lol-lol

And we do not know what is the point where many or most people on Earth may be severely affected by the level of CO2, and Methane and other greenhouse gases, that the weather makes life very difficult. It might be that we are already there judging my the drought in Southern Europe and Northern Africa affecting the growing of fruits and vegetables as seen in the prices of such items brought on by low crop yields. The Rhine to shallow to move cargo barges and cause higher transport costs, the snow line ever higher on European mountains meaning the loss of some's livelihood. Even SE England is suffering with water shortages. The prospect and reality it sounds like our government is going to spend billions (£20B earmarked) on carbon capture. Money that could be better spent elsewhere if we did not have this problem of too slow adoption of EVs which is also down to the government of the last 13 years failing to adopt EVs as quick as other countries and also roll out the uptake of heat pump home heating. This £20B of carbon capture fees needs to be put on to fuel prices and electricity from fossil fuels but we also need to be charged properly for energy we use when we use it which one can do partially with off peak tariffs ie using nuclear and renewables base load power not dumping CO2 in to the atmostphere and hastening us to Armageddon.

TESLA prices continue to fall......... (France, Germany) what is the UK doing ?? Let us hope we see similar price drops in the UK shortly ! 42k Euros is £37.5k in GBP !!!!!! We have finally reached the sub £40K level !!!! Hurray. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-cuts-price-model-3-germany-website-2023-04-14/ FRANKFURT, April 14 (Reuters) - Tesla (TSLA.O) has lowered the price of its Model 3 in Germany by 2,000 euros, or 4.5%, to 41,990 euros ($46,462) per vehicle, according to data on its website. The carmaker also cut the prices for the long range and performance versions of the Model 3. The Model 3 Performance version now sells for 54,990 euros, a discount of 9.8% compared the previous price. Tesla also cut the price of its Model Y Performance by 9.2% to 60,990 euros. The Model Y Rear Wheel Drive and Long Range prices remained the same. https://twitter.com/TroyTeslike/status/1646831002487070721/photo/1

Absolutely love my mk 4 Nav 3 which sits on 17 inch wheels on still looks good in the rich red colour I have. Getting dated now in tech, both the nav and music side and the safety equipment compared to the mark 5 but it is still a joy to drive and easily does over 60 mpg. Decent boot and more roomy than my Zoe. Mind you the Sandero, which is so similar, outsells the Clio two to one on its value. Jogger now available with ETECH, price up to £23k but that is a lot of car for the money and to take 7 average sized people around, what space. VAG-Audi have their work cut out to survive in Asia and the US against the Chinese march. They could because just Audi niche with SEAT and Skoda not being able to compete.

The 20 Nm torque, 10 HP is just for my "mild" hybrid 1.3 engined Arkana, the cheaper version, the, probably, more popular ETECH Arkana has the 250 Nm twin motor system plus it rather asthmatic 94 hp naturally aspirated internal combustion engine which, despite all that apparent torque figures the car takes over 11 seconds to get to 100 kph ie 62 mph. Probably fine for those who do mainly town driving, and it is supposed to give a combined mpg of 59, pretty good for a quite tall SUV, 200mm ground clearance for handling the bad un-surfaced roads of Russia and the Ukraine, its original places of manufacture before moving production to the Samsung facility in Korea. In my mild hybrid I gather the little hybrid battery, along with the starter motor/generator contribute not only to a bit of forward motion but also as part of the regen system and power systems like power steering, lights etc when the car goes in to coast mode by popping both the dry clutches and cutting the ICE for periods if the system has enough charge in reserve. Suppose to boost fuel consumption and cut emission by around 8% compared to using just the 130 hp 1.3 l tce engine. Seem to be averaging 49 mpg, which for a car almost 1.6m tall is not too shabby and with a fair turn of acceleration ie much better than full hybrid Arkana, video shows driver getting it just in to the 8s to 100 kph.... and after about a minute getting it to its 127 mph max. If I had to pay for fuel, ie not have a fuel card, I might have gone for a fuller hybrid to get the better mpg. How anyone can run a car on the UK Treasury rates of 45ppm, up to 10k miles, and 25 ppm after that I do not know, unless one drives a Dacia maybe.

