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turning all cars back into a luxury for the rich ,rather than a tool for the rest of us.

People in London probably wouldn’t believe that I live in a rural area with the nearest train station a 15 minute drive away. Busses when they run, routes are extremely limited and don’t go where I need to go or at a time that is of any use to me. Driving is completely essential to me and our entire community. I am someone that can’t afford a newer car, this new world order completely sickens me. I don’t know where we are all heading.

I respect that you are sensitive to those who are not as fortunate as you. It's a rare trait to be wealthy yet sympathetic to the plight of the regular people. Kudos!

I recently rented a hybrid/electric car and drove it between St.Louis and Chicago 4x over 1250 miles. I tried charging it no fewer than 8 times and each time the charger was broken, the line 5-6 cars deep or it would only take a certain app that linked to my credit card. I just filled the tank with gas.

One of the most baffling things, to me, is the plan to shift everyone to EV when we currently can't even generate enough electricity to cover current usage. Just months ago we were discussing the possibility of rolling blackouts, various companies have gone broke and the energy producers aren't being regulated. And yet they think they can get this sorted within a decade? I can barely affort petrol for my car, and am struggling to pay the electric bill. So basically, I'm fucked either way, it seems.

Agree 100% with this. I’m one of those people who has a cheap car,£500, as my only means of transport. I’m disabled and a carer for my daughter. Twice a week she goes to therapy in a neighbouring town. By car it’s 45minutes each way and it’s calm as she’s in an environment she knows and is not over stimulated. Two weeks ago my car broke down so we had to go by bus , 2hrs there and 2hours back. It was hell, she just couldn’t cope at all. Ended up jury rigging my car to run just to get her there and back calmly, until I could afford the correct part for the engine. There is no way in hell can I afford to buy,let alone run an EV. Just not possible. Public transport just doesn’t work in my area, taxi would be £35 each way. As for heating, I’ve turned mine down as much as I can and still keep her comfortable but I still reckon I will be stuck when the bill becomes due. Like many others, my income isn’t keeping pace with rampant inflation. As the saying goes “the rich get richer,while the poor just get poorer “.

Your points are absolutely valid and I totally agree. With all the pushing, not just for EVs, lately it seems that our governments are trying to reinstate a two class society. Freedom of travel is just one of many things that are a thorn in their eyes.

As an American, I am so pleased to hear that it's not just Americans that feel this way!!! Thank you!!!

Very well put . I've got a 1991 Toyota Surf which I've owned the last for 17 years. "Polluting dirty diesel 4x4." I've been told. "How many cars have you had in that time?" Is my question to them. Then the realism of it all comes to fruition .

It's the same thing here in Norway. Rich people who can pay for a brand new Tesla, don't have to pay for the road tolls and can drive in the bus lane. It's slowly changing back to normal for EV owners, but that's just because almost all new cars sold these days are EVs. Poor people or working class people who drive 15 year old cars, don't get any benefits of the EV craze.

This is probably my favourite video of yours James, I also think it's the most important, more people need to speak up about this. I hate the way governments have been force feeding us EV's, it's seemed fishy to me from the start. Let people decide what they want to buy, let the free market do it's job. I completely agree with you, it's just a tax on the poor. It's absolutely ridiculous and cruel that somebody who can spend $100,000-$170,000 on a Tesla or electric Porsche is exempt from these new charges, but a cleaner on minimum wage who can only afford a 2004 Astra has to pay. Ironically, keeping an older car running is much better for the environment that mining lithium and cobalt to build a brand new electric car. The worst part is the massive lie that it's for the sake of "the environment", give me a break, the government couldn't care less about the environment, they just want more of our money to spend.

Thanks for bringing up very valid points. It's often the less fortunate that suffer in situations like this.

