Graham Butcher

I hate working on a bleeding mobile phone; the above just highlights the problems when pop-ups keep appearing on the screen. We need a delete button on this forum so you can clear a post and start again. On a separate note but remotely linked to the topic of the thread, I have just been to my local Morrisons shop and purchased some what I thought were spring onions for lunch. While preparing them I noticed that the label said "Salad Onions". Then I noticed the source of them: produce of Egypt. WTF, is the only thing that we grow these days solar farms? All in the name of net zero, no doubt. How on God's green earth is that either economical or indeed green if we are shipping in stuff that we could very easily grow in this country? It's madness. Back to normal programming, rant over.

Well hopefully others will watch it as he describes in pretty terms exactly how type operates and their advantages and disadvantages. Also goes on to explain if choosing one for its green credentials people could be doing precisely the opposite without knowing the full facts. It is, and especially so if relying on the sales persons advice, a minefield.

I posted that as what I thought was genuine helpful consumer advice for anyone, it was not targeted at anyone specifically. I did already know that you had a dirty diesel, nothing at all wrong with that, I've had them for years and never regretted it once. 👍

Sound advice for anyone thinking about buying a hybrid. Yes, I know that he is talking about Australia, but the same principles apply anywhere. The term 'hybrid' can mean many variants and complexities, and choosing the wrong one would be bad. Warning, the video is long, but the topic is a complex one and is one that many are confused about or have the wrong impression about, so it is worth a watch in my view.

Yes, it is very quiet I agree, it's quiet on all types of car fires. Is it because they think it is no longer of interest is reporting of any car fires being suppressed? Or it could just be that there is so much other news worthy events happening, war, political sleaze, and other stuff keeping them out of the news, who knows?

While I agree with the first part of what you said, I actually do care enough to want those that follow me when I pop my clogs to be able to determine for themselves if they want to live in an all-electric future or not. That decision is not mine to make. You know I have spent most of my working life (over 45 years) driving all over the British Isles in a variety of roles here on the mainland and all over both parts of Ireland, and I have myself only ever actually seen firsthand one car on fire, right here in Chelmsford a few years ago, and that was a VW split-screen microbus. But you know what, I'm not going to speculate what was the cause of the fire, as I simply don't know. That said, however, I have seen a few heavy goods vehicles on fire along our motorways, and it appears the fire has always started in the rear, where the payload is. Again, I don't actually know if it was the brakes overheating or something in the cargo, so again, no speculation. If you're anything like me, you have more than likely seen plenty of burnt-out cars, but that was at a time when joyriding was a popular craze, and they were common in fields, woods, etc. to destroy any evidence of who took the car. One thing that I do not need to see is a BEV on fire to believe that they do pose a far greater risk to both life and limb and the environment when they catch fire. There is plenty of video footage around these days, so loads of such incidents are caught on camera, and the scientific analysis highlights the problems that they cause when they do catch fire.

Can you not foresee a time when those will eventually be banned so that when a car fails, the owner will not be allowed to source another old ICE vehicle but be forced into an old EV if they can't afford a new one?

Agreed, but much of the weight gain of these cars is down to legislation about crash protection and survivability. Cars have to grow in size and weight to accommodate crumple zones, side impact beams, rigid passenger cages, etc. Granted, there are also certain cars that are bigger and heavier than they need to be, just so the owners can be different from the rest of us and draw attention to themselves or, as in the case of certain people, for their own safety, requiring armour-plated transport.