Neighbour just has an MG4 for a few days as a company hack vehicle to review but really did not like the software operation on the interface. Disliked it so much he was give a Volvo (Geely) XC40 which would expect to be much nicer of course. Not sure he has factored in the price difference which, even with salary sacrifice, will be large I would have thought. Lots going on with the various automotive companies in the sector and other players coming along with lots of money to buy auto makers on the cheap as they struggle to adapt to the electric future and some betting on some alternative fuels playing a part. Who is up for a Methanol or Hydrogen car ? They could explode on to the scene maybe ? https://global.geely.com/en/news/2023/geely-renault-aramco-new-powertrain-company

Farting out carbon either way sadly.

Yes indeed. Cretaceous age flora residue does not have the same ring to it. Whether flora or fauna it is all carbon based lifeform which is adding to CO2 which is already soaring as shown in this 1959 to 2022 graph. Many PHEV owners, apparently, do not even bother to unpack their charging cable. If that charging cable is only giving you 10, 20, 30 or so miles, and the hybrid will self charge in part, many PHEV owners just do not bother to plug in. The Hybrid Arkana is suppose to do best part of 10 mpg than the mild ie no EV only running but agreed, sat on the motorway just cruising and if no heavy traffic encountered, the no EV power mild hybrid can do an mpg very close to the full hybrid which is 100 kgs heavier with all its EV gubbins. Happy with my mild hybrid with no EV mode, my additional battery is 0.13 kwh and only supplies 20 NM of torque I gather, so tiny no biggy, mpg crap on very short journeys (use the Zoe for those I try) but the very mild hybrid Arkana can get well in to the 50 mpgs using ECO mode and Coasting function which is OK with petrol not a crazy prices. Happy owner for the time being but things can change with fuel or electricity prices plus road tax and insurance factors of course.

Many car drivers are looking at PHEVs or even non plug in hybrids that are doing 10+ mpg better than their mild or non hybrid cousins hence since 60 mpg plus but many with PHEVs and non plug in Hybrids are only seeing 40 to 50 mpg, when the manufacturer, even non with WLTP, are claiming the 60 mpg plus. This must mean that it is much down to how these cars are driven and the terrain they are being driven across. Clearly some expect great mpg when they drive with little mechanical sympathy to the sophisticate engineering of the machine they drive. Trying to them to think as far ahead as they can, avoid using the brakes as much as possible, is something they neither appreciate and therefore implement so the car get its maximum efficiency out of the dinosaur juice or stored electricity in the vehicle. To me, as a 30k plus miles a year person, having the mix of pure ICE, hybrid and EV, with a variety of sizes as to whether I need to carry one or 5 people and just a laptop or 500 litres plus of suitcases etc, is one solution that works for a high miler like me, there all Renaults so they have been relatively cheap to buy or actual PCP of course. Combined with the privilege of having home charging, with Octopus Go, that charger being subsidised by UK government grant of £500, along with the car getting £2k or so grant, EV ownership, mainly being used for 25 miles a day commutes for my lad, and occasion 125 mile journeys to work, with a free destination charger has been peachy, exactly where EVs score. Lack of good information is a key problem. Informing EV drivers to us ZAP app, unless you have a TESLA of course, is very useful. Understanding winter range, pre-conditioning, optimising battery temperature before a rapid charge. Running an EV seems to take about ten time more thinking than an ICE car. If, as it looks likely, £1.40 a litre for petrol and £1.60 for diesel is the low point and much higher dinosaur juice prices are likely as the Saudis look to exploit the last few years of oil being used as a propulsion fuel then EVs take up will not stall especially if we see, as appears likely, the electricity prices have peaked and so the differential costs between lecky and petroleum widens again after this brief narrowing.

Some might predict Stellantis many not survive the change over to EV. Jeep in China has already declared bankruptcy and one can imagine many to follow with the wave of Tesla, with the model 2, and offerings from BYD and SAIC/MG taking so much of their market it would seem likely. Stellantis have been quite good at re-organising and acquiring for a pittance the likes of GM in Europe and some minor successes like the Fiat 500 EV. I was a bit underwhelmed with the Megane-E and decided not to get one but went for the very mild hybrid Arkana rather than Megane-E. Hopefully with lithium prices falling like a stone and incremental improvements in energy density the range etc of these EV models should improve every few months but western, non-TESLA companies seem to be not passing on such advantages but trousering any efficiencies that occur. Fitting EV tyres, so Tyre Review say, can be producing tyres with less tread to achieve better MPG, it like the new printers coming with half filled cartridges so you have to go out and buy a fully filled cartridge sooner than you light think. Need to look more at the Hankook Ion tyres, maybe there are a technical advance and not a cheat where you find that EV tyres lasts a mere 10k or so miles on the front axle as they only came with 5mm of tread rather the usual non EV 8 mm of tread or whatever. Hope you find an EV to suit you and do not revert to fossil fuel, you have been a real pioneer. Many are looking forward to the Renault 4 and 5. I would also like to see the Dacia Spring over here, or the mark two of that with hopefully a battery more like 40 to 50 kwh rather than its 35 kwh one currently as that should come with the massive drops in Lithium price for similar money.