I totally agree. EVs should be an option, not forced to us as the only option

This really hits home for me. I live in South London within the ULEZ zone. Myself and my partner have and use quite frequently a VW Transporter for camping and other various outdoor activities. Our van, a 2002 T4 cost us £2k to buy. A ULEZ compliant 2017 T6 would set us back a minimum of £25k for a similar specification. Thus meaning we would have to drive every day for more than 5 years in order to recoup the cost of ULEZ at £12.50. Beyond this Lewisham Council have started penalising owners of older vehicles by charging them almost double for a parking permit to park outside their own home in comparison to a ULEZ compliant vehicle. I fully agree with cleaning the air within the city and see the need for a crack down pollution, however wouldn't a charge for commuters traveling solo in a 10mpg SUV in and out of the city daily be more appropriate?! The ULEZ in its current form IS a poor tax, I would love to drive a newer less polluting Van or even an electric one if they make one with good range, but when the cost of even an almost 10 year old model is more than my yearly income that's just not feasible.

Totally agree with what you say. Personally had ordered an ev and with delays I canceled it a bought something else. Dodged a bullet on that one. With electric cost increasing I calculated that we'd be paying more per mile than good old petrol...

What a courageous and honest rant. They don't care about us at the bottom. We'll get on with it. But it's so encouraging to see blokes, who don't have to, say what we need said. Good on ya mate.

A brilliant and very truthful video, well done James. I totally support you.

Thank you for caring about classism. I'm on the other side of the pond, where class warfare is in full swing. I lived in a Scion Xbox for fourteen months, after losing my farm in 2020. It took an incredible amount of work to get myself housed again. Adapting to an electric future isn't on the table, because I live in marginal housing with no garage, make little money, and may well be moving into my car again soon.

Well said. Mandating has rarely worked. I have this conversation with my family and car enthusiast friends. I have a 1984 944, 2002 996 and a 09 jetta wagon. What is rarely discussed is that my cars major impact on the environment was during their build cycle. And that was 20 years ago. If we take that into consideration my fleet is way more environmentally friendly than a new EV, PHEV, HYBRID and the lot. We always skip over the cost to product new cars. I'm taking my cape off now. Thanks for putting yourself out there. You and Harry Metcalfe and Iain Tyrrell should get together and shoot a video on the electricification of the world.

Very well put If every car is an EV there is the fact that all EVs will be wanting to charge overnight and so over night electricity will no longer be off peak due to every car on the road wanting to charge at that time so off peak prices will possibly disappear !

I'm glad someone is seeing and saying the current car situation as it really is. 100% agree with you on this.

Made it to the end. EV hype is being fact checked by EV reality. Thank you for your observations.

Well this is the plan. “You will own nothing and be happy” from the WEF.

Hats off to you James. Many good points & big respect for not joining the ranks of content providers who fawn at the feet of manufacturers, anything ‘new’ and on message while ignoring or being too blinkered to notice the awful social impact of so called progress.

One can not state enough the importance of having people like these around to keep us well informed when needed. Love this channel!

Spot on, there is no way most people can move to EV's in the current market. I have a 2009 van and a 2002 car. To replace both with electric equivalent would cost me over £100k. Plus I would need 2 chargers installing at my house as well. It just has not been thought out at all. I already hate having to have an app for every damn thing on my phone in order to function at all in society.

Always lived in cities, never owned a car, though at times it would've been useful. For example, in my earlier working life I had to give up home care as it took me too long to cover the distance between clients on foot. I did have a bike for a period but an accident scared me off...Outside of a city the distances would've been even greater. If car ownership becomes a luxury ticket again 100,000s of elderly and disabled will have no-one to take care of them.

Agree with every word said James. I've been saying for ages that the governments EV policy and Khan's policy about London is a tax on the poor. How short our memory is. 2 years ago we realised that the people who keep this country running during an unprecedented pandemic are the lowest paid members of our society. The ones who can't work from home who need their diesel cars (the very same cars the government encouraged to buy) to get to work to keep this country running are now being nailed to the floor with massive tax hikes and charges. It makes me so cross, it really does!

Meanwhile in Sweden, electricity is so expensive that the elderly are freezing (because they can’t afford to turn the heat up), people are close to starving to keep up. People ARE LITERALLY GOING BANKRUPT BECAUSE THEY CANNOT AFFORD THE ELECTRICITY BILLS. Some are getting electricity bills for over 30 000 SEK while many elderly get a pension of around 10 000 SEK per month. The authorities response, “well seems like many people don’t have savings to take money out of” how the h*ll are you going to save money when it is impossible to get things work financially.

