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Yes, we have sheep farms down here as well, still not seen sheep and solar together California is not the UK. There are over 25 complete fields near me that have become solar farms, with many more being constructed, and the lion's share of them are made up of rows of panels, 2 panels wide with a single panel gap between rows, which get more shade on the ground than would be ideal for growing, etc. That being said, there is one solar farm (covering many fields) where the rows are 4 panels wide, with some better spacing between them, but here again, there are fields laid out as 3 panels wide and a 1-panel gap. The aerial shots show these.

Can you provide a link please..

Not on a fabia but a Seat. The grommet that you mentioned thats too tight on mine had enough rubber at edge to push a length of fencewire through to engine bay and then taped cable to it and pulled it back through. You could also try snipping end off arrow marked and feed cable through there if it has one. Use vaseline etc to make cable slide easier or as I did stiffer wire first so you can pull it through.

Numerous articles, not difficult to find. California doing much of this work ie lessening evaporation from irrigation channels by covering then with solar panels.

Re Solar farms and agricultural use for grass or animals, then yes there is productivity at some. You are not going to have sheep in regions where there are not sheep being reared. But there might be times like winter when sheep are wintered in regions with less severe weather. As happens lots in Scotland. There is also Wildlife to consider and a better use of land than just Set Aside as there is money paid for all around England to have land out of Agricultural use. Plenty unproductive land around that solar can go on, those that farm know what is the best economically for them. Lots of Slipper Farmers about earning as an energy company and could not care about feeding the public who want food cheaper than it costs to produce.

Skoda asked me to try E5 and if anything it was worse on E5! Mine generally stops when it is out of gear (first instances were slow approach to a junction where you are guessing which gear to be in so you can slot into a gap, but the engine stops without warning leaving you stranded) so there is no load on the engine at all. If I stall it the SS takes over and restarts the engine!

Škoda StoryboardHow the Škoda Octavia reached 365 km/h - Škoda StoryboardOver the 30 years since its debut, the modern Škoda Octavia has achieved a number of remarkable milestones. However, one accomplishment stands out among them. Looking back to 2011, this is the story oŠkoda StoryboardPractical, fun, stylish. 5 reasons to choose the Epiq - Š...The new Škoda Epiq has a number of advantages that makes it a great electric car for a wide audience. Its affordability—without compromising on technology—plays an important role, but its qualities do

I can get down to the floor but its the getting up again for me. Glad you got it sorted and it was a simple fix. Alasdair

Absolutely right, people's experiences will vary widely according to the local terrain.

@lol-lol while there is some truth in what you say, the same is also true for all cars as regards to hypermiling. However I think you missed the point, if the grid struggles and they disable chargers at night time as reported by @Evolution13 then only those like you, able to charge at home would be OK. Fact is there are more unable to charge at home then those that can. Unless the grid can dramatically increase it's resilance then those concerns will not be dispelled. As EVs increase year on year should the grid struggle then power cuts, and restrictions will be coming to everyone regardless of what type of car they drive, including you with your home charge and storage would suffer. This is always going to a major concern/problem when relying on a single energy source. Incidentally I notice you have not given me any evidence of the farmers actually using space between solar arrays for food crops, or animals in the shelter of them. Is it because this is not what is actually happening on the ground? I certainly have not seen any examples to date anywhere on my travels.

Hi all. I'm midway through a project involving installing aftermarket amp in the boot of my Fabia Mk3 (1.0 TSI, RHD). However I can't for the life of me find a suitable, accessible grommet to route my 4 gauge power cable from the battery to the interior. I've removed the glovebox and kick panel, but still can't find a grommet. I've tried the one underneath the scuttle panel on the passenger side, but the seal is way too tight to accommodate an additional cable. If anyone has successfully routed such a cable on their RHD Fabia, let me know what grommet you used and if anything needed to be removed to gain access! Any advice would be really massively appreciated Cheers

I get 20+ miles for what looks like only 1 or 2 kWh when i descend from Glenshee, the Lecht or down Cairn 0 Mount. I use quite a bit of energy climbing to the highest point before the coming down. Same as with an ICE vehicles really and the fuel use. Using less regen and coasting works better than slowing the vehicle all the time, just use the extra regen as you would the brakes or lower gear, so as and when.

Update 2 Car went in to dealers at the end of July for a further 2 days. Skoda technical got involved and they tried resetting everything again, disconnected the battery for 30 mins in the hope it fixed it. It didn’t. The initial update/reset a few weeks ago did fix the pano roof and interior light issues but the infotainment problem was still there. Upshot now is the control unit is going to be replaced under warranty in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed that will finally be the end of it but it does put me off doing any further updates when/if they get released. I extended the warranty on the car at time of purchase, so glad I did now as I’ve lost confidence in Skoda software updates.