The biggest restriction to the implementation of renewable energy schemes is who will finally gets to control them. It seems Scotland will not get its 30 Gwh scheme in the Highlands unless it self funds as the UK government appears loathed to invest over £1B in to the scheme when the SNP is pushing for independence ? That would be a big financial gift if independence happened. Perhaps the scheme is more likely to happen if Labour returned to being the largest party in Scotland ? Similar with the massive solar schemes in North Africa. The Sahara is perfect for placing large solar farms and Europe has a massive appetite for cheap solar energy but as above which country or which massive private investor is going to but billions of dollars in to those countries in North Africa that may suddenly turn and say thanks for the all solar hardware and cabling infrastructure but they suddenly take control of it and call it a national asset ? Hence these schemes are hobbled and smaller schemes in the place of consumption make it to the build stage and the other grander schemes do not. It is amazing Dinorwig got built but perhaps UK government and CEGB thought it was worth the half billion cost gamble at the time being in Wales, a friendlier country to England thought to be in the long term ?

The pump storage is one answer as is battery storage with which the price is falling like a stone. Elon Musk built a 100 MWh storage plant in less than 100 days in Oz and a country with so much solar and the ability to build onshore wind turbines is meaning Oz is going from a very dirty continent to probably the cleanest in a few years. EV sales also is going from nothing to a big chuck of the market getting quick supply from China. On a personal level my Bluetti EB180 and Allpower S2000 pro given me over 3 kWhs of power and next on the shopping list is the Allpowers R4000 which is 3.6 kWh and has an inverter to handle anything in the house, just waiting for the price to be right which will probably be around Black Friday. Cyber Monday or thereabouts. pay about 50 to 60p wh storage and only use batteries which can be recharged thousands of times. Reckon it saves a good £1 a day at the moment but come end of my Octopus Go 7.5p per kWh I may need to look at another Octopus tariff and/or squeeze my use of day time electricity, which is only 40% of what I use, even more.

These predictions come from what is already happening on the rollout of the North Sea Wind Farm, massive drops in lithium costs, solar panel technology just about to take a quantum leap to go from an efficiency of 20% to that of 50% and the over-production and sales war of EVs in China meaning companies like SAIC ie LDV, MG brands, making no money in China where prices on EVs are halving so they will look to make for the European market which will probably wipe of European marques. It has happened for every sector of goods and automotive is one of the last to fall. Of course we have the massive factor of taxation and intermediate companies to make massive profit margins within these processes. Being a tax consultant and import specialist and general examiner of cost build-ups and Asian Pacifics economies it will be interesting to see if the UK, the EU etc introduce Anti-Dumping measures on Chinese vehicles, more taxes like higher VAT rates for UK consumers to ensure they get the tax receipts they desperately need to support the UK faltering economy with zero, or negative growth but increasing public costs with an ageing population. I hear Italy has just declared a national emergency on population imbalance due to low birth rate and ageing population and other European countries may follow. Electricity can be produced a one or two pence per kWh yet it somehow gets up to 35p per kWh. We need a more layer pricing low, middle and high to everyone I think.