Just like to say thank you for standing up for people who aren't financially well off James .

JayEmm, you are spot on about the EV “revolution” is being “legislated” and not evolving naturally is causing a great inequity for many. I personally believe you buy what makes you happy or fits your needs. EVs don’t meet all needs for all people. Maybe one day, but not in the next five years.

KZfaq recommended this to me and, wanting to fill time before going to watch my daily livestream, thought “why not?” 5 minutes in, I’m liking and subscribing. Bravo, you sold me in record time.

Thank You for allowing me to feel "Normal" once more. I couldn't have put it better myself. Well done Sir.

Yes, I agree, a tax on the poor. "Wait for the oldies and stupids to die off" is also very true. How can this be acceptable in our society?

Transportation equals Freedom, independence and mobility, you nailed it right there.

Everything you say is correct. The tripling of electricity prices over the past 18 months or so has totally changed the ICE vs EV equation. Electricity at a public charger costs about 79p per KWh now. That is usurious. My partner and I own both a PHEV and an EV. We have our own drives (we live separately), with wall chargers, solar panels and off-peak rates. The EV is brilliant for round trips of under 200 miles. The PHEV returns about 80mpg and is perfect for longer runs. We have it sorted, but we are so, so lucky. I would advise anyone who can’t charge at home or who regularly drives more than 100 miles per day to avoid an EV like the plague. It will cost you a fortune. If you only ever drive short journeys or can’t get a wall charger (they cost £1k+ 😳), then stick with your ICE. Something is going to have to change between now and 2030 and my bet is that the deadline will be removed. Any government that tries to force this through in the current economic climate is going to lose an election, for sure.

Totally agree. My elderly mum who worked for the NHS retired, she rents a Renault Captur (the cheapest one) and was told it would get cheaper over the on coming years. Well we all know car prices have gone up for reasons and so are the rental prices. Now her 3 years is up to rent a new one or buy it, she can't afford it on her pension. She is now faced with not having a car for the first time in her 74 years. I walk with "walk for health" group where I live who are mainly elderly and retired, some younger and still work. None have an EV and when I ask them if they will get an EV, every single one says one of two things "Not in my life time" and or "Can't afford one of those". You are absolutely correct on this being a huge social injustice. A friend of mine was out of work and his visit to the job centre, he was told "you must look for work up to 50 miles away". While the same government who run these job centres also keeps putting or letting these companies put the fuel prices up. Is that not a scam and another social injustice on the poor and unfortunate. This world is sure becoming like the dystopian sci-fi films I watched as a kid. Mega corps running the world and masses of poor being treated like sh*t and left in poverty. Films have tuched on how this goes yet we still ignore it like it will never happen, yet it is right in front of our eyes.

Petrol Ped also did a piece on most people not having a driveway, garage and thus being unable to have a private charging point. He went as far as to say that in his experience, in daily use this is a must have to keep things practical. Thanks JayEmm for pointing out to certain people that their world is not the world of a greater part of the population. I live in a row house, no driveway, no garage and cars cannot park on our side of the road. And even the latter wouldn't make any difference, because charging would depend entirely on available parking space in front of the house anyway.

Great video! However, there is something much more sinister than what you described. Almost all new vehicles are now basically full of spyware black boxes on wheels that you can't repair yourself. And to add to the fact that most new cars are designed to fail in some stupid after the warranty expires to force you to buy expensive parts or another new vehicle. Disgusting.

I enjoyed this video I used to drive a classic petrol car, in London,but stopped due to I’ll health. I now drive a n EV, that is a foldable EV bike. Fun fact, London now has more bikes than cars. One could argue the real poverty is the UKs lack of public transport infrastructure investment and dedicated cycling infrastructure. That again discriminates people’s acess leading to car dependency. Because there’s no alternative. I miss driving, but for every new home likely to have between 1 to 3 cars. Are we ever going to find a solution? A few days ago I was approached by an elderly lady, who asked about my bike!

