lol-lol

Many who moved to EVs it is ethical not just economic. I have a petrol fuel card but still have an EV and use it particularly for London where pollution is a massive problem ie circa 10,000 lives shortened due to air pollution. UK charging stations are being rolled out faster than ever, there are now over 70,000 public charging connection and it can be a great money earners for those who do it right. EV owners and the PCP holding car companies, I suspect, concern will be the recent rapid fall in EV values and most have made the acquiring of an EV a financial good thing. My experience is my PCP payment is well under £300 pm and running cost on energy about 2p a mile. Service costs are about a third of ICE service, what is not to like ? Nearly 40% more chargers in the last year. The EV guts in hybrids has helped them improve their fuel consumption by a good quarter if the Arkana, Clio and Kadjur are typical examples, a few thousands more to buy and was not worth it for me as I do motorway driving rather than town driving but many swear by them. Latest ZAP figures... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How many public charging points are there in the UK? At the end of May 2023, there were 43,626 electric vehicle charging points across the UK, across 25,413 charging locations.This represents a 38% increase in the total number of charging devices since May 22. Last month, 1,628 new EV charging devices were added to the Zapmap database. These figures show how many electric charging points in the UK there are that are part of the country’s public EV charging infrastructure. However, they do not include the many charge points installed at home or at workplace locations, which are estimated to be more than 400,000. Some of these EV charging points are available to the public in some form via community or visitor charging. How is the UK charging points network growing over time? As the chart reveals, the past few years have seen a significant increase in the number of public EV charge points in the UK. Between the end of 2016 and 2022 the charge point network grew four-fold from 6,500 to more than 37,261 devices and in the last 12 months between end of 2021 to end of 2022, over 8,600 charge points were added to the UK network, a growth of 30%. Number of public UK charging points by speed (2016 to date) Type Slow Fast Rapid Ultra-rapid 2016 910 4663 823 150 2017 968 6002 961 262 2018 1297 7846 1571 340 2019 3366 10718 2411 476 2020 4570 12464 3142 788 2021 7247 16047 3874 1290 2022 8932 21427 4607 2295 2023 (YTD) 10699 24443 5182 3302 Source: Zapmap database. Updated: 31st May 2023

Very few cars can charge at 22 kW AC, this is one list that looks quite accurate......https://www.myevreview.com/electric-cars-ac-charging-comparison Zoes will charge on three pin, 3.6 kw, 7, 11, 16 and 22 kW AC that I have used. Never charged on DC and hopefully will not, expensive at regular doing so damaging to the Lithium ion battery. Some of the QC Zoes will charge at 43 kW AC, which is basically as quick as it will charge on DC, but there are not the losses and therefore the extra costs of using DC over AC. 1. Lightyear 0 22 kW 1. Lotus Eletre Eletre S 22 kW 1. Lotus Eletre 22 kW 1. Lotus Eletre Eletre R 22 kW 1. Maserati GranTurismo Folgore 22 kW 1. Maserati Grecale Folgore 22 kW 1. Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV Maybach 680 22 kW 1. Mercedes-Benz EQT 200 22 kW 1. Pininfarina Battista 22 kW 1. Polestar 4 Long Range Single Motor 22 kW 1. Polestar 4 Long Range Dual Motor 22 kW 1. Renault Twingo E-Tech Electric R80 22 kW 1. Renault Zoe R110 22 kW 1. Renault Zoe R135 22 kW 1. Rimac Nevera 1408 kW 22 kW 1. Smart #1 Brabus 22 kW Electric guitar not gas powered....

Yes lots of towing done down to Devun, Xecketer and beyond, getting up Holden/Telegraph and the numerous other hills, Rattery etc, on the A38 and A30, need a well cooled EV motor, not a Mustang which reportedly can overheat in over 5 seconds of max power even when not towing. Many ICE cars that have not had a proper engine work out for 11 months with their cooling systems boiling over, busy time for the recovery people. Charge up, maybe pop over to Buckfast Abbey (its a relative new build but in the traditional style), buy some Buckfast tonic wine and get on your way to South Devon or Cornwall.

