lol-lol

The $60 or $70 a barrel is partly made up of taxation on the landing of oil and the decision needs to be made how much the UK needs of a strategic local supply. As we know it us not just a tap that can be turned over as extraction requires many millions of pounds of equipment to land the oil. We will need oil for plastics and other such use if not for burning in vehicles so definitely need a supply line of crude that is reliable ie not Middle East crude or other despotic states.

I have heard that North Sea oil needs a market of $60 a barrel to be economic and $70 a barrel for the new fields as it is getting increasingly costly to get the oil in ever deeper water. Compared this to Saudi who can make a profit at $20 a barrel !

Carrot and stick. Carrots, like more EV grants or subsidized public charging, or even reducing the VAT percentage and lowering badly needed tax collection to pay down the massive UK public debt are issues. There is also the stick of higher diesel and petrol prices. Some the UK government can control is the hydrocarbon excise duty but also supply issue affected by geo-political events like the Middle Eastern war that started last night. 20 % of oil comes thru the Straights of Hormuz and that might not be happening so much for the next weeks. Oil has already jumped a couple of dollars a barrel on Friday and has done another jump this morning. If I had an ICE car I might think about keeping my fuel tank half full or more. Issues like this might well help EV, and PHEV, sales.

UK government must cut the public charging VAT and put online with VAT at home. From what I have seen when my company owned Source London and its couple of thousand chargers tge capital cost of the equipment ud not insignificant. So part of the public charging is recovery of that capital cost plus the very expensive Grid connection charge and the electricity as rent, maybe ground rent at tge site too. Similar for those home charging. Capital cost of the wallboxes, about £1k a time abd they probably need replacing every few years. Total costvus more thanjust the electricity rate paid to the supplier.

85, 90, 96 % of all car charging done at home i have seen these figures over the years. With EV cars getting longer average range then public charging for people with the ability to charge at home. I think the UK government want to improve air quality and continue to collect taxes in the ways there are plus some new ways like pay per mile from April 2028. As to getting people out od ICE cars that is going to happen via a combination of rising fuel tax and VED. If drivers continue to drive ICE the revenue collected from ICE xar drivers will stay quire high due to the escalation of these Excise and VED taxes. Not sure they any specific plan to encourage drivers out of ICE except by the carrot and stick, carrot of up to £3750 price reduction subsidy on EVs and stick by higher taxes on ICE. Ulrra cheap Night time electricity, whether for EVs or home batteries, will not stay cheap in the long term as more home batteries, more electricity cars, trucks, vans and motorcycles cgarge up overnight. So necessity being the mother of invention there will be more use of devices like Ecoflow Stream, home and work battery systems and well as solar panels which are so cheap and pay for themselves in less 3 years, soon be 2 and then 1. Balcony solar, and Stream type devices, and its forms for just about everybody.

The route from the M5 from around Tewksebury all the way thru to the M4, ie via M50, A40, A449 is poorly off for chargers i think. No chargers at Monmouth Services and only the occasional odd town car park low output charger that i can see. I usually use the M5 to South Wales so there is the excellent Gloucester sevices setup now with even more Chargers but would be nice to have more choice. Also the north bank of the Severn ie Gloucester to Chepstow not great though most of that is England of course. If you can call the Foresters (of Dean) anything at all. May be an issue getting Grid power to places like Monmouth Services but if they offer charging then drivers will probably spend money in the services.

