Graham Butcher

So it would seem as if the truth is indeed somewhere in between after all then? Even with Uber drivers driving their cars in to the ground, it doesn't still make any sense, are they trying to say that they treat BEV cars differently to ICE then?? There is more to this than is meeting the eye currently and with time, I expect it will be revealed. As to Hertz reducing the fleet still further to 40k EV's, then once again my figures would seem to be correct because if the only had 60k and are now selling 20k (33%) then that would in fact leave them with 40k, yes?, as per my calculation.

Agreed, 15% is only a very small percentage of their sales, it would seem that the narrative we are being fed globally about EV's is not being matched by actual facts, so one of them is factual and the other BS, which is it? Or of course there is the possibility that neither are factual??

@wyx087Even if you read the post that you referred to https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/11/24034462/hertz-ev-sell-one-third-fleet-ice-tesla-polestar-used, it also says that they shedding 20k of EV's including Telsa model 3, Chevy Bolt, and BMW i3, leaves them with just 40k EV's. It also backs up the maths that the 20k is a third of its fleet so it would throw some doubt on the claim of Hertz buying 100k of Tesla's. Quote "The rental car agency said in a regulatory filing today that it will sell 20,000 vehicles, or roughly one-third of its global EV fleet, and use that money to buy gas guzzlers." That quote also suggests that there is maybe some truth in the claim that maintenance costs of EV's are too high and also that the public do not want to rent EV's

If you care to revisit the post that Rooted posted it is there for you, both in the video and in the article and this been backed up by other sources. The internet is full of this storey. If 100k was delivered and selling 20k equates 33% of their EV fleet, then that means that only had 60k in the first place. It is also interesting because the sources are also quoting that part of the reason is the high maintenance costs of them. And they also state they have some Polestar among their fleet left, kind of suggesting that if they had 100k of Telsas in 2021, then they must of sold even more before the latest report was last week. Maybe the actual truth is something in between these figures, who knows? Edit. I just read the latest post from @Rooted where he provided further evidence of these figures and one of those quoted they only had 50k of EVs in their global fleet. So simple maths means subtracting 20k now leaves them 30k globally, if you can rely on the reports.

I'd say that standards have most certainly been dropped over the last few years and companies are bending the rules left right and centre because they know that they can and nobody will enforce the rules on them but the rules will almost certainly apply to us the little people because money talks, b******s

I don't know about you, but I don't read all the T&Cs when I take it in to a proper service agent. I tend to expect that they will have all the proper insurance and Health and Safety requirements in place to properly take care of your car should the worst happen.

@RootedWhat do you make of that? Do you think that someone is hiring them to sue for damages, or do you think that Nelsons are touting for business like those ambulance chasers?

What a low score 🤣, posted it as I thought it might have been of interest to see a real live fire response to a bus. If that had an been EV or that CNG bus the time it took them to respond they might have been in time to see the complete bus destroyed before even getting a hose deployed. 🤔

This is a video of actual fire Dept callout and their response to a real bus fire which started in the drivers glove box, so not a diesel, CNG or BEV fuelled fire but one that quite possibly started from a small Li-on battery in a mobile phone, tablet or a vape etc. Bus fire - VOLUNTEERS DUTCH FIRE FIGHTERS - (youtube.com) 3,340,630 views Oct 7, 2023 LUNTEREN Lunteren Fire Department: A bus driver sees smoke coming from his glove compartment. He decides to park his bus on the side of the road and call 911. The Lunteren fire brigade is alerted. When they arrive, the fire brigade sees that the bus is actually on fire and the water truck from Kootwijkerbroek is also called. Firefighter Erik had just passed as a driver. This was his very first appearance with the fire truck.

