Leaderboard

Its called Agrivoltaic farming and has been happening for many years. Grapes seem to be a favourite crop to work with but I have seen others. Below Youtube vid is a specific example. Dozens of others throughout thew world and 15 commercial ones running in the UK as per the link at the bottom... 4 million Euro investment with 6,000 solar panels to protect and enhance his grape crop which are for Cognac production. The Times of IndiaA French winemaker spent €4 million on 6,000 solar panels...A cognac grower in western France has voluntarily given up the right to call his wine cognac, all so he could build a solar canopy over his vineyard. David Moreau planted four hectares of ugni blanc gSolarPanelsForFarms.ukAgrivoltaics UK 2026 | Solar Grazing, Crops + SFI ExplainedAgrivoltaics in the UK — solar panels plus sheep grazing, pollinator strips or crops. ~15 commercial projects operate today.Agrivoltaics — also called solar sharing or dual-use solar — is the practice of designing a solar PV installation so the land beneath the panels remains productive for grazing, pollinator habitat or even compatible crop cultivation. It is the most credible answer to the food-vs-energy land debate that has politicised large UK solar farms since 2023, and it has become commercially attractive for UK farmers in 2026 thanks to Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) payments that stack on top of solar generation income. Is agrivoltaics actually used in the UK?Yes — and the evidence base is now solid rather than speculative. A CMS Law expert guide (2025) reported around 15 commercial operational agrivoltaic projects in the UK, most of them small at roughly 1–5 MW. Sheep grazing under panels is the most-evidenced use-case: a 2025 Applied Energy study (Neesham-McTiernan et al.) treats UK solar grazing as already deployed and models national land potential for dual-use solar. The national-scale picture is just as supportive. University of Sheffield research (February 2025) found agrivoltaics could help the UK hit its solar PV targets without sacrificing farmland, naming East and South-East England (Cambridgeshire, Essex, Lincolnshire) as optimal regions. The gov.uk Solar Roadmap (June 2025) explicitly recognises dual-use and agrivoltaic solar as part of the route to the UK's 2030 solar ambition.

Electroverse have quite often taken nothing from my credit card that they have the info to charge from. I notice it is sometimes where first the CPS rfid card will not start a chsrgrer and then i use the Electroverse card and it takes an attempt or 3 before accepted. I have 2 cards from them. The one i use never shows as ever having any sessions used on it. But it has been used plenty and been paid for those sessions. I think with CPS i am up on free charges compared ti being charged for false starts and my complaint ignored.

Can you provide a link please..

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.

New user 1st time Skoda owner in Hampshire just saying hi. Just got a 4 month old ex demo Skoda Scala 1. TSI Monte Carlo today, part exchanged an MX5 ND for it plus finance, I have much to learn! Currently have a series 1 Nissan Elgrand aswell which is great to drive, but very thirsty, will look to sell that on in the near future. lawlozuk

He also is just plain wrong on several counts. Renault 4 is not roomy, back seats are only for those under 6 foor. Could not work out if it was a price which factors in government grants so not as big a discount from the manufacturer. Also what batteries are they ? Not mentioned that which can be key.

Hello all, new to the site and looking forward to swapping stories, gripes, fun, etc. Second skoda just arrived, same make different colour. Both are a joy to drive but I have some ?s on new setup. Keep them for later All the best DM

If those in charge did that, then the message would be so much more powerful in the eyes of others, but when they give a diktat that we should all be looking at and adopting the electric option, even if home charging is off the table for most drivers. But you don't see them in electric cars, armoured or not; then it's right back at the same level as BJ and his cabinet when they were having office parties and gatherings while others had the police knock their front doors down and were prosecuted for it. If you really want people to take the advice, then they themselves need to take the lead and set the examples. They would get a far better take-up rate if they had loads of charging hubs all over the place, loads more than there are currently, and these hubs need to be either government-funded and operated or part of the national grid or network operators. Have software installed in cars that identifies the car, its owner and who their current power supplier is, and then they get billed directly by that supplier at the special concessionary rate, so it enables all drivers to tap into the system and cars regardless of whether they can charge at home or not. Keep the PPM scheme to help replace the fuel duty so those who do a lot of miles pay pro rata as do ICE drivers. Take away all the refunds tax incentives, etc. If they had proper joined-up thinking like that in the beginning, then they might have witnessed many more EVs on the road right now.

Renault 5 was the best selling in the uk last month, not a Chinese car or a Korean one. ID2 / Polo EVs should sell well, particularly the Epiq and Raval version. Shame we get them later due to the first batches will be LHD and then the RHD versions get made. New ID3 and 4 Neos look like big improvement over first versions and could see the bigger sales. If not there are good Kias to choose as well as the successful Renaults.

