Home financing ever possible? Probably not!

Just for the sake of completeness, since the range is always cited against E. One also has to say that an internal combustion engine is not made for short distances permanently. We rarely drive more than 15km at a stretch. I now have the 2nd catalytic converter and the third set of injectors in. That's an expensive business for "infinite" range.

I am looking forward to our E horse - it almost only has advantages for our usage profile. Then short distances and city traffic are finally no longer a threat.

PS: Pretty much off-topic here, this actually belongs in the construction costs ;)

not at all. With the toy, no trip with a halfway decent range can be done.

That is then your usage profile, which is fine. We would manage with 160km per year for the round trip to vacation. Therefore, I don't know where people drive so far so often, certainly not here in the Ruhr area.

Hi,

Model Y 1.5t towing capacity at around 40k€

Apart from the fact that if you care about the future of democracy and freedom of speech, you really can’t in good conscience drive a Tesla, and the Y gives me spontaneous eye cancer:

[*]1.5 t towing capacity? That might be enough for the garden waste trailer or maybe a pallet of stones. But for the caravan, I need at least 2 t.
[*]And even more important: how far can you go with it? The diesel, pulling the big trailer, uses about 50% more fuel, so around 10 l/100 km.

Yes, it’s completely true that for most people the electric car with 300 km range is enough for 90% of all trips. But the last 10% are still an (almost) insurmountable hurdle. And no, with two small children in the car I CANNOT just stop and charge somewhere every 150 km for 1-2 hours. I just want to get the journey done and arrive.

At present, I still see electric cars as clearly far from being able to replace the primary car. The second car, yes, absolutely!

I’m curious, there’s still some time until 2035. But if the ranges haven’t improved significantly by then, it will end with people driving less by car on holiday and instead preferring to fly. Will that really help though?

Best regards,

Andreas

But the ban on combustion engines is not an arbitrary decision.

It depends on the definition of arbitrariness; I would tend to classify total bans in that category. And if you then roughly distort reality by, for example, fundamentally assuming electricity as zero emission instead of using the electricity mix, then that is miles away from a balanced decision. But that’s the same issue with heating systems; there, too, they jump in headfirst instead of first addressing the existing quick wins in building envelopes. As far as I know, there is no majority in the population for any of the blanket bans.

I believe the fact that in Germany no one has yet questioned individual transport as such is already a great privilege.

To call a minimum level of reasonableness a privilege… quite often there are simply no reasonable alternatives. Unfortunately, nothing changes by just starting to ban undesirable things. Anyone who wants people not to drive cars must create good alternatives. That includes good public transport, but not only that. A comprehensive network of wide, structurally separated, and winter-cleared bike paths also helps a lot. Especially with e-bikes, many short distances are absolutely no problem by bike, even with a child in a trailer. And it also includes the fact that there are many trips where the car is the most sensible option. For example, because you have luggage or start or destination locations are not properly connected, or it is simply not very environmentally friendly to let trains and buses run empty around.

As far as I know, there are no majorities in the population for any of the blanket bans.

Of course, there are no majorities for "uncomfortable" things. We can also just continue like the last 40 years. But then we must not be surprised if the generation that has to suffer the consequences continues to stick to streets and break into airports. Everyone will complain about them – at least those who belong to the generation that is spoiling things for the next one. And the QuickWins you are talking about, nobody in the population wants those either, do they? Name me a good reason why highways should not be limited to 130, like the rest of the world.

and the QuickWins you’re talking about, nobody in the population wants those either, right? Give me one good reason why highways shouldn’t be limited to 130 km/h, like the rest of the world.

But:

STERN survey: 79 percent of Germans against a ban on oil and gas heating systems

When it comes to the energy transition, Economics Minister Robert Habeck still has a lot of convincing to do. Only 18 percent of Germans think the plan to ban the installation of conventional gas and oil heating systems from 2024 onwards is right. Even among supporters of the Greens, only 47 percent are in favor. This is according to a Forsa survey commissioned by stern.

In order to reach climate targets, Habeck wants to prescribe that new installations must use 65 percent renewable energies, for example via heat pumps. However, an overwhelming majority of citizens believe that every house or apartment owner should be able to decide for themselves which type of heating to use. This is also the view of 50 percent of Green voters. Less surprising: rejection is particularly high among all those who currently heat with oil and gas. They are opposed at 81 and 84 percent respectively.

and:
The citizens in Germany reject an end to the combustion engine in 2035 by a large majority. In the Germany trend survey for the ARD morning magazine, just over two-thirds (67 percent) were against ending the combustion engine for new cars in twelve years. Only one in four (25 percent) advocated for ending the combustion engine in 2035.

Support for ending the traditional combustion engine was highest among younger eligible voters up to 34 years old (33 percent) and people with higher educational qualifications (34 percent), but even here, according to the data, there was no majority for the end of the combustion engine.

Only among supporters of the Greens did the corresponding EU plan meet with majority approval (69 percent). Voters of other parties represented in the Bundestag partly strongly disapprove of the initiative.

For me it is completely incomprehensible why we decide on things nobody wants. And for that don’t do things that would have majority support. You probably couldn’t promote the concept of an arbitrary political class any better. Not only is the fifth best solution implemented, but the acceptance of democracy is also undermined. For me that is completely incomprehensible.