lol-lol

To watch the video would mean they get revenue from me watching it. It is clear from the frontal image that it is out of date and at best badly informed on current tech or more probably trying to suck in saps as clickbait.

My experience in owning 50 or so ICE cars is that EVs are a revelation. I have filled them with fuel probably more than a thousand times, paid tens of thousands in Excise Duty and VAT. Watch my kids fill their cars with fuel which pretty much cost them a day's wages each time. Getting my first EV 4 years ago ie the 250 mile ranged Zoe, AC and DC charging capable, I soon realised the massive savings in running costs and this led to getting another bigger and better EV, the 2024 European Car of the Year Scenic. On top of all that when I see my children and grandchild I want them not to pay for the mistakes of not transferring over to renewable energy and end up living in a world with ever higher temperatures, more extreme weather and food shortages.

Would not waste my time when the front picture talks about Cobalt which is no longer used in most EVs. It is used in the mobile phone you use but not most new EVs which now use LFP chemistry not NMC (C is for Cobalt). Cobalt is down in price by two thirds in the last 3 years as it is just not needed so much. Your mobile phone, doping in some steels etc but not for EV traction batteries. EV battery tech is moving so quick that the current LFP chemistry used for most EVs and increasingly for 40 ft container sized unit in battery storage for the Grid, some massive plants coming on line in Essex, will be superceded by Sodium battery chemistry which is costing about $20 per kwh compared to $50 which LFP has been costing. More worrying thatvl the Cobalt miners are going to get even less for the Cobalt although mobile phones and other small device batteries should also be going LFP and Na as Lithium NMC is really old tech now and like EV manufacturers the device manufacturers really should move on with their battery chemistry tech as well.

SMMT figure for July 2025

This crap is completely at odds with uk, and most the rest of the world's experience. Now have 3 EVs and no ICE cars and they are easy to live, no trips to gas stations, very cheap to run with energy, insurance and servicing. Not for everyone. Can understand why my boss is ditching her EQC for a new Tayran, similar to the Superb IV I think. But here in the Midland where journeys are 300 miles or less and expensive public charging is used only 1% of the time today's EV's are great and the handful of times I will need to public charge ie down to South Devon for example will be no hardship ie a 20 minute stop when I will also take a comfort break and get some nosh. The figures don't lie in that EV take up is growing exponentially and it is gas stations that will become harder to find and more expensive to use.

You know that, I know that but how many are fooled in to thinking this is possible ? Skoda are claiming 800 to 900 mpg for the IV Superb with the same 20/25 kwh battery and CO2 of just 7 gm per km. EU has clamped down on such claims but UK seems to be lagging on giving more realistic figures which is about trembling the CO2 and cutting the MPG by a factor of 4 or so, still wild. I think a 1000 km like Bjorn Nyland does will be a fairer gauge perhaps ?

My boss cancelled her order for the Explorer which had appeared on our VW company car list. After having a ECQ for several years she has ordered one of the new VW Tayrons. 1.5 TSI engine plus lecky motor giving just over 200 ponies. MPG listed as 700 mpg, yes right, and CO2 at 10 gm per km. Can do 70 odd miles on the 20 kwh battery usable. Ford Explorer just did not stack up for them so another one going from pure electric to hybrid!

Greg Jackson says that not allowing Regional variation is keeping prices high, for some maybe, or lower for others. Tesla have just got a UK supply licence so perhaps Tesla will bring to houses what they have done for Public Charging ie significantly cheaper than other suppliers. I think the future is making your own and European house have adopted this by the millions but a shrinking market of national supply, as with petrol stations, will mean less using it and higher prices for those that do.

When gas can be had for less than 6p per kwh it is hard for lecky to compete. Many of us are in to generating our own lecky, storing it too and only using the grid for top off and during low sun days. I can see tea time peak being charged at a super rate in the not too distant future like in the US. Peaker plants charge an absolute fortune to bring on line. 80A ie 18 kw is fine for most normal sized uk homes especially if they have some even smallish home batteries and these quite quickly pay for themselves by paying 20p a kwh less for lecky.

Reading the National Grid document it reads like they are quite happy to allow hones with low carbon tech like heat pumps have 100A fuses but standard is now 80A. Will probably get a quote for 3 phases when I retire on a few weeks as 80A per phase would not be a problem but in fact be very nice for the Renault EVs which can charge up to 22 kws on 3 phase. Quotes seem to vary so much, bit of a lottery.