Absolute truth, definitely something I've been getting more and more wound up about over recent years as ever more of these £50k+ EVs become a common sight on our streets. I only once had a new car which was a company car, but otherwise for all my driving years I've got by perfectly well in 2-4+ year used cars and cannot ever see myself buying a brand new car whether it is electric or petrol, it's just not affordable. The environmental and human cost of mass mining of lithium for all these batteries is also something that is conveniently brushed under the carpet in the name of progress. EV tax on the poor.. Definitely!

Great video. The minority of people lucky enough to afford EVs (of which I am one) should stop to think about the reality for the majority of people who can't afford one. The system really is set up to penalise people with the least.

Years ago when I was working as a Voice & Data Engineer, travelling in and out of London on an almost daily basis, I had a life-changing experience. The 30 mile commute into the city took nearly 3 hours. The drive home through rush hour traffic took longer. Throughout the day, the combination of conjestion fees, emissions fees, parking fees, parking fines (for being 2 minutes over on a parking meter), followed by another fine for forgetting to pay the conjestion fee online before midnight when I got home exhausted, meant that I paid significantly more money in those fees and fines than I had earned in the day. I was broke at the time too. I felt a genuine sense of despair when I realized I would have been financially better off if I had just stayed in bed all day. That day I vowed I was leaving the UK, and that I would never again commute in to work. I live in Australia now, in the heart of Sydney - and I either work from home or walk to work. Australia isn't perfect either, far from it - but the experience of being a London commuter is an absolute disgrace, and one I will never return to.

Brilliant, right on the money. I live in the states, not the UK, but many similarities. You are so right - I'm one of those people you speak of. While I had a great job, high income, could afford these things at one time, but at almost 60 years of age, I went through two major illnesses, a house fire (complete loss), injury, wheel chair and lost it all. I'm now in a trailer with no heat, no hot water, winter/snow conditions, figuring out how to get out of this mess - and all these new rules and measures and insanity are a severe penalty on me. Thanks for your post.

Couldn't agree with you more and I live in Australia. At the moment we do not have fees for congestion or emissions but they are coming. It was your take on the plight of the poor and elderly that struck a cord. What sort of society are we becoming

I absolutely agree with you and I fear this is the tip of the iceberg; once Ulez gets extended the goalposts will be moved to encompass newer vehicles because currently the total number of non compliant vehicles versus the implementation cost doesn’t make sense. EV evangelists don’t seem to have empathy with those in society that can’t afford this currently. All credit to you, your shirt and lovely car.

Thank you for your honest commentary regarding the implications of forcing EV onto the public, its another example of the knot being twisted tighter and tighter against the neck of the common man.

Well made points sir. I completely agree with your PoV. Another thing to consider is when everyone gets an EV crammed down their throats. When are most people going to charge them? At night. When everyone does this simultaneously, it will no longer be a low usage/discounted time. Never mind the existing grid not being able to support it.

Totally agree with your views, we are being pushed towards EV with electricity going up, and nowhere to charge privately...think about people who live in Tower blocks without designated parking...how on earth are they to have own charging point

Great points James. A friend of mine keeps telling me I should have got an EV but being barely able to afford to keep my old Saab running that's a pipe dream. He has gone rather quietnsince the electricity price rises though. I suppose he will soon be telling me I need to buy some solar panels I can't afford too.

Great video, same situation in France. Seems also that in the UK a very large percentage of electricity comes from Coal burning, so not ecological! Anyway, a new study shows that most of the polluting nano particles that we can breathe, are produced by the tyres not by the engine, which makes the EV as obsolete as petrol cars. Cheers Jay.

You know, living within 15 minutes of everything you need, is really going to hurt the tourist industry, a lot of tax havens really do rely on tourism to stay afloat. It's going to hit every industry imaginable.

I live in a rural village and many of the houses don’t have driveways and the councils solution will be lamppost chargers meaning people with ICE cars will have to park down the road! That’s you and Petrol Ped who’ve made these very valid points now - bravo sir! The ev focused vloggers don’t get the real world and this crazy timeline

I live in a second floor flat... I regularly commute hundreds of miles to work... And I work nights. (Not that I could even afford an EV in the first place!)