Will not be longer when you can tell you car to go off and go to a cheap charger, say at 0030, collect 4 hours of cheap power and come back to the hotel and park up again. Car can just give me a ring if there is a problem like no parking spaces and one has to make a human decision to park elsewhere. Will need induction charging or these robots which are becoming available that stick the charger in to the car's charging port be that tech is already about. We have been do this with our buses in France for years ie park in a marked box and the charger inserts and zaps the electricity in. ACR Hyundai style.... and VW....

During my test of the new Renault Austral, which is classed as Class D car I think, but is really no bigger than my Class C Arkana which is based on the Class B Clio, the Renault HQ man showed me the PHEV port on the Austral which is blanked off saying the UK is not getting the PHEV, just the 200 hp ETECH, 1.2 turbo and strong ETECH system to give it its 8 second to 60 acceleration but that the combined MPG is still over 60 mpg and it will run for periods at motorway speed and beyond in electric mode. I was wondering at Renault's decision for the UK. No PHEV version even though the UK has no EV subsidies currently. I think the EV is only getting to see a portion of the world wide cars ie no RHD Model Ss or Model Xs and a host of other cars, at the other end of the scale the super cheap Chinese built Dacia Spring for well under £20k. Petrol could be back up to £2 a litre quite easily in a matter of months ie OPEC strangling the market and winter prices. EV will continue to grow exponentially due to falling EV prices and mass roll out of about 2k new EV chargers each month plus solar panels prices falling rapidly too and therefore running ones car on sunshine captured from home, and off peak electricity at a few pence per kW, which some of the larger EV charging networks are/will also be offering ie charge up at their network outside paytime peaks and get much cheaper charging is also becoming a reality. I have quite a few Eco-worthy solar panel I have on my own bespoke frames and several solar generators, best one from Allpower, the S2000 Pro, that can output 2.4 kws for about half an hour but this is just the start, primarily for home but these devices are getting better and the next one I plan to acquire is the R4000 which is a 4kW output device with a 3.5 kwh capacity. I think they show one direction that some EV owners might go. Generate your own power, fill your EV and power stations and maybe take your power station with you in the boot, perhaps with your tracking solar array if you are going camping. Clean living and motoring and not a penny of running cost paid to the UK government. Oh and I think charging EVs by the mile of roads used is a dumb idea as people will come off the motorways, drive along A roads, country roads and through NIMBY villages are road pricing will be yet another failed tax measure. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------o Sub-categories of DVLA Class 4 vehicles Class A: Micro cars - including the likes of SMART cars and city commuter vehicles. Class B: Super minis - this includes Vauxhall Corsa's, Ford Fiesta's, Volkswagen Polo's and alike. Class 😄 Small family vehicles - including the likes of the Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra and Volkswagen Golf. Class 😧 Larger family cars - i.e. the Ford Mondeo, BMW 3 series, etc. Class E: Executive cars - such as the Volvo S80, Audi A5 or BMW 5 Series. Class F: Large luxury cars - Mercedes S class, Audi A8, etc. Class S: Sports cars - such as the MGF Sports car, Volvo C70, Audi TT, Porsche Boxster, etc. Class M: Multi-purpose vehicles (i.e. MPVs) - includes the Vauxhall Zafira, Ford Galaxy, Ford S-Max, etc. Class J: 4 wheel drive (4x4) vehicles - including the Land Rover, Jeep, Toyota Tundra, etc.

Wow, the CO2 is about the weight of the car. Impressive figure. I presume their is free sessions in there which brings the average to 17p per kWh so about 5 p per miles if one worked on 3.4 miles per kWh which is about the average for my Zoe anyways between winter ie about 2.8 -to 3, and summer 4 to 4.4 kWh. Other standout figure to me is your average size of charge is 10 kWh which I presume is some freebie charges at location on fast chargers rather than rapid. The Corsa-e is a prettier car than the Zoe, and it charges slower on AC but probably faster on AC ie up to 22 kWh where available, but I wonder how your experience had been different with a 52 kWh rather than 45 kWh battery ? Are there many Zoe's in northern Scotland ? I presume they do not get the Nordic battery heating pack which was not offered in the UK and was not an option as far as I know which is a shame. Interest data thanks.

