On 21/12/2018 at 06:20, Skoffski said:

^^^ That is just pure crap really.

Taking out the Child Seats and removing the wedding ring 'for the weight reduction',  and so you can maybe pull at the office party and if you then did or were asked to give someone a lift you can not as 'your 4 seater is not really meant to go 100 miles with people in it.

Headlights / tail lights off, A/C off, steamy windows, radio off, pump up the tyres, buy lighter clothes and shoes. 

Plenty Zoe tail gaiters around as well.  If they suit peoples needs then good.

 

Thought the Zoe did well.  140 mile round trip in near zero degree centigrade conditions.  Adult and three kids, luggage.  Got back to starting point with about 20 miles range still left, probably cost him about a tenner in energy costs.  

 

If he had used a diesel it would have probably cost around £15 and he would have polluted his way through densely populated areas like Bristol.  he had stuff in the boot, no point worrying about ten or twenty kilos that was a 1.5 Tonnes car, pumping up the tyres to the correct pressure for the journey is just sensible in any car. 

 

Well done Renault Zoe, another honest test it sounds like for a winter test which you do get less miles ie 130-160 miles instead of the summer 160-200 or so but then in a 30 mph limit on the other hand  565 kms seems possible  (351 miles).........  (I have had to stop to fill up twice in a Jaaag XK8 with £80 of fuel each time within that distance)  https://insideevs.com/renault-zoe-40-351-miles-charge/

 

Let us hope the VW ID and its clones has a battery pack in the 65-70 kWh capacity at least which should give it good practical range (over 250 miles in all wathers, over 300 in kind weather) and have dynamite acceleration like many EVs have (sadly not the Zoe even with the 110 hp which takes 11.5s to 60 mph) ie a 0-100 kph in less than 8 seconds (LEAF 2) and with good incentives get Uk drivers off polluting non-SCR diesel engines that UK cities are revving up to financial penalize anyways.   

Edited 22 December, 20187 yr by lol-lol

^^^^^^ not to mention the wearn n tear on the sophisticated mechanicals that need endless expensive servicing and worrying about once out of warranty.   I’ll take mechanical  simplicity thanks if only for my back.

Edited 22 December, 20187 yr by Ryeman

On 21/12/2018 at 13:17, KenONeill said:

415v 3 phase surely? And in any event the "supervision" consists of an earth leakage test for each rotation once a year.

 

Many of the chargers we are installing as part of the Source London rollout tap in to the 415 3 phase network as they are rapid/quick chargers which need 3 phase.  It would be rolling out a lot of single phase 240v in a particular area which created an imbalance load on one particular of the three phase I gather is more of an issue. 

 

Our for rent EVs need to get a meaningful charge in a few minutes so it can go on hire in a few later.  The record is 40 hires in one day.  Hires are broken in to 6 minute slots.  Three phase charges are way more than 3 times the price of single phase ones but if you want the 22, 44 kWh it needs to be 3 phase.

 

Paris air quality not so good currently (at this time of writing)  . http://aqicn.org/city/france/paris/autoroute-a1-saint-denis/  

 

Central London not too good either...

http://www.londonair.org.uk/london/asp/publicbulletin.asp?region=&bulletin=hourly&site=LB5&bulletindate=22/12/2018&Maptype=Google&la_id=&zoom=9&lat=51.53113601784466&lon=-0.11982399999999416&laEdge=&Species=All&WhoBulletin=N&VenueCode=

 

On 22/12/2018 at 22:48, lol-lol said:

It would be rolling out a lot of single phase 240v in a particular area which created an imbalance load on one particular of the three phase I gather is more of an issue. 

Yeah, I did realise that connecting more than ~1/3 240v chargers to, say, the blue phase would imbalance the 3-phase. Not being a "burns its fuel in the next county" zealot is a different thing from not understanding electricity distribution.

On 21/12/2018 at 11:08, lol-lol said:

in olden days you would have those night storage heaters

They are utter ****e.... they work, so long as you get a weeks notice in writing of any sudden severe changes in the weather, but they cost SOOOO much that we don't bother even putting them on until house temperatures drop below 9ºC.

The big surprise for me from VW is Rear Wheel drive with these Golf sized EV's.

Interesting times coming from VW if they have all the R&D right,  and there are those out there ready to be the early adopters,

or the lease / finance is going to be too good to ignore for those that can have the chargers available to suit their usage.  

That will no doubt be fleet users and the likes that 'VW finance' can 'quote happy'.