You've hit the nail squarely on the head! I drive a 2005 diesel skoda octavia estate, which I bought 3rd hand for 2k. There's no way I'm going to get rid of this brilliantly reliable and cheap to run car any time soon. And even if I went for the scrappage option, how will I make up the 25k+ difference to fund an EV replacement? And even if I could change to an EV, I live in a flat, and I'm obliged to park on the road, anywhere between 100 yards away or in the next street, so home-charging is out of the question. Add to that, with all the mushrooming ulez-type initiatives and restrictions, I'm already being controlled as to where I can go, and I fear that I'm ultimately going to be priced and/or legislated off the road. "Go by bus, or cycle" I'm told, by people who choose to ignore the fact that my job covers a large rural 'patch' and I'm easily driving 400 miles a week. The next few years are going to be very hard for a lot of us, especially those who simply can't afford to join the great green revolution (however much we might personally care about the planet and our kids' future) Normal, less well-off car owners like me find ourselves stuck between out of touch, comfortably-off, metropolitan pundits and policy-makers who can't understand why someone couldn't afford a new Tesla on one side, and the hair-shirted hardliners of the 'Khmers Vertes' on the other, who would burn our cars tomorrow and insist that we can run our entire lives (and our jobs) on a pushbike!

Interesting seeing more of an EV pushback in the EU, yall adopted them earlier and are finding out the glaring issues with them. Cheers

I completely agree about the charging locations. There is something slightly dodgy about an isolated charger around the back of a retail park.

Brilliant video James, you've succinctly put into words what so many of us are thinking. There's almost certainly a different agenda going on at the moment, and it's really going to hit so many of us who might not be able to afford an EV.

Agreed. Seems like ordinary people get punished for the lavishness and wastefulness of bureaucrats, who did not ever care about the environment, but only about their profits.

An excellent summary mate! Not only can ‘ordinary people’ not afford an EV, they can’t afford the swinging ULEZ taxes makes even their older non compliant cars unaffordable. That from a Labour mayor too.

Nearly chocked on my coffee when this was interrupted by an advert for gourmet meals for PRIVATE JETS!😱😂

Can you imagine the street scene of terraced houses with cables running from car to door letterboxes to connect to plugs, over the pavement. A lot of public liability trips and falls coming up

Jack from TEXAS, these types of transportation schemes are coming to a neighborhood near everybody very soon. Thanks for the rant.

I agree with you 100%! Life in London for common people is very costly...ulez applies to bikers too...You go to work in the morning you come back in the evening, the bike is always parked all day, but you still have to pay for it... It's a robbery! Tax the poor is a must apparently 🤬💩🤮

Completely agree. There's a real green washing effect in the uk. I live in Germany and there's a completely different mind set. Many Germans travel huge distances on the autobahn at speed and I don't really see any ev's sitting in fast lane. I can travel 600 miles in one day, there and back. Not possible in an ev. The uk is taxing the people on lower incomes, and the hard working middle class.

As ever, you are the voice of reason and sensibility James. Thank you for so eloquently capturing and framing this point of view.

I agree with just about everything you said and fail to understand why people have not pursued this before now. Almost every KZfaq channel I have watched tends to big up electrics but very rarely mention how the cost of charging them compares with filling a tank with petrol. I am also trapped in the never never land of having no way of affording to buy a new car of any sort so am basically stuck with my 2006 Renault which will not only get more and more expensive to run but can only have a rather limited life expectancy. Just like me in fact!

Couldn't agree more. You are discussing luxury beliefs and have just touched on the tip of the iceberg

Loving these more type of “discussion”vids recently 👍

I think my biggest problem with how EV's are being pushed and how people just go out a buy them, is that this isn't at all good for the environment. People tend to forget the 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. People just go out a buy EV's because its "good" for the environment is doing it for the wrong reasons, this is why I hate the forced push of EV's. Ignoring the costs, which are still to expensive. We should all be doing our best for the environment, that involves following the 3 R's. So if you don't need to replace your car and if your current car is working without any issues, then you should not willingly or forced to replace it with an EV. The responsible thing to do would be to continue running the car you currently have. My 10 year old Ford Focus has a squeaky belt/pully and could do a new engine mount but no matter how much that will cost me, it will be far far cheaper than getting an EV on a PCP or even trying to save to buy one out right. Plus I only do 2,000 miles a year, the best guess of 20,000 miles for an EV to pay off its pollution debt from being made would then mean I would need to drive that EV for 10 years and good luck having the battery lasting as it did when it was new after 5 years, let alone 10 years. For me, no matter how you spin it - an EV is a terrible car to buy as my current car is working perfectly and facts are facts, by running my car and not replacing it that is doing more for the environment than just replacing it with an EV.