I hear loads of chat on Renault Zoe and Megane-E chat rooms, oh Renault are dumping the Zoes on the market and depressing the prices of our recently bought Zoes. Well boohoo, many of us bought them with massive subsistence from both the Government, Renault UK and the dealers so we paid a price much much less than RRP. We did so on cheap finance too. We have been using these cars and paying running costs about half of that of ICE cars with the cheap energy and cheap servicing. All whilst doing what many of us wanted to do which was to pollute the planet less for future generations. I am quite happy that second hand Zoes are cheaper. Both the ZE40 and ZE50 Zoes are cracking cars for range. A bit compromised as a full family car, as are many of the smaller EVs ie poor rear passenger space and smallish boot for prams etc, but I think can work as great commuter cars for many and save the users tens of pounds a month if not a week. Most do not see there is a revolution coming which is gather pace to a absolute gallop which make ICE cars more expensive both to buy and to run. Interest rates will fall quickly in a few months time, electricity will be cheap as more wind power comes online, especially off peak charging. I have only charged off peak on Octopus GO. 12k miles done, probably paying between 3 and 2 pence per mile and £99 servicing. Just waiting for work to roll out its 22 kW AC chargers at most of my office and happy days whilst reclaim 45p a mile tax relief from HMRC. Happy days.

Manufacturers sell "Compliance" EVs, at lower prices ie below cost to bring down their average CO2 for the marque and the ICE cars need to sold at higher price ! Some car makers sales are 99% ICE cars, many have a few percentage of EV, and TESLA are pure EV of course. If a car maker sees that the average of the cars they sell is creeping over 95 grams per kilometer they need to push those EVs and even low emission hybrid, even if it might be bit of a loss, to keep their average CO2 per vehicle below what they will be substantial fined for. Let us hope we in Europe benefit big time from this. The car, and van, world is going through revolution in Australia ,China, Europe and Canada/USA where both EVs and ICE cars are being sold off beloy cost for several reasons and the average CO2 is one of them. Also new legislation in China, EUR7 coming in Europe, mean both EVS and ICE cars becoming cheaper by the month. Tesla lowering their prices on a monthly basis in several markets Other producers responding to TESLA's price reduction Lithium battery prices falling like a stone ICE cars have to be pre-registered as cannot be sold after a certain date Chinese manufacturers, like BYD etc, looking to make sales abroad as the selling prices have collapsed in China due to the price wars. Car buyers all over the world should benefit from some great deals if they have their wits about them and realise where the market is going ie downwards in prices by 10-20% per year as TESLA and other force these matters. Bit of a worry for those who bought at the height of the market and great news for air quality in many cities of the world. https://climate.ec.europa.eu/eu-action/transport-emissions/road-transport-reducing-co2-emissions-vehicles/co2-emission-performance-standards-cars-and-vans_en Penalties for excess emissions If the average CO2 emissions of a manufacturer's fleet exceed its specific emission target in a given year, the manufacturer has to pay – for each of its vehicles newly registered in that year – an excess emissions premium of €95 per g/km of target exceedance.

The light that burns twice as bright lasts half as long. I will see what the pcp deals are, as some believe EV prices are tumbling pcp rise. I have seen Zoes been quoted at 500 a month! The big saving with salary sacrifice makes the pcps much more affordable.

If heading to France in one's Fabia VRS, early Audi TT or the like, that needs E5 fuel, will up before you get on the Ferry as France has not got any...... https://www.spartacommodities.com/oil-market-commentary/short-and-mid-term-consequences-of-the-french-strike/ As a consequence, 13% of French gas stations have now run out of fuel. The biggest impact can be seen in the Med, Brittany and Normandy, where fuel is becoming scarce. Given these conditions, one would expect French players to be resupplying in ARA very soon. In the meantime, and oddly enough, a large French refiner continues to be the most aggressive winter grade seller in the ARA window. This must be linked to a disposal of winter grade as the market transitions to summer grade, yet it remains quite surprising. Friday was the first day of summer grade on the Argus window, and we could already see that summer grade was already trading in steep backwardation (trading at a whopping April swap +$28/MT for early April loading). In the meantime, ARA blending margins remain mostly negative. Despite gas-nap rallying back to $160/MT in April, blending margins for summer grade E5 remain at historical lows, .......

Which Kw motor have you got ??? I drove the 165 kW / 220 hp I think it was, I was not bowled over with. EVs are heavy cars and it tells in the acceleration and on trying to look at the data on SKoda's website it is hard to drill down to the acceleration figures but I am getting the impression that one has to go for the 4 wheel drive, dual motor versions, which are quite pricey, to get versions that are close to even the slowest accelerating of TESLAs. I will have to research how good my local TESLA dealer is which I presume will be Birmingham, W.Midlands.

Good you know, thanks.