South West England makes a leap forward foward, sounds fishy ? Here Tis, with human comfort facilities too..... With my Octopus Electroverse discount It can be as low as 63 p per kWh. Probably just get 10 kWh, or 16 kWh ie tenner's worth as I have that as credit as a freebie upon joining Electroverse thru Octopus Energy. https://www.ospreycharging.co.uk/post/osprey-ev-super-hub-opens-in-south-west# Osprey Charging brings 16 ultra-rapid charge points to the busy A38 Devon Expressway The purpose-built site at Salmon’s Leap in Buckfastleigh is the biggest hub of its kind in the South West It’s designed for all types of vehicle and driver with two extra-long and two extra-wide bays and on-site facilities from a local provider Chargers are compatible with every EV on the market and can add 100 miles of range in less than 20 minutes

Ceramic brakes and semi slick tyres make the difference but these are items one can fit to many semi performance cars. Anything Musk does tends to be brilliant and the Model S but the Model S is designed as a big comfortable car and not designed as a sport car but just takes the quarter mile times as electric tech is just a quantum leap ahead of ICE tech and the year on year improvements extrapolate to electric cars over hauling ICE cars in all regards over the next few years. A shame there has been no Zero (emissions) TT for the last few years ie across the pandemic and again this year sadly but they were improving very rapidly and when we do see them back, hopefully next year, we will see something special, Rutter's 122 mph average speed lap, he must have been doing up road 180 mph off the mountain as it was quicker than the super sport bikes.... https://www.visordown.com/news/general/rutter-wins-tt-zero-mugen-speed-traps-faster-supersport "Significantly, however, in a straight line Rutter could show exactly how far all-electric technology has come after coming through the Sulby speed traps at 176mph, which is faster than the Supersport bikes from earlier in the day. A measure of the sheer gains made over a decade when the TT Zero class was first introduced - to much debate - Mugen's performance is likely to be viewed as one of the electric motorsport movements most important breakthroughs..."

I am still waiting for a decent PHEV to be launched by the mainstream manufacturers. I am not generally a BMW fan, more an inverted snob, but I thought the i3 range extended version was a good car, if not expensive but then it was unique. It should have been replaced and that should have been a real peach. Decent side battery and a small ICE to run at motorway speeds and get one home or to a fast charger. Charging at at least 100 kWh, range of at least 250 miles of batteries and 100 miles on petrol with a litre 3 gallon or so tank to fill up at the petrol station I thought would sell well have than having a small 10 kWh battery and a overlarge ie 1 litre of over petrol engine, one only needs 20 kW or so to run along the 150/200 W electric motor to be fun and have good range. Oh and a record just broken.....

Get it while you can. Saudi has just announced removing a million barrels a day from their production and clearly want to see oil rising in price. That the good thing about electricity that it can be obtained from so many sources not just a bunch of mostly despotic countries. Buying diesel and petrol, and I still this to a degree too sadly, lines the pockets of some of the most evil people in the world.

I gather the Clio 2024 is still going to be the 1.6 litre naturally aspirated engine linked to the etech hybrid system and it is capable of well over 60 mpg but I find the acceleration a bit luke warm but the "decent" combo of the 1.2 turbo with the etech system is currently only in the Austral but hopefully will appear in other Renaults in the next year or two. My 0.9 TCE can do well over 60 mpg and has a bit of torque. So the 1.6 NA Clio has two Etech gears and 4 ICE gears making 6 forward gears but on the Arkana discussion group quite a few owners have had over-revving issue ie EMU hold on to middle gears and the engine screams a bit, something the 1.2 turbo engine does not do in my experience. Dacias are really good value as can be seen my their sales figures.

