Graham Butcher

Black Stig & Richard Hammond vs the speed camera round 3 - Top Gear - Series 1 - BBC - Bing video

True, but I don't think that the Ad-Blu is all that complicated. The car is being blamed for poor air quality when the air quality is quite good anyway, not that it does any harm to make it better other than inflict more hardship onto people who are already reeling with rising cast of living with wages lagging far behind what is required to keep the balance. Studies have shown that cars themselves only make up a very small percentage of the pollution from the transport group. Lorries, buses, aviation, trains, ships and boats create the lions share but once it is the ordinary motorist who is the one that gets clobbered. Currently, producing electricity creates more bad air than the ICE cars do. The largest amount of pollution is coming from both agriculture and industry, so by helping these 2 sectors improve their act would do massive good for air quality across the globe, but that won't happen because it is not a revenue earner that can easily targeted.

Is a modern diesel engine really any more complex than a modern petrol engine? I doubt it really because you still have all the same items but with a petrol you also have to add in all the ignition system which way more complicated than it used to be with an old-fashioned coil and distributor.

The real big problem with any form of hybrids is the sheer complexity of them. It seems if anything on the electrical side fails, it will also disable the engine as well so a double whammy effect.

Just be glad we're not driving something like a Rolls Royce which I think besides being wider are around 5.3m metres long for smallest models🤔. The mk3 is also difficult in most carparks what with the narrow and short bays. Most of them around here make getting in or out of a bay at least a 2 step procedure.

I think you're right, maybe this VW's doing to pay them back for actually making the Superb such a roaring success that it sold better in the UK than the Passat did so they have been told to cut a few corners to save money and as a consequence the Passat now seems to be a better screwed together car but not as roomy as the Superb, does that make sense of the position?

Ouch surely your not suggesting that it is a design fault, rather than being done to save to money treating it correctly or whatever. I mean that if you think about it, it wasn't a thing until we pulled out of the EU, so it suggests that the two are linked in some way.

Well, here is my problem with the ULEZ scheme and its expansion (it does not affect me as my car is fully complaint), so I'm not trying to denounce it because I'm a skinflint etc, its because I believe I can see though the wool that it hides. I look behind the door so to speak to if there is a hidden agenda and the last few years with our current crop of politicians, I've not been disappointed so far. Now then it might surprise you but that AQI map also can I understand provide a 12 month rolling history of each sites readings on a number of parameters, which I think is behind a paywall, but what is for there free reveals that the air quality is pretty consistent and is generally well within the green safe zone across London as a whole. That suggests that we are not being told the whole truth and nothing but the truth, by the mayor. Now there are a few locations in London and also in other parts of the country that do often read slightly higher but upon further investigation it can be seen that the monitoring equipment has been poorly sited, i.e., close to extractors etc from commercial kitchens, close to underground stations or underground vents, large heavy industrial sites like Tata Steel works etc where you would expect the air to be bad. So that is why I'm dubious about the whole ULEZ and other schemes that are already in operation and more are planned. With regard to the brake light on that Korean car, yes it might well be a problem for that particular brand, but are we/you positive of that? Aren't all cars supposed to follow a rigid code and standards to ensure compliance with the regulations for the markets that they are selling cars to? Well that particular car got through all the approvals stages somehow and still didn't comply with them and was and maybe still is, a major potential problem for some unsuspecting driver? Your Tesla seems to have that aspect addressed, and maybe is something that others should look at regardless of their power plants, ACC is still being controlled by software.

I'll have to try and find out if mine do as well, I'd hate to have someone run into me when that happens, so many clowns these days enjoy sitting right in your slipstream.

I just checked both of those streets you mentioned and surprise, there is no official air monitoring station near there at all. The nearest one is in the middle of Devonshire Green, like a small park? Who told you that they were the worst areas?

Now I think about it a bit more, it's making me wonder happens with the adaptive cruise control, will it also bring on the brake lights if someone does something in front of you so it slows down really rapidly, will the brake lights come on to alert those behind?

Yeah, I'd go along with that but I'd like to chuck into the pot the ones designed to fool cameras with their illegal spacings, fonts, 3D characters and incorrect colouring, all so they can try and ignore speed cameras.

