Graham Butcher

@lol-lol I'm not going to disagree with any of that, RR has inherited the most appalling situation left by the last lot. It has all the hallmarks of being a well laid trap so they can spin it back against this government at the next GE to keep them out of power for many years to come. Politics is a dirty game played by self centred people many of which don't care about the country and all of its people.

I think you're right. Its interesting how people view things when they appear to have their feet firmly planted in of the affected segments of society. I love to get people's opinions on what could or could not be taking place in the budget, but there is one thing that we can all agree on, it will be those that can least afford to shoulder more responsibility for the nation's poor financial state that will proportionally feel the pain more than others.

When ignorance is bliss, then you must on cloud 9, I never said it was, I asked a question. But here is something that you might like to consider, I also never said that the data signals only travel via power lines, did I. Fact is that data can and does get distributed over power lines, I even make use of that technology in my house, instead of running cat 5 cables all over the house (mainly because SWMBO hates seeing cables) I have had my broadband intake positioned in a bedroom, and then taken the signal from the router up into the loft and down into what was my home office, into a Netgear switch, and then taken cables out of that to feed a A1 plotter, a printer, a scanner, 2 NAS units, 2 PCs and then onto another switch in a sons bedroom which splits it again to feed a smart TV, 3 game consoles, a PC and a wireless access point. Then I use PLC (Power Line Communication) to run the broadband down to another switch in the TV cabinet to feed a smart TV, Internet radio, smart Blu-ray player and a Free view recorder unit as well as another wireless access point. The same PLC also sends broadband round another son's bedroom because he hates wires, and that feeds a game consol, printer, and a PC along with a smart TV. PLC is also used to feed another wireless access point adjacent to the front door to provide an excellent, strong signal to my doorbell and door camera, so yes it can coexist alongside AC power, but there are, as you rightly said, certain things that it cannot get through. That said, I never said that travels all the way by power lines either, because it makes its way to a series of wireless stations, i.e, mobile phone stations etc for onward transmissions back to the suppliers datacentres where it is processed to provide billing for the customers. Here is something else you may like to consider, BPL (Broadband over Power Lines) which is useful in some areas and is ap parentally being used to provide smart meters to around 200,000 houses by EON, so you are not as correct as you thought and so that makes far less of tin foil hat wearer than you would attempt to paint me. "On 19 January 2018, E.ON, the German multinational electric utility company, serving about 48 million customers across several European countries, decided to use BPL in the low-voltage segment of their grid for communication with their smart metering devices. The utility chose Corinex as the provider for the initial two years of the deployment. The initial deployment was several ten thousand repeaters and headends, providing secure communication for meters at about 200,000 households. The utility selected Corinex GridValue energy management system, using the IBM Tivoli platform, to manage the network.[22]" How Broadband Over Powerlines Works | HowStuffWorks Broadband over power lines - Wikipedia there are many other references as well I know that you also like to say TLDNR, but sometimes you may and can learn something by reading.

If your paying £1k tax on your interest from your savings then that almost makes you into one of the fat cats doing tax evasion, well maybe not a real fat cat, but certainly a tubby cat (pun not intended) and maybe part of the reason why Rachel from accounts is scrabbling around looking for ways to plug the deficit that doesn't upset the elite.

True, but I have had company cars before, and the companies have reserved automatics for management only, plebs get manuals. Smaller cars have the front wheel well encroaching into the footwell so the pedals get squeezed together with far less space between the clutch and the transmission tunnel, meaning wide feet have problems in that area. When I had those cars, my sons either had not been born, or were just toddlers or small children; that's no longer true, they are my size, 6ft 4", and also have larger feet than most, hence the need for larger cars, as @lol-lol pointed out with the roof line also presenting less space in the rear in lots of cars. So, for some, it is only large cars, of any powerplant type, that will fit the bill for those who are not of average dimensions, which is what most cars are designed for.

Totally agree with what you said, but everything rolls downhill to those at the bottom of the food chain to make up the shortfall, i.e., those who already have the least resources. We need far fewer think tanks that lobby on behalf of funders, who are extremely wealthy and believe they deserve to keep more of their money than others can. We need politicians who are there for everyone, not just the elite.

Yes the front is fine on so many cars for me as well, as they are not manuals, as with size 15 and extra wide feet, the footwell on manuals simply is bleeding dangerous for me to dive safely, far too easy to foul the pedals, or press 2 at once with such large feet, another reason for me to need a larger car is right there.