Is this their fault and weakness in secure properly supply and are they unwilling to pay the inflated price for these components ? One on my cars came from a factory a few miles away, the Samsung XM3, aka Renault Arkana, and production was circa 80k and I have not heard of much production delays at Renault-Samsung but perhaps they have a deal. Rumours are that Samsung may further cut chip supplies to Hyundai-Kia or re-enter car production in their own right as they have substantial chips and battery production and just need to re-add the actual car production which this time would be for pure EV rather than ICE or hybrid. Interesting times ahead where big names could fall and others become the dominant mass car producers for the world.

Thanks for the feedback. Being looked after by dealership is very important and TESLA seem to want to do away with Sales dealerships but wes still need TESLA service and repair places. I need to do more research. I like the Skoda dealership here in Worcestershire who were not great but have much improved. Same Group as the Renault dealership here. Lots of factors to consider and a new interesting relationship if I get a car from Octopus Salary sacrifice scheme and then bring it to the local dealership for servicing. I would expect they are happier with doing the sale themselves but hopefully we can work something out. Renault need to bung the 75-80 kwh battery of the Ariya in to the Megane-E to make it a more proper long range car. Mind it did do over 20 miles past zero in one test so, typical Renault, the true range is considerably more than the range predictor comes up with but 60 kwh is especially if you do not get the £42k ICONIC model with a heat pump and therefore get even worse winter range ie well sub 200 miles. So many factors to consider, TESLA network much better but as you say both quality and back up service probably worse than most other makes.

What is going on in the EV world ? The Kia EV6 the European Car of the Year 2023 but its sale a falling big time . Presumably aggressive pricing from other car manufacturers is part of the story. Electric Viking quotes the Kia (Hyundai etc) plan to only have a third of their cars EV by 2030 which is out of step to most manufacturers. Do they see much of Asia or other markets stikcking with ICE for well in to the 2030s ? The Kia

I get the conspiracy theory doing the rounds that those Chinese companies who make those electrical components and Lithium etc batteries that all EVs need in their production that the supply of such components will continue to be prioritized to the massive, all encompassing Chinese companies rather than Western ones. Western automotive companies, to survive, need either to have their own battery and electrical component divisions or do a joint venture deal with the Chinese, or they will not survive. I worry it might be such that we are bound to lose companies like Jaguar, unless they get bought my the Chinese as was Volvo, and even the giants like Renault, Stellantis and VW have to adapt or die.

And this is the rub I think and much as I revel in my Zoe ZE50 it winter performance of 3 miles per kWh, 3.5 in the Autumn and Spring and only 4 miles plus per kWh in summer is a bit of an issue when one needs to do 250 mile round trips any time of the year and the Megane E, with its 64 or so kWh hence the Ariya. I thought I would not go back to VAG but both the 80 kwh Born and Nyak are worth a consideration but always being measured against TESLA of course. UK is out of step with much of the rest of world. If not direct subsidies as I got with my Zoe, with dealer discount as well as the government bung and what one now can regard as very cheap PCP interest rate ie 3.9% APR it has made sense and although me and my lad are only doing 8k miles a year, nowhere near your 16k or so, I have left we have done something to lower our carbon footprint. There is a EV tsunami coming where their price is falling like a stone due to much lower production costs everywhere but particularly in China, Australia is already seeing it with BYD, 比亚迪股份有限公司, Build Your Dreams, which the Chinese seem to get much more than Western car companies and like MG they will wipe the floor with Western car makers, as can be seen by recent car production and sales figures across the world. There are are several other large Chinese manufacturers who will also contend. All Europe can do is have an anti-dumping meeting and perhaps up the import duties to protect European car producers a little longer but the Chinese will find a way ie use Turkey or the like to find a cheaper way in to our domestic car market. We need to reduce our carbon quickly, EVs and cheap heat pumps seem the way forward to me.

I think that is what I have, a Podpoint Solo, only cost me £449 to install but it is only a 3.6 kw charger but that has worked out fine. I am thinking of a Tesla for my next EV, I tried the Megane-E, which is a sister car of the Ariya, which was OK but not enough of a big step up from the ZE50 Zoe but the Ariya would be I think, if the price ie the £56K for the 87 kwh battery one, comes down similar to Tesla price drops.

Oh no. Looks like they consulted with the BMW's master of fugly front end designer.