When I fitted mine I found that you could just feel where the holes are. The undercoat would push in further where the holes were in the inner bodywork. I used a small round screwdriver to start the hole and finished it off with a 1/4 inch extension bar male end. Give us a shout if this is not enough detail for you. Thanks. AG Falco

Brill - thanks:

Sadly for manufacturers the benefits of EV,s are not meaning enough are bought new and first registerd to people buying or leasing for private use and all the pounds out of their pocket after they are already taxed. Maybe taxed on pensions even. Truth is Public Charging all times needed by much more than even 60% of drivers. Real world UK wide. PS, discounts on new EV,s all over the place and still the vast majority of drivers buying their new vehicle is swerving an EV.

Also I have the annoying issue with the radio after owning the car for 3 years. Started after one hot warm day in April this year. So now and then the volume keeps increasing (you know..), this now already for some months. Some days more, other days less. Its my wife’s daily’s car, so I have to come up with something.. Also read topics on the internet, informed the dealer.. Opening the device to clean was my last option. I have the hardware h56 version (software 1668). For me, now after 3 weeks of hot sun on vacation it looks solved. Could the issue with some cars also be static electricity in the device/plastic due to the heat, sun, airco and so on.. (Think most of us don’t use the bar..) With one hand I touch the touchpad, other hand some mass of the car (underneath seat or something) for approx 10 seconds, and the issue is not appearing anymore. Hope it stays this way.. 🙃

Right - I've just managed to look at the stuff from AutoDoc and have noticed there are no holes in the arch liners that would allow me to find the holes in the chassis... Hence is anyone able / willing to do some quick measurements for me to give me a fighting chance of finding them? I can go off the pictures in the threads linked above but measurements would also help tremendously! Thanks in advance!

So Mr an announcement a day PM is opening a consultation on how many EV,s will need to be first registered and by when. Let's see him and every MP receiving transportation from the public purse be in an EV, even if it is an Armoured one. And the mileage allowance for using their own vehicles set at 15 pence a mile. That's enough for their home charging or at grace and favour homes or public funded accomodation.

Everything is an issue. Everything needs thought about and blue sky thinking. OUT OF THE BOX. Places are planting trees to cool rivers because of the loss of fish. Lots of Old Coal Mines and Bings about, lots of derelict Runways and lots of land where there was nuclear plants and will be decades before ever built on.

Climate Change. Maybe time in the UK that there are areas of solar panels providing shade on river banks, canals and water reservoirs etc. Protect the water from the sun and protect land from flooding by collecting rain with a channel like on roofs and take the water to the storage pond, lake or whatever covered by solar panels.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

Hi all just to update on tsi fabia slugish, gone through general things plugs,leads, fuel system all found ok took air filter, new filter fitted then notice air pipe from turbo out not fitted correct,so check parts to and cleaned them, insalled together. then tested along same bit of road, wow what a difference. So heres what happened, Fabia purchased from Copart front pasenger side damaged. Cost 1100 , wing repaired new n/s lower arm, 2 new lower ball joints front New head light, new fog drive light n/s, two track rod ends 1 control arm, new windscreen, and front airbags and seat belt tensioners front, inner wheel arch, new power steering pump. Front shock absorbers, diagnostic calbration on all vehicle. Total cost 1,200 and a labour of love and training for my son. Hence time frame iam disabled using crutch Alas no getting on floor of drive.

Yes, we've had some pretty large wildfires, fields, woods and building fires, had some fire engines destroyed and many fire fighters hospitalised, as has many other places across the UK. Almost an annual event these wildfires and so many are the result of people being careless when smoking, with barbecues etc. Hoping we get some rain soon, we need to fill the resivours again solve this national drought.

Some rain due here Monday and today only suppose to hit about 30c after yesterday's 38c. I have never known anything like it in this country as the feel of the temperature here was more like Southern European weather. 1976 was the year Punk started rather than 1977 that many think. Anarchy in the UK was out and we had The Damned and The Ramones starting to knock out their hits. Last year of senior skool for me and already planning my escape to run away to sea to see the world. The Repperbahn, back forth across The Pond, Basrah, Oz and many other places on visiting route. Hope we don't get standpipes as part of water use restriction as that is a pain.

Mine would be the same as 2019 model year so good to know.

Pishing down here. After the glorious 12th which was not so glorious everyplace the weather has broken. So seasonal as pretty much usual. Every summer has not been as fantastic as the summer of 1976. Kiki Dee and Elton John. Don't go breaking my heart. Motorbikes, playing pool while the jukebox played and drinking and just a time when the price of petrol or drink did not matter. And on an apprentices wage plus some freebies from working in a garage.

It is officially @3:years / 30,000 miles in the UK for MK3 Octavia, but tuners like Awesome GTI they recommended 20,000 miles. MK4 Octavia are officially @2 years / 20,000 miles. I remember the thread that got a bit heated on the VAQ diff. I remember all threads I post in. But I think it was deleted because of abuse by a member and it was not me. It was a member that did not like this forum because we bullied him. Because we did not take what he said as being fact, because it was not.

Officially, in the UK, it is 30,000 miles or 3 years - whatever arrives sooner. This isn’t the thread I was thinking of @Evolution13 - I might have a dig for it. It wasn’t this old, and there was definitely an argument of some sort 😂 I do remember grabbing screenshots and quotes from various places.

