Graham Butcher

If they were able to power ATMs and other items then they could power tills, but not process digital transactions.

That might be why the ATMs in the videos were powered but showing error messages and would explain why some places were only taking cash, as they clearly decided to keep cash alongside digital money, but we're not able to accept digital. Many shops also closed completely. So much for putting all your eggs into the digital basket.

That's so true, if you can stand the cold, you get crystal clear photos in the winter sunshine.

I have worked in and on many datacentres and the ones I have seen were more interested in making sure that data was not actually lost, rather than being 100% fully functional. Before I retired I used to work from home and I have actually lost count of the number of times that my laptop lost connection to the server because the datacentre that hosted the server on behalf of my company had suffered a power outage.

What a massive amount of real estate is being lost to the hub.

And they were the ones only accepting cash as the digital systems were all down, hence the ATMs were unable to dispense any cash, not because they were empty, but because they were unable to connect to the mainframes and the datacentres as they would have been using grid power. People likewise were unable to access trains or trams and also of course because of the datacentres were offline, so too were the public chargers as they need digital inter connections to accept payment via cards or check on a person's account status.

@Ootohere it has been mentioned loads of times on the internet and did your eyes not witness that some still had power, clearly suggesting that came from maybe rooftop solar on inverters?

It is true, renewable have been in use for some time but the problem was the point that nobody seems willing to acknowledge, wind and solar was the root cause. Solar generates DC and wind has frequency problems as it depends on the wind speed. Solar has to be converted to AC and both sources have to be synchronised to be grid frequency. The demand on the grid was such that the renewable could not be synchronised quickly enough and the grid started to shut down and affected the largest users the most. Hence no trains were running, those paying close attention to the video would have noticed that local ATMs etc were still powered in some shots but were displaying error messages because they were unable to access the huge data centres which are massive power users. That means that they, like shops etc were unable to process online payments, hence some places were only taking cash. Clearly those displays were operating on local renewable, possibly solar. This should be a warning to everyone that these renewables are not to be considered as suitable additions to or replacements to the normal means of generation, other than on a very localised area as things depend on the mains frequency being maintained otherwise things will and indeed get nasty.

It seems that the massive loss of electric power yesterday in Spain and Portugal was caused by the net-zero drive and the lack of enough generators.

I see, that would kind of make sense as what I have discovered only Texas has a limit of 85mph, as can be seen here USA State Speed Limits - Maximum Speed Limits by State

So that's 4.5 hours charging. He was also speeding for most of the route.

Equally, it's going to be a never ending spiral to the bottom if we continually keep sacrificing all the things we hold dear to our hearts if we have to keep making cuts to the way we live in order to counterbalance the effects that these rogue countries are making on the global environment. In the video, we saw 2 huge nickel mines in Australia, perfectly green ones, no forest to destroy as it is effectively already a desert. The 2 pictures below show areas of approx 5,000 square miles in Indonesia as opposed to the same area in Western Australia where there are 2 nickel mines which are now non-productive because of the no regulations in Indonesia, which is home to as the picture shows some of the world's greatest forests, which as we already know, digest CO2 and give us back pure oxygen

Exactly, but will they do that, no of course not, money talks, which makes a complete mockery out of all the waffle we are being told about net-zero and harmful emissions, especially when you consider that it is claimed that those plants in Indonesia are spewing out more harmful emissions than the whole of Mexico and in addition to that the sheer scale of the deforestation that is going on there to extract the nickel, when we really also badly need trees etc in order to process the vast amounts of CO2 being produced. It does make you wonder about the ethics of the whole green thing is being just one big con to help make a lot of money for certain people, and loads of people may be accepting backhanders to assist the propagation of the con. That is not to say that electric could well be the future, but not at the current pace.

I think people need to watch this video, it highlights some of the issues I have been saying regarding the false claims that electric cars are green and the methods of mining and production of the rare metals etc used to make the batteries are far from green and the massive human cost and the massive toxic waste and pollution released directly into the atmosphere and the sea. In this video is the footage of Sam Evans (The Electric Viking) who is also it seems aided in the escape of Chris Bowens (Australia Energy Minister) from the critical open public questioning of the media who produced this documentary about the dirty Nickel from Indonesia which has effectively shut down the Nickel mining in Australia which was producing green Nickel without the toxic waste on pollution, all in the name of quick easy money. It is looking like there is an agenda with electric cars after all, that does not fit the narrative we all being fed.

He is not unique though, there are loads of channels that are all about buses, some about repairs, others about American buses etc. Yes, buses are cool until you have to rely on them and put up with the horrendous ride some of them have and the terrible rattles etc.