 

VW Light Commercial & Estate Car EV's would be 'Simply Clever' to get into production early on rather than SUV / AWD type elephant vehicles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 24 December, 20187 yr by Skoffski

2 hours ago, Skoffski said:

The big surprise for me from VW is Rear Wheel drive with these Golf sized EV's.

Could be interesting on icy roads in the hands of a driver who has only ever driven FWD...

Surely they will sort out ESP / TC-ASR and not use any rubbish they have currently in the 'parts bin'.  Then for the UK where people often run or have to run the tyres 'lease cars' come with they will have tyres suitable for UK winters.

Then the Tyre Fitting centres or distributors will need to have tyres in the sizes needed.   So much to do and VW are going to have to get a shift on getting things done.

As do the UK Government / authorities.

5 hours ago, PetrolDave said:

Could be interesting on icy roads in the hands of a driver who has only ever driven FWD...

........and max torque on take off.

No thanks.

On 24/12/2018 at 20:27, Ryeman said:

........and max torque on take off.

No thanks.

Indeed; I got a BX diesel out of a very wet grassy field when all around were wheel-spinning and going nowhere, by ignoring the throttle pedal and controlling speed on the clutch alone.

49 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

Indeed; I got a BX diesel out of a very wet grassy field when all around were wheel-spinning and going nowhere, by ignoring the throttle pedal and controlling speed on the clutch alone.

Our ‘managed’ ski fields which straddles the highway from one valley via 6500’ to another valley, has two criteria for chains  - 4WD/AWD or 2WD.

Donkeys!

FWD and RWD are not comparable in extremis.

But it does conform to the dumbing down.

10 hours ago, KenONeill said:

Indeed; I got a BX diesel out of a very wet grassy field when all around were wheel-spinning and going nowhere, by ignoring the throttle pedal and controlling speed on the clutch alone.

My petrol Vrs now has this ability. Pop into 1st gear let the clutch out pop into 2nd gear and my car will accelerate upto 15mph without touching the gas pedal whilst the engine is cold and revving at 1,200rpm. 517NM of torque probably helps. This may prove useful when it eventually snows.

 

When 2-3" of snow falls and there are calls for '4x4 owners' to help get NHS workers to work and home and other emergency support i doubt they will 

be wanting 300 bhp+ FWD car owners that can get a car moving with a bit of sensible use of the accelerator.

 

Maybe the odd TESLA AWD on the right tyres will be of use, or even a e-Up! on the right tyres will be good.

On 25/12/2018 at 10:04, shyVRS245 said:

My petrol Vrs now has this ability. Pop into 1st gear let the clutch out pop into 2nd gear and my car will accelerate upto 15mph without touching the gas pedal whilst the engine is cold and revving at 1,200rpm. 517NM of torque probably helps. This may prove useful when it eventually snows.

 

When you can do that with 70bhp at 4_000rpm, then you can try and convince me about your clutch control.

1 minute ago, KenONeill said:

When you can do that with 70bhp at 4_000rpm, then you can try and convince me about your clutch control.

Back in 1992 my 2 year old MR2 GT got stuck in 2nd gear (loose gear linkage) as I returned from the NEC Motorshow with a friend at the end of the M69. I had to pull away from every traffic light and T junction in 2nd gear without stalling in a high revving responsive normally aspirated petrol engine with 160bhp. Finally made it to the Toyota dealer in Leicester on Aylestone Road. Plenty of pedestrians must have thought I was an attention seeking boy racer (they were half right).

Maybe by this time next year we will be able to drive the New Cars and place orders on them and know just how they do perform.

 

 

 

2 minutes ago, Skoffski said:

Maybe by this time next year we will be able to drive the New Cars and place orders on them and know just how they do perform.

 

 

 

I prefer the convertible version. Decided on Xmas dinner menu.

Starter will be caramilised King Prawn and Avocado on toast (cut in a triangle).

Venison joint cooked in onion and red wine served with mixed veg, including brussels,carrots,cauliflower,parsnips and potatoes, plus gravy.

Traditional Xmas pudding with plenty of custard.

Washed down with a bottle of Chilean Diablo Merlot.

HMMMMMMM that sounds good!

Tyres shown on the 2nd Video look like a good choice for UK Winters.

A nice Space Frame and Carbon Fibre Body or some light weight one and that would be a bit of a flyer.  Personally i would like a Beetle Body on it for being able to wear a Top Hat.

 

Classic Beetle body would be nice.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 25 December, 20187 yr by Skoffski

Well that proved somewhat embarrassing -

https://www.audiworld.com/articles/audi-