How long until we see €2 a litre and will it push more to EV's faster?

No one is recycling them because the oldest EVs are 10-11 years old this year and there arent many that are end of life. Show me anyone who is burying an EV battery - since you "know a bit" - and I'll show you a fool.

You seems to be stuck on some loop. You already know you are not right but it is hard to admit you were not right hence your persistent "but EV battery" reasoning.

EV battery is predominantly lithium cell battery. As is laptop battery and many more. You also for some reason disregard hybrid cars which are here for much longer than your (incorrect) "oldest EVs are 10-11 years old" claim.

There isn't any lithium battery recycling and recovery done apart from some test projects. Simply because recycling and recovery of metals used in them is more expensive than value of metals recovered.

Still dropping

You're right, it would be much better to cut the number of cars in Ireland by 50%.

Government spending is prioritizing active travel and public transport, e.g. 360 million for active travel vs 100million for EVs in the last budget.

169.9 Bansha in tipp

170.0 self service in Tipp town

Creeping downwards

There is a difference between reducing the number of journeys and not owning a car at all. I suppose its much easier for the young single or at least childless class who can come and go as they please. Hop on a luas to go to work or a taxi to head out for a drink. Not as easy when you have kids and creches, schools, sports, parties, etc, etc are the daily norm. Oh I know why not get a bike with a trailer or a transport box up front. However as said earlier, the less well off may not have a choice in future and will just have to grin and bear as the better off swish by in their subsidised tech dripping EVs, preheated before their pampered bums hit the vegan leather all the time wallowing in the fuzzy warmth created by the knowledge that they are building a better world for their offspring.

OK maybe just a little melodramatic😊

That is very true about card payment in Germany. I’ve been travelling there for a few years and it’s only the recent stint that card was accepted absolutely everywhere. Used to have to ask before sitting down previous years. The resistance was explained to me by a restaurant owner that most Germans didn’t want to hand over any profit to the card company. Not sure how true that was.

But, back to EV’s. The greens here have always looked to their German counterparts as the bastion of change for the good. I was surprised that the average German seems to have ignored that message completely and voted with their wallet instead. I don’t have any data for the average commute by car for Germans outside of city wide public transport. But I expected at least some semblance of here with regard to EV purchases even in the smaller towns. There were none.

Yo are aware that most hybrids, particularly from 5-15+ years ago are not lithium ion batteries right? They are NiMH batteries and completely different to lithium ion.

I'm not saying lithium ion batteries are the panacea because they arent. LFP batteries are better, they can take a pounding without degrading but still there are problems. But to dismiss them out of hand and say people are burying lithium ion in landfill is pure and utter bunkum. Retail on lithium ion batteries at the moment is about €500 per kWh (broad assumption, ranges from low as 250 to highs of 1k depending on condition, chemistry, application etc). If you think a 20kWh battery with 50% degradation even - so 10kWh x 500€ or €5k total residual value - is being binned is sheer and utter nonsense.

Germany is a successful 1990s economy, that's still in the 1990s.

Given the rapid rate of deindustrialization now It will be hard to see what is left.

I used always pick up a report from the German factory, sent by fax each morning. Every other factory in Europe used email them to me. Fax is normal in Germany. Good internet is not, paperless offices are not, modern IT structures are not.