@Ootohere that was a rather strange review of a bus, have to agree with his appraisal of the exterior and the dim front route box is strange as that one needs to brighter than the rear, so people can see it above the glare from headlights. I found it rather odd that he kept going on about the good right of the bus, as if that was a feature of electric buses, it isn't, there is no need for the normal diesel buses to have such a harsh rough rattled and bumpy ride at all. Back in the time I was with buses, we had air suspension on our buses and the Bristol RE coaches used to waft along on airbags. Also the 3 bell pushes for different types of bus passengers is so going to be misused, but that is a direct consequence of having the exit halfway along the side of the bus, the driver can't see just who needs to get off and thus activate the different ramp/step units.

We're supposed to be getting some here soon, but currently there is zero sign of any activity towards the power getting installed.

When I was working on the buses, in my garage there was 100 buses and if they had been electric the power they would need could have have been enough to power the entire housing stock of London.

@lol-lol still can't see it myself, it's alright setting up the odd truck charger here or there, but more would be a massive headache for some time to come.

Except of course that they are not here and I really cannot even see when if ever they will ever will arrive. Do you know anywhere that the grid is capable of supplying sufficient energy to allow any charging station / hub to actually deliver anywhere near that amount of power, which is going to be in excess of 1.3 megawatt per charger. No battery charger is 100% efficient so that power loss has to be added to each charger. Imagine a station with 10 chargers capable of charging at those speeds would be drawing if all used at the same around 14 to 15 megawatts, that amount of energy would supply between 14,000 to 30,000 homes depending on the amount of power they were using. You cannot get something for nothing, the cost of producing enough power in the first place to enable that speed of charging for lots of cars would be out of this world, without the massive upgrading of the grid to transport that amount of power without overloading the cables, transformers and switchgear would be equally cost prohibitive and extremely time-consuming. Then you have to add in the all the BMS's in cars need to be designed to handle a massive increase in their power handling capabilities, another massive expense, plus all the upgraded cables to carry that power, will add cost, weight and the extra size of the parts would need to have larger cars to house all the controls etc. Its a great thought and would certainly begin to rival ICE cars in refuelling times, but when you stop and think about it, totally impractical in practise.

Of course co2 is harmful in excess, being heavier than normal air is handy for fires like on board ships when you can seal a hold and flood co2 into it, it cuts off the oxygen so essential for normal fires. in such situations it is impossible to survive in a flooded hold without breathing apparatus, equally it is also ineffective with Lithium-ion battery fires because they produce their own oxygen and can still burn perfectly well in such situations. It would also help not to go around the globe chopping down huge, great forests which actually eat vast amounts of co2 and turn it into the other essential gas we all need oxygen. Yes we also need wood for all kinds of things, but we (humans)are not replacing forests at a fast enough rate, it will take many years before a newly planted forest will digest anywhere near the amount of co2 that a well established forest does.

How long can an BEV be left without being charged before the battery suffers irreversible long term damage, and just how long can a charged BEV actually sit doing nothing, before the battery runs flat? There is an electric van that has sitting in a car park in central London for 2 years, trapped as it is one of those where the cars are mechanically parked by stacking robots in towers to maximize the storage space, and the system that stacks and retrieves them has been broken for that length of time and still remains broken! Here is a link to that story. Van trapped in London car park for two years costs firm £40k - BBC News

@Ootohere and @Paws4Thot I hear what you are saying but think about it from outside the circle a little more, step away from it a bit and think it through, and there may just be something behind it all. I mean, it was all that long ago when Huawei were banned from competing in any telecoms contracts just about anywhere and were actively removed from those that they were already involved in, like the rollout of 5G? Think about all the electronics that go into vehicles today and compare that with vehicles of 30 years ago and that includes ICE vehicles as well. Then think about all the Chinese companies like Temu who are always advertising in our faces all the time with their giveaways, such as the current one with a 100% free 10.1" tablet to all new customers. There maybe something in it after all, I certainly would not discount it, it still, in my mind, remains a possibility, that we shouldn't dismiss entirely from our minds. For those who will never be visiting any sensitive locations, it is not even a concern that they need to worry about.

What are your thoughts on this angle, my initial thoughts are this is not just electric vehicles but to a lesser degree almost any modern vehicle, although electric ones do offer even greater risks.

That is a very sensible answer, it should be the technology that drives people switching from ICE to electric, just as it is in all other things. Was there ever a government mandate to switch from Betamax to VHS to DVD to Blu-ray to Streaming for example?