lol-lol

OK with that, Zoe probably gone by then, maybe a R5 or 4 or just have the Scenic. Don't mind paying something, might be retired by then and watching the pennies more but at least it is going to a Labour Government rather than a Con one.

If it's here then it's imported. It may not have been properly declared and therefore is liable to seizure so there be multiple legal breeches with this cybertruck being here. Throw the book at them it sounds like is what needs to be done.

Probably came in in a container. Same way as many stolen cars go out. Would be quite unlucky to be stopped. May have even paid the 10% customs duty as a US card, presumably a used priced.

It is all zero as BEVs are butterfly zero. I am trying to think of a circumstance where anyone would have a reason to move the relaxation date other than the obvious tax avoidance in sliding the coming of paying some actual VED as far in to the future. So UK Gov will get a quarter of revenue ie Q1 of 2026, some will push it in to March no doubt. Thought Jan 2026 was far enough for me even though Jan a touch month but Feb is great as short and Feb and March no council rates so bit more cash around.

Both EVs now "retaxed" until 2026. Odd procedure, give the V5C details, say cars already "taxed" until September, go on to retax them for 12 months so both will now come up for taxing in Jan 2026. Just odd. Should not be able to taxed once they are already taxed for a period, whether it is zero tax or not. Wonder if Dept of Transport will close this loop hole soon as there must be millions slipping through their fingers and UK gov are going to miss out on their £16 a month, current figure, as EV owners in their hundreds of thousands slide their 2025 renewal month in to 2026.

Did not know it have type approval yet, cannot imagine it would pass an pedestrain impact testing. Personal imports not subject to same rules compared to Commercial mass importing but an exceptional outright ban to Cybertruck seems like a good move to me.

The strain on the network is so little at the moment as I reckon most EV owners charge up at night and operators like Octopus can charge one third of day time prices so one can charge to full for a fiver for 250 miles of range !

We will see but I can see far more power being generated at homes and businesses. If solar this would be somewhat seasonal of course. In leafy Worcestershire, sweet suburbia Worcester there seems to be thousands of houses installing solar on their roofs, looks like about a third or so of house getting full roof solar. I am waiting for the new pervasive panels which have double the efficiency and for cost to fall even further.

I think what would be useful, if it could even be gathered but probably can only be estimated, is how much power, what percentage of total consumed in the UK, is now coming from home owners and businesses own source, I suspect it is reaching 10% or so. This figure will continue to climb I am sure until it could be a third or more. UK population has grown massively in the last decade or so with mass immigration ie up to a million a year so the fact the grid is going down is quite amazing. Just shows the change to lED light bulbs etc has had a big effect perhaps. More people generating their own could be good if there are successful attacks on UK power infrastructure.

Very good article I thought..... https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/electric-cars/inside-race-50mpkwh-secrets-long-range-evs Well written and Warwick uni giving good clear info on the subject..... The next big efficiency race for EV makers is to be the first to achieve 5.0mpkWh. This figure is important because, for a typical 50kWh battery pack, the difference between 4.0mpkWh and 5.0mpkWh is 50 miles more range. So there’s a prize to be won.........

2017 models would come out in about May 2016 oddly.

Well these new beasties EVs. The old nutshells of range and a charging infrastructure not where it should be. I needed to do a mega journey yesterday from Felixstowe back to Worcester. Got to my brothers on Monday using up 60% of my traction battery going from Worcester to Cambridgeshire. He kindly allowed me to use one of his 3 pin sockets, charged it for 12 hours or so, he is on Octopus Cosy tariff so 13p per kWh for much of the night so 90% charge when off to Felixstowe in the morning. Got there is about 66% left. After my day in Felixstowe office headed out of the 200 mile home to Worcester. Got to Cambridge services but the place was a building site around the EV chargers. Looked they were installing additional new rows of chargers and some existing ones were also not working. Drove on. Stopped at Kettering and Corby to use Shell and BP EV chargers, either blocked or simply would not authorize. I hear loads of complaints about these two, as massive companies they should do better but they appear clueless. Only choice was to cruise on to the massive Rugby services where there are 50 or so ultra rapid chargers but it was 12 miles out of my range. Having seen videos that many EVs will drive well beyond zero range and 0% battery I decided to keep going. I know ICE cars can also drive beyond zero miles, did it in my Fabia petrol VRS some 15 miles or so, don't know if there was any pump cavitation damage but al seemed OK. Well the award winning Scenic kept going only giving the "limited performance" warning after 11 miles past zero miles range ie with only 1 mile to go. Rocked up to the Gridserve Ultras Rapid charger, plugged in, presented my Am EX card (TESLA did not accept AM EX when I tried a few weeks ago, what is that about ?). Charge started, ramped up to 130 kWs in seconds. ten minutes later had 30% battery, was still charging at 105 kWs when unplugged but a 79p per kWh was just ketting what I needed plus a margin ie 18 Kw so about £14 charge to get me the 60 miles home, drove quickly as wanted to get home for the footie. So well done Gridserve and the Rugby Services, what a place, well done Scenic. Thumbs down to Cambridge services, BP and Shell, you are a disgrace.