@Trickiejohn You are correct. A quick glance on Google Earth, where most of the images are now 2026, shows the extent of people opting for solar panels on their roofs, etc., and it is a poor take-up. This is down to many factors: cost; many think they are ugly; others can't have them because they live in social housing and the local councils, HAs, etc. are concerned about the cost of maintenance of the roofs, etc., or they live in high-rise dwellings. It is almost the same argument for the take-up of EVs. Lack of off-road parking, cost of installing a charge point, and, in some cases, upgrading the supply to the property. Some property owners will no longer allow EVs in their underground car parks or allow charging to be done in them for fear of an incident. Some will cite LFP batteries that do not catch fire as easily as LMC ones, and while this is true, they do, however, apparently, to some experts studying these batteries, offer other equally undesirable side effects, significantly more off-gassing which creates a far greater risk of explosions, and the off-gassing is also even more deadly if exposed to it, with a far greater amount of it being fatal. Also because they do not burn as hot as LMC batteries, they burn less cleanly and thus produce more lethal fumes. These are serious issues that governments need to tackle head-on and resolve completely before they even think about the banning of new ICE vehicles. God forbid that they should ever think about banning old existing ICE vehicles and historic ones. EVs do have a role to play, and I'm convinced that they will become the dominant means of transportation, but before that happens, we need to address the current issues with them and the power generation, distribution and charging side of things and stop burying our heads in the sand like an ostrich and pretending that they are perfectly fine as they are and that more of us petrol heads should be switching over. Once the consumer is convinced in their own minds that they do make more sense, then they will buy them, without the need for grants, tax cuts, etc., in the same way all other products have become standard and are in almost every household in the world, mobile phones, for example.

Ouch, sounds like a very expensive repair.

@Evolution13 Yes, of course I've seen those electric vans making regular drop-offs by companies like Amazon, etc., and I don't understand why it is that everyone is so wound up by the fact that currently I'm not also as besotted by the electric revolution. It is so evident that some people will be like yourself, Lol-Lol etc. and are very passionate about electric transport, and there will always be the "early adopters" in any new emerging technologies. As I have repeatedly said, I'm not anti-EV at all; I have always said that they currently do have their advantages and they also have disadvantages for many more users. However, I really do believe that the technology is still way too young to be having governments mandating its adoption globally and banning ICE power. It's about freedom of choice. And once the tipping point is reached where the public can see that there are no disadvantages, only advantages for everyone, and the price of them and the running costs, etc., are favourable, there will be a natural consumer-led movement to electric, and ICE will be left and will eventually be virtually nonexistent. There is still so much about them that we need to learn and develop to the point that anyone can switch to electric and they become no more restrictive in any sense of the word to any current ICE vehicle, regardless of its type, bike, car, van, bus, heavy goods truck, etc., and that also goes for their known hazards and other pitfalls that many seem to gloss over. Harry makes some very good points in this video, although it is 2 years old, the salient points he raises are still very much with us and so many more that he does not mention. This video also makes some sense; it shows that regulation gets it wrong but does agree that emissions still need to be addressed, and rightly so. Again which I have said that research was continuing at a pace to make engines more efficent and at the same time reduce the emmissions.

Well last mile delivery vans don't get multiple stops in the same road after 100 metres, in all the roads on their route. Also not carrying the same weight, speaking of which, they get lighter as the day progress so need less energy towards the end. The reverse is true with the bin lorries which are very heavy at the end.

Or could it be that other authorities are being less truthful and not wanting to be seen climbing down from their green image and admitting that they have spent masses of public money on something that is not ideal for the job? Remember these are trucks that are by their very nature going to be doing a massive amount of stop/start driving; depending on the road, it might be many such cycles per road. Then there is the extra muscle that needs to be addressed, all the compacting, etc. that these trucks have to do. These trucks weigh far more than a BEV car does, and they have to get that weight moving again from a dead stop and move maybe 100 metres down the road and stop and repeat all that many times on some roads.

I'm guessing it has far more to with the extra loading that refuse trucks have with all hydraulics involved in the lifting of the bins into the truck; the compression rams that compact the refuse and the tipping of the body in order to empty it out were the bit that actually cause problems, as they all eat away at the HV battery charge level and then the lengthy recharging time worked against them. A normal truck only has to provide traction power.

It looks like electric refuse trucks have come to the end of the 'charge' as the trial in Wakefield fails. The new fleet will be diesel-powered after all, as electric trucks just cannot cut it in reality. Council bin lorries to be replaced with new diesel fleet after electric trial failure

To keep a balanced view, I live in a cul-de-sac of just 20 houses: 2 with 1 car, 6 with 3 cars and 12 with 2 cars, so that's 44 vehicles. between just 20 houses, and not a single EV or a hybrid between them; none of them are old bangers either. The only house with any solar is mine, with 13 x 400 W panels on the roof, but no batteries. Looking on Google Earth, there are very few houses in Chelmsford with any solar at all.

