3500kg to become 4250kg for "B" class licence holders

[difflock]

https://vans.honestjohn.co.uk/van-news/miscellaneous/2017-08/government-unveils-licence-changes-to-support-electric-van-ev-uptake/

 

But LPG is ok, so not just electric vans

 

mth

[dan494]

Hopefully someone starts making 4250 tippers that won't need an o licence then!

[difflock]

Was my first thought!

[dan494]

Can't see anyone buying an electric van anytime soon except big companies making a green statement. Whole point of a van is to move stuff around and electric ones just won't have the range required surely?

[Shaunpaul]

Hmm, anyone know volume of chip you can carry on a milk float? . There's going to have to be some significant investment and research to come up with electric vans that are of any use. Surely changing rules on O Licence/tachograph up to 6.5t would make more sense as we wouldn't be making numerous trips to dump chip everyday, resulting in less emissions. 

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Shaunpaul said:

Hmm, anyone know volume of chip you can carry on a milk float? . There's going to have to be some significant investment and research to come up with electric vans that are of any use. Surely changing rules on O Licence/tachograph up to 6.5t would make more sense as we wouldn't be making numerous trips to dump chip everyday, resulting in less emissions. 

I used to drive a 6tonne Smith's electric out of Merton and up the A3 to Tooting in my holidays when I was 17, it had a good payload but frightening  joining the dual carriageway at 12mph even back then. I don't thing there was a weight limit on a L category then. That was in the days there was a separate category for a trolleybus and that didn't come with the car test.

 

BTW my mate in Hemel has a milk float for sale, he used to drive it to the shops.

[roseyweb]

Personally I'd have a o licence for all commercials, stop the over loaders and dodgy van types as o licence is hardly hard to get. But that's a argument for another thread 

[aspenarb]

19 hours ago, dan494 said:

Can't see anyone buying an electric van anytime soon except big companies making a green statement. Whole point of a van is to move stuff around and electric ones just won't have the range required surely?

Not so sure about the range thing Dan, some of these leccy cars have a 300mile range. That for 90% plus of road users must surly be enough, for the inner cities they are a nobrainer and its just snobbery/status/oneupmanship thats holding back the uptake of these cars. The government should force electric cars on inner city dwellers where they are all choking to death.

 

Bob

[Gary Prentice]

34 minutes ago, aspenarb said:

The government should force electric cars on inner city dwellers where they are all choking to death.

After providing the infrastructure for recharging (difficult when you can't park outside of your own home) and the new power stations to power them.

 

Interesting program on Radio 4 last week, where a speaker mentioned that the new plant that is coming online soon won't supply the addition requirements if everyone goes electric, even if other power demands for everything else remain constant for the next twenty years.

 

Visiting my local hospital for the last two years, there's been the same two cars plugged in every visit. What happens when the other 500-1000 cars become electric? The infrastructure requirements are mind-boggling. 

 

Stock market tip! Put your money into extension lead manufacturers

[dan494]

1 hour ago, aspenarb said:

Not so sure about the range thing Dan, some of these leccy cars have a 300mile range. That for 90% plus of road users must surly be enough, for the inner cities they are a nobrainer and its just snobbery/status/oneupmanship thats holding back the uptake of these cars. The government should force electric cars on inner city dwellers where they are all choking to death.

 

Bob

just had a quick google and the Nissan leaf has a range of 155 miles and that takes 9.5 hours to fully charge. That's for a small car. Imagine the range and charge time for a van weighing over 4 ton? cant see it being feasible until major improvements are made in the technology. I think it'll happen  eventually and its the way to go. Can this be done before the deadline the government imposed? I have big doubts