I think Renault just needed a more roomy small car than the 5 ie one you can get a pram in for example. Drawing on nostalgia appears to be a big plus. So some of the styling drawing from the old Renault 4 but really just the slightly bigger, taller, bigger boot built on the 5 platform. 5 seems good value so may end up with the 5 rather than the 4. Just wish Renault kept the 5 styling but had more room in the back and bigger boot. A 5 lwb version so more space like the Scenic has over the Megane etech.

Octopus is very keen for Intelligent Go customers to hand over control to Kraken take control so they can optimise which hour you get the cheap lecky, presumably if the wind is picking up or dying. I prefer to have my own total control for those nominated 5 hours. I trust Octopus generally put still value controlling such factors myself.

Sounds like 10a charging rate ? Think I will! start off at 13a, run for half hour or hour then back off to 10a or 8a when left unattended.I Need to work on hit disappation. Each 13a plug in the chain is getting warm when running at 13a. Using a 13a short gang with surge protection, in to a 16a orange power extension through the letter box and the ip67 spec charger unit. Must get one of those brush letter box inners to reduce draught. Overall pleased but also want to do a bit of rapid charging as much to see how close I can get to the 135 kW theoretical speed even I only get 25 kWh as a get me home charge. All good fun.

Warm spell coming up. UK Tax receipts in January likely to an all time record. This week's 'news' going to be next week's budgie cage lining.

Going to stop over tomorrow night at my brother's in Haverhill and he has not got a wallbox charger so taking a "Granny" three pin plug charger. Have one already but it is only 10 amp so ordered another on Amazon whilst in Tenerife and it arrived lunchtime. One of the newer types that I have seen which is switchable in the range 8 amps through 10, 13 and 16 amps if I can get the input. I have been building Commando 32 amp leads and running the spec via my electrician son in law. 13A can get quite hot on the 13a plug after a while. Granny 3 pin was only £89 from Amazon but has detailed display with amps, volts, temperatures of device and host(?). Now got a much better charger when visiting. Pay the donating house say 33p per kilowatt, offer to do so, and we are both quid in. Bro is on Octopus Cosy tariff so he gets cheap night time tariff like us on Go etc. I referred him so we shared £100 intro amount. Worcester to Felixstowe going to be longest journey yet and glad to see the warm spell which will help the efficiency of course.

Yes but TESLA has Elon Musk profiteering from it, for that reason I'm out. Might grab a few kws out of a TESLA superchargers if desperate, that's my limitation of involvement with the looney.

I have a tough choice when handing the Zoe back. R5 like so many go for or maybe the retro R4. Same chassis but more practical boot.

The new Renault 5 has been voted car of the year by a panel of 60 European car publications by a wide margin is over 350 points for the 5 (which is bundled with the Alpine A290 for voting purposes) and the second placed EV3 getting a bit less than 300 points. SEAT Teramar came in a respectable 6th just behind the new Duster.

This is the standard expected, or was a decade or so ago. EURO6 is the current standard. anything less for diesel and on get whacked for emissions charges in London and other cities if not barred completely. Problem was and is whilst cars would achieve the prescribed emission levels on the rolling road in the test lab they were failing by up to seven times the levels they should be. Colder air, cold casing of the catalytic converter with it not reaching temperature to change HC, Nox to No2 etc. ICE will be subject EURO6a BIS shortly and EURO7 shortly after that and it is much tighter and if ICE cars continue to fail the level out on the road which they manage in the lab test then even more sensors and costs are clearly needed to make the vehicles adhere to the levels ie severe restrictions in performance until engine is up to temp and the exhaust gas processing sub system is doing its job. Expensive. Meanwhile EVs just keep getting cheap, almost no brake dust due to regen and only the common issue of tyre debris.

Rinse and repeat.

A part from the quantum leaps in energy density and the massive drops in cost per kWh their have been several other factors. Lithium NMC have been round for a long time but recently the mass producing at even lower prices of Lithium Iron Phoshate, LFP, and whilst it energy continues to lag lithium NMC it has several advantages in that it is happy to charge to 100% every time and even when punctured it does not start thermal runaway. As I as said these improvement are happening several percent per year, up for energy density and down for cost even with inflation. Now we have sodium batteries coming on to market with even lower prices and with better ie less affected battery performance in very low temperature of the degree of -5c to -40c and below. The march of improvement is changeable with EV prices falling but performance getting remarkably better, 400 mile range cars last year and costs dropping by 10% or so on benchmark EVs.

The argument was concluded several years ago and actions to economical transition to electric set in motion in the last decade. Been some guff about tyre particles which I think need full investigating and reporting. Would like to see the ENSO tyres fully launched to further range and lower consumption of all road vehicles.

Nox is the bigger issue these days as the local pollution consequences are classified as the big killer. CO2 is causing the climate change that is expected to kill millions due to flooding.