It is odd that TESLA prices, for non TESLA drivers, vary so much. Local Tesla chargers near here ie Frankley South services, are incredibly cheap, similar price for charging at home to those with single rate electricity pricing but you get up to 250 KWs instead of 7 kw, or 3 KW, at home. Whole UK public charging system is so complex one need numerous Apps etc but one can find some amazingly cheap charging if one looks hard enough and are lucky that those places are not too far... As well as supercheapness at Frankley South we have Gloucester North services at 33p per KWh half of the time and 55p the rest of the time which reflects the true price of lecky between off-peak and peak of course. https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/findus/location/supercharger/28318

Figures of the percentage of home, and destination, charger, vary on various sites, I have seen 85 % quoted by Nissan and also seen figures of over 90% for home and then there can also be some destination charging. Most of our offices / warehouses have destination chargers which are charged out at about 30p per KWh so not 8p per KWh like at home but not the 69, 79, 89 per KWh which is the full displayed price of Public charging in the UK. If I was public charging regularly in the UK I would look at one of the subscription services, Gridserve, Ionity etc. If my conscious allows me I could pay 30p per KWh at Frankley South services Tesla chargers, or 55p per KWh at busier times. Imagine a motorway diesel or petrol supplier selling fuel at less than £1` a litre ? https://www.tesla.com/en_gb/findus/location/supercharger/332657 Recent was EV driving in Portugal and Public charging prices seem to be about 50p per KWh and looking at ZAP map for Europe, and of course I can use my Octopus Electroverse card on about 1M chargers throughout Europe the price of about 60 Eurocents seems to be a typical cost ie cheaper across mainland Europe than in the UK. One can take out these monthly charger network subscriptions for just one month and then cancel and even with two charger in that month one has probably saved a few quid. Consolidation is happen in the EV public charging area and we have just seen Mer sell all it charger to Be.EV making them tope ten now..... As of February 12, 2026, Be.EV has acquired Mer’s UK public electric vehicle charging network, adding over 1,600 charging bays across 450+ sites, primarily in the South of England. This acquisition strengthens Be.EV’s position as a top 10 UK network, with plans to rebrand the chargers and upgrade them. Key Details of the Acquisition: Acquisition Scope: Be.EV acquired Mer's public charging assets, excluding Mer's fleet and workplace operations. Network Expansion: The deal expands Be.EV's network to over 2,500 bays and 680+ sites nationwide. Integration Plan: Over the coming months, blue Mer chargers will be rebranded to green Be.EV chargers. Driver Impact: Existing Mer chargers will operate as normal during the transition. Over time, drivers will gain access to Be.EV’s pricing, including a 39p/kWh subscription rate.

Naaa. The Battery Management System is the last word in what to do and what not to do and the State of Charge indicating the percentage just a guide. The BMS is there to protect the manufacturer's vehicle and especially as most cars are lease or PCP it will do that with that in mind ie they are going to get the car back at some time in the future, probably only 10, 15, 20% thru the cars lifetime. So when, for example, my Scenic, will still allow full 125 KW power usage 11 miles past zero SoC shown that is what the BMS, applying its rules, is OK with. As the miles pile on past 0% shown, 15 miles, 20 miles etc, it will reduce the amount of power that can be used, ie back to 100 KWs, then a few miles later reduced to 75 KW, then few miles later down to 50 KW until it gets down to say 10 KWs when you really know it the BMS is telling you to get some charge. In a Renault you would have done more than 20 miles past 0% and in the case of the 55 KWh R5 you have done nearly 30 miles pas 0% SoC shown. Trust the BMS in all cars. Clearly be aware, as from Bjorn Nyland's tests, that Audis, Mercedes (including this year's European Car of the Year) have much smaller, or non existent buffers compared to Renaults and TESLAs !!

Not so much of a factor in Renaults with their buffer sizes as even if is using 0% displayed SoC as the reference one knows there is another 20 miles of below 0% buffer and the car will not even go into performance restriction warning until over 10 miles past 0%. In Wales there is still a lack of chargers just like Scotland and one should allow and extra buffer. I don't know the buffer on the new Mini Cooper E ie 36.7 kwh battery, but it sounds like it is small, maybe not even 10 km !!

