lol-lol

Polestar went with no rear window for a year or 2 in one of theur models but the window is vack now. Proved unpopular it seems.

Sad UK did not get it right like France did

Be interesting to see if UK adopts a diesel scrappemage scheme again. Talking to an Irish Taxi driver a few months ago he had just acquired a Toyota BZ4 and benefitted from a 10k Euros scrappage on his Dacia Logan / Sandero scrappage which was only a few years old. Seems even to me that scrapping a say 3, or 4 or 5 year old car is excessive. UK scrappage scheme was only £2k i recall and there are a few smoky old diesels on the road that should be fixed or scrapped. Another thought is that if the UK was to introduce Anti Dumping on EVs it would create a windfall tax receipt of thousands of Chinese EVs coming out of Cystoms Warehouse at the UK docks. Having been part of the Customs team at Portbury where we gad up to 100k vehicles in stock could ve a tidy sum just on the ordinary customs duty front !

My old firm Ceva is absolutely dedicated to reducing carbon footprint print and whether that is going full EV, or using HVO or LNG in the case of ships that can load up to 4,000 tonnes of fuel at a time. I think diesel needs to be there in case we have a "nuclear" winter caused by war or natural disasters like Icelandic volcanos or the Atlantic warm water stream stopping as it is due to in the next 2 or 3 decades which would lower SE England average temperatures by about 10 C. We would need all the energy diversities we can get.

All about demand and margins. If demand relates to diesel cars doing the miles on the road that is in a natural decline as their percentage on the road declines. Also about margins. So garage operators claim that selling fuel is very low margin and they make more from selling pop and crisps than from fuel. EV charging you xan have a captive audience for about 20 minutes and selling them a coffee etc can provide really income. Would lile to see more garages rip out their pumps and create sites lije Gridserve's Electric Forecourts. So impressive just need more of them, if they can get the Grid connection or install battery Mega Packs. Shell did this in Jan 2022, more please. https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/news/2022/01/fulham-now-home-world-s-first-shell-ev-charging-hub

Great to see Elfyn become WRC Champion 2026. Commiserations to Olly Solberg. Coverage on C4 was good and helping my Welsh come along. Usually watch on TNT though. Hope Welsh government does a parade. Also congrats to Latvala, team Principal. Nice guy, spoke to him on one of the last WRC Welsh rally.

Our Clio "self charging hybrid" was lovely to drive for 23 months. Low down oomph of the electric motor and range of the petrol engine even though the tank was bit less than 40 litres. Well into the mid or upper 60 mpgs in summer, dropping just below 60 mpg in depths of winter. Coming back from Ferrari Challenge at Oulton Park and we got a flat tyre. Gunge did not work so out came RAC. Changing wheel for the RAC man's spare and dash light up like Blackpool illuminations. With hybrids more than twice as mych to go wrong, maybe 4 times as much as the systems xan seem to go in to conflict. Would never get a hybrid again. Or maybe only a Toyota as their biuld quality and experience sets them apart. And... https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/features/366162/petrol-station-ev-charging-station-future-uk-forecourts

The Times reports that UK is close to imposing similar Anti Dumping additional customs duty to full EVs that the European Union does which is in addition to the 10% Ad Valorem usual customs duty. This would not apply to PHEVs or HEVs. Not seen a break down of Chinese car imports BEVs v PHEVs v HEVs but as Chinese made cars make about a quarter of cars sold in UK it would affect tens of thousands of cars potentially sold each month and the bill per car would be about £2k to £4k per car so an extra few tens of millions of pound per month extra revenue for UK government. BEV sales would probably slow a bit and HEV and PHEV increase which would be against the UK's carbon lowering agenda but keep UK revenues from diving quite so quickly due to Excise taxes maintaining and VAT on fuel sales. SAIC cars ie MG, Maxus BEVs etc woukd be worst hit with BYD least if memory serves. Click bait from Upgrader website but seen this before as diesel sales dwindle especially in big cities like London where EV operation is higher than in the countryside.....

Younger daughter does not like me using powerful Regen. Scenic has 4 levels i can use. So when she goes in the car I stick it mild or mid Regen and just leave it there. Hard to do when so use to doing lots of variable Regen. It can add 10% to the range.

Perhaps we are experiences some similarities to the early 70s with the oil crisis which I just about remember as was born in 1961. Crazy price rises, inflation, power shortages meaning receiving a note thru thd door for when your 4 hours without electricity were going to be. The US imposing a Federal wide speed limit of 55 mph. In metric Canada it was 100 kph ie 62 mph nominal. Drastic times which we hope are not repeated but there is a chance.