5E is the model code for the Mk3, while NX is for the Mk4 (MQB Evo) variant. The reason you’re seeing the two for 2020 is that there was a crossover in generations. OPs car, like mine, is a MY2019 car, registered in 2020. For all intents and purposes, stick 2019 into parts finders and the like. IIRC both cars have the same differential, but the Mk4 adds the Vehicle Dynamics Manager in the mix - slightly different part numbers and slightly different software (control, calibration, etc), I would imagine. I can’t see the physical parts being much/any different. Someone else will know more. As far as OP is concerned, just let the guys use whatever. IIRC they only use VW kits for the differential stuff (but can use Millers for other stuff, if you don’t want Castrol).

Brake pad wear and therefore lifespan is very much a function of driving style and journey types. I personally find that garages always under estimate how long they will last; partially because they have to err on the side of safety - although this is open to looking like generating extra revenue. I usually change front pads at 72,000 miles, never had rear pads changed even after 162,000 miles in a previous car.

I was having random misfire without any warning on the cluster even vcds didn’t show anything, after replacing ignition lead (for the updated one with the heat shield around each ignition lead) and the spark plugs the misfire was still present after replacing the ignition coil the misfire went away, from the outside it wasn’t presenting anything wrong so if is still the original try to replace it

I've just remembered that the "safety data ref" on the labelling of both these products are different, so must be a significant "chemical makeup" between them.

Bargain 😄 I thought they where about £20 each

When a professional dealer sells a vehicle presented as pristine, but it actually conceals massive structural repairs and undisclosed heavy fillers, the situation goes far beyond a simple oversight. Even though the vehicle has a history with previous owners and transfers, consumer protection laws hold professional sellers to a high standard of transparency, penalizing misleading omissions. The buyer is not challenging a minor cosmetic scratch, but a hidden defect severe enough to undermine the very basis of the purchase. Consequently, legal action relies not on the assumption that a quick visual check should have caught it, but on the principle that trading a compromised asset without proper disclosure breaches the contract, justifying full restitution and compensation.

keeping them in. All the lights are now LED and without taking things apart there is no way of seeing, especially with the headlights inside the globes. MOT testers are not allowed to dismantle stuff to inspect things anway, so as long as they point in the right direction and are the right colour they won't know!

I have no idea what makes this Kamiq a 2027 model, the only thing I can find is the addition of front parking sensors. Maybe cornering lights? It's a specced up SE L slightly rather than choose the Monte Carlo ( I don't like sports seats or panoramic roof etc). So spare wheel, Winter Pack, one extra years warranty and the 18" Vega Aero wheels + two years free servicing. I had a mid range dashcam fitted. My wife's 2015 Fabia went to my Granddaughter - still in excellent condition with low mileage. My previous fears were the filament wires in the heated windscreen - which ARE visible but very faint as others correctly told me - I had assumed when ordering that windscreens had moved on and was expecting the clear copper conductive type screen as in my 2022 Karoq. No big deal. I hadn't spotted the wheels were 45 aspect ratio, expecting 50 like the Karoq. Again not a problem - not too much of a bumpy ride. Oh and the bingy-bongs that we all have to endure now are quiet and unobtrusive unlike some cars I have been in recently. I can turn off the lane assist when im driving, my wife enjoys wrestling so she's happy and it's her car. Allegedly . All in all a great car and we are happy with the choice. But I would not have chosen white 😁

@Hobron What had you done to solve the issue, and was it a lack of go issue? WAS THE OLD PETROL DRAINED OUT? Where there fault codes when you had an issue, where there mis-fires? Was the fuel OK, the fuel filter OK and where the Spark Plugs, Coils , cables? Was that what you replaced to solve things? How many miles has the car done?

Quick shot in the field, i did drag my sideskirts on the ground just a bit 😁

From memory and looking at the Autodoc pictures I can't tell if you do or don't need them. This is what they look like: - https://www.skoda-parts.com/spare-part/1s08109879b9-adapter-skoda-42103.html Thanks. AG Falco. PS. same colour as our Citigo, nice.

Well it's arrived...

I better not, need to get used to all that brutal power increase before going for more 😂

Worthwhile getting the kit with the oil filler cap as that pushes the combined increase closer to 15bhp. 😂

For everyone interested, I put the newest versions ALL in ONE link: MIB3_Skoda_SW_1941_1969_1985_1989 I upgraded with this files one by one, no issues. Hope it helped.

The bulbs are shaped to mimic xenon beam spread. And being in projector globes I think it limits this issue as it controls the reflection more. I’ve had the bulbs in over 6 months and not anyone flash me so I’m taking that as meaning that they are ok! If I get issues or it gets pulled up at MOT then of course I will Change back to xenon

No. Some of them cannot be disabled at all (Like Event Data Recorders). Others can be disabled by the driver, but must automatically re-enable themselves at every "key-on" (i.e. "startup"). Sadly, all the most irritating ones (Lane Keep Assist, Emergency Lane Keep Assist, Intelligent Speed Assist), are ones that have to be disabled on every startup.