Do you mean reg plates that aren't in the middle of the car such as some Alfas or those with 3D lettering or illegal spacings etc?

Indeed there is and it is happening here in Essex as per my post above yours.

Yep, I understand that, but in the case he showed, it wasn't working and the slowing down was reasonably fast. It would be far safer to forget one pedal driving and instead opt for a similar setup to my diesel car, i.e, if I lift my foot off the throttle, the car goes into "coasting" mode like your Arkana so like you, I have to allow for longer stopping distances. But as soon as I touch the brake pedal, the car engages the transmission again to increase braking effect, now if EV cars did similar, touching the brake pedal would then activate the brake lights and engage regen braking without wasting energy on mechanical brakes unless you needed to stop sooner. In fact that would be a more beneficial system all round as it would allow for some sort of range extension by allowing you to coast whenever you get the opportunity to, then touching the brake pedal brings in reg braking, with brakes lights latched on, further pressure of the brake pedal brings in mechanical brakes as well and a touch of the throttle disengages brake lights and normal mode is operational, much safer then getting used to a one pedal drive and then for some reason, you have revert to a ICE car for a short spell you won't forget to use the brake pedal. 🤣 Thats a winner all round.

Have you checked to see if those locations are on the map I referred to? On the broader picture of these CAZ schemes, I can see that these are perhaps more of a trojan horse and are the prelude to a full-blown road charging scheme nationwide and will be linked into a nationwide network so every journey you make will be tracked and the types of roads driven on and the time of day will attract differing rates. You may be aware that there are plans to do away with cash and only have a digital system, so this type of scheme would deduct the fees directly from your online account. There are many more similar low emissions zones coming, many in already in operation and even in Oxford car free zones as well.

@lol-lol Wow, this was quick I managed to find that video I mention in the above post, have a look and tell your thoughts on this.

Actually, without getting into an argument about anything, your assumption about my understanding of how EV braking is done is incorrect. Some EV cars actually mention One Pedal driving mode in their blurb but that in itself could be placing you in great danger as it has been demonstrated that on certain cars at least, such system does not operate your rear brake lights so anybody following behind you and paying close attention may not notice that you are slowing down until its too late, and you get rear ended (pun not intended 🙄) This because some EV cars still use a switch operated by the brake pedal to switch the lights on. There is a video about this, and I'll try and dig it for you to have a look at, and the present has placed a series of cameras to make sure that the viewer can clearly see the dangers are not faked or clickbait etc. It might take a time to track this down

No, it was a mild hybrid, similar system to the F1 cars, uses the energy stored from regen braking to assist in accelerating and or pulling away from a stationary position. The driver has zero control over it, it is fully automatic in operation. As to the air quality at the location you mentioned, have a look at the attached screen prints taken this afternoon just after I ready reply, the actually air monitoring station is not at the retail park (which ps Frien Park Retail Estate but is located outside Bowes Primary School on the North Circular Road, which is about a mile away to the east of the retail park. The other one on the NCR is outside Ikea at Wembley which I attach a screen grab of at the same time, both of these readings are within safety zone which is below 50 so the first one reads just 3 and the Ikea one reads just 38. Hence why I doubt anything a politician tells me as they generally have another motive, and in this it rather looks that is the case, do you agree 😉