HI yes i found that thank you, they arent taking bookings until 7th Sept though, if i cant get it done by then i'll go through them

Success! I removed the USB Android Auto wifi box, rebooted the Amundsen and my phone, re-connected the box and everything now works as it should. Must have been the hot weather…

EVs are very good at hypermiling. Whilst we tend to see between 3.5 and 5 miles per KWh if one goes in to hypermiling mode and can get close to 10 miles per KWh if one really tries. When Bjorn Nyland does his drive to they die tests he takes with him lithium battery box which has 2.2 KWh and an additional slave battery to feed the main battery / inverter box so he has about 4 KWh. Also sometimes takes a portable solar panel array if it is day time and that can add to the electricity able to go into the EV should one be standed. One can take a jerrycan of fuel but that is a smelly and potentially dangerous option. The EV options are more than the ICE options in my view and these options are improving, as with EVs, at a staggering pace as the performance is rising fast and cost falling equally fast. When I have had a tough choice, only twice in 5 years, once I drove many miles past 0% SOC with no problem and second time just rerouted down the B roads where the route was shorter and economy very much better ie about twice, so got home no problem and topped up on the super cheap home electricity. Far more likely, especially with the current situation with diesel fuel, that diesel drivers will increasingly struggle to get hold of that type of fuel. Electricity is available in over 10M places and can be home stored and generated to put into ones EV.

@titch1 this is what I found much later 🙄

Moved to Octavia MkIII

Hi everyone, I am experiencing a very specific and intermittent issue with my 2014 Škoda Octavia vRS (2.0 TDI, CUPA engine, 135kW, MQB platform). The car currently has 234,000 km on the clock. The problem only occurs while driving. The exact symptoms and sequence on the screen: While driving (the engine is already at operating temperature), the Infotainment screen suddenly shows the message: "Vehicle power consumption is too high". Immediately after, the dashboard displays: "Error: Start-Stop". At the exact same time, the engine idle speed jumps and gets locked around 1100 RPM. Together with this, I can also feel a slight resistance/subtle heaviness in the steering wheel when turning. It is not a major loss of power steering, but a noticeable change in assist. This is not a new symptom; it has always happened alongside the error. Once this happens, the high idle, slight steering resistance, and the error do not go away until I turn the car off. After restarting the engine, everything goes back to normal. This happens completely randomly (intermittently) — the car can run fine for days or weeks in between. What has already been checked and ruled out: Diagnostic Scan: Surprisingly, a diagnostic scan was performed, and there are absolutely no fault codes (DTCs) stored in the ECU or Gateway module regarding this. EGR Cooler: The EGR cooler has been replaced recently. Battery & Start-Stop: Most of the time, the Start-Stop system works completely normally (the car shuts off and restarts at traffic lights), meaning the AGM/EFB battery has good health and capacity. DPF and Injectors: The DPF has been professionally cleaned, the injectors have been tested, and everything is in perfect condition. DPF Regeneration: When the error occurs and I pull over to turn off the engine, the radiator fans are NOT running on high. The car goes quiet immediately, so a cancelled DPF regeneration is definitely ruled out. Because of the specific warning sequence (High consumption → Start-Stop Error) combined with the subtle steering change, it is clear there is a genuine, temporary voltage drop in the system. I strongly suspect either a bad alternator freewheel pulley, an intermittent fault in the alternator voltage regulator, or a loose/oxidized main ground strap. Has anyone experienced this exact issue on the MQB platform, and what was the root cause in your case? Any advice would be greatly appreciated before I take the car back to my mechanic. Thank you for your help!

Or just have to pay a higher tariff and wait longer to charge. One of these things the public have no control over. Weather, Strikes, or wars and fuel price rises or there are shortages. We might all remember various crisis like fuel tanker strikes or wars and rationing.

This has been one of the concerns of many motorists; if this kind of event happened, they could be left stranded or unable to get to work, etc.

They, and other electricity users, are being restricted mainly because the country's power plants are not able to continue producing full electricity they would normally do because the rivers they draw cooling water from are running dry. This is happening in many European countries. France has almost 50 nuclear power stations but the ones that draw from rivers like the Loire just are not able to draw enough water to operate. Whether gas turbine, coal, nuclear they are only about 35% - 45% efficient and hence need vast amounts of colling water to recondense the steam etc. Fortunately in the UK we don't have this problem as I think all or almost all our power stations use sea water as they are positioned on the UK's massive coastline. This will be another factoring in of replacing all these power sources as they become unreliable in hot weather. Romania in big problem as the big nuclear reactor that pulls cooling water of the Danube is having to throttle back big time, it provides 20% of Romania's power. Another problems is these big rivers are becoming unnavigable, Danube and Rhine the big barages are having to carry less cargo or go aground. I think Europe we look at this summer, the fires, the power losses and the massive extra heat related deaths and redouble its effort tto operate in hotter climates in a more resilient way as well as further bear down on reducing their input into the atmosphere of carbon. I was shocked when the UK Grid guys came to my house to oversee my house fuses being derated from 100A to 80A due to global warning when I had my second EV charging box fitted ie UK houses electrical system will not cope with these higher ambient temperatures !!

My columbus on a 2013 Skoda superb is going on and off inconsistently (with a pop) How can i find you in north Yorkshire to get a repair or replacement?

Just wondered if anyone had had an airbag recall letter? I've seen on various Up! forums etc. that some owners have started receiving recall letters for issues with Takata airbags.

Well a large box from Autodoc has arrived this morning which should be most of what I need for the wheelarches. I'm still waiting for the adapters from LLL Parts but they should be here shortly. After that it's fuel filler cap off, clean and treat any rust, and fit the liners. I've also got a new pollen filter to fit and an Auto headlight switch module too. Should keep me quiet for an hour or so...