But dealers don't want diesel trade ins when customers want to get an EV says Car Dealer magazine..... Car Dealer MagazineSoaring fuel prices spark rush for used EVs – but dealers...Soaring fuel prices are resulting in more motorists considering making the switch to electric cars – but specialist EV dealers say they are increasingly

My lad has been put on standby for busy time, he works for one of the super large Fast Parcel Operators. Always the tough choices as to air or sea freight. About half of air freight travel on the regular air passenger flights and the other half on dedicated freight aircraft. For the solar invertors air freight would be fine but not for 20 Kg solar panels which are circa 1.8m tall. I have been looking at the flexible solar panels which seem to weigh about a quarter what rigid solar panels. Not sure of any big disadvantages with them. Batteries, ie so called solar batteries wwth large Lithium batteries present their own challenges as Dangerous Goods. I think Octopus are talking about 7 or 8 weeks delay if a balcony solar kit now but since we are rapidly moving in to the darker tine of year I think it is price that is key. I would like to see the 460w system down below £400 which i would hope it will be and therefore payback in two spring/summer/autumn period rather than 3. Shipping both at sea and inkand UK is quite expensive. I think kne xan still get sub £2k shipping of a 40 ft container if one is moving bulk ie several containers at a time. UK shipping kf these giant near 2m long solar panels when, unless ordering many at a time, the shipping is almost as expensive as the panels. Free shipping if one orders say 16 or more panels ie couple of thousand quid worth, ouch. Maybe a family and friends order. Do like some are doing and replacing fencing panels with solar panels, good for the morning or evening sun in lare autumn, winter and early spring with their tangential aspect to the ground.

I am going to hold off on getting home solar and wait to see if there are some bargains on Black Friday - Cyber Monday and the aftermath of those events as that is when I have ended to get the best prices on home batteries, solar panels etc. Even if I buy then ie next month I may wait until late Jan or Feb to install when the sun meaningfully returns to the Northern Hemisphere. With some help, rather than ground or wall mount, I will probably pop the panels on to one of my tracking array. As Martin Lewis says it is amazing how many people are on the variable, PANTS, tariff. Many people seem indifferent or just not getting it that changing tariff or acquiring this increasingly cheap tech can pay for itself in 2 to 3 years. About half the UK seems to be very difficult to help even for their own good, ever thus. Tech Radar reports of Octopus .................... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Octopus Energy says its plug-in solar kits have sold out again — but 'more are on the way' to save you up to £150 a year on bills News By Mark Wilson Published 2 days ago The sun continues to shine on plug-in solar... Octopus Energy says it's sold out of its plug-in solar kits for a second time. More stock of the now-legal kits is apparently "on the way" Meanwhile, manufacturer UKSOL says more retailers are stocking its kits The threat of a worsening energy crisis is pushing many of us towards tech that could help cut our growing bills — and Octopus Energy says it's now sold out of its plug-in solar kits for a second time in less than four weeks, after being "blown away" by the demand. Plug-in solar kits, which can be installed without professional help, were legalised in the UK just over a month ago. Octopus Energy has been offering two DIY kits to customers, with a choice or one 460W panel (£450) or two panels (£650, including VAT and curb-side delivery). The energy giant says that "thousands of households" have been trying to get one of its plug-in kits, but supply hasn't been able to meet demand. Octopus says the first 500 kits were gone in two weeks, and it's just sold out another batch. https://www.techradar.com/home/energy-saving/octopus-energy-says-its-plug-in-solar-kits-have-sold-out-again-but-more-are-on-the-way-to-save-you-up-to-gbp150-a-year-on-bills

Let's expect and hope their is something in thd budget in 27 days time. Current government wants UK household to get off fossil fuels usage in cars, homes, trucks etc and lots of financial incentives to do but needs more agents out there making it happen.

How i wonder when electricity generation from gas is down to about a third of the energy mix and falling rapidly. Even their role as peaker plants for the 1600 to 1900 peak is diminishing as more grid and home batteries are installed plus home / balcony solar. Add to that Hinkley and Sizewell the use of gas for main stream power generation in the uk has a short future. Like to see it held back for emergency use and ships.