Don't fall into the trap that EVs are hard to tax on a PPM basis; they aren't. I think you'll find that a data signal can be superimposed onto the power cables, isn't that how the information is transmitted from your smart meter back to your power supplier? When they installed it, they never installed any other cables, and smart meters work perfectly, whereas some people find it almost impossible to get a mobile signal! It matters not if you only charge your car from solar; the PPM is only charging you for using roads, so plugging your car into a charger is also connecting your car to the super data highway for data collection, as your car details, reg number, from which they can identify you, and the distance you have travelled. With a digital ID system, and your bank details also connected to it, they are already being checked for signs of extra income, i.e., a side hustle on eBay bringing in more than £1,000 a year. There is no way to escape the charge, which is also cheap to collect by direct debit. Big brother is watching us. We could all be sleep walking into a world like that painted in the novel, 1984. We are slowly being conditioned to that by being told how convenient these steps are for us, like withdrawing cash for digital money, but digital money can be manipulated by unscrupulous players.

The 3% is what you quoted in your post, I thought you was claiming that the 3% was how much fuel duty the EVs would add to the revenue. Which at £9.1 billion in 2025-6 would fetch an extra £273,000,000, very nice, thank you. The Renault 5 has done a good job of capturing the essense of the old model,

You appear to be in denial that this is even a possibility, yes, it might well be only 3% of the fuel sales currently (makes a mockery of the industry claim thought about EV's flying out the showrooms, which we all know is not true, currently, if it was, then there would not be any grants for them). But, this figure, unless there is a massive relaxation or reversal of the net-zero push, that figure will steadily increase, and the fuel duty will begin to decline at a bigger rate, and it will hit the poor government's ability to balance the books. They have to be looking at how they can recoup that lost income, and the answer is right there, in the car, all EVs are recording the miles driven, and I dare say even the route taken especially if they have sat nav built in. Data is already carried along power lines, the technology for that has been around for many years. With the now digital VED, and the network of cameras across the UK and police cars, have ANPR capabilities. The phasing out of cash been underway for some time, the introduction of the digital ID system which we are supposed to be getting, bank accounts being scrutinised by government bodies, and will be linked to your digital ID. Payment can be deducted direct from your bank account, and your bank account could also be frozen if they so wished, (apparently this is already being done in places like China and Vietnam, for example), also with so many EVs now having over the air software updates and even diagnostics done the same way, they could also if payment was not being made due to lack of funds what ever in your account, disable your car while your charging overnight at home. All of these things are for a vehicle that must be plugged in to refuel, are or could be, a real possibility. True with the ANPR cameras they could attempt to do similar with ICE vehicles, but they would need far more cameras for that. When you stop and look at it like that, the book by George Orwell 1984, could become a reality. So the moral here is, never say never, because it just might.

Multiple sources as is the norm just before a budget, surely you must have heard and read about it in many places by now, there always leaks?

I just heard a rumour that the budget is geared up towards EV's, to replace the fuel duty that you not paying, they are weighing up either PPM or, weight as they are of the opinion that an EV is actually heavier then the normal car, even SUV's as SUV's (as long as they are ICE) pay fuel duty. I think that the PPM would be based currently, solely on the miles driven rather than time of day or type of road. I said it before that it is thought that every time you plug in to charge, at home or anywhere else, you car is capable of reporting your current mileage automatically over the grid, but like I said, it is not yet confirmed, but may happen.

Thought it would, so much cheaper than new glow plugs or pressure sensor.

What about this one then with an electric bus bursting into fire after a crash with a car, the batteries were exploding like fireworks going off and one passenger on the bus died in the fire.

@wyx087 I was looking at this document, and it certainly looks more complicated than the cooling for ICE, especially as the document states the danger of not keeping the battery pack at the optimal temperature, risks a dangerous thermal runaway event of the battery. EV Battery Cooling - How Does It Work? — Lectron EV

i see what you mean, but it is still only one system, the water flows straight from the block or jacket as you call it, into the head via waterways in the head gasket and the pump on modern cars is indeed normally mounted in the block/jacket at the front of the engine. But your garage took advantage of you with that £800 as on my Superb, the pump is recommended to be replaced at the same as replacing the cambelt which does require engine to be stripped down so the belt and pump come as a kit and that only cost me about £500 a couple of years ago at the main dealer. It is possible to replace the pump and thermostat without taking engine apart, but you do have to take quite a bit off to get access to it, this video shows it. I expect that is why the belt and pump are often at the same time because of the time taken to get access.

@lol-lol where are these 2 water cooling systems on modern cars, please, all the ICE engines I have ever come across only have the one system. I think you may be getting confused again about your EV which I believe does have 2 systems, one for the electric motor and invertor cooling and the other for the battery pack, geez I thought everybody was claiming that EV cars are simpler, that does not sound like it to me so far.

Yet another incident of a PHEV exploding and making people homeless.

That is all fine and dandy as long as the full emissions trail and the method of assessing it is also conducted in an open fair way with all forms of EV's as well. Like I said, we all have to be using the same system and standards on both sides of the ICE v EV thing or otherwise it is just pointless.

The reason why I said that it was small SUV was because of what I call small boot size, the 5 seat Mk1 Kodiaq is supposed to hold 910 litres with the rear seats up and expands to 2105 litres when they are folded down.

