lol-lol

Kraken.

What do you mean I only go to an alternate charging place once or twice a year as I have my recharging place at home so it fills itself up when I am asleep, do ICE cars do this trick ? Think both EVs and ICE will do this shortly ie nip off when we are asleep to fill themselves up but then we will probably get to the stage when hardly anyone has a car and there are just pools of them which come to you when called.

Just about to get my third referral bonus of £50 from Octopus. Do ICE drivers get £50 or so for referring a different petrol/diesel station ? As of this morning have an additional and uprated home charger I expect to do even less charging outside the very cheap time so hopefully will not need to up my Direct Debit from £125 a month even when running two EVs and the house is quite large but the gas bill is probably going to be quite high if we get a cold winter which hopefully we will not due to the climate change of course.

Most EV drivers who charge at home are on a dual rate tariff so they get several hours of electricity at about 37% of the slightly inflated Day time rate we pay but or Day time rate is only about 2% more than flat single rate other flat earth users get charged so basically it was a 4 hour but now 5 hour window to fill your boots. Octopus Go rates are expected to go up and I might be paying about 9.3p per kWh from October 1st but the fact it went from 4 hours to 5 hours was a huge change and not for just charger my Scenic and Zoe but for the rest of the house as well ie all the house's electrical usage. I expect the Day rate to go up 10%, so to about 25p per kWh, and stay at that sort of level for Q1 2025 and then fall even more than this year for Q2 and Q3 of 2025 as UK solar increases and UK and northern European wind produces ever more power which will need to find a market. Night rate (00:30 - 05:30): 8.5p / kW Day rate (05:30 - 00:30): 22.8p / kWh Standing charge: 60.66p / day

Taxation has to be effectively collected and with Excise Duty on fuel it is just the easiest to collect except for those lorro=ies that come in to the UK with their diesel tanks brim full, do hundreds of miles on UK roads and then leave the UK again without buying UK fuel whilst doing huge damage and wear to UK roads. Collecting duty on the the electrical energy that goes in to EVs is just about impossible as there are so many way that energy go be harvested and put in to the EV. I heard one detailed chat on the radio where a bloke was talking about using the in car telephone systems we have ie for the SOS function and Over the Air updates to just charge EVs per mile as there just about is no other war to capture taxation from EVs. With free electricity sessions the running cost our cheap. servicing should remain half or less the cost of ICE cars. Insurance has been cheap on the Zoe and I think will be OK on the 170 hp Scenic. Tyres I was worried about being 19 inch ones but the 205s seem to be quite cheap. I want to ditch the Michelin Primacy ones for so Pilot Sports or Toyo or the like. I can see EVs being super cheap for the foreseeable. Will look at doing the Dereg/reg trick to set the VED month to March for both of my EVs but that does not kick in to 2026 to be anywhere near being a significant cost.

Even if the UK government restore the inflation escalator for fuel excise duty whilst electricity gets cheaper and cheaper, as it is, to the point of being almost free ? I can understand this for the like of Clarkson who has made a career of being contrary but ordinary people with an amount to spend each week/ month/year etc it is becoming just economic good sense to go EV to save 8p a mile and then to have that money to spend on other things rather than ARAMCO profits ?

https://www.ecoticias.com/en/china-presents-gac-new-engine/6364/ China has a new electric motor giving a result of 98.5% efficiency compared to today's motors which are around 90% efficient converting the electrical energy to forward motion. This could therefore add 34 kms of wltp range to a 400 km range EV or over 50 kms to a 600 km range EV without any change to the battery or other systems but as we know these other systems are improving several percent per year also.

Everytime you will up you will up you send money to despots in the world, bad. You do send about £50 to the government which they desperately need after the last government leaving a £3B national debt. Excise duty on fuel is the most efficient tax to collect and the 5p excise tax reduction and the return to inflation matching rise in excise duty. Getting more trucks and vans over to electric is an important and relatively easy step to lowering CO2 and NOX emissions and hopefully we will see timetable for that in next month's budget. Still waiting to see if UK will put similar countervailing duties on Chinese EVs like Canada, EU and USA has but many countries have not brought in CV duties ie those without lame home based car makers like VAG, BMW and Mercedes to protect.

The Stellantis, Peugeot e 2008 is seeing some big discounts. The Megane etech BEV quite large too. Scenic etech still demanding prices closer too its RRP. The tech is moving so fast that yesterday's tech the price dealers are will to sell plus selling one BEV means they can go ahead and sell 3 ICEs.

Seem to happen with Nissan LEAFs and then being unwarehoused but then they are made in uk ie Sunderland (ha ha Sunderland, beaten by Argyle). Zoes were mass taken on to lease in their thousands and then splurged on to the market is why Renault dealers do not want them back but they are still great cars to run for about 20p a mile and claim 45p a mile for. The full story is very complex but boils down to how much a month to rent and run. UK Treasury rates for car mileage are so far behind real running costs and pay per mile will make it worse ie that will need adding on to Treasury rates to pay those making journeys for work, civil duties etc. Then many by cars as statements as well as work tools they are getting annual and pet mile allowances for and many payout far more than these allowances so a 3 year old LEAF for silly money may work even if only a 39 kwh battery and therefore circa 150 mile range and charging with a granny charger cable.

Hardly mentions EVs and mainly describes how a new technology gets launched and how it takes time to find its place in the market. Car companies allegedly trying to manipulate the market and how bulk leasing and returning off leading distorts second hand value. Where post cars are pcp leased in the first place the leaser can choose to pay the balloon payment or hand it back or the third way can be to make any agreement with the dealer to pay the market rate, even though thousands below the balloon payment and keep the car they have grown to love. I gather this sub balloon payment figure could be less than two thirds of the balloon payment. I know I can get more than 10% more than the stated wltp range ie 260+ miles is possible when I am driving meaning the energy cost is around 1.5p per mile so it a car I want to keep for short to medium uk journeys and use the European car of the year 2024 Scenic for the longer journeys. Be glad to get rid of owning ICE cars though will occasionally ask to use my sons hybrid Clio to reminisce over the old tech piston engined cars.

I think you miss the main point. Whilst the government's of the world financial help is very welcome, except here in Germany where I am now today, where they dropped the subsidy from 7.5k euros to nothing overnight. The main reason is for our children and grandchildren so they have an environment they can live in and dont have to spend all their efforts just surviving the ecological disaster we have left them.

There will always be one or probably several ways to get electricity in to one's EV. From 3 pin chargers to using ones own home batteries and solar and letting friends with EVs use our charging systems. If that Saudi oil runs out from the petrol station down the road the that is it until the next tanker arrives and even then it will be bought up in minutes. Electricity will get cheaper and cheaper as Europe in increasingly over producing for ever increasing periods. Another free our tomorrow and I am not home. Be ready for the next one with two home chargers and home batteries to take advantage of free and night cheap lecky.

Even the VW CEO thinks that group may only have 1 or 2 years left. Sad..... Good EVs produced late, maybe ID7 & first to be a class leader. In Germany next week, might have a chat or two. Also hear it from German friends, so bad.

Latest Car Guru UK youtube video.... Mainly about the 370 mile than the 261 mile version I have ordered but the 360 mile WLTP (can be surpassed or not reached) and is bigger battery is the one most commonly ordered. Bigger battery one RRP is just over £40k but discounts out there mean one can be had for much less. My £37.5k version is out there for about £33K I have seen. As said low finance at 4.9%, better than many mortgages out there.

What size wheel do you have on ? I glad the Scenic is coming with 19s rather than 20s as the bigger wheel harden the ride and take 10 or 20 miles of the range. Will you consider the Juniper model when it comes out in a few months ?

Thanks. Maybe the percentage of rhd drive vehicles will increase as India and Indonesia move more from motorcycles to motorcars for the masses. It would have been interesting to hear Sweden's logic to change from driving on the left to the right back before their change in 1967. Presuming the saw it meant cheaper cars for their people but not sure that was the main reason. Maybe 69 countries but I wonder how many actual cars etc per year are made rhd compared to lhd.

We could see a massive influx of Chinese now that Canada, EU and USA have introduced massive tariffs. Chinese would gave been designing and producing Right Hand Drive cars if they were not already. Being interesting to see if new GB government follow siut with other Western countries. KPMG reckon RHD cars were costing over 6 % more than LHD ones. We are consumers have to pay this premium in countries that drive on the left. Of course Northern Ireland is subject to the additional duties as part of the EU customs territory. Nice one Boris.

Very nationalist the Parisian authority as the 2T EV limit will hit the big Gernan EVs and the bigger battery Enyaq. Think the big Peugeot 3008 will also get wacked but Renault are building lighter EVs. Paris does its own thing. When I wad part of Bollore we had 5,000 Blucars on the streets of Paris until they withdrew the subsidies almost without warning then we gad to close down a unique EV project. It was reckoned we were taking as many as 100,000 ice journeys a day off the roads of Paris. One of the Blucars got hired 40 times in one day. Oft just a jaunt from Gard de Nord to the Sud but still. 6 minute hire intervals. The odd fire wad out down to homeless breaking in and starting a little warming fire !! Still work for a French firm, we have been and are doing the logistics for tge Olympics. Think I prefer Marseille to Paris which is our head head office ie CMA.

Apparently 0-100 kph in 8s is now regarded as slow. This video from Bjorn Nyland, the prestigious tester of EVs and this is the more powerful 220 hp version and not the 170hp version I am getting delivered in the next few weeks. Scenic is quite light for an fair sized EV. Front wheel drive maybe deducting half a second or so from the 0-100 but it does give for good cabin space which the Scenic has......

Actually looks like it is 105, might have misremembered.

The National grid guy seem to be saying that this was the right size of fuse for the building. I probably never have drawn over 80 Amps, even when the fully family was living at home, ladies with hairdryers and multiple other electrical devices for doing all manner of strange things. Sounds like a policy to make sure the right fuses are in the buildings. Perhaps move away from the 100 Amp fuse in the defacto size for a residential dwelling unless a mansion. Just worried me that it would blow and as it is a mechanical fuse, old school, blown bit of wire due to too much current, then it will be a right pain in the ass. Ring 105 if you fuse goes and the 24/7 Grid man will sort you out. If it blows a few time it sounds like they may put one up to a 100 A !! Cost about £3

The guy is a diamond but we could do with a UK Bjorn. He does GPS correction for speed and distance and records weather and tyre sizes. But the UK is a very different place. One is risking one's licence cruising much above 125 kph ie 77 mph, I had a speeding ticket and speed awareness course to prove 80/81 mph, ie 130 kph is deemed excess here in the UK. Do not think I could face a TESLA with its minimalist interior and right wing owner but the ID7 is nearly £60k and that is for the 77 kwh pack, the 85 kwh one even more, need to see some discount offers on this in the next few weeks and months. For £40k you can only get a Model 3 SR+, albeit one can get 340 miles range with the smaller wheels.

I am an old fashion and straight forward kind of guy and the simplicity and regularity of Octopus go suits me down to the ground. 5 hours of silly cheap lecky, always between 0030 and 0530. know exactly where I am with it. Decided not to even try and go to Intelligent Octopus, I want the total control, sometime leave the house at 0500/0530 and I can work out to the percent almost how much charge I will have, at what precise time the car will hit 80% or 100% charged. Guys from the Grid have just done their and left which seems like it was basically to say " ah no, you should not have a 100 Amp fuse, we will check that for a 80 A, another little test on a in house 3 pin and then my question " thought you might be uprating the fuse or putting in a form of trip rather than down rating my main fuse when I am adding another 7.2kw ie adding a new 30A device to my home equipment. Have to make sure I am not charing both cars, having a shower whilst using the electric immersion heater and boiling the kettle, 30+15+30+13+10 = 98 Amps. If I go in to total darkness then I can call 103 to get the grid to change the fuse, waiting in the dark, thankfully I have my solar generator batteries to keep going. Have heard it said that it actually takes 160A for over 200 seconds to blow a 80A fuse so should be OK !

Despite living in Worcester I am well above the flood plain, it would need something biblical for us to get mildly moist. The Severn floods of 2007 taught Worcestestshire and Gloucestestershire a great deal. Farmers know get their land flooded instead of the city. The lesson of the thousand or so properties on the flood plain at Tewkesbury is still in the memories of people in this area. I have National Grid coming to do a cut out check before the fitting of my second car charger, this is due to be a 7.4 rather than the 3.7 kw podpoint I already have. Indra charger being fitted, tethered it looks like which will save time. Made in Malvern so even the delivery is low or zero carbon. Indra just partnered with Scottish power so hopefully will improve matters up north.