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[Edit to clarify what I was saying "not necessarily" to] I wouldn't necessarily assume that manufacturers will waste that time. I did a day's worth of policy

[Edit to clarify what I was saying "not necessarily" to] I wouldn't necessarily assume that manufacturers will waste that time. I did a day's worth of policy work with the UK Department for Transport and the regional heads of some manufacturers so know a little bit about how they're thinking about the problem. In the past there's been a progressive reduction in emissions, pushing manufacturers to work fairly hard in the short term to meet the targets they've been set. There've been some noteworthy examples of cheating because it's not easy to balance emissions targets against cost and all the other constraints on manufacturing. One of the policies they're already discussing is to give manufacturers short-term breathing room in emissions standards so that they stop chasing local maxima and dedicate some proper R&D time to making super-low emissions possible in the medium term. So yeah, I think manufacturers will try and get away with what they can, but they're not stupid. They know this problem isn't going away (both from an environmental and a regulatory perspective) and solving it will be a competitive advantage.

patentatt 9y ago
That’s actually good to hear, and a reasonable stance. I’m not a mechanical engineer, what’s the difference beteeen local maxima and more long term solutions when it comes to ICE though? My lay perspective is that there is no big breakthrough on the horizon that will dramatically change ICE tech, am I uninformed?
- richmarr 9y ago
  I don't know. The context of the policy day was around encouraging adoption of EVs and HEVs rather than better ICE vehicles. Perhaps that's a signal. I personally see it as mostly a marketing challenge so spent most of my time chasing things like charging point standardisation & visibility, and pushing approaches that might change perceptions of EVs, such as changing the standard yellow for blue (or green, jury's out) to make them stand out whilst driving to address the perception that it's unusual.
  - headmelted 9y ago
    The blue-tinted badges seem wrong somehow, if only because "blue" is assocated with Diesel (BlueHDI, BlueMotion etc). I would expect them to be green-tinted (although there may be a counterargument to that based on something I'm not seeing), although I acknowledge that it's nitpicking.
    - richmarr 9y ago
      Personally I have no idea what you're talking about when you say "BlueHDI", I had to look it up, so clearly there's an element of subjectivity here. Similarly things like football team colours may also come into play, so perhaps there should be a choice. That said, I have no idea whether (a) apparent social norms are actually the main problem to adoption or (b) whether the DVLA could be convinced to adopt new policies for rear-plate colours.

patentatt 9y ago

That’s actually good to hear, and a reasonable stance. I’m not a mechanical engineer, what’s the difference beteeen local maxima and more long term solutions when it comes to ICE though? My lay perspective is that there is no big breakthrough on the horizon that will dramatically change ICE tech, am I uninformed?

richmarr 9y ago
I don't know. The context of the policy day was around encouraging adoption of EVs and HEVs rather than better ICE vehicles. Perhaps that's a signal. I personally see it as mostly a marketing challenge so spent most of my time chasing things like charging point standardisation & visibility, and pushing approaches that might change perceptions of EVs, such as changing the standard yellow for blue (or green, jury's out) to make them stand out whilst driving to address the perception that it's unusual.
- headmelted 9y ago
  The blue-tinted badges seem wrong somehow, if only because "blue" is assocated with Diesel (BlueHDI, BlueMotion etc). I would expect them to be green-tinted (although there may be a counterargument to that based on something I'm not seeing), although I acknowledge that it's nitpicking.
  - richmarr 9y ago
    Personally I have no idea what you're talking about when you say "BlueHDI", I had to look it up, so clearly there's an element of subjectivity here. Similarly things like football team colours may also come into play, so perhaps there should be a choice. That said, I have no idea whether (a) apparent social norms are actually the main problem to adoption or (b) whether the DVLA could be convinced to adopt new policies for rear-plate colours.