This is part of the problem, as I've always maintained, for this to work the governments of the world have to ensure that nobody is denied the ability of charging at home, which currently is not possible, even with cable covers such as the one in the video because so many people have more than one vehicle at an address and this trend is likely to continue growing as wages continues its downward spiral and house prices continue their upward spiral social housing carries on its trend of reduction. That means that there will be more cases of offspring not being able to flee the family nest, getting married and continuing to live at home with parents and hence more vehicles at each property, for instance, 2 of my neighbours have 9 or 10 vehicles between them, which are all in use by various family members and then there are many families in the street with children and so that problem is going to be further compounded as they become old enough to have cars of their own. The whole mandating of only new zero emission vehicles only being for sale in 2035 or sooner is poorly thought out. For it to work they must ensure anyone is catered for and is not excluded or an alternative type of fuel needs to be in place and not something that is rushed through that sometime later on down the road, major problems are discovered with the and the planet is in a worse position than it is now. Even compressed natural gas which has greatly reduced toxic emissions for instance can result in major hazards that extremely dangerous as well in their own right This is the text that can only seen if watching the video on YouTube, just clicking on the link embedded in our posts does not expose any text that needs to be considered as well to fully explain the contents of a video so that it is not taken out of context. 446,348 views Apr 20, 2022 Fires in buses powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) and electric buses pose significant risks. In the case of CNG buses, the compressed gas can be highly flammable, increasing the likelihood of a fire in the event of a leak or mishandling. On the other hand, electric buses have battery systems that, though advanced, can lead to fires due to short circuits, overheating, or system failures. To raise awareness about these concealed dangers, it is essential to emphasize the importance of prevention and proper training for drivers and maintenance personnel. Measures such as regular inspections, emergency response training, and clear protocols for the safe management of these technologies should be highlighted. In the event of encountering such a circumstance, personal and passenger safety is the priority. Evacuating the bus in an orderly manner and moving away from the affected area is crucial. Immediately calling emergency services and following any specific procedures provided by the bus manufacturer or local authorities is important. Awareness and preparedness are key to mitigating risks and protecting lives in such situations. Scary moment #burning bus !! a #power outage causes a #fire on #hybrid #bus, #bursts in to #flame #electrique bus ? #scary moment Burning bus !! #CNG #fuels spectacular #bus bursts in to flame #Spectacular prugia CNG bus bursts in to flame or CNG🔥🔥🔥 إحتراق حافلة كهربائية un bus electrique pris #fue? en plein route ectric buses are one of the most effective Way to reduce urban pollution CO2 emission .but the safety is the highest priority . Electric bus battery catches fire 🔥or hybrid CNG vehicle ? The passengers safety it's the most important issue , how would you handle situation like this? In the recent past, multiple #EVfire incidents have caught the country's attention, repeatedly pointing to the poor quality of imported Lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells as the most probable cause. ************************** ******************************************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************************************* ***************************************************************************************************** a circuit cut in the battery blocks of a hybrid bus caused the gas valves to burst and ended up burning the vehicle, fortunately there were no victims only that the fire spread rapidly in the surroundings of the area of the fire that later the prugia fire servicees managed to control

And so it begins, the utter madness of local authorities, who would seem are working against central government.

True, there was a post there, I posted in then, but at that point it was assumed that dealer's insurance would cover the cars. When it became apparent that was not the case I thought that maybe it was better in the insurance section because the same applies to all cars and not just EV's.

Hertz planned to buy 100k Teslas' back in 2021, but it seems as if only 60k have been delivered or more have already been sold, and the 20k being sold represents a significant percentage of it's fleet, leaving only 40k in its fleet according to CNBC. It claims to be 33% of its total fleet of EV's, including Polestars, and more.

I received this email last week, I remember the garage being flooded and that it was built on a well known floodplain but would have expected that the planning authority to have made sure that protection was built-into the plan. Hi Graham, Generally, garages are places you take your car to get it repaired, right? So if you took your vehicle to a garage, only to find it written off a few days later, you’d likely be a tad miffed. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to customers at Inchcape’s Jaguar Land Rover garage in Derby back in October. If you can cast your mind back that far, Storm Babet was raging, and the result was a flood at the dealership. Several cars that were in there at the time were damaged so badly that they needed to be written off, but here’s where the controversy comes in: Despite the cars being under Inchcape’s care at the time, they didn’t take on the responsibility for the cars, telling the car owners they had to claim on their own insurance. And for various reasons, those payouts won’t cover buying an equivalent car, leaving several of the drivers significantly out of pocket. One particularly galling part of the story is the customer whose Jaguar I-Pace was in the garage at the time. While the car was up on a ramp, and therefore safe from the flood, the vehicle was in for a battery change (as the old battery was defective). And guess what wasn’t up on the ramp? Yep, that’s right – the battery. Whether it was the old or new battery is immaterial: if it’s the old one, then it was going to be scrapped anyway; if it’s the new one, then surely it’s the garage’s property and responsibility? Not according to Inchcape, whose reputation looks pretty likely to suffer as a result of all this. You can read the full story here, but I’d love to know – what’s your take? Whose fault is this, and who should take the blame? Grant Ford diagnostics on your phone! Quick and easy diagnostics for Ford models from your mobile phone. This great vLinker Bluetooth interface lets you read and clear fault codes on main systems without needing to fire-up a laptop. Perfect! If you want more in-depth diagnostics, you can run the full version of ForScan on your PC, using this device, and get the full picture - including Service functions. Only £42 inc VAT www.gendan.co.uk