Lab results or not, that is all we have to go on, and its just the same with EV cars, you can't have it both ways, we all have to be using the same set of results or else any discussion is pointless. Like in the case of the number of EV cars going into thermal runaway which everyone points out that ICE cars catch fire far more often, which anyone with half a brain knows that the figures being quoted are wrong, as the same figures keep being quoted every year and the chart that the figures are on does not alter at all. We know that is wrong as fire chiefs and depts around the world are all saying the same thing, they have not been identifying and recording what type of car fire they attend, they all get recorded as car fires. They are now beginning to develop system for the correct identification of the type of car and whether the batteries were in runaway mode or not. It all brings into sharp focus just where the figures that are being quoted originated from, they certainly were not qualified firefighters that is for sure. One thing we can all hope and prayer for is that because of better record keeping of the fire depts all over the world, that better methods of tackling batteries in runaway mode will emerge.

@lol-lol yes I was looking at the bigger one, I was too sure of which you had.

The Kodiaq is available in both 5 and 7 seat models, mine just happens to be a dedicated 5 seat, it is however as far as I can see, identical in size on Mk1 version like mine. When I was looking for replacement for the Superb, I tried a 7 seat version for size and there was no way of fitting my family of 6ft 4" sons in it for anything longer than a quick run into town shopping. The boot size was also poor as the extra 2 seat eat away at the space and in order to fit 7 people in it, the middle row have been moved forward. The 5 seat model does not have that problem, it is on a par with the Superb for passenger space, but because you are sitting more upright, the overall length could be and has been shortened so it is smaller overall footprint on the road. I'm not even to comment on the rest of your reply as I'm perfectly sure that time will clearly show that many of the claims being made to convince us of climate change is simply not true., so let time show us who was right.

@wyx087 it matters not a jot about the actual HP of my car, which the answer is right their, simple maths 110kw divide by 746 which gives the result in HP is 148HP. Now we get to what is probably the real cause of the damage to roads and its not the weight, that is someone trying to pull the wool over peoples eyes, weight compresses the road, ever driven on a road that sees loads of heavy lorries, they leave tram lines in the tarmac, they don't rip it up creating potholes. Now applying lots of HP to make a quick getaway is the culprit, as the tyres are trying to lay that power down and if the road has not been properly prepared for that or has been cheaply resurfaced/patched with tarmac of poor quality or the layer is thinner than it should be, it will flex and give weakening the surface. Back in 2019, a visiting 1952 Jet Vampire had been attending a air display and on take off its single engine (no after burner was ever fitted to this type of plane (precedes after burners), the jet blast managed to rip huge chunks of the runways tarmac and blow them all over the place, destroying the runway in the process jet engine - How did this Vampire's takeoff damage the runway so much? - Aviation Stack Exchange The airfield was in daily use by less powerful propeller powered planes without such problems, so that clearly shows the destructive force of massive HP being applied to surfaces not designed to cope with it. You never hear anything like that happening at say Heathrow because the runway is designed to handle hp laid down by planes like the A380. Chip on my shoulder, hell no. I am fed up with the blame for everything being laid at the feet of all ICE vehicles and their owners by the EV owners who never consider that they could be doing just as much damage with their cars and claiming false stats which are years out of date and based on beliefs rather than facts. Nobody actually needs the 300HP you mention, certainly not in the UK when we have a maximum speed limit of 70 and ever increasing pressure to lower then to just 20mph in many places and crap roads and traffic to contend with. I often get left for dead by some of these electric cars at traffic lights etc, only to eventually roll up and stop right behind them again at the next hold up, so what did they gain from all that power?? It would make far more sense if they restricted the power of electric cars and gave greater range instead so that they could begin to rival ICE cars in performance and range, but with the added benefit of (if you can) charge at home and reduce operating costs. Such a move would I expect greatly benefit the uptake of them with the public in general. Yes, as you rightly said there are many ICE cars far heavier, just as their are BEV cars as well. The Skoda Enyaq is a small BEV SUV, built on a dedicated electric platform yet it comes in at L 4658mm, W 2148, H 1624 and kerb weight of 2137kg (some 428kg heavier than mine) and also has a GVW of 2,500kg, so that is an example of purpose built BEV car being heavier then a diesel car of similar size from the same stable using old tech platform designed for ICE, fancy that, so that does indeed appear to suggest that like for like, BEV's are actually heavier, I think you'll agree that the Kodiaq and the Enyaq size wise seem to be very similar?

Yes the measurements are indeed mirror tip to mirror tip and I think the parking bay referred to is the one marked out at the road side and can often be seen that hardly any cars can actually fit into them without their wheels breaching the dotted lines. This is further aggravated by the fact that measure directly from the kerb out towards the road and as most cars have alloys these days, few people are willing to rub the kerb with their wheels for fear of damage to their alloys.