Picked Up my M50d Today

[F15 X5 Silversurfer]

Regarding Electric vehicles, its the same here in the UK!! Range with electrics is a major issue outside of large conurbations, and I guess this must be a major issue for you guys over the pond, given the size of your country.

Our politicians are based in London therefore their thinking is based within the M25, (the London ring road) so if you live outside the M25 you are on your own as electric hook-ups are only really available on some motorway services.

With electric ranges varying from 15 - 100mls, if you are lucky and depending on the vehicle of course, if you live in the country, i.e. more than say 15mls from a city, then electric is a waste of money in my opinion. Also I cannot find the actual cost of charging and running cost of electric vehicles, they all seem very vague.

Modern diesel vehicles, especially post Euro6, are actually very clean but are still victimised as "dirty diesels" and we are being penalised accordingly, i.e. more/higher money / taxes. Even diesel fuel is slightly cheaper to produce but costs more than petrol.

[iconoclast]

Originally Posted by F15 X5 Silversurfer

Regarding Electric vehicles, its the same here in the UK!! Range with electrics is a major issue outside of large conurbations, and I guess this must be a major issue for you guys over the pond, given the size of your country:happyanim...

exactly, in addition to that infrastructure is not the best of shape to add all the charging stations in large bursts so the roll out will be very slow. city use an electric vehicle is probably ideal providing they do not overheat and take the abuse however for highway and distance nothing beats diesel currently or until the ev tech catches up and batteries get lighter and last longer. there are more factors involved but again the powers that be have told us what we want and so it will be but if anyone on here is old enough to remember when bmw was pushing hydrogen as a viable alternative and people kept bringing up the hindenburg as if 15-28 gallons of fuel under your trunk isn't as dangerous.

[RichM50d]

Originally Posted by iconoclast

long before the TDI scandal diesel was never a popular method of fueling or powering non-commercial vehicles let alone luxury vehicles. now that the scandal has made it even more difficult to sell these products MB and Audi have pulled their diesel motors and i have to imagine BMW will too. on a percentage basis look how little the X5D sold, or the GL BlueTec, look how poorly the RR TD6 is doing... hell go back to the v10 Touareg TDI... that thing sold so poorly that in my area i never saw any on the road except mine. the powers that be have determined that we "want" electric. eDrive, eTron and the like will most likely be the only alternative motor when shopping in the future.

That may be the case in the US. Not in Europe though.

[ianfp]

Originally Posted by F15 X5 Silversurfer

Regarding Electric vehicles, its the same here in the UK!! Range with electrics is a major issue outside of large conurbations, and I guess this must be a major issue for you guys over the pond, given the size of your country.

Our politicians are based in London therefore their thinking is based within the M25, (the London ring road) so if you live outside the M25 you are on your own as electric hook-ups are only really available on some motorway services.

With electric ranges varying from 15 - 100mls, if you are lucky and depending on the vehicle of course, if you live in the country, i.e. more than say 15mls from a city, then electric is a waste of money in my opinion. Also I cannot find the actual cost of charging and running cost of electric vehicles, they all seem very vague.

Modern diesel vehicles, especially post Euro6, are actually very clean but are still victimised as "dirty diesels" and we are being penalised accordingly, i.e. more/higher money / taxes. Even diesel fuel is slightly cheaper to produce but costs more than petrol.

I agree with this statement 100%.

[iconoclast]

Originally Posted by RichM50d

That may be the case in the US. Not in Europe though.

Exactly. That is the point I was making in the initial post. The US never caught on with Diesel meanwhile many highline vehicles in the EU use diesel.

Originally Posted by ianfp

I agree with this statement 100%.

Same here.

[RichM50d]

Originally Posted by iconoclast

Exactly. That is the point I was making in the initial post. The US never caught on with Diesel meanwhile many highline vehicles in the EU use diesel.

It’s a shame that diesel is getting such bad press, thanks to VW, as the torque on these things is ridiculous. And the emissions aren’t as bad as they’d have everyone think. The monkeys are still alive, after all!

[iconoclast]

Diesel never had good press in the US, that is why it was re-branded as "clean" but VAG didn't help things with their little stunt... but to play devil's advocate for a moment; if the EPA/CAFE didn't make such absurd standards this would not have been an issue as the same vehicles are in use around the world and are not banned until repaired. I believe the most comical thing about this entire "scandal" is that the carbon footprint of the investigation and the paperwork and the waste of fuel and travel around it created more waste and pollution than keeping the vehicles on the road without repair or investigation. So in the end you have to ask or at least I have to ask... what was this really about? Getting Diesel phased out and a bad rep to make way for electric or was it truly for the greater good? I am sure there will never be a real answer but judging by the outcome and the ruling out of any possible alternative outside of electric was "ridiculous" or not possible I believe there was more to it than just a software cheat. #TinFoilHat