Price of electricity, for those using single rate of cost per kWh, is due to go down to 30p per kWh on July 1st 2023 where it will stay there until end of September presumably. I will still be paying 40p per kWh if I charge during daytime rates but 7.5p per kWh during the cheap 4 hours. New Octopus rates are due to be 9.5 per KWh I gather. I would be considering a Bi-fuel Dacia that runs on LPG as well as petrol as a non EV route. I would be surprised if petrol is going to get any cheaper than the near £1.40 a litre currently. With new hybrids doing 60 to 70 mpg and more a UK government might feel it can add the inflationary rise on to fuel duty, or at least reverse the 5p a litre reduction soon. Electricity is so versatile with over 30M outlets and growing. Perhaps we will get more individuals selling electricity from their houses ???

Shame. Market forces may force them to reconsider early. TESLA is likely to make more money from electricity selling and reselling, what it buys and sells from its megapacks linked to charging stations that will under cut all, than TESLA will make from cars which may become a loss leader product, like ink jet printers and ink cartridges.

Prices at these journey chargers will not stay at this relatively high prices as the price of electricity falls in 5 weeks time by as much as 20% or so and competitions grows. There are also battery devices becoming available where one be able to carry it in the boot and use it to charge at home via a three pin plug and use when one is out and about. Do not know if the Stellantis battery is just straight forward Lithium but the move to Lithium Iron phosphate and sodium will get round the poor performance in winter's cool conditions. I gather I get discounts of many networks so do not pay the prices mentioned above. With Octopus the billing is even put though ones house bill. I truly believe the future is electric and there is no alternative. I just need to hang on to a hybrid to cover those longer journeys, decide on what to have as a long range EV, Long range Tesla is the obvious choice but something else might pop in the next year or so to fulfil the role of a long range car and with a buy price similar to ICE, less if using the EV salary sacrifice advantage and of course much lower running costs with the fortunate scenario of low cost home charging and free, maybe cheapish if work start to charge, destination/office charging. Thanks George for highlighting many of the problems of EV operation over the last few years, I hope you find a solution to stay on the zero emissions track.

Getting some decent press but we need to know the price of the bigger 57 kw hour battery version with the 250 mile plus range, If similar price to the current model for this enhanced version, now that the traction battery should be so much cheaper due to lithium prices falling it might sell OK.

Just watched the Monaco GP and despite it being, as usual, having the least overtakes of the F1 GPs, I think it showed a number of interesting insights. Max/Red Bull appears imperious. Aston Martin /Alonso cocked the tyre change to wets up hence lost a lot of time and could have been much closer to Max than was. Aston /Stroll, must be evaluating Stroll as a driver even though he is dad's boy. Great qualifying by Alpine and Ocon and fantastic consistent drive by Ocon in the race. Biggest cheer for those on the podium was for Ocon by far as I heard it. Oh dear for Perez, race ruined in qualifying. Ferrari, a mediocre race for them. Mclaren finished well behind Alpine widening the points gap. Interesting to hear Russell's pleading with Toto to let him pass Hamilton to lessen the chance of him losing points if Ferrari got within the penalty 5 seconds. Other teams well back behind the top 6 teams. Alpine, Aston, Ferrari, Mclaren, Mercedes, Red Bull. Would not be surprised to see some mid-season driver changes. https://www.challenges.fr/sport/f1-a-monaco-un-podium-au-gout-de-victoire-pour-ocon-qui-relance-alpine_856816

Couple of days ago I was with a Renault HQ staffer who is ex Skoda UK and we were remembering the Octavia which Skoda UK, with Skoda CZ and VAG help, tuned a 2 litre TSI engine to over 600 hp to take the world land speed record at nearly 228 mph. Larger turbo, second fuel rack, aero bits from the Greenline addition. If Toyota do not wake up and smell the coffee of electric revolution they will go from the biggest car maker in the world to oblivion in a few years, it is happening already. Their electric BZX4 has been one of the worst EV launches ever. Not sure shouting about rally wins cuts it in the new world. Would love to try one, just missed out in a ride with the World Rally Skoda Fabia with Andreas Mikkelsen at Goodwood, missus at the time got the ride. Hope it is running on biofuel or something cleanish. We are entering a time of much more environmental consciousness,ironic no F1 due to severe weather conditions, plains train and automobiles, and my world of large ships are going greener ie natural gas fired, sustainable fuel aircraft. Maybe a ban on octane boosted fuel at some point to get the sort of power above for such a small capacity engine.