Truly outstanding figures. Firstly good to see overall car regisrrations up over 12% ! Good sign for economy and moving forward. Full electric sales last month nearly one hundred thousand cars. Plug in hybrids nearly sixty thousand and 46k HEVs. Good to know an ever increasing stock of cars not at the mercy of foreign oil prices.

Many EV owners who public charge, and have choice, avoid single and twin charge sites and head to ones with 4,6,8,12, 16, 32, 100 charger sites as much less chance of all the chargers being occupied or out of service. The Google software ware tells us how many chargers are available in real time and what their kwh price is. There are well over 120k public chargers now and aim is to have 300k within the next 5 years though my next EVs to replace the 5 and Scenic will gave more range further reducing my need to public charge. There are of course over 30M biuldings in the UK which one can use a 3 pin plug with which is what i do when visiting my brother. He is on Octopus COSY tariff as it is a new biuld with no gas supply. I charge up and give him over the odds so we both win. Electricity will be significantly cheaper from today due to the vat cut. I have charged a little on public chargers as well at home but also at the tens of thousands of destinations chargers, works ones, clients and hotels. There is a scheme which households can sell their electricity to other EV users who park on their drive for a bit. HMRC allow up to £1k pa of sals before registration and taxation is required. Co Charge, Zap-Home and Just Charge to name 3. I would like to acquire thd ability to 3 phase charge and it will be high on my next home attributes. My Scenic can charge at 22 KW AC 3 phase. Might need a Home battery to 3 phase machine, at least 11 KW which is where most cars are going as, like my 5, the more recent priority is to have the EV able to act as supply to the devices, V2L, or home ir sell vack to the Grid at a higher price than bought. Things moving fast but good to know I can go many hours or even days from batteries in the home or in the car.

On the day cost of charging an EV at home drops 4.8% due to the VAT removal......

Some charge locations need a battery box as a buffer. But sad that ths sites who nearly always getting it right ars TESLA. Over 99% uptime which they allshould have but only TESLA seem to manage it. The Gridserve Electric Forecourts are also great, and have battery banks to ensure published flow rates but as to others still hit and miss Ever bigger car batteries mean less public charging and now home charging, with the VAT off, is great.

Oft a way to reduce or negate the cost. I have two wallboxes but did not fully pay for either. First one had government grant for most of the cost, that was under the Con party. Second one was a freebie when the Scenic one European Car of The Year. Both will add value to the house when I sell the house next year as increasingly it is something new owners expect to see as a fitment to houses.

Depends who you are. If Saudi linked watch out. Talking to one of my colleagues they are completing massive extra paperwork for insurance going thru Red Sea and that sets the extra insurance premium plus Suez transition fees are up hugely too as Egypt was not getting its massivc canal revenue. I gather more Saudi oil is getting thru Hormuz and the pipeline has been repaired so flows ar me good at tge moment but it will take weeks or months for that oil to bring the prices down to prewar levels so well in to next year probably.

A mere 1.5B barrels it is estimated and even going for those dodgy economic last dregs would not get us past half our current need for oil. Gas is in better shape so pergaps ws should ve looking at more LNG cars like Dacia and a few others do. Also much less polluting the liquid fossil fuel.

Relying on any energy supply from such a distant and troubled area has always be dodgy and from personal experience being caught up in the Iraq - Iran war 1980 - 1985, hundreds of thousands died, and trouble has been off and on since then. British renewable are the answer, incl nuke, with fossil fuel just as backup.

Oil moving thru Hormuz is pretty much back to pre Gulf war levels but it is several other factors adding to the landed cost. Insurance premiums are sky high, millions of USD per trip for Persian Gulf and Red Sea. Egypt put up the Suez transit costs massively Some Suezmax ships circa 140 kt or less still choose to take the South Africa route rather than Suez. Cost and tome, time is money, mean even if flows are back to normal the additional elements are stacking up landed cost. Saudi is reportedly going to discount crude picked up from Damman ie East coast ports to encourage tankers to go there. With strategic reserves at such a low and winter coming up fast some tough decesions and bidding will occur.

Cracking prices. Use to be ASDA as well guaranteed to be several pence cheaper but now only Cosco and a few independent ones substantially cheaper. They say there is no cartel but it looks like one with a few garages actually breaking out with higher prices not lower ones. Looking forward to a trip to Cosco with one of the kids who has a car though they are the ones who have just change main vehicle from Caddy to Buzz but they also have a petrol Fabia and Toyota 2+2 cars so only started tge transition today.