Had the guys from The Grid come around a few months ago when I had my second EV charger fitted. Why it takes two of them to come around but then their office is only a mile away. They downgraded my main fuses from 100A to 80A. Someone on here said it is now Grid policy to do this as UK houses, maybe especially here in the Midlands due to the temperatures we are getting ie 35C, that the house ring main etc are getting too hot due to the higher ambient temperatures and homes are running more power in the summer than they use to when it was mainly winter that the electrical load was usually higher. In practical terms it is no issue. Even with an 80A fuse the load would have to be north of 100A for more than 4 hours, see National Grid document attached. Most I tend to see is around 15 kWs, voltage can between 220v and 240v of course. One of my EV chargers is only 3.6 KW, the other is 7.2 KWs and I can be charging home batteries with 2KWs an immersion heated with about 4 KWs and sometimes tumble drying but rarely at the same time and I have my Octopus Mini to tell me live power consumption and give me an idea of how much I am saving when I am running multiple heavy loads in my 5 hours of 8.5p per KW/hour. Be a same to miss out of super cheap home charging and car running costs. Our lecky bill is currently under £75 a month, gas less than £25 so paying £133 a month, 4 bedroom house, 3 EVs we are building up credit for the winter and with gas at 5.71p per KWH and the cheap 5 hours of lecky, I have a couple of solar arrays that track the sun, when there is some, and with the home batteries, lecky in the day is almost nothing. 80A or 100A is nominal, these "fuses" will run much more that without blowing for long periods as the graph on the attached shows. Standardisation to 80A.pdf

We were glad to get rid of the Clio hybrid. Over complicated, fuel consumption not great. Relatively heavy, smaller boot due to the intrusion of the hybrid system. It was pleasant to drive. The oomph often EV sub system made for nice low down power/ torque getting off the line. Proved to us that hybrid was an unnecessary distraction. Mini Cooper E is so much more fun, bit pricier but much lower running costs, insurance, servicing. Dodos.

Xpeng EV extends 24 hour distance record to almost 4000km / 2500 miles. Helped by Charging at 500 to 400 kWs and cruising at something like 120 mph when running. Be interesting to see a split between running time and charging time. Trying to find an ICE 24 hour distance record but no luck so far.

Cheers. Someone i know has ordered an Explorer which was available on the Volkswagen car supply list, presumably as it made in a VW factory. Has to be a factory order as they wanted the heat pump on the car which is not standard. They are coming from a Mercedes EQC, the 400 hp version but then it weighs 2.6 tonnes so not as great a power to weight as it initially sounds. As you say nice long range,looks OK too. Think they are getting the tow bar fitting to car bikes and stuff.

I have yet to teach my lad the process of public charging in his mini Cooper E. He is not bothered, caring to play the hypermiling game, just wants to drive it without focusing on ecodriving techniques. Whilst the range of the new Cooper E is comparatively low to many similar priced EVs it is lots of fun to drive. I did notice a hyper Eco icon appear on the lovely OLED screen which offers to extend range by about a third. Think it said it limits the speed to 60 mph plus does aircon think etc presumably. Mini modes ie Go-kart, Core and Eco still allow full speed ie 100 mph indicated, I use Scenic ecobto keep speed legal as it will show 72 mph but that is actually 70 mph and legal. Nice feature the hyper eco ie if one get sent down a long diversion but it will be dull compared to the normal zingy modes. Is a bit of a pain charging it every night after son does his drive to and from work, compared to the Zoe which easily does two work journeys ie 150 miles. Love the Mini just wonder how cheap per month it will get with the EV grant and lowering interest rates.

We already know the tools to treat lithium fires, usually fire blankets rather than foam or powder and not so much water unless there is nothing else and one does know what sort of reaction one will get with an electrical and chemical combined fire. It seems the cheaper fibreglass blankets are OK for lithium fires but it sounds like the silca blankets are better but presently more costly. There is a massive lack of fire detection and fighting ability at home, work and out in public places clearly. Car parks without detection systems or proper suppression systems. Should be fire blankets on every floor of a building, car parks included. Probably get nicked in some places so auto alarmed i reckon. Having spent quite a few days on fire fighting courses, one cannot call the fire brigade when a thousand mikes from land one gets a good appreciation so treat all types of fires, electrical, paper / clothing and oil with respect. How many people gave tested fire detectors and fire blankets for cooking oil etc fires in there kitchen ? If it is 10% I would be pleasantly surprised.

The FLP greater safety is about its better resistance to damage, primarily. Overcharging, like over filling ones fuel tank with petrol, is about the Battery Management System internal for the battery system and perhaps the charger itself. I am all for greater checking of lithium, LFP, charging systems. I have more Lithium and LFP battery devices, from about £10 to £1k and non of the have shown anything but faultless charging dynamics with no hint of overheating. There must be hundreds of millions, if not billions, of lithium powered devices and as with EV fires compared to ICE fires the numbers only confirm the general safety of these produce despite the occasional zealot digging out the odd incident.