Typical Audi driver 😆

You using the word muppets made me think of this article, these are also muppets, who think that a Tesla is a gas guzzler and have attacking them as planet destroying cars 🙄 Eco warriors vandalise SUVs in Bristol as protestors continue to laugh at the law | Regit

Yep, get to laugh at those a lot, even see so-called professional drivers such as bus drivers doing just that on the TV news every time there is a bit of snow around, slow and gentle is the key. Anyone see anybody running on the footpaths at all 🙄. It seems that once you get off the ground and into a driver's seat, all common sense flies straight out the window and the snow and ice becomes far more grippy when their feet aren't sliding about on it 😇

@RootedI think taking the diesel makes far more sense under those conditions. Maybe you have the best of both worlds with having access to both types of motive power, take advantage of cheap electric when you can, especially when conditions are more predictable and when harsh weather and the risk of getting stuck somewhere, use diesel. Great survival strategy.

Canada is struggling with EV's

I have Xenons and I find with LEDs, coming towards you, it is very hard to spot the kerb/edge of the road and cyclists without lights or pedestrians at the roadside or at zebra crossings, especially as they all tend to be wearing dark clothing and they just blend in with the darkness behind them as the glare of the other cars headlights effectively masks them if the other car is between you and them. Sometimes at night, these pedestrians, even with the lights on the crossings are exceedingly hard to spot if the glaring headlights are on the other side of the zebra crossing and the only indication that there is anyone on the crossing is the occasional blocking of their headlights as the pedestrians cross in front of them. It certainly would help if these other drivers could learn to dip their beams instead of relying the matrix doing its job and blanking of the part of the beam in your direction, in fact I'd go a step further and say that they should be banned from ever being fitted in the first place.

I had similar issues with my NextBase dashcam but solved it with a 12v to 5v convertor from Amazon AITRIP 2 PCS Double USB Car Converter Module 12V to 5V 3A 15W Power Adapter DC to DC Reduced Voltage Regulator Car Power Converter Output Power Adapte: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo and hardwired this into the fusebox by connecting it to a ignition switched fuse so that when I start the car, dashcam and my TomTom satnav both automatically boot up and shut down again when the ignition is switched off. The dashcam has an option to switch off after a short time delay after the supply is switched off, this I set to 10 seconds, the TomTom automatically does the same after 15 seconds of the power being killed. The convertor I fitted behind the glovebox and the power cords I ran behind trim pieces and routed into a space behind the dash, by the passenger door and plugged into the convertor.

Do they still fit these SOS buttons anymore? I remember having one in a loan car many years ago but I don't recall having seen one recently.

When it comes to double-deck buses, they need to have a low and pretty flat floor to enable handicapped people to be able to access them in wheelchairs, so there is no available space beneath the floor for batteries. On single deckers they are typically stored above the ceiling and hence why there are videos online of these on fire with what appears to be fireworks coming from the roof area and raining down on the ground around the bus, looking the display of a roman candle as can be seen in the video below. In the case of this London bus, the batteries are located behind and beneath the rear seat, which is where the Mercedes Benz diesel engine is normally located. They cannot be fitted above the ceiling of the top deck as the weight would mean that they would fail the 28-degree tilt test that all double-deck buses must pass. This test must be carried out with sand bags strapped onto the seats on the upper deck to simulate the top deck being full up with passengers

@wyx087, you were spot on with the type of bus, here is a better photo.