I must agree with you with regards to enforced fuel poverty, EV’s are part of the answer but not the only answer - ICE are critically important in order to keep transport moving and the infrastructure exists until EV which is patchy in coverage, expensive and not always in use. The EV recharging issue will never be addressed, domestic housing is split approx 70/30 - with just 30% with accessible driveways, the remaining majority will be forced to use public recharge points and these are never going to be competitive against domestic. One item you forgot to mention was road tax and fuel duty - EV’s pay little if any road tax, and just 5% VAT on the electricity used to recharge - so, the only option available to maintain the tax income stream, given that they cannot charge more for electricity is to bump up road tax, but this will either mean that EV’s are taxed at a higher rate or all vehicles are taxed at the same, which will need to include the fuel duty shortfall meaning that ICE vehicles are hit hardest (thus encouraging the switch to EV’s). All in all, it’s a dogs dinner and one thing is guaranteed - the poor will be hit the hardest. Fuel Poverty coupled with Transport Poverty will be high on people’s priority list in the immediate future and no politician is going to help. Your comment re the ULEZ charge was very pertinent, hospital shifts are normally 0700- 1600; 1530- 2200 & 2130- 0730, on the night shift good news, the first two hours will go to ULEZ, the next four hours in tax, NI and rent/mortgage leaving you will the balance of four hours to pay for heating, lighting, food, clothing, fuel, insurance - is it really worth working…..

Oh gosh. I live near a large US city (Denver, CO) and everything you brought up is hitting us shortly as politicians start wading into this exact problem of congestion, unaffordability, pollution, and sturdy electrification not reaching us plebeians who live in apartments for years while the wealthy enjoy that privilege now in their private garages. Bang on accurate.

Shared mate. This was a brilliant video. Another part of it is the LTNs we're seeing in Oxford. Where you need special (paid) permission from the local council to drive over 100 days a year... local residents were originally told they could take buses to work... but after the LTNs on Crowley Road were implemented, they took the 3 main bus routes of the map! Tonnes of my friends had to quit their jobs because they just couldn't afford to go to work... and taxis were effectively forced up in price because of this! They are deliberately making it impossible for us to live.

I also see the reparability of electric cars as a huge economic risk later on when they show up on the used market. Usually when batteries gets old it's just a couple of cells that get bad, but since they're not made to be replaced you end up with replacing the entire pack and those are not cheap. So there has to be some legislation around reparability of electric cars for them to really be viable on the used market.

You tube just randomly brought this video to my attention. I love your work. On point with everything. I just cant understand how governments could be this blind or maybe they just dont care about people at all.

Your "rant," as you call it, was spot on! It showcased the problems that all of these ecological programs inflict must brilliantly. But my questions are these: what do they do with the taxes imposed? How do those taxes reduce pollution? What infrastructure have they built to counteract the pollution? Or is it all just a shell game to rip off the poor?...

Hat's off to this gentleman. Impressive and straight to the point arguments which were unbiased and not easy to argue against. This channel is becoming an "authority" on the British auto scene. Congrats Mr. Jay!

The "Why don't you park in your driveway and charge it overnight" thing always cracks me up a bit. As if people aren't renting rooms in apartments. Yeah sure, all the apartment buildings are going to put 2 or 3 chargers per apartment in their lots. Mhhmmm.

You are correct. As you have discussed, electricity has skyrocketed over the last few years. This is nothing compared to when we have to rely on renewables for our electricity only.

James, as a subscriber of yours this is one of your best vids and rants ( how did you not swear?) I am a massive car fan but have never had the money for anything flash my current motor is an Afla 159Ti its a diesel with 160K on the clock and to this day has not produced as much carbon as building an EV. We live in the sticks and recently went to a concert in birmingham, I saw a sign saying ULEZ zone "pay on line", how I thought? Anyway a couple of weeks later a bill for £120 arrived. The journey both ways cost me just £15 in diesel! If i lived there I would have to sell my car and buy a Tesla.

