Old Shitboxes then vs new Shitboxes now

[Rat Catcher]

I'm not being miserly. I just don't want to have to increase my working hours merely to cover increased expenses and I feel hard done by on account of being denied an age extension for the two years I lost to COVID '19 an all while the majority of my competitors got such an extension. A level playing field is all I desire.

[Panel]

Absolutely. Our cars are subject to test after test. If a man's willing to present his car every 6 months that ought to suffice. Furthermore, the stats prove that the 10 year rule has achieved nothing in it's decade of application.

Does anyone know the age limits applicable to aircraft or buses or trains?

Afaik no age limits to operate buses (that said CIÉ have a age limit of 20 years on buses for schoolwork)

Most of Aerlingus’ fleet are 20+ years old, some widebody A330’s are coming upto 30 years old when they replaced the incumbent B747 from EIs fleet

Trains I dunno.

[C5]

I see the orange and black trains on the go sometimes now pulling freight, they were built in Canada, fully steel not like the plastic trains they get from south Korea.

[Octavia1]

I'm not being miserly. I just don't want to have to increase my working hours merely to cover increased expenses and I feel hard done by on account of being denied an age extension for the two years I lost to COVID '19 an all while the majority of my competitors got such an extension. A level playing field is all I desire.

Rat .... read over that .... its not good ....
Its rattle out o the pram sort o ting ....
Yur going to go electric.... that's octys prophecy..... yu just don't know it yet ...
 

[Rat Catcher]

I don't see wanting a level playing field as unreasonable.

Given that I've consistently said I've wanted one since I had a had a go of the one my sister had back in 2019, I guess that's an easy conclusion to draw. However, as the late Gay Byrne once remarked... my wants are simple and my needs less. Admittedly, I'll be closer to the 35k MG/BYD end of the market than the 3 figures that the eTron cost her employer. Obviously, from a business perspective (although it's hard to define the hours I do as a business!) it makes no sense to replace an asset until it needs to be replaced. In our case that need is generally determined through regulation. In any event, while I might want to replace my car with an EV when the time comes what I actually do will depend on what (if any) grants are available. The erm's sources suggest there won't be any and the Programme for Government advocates "scrappage" grants. If no grants are available or the capital element of previous grant schemes is discontinued the EV option would be unlikely.

[watty]

If the Govt (via the OPW) can spend almost €500,000 on a wall in Dublin 4, spending the same again (via grants) to get 10-15 shiny new EV taxis on the road shouldn't be a problem.  The EV's are a win-win for everybody.

[Rat Catcher]

Hopefully but there's definitely a school of thought that suggests EV grants were solely a Minister Ryan vanity project and that the only green stuff rural independents give a flying fuck about is the green diesel they pump into their clapped out tractors.

[C5]

How is an EV a winer for everyone, they can't travel as far as a regular car, they depreciate faster than regular cars the big battery deteriorates as it gets older which means even less range, they take longer to refill they have a Very high chance of thermal runaway as they get older which pumps out noxious gases which can damage the nerves, they are extremely hard to extinguish and can take down multistorey carparks because they burn nearly 1000° hotter, and they are in the scrap heap in less than a decade which is not a winner for the environment at least. Plus who would buy a second hand battery car.

[watty]

Jesus, my eyes hurt reading that 

[C5]

I know watty reality hurts sometimes 

[mercenary for hire]

I'd buy a second hand EV if the price was low enough.Once you have the charger installed the €500 per year running costs are very hard to overlook.

[Rat Catcher]

Mrs Catcher is my social conscience, C5. She'd agree with a lot of what you say. The environmental cost of mineral extraction, manufacture and transport of new cars and the environmental cost of scrapping used cars tend to outweigh any perceived environmental gains, at least in the short-medium term. However, in the long term, as EVs become the norm in replacing cars that rech the end of their natural the benefits will snowball. In short, keeping an older car on the road is better for the environment but when it has to be replaced choosing an EV is the most environmentally friendly option. Grant aid schemes arguably offer benefits in accelerating the process through influencing perception as much as anything else.

[silverbullet]

Images like this showing job creation by Elon and such keep me going: