lol-lol

And the charging game changes..... 30 chargers now at Frankley Southbound, let have same at Noth bound please. Half are TESLA version 4 chargers that can be used my non TESLA, price was 59 p per kWh too... (I still like the 22 kW AC should say Zoes only perhaps).

Car insurance companies are trying it on and LV tried to charge me much more ie to go from about £900 fo the Arkana and Zoe to £1200 but by simply remove my lad from the Zoe it went down to £1k for both. If he needs to go on the Zoe I will put him on for 6 weeks o so and still spread the cost across the year, happy days. Really having insurance where it was not really needed can save much money. I am on his Clio E-tech but that reduces the premium as companies like that. We have quite a health car insurance market and in 45 yeas of getting insurance on cars and motorcycles never had a problem getting a reasonable quote. Many electric cars have stella performance and the insurance reflects that. A bit surprised that we have not seen more black boxes for all ages or certified limited horsepower or power to weight. We have had this for decades in motorcycles in terms of licences, insurance and county laws in some cases ie even Germany limiting to 125 hp which, for a while bike producers followed. Laws to limit learners, those who have just pass their tests to a certain power limit ie no performance models until certain age or experience seems wise ?

You do not have to be much of a user to be better off overall ie think it is about 3 kwh a day of standard or daytime rate on dual rate tariffs like mine and one is better off under the new rates. I use about 6 Kwh during a normal day but more than 20 kWh when charging the EV on the 9 p per kWh tariff which is staying the same from Monday but it is gas that will be the big saver where I can see I have been averaging 55 kWh in March so just under £5 a day but that is going to drop by almost a quarter so my April bill should drop from a typical £130 to more like £100 which is very nice. Hardly encourages the switch to cleaner fuels ie renewable but I will keep working on getting a heat pump set up and especially now they have drop the silly need for 11 inches of loft insulation. Hope to get one before next winter. May need a second EV charger I think and this time go for a full 7.4 kWh one rather than the miserly 3.7 kWh one I currently have which suits the little Zoe. With electricity at around 24p per kWh I can use the pre-conditioning of the EV just before the journey rather than have it start cold before the journey. It is forgotten that inflation has been between 11% and 4% quite recently and therefore some prices rises must be expected to meet wage rises of workers. Benefits and pensions are going up quite a bit in April of course.

I miss Devon and Cornwall so much but the wages were just not there. As a Customs Officer mostly based in Plymouth but sometimes doing relief duties at Penzance etc it was an ace job. At least now there is lots more EV charging down in D&C as it was a desert for charging. I like really beaches like Bigbury.....

"Investing" in Scottish land, forests has been one of the key tax dodges for UK earners to the tune of many millions as you get your money out a couple of years later avoiding as much as 47% tax on it. Very popular tax avoidance scheme which is legal. I would think there is no shortage of money to invest in such schemes. Locals paying higher taxes is common though like water rates in the SW of England to basically provide enough water for Emmets and Grockels ie visitors, not fair but part of the price of living in the best parts of the UK.

We are looking forward to solar panels jumping up in efficiency from their current 22% to around 50% with some new tech coming down the wire so to speak so land usage will not be so much of an issue but replacing old solar panels with newer much higher efficiency ones and I would like to see more Sun tracking arrays as this can improve energy output by about 40% and one can go upwards instead of using more land. I think there will be lots of jobs upgrading the solar farm sites with the above improvements.

Indeed a bit loose with language. UK runs at 40 to 45 GWs at busy times, if it hits 50 GWs we are at risk of brown outs in some places. For all the big increases in population The Grid is not increasing but actually decreasing what it distributes. The figures do not so the increasing amount of microgeneration of power, individuals and business own solar and eve other generation ie a bit of wind or whatever. Some interconnectors are quite bi-directional. France we have power going one way and then an hour later going the other way. In my industry that still requires customs declarations believe it or not. Norway has more power than it needs for itself ie it has hydro as well as solar and wind so it is really meant to be in one direction but if needs were there presumably it could go the other way. Talk now is of new intercontinental interconnectors ie Morocco to UK and also America to Europe so that the tea time peaks can be supplied by territories that are in night mode. We can expect the whole Northern Hemisphere to be interconnected at some point in some people's lifetime. Clearly losses are quite small even across thousands of kilometers at these high voltages.

A great moment in UK history and for planet Earth as G7 UK produces more energy from renewables than fossil fuels and the line is quite steep heading to 50%, 55% and beyond. Prices for electricity due to fall on Monday April 1st, no joke. Even Ireland is celebrating UK success, they do get quite a bit of power supplied via the UK-Ireland interconnector. Cheaper running for EVs for energy. No road tax yet as VED for ICE cars goes up in the next few days. Congrats to my niece, just passed her car test and going straight for an EV. https://www.irishnews.com/news/uk/uk-records-highest-ever-share-of-electricity-generation-by-renewables-NYUL7EFFCFJBTHQSQ333SEXFWI/

It is now after ULEZ and updating buses taxes has now halved the NOX.... https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/environment-and-climate-change/environment-and-climate-change-publications/air-quality-london-2016-2024 About the report Since 2016, London’s air quality has improved dramatically, and the number of Londoners living in areas that exceed the UK’s legal air pollution limits has decreased significantly. Drawing on data from London’s comprehensive monitoring network and the latest modelling from the London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (LAEI), this report evaluates how air quality in London has improved between 2016 and 2024 and assesses the ambitious policies that have contributed to these changes. Improvements in monitored pollution levels Average concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were much higher in London than the rest of the UK in 2016 – and yet have fallen much more steeply in London compared to the rest of the country. Annual average roadside NO2 concentrations across London dropped by nearly half (49 per cent) between 2016 and 2023, compared to 35 per cent in the rest of England, 39 per cent in Scotland and 31 per cent in Wales over the same period. Preliminary figures also indicate that average annual concentrations of NO2 in London dropped to the lowest levels ever recorded in 2023, lower even than the first year of COVID-19 lockdowns. 2023 was also the first year since records began when annual mean particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations did not exceed the latest interim World Health Organization (WHO) air quality target across London’s active air quality monitoring sites. New data from London’s more than 150 reference-grade air quality monitoring sites also show the capital has made significant progress towards reaching the UK’s legal air pollution limits. The number of monitoring sites across London exceeding the UK’s annual legal limit for NO2 has decreased from 56 sites in 2016 to just five in 2023. There has also been a 99 per cent reduction in the number of hours when NO2 concentrations exceeded the UK’s hourly legal limit since 2016 – dropping from 4,130 hours in 2016, to just 22 hours in 2023. Air Quality in London 2016-2024.pdf

My Renault Megane Scenic was and that was an 03 plate.

Not as high a specific output as the Kawasaki H2R engine .... Engine type Liquid-cooled, 4-stroke, in-line four with Supercharger Compression ratio 8.3:1 Valve system DOHC, 16 valves Bore x stroke 76.0 x 55.0 mm Displacement 998 cm³ Maximum power 228.0 kW {310 PS} / 14,000 rpm Maximum power with RAM Air 240.0 kW {326 PS} / 14,000 rpm Maximum torque 165.0 N•m {16.8 kgf•m} / 12,500 rpm

The Ministry of Truth getting ever more dirty in its campaigning. More resignations and less Con MPs re-standing but the risk of ever more loony candidates is the worry. Oddschecker showing Cons are about 10 to 1 whereas Labour is 1 to 10 on it seems, cannot wait but the mess they will inherit. Not that there is no money but there is £2.5T debt up from £1T only 14 years ago. Not fixing the roof in the good time 2015 to 2020.

Guy has not even got common sense. He could have 5 or ten minutes research and saved himself 5 hours but he bragged about charging waiting for charging also. Did he never have the hare and the tortoise read to him as a child, or do physics as a subject at cse I wonder. I did 205 miles yesterday in my EV. Similar battery size, arrived with 20 miles to spare and really zoomed at some stages.

Have It in eco for part of the journey chillout at around 65 mph, can use kickdown even in eco, get to 90 mph in around 5 seconds, do your overtake then settle back to cruising. There is a new hub round Chipenham, half a dozen ionity chargers and a nice cafe, don't stop at leigh dmD until it is upgraded in a few months time, dozens of chargers around Cribbs causeway Bristol. Fail to prepare then prepare to fail.

Bloke is an idiot. He is speeding (indicated 74 mph) clearly has now knowledge of the cubic relationship speed and energy usage. If he just cruised a bit slower he should have only needed one stop and if he done even the modicum of research he could have gone to a place where there is multiple charger where there are nearly always at least one or more pretty vacant to use. Stellantis cars have not been good for range with the 50 kWh battery pack, actual useable power only just 45 kWh on many of them and it is quite a big car. That pack is better in the Corsa or the B segment cars rather than C segment where you really need around the 60 kwh packs and above.

2024, two race meets in. Much great racing and well done Toprak and first wins for BMW. Disappointing crowd figures but many fans went down to Motogp in Portamao rather than WSB at Barca I think. Motogp was very good too. Going to be spectacular racing in both series I think.

Is this the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end ?

The just want to raise more profits and up their share price it seems. Sales of BYDs in Europe do not look great, not as good as SAIC-MG it seems in the car sector or of course TESLA.

News that TESLA were rising UK prices of both Model Y and 3 do not seem to have hit yet as the Model 3 Standard Range is still sub £40K. Long may it last and hopefully see the price fall by another grand or two as the battery packs get cheaper and cheaper. Cheaper to run to as electricity prices fall in 12 days. https://www.tesla.com/en_gb/model3/design#overview

It is widely circulated that road damage related to axle weight is to the 4th power so twice the weight then 16 times the road damage. But then not only heavy Audis etc are some part of the problem but truck which can now be 44 tonnes, six axles I recall which would have four tyres I presume on that axles which works out about 3 tonnes through a tyre. There are things called friendly axles I now read. Some cars might be putting about 1.5 tonnes on an axle or a bit less than a tonne a tyre. Massively less than trucks therefore using the power to the forth. My little Zoe is not that heavy compared to many road cars though quite a lot more than cars of a generation or two ago which were half the weight but then they had little safely equipment. Like so many current social issues which is deflection from massive under investment and taxes not be collected like against non-Doms. Decaying society from a morally bankrupt government. https://www.hagerty.co.uk/articles/opinion/opinion-cars-have-a-weight-problem-and-its-damaging-more-than-the-environment/#:~:text=We've known this since,than a one-tonne car.

Weird one as Nissan already in a relationship with Renault as part of the Alliance which was becoming distant but I thought that was coming back together again after Carlos Ghosn incident. Be interesting to see how it goes as Honda has been so left field and Nissan does not seem to have a natural successor to the LEAF but the Ariya has been received well by the press but less so by the public and it is related to the Megane-e and therefore the European Car Of The Year Scenic.

One notable point is Lexus/Toyota singled out as lemons, the largest car company in the world so wide of the mark, even after success with the Prius.

xactly that. I paid nowhere near the 33k sticker price fo my Zoe, probably about three quarters of the price with the Government, Renault national and dealer discount and then there is the cheap 1.9% finance to with money having devalued by about a quarter since i got the car. With PCP I will choose whether I want to keep the car for the balloon payment or handed it back and it has been a great experience and Renault's data has been an underestimation in my experience as Renault has assumed climate set to 22C, as the fairer sex oft have it, as a bloke I usually have it at 20C and sometime lower and have the climate off completely and just the heated seat on which rarely gives me a range of less than 200 miles. The experience of running the Zoe EV has been pleasant and I have done well over thr 6k miles I PCP'd to do, if I retire not sure if I will do less or more miles as I will keep a second car, either the Arkana fo a while or a new Model 3 SR but that will not be as cheap if I cannot get it thou salary sacrifice. Driving an EV, even a cheap one like the Zoe, £280 a month for a 200-250 miles range car, with energy running costs of 2p a mile but claiming the 45p tax relief for the first 10k miles as i get no business mileage reclaiming but do get a petrol fuel card for my mild hybrid Arkana so near equal running cost as petrol effectively 30p a litre. But it is the wish to be environmentally friendly that drives choice of which vehicle to take in combination with range and easy of making the journey by pure EV or hybrid.

Youtube video of well known, to many of us interested in Electric vehicles what they actually cost, ie not the RRP, and therefore the true depreciation is much smaller than the click bate press would have believed. Sorry about his sponsor taking a minute or so despite them being quite interesting to many EV users..........

Passive air cooling hence the Rapidgate issues. Zoe is active air cooling ie fans and issues I have heard of if the ambient air temp is in the 40s or battery to low temp ie zero and below means slower charging on DC as BMS will throttle the changing Amps to protect the traction battery. SOC even after a hundred or two hundred thousand kilometers is pretty good especially if one only occasional DC charged at 125 A and mainly AC charged at 16 or 32 A whether Single or 3 phase. BMS has quite protective setting in Renaults up until now but new R5 sounds quite high charge rate ie a high C rate.