Indeed a rather pathetic test which does not really do anything to enhance the case of EVs. Much more relevant and meaningful is the I-90 Surge they do in the US for 3,000 miles. The ICE reference car did it in 44.5 hours, the then Taycan 46.5 hours, about 4 % longer, and the cheaper than both Tesla model 3 LR took 48.5 hours so about 9% longer. Most of the EVs ie 5 of the 9, did it in less 50 hours ie with in about 11% of the reference ICE car. Time table in to the video at 3:31 which includes the car costs but not in journey fuel costs. Hopefully run it again this year and with new crop of EVs I would expect virtual parity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-CHiEdfODg

If air-conditioning is coming from home grown power then happy days. Worry is if air-conditioning power is coming from the grid. This makes cities become even more heat islands where the city, outside of course, can be 4c hotter than the countryside would be. I had a quick look at heat pump install, one with dual function to heat and cool but I don't want to spend thousands on a house I will probably leave in a year or two. Like EVs I think the subsidy has to be covering a lot of the cost. I have a high efficiency newish boiler and with Octopus fixed 12M tariff at 5.71 p per kwh the whole setup is very cheap to buy and run. Saving on gas used with the new boiler compared to the old and reduction in tge maintenance contract means it paid for itself. Need to get heat pump to the same place ie cost a mere £1k a year for both install and running.

As with getting cheap electricity and even reliable electricity i believe the solutions are in our own hands. It is, it appears much part of a social divide but adding solar and home batteries seems to me, maybe exaggerated appearance to me in "sweet suburbia" but the self generation is massive here in the "Villages" in Worcester with about half of houses have installed solar, usually a dozen or more 400 to 500w panels. How many have batteries I don't know, maybe third, maybe half, hard to guess. Many will also have car chargers powered by that solar and maybe batteries too. To have a three phase AC supply to car is no big step and those with batteries in the 20 kwh plus will probably have 3 phase tech to their EVs. I think this will become increasingly common place rather than The Grid actually getting 3 phase supply to more houses.

Are IDs all/ mainly 11 kWs ? Which is 3 phase but lower Amps than 16, 22, 43 kWs that some cars have as AC charging. Don't know the logic but is the higher amperage much more expensive I wonder. Renault are very erratic with what they put in. Scenic was 22 kW but I gather they gave dropped it down to 11 kw as standard now. Odd choices.

Mine goes back in a few weeks and I would buy if it was £9k or less but at £13k for the balloon price no chance. Probably storing them somewhere but Renault will have to take the hit at some point. Dealer would probably only give Mobilize ie RFI about £8k for a 4 year old low mileage R135 Zoe. PCP protects me, monthly payment of well under £300 a month and no risk on the future value. With such great new EV deals and just a hank for a change the Zoes have taken quite a hit from the overblown £34k RRP in 2021.

10 minutes in Rob explains just how quick the Zoe mk3 can charge ie at 22 kws using 3 phase. Apart from adding 100 miles of range in an hour the battery gets warmed quicker so can be in better temp range when starting. I like the Bluetti stuff, which is portable, and can move with me. Just need to daisy work out how to get 11, 16,22 kws out when modularised with additional batteries. My dream system below in the middle .... BLUETTI UKBLUETTI Apex 300 Versatile Power Station | 2,764.8Wh 3,840WBLUETTI Apex 300: 2,764Wh LiFePO₄ power station with 3,840W AC (7,680W peak). Expandable to 58kWh and app-ready—ideal for home backup, RVs & off-grid.

Renaults not qualified for £3750 and if they don't with their top efficient low CO2 who the hell is ? Maybe it just going to be Nissan EVs made in the uk that qualify ?

Media saying the new EV Grant is stiffling EV uptake this year. Well yes whilst the £1500 is appearing on most EVs, whether they are European and will get the 1500 or 3750, or an intermediate figure, EV buyers are wait and seeing. Also in Q4 uk car sellers will start panicking about hitting their 28% EV mandate. Plus their should be cheaper finance deals reflecting the drop in central bank lending rates. I do arrive sometimes with low single figure state of charge. It is quite easy to judge it so one does but I am aware that if I did need to pop some distance I need a car with 100, 200 mile capability Sat their when I get home and I needed to onward travel soon after getting home. This would not be a problem if homes had 3 phase and a Renault like my Scenic and Zoe which can charge at 22 kws AC. Never want to go back to ICE and apparently 90% of EV adopters say and do the same. Just buy / PCP a better EV a couple years down the line as it will probably be about 30% better. Something you cannot say about ICE cars which had tech which has virtually stagnated.