lol-lol

About a decade late on the expose. China uses mostly LFP batteries now, Europe gradually catching on a wave of LFP batteried cars come to the market which are much cheaper than Lithium EVs and ICE.

EY report on EV sales around the world...... China surging ahead, Europe licking along at a good pace US moving towards EVs but at a much slower pace...........

Local BMW dealer charged our Cooper E to almost full 10p % charge when we picked it up but guide seems to say 80 % charge "normally" but I have noticed that 80 % had dropped from being 145 miles to closer to 135 miles as the temp is dropping down to 10c at night. Neighbour opposite has a BMW X1 3 something, supposedly equivalent to a 3 litre ICE, but he seems to be under impression that regikarly charging to 90% is ok. Thinking of setting car to 90 % if it drops much further. Also was going to look in to if car could / should to second phase of charging at noon as my lad sets of at 1pm so battery and cabin pep just before leaving might help. He is only doing about 80 miles from Worcester to Gloucester recovery day but the spare range is dwindling as weather gets colder and if he gas to do a diversion if M5 up the creek. He is not very switched on with hypermiling. There is a software up date waiting to be run I see which changes tge setup so it can start in Green Eco mode whereas before it started in Core mode and you had to set it from Core to Green after starting off. Still quite nippy in Green I expect not like my Zoe which is like an petrol car with two plug leads pulled off when in Eco. Scenic is good in Eco as can do 72 moh indicated so a good licence saver. Mini will do 100 indicated even in Green mode I gather abd get there respectably quickly. Still loving the Mini as it is so fun one can forgive it the limited range.

Hi George, Does your Mini's range start dropping when temperature starts to go below 15c ? We find mileage prediction range very good. Do you charge to 80, 85, 90, 95 or 100 % summer or winter or same ?

Microwave ¿???????????? Magnetic field perhaps My Scenic EV does play Jean Michel Jarre when travelling under 20 mph and he had an album called Magnetic Fields

I had a 10A but saw a cheap multi amperage version which can do 13a and actually can be set to 16A in one is EU or can get house socket converted to female Commando socket.

You running 10A or 13A on the 3 pin ?

They all have engines. Some have an Internal Combustion Engine, some use an electric motor as their engine, some have both. Half can use a traction battery and electric motor for motive power, half have only the choice of using an ICE as motive power, nearly a quarter can use either the electric motor or ICE for motive power. I am happy if people are buying Hybrids, plug in or non plug in. They don't get the government grant, pay more VAT on the purchase price as they are usually quite expensive and they will keep paying excise duty and VAT on the fuel they use. They don't do 700 mpg as some of them advertise and sadly their CO2 in the real world is not 10 gm/km. I can see some future law suits on miss selling with these plug in EVs/ICE cars.

That's not what the SMMT data is showing, BEVs and Hybrids, many now plug in, just over half of all registrations.

Belgium also does, or did, diesel and petrol price control, ie vary the excise duty, think on a monthly basis, so the price at the pump is a snake in a tunnel concept. Very smart. Also they have great beer and chocolate. Putting mayo on chips is a bit weird though.

I really like the Out of Spec youtube stuff. Hope Rivian input really bears fruit after the disaster of the the VW software usage.

It is often more about which model, or even engine in a particular model, I seem to find. Luck also. I had a twin charge Fabia but mine was fine when others had nightmares.

Great to see innovation so alive and well in the automotive industry and leading the European model sales last year and first half of this year ie Dacia Sandero, closely followed by the Clio, with a Peugeot in third, the Dacia brand sounds like it is on to another winner, or winners as is for the Duster and Bigster, maybe the predicted death of ICE cars is premature ? Shame UK LPG sourcing is so poor as this is how mainland Europeans are achieving low running costs UK drivers miss out on. https://media.dacia.com/a-new-powertrain-range-for-duster-and-bigster-with-hybrid-lpg-4x4-and-automatic-transmission/ A new powertrain range for Duster and Bigster: with hybrid, LPG, 4x4 & automatic transmissionAnnouncing the all-new hybrid-G 150 4x4 powertrain:Hybrid, up to 60% full electric driving in the city;Bi-fuel petrol / LPG with two tanks of 50 litres each for a WLTP range of up to 1,500 km and 30% lower running costs;All-wheel drive delivered by a rear-mounted electric motor coupled to an innovative 2-speed gearbox with a disengageable clutch;Responsive 6-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox;The hybrid-G 150 4x4 powertrain will be soon available

It is young people choosing not to get a driving licence in think that will be the telling factor. The youngsters in my family are not getting manual gearbox licences ie only can drive autos. Covid had a big hit particular on number of licences in the under 25 age group. Just going to be no reason to have a driving licence next decade. What that will do for car production and I presume insurance will be part of the hire charge.

