

When all petrol/diesel is banned, LPG not allowed for central heating, one use plastics replaced with crop based products, use of concrete discouraged etc. there will not be any oil refining that will be viable and tarmac to construct roads will not be available. No roads so no need for cars or road public transport. No synthetic rubber so in the interim EV vehicles with wooden wheels?

[alan_m]

Ideal for the illicit drugs drop :) Pick up the wet and muddy dog and owner from the local park? Have you seen the state some people leave the interior of their car?

How would you refuse those a local taxi driver would reject, say, because they are very likely to be sick in the car?

Your car goes off in an immaculate condition and comes back trashed and stinking of cigarette smoke!

[Steve Walker]

There are plenty of other options, including a simple RFID tag (that more and more countries are incorporating into their numberplates).

As for swapping plates or using stolen or fake plates - who cares if they can't get a battery swap?

If it were mandated, they would not have a choice. If it were merely pushed, then those failing to follow the standard would simply be unable to take advantage of the service - and customers would vote with their wallets.

[Steve Walker]

Pull up; the system determines whether you are roughly in position and corrects for positioning errors.

[Steve Walker]

It's worse than that:

Requirement of a single 7" sealed-beam headlight per side (1940-1957). Option of 5.75" headlights from 1957. Other sized and shaped headlights not permitted until 1974 and even then, they were still sealed beam, until replaceable halogen bulbs were permitted in 1980s.