Driving a million miles in 50 or so ICE cars and my experience of 4 EVs, 3 I still have. Traction system details can be known to fractions of percent where as ICE vehicle, based on the amount of liquid in the fuel tank you are looking at being only as close to the nearest 1000 cc. Whilst not great for EV batteries to get down to 0% State of Charge displayed part of my choice of Renault is the very large lower buffer as shown below by Bjorn Nyland, a man of such rigorous testing and therefore influence that Toyota has listened to him. I know in my Renaults I can go ten miles past 0% SoC displayed and drive another 18 before it asks me to park up. When I did that in my ICE cars one can hear the fuel pump whining as it is gulping down air and probably cavitating and damaging the fuel pump blades and motor with the air involved. Modern ICE cars need about 5 litre left in the fuel system just to keep fuel constantly whirring around the system. I can judge my EVs down to kilojoules which weigh next to nothing. Renault "5" 46 km buffer below 0% SoC and 38 km for Ariya/Scenic...... Car Odometer Zero buffer Zero range Temp Linear power drop Linear power gain Final warning Bricked Comments 2022 Tesla Model 3 SR+ LFP 205 km 6,9 kWh 56 9°C No Yes Yes No 2025 Renault 5 E-Tech 3300 km 4,7 kWh 46 14°C Yes, but no display Yes Yes No 2022 Nissan Ariya 87 kWh FWD 3251 km 5,1 kWh 38 8°C Yes Yes No No 2022 Tesla Model Y Performance 1918 km 4,1 kWh 34 22°C Yes Yes Yes No 2023 Toyota bZ4X 3080 km 5,1 kWh 33 11°C Yes Yes Yes No 2022 Renault Megane E-Tech 60 kWh 12889 km 1,7 kWh 27 6°C Yes Yes Yes No 2023 MG4 Long Range 12511 km 3,0 kWh 24 20°C No No No Yes 6 kW limp mode 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 6 RWD 6248 km 2,9 kWh 24 11°C Yes Yes No 5 kW limp mode 2024 Polestar 2 LR DM 3084 km 2,9 kWh 22 12°C Yes, mostly Yes No No 2022 BMW i4 M50 3333 km 2,8 kWh 20 24°C Yes Yes No No 2022 Kia Niro EV 64 kWh 2752 km 2,3 kWh 19 13°C Yes, but no display Yes No Yes 2024 Kia EV3 LR 17000 km 2,4 kWh 18 12°C Yes Yes Not tested No 2022 VW ID Buzz 82 kWh 2726 km 2,7 kWh 15 7°C Yes No Yes Yes 2023 VW ID3 62 kWh facelift 2300 km 1,9 kWh 13 26°C Yes No Yes Yes 2024 Volvo EX30 Twin Performance 5500 km 1,9 kWh 12 13°C Yes, but no display Yes Not tested No 2025 Mercedes CLA 350 4Matic 5000 km 1,4 kWh 10 3°C Yes Yes Yes No 2021 Nio ES8 100 kWh 13831 km 1,9 kWh 10 18°C No No No Yes 5 kW limp mode 2025 Mazda 6e Standard Range 9100 km 1,0 kWh 8 -2°C Yes, but no display Yes Not tested No 2 kW power limit 2023 VW ID7 Pro 11000 km 1,0 kWh 8 14°C Yes No Yes Yes Died with 40 % power 2022 Mercedes EQS 450+ 10503 km 1,2 kWh 7 19°C Yes Yes Yes No 2024 Audi Q6 e-tron Quattro 2767 km 0,9 kWh 6 15°C Yes Yes Yes No 2023 Fisker Ocean Extreme 6650 km 0,9 kWh 6 10°C Yes, but no display Yes No No 2025 Cupra Tavascan 6300 km 0,7 kWh 5 8°C Yes, but no display Yes Yes Not tested Died with 40 % power 2014 VW e-Golf 24 kWh 138000 km 0,4 kWh 4 -4°C Yes Yes No No 2023 BYD Atto 3 60 kWh 12273 km 0,2 kWh 1 15°C Yes, mostly Yes Yes No 2022 Xpeng P7 Performance Wing Edition 13582 km 0,0 kWh 0 9°C Yes, but no display Yes Yes Yes 2022 MG Marvel R Performance 15463 km 0,0 kWh 0 12°C Yes Yes No No Stopped at 1 % 2022 Hongqi E-HS9 99 kWh 10033 km 0,0 kWh 0 15°C Yes, but no display Yes No 2019 Hyundai Ioniq 28 kWh 50369 km 0,0 kWh 0 26°C Yes Yes Yes No 2013 Nissan Leaf 24 kWh (FS) 87943 km 0,0 kWh 0 13°C Yes No No Yes 10 kW limp mode 2022 Audi e-tron 55 8715 km 0,0 kWh -1 20°C No No No Yes Slow updating BMS TB test results.xlsx

