lol-lol

I was aware of those in the last century, any significant this century ?

And that is from the terrible times of 25% of less thermal efficiency. Hate to think just how bad all those two stoke bikes were. injection, rather than carbs and of course the turbo and then outside the engine having gearboxes with loads of gears and freewheeling facility also. Diesel engines I worked on were suppose to be the most efficient ie Slow speed marine diesels running at about 120 revs per minute. We were hitting over 40% thermal efficiency and then producing 500 kws of lecky from a boiler unit in the flue, creating superheated steam using in a steam turbine for free power. Still only half the efficiency of battery to electricity we are seeing now and there is new improvements in the pipeline for batteries, invertors, motors eff of several percentage points.

Steam plants fired by coal takes hours to warm through before one can apply high loads. Gas plants are much quicker but both are dinosaurs to hydro electric pump storage and battery station supplied power from wind, solar and nuclear plus interconnector power from other countries who are already in surplus much of the time.

Evidence of what improvements their are in ICE vehicles, what new tech, sub systems leading to improved fuel consumption ?

No reciprocating losses, 90% conversion rate of stored energy to motion, compared to less than 40% efficiency for ICE power unit. Electrical components that need zero maintenance for hundred of thousands of miles of operation compared to ICE that needs many litres of another type of hydrocarbon to the oil it burns as a lubricant plus disposal of numerous filters in that time also. And edition cost too.

But they are ever increasing their percentage of market share as per SMMT data.

Please quote specific improvements in mpg for a model etc as we can for battery density and cost per kilowatt hour rather than vagaries ?

ICE technology has stagnated and ICE vehicles only moving forward in term of their performance as the electric hybrid systems enhancement the ice powertrain. EV systems are improving at around 5% per annum in energy density but also falling about 25% in battery cost. No contest.

We have both Clio models, ie 0.9/1 litre TCE and the full hybrid which has about 90 horsepower lecky motor and a similar powered 1.6 naturally aspirated petrol engine. Both do about 54 mpg in winter and over 60 mpg in summer. Excellent handling, prefer the handling to my Scenic or Zoe. Super safe too. One daughter got hit in a mark 4 Clio by a 32 tonne truck, pinball off central reservation and then hit by 7 series Beemer. Car totally written off but the protective shell worked very well and she insisted she got another Clio. We did but the 0.9 litre tce rather than the slowish 1.2 non turbo. Other daughter has a fabia. Of course Dacia use same chassis and similar form shape in the Sandero and I would have one of those too.

The Scenic, both in 60 kw and 87 kw form have a single gear and the top out at about true 93 mph and a true 105 I think, had it up there, was indicating just under 100 mph but quite accedemic unless one is on the Autobahn in Germany. My Scenic, though not bought for acceleration but quiet cruising does 8.6 to 100 kph, or 60 mph if memory serves. I had a 2 litre injected MX5, electric roof and all, a dog in performance term. Swift is glacial to 60 i think I have seen, 13s or something, yawnfest. My Superb was awful, mk1, terrible handling, gather they are better now. Usually have L&K, 1.8 tsi, very good engine, or the 2 litre TSI VRSs, wow, had one, a mk2, 150 on the clock and still pulling faster quite noticeably

Even done over 70 mph ? Not an easy task in inaccurately named Swift or a 1.8 MX5 but I expect you have crept over the speed limit on more than one occasion but not reported yourself to the old bill ? According to Fleet website 25p ppm was impossible unless in a Dacia or a few oddball other cars but vast majority it simply is not possible so what can you do except me and my fellow HMRC Officer did but withdraw our cars from the employer usage ? A matter a degree and one the police, customs and other law enforcement agencies apply in practice. The rough 5 or 10% rule applies to many different areas, others are absolute of course, like Self Assessment dates for 31st of January !