Quite so. Many dealers will go out of business in the next few months or year or two. EVs can work with a different model as we see with Tesla. Buyers collecting from the docks and the occasional light service is not going to keep many dealers/garages in business. I take the big view, just happy to see cheap EVs available to people who may have thought even just a few months ago they were unaffordable. If it increases the miles driven in EVs compared to polluting ICE cars then a good thing. I patriotically wanted to get a 60 kWh LEAF but none were available to buy on to put on order, I suspect Nissan are losing money on each one, less so on the 40 kWh one. Youtuber Electric Viking reckons that Nissan will be the first of all the Japanese manufacturers which will go bust, be bad news for Nissan Sunderland. We need several battery plants in the UK if we are to have a decent level of car production with cars at reasonable cost, there will be 30 battery plants in the EU. Plans are suppose to be just on the edge of signing, costing UK tax payer half a billion in subsidize for a battery plant in Somerset, not sure where those batteries will go. Vauxhall plants at Ellesmere Port at Luton look to be on dodgy ground in the Trade Cooperation Agreement the UK has with the EU cannot be modified. The new much cheaper battery tech, Lithium Iron Phosphate and the Sodium and other cheap base material will mean the cost of the battery pack will be thousands cheaper. Future bright and tech improving a many percent each year and with prices dropping despite the recent high inflation on many other commodities.

Renault HQ guy who took me on the Austral test drive mentioned the million Euro fine per gram of CO2 of their average so pressure is intense to sell the EVs and the low emission hybrids. The Austral had a blanking plate over a Plug in place as in Europe they fit a battery over 10 kWh which can be PHEV rather than the UK non plug in. I am happy with the Zoe, we do 667 miles a month ie more than the 500 miles a month mentioned on the PCP, low APR, super low running costs relatively to ICE, even with fuel at around 140p a litre. Shall keep probably the fuel length of the PCP. Just wonder what Octopus are going to do with its GO tariff now the energy prices are going down by about a fifth. I will pay off the Arkana PCP which is at an interest rate nearly twice the Zoe's PCP rate. I hope lots of buyer go for a Zoe ZE50 at these less than half price deals as it is a really cheap car to run and with a decent range of well over 200 miles in summer, 180 ish in spring and autumn and about 150 miles at worse in winter. Poor Euroncap is nonsense as it is the same shell that got five stars a few years ago and it has quite a few safety feature EBA, lane assist, traffic sign recognition etc. Glad I bought it and will keep it for a good while.

Well it officially a mad world. Tested the new hybrid Renault Austral, clever bit of kit, biggish car but capable of averaging over 60 mpg, 700 mile range and base model well priced at £34.6K I reckon. So I have a 71 plate Zoe that was RRP £34.7k 20 month ago, I paid around £27k for it after discounts etc, and a 72 plate mild hybrid Arkana that was £27k RRP that I paid £25k after discounts. So I asked for settlement figures just to play the game with the Renault dealer who had chosen me from about 8 customers to try the Austral. Well the Arkana came back as worth £19.2k so I have £500 equity in that car, whoopie. The Zoe ZE50 Riviera can back as trade in at £13.3k. You what ??? So negative £6.7k trade in !! Happy to keep both for a while but particularly the Zoe which costs next to nothing to run ie less than 2p a mile on lecky and is on finance at 3.9% APR if I remember, I have savings accounts paying 5.25% so no point paying anything off that. Mad world that is going to see most the car dealer network go down the plan with their mix of finance deals, trade in and sales prices they are asking,