In some UK places, poor areas with old terraced houses, there is not the need for cars as use of The Tube or other public transport systems. Current generations are the last to own specific transport as it will make no economic sense to do so once, in a few years time, cars will be called to ones home via am App and take you where you want to go and then go back to a car pool and you call on the App again when you wish to return home. No of cars in the UK could drop from whatever it is now, 30M or so, to a fifth of that ad that would be all that is needed.

A car should be designed ad either EV or ICE and to use the same chassis you end up with abominations like the original EQC. The different components require different allocation of space. 3 years ago I chose the Renault Arkana over other cars. Quite spacious, capable of 60 mpg on average and cheap to buy ie a bit over £26k. Now EVs, in most mainstream marques are similar RRPs to the ICE equivalent in the manufactures range, ie Austral and Rafeala, but far cheaper to run and as companies have to aomim to hit the 28% of sales EV mandate they offer low of zero percentage finance like i am looking at with the Megane e. Currently pulling 14 kWs during this free electricity period and expect to add 60 miles of range to the Scenic and 30 miles to the Zoe plus the charging of the home batteries so expecting a credit of a fiver or so. Suppose I am powering those devices ie fridge and TV, only wish I could watch the cricket ODI, BSB, F1, MOTOGP and WSB at the same time.

What you say in the first paragraph is why I went for the Scenic, loads of space but also very reasonable price and that's why it won European Car of the Year last year. Now I gave been surprised with both the Renault 5 and R4, R5 winning Europen Car of the Year this year because video find them compromised in space in the back which to me excludes them from being COTY cars. Mercedes are premium brand cars and I would not even put them on my potential buy list for a host of reasons, value being high up the list. Audi and BMW the same but I do understand why Germans buy them particularly. I was in Berlin last year, taxi back to the airport and the driver, Turkish of course, laughed at electric cars as they were unsuitable for the autobahn unless in a high spec which usually means 2 speed gearbox instead of single speed like most EVs. I get it. EV tend to need to be designed from ground up and not ICE chassis conversions, that does not work. Original Merc ECQ was a mess, chassis had a pipe tunnel, weighed far too much, not a good car IMO. I am more interested in mainstream cars and even hybrid ones and not just EVs. Be interesting to see how the new petrol electric Qasqui does as it is getting rave reviews. Sunderland made up to a quarter million a year in the past and that was great for uk jobs. If the new LEAF is a success too that will be great for UK and hopefully they are roomy cars and not cramped for taller than average people like the R5 and R4 are. We are approaching the time when few us will have cars let alone EVs. If you want a car for a short or long journey then one will hail it via an App, it will turn up driverless and take you to your destination and you will probably sit in the back. I will be trying again the Megane e as a second car, tried one a couple of years ago, pretty nippy with its 220 hp but now it it's revised form it is now one peddle driving capable, bit more range and can be had for £29k on zero interest finance for 4 years. Roomy in the front, not do good in the back but better than R4 and R5. I like the SEAT Born and will benchmark the Megane against the Born which was looking expensive but everybody has sharpener their pencils but Audi, BMW and Mercedes look increasingly out of touch so unless one is prepared to pay 1,2 or more hundreds a month for what is oft an inferior product than mainstream brands, other European, Korean, Tesla or even Chinese brand. Be interesting to see which hybrids can compete with BEVs and these ones with 80 miles and more electric range are enticing buyers it can be seen.

I was jealous of people who had a Costco card, or had an Asda with slightly cheaper fuel but we are not just talking a pence off few a litre. A Fuel card was a mega benefit for the holder as it effectively made fuel either 20% of full price or 40% of fuel price. Only with the 20% rate of full for diesel or petrol does ne get near the 2p a mile running cost when filling up on cheap overnight electricity. Later today with the Octopus 2 hours of Free Electricity that will be 14 kwh of electricity on my main EV charger, we get 4.5 miles per kWh on each of the Mini Cooper E, Scenic 63 kwh and Zoe 52 kWh. With the 3.6 kwh Pod Point this will be increasing free tine usage by half again. Could use a 3 KW Granny cable for the 3rd EV but will probably just whack on the immersion for some free heating of the hot water as well as put a couple of kWh into the home batteries. Home will be running on chap or free electricity all day, fridge freezer, big TV etc, and only starting using Grid lecky again at 0030 hours tomorrow when lecky price drops below 9p an hour. All linked to getting and EV and a corresponding tariff.