Thank you so much for making these kinds of videos, James. Whilst EVs certainly have their place in the world and should exist, forcing things upon people, especially if they're this expensive, is not a good idea. These requirements for people to be as "Eco Friendly" as possible will only drive a wedge in between the rich people and the regular people, making the average Joes and Janes utterly miserable in the process whilst also accomplishing nothing for the environment as they require more consumerism. Hopefully we can overturn this madness before it's too late.

One of the most cogent and coherently structured YT clips I have ever watched. I think your ceramic brake simile is spot on actually. EV's are simply another tax on the poor, with an unsatisfactory and unregulated charging infrastructure for sure, and without any standardisation across the board. It is great to be leading edge, but one must never get ahead of the blade - and that is exactly where EV's are now. I for one will be sticking to my gas-guzzling Audi A8 diesel, which of course in the 1980's, the Government would have incentivised me to buy as a 'cleaner' alternative. Yet now diesel is more expensive than petrol...oh how short a memory do we have, but then, a week is a long time in politics!

I agree with you. Im an EV (2015 Leaf) owner in Edinburgh. We use it a lot, charge at home or work and unfortunately we dont have access to a night time tarrif. It isn't available here and no sign of it coming. EV infrastructure is poor even in cities.

Perfect video and commentary Jay, about the EV dictatorship and slavary that the government's all around the world want to impose upon people! I am 1000% agree with you! Keep up the good work!

100% agree James. The value to society of a £1500 Fiesta or Corsa is immeasurable. Affordable transportation has transformed the world.

Spot on profiteering and greed has become the hallmark of energy companies and as for all these charges by local authorities to drive vehicles in cities is just a way of generatining revenue. We all still need from time to time to get into these places and they just want to tax us for it. I liken it to road fund license fees being diverted to pay for other things while our roads fall apart. Bring on the revolution.

I'm so glad I found this video, what you have been saying is exactly what I've been saying for a while and we would agree on every point. I don't care how many Ferraris you have your still very in touch with the common man. I myself are one of those that will lose transport. I have a 2009 zafira diesel o have had it for 7 years. I have 7 children still at home 10 on total. I need the car for the school run and my little gardening business. I am struggling now just to run the car and I maintain repair everything myself. I certainly can not afford to buy a electric car and enter every competition I can find to win one. I have been driving 30 years but I think the time is coming that is coming to a end. I will then have to walk 4 children 4 miles to school and there is no public transport available. One has ASD and is very hard work and one has severe ashmatic so any damp days affect her very very badly. This is a direct attack on the poor as living in Surrey there are plenty of Tesla's and Audi etrons to see. Thank you James for highlighting this for the I'm all right jack brigade.

I’m Irish and it’s similar here. Thank you so much for that rarest of things, common sense!!

If it was about clean air then petrol/diesel cars would just be banned. It's about collecting the charge or the fine, raising revenue. You nailed it.

Thanks for speaking up on this as someone with a decent voice in the community. All of your main points are bang on the money, and these issues aren’t even limited to the poorest. I consider myself comfortable, with a good postgrad education and working in the industry I aspired for as a kid, and yet there’s just no hope in hell of me owning an EV anytime soon as I’m in my mid-20s and earning relatively modest money at the early stages of my career. Despite being where I want, I still have to flat share with two friends, live in a place with no private driveway, and budget to a reasonable degree each month. EVs are absolutely a luxury, and yet they’re being pushed as the new normal (and you’re a dirty hater of the world if you don’t have one according to some vocal champions). If I’m in a position to have an EV before I’m 30 I’d be amazed, and this is me as someone in a good career. For others in jobs like retail, I dread to think.

I will buy a kit to electrify my car before I will buy a new EV. Just waiting on the new battery technology to come to fruition.

"We give the contract for orphanages to Gary Glitter" that's made my day!

Completely agree and something I have been pondering for a while. If you also add in the massively reduced overall lifespan of an EV compared to ICE and huge restrictions on repairing it yourself or even through an independent garage in some cases the future looks even bleaker for any average wage earner.