Well Renault Austral was in some ways impressive and other ways bland. Will work at 70 mph (actually up to 130 kph Renault HQ guy mentioned) in EV mode, looks like it can go over 60 mpg and he said range can be seen to be over 700 miles. Acceleration pretty good, just about 8s to 60 with the turbo and ETECH working in combo, starts at £34.6K, made in Spain not South Korea like my Arkana was. As purely a value proposition, compared to the Megane-E electric car I would probably go for the Austral but then waiting for the new Rafale seems an even better idea as it will have all the Austral tech but in a better looking Sports Coupe body and hopefully not be over £40k for the base model. I see too many Model Ys, especially in white, even though my Arkana is a Pearl While but only cost me £25K, and I have a big worry about VW cars with huge debt it has and even more it is borrowing to go down the EV roll fully at prices that mean they will sell enough carsa to survive. Mazda, Nissan and Toyota could all be toast as they are so slow to the EV and PHEV market across a decent rage of models, Stelantis too, maybe Renault/Dacia will be the European HQ car maker to survive the Chinese and TESLA value onslaught ?

I love the Renault Dacia brands and the value is ace. The current Etechs are a bit weak with their 1.6 naturally aspirated engine but tonight I will try the new Austral with the turbo engine and meaty etech system that can provide over 60 mpg, 600 mile range and 8s standing quarter which no EV can currently provide but probably will in two or three year time when EVs will be superior to ICE in all respects. With the UK not subsidising EVs the EVe are pricey but also buying or PCPing an EV might be expensive as EV prices are tumbling due to incoming much cheaper batteries coming on stream. I would not pay over £40k for a Megane E when I can pay less than £35k for an Austral. Most European car makers could be out of business by the end of the decade decade and the Japanese too on present course of debt and offering.

I was interested to see that the D&G Extreme site was earmarked for pump storage but the topography did not look great to me as the height differential of the two lakes look rather small to me. I thought it had a go ahead last year but still no turf cut getting it under way it seems. I think it is problematic when loads of generation and even battery pack are coming on line, only take a month or three to install as compared, I presume, to 1 to 3 years and more to get these pump storage schemes up and running. A bit worrying when the actual Scottish renewal site writes and states a figure of 7.7 GW storage capacity when this figure is not a capacity but a flow rate. DO they mean 7.7 GWh or what ? Six projects currently under development in Scotland will more than double the UK’s pumped storage hydro capacity to 7.7GW, https://www.scottishrenewables.com/news/1295-six-pumped-storage-hydro-projects-to-create-up-to-14800-uk-jobs-new-report-finds I fear that projects that require big investment and long term delivery may not happen as battery storage, possible use of hydrogen made from solar and wind and mini nuclear reactors will make pump storage dubious and investment therefore will not happen as to so much uncertainly as to the shape of tech in the energy future.

Such a bizarre move by TESLA and a real kick in the teeth for those countries who drive on the left. Overtaking lorries on single carriageway roads will have another level of jeopardy added to driving, wonder if something clever can be done with the camera system to look forward from the right hand of the vehicle to electronically check if it is safe to overtake ? Perhaps until a big country like India embrasses TESLA we may not get RHD Model S and X etc ?

Yes the Zoe has it pluses but the lack of seat height adjustment and those seats being just OK rather than good as they usually are in Renaults put one off have the Zoe as one's only longish range/journey car. Megane-E is a nice place to be and would suit me quite well but with so many changes happening in the EV market one would have to absolutely think the styling and features of the Megane-E is what you want as there is so much happening with:- Prices of EVs falling like stones Battery chemistry changing from Lithium ion to Lithium Iron Phosphate and even Sodium Cars currently on finance on great rates and most new offers on high higher rates So Renault, and all the other European manufacturers, need to get their act together to meet the challenge of TESLA and the Chinese offering else their products will not look competitive in terms of spec but then Renault are going to play on the heritage aspect by bring back the Renault 4 and 5, worked for Mini so should work again on some buyers. On another subject I have been watching some great Youtube vids and researching the amount of electrically generation on the Scottish Islands. OMG, so much power being generated and the electricity board ned to get them plugged in to the National Grid ASAP. Big big numbers of power creation nearly 2 GWs from Hebrides, 600 MW from Shetland, 200MW from Orkney and 10% of the population generating their own via their own wind turbines, highest percentage of EV in use anywhere in UK. Impressive.