Renault chose a odd size for the R5 ie 195/55R18, a few main tyre companies do this size but not, it seems, many of the Korean tyre companies. The 60 aspect ratio much more brand options and it is a winter / all season option andcit would mostly correct the 3 % speedo over ready. Just like Italian bikes use to be with their Vaguelio speedos and 10 % overread ! I did hear TESLA were overreading distance by as much as 10%. Don't know but perhaps so the warranty ran out quicker, allegedly.

Soon ? Over 2 years time. My plan is to fit some really big tyres to slow the odometer building up the miles......

Yes is was 79p per kwh at both MFG Haverhill and Ionity at Cambridge services and I only charged put in about 18 and then 22 KWh respectively hence the £15 and £19 approximately so really only about a third of the battery added so it could be done quite quickly ie 20 minutes or so each time, enough to go to the loo and check emails etc. What ICE drivers don't appreciate , I expect, is that EV drivers can be hyper accurate on what they need to put in the car. Whilst ICE drivers generally put in a tankful, or maybe half a tank if at motorway service's high prices, EV drivers can, to be economical, just put in enough to get them home plus maybe a 20 mile buffer. Hence put in the bare minimum and do as much charging at home using the lecky that is about a tenth of the price. Increasingly I am stopping when I need a comfort break rather than the car absolutely need charging, especially now it is warmer and the Scenic is up to around 4 miles per KWh where it was closer to 3 KWh a week ago and for the 4 months before that. 8 months of warmer weather I expect and lower running cost of all of our EVs due to this.

My last work journey and undertaken in my smaller batteried Renault Scenic ie 60/65 KWh, and it has been the first EV journey experience that I knew there were huge EV charging stations along the way so my charging worries very tiny. Also the costs were quite small and the charging good. 400 mile journey, one charge of £19 on day one and a second one if £15 on day 2. Shout out to MFG and their excellent sites and the now awesome Cambridge Services.

Dave Takes it on summarizing just what a fraud PHEVs are for many/most people .......

Mark 2 based i recall ie 200 hp as standard but a nice slippy shape. A "reliable friend" had one tried to see what she would do. At an indicated 150 it was still accelerating quite significantly and reckoned it would top out at well more than 160 indicated. Also had a Fabia VRS but that would get to a bit over 130 but it stop accelerating much after that even with 180 hp even though narrower than Octy VRS. Much poorer aero Cd than Octy. Quite glad my EVs tops out at bit less than 100 mph as no point in pushing it as that the limit in a single ratio EV gearbox which most EVs are. If you go to Germany are get to drive on Autobahns there are a bunch of two geared EV which will easily hit the 250 kph standard restriction and a few unrestricted ones that will go quite a bit above 250 kph and no speeding ticket !

Skoda Octavia vrs at 227 mph still one of the most impressive speeds. 600 hp version. Greenline tyres, big turbo, double fuel rack, nail shut the waste gate.

Fastest car in the world is electric, fancy that, who would have guessed ?

Yes the Evolution spec is ok but would not want to do a hundred mike plus and the smaller battery in mine makes it a hour and maybe but all one would ve happy to spend in it but then I have the Scenic which I am happy to do long journeys in. Cheap-ish price or monthly. Notably smaller than my Zoe. I could have a base model Megane etech for similar money to a 52 kwh R5 etech, much more hp and range but happy with Evolution 40 kwh R5. I have added aftermarket cup holders and centre arm rest to make it more practical.