You are assuming that i do those things which I have discovered. Knowing they happen is not the same as doing them. With our HMRC testing eating program we had quite a low budget per head so we would only test restraunt up to a certain cost level so the higher priced ones were probably able to get away with non declaring. Perhaps they had less cash customers but maybe just as many. District nurses and midwives cannot rin their cars on 45p, or 25p per mile so what do they do ? Give up the service and the job. I think some nurses do get more than 45p a mile. Let's hope they are declaring it else HMRC can go back 3 or even 6 years to reclaim underpaid tax. When HMRC were paying some 63p per mile over 30 years ago how is it 45p per mile is the rate now ? Because Britian is broke. As we descending in to third world working as on cannot run the car, even a Skoda, maybe a Dacia on that rate so it is only possible to get close to breaking even with a bit of rounding for many nurses and public servants doing essential work. I can understand the logic and without the clear guidance of HMRC ie Google maps, Odometer picture, no clear guidance does not help us to know what mileage metrology we should be using ? HMRC will not use any commercial platform, or at least they have not up until now.

Best getting it done before the oil and gas runs out or it becomes largely un needed for fuel, still need for plastics etc of course. Then Wales for the Welsh, selling the English their water and a tourist tax when Cornwall become a separate Celtic nation as will Basque and Gaul. Plus a united Ireland is a dream.

And we hear how business would rather cut hour or load more work on those that are left and complain about paying staff £12 an hour whilst they pay themselves 5 or 10 times that and do less than their employees. Paying less tax on their dividends than their employees do in PAYE and NI. Many politians are paid a fraction in their public service that they could get in private industry. Don't think they do it for the salary or Perks at the time but it oft seems to lead in to jobs that pay several times as much, particularly for ex Treasury postings.

I thought Boris gave Northern Ireland to the EU. Nearly the whole world thinks England is UK. In terms of percentage population, number of seats in Westminster it is an easy trap to fall into. Thankfully we always have you to remind us of the correct legal position George. Keep up the good fight. Maybe Scotland one day will be independent and the people of the world will need less reminding.

Quite common practice I hear talking to quite a few people. As someone who has done hundreds of audits on behalf of HMRC, done test eating, where we go to restaurants, pay in cash, record the customers during the time we are there and then "knock2 the restaurant a day or two later, confront the operator about there under declarations, same for test betting when on course betting duty was a think, seized vehicles for boot legging excise goods in to the UK rasing well in excess of £10M in under-decs for UK Exchequer. I think there is an expectation that claimants and declarants of across all sorts of business claiming will do some rounding but it is the blatant massive under declaring, or not declaring at all which is the big problem. Indian I went to earlier this week asked for cash only. Almost definitely not declaring that £65 of meals for VAT. Effort for tax avoidance has to focused on the major **** takers rather than the minor rounder uppers. It would help if things like the mileage rate was actually a proper rate. Us in HMRC use to refuse to use our cars for customs duties when the mileage hit 10k stating we would only use official vehicles or public transport. Sadly the UK is fast becoming a third world country.

It comes down to pollution of the air we breath. It has been shown time and time again that the lowish figures, and I dont call the 80 ugm/Km particularly low when petrol car and held to a higher standard ie 60 ugm./km but both actually fail massively in the real world rather than the lab these incorrect emission results were achieved. When the Catalytic convertor is not warm enough, and it may not get up to temperature for much of the journey undertaken in cool weather the pollution will be many times the published emission levels. Governments concluded around the world, even with Adblue etc , Diesel are not clean enough for urban areas. OK in the countryside or at sea until they simply become a cost ineffective choice and BEV or petrol variants are the choice, maybe hydrogen but that seems to be going down hill with diesel at the moment.

My reason for having one was for the labrador to see out if the wanted to. In the Octavia the hatchback and estate only had a few litres different in cargo litres. Fabia the estate was quite a bit longer as you will remember. Never did get the 25kgs ballast weight off my fabians vrs saloon's rear bumper.

I presume so. Renault speedo tend to overread by about 4% consistently in my experience by the odometer under read oddly, between 2 and 3 % it seems, indeed odd. Only thing with the tyres is that on my Scenic and Zoe i have the narrower and smaller rims ie 19s on the Scenic and 16s on the Zoe. Higher profile and each car I have the highest permissable pressures ie for fully loaded setup. Both these factors could add a couple percent to the radius from wheel centre to contact with the road, also they both have full tread at the moment.

Starting price £51k. Maybe VW will do some great lease deals as they are with the Buzz. Either way with such a high RRP one is going to get wacked in an extra £2k Expensive/Luxury vehicle tax after the first year. I expect all cars with an RRP in the £40k to £44k to drop below £40k by the 1st of April. Cars above that have a real problem. Just re-taxed my Zoe to move the taxing month from September to January so no road tax for me for the Zoe until 2026, if I have not chopped it for a R5 or R4 by then.

Statistically safer. One of my kids had a black box, I will resist them and look upon them as a bit intrusive. As I was saying on another thread many drivers, EVs and ICE, claim the mileage for driving the slightly quicker route but actually drive the shorter more economic route. Better economy and the next service costs are postponed. Black boxes and pay per mile might put paid to these claims tactics. HMRC itself is unclear, as far as I have seen, as to what route/mileage one entitled to claim. Stop every two hours, add a mile or two for the off and on slip roads, add 5% as my odometer overreads, which I use rather than Google maps. Lots of reasons to choice different routes. Black boxes usage usually cancelled after a couple of years as NCD kicks in lower premiums. Less of an issue here is leafy Worcestershire where insurance premium are much lower anyways. massive safety systems on new cars seem to be lowering premiums. My scenic will not even run over a leaf (not a Nissan) , going forwards or backwards without it doing a emergency stop, hope nobody is following me too closely. Not very good miming, actual singer does not look like this...

Think I saw this or something similar a few days ago and did they not charge at home on a 26p a kilowatt hour ? Most EV drivers charge at the night time rate of a third of the cost ie 8.5 per kWh or less ie a miles per pence of 2 ppm not 6 ppm plus if one day time charges. I tend not to drive at 70 but more like 65 mph and get much better range. Polestars are good motorway cars but most current EVs prefer urban and non motorway routes, polestars and model 3 and a few other exceptions ie ID7. Lots of motorway munching EVs on the way this 2025. Maybe a mixed driving test would be worth doing. EVe really shine against ICE cars in urban environments. Trying to think of an ICE car with a heat pump, any ?

Fast public chargers, ie 7 kw ones, are normally 49p per kwh are they not and not 79p per kwh, often even cheaper than that.

The HMRC Treasury rate ie 45 p per mile for first 10k miles and the 25 p per mile after that is crap and probably only works if one is driving a Dacia or the like. The amount is suppose to cover depreciation for doing the miles, business insurance clause, servicing, tyres as well as the fuel cost. Does not cover it for nearly 98% of cars these days I reckon. I was able to claim 63p per mile in 1992 when doing a Crown transfer, they would pay for my servants to move but not our piano I remember the rules saying (did not have servants in case you were wondering). My next door neighbour nurse gets a bit more than 45p I recall her saying, might have said 55p I think. She would pay tax on the bit above 45 ppm. Many who claim mileage, a friend tells me, that it is common to claim the longer faster route but actually drive a shorter slightly slower route, tut tut. HMRC giudelines/rules are a bit unclear on what one is suppose to claim ie Google distance, odometer recorded mileage, including rest breaks of course. Quite vague. Of course the major bit of support comes from a salary sum each month, many hundreds of pounds usually, taxed at full rate of course, 20%, 40%, 45% etc. One can see how salary sacrifice schemes have been massively successful. If one can take an EV that would cost 750 a month and get it for around 400 that is a great deal, still waiting for my company to implement which as the world's largest finished vehicle mover I would hope they would do and get a good deal. I think company cars are a minority now as other ways as I mention above is preferred. Car allowance massively taxed, EV salary sacrifice massively beneficial to staff if a good scheme. I am probably to close to retirement to get on a SS scheme so will bob along as is but it is very clear whatever company benefits are around, apart from SS EV, one is getting taxed more heavily than ever since WW2.

Not cheap but it is a hypercar with 1300 hp, 0-60 in 2 seconds and has done the Nürburgring in 7m19s I gather. European hypercars would be much more than this. Only available in China but perhaps Bristol Street Motors might have one along with the other BYDs they sell sometime.