lol-lol

Oddly enough two of the biggest weaknesses of electric cars rarely get highlighted. You need a backup car, EV or ICE, incase you arrived home. say from work, near empty, and wants to go out in the evening and one would have to wait quite a time on uk home charging to get a good charge to our ie 2 or more hours unless one went to a more expensive public charger and then one would still be taking a lot more time than in an ICE car. Secondly whilst the West talks big about transition to EV the EU in particular, levy crippling taxes on Chinese EVs hence China is massively switching to sending hybrids, plug in and self charging EVs which don't have the massive import levies. Neither the EU or UK has expressed how they would replace taxes collected on diesel and petrol, £25B, got to be €100B plus in the case of the EU. EU particularly seem to stiffling EVs, they say to protect their own EV industry but with Germany that ship seems to have sailed and it is Renault and the Stellantis group that is putting up a fight against the Chinese EV imports. There is much undercurrents with the transition from fossil fuels to EV and in my view we are oft talking about the wrong things. Two other things I have noticed with my offering, one has no interest in using Eco mode and just want to drive without a care, not unreasonable, and one of the offspring hates me using regen braking, says it makes be feel funny and not in a good way. Running costs and even buy / lease price moans on EVs, that boat has sailed and EVs are winning hands down. A few other issues as I have mentioned above seem to get little airing ?

The video, as usual for these sorts of click bait and jumbled thinking starts with a picture and dis-assembly of a Lithium 18650 battery for some reason, the internals of a lead acid battery or coked up ICE car is no prettier pictures. The 18650 did revolutionise but it is fading tech as is Lithium in favour of Lithium Iron Phosphate so the video above is old news and we have moved on massively from that situation. LFP now have the energy density way over 200 W per Kg, they are safe and much cheaper. CATL and BYD batteries have revolutionised cheap EV production but it is good to see diversity of supply. I have know for ages that S.Korea's LG, LGES, have been producing very good Lithium /LFP batteries, Renault have been buying them for may years and then building their packs in France from the batteries and it appears Tesla is going to do the same process in the US with a $4.3B deal to buy LG batteries and build battery packs in the US. The Tesla 3+ and later the Model Y, the world best selling car, will have a range 20% greater than the current models and be cheaper and qualify for UK and over country subsidies. Couple that with between free and almost free topping up with lecky, cheap overnight, free home electricity sessions and frequent plunge pricing at public chargers due to excess Grid power and it is game over for ICE vehicles.

2 foot high boot so one can easily sit on the boot floor, head covered by boot lid, eat your sandwiches and look out to the rainy weather. So worth the extra couple of grand over the R5 but will need after market heated seats as probably will not go for the top spec one.

Another round of an hour of free Electricity tomorrow, Saturday 9th August, 2 to 3pm. Seems like a good combo of sun and wind currently. Octopus plan to do about ten of these before Earth's seasonal obliquiry approaches the equatoral plane.

Problem is with that oil coming out of the seabed the UK the East coast of the UK seems to be slipping down lower and lower, along with rising sea level too buy we don't want all of those Easterners coming over to the West of the UK !!

These mines tend to contain several minerals in the ore, tin, tungsten, arsenic as well as lithium and other minerals. I mentioned the security of so economics are sidelined. That said it does appear that Sweden has vast quantities of many key minerals. If we can rely on Sweden. They were "neutral" in WW2 I seem to remember. There will be ever increasing lithium battery recycling of course. Phone battery chemistry is the more rare earth chemicals as well as the lithium. Also laptop batteries of course. As well as recycling it is expected that sodium batteries will become more pervasive. No shortage of sodium of course. UK needs to stockpile to the right degree. Perhaps the LME should add to its reserves. My firm stores massive amounts of "Accumulolators" for car production. They comes in Zero duty under an Aurltonomous Suspension currently even though from 🇨🇳.

I think there might be some decent deposits in Cornwall and Devon it is more whether they can find people to work down there. Some deposits of useful elements in the Exmoor area too ? South Croft being invested in and Hemerdon in South Devon where I use to live. Investment of £29M being put in to Cornwall mines i gather. Lithium in Cornwall is reckoned to be in the subterranean water so may need Cambourne School of mines to help out i would guess. Perhaps part of the UK military budget could be used as there are minerals which are strategic. Full Severn Barrage could supply up to 10 GWs though i suspect small projects like Swansea Bay more likely to go ahead along with the Mersey barrage could provide useful and stable amounts of power. Just need storage to provide the extra power between Neap and Spring tide fluctuations. Shame Dinorwig and Ffestinog pump storage are not running visitor program. Probably the most impressive peice of engineering I have seen in the UK. Hope the Great Glen 30 Gwh project goes ahead. The Australians have a project ten times bigger than this in the Snowy Mountain schem think it is. Man at its best.

Don't know about other companies but my recent employer, we were taken over by a much larger logistics company ie one of the top 5, was happy to give us fuel cards but not EV charge cards. Never got an answer as to why, as we were suppose to be going greener, suspect it was due to filling with petrol fuel one could be seen on the forecourt but charging an EV one could be charging any EV one was tucked away from validating eyes. Tesla being the one marque that was different as the individual car talks to the public charger and validates car identity. Cut up my Fuelcard last week as have no ICE car anymore, 3 EVs on the drive, including the Cooper E which I find stunningly quicker than my Scenic, partly the Go-Kart effect but a real hoot. Travel ban at the moment so no more Business miles. Told HMRC and have adjusted my Tax Code accordingly.

Tesla still top on European sales, ID3 and 4 going well and Skoda EVs bur Renault 5 doing well too......

I recall he got some of the worse miles per kwh of any EV. Bjorn Nyland too i recall. Must admit I wad tempted too for a less than £100 a month lease deal. Just an antithesis ie Red Neck bug pickup but an EV, possible a hoot or is that a Ute as the Aussies say.

The UK and most of Europe was shown how it is reliant on Russian gas and oil and now Middle East gas and oil had to go down to round South Africa rather than being able to go thru Suez safely. Couple that with the massive falls in the price of lithium batteries, whether NMC or LFP, solar panels and wind turbines these techs came along at just the right time and offered another solution which is under UK /EU control rather the foreign despots. Would like to see more tidal added as it is a more stable power source but with the new big nuclear sites going to come on stream ie Hinkkey C and Sizewell it is looking on course to looker gas etc plants to a standby status.

Incredibly cheap leases but very crude is gather which is odd as the Maxus vans get better reviews. DPD bought loads of them but still use the diesels for the deep in to the countryside runs ie over to the Welsh Borders I gather.

Had this with Shell chargers. Would rather use Tesla than that shower.

The EV Brag..... Not the biggest fan of "Dave Takes it on" but I think he does sum up things well in this YouTube vid......

Six Citreons confirmed getting the lower £1500 grant incl the Berlingo-e, had a Berlingo petrol many years ago. Presumably could not prove the low carbon production which i think Renault will be much better placed to do to get the £3750 or closer to it. Hoping to get that off a red R4 in the next few weeks.

Think UK government is most concerned about the division it would cause though we already gave different standing charges by region. Some states in the US have multiple tariffs through the day which make some sense. So the night time would be very low and many places have and then a medium tariff through much of the day when solar is feeding in lots of energy as well as wind but then a higher rate at the tea time period to try and avoid those Peaker plants coming on stream and charging some $5 per kwh. Nobody wants people sitting in the cold waiting for 7 or 8 pm for the cheaper electricity to become available but this is already a reality in California I gather and it is really just the power companies passing on higher prices at peak times or lower prices when electricity is plentiful and companies can and do give it atway. Market forces, supply and demand. Both macro level battery packs at the 40 foot container size that Tesla do with their Megapacks and we do with our home battery packs or portable solar generators that include solar invertors, batteries with AC and DC outputs. I keep a look out for a home battery unit with say 7 kw output or even 11 to 22 kw 3 phase would be great, a few years off. Best I have at the moment is 2.4 kw output but always looking for the next step up which can save money by shifting when I download power in to the house and consume it later as well as having resilience for power cuts as Portugal and Spain had recently.

Plunge pricing of 40% off public charging between 1200 and 1500 presumably due to abundance of cheap/ free/ paid to take electricity on Instavolt, Ionity, Osprey and several other networks using the Electroverse card from Octopus...

99% scientist v luddites / those with financial interest in Status Quo (not the pop group)

Slam dunk.............. NOX GOV.UKEmissions of air pollutants in the UK – Nitrogen oxides (... CO2 Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important heat-trapping gas, also known as a greenhouse gas, that comes from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, and natural gas), from wildfires, and natural processes like volcanic eruptions. The first graph shows atmospheric CO2 levels measured by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, since 1958. The second graph shows CO2 levels during Earth’s last three glacial cycles, as captured by air bubbles trapped in ice sheets and glaciers. Since the onset of industrial times in the 18th century, human activities have raised atmospheric CO2 by 50% – meaning the amount of CO2 is now 150% of its value in 1750. This human-induced rise is greater than the natural increase observed at the end of the last ice age 20,000 years ago. https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/carbon-dioxide/?intent=121

Apparently the £3750 EV grant is conditional on the battery having an 8 year 100,000 mile warranty which is a double bonus it sounds like.

Not meant to be funny. Sone of us who have already transitioned to EVs wonder when the lydites are going to get up with the program. ICE vehicles are poisoning the world and contribution to climate change. Temperature here in Worcestershire of almost 35c are no laughing matter and it will cause hundreds of deaths this summer in the UK and tens of thousands across Euope. EVs are generally very cheap to run as well not progressing human extinction at anything like the rate as ICE vehicle Mr Dieselgate. Next step heat pump instead of gas boiler now an all EV family. The Fall of Because - Killing Joke.

Another Octopus Free energy session 1400 to 1500 hours tomorrow 5th of August 2025 as apparently there is an over abundance of solar and wind generation due ! Like the Asian EV makers offering discount on their EVs to match the upcoming EV grants on European EVs with high green credentials the garages might be inclined to give a free couple of litre of fuel ? Nah, unlikely. What happened to those decent Tesco's kick backs on fuel ? Gone for every like Skoda's well pay the VAT promo !

The production cost of electric cars has been falling rapidly and the cost of the battery pack has been falling very quickly ie 10 to 30% per year as the cost of lithium continues to fall rapidly. Also more cars are using the cheaper lithium iron phosphate battery material rather than lithium Nickel Molyidenium Cobalt type are materials. The car companies will want to tru and keep market share and I think they will be able to action off their EV sales numbers to other cars sellers who are not hitting the 28% EV sales mandate. Chinese cars, like MG/SAIC's finance and mixed in with Chinese government, less so BYD, but the EU has identified Dumping hence tge 18 to 48% Duty plus Anti Dumping Duty levy. EU should be racking in billions on this like Trump is on his tariffs. I was thinking of getting a Dacia Spring as my reserve EV if the Senic or Mini were near empty or out being used but no there is such a wider choice of not so compromised EVS ie the T03 Leapmotor to name one.

Same with the Mercedes EQC. Built on an ICE platform, propellor shaft intrudinging into cabin for no reason In the EV. So it ended up with with a weight of 2.6 tonnes for a mid sized SUV hence awful energy efficiency. Nice to have 400 hp but still compromised. I find driving EVs that body roll is less than in ICE cars due to the lower centre of gravity. On the M5, junction 4 or 4a, there is an advisory 50 mph bend but in the EVs I find it can be taken flat out in EVs where as in the hybrids it seemed to roll more due to the higher centre of gravity. Not taken it in a boxer engined car, or vvankel, which maybe a bit better than ice cars with vertical cylindered car. Renault dealer got a couple of Alpines A110s which as a super light might be fun and it is one of the very few pure ICE cars I would still buy.

Absolutely. As can be seen by which cars are hit by the Paris triple the parking price hit on cars over 1600kgs, or 2T if an EV. BMW 330E, Merc A250e, Skoda Subherb Est Wiesel, see article below. There are nearly a hundred EVs less than 1600 kgs. Over 300 under 2T. Many ICE cars are over 2T, particularly Hybrids and wiesels ...... EV DatabaseEV DatabaseA comprehensive overview of all electric vehicles in the UK. Search and compare by range, make, model and price.AutocarParis votes to triple parking costs for heavy cars | AutocarCombustion cars weighing more than 1600kg and EVs weighing more than 2000kg will be surcharged