@Evolution13 The world is full of self-rightous t!%ts who just don't give a fig about anybody else, when did it all start going downhill, in our childhood you could leave your house or car unlocked and it would be fine, parents would let their kids play out in the street, park etc, unsupervised without any worries. I used to cycle miles away from home and be gone all day long, and everything was OK. Compare that todays world, where will it end up?

Totally agree; to me its akin to parking in a disabled bay, totally selfish and oblivious to the fact that spot could be a virtual lifesaver to an EV driver.

Yes, those irksome ICE drivers are a bleeding nuisance; I keep seeing the two newly installed public chargers at the local shops blocked by ICE cars, rendering the chargers useless.

I did say that the bubble was going to pop not that long ago, and I can see that the price is going to go even higher. I really do think that you have seen the best period for really cheap motoring costs based purely on the cost per mile, ignoring the cost of the car in the first place, etc., just purely looking at fuel costs alone. Also it is looking like the proposed plug-in solar system that the government want to roll out to those who don't want or can't afford etc, proper solar system to be installed, the plug-in system could become vapourware. It is highly dangerous to plug a generator into the wiring system without have some pretty extensive rewiring and expensive extra kit installed on the system to ensure that you don't pump out-of-spec power back into the grid, and also that you don't disable the existing circuit safety protection systems, which are designed for current to flow backwards into the consumer units. It also looks that they will legal challenges issued by landlords, etc., to prevent tenants making any alterations to the electrical systems within rented buildings. Also I'm getting vibes that they, and social landlords such as HA and councils are getting growing concerns about allowing storage batteries, as there have been some fires attributed to them. Oh, and I have just had an email this evening from my supplier OVO an invitation to look at their offerings for a tariff to charge my electric car at a cheaper electric rate at nighttime. Wow, how long have others been offering this system, and only now have OVO thought about me charging my non-existent car at night at home? 😒

While this is not an electric car, but a bus, I thought that it was very interesting nonetheless. It is a very iconic ex London Transport Routemaster.

Here is some genuinely interesting tech which, if the claim holds true, could revolutionise the entire electric car movement and argument forward, with possibly far greater safety built in. Wireless EV charging reaches 95% efficiency, powers grids on the move

This battery tech I talk about is NOT specifically aimed at electric cars, but they are now becoming the largest single user for batteries of this type and energy density. For those who would like to know a little more about the ongoing battery tech research that I mentioned, which is NOT being done by governments or car manufacturers and not even by lithium battery manufacturers, be they for BEVs, torches, E-bikes, vapes, laptops, etc. I attach one such link below. These studies are being done by scientific establishments across the globe, universities and the like, and they present problems for all types of lithium batteries, even solid-state ones, so we are not out of the woods and safe yet. This demonstrates the dangers of governments taking notice of think tanks, lobby groups etc, all of which have that "vested interest" in securing a particular outcome, all in the pursuit of wealth. The lithium dendrites are very similar to the tin whiskers that grow inside germanium transistors, which cause short circuits and kill old radios and electronics dead. I have repaired many old radios over the years that had fallen foul of these whiskers and been thrown away as scrap. This article from NASA explains and gives some very good photographic proof that these things exist. Tin Whiskers Growing Inside ~45 Year Old AF114 Transistors Lithium dendrites act like needles, not soft metal, study finds

Good job they were stored charged then 👍

Interesting, but I was not talking about car makers; I was referring to the scientists involved in the study of batteries of all types, the ones who come up with ideas and breakthroughs in technology, in the same way as it is scientists who come up with new medicines and vaccines and not the medical practitioners, ie, the doctors (doctors = car manufacturers). Why do you treat your E-bike batteries differently to your EV car batteries? Are they not the same technology but in a different package? Is cola in a tin any different to cola in a bottle? The principles extend to all batteries with the same kind of chemistry. I have a video doorbell that uses 2 x 18650 cells which are also used in lots of EVs, and I know from experience that unless I keep a strict eye on those 18650 cells and they get depleted, they take ages to take another charge and will then begin failing altogether soon after. I have had to purchase a few of these cells from Amazon now to replace ones that have been allowed to get too low.