100% correct as usual, James. I have had this on my mind for time now, even before energy prices went through the roof. I only buy 4 yr old cars as I want something with a bit of luxury and a decent amount of power, with a budget of less than £20k. It is car that does about 8000 miles pa and is only used for longer journeys and holidays abroad where I usually drive over 900 miles in one day covering 2.500 over a 2 week period, there is no EV that is capable of that. I have another cheap old banger (sub £1000 car that is 15yrs old) that I use for commuting and shorter local journeys. If I was a wealthy man I would replace this banger with a small EV as I have a driveway and my home is powered by solar panels and batteries so charging would be almost free, but I am not! I am just a normal guy trying make ends meet and have an annual 2 week holiday where I can really enjoy my driving my car to the south of Spain. The situation we find ourselves in is a case of a government not understanding real working people that have just enough to live a reasonable life but have nothing in reserve because it is squeezed out of them with high inflation and soaring cost of living due to the privatisation of our utilities for profit. The rich get richer and we are all doomed! It begs the question what will be left for the rich when we the normal people can't buy anything let alone EVs.

I agree totally. I live in Cornwall, and I'd have to pay a fortune in fees to visit London - so why don't the London types, with their 2nd homes down here, have to pay a bean to come to Cornwall? Secondly, EV battery technology is still in its infancy - so many of the EVs being sold now, are at risk of being obsolete before people have finished even paying for them!

Lovely rant James! You are definitely not alone in these feelings and conclusions, there are a lot of us who feel just as aggrieved with our out of touch political numpties making these decisions to make our lives harder and taking away our freedoms and quality of life and it's absolutely infuriating! It's as if the politicians and local government are taking great delight in impoverishing us and ultimately the country.

Oh James where do we start with this one. You are absolutely right this is totally being forced upon us and will definitely hurt the working class the most. We had beater Dona risk assessment for our extension cords hung out of the windows of flats and terraced houses. The cars are far too expensive to buy and now even second hand cars are all leased on terms where most people dare not actually drive the car in fear of putting on too many miles. The rolling out of all these ULEZ zones may as well be a second scrappage scheme. As KZfaq is a hobby rather than an income for me I have to earn my living driving a HGV and I've seen the signage for the ULEZ zones piping up all over the place and the cist for an articulated lorry delivering to a supermarket within these area is going to be so expensive and the retailer's and haulage companies won't be able to absorb the cost so the end user will have to pay. There are some serious pros to EV's I will admit but forcing this upon us is frankly pissing people off. I don't believe that charging will improve all that quickly either, once we all make the switch there will be no reason for advancement of the technology once the competing IC cars are no longer available. Long journeys will take us longer, just like how those with the financial means used to be able to fly Concorde to New York but now have to make do with subsonic transportation. The world is going backwards. I suppose us commoners will all have to use public transport in the impending dystopian future, provided they are not all still on strike that is. Sorry about the rant but I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way about it.

Totally agree. Really interesting points made as well. Just the cost of actually buying EVs is crazy, especially when the cost of buying a normal car is high enough. I’m in the £1-2k category, in terms of car buying and this puts these EVs into lottery win territory.

No one seems to understand yet that the electricity network won't be able to cope with the added load requirements of all the new EVs - at both a local and at national level. Most houses might have a 60A or 80A fuse in their incoming supply, but the distribution network operates on the basis that on average they'll take ~2kW each. If everyone with an EV suddenly needs an additional 7kW on top of the notional 2kW, it will overload the system. If the system is close to the limit, the end user customer will have to pay to upgrade the electricity network to get that additional capacity - which may mean buying a suitable site to place a substation, building the substation, paying for all the equipment to fit it the substation, all the overhead line updating, and all the excavation they need to do for the substation. That substation might be several roads away and not even visible from your house, but since you're the unlucky sucker who'd put the network over capacity, it's down to you to pay *all* the upgrade costs to provide the supply you want. The alternative is you don't fit a charger at home and charge it elsewhere at a massive uplift in cost, the time you're without a vehicle as it charges, and all the hours you'll waste waiting for it to charge. God help you if there's a queue to charge, because there isn't enough of them to go around as it is. Yay for EVs !