Exactly right, maybe a little about me might save a lot of folk jumping on and covering old ground. I'm a retired electrical engineer who has always had a passion for electrics, technical things, buses and cars, so much so that when I was leaving school I thought long and hard about what I was going to do for a living. The careers service knew about these passions and said that they couldn't help me in finding employment with those interests. I went out one afternoon from school to see what I could do. I went into the local bus station (Eastern National) in those days and walked into the tiny engineering office at the back of the station where the servicing of the buses was done and asked if they had any jobs going as an auto electrician. An hour later I walked out with an apprenticeship that combined all of my passions and started work there the following week. The careers' officer was amazed that I had cracked it when their service had failed to make that kind of connection. So I went to college and passed all my exams, which were more involved than the courses that electrical contractors have to take. Went on to take a further course in advanced electrical engineering, and passed exams, did an instructor's course as well as the company were looking to set up their own in-house training facility as I had successfully taken on a couple of apprentices under my wing, while I was still completing my training, after the person was supposed to be teaching me on the job, got promoted to management, leaving me to run the electrical Dept and training 2 apprentices while looking after 2 bus depots with over 130 buses and coaches. So I'm not some wet behind the ears kid when it comes to technical issues, I have quite a good grasp of the issues at hand and processes involved, and so I tend to look over the fence before jumping, rather than just accepting what somebody else says I should do, especially when that person happens to be a politician, most of whom I would trust to replace a fuse in a plug top, and always have an ulterior motive. Anyway, enough about where I came from and why I question the whole EV thing, I was trained to never accept anything I was told at face value without first probing it and look around the back door so to speak and see what horrors are hidden away from view and then formulate an opinion and that is what I'm doing with regard to air quality, ULEZ and also the EV scene and what I'm seeing is not convincing me at present that these are in our best interests.

Yes, I know I will, even those people who hate EV infrastructure or the lack of it 😉 and say that they're going back to ICE when the time comes, all say that they absolutely love the instant oomph that the EV has. I had a Qashqai hybrid for almost 2 months when my mk2 got written off, and I was amazed at the oomph that gave me, but I also hated that occasionally it would, when I was stopping and trying to come to a nice smooth controlled stop, it would give a sudden forward jolt as I was applying less brake pedal pressure. This is how I was taught to drive by a bus driver, in order to use the brakes as little as possible, use the engine braking effect, to give your passengers as smooth a ride as possible. I just don't think that EV is the magic bullet that is cracked up to be. I've been a lifelong chronic Asthma sufferer and have been used to carrying round with me, 2 inhalers, neither of which I have not had to either use or indeed carry with me now for years as the air quality honestly has improved that much that I now have zero signs of any Asthma, even when I'm right inside the central zones of London. Hence why I was saying about being a cash cow and this global interactive live map of the air quality of countries and their cities and is zoomable right down to street level clearly shows that the UK air is good but laces like India for example need to take action to improve theirs. Air Pollution in World: Real-time Air Quality Index Visual Map (aqicn.org)

Which is exactly what I endeavour to all the time, and as for which is better overall for the planet EV or ICE, only time itself will tell. I see it really as just yet another version of the petrol v diesel debate and I can remember when we were all urged to switch over to diesel as it was a greener fuel, which we today know is not the case at all. Yes, I still drive a diesel because I love the way they deliver the torque low down in the rev range and achieve high MPG while still delivering the HP. I also like to think that with the modern diesels being so good on efficiency that the impact on the environment is less per litre because of the greater distance travelled on that litre. I've not seen any evidence to that effect, but it seems to me to be a logical conclusion?

You are so right about the choice of tyres makes a lot of difference, I always look for tyres that have the best wet grip combined with the lowest db rating I can find. Also, new tyres are also far quieter than worn tyres so I guess that is down to the amount of rubber between the road and the wheel, i.e, more tread depth and so more ability to flex and absorb more of the undulations of the road and stopping them being transmitted though to the car.

@wyx087 Look, we both make some good points that reflect how we use the vehicles, and we keep on scoring points off each other till the cows come home so I'm not going to continue this path other than to say that going full on EV adoption will just add yet more damage to the earth in addition to the oil wells, which we will still need in addition to the other resources for EV's as we still need plastics which are derived from oil, we still need grease and lubrication oils which are also by products from the production of petrol and diesel. Therefore, what are we going to use petrol and diesel for in the future? Does it not make sense to continue using it like we do now, but carry on looking for ways to use it more effectively, so we use less of it to achieve the same result and also find ways to eradicate the harmful emissions without adding more problems. Just managing to use less with the same results is a major win because that also means less emissions at the same time.

Not everyone will drive in the same fashion as you do, many younger drivers will still rely heavily on brakes, They are also the drivers who tend to overtake you where others would hang back as they can see zero advantage in arriving at the next set of lights a couple of seconds before you, just to waste the fuel overtaking and then spend the time gained stationary at the lights while you roll up and stop right behind them.