Going to be two hours of free lecky tomorrow, Sunday, might be just for those on Octopus who have been partaking in the Free Sessions. Think Octopus think that if they get users to use in early afternoon when lecky virtual free to them, less than a penny per kwh, we will use less day time, 27p per kwh, or even Night time, 8p per kwh and save them money too. My average for last month was 12p per kwh for that which I did use from the Grid. For the solar I generated myself just the capital cost of panels etc.

3 Best not have a VW Group car. The SOS system has been around 6 or 7 years and VAG are the ones who have been proven to hold this data rather than discharge it under privacy laws. Don't matter if BEv, Hybrid or Wiesel or other Dino juices all all cars with SOS xan be tracked but VAG, not governments are ones using the data.

I heard VW Group software was holding information on car location but not Renault. Of course EVs, even my 4 year old Zoe, have their own phone contract, usually with EE from what I have seen, and that is possible to trace of course if gathering it was deemed required by UK government. I thought all new cars of all types have to have SOS phone set up just in case you roll it down a bank and cannot get out. They do go wrong and then a fault code comes up to fix but I know people who don't have it fixed, quite expensive I gather, so people just leave it off line. Expect there will be a way to take the SOS system off line if one does not want to be traced at all times. Emissions during the running part of the EVs life time is zero, a few tonnes when being made, very low for French cars as the production plant in France run mainly on French nuclear base load power. Some CO2 to scrap the car in two or three decades time I suppose bit that will reduce as by then even cutting them up should be zero carbon methods.

I use both my EV chargers during free electricity times ie the Indra one which came free with the Scenic and a Pod Point that was subsidized when the subsidized Zoe arrived nearly 4 years ago. I have had £16 of credit added to my account this summer. Don't understand how you say you get free with diesel or petrol. Use to get Tesco points, even when using Company fuel card, and would get my 1% kick back on the bit of private fuel I put in to certain cars on my Am EX card and I use to spend as much as £5K a year on fuel, doubt I spend £1k a year on electricity for the 3 EVs and that includes the occasional public charge of 10 kwhs or so. Vast difference and saving.

Problem with that is masses would start taking the journey short cuts. When I go to London sometimes instead of going M5, M42 and M40 I cut thru the Cotswolds, saves many miles. Now those folks of the Cotswold would not be so happy with lots of people not using the motorways but cutting through their green and pleasant areas. There are a whole load of cut through one can use ie Aylesbury and A41 rather than M40 and M25. Use A49 going from South Wales to North Wales rather than M4, M5, M6,M54 etc. Some unscrupulous people even claim for the longer route but do the shorter route, tut tut. That's why I think pay per mile is doomed, doomed

More free lecky tomorrow, 6th Sept, usual slot 2 pm to 3 pm so have to set up the EVs to auto charge themselves. Is there a way you can do this with diesel or petrol cars ? Another good step forward with the latest SMTT figures with diesel and petrol cars declining and full electric and hybrid electric both up significantly despite the slow emergence of which EVs are getting which of the two levels of EV grants, or not getting it but the Asian companies are slashing prices to match a similar reduction anyways. Bang. Bang go the nails in the ICE coffin. Just worried where UK government are going to plug the cap with the diminishing of the excise duty on fuel ? At least those newly bought hybrids will be paying some excise duty for many a year to come. Br interesting to see what happens to the 5p a litre excise reduction that came in with covid and whether fuel duty also goes up in line with inflation.

Range of my own "wee" tank is even less than the Mini Cooper E we have. Public charging needs sorting out as it is spending fractured and expensive. We need Ionity, Mer and of course Tesla Public V4 charging just to take over from the shower of the rest of them, undecided if Gridserve should be a survivor or a Zombie fit for the cull, sk we only have about 5 suppliers and get more of these non motorway places with coffee, loos etc at the sites, it's the model that works.