The Renault 5 continues to be a much desired car despite its shortcoming ie principally the lack of rear seat space. I echo what they say as below, granddaughter, just under 2, repeats "Yellow Car, yellow car" multiple times when I visit in it, Red Scenic, nothing. I think the new Polo aka ID2 will also be a big hit and it is not as compromised in the rear seats and boot as the 5. Hope for VW sake it is as the ID3, 4, and 5 does not seem to have had the fan fair so let us home for European workers sake the electric Polo does do well. "Of all the cars you could drive to catch other folks' eyes at present, Bentley or Lamborghini included, a Pop Yellow 5 creates the most interest. Maybe a passing Ferrari F40 would excite some people more, but the 5 attracts all classes. I'm becoming quite used to returning to my car in the street, getting it started, then pausing because somebody has cantered across the road and tapped on the window, wanting to know more. Maybe it won't last. After all, 5.5 million original 5s were sold even before the Supercinq took over in 1985. The new baby EVs will surely become an awfully common sight, especially if backed by Westminster. But for now, it's everyone's darling." Autocar15,000 miles later: The truth about the Renault 5 | AutocarRetro-infused electric supermini is as good to live with as it is to look at

Fascinating to go to any power generation site whatever energy it deals with. Was surprised to see, and I had already been working in power for years as a Engineering Officer with Merchant navy, four Olympus jet engines at Hinkley Point B ! Also weird hearing jet engines when some Royal Navy ships were manoeuvring alongside at Devonport dockyard. Tech is not always what you expect I have found. Of course the gas turbines, as with the actual AGR system at B had massive energy waste. Fish who need warmer waters live in the cooling water outflow ! Plans are for a "fish disco" noise deterrent to stop fish being sucked in to the cooling water intake ! Such interesting visits and look forward to seeing Hinkley C when visitors are allowed. EDF, Électricité de France, who run Hinkley, Sizewell etc, provide hundreds of EV charging connectors at their sites for their employees, nice if they did for visitors, FOC of course within a visit experience. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinkley_Point_B_nuclear_power_station#:~:text=The%20station%20is%20of%20the,standby%20generators%20for%20the%20station. Hinkley Point B is also equipped with four 17.5 MW Rolls-Royce Olympus industrial gas turbines. Installed in 1970/71, and originally used for 'peak lopping', these are now used exclusively as emergency standby generators for the station.[13]

You just talking about Essex ? If they use T pylons and keep then off them off the skyline. South Essex is hardly a general beauty spot though I gave seen some nice parts in the northern part of Essex ie up towards the east Anglian counties and I hope best aesthetic solution is found.

I've they use T pylons rather than the old style pylons they are only two thirds the size, more squat. Also there's option to go under ground as with the lines to Dinorwig which travel thru Snowdonia National Park. More expensive butvyoy do get nice little shepherd cabins that have warmth for survival in snow etc. I thought there was going to be two or more under sea interconnectors. They are becoming more and more common and now several projects for intercontinental ones not just intercontinental ones. It's always shining somewhere. "It can't rain all the time" (The Crow )

Everyone who has electricity can use batteries, charge at night and use thay electricity during day and start saving, lije I said batteries from a few pounds. As per my previous post millions are doing balcony solar, hand a panel or the foldable ones which are lightweight and can hang, out of windows etc. Also cheap to buy. Only real exclusion is if one is facing directly north and won't collect solar. Even then there are ways to get power. I can see battery swaps for chaged one. Power from Scotland is going to be moved via sub sea interconnectors so no on landed pylons. The bew Denmark interconnector bringing more cheap wind power to UK. UK needs those Bristol Channel tidal projects up abd running along with Hinckley C abd all connected to the wider Grid via the new T pylons. The future has a green light for Green energy.