Power BEV

The way even the latest "cooking" BEVs are thrashing their petrol equivalents with ease, will anyone want an M5 going forward?

The M5 artificially synthesises the exhaust note and engine sound using the car's speakers so there's no reason a BEV can't do the same and replicate the experience. 

The latest battery technologies are looking to do away with the precious metals required in current ones and replacing them with more readily found ones so that doesn't worry me too much. And of course the recycling of existing ones to retrieve those precious metals will become evermore sophisticated. 

I don't even worry too much about electricity shortages - as a country we're past peak electricity demand (down 9% in the last 7 years) and as lighting, appliances and industry becomes even more efficient this will fall further. We're also world leaders in installed offshore wind energy which continues to generate electricity regardless of demand, so this needs to be stored. The obvious solution to storing this surplus energy is BEVs plugged into the grid at night. 

Also, if we build the nuclear plants they are proposing, again, they generate power all the time and that needs to be stored. 

The other way of storing this surplus electricity is to use it to produce hydrogen. 

Not strictly true. Complaining about DONG Energy, Orsted or E.On developing offshore wind is like complaining about Shell, Exxon or Chevron developing North Sea oil and gas.

As I look out of my window I can see the huge foundation pieces for the offshore windfarms being loaded onto barges in the Tees, then you have the installation of the turbines being done by a company based in Stokesley, the huge cables to transmit the power to shore made in Hartlepool, the testing done in Blyth, Siemen's huge factory in Hull. Other local companies make the bridge equipment to get people onto the turbines, all the maintenance and training etc. The value to the supply chain is massive. 

BiFab closed because of the downturn in the Oil and Gas market and the demand for their complex subsea structures dried up. They were never in the business of rolling can for welding into windfarm columns - their business model wouldn't support low value work like that. It's done in China and the Far East for cost reasons - whether they are transported here as completed products or the raw steel is shipped here for further welding the carbon footprint is the same. As with the new Forth Bridge the steel is imported from China as the EU makes it as difficult as possible for European steel makers to produce competitive steel.