lol-lol

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

The acceleration figure for the Rima is in a different league above the Lotus for some reason despite the similar power. Another case where Torque is a key factor possible ie its 2650 Nm of torque compared to the Evija 1700 Nm. Weight and how the torque numbers is spread across the revs or points on the acceleration curve. Circuit lap times will start to emerge and we will be able to see some real figures with some twisties and not just drag strip. Having a howling ICE may add to the theatre but outright performance is what matters when you know you are noise and bluster rather than actual performance. F1 cars are one of the slower accelerating track vehicles. Slower acceleration to a 100mph, maybe a 150 mph, than a Formula-e car for example. The internal combustion engine is history and may limp a long for another handful of years, if aided by EV hybrid tech to actually get it off the line as the ICE car's torque/ power does not properly kick into 40/ 50 mph or so when the drag race is long over. Trained as a ICE Engineering Officer, worked for Piper tuning race and road ICE cars, bikes etc but the vehicles "engine" choice is virtual over now.

This is relatively slow compared to the Rimac Nereva R is significantly faster than the Lotus or any other current ICE car.......

The quadricycle, not car, Ami is/was a very poor vehicle compared to Renault's Twizy IMO. Twizy is much more Agile and was overjoyed to see a long line of them in Norway where they are being used for cruise ship passengers to use to visit sites inland. Also the Twizy looked good in the race in St Petersberg by Top Gear. Not seen the spec on the new Quadricycle Ami, could hardly be a worse vehicle. Very limited appeal for these Quads and now proper cars like the Spring are down to about 10k then even less appeal, assuming one has a full car driving licence and left with quadricycle as the only choice. With the £3750 grant details still unclear but SE Asian car makers keen to get their price cuts in early the choice for high quality cheap and small EVs just gets better week on week. Incredibly low running costs and very capable town cars that can also do a bit of motorway too.