[RomanSoldier19]

These are cobalt mines in Congo, where 60% of cobalt for batteries comes from, environmentally friendly.

Luckily Congo gov will run it all now yay

DR Congo to support cobalt prices by buying 'artisanal' supply The Financial Times|6 days ago The Democratic Republic of Congo will create a state-owned company to buy all the cobalt mined by hand in the country, in an effort to support the price of the key battery material used in electric cars. The government said it wants to "control the entire value chain" of the informal mining sector in order to boost state revenues ...

https://www.ft.com/content/90d2116a-4437-11ea-a43a-c4b328d9061c

[Boogieman]

This is not going to go well for the UK.

[Buckeye McFrog]

and Boris is what passes for a Conservative in Britain these days.

[Bonemaker]

The Brits sure love them some bans. Even Johnson...who supposedly is the closest thing they have to Trump...is a puss. I think the Queen would tell him to shove it.

[redshawk]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/05/cutting-cobalt-challenge-battery-industry-electric-cars-congo

[Midwesterner53]

Idiot UK policies are not limited to Labor it seems.

[Vaquero]

Ah. Coal powered. Neat!

[Bob434]

good luck finding mechanics to work on these- all the old school mechanics mostly won’t work on them-

[moovova]

We're pretty sure we know what everyone in the U.K. will be riding by 2035...

[dpetty121263]

The Sun has set on the British empire...

[samtheman]

Why are they hand-mining the cobalt? Why don’t they use gasoline powered earth moving equipment?

[mass55th]

I watched a TV series titled “The Widow” starring Kate Beckinsale. A large part of the program took place in the Congo, and the corruption that occurs in the mining of cobalt. I can’t remember exactly that the mining shown in the program was for cobalt, or for some other imaginary material, but it was a pretty powerful program, and I hadn’t thought about it until I saw the photo, and your comment.

[BobL]

BREXIT is great, but Johnson is still a Leftist, as many people here warned (not me, as I didn’t know either way).

[Ingtar]

Now he needs to learn the wonders of GWexit.

[Sergio]

People are adaptable, they will do like is done in Cuba and they will have 40 year old cars with boat engines modified to fit.

Unintended consequences. What will be done with all the no longer needed fuel stations and who gets to pay for the disposal of the underground fuel tanks? Not to mention the same but larger scale issues at unneeded refineries.

What about the hit to employment when those working at said fuel stations and refineries are unemployed.

Oh, and where will the power come from to charge up said vehicles? As cloudy as Great Briton is, solar is not really an option. Is the electrical grid ready for every house plugging in a car off of a 220-240V feed for the entire evening?

This has not been thought through.

[Moltke]

Chances are that by 2035 no one will remember these idiotic promises anyway.

That’s the way politicians operate. All of them. Let me repeat: ALL of them.

[Boomer]

So the UK is betting battery technology will drastically change so they are made of something okay for the environment, cheap, and readily available. Okay; I hope that works out.

The UK, being a relatively small place in comparison to Europe or the USA, could get away with a 300 mile charge except for work vehicles making deliveries unless that battery tech also means a 5 minute fast bump charge at readily available e-ports.

Time will tell but I predict we will be using gas engine cars as e-cars are phased in for at least 30 more years. Low income people can’t afford any new car worth much and that’s not going to change. Then there’s the replacement cost of a new battery bank which can cost up to $10k; another cost not affordable to low income people.

Then there’s the car aficionados who love their gas and diesel engine cars, trucks, Jeeps, etc.

I do see one possibility that will make the transition more palatable; kits that make existing vehicles into an e-vehicle. An entire industry could be built on that alone and would not create the problem of massive salvage and recycle yards full of today’s gas and diesel vehicles.

Lastly; the massive load increase on the power grid would have to be addressed as well.

[clearcarbon]

What is the greatest distance between any two points on that island?

[Mashood]

Lucas Electrics used to recharge vehicles....YIKES!

[central_va]

This is shocking.

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

Title: U.K. Moves to End Sales of All Non-Electric Cars by 2035

Why not? ALL of their automotive industry is owned by China, Germany and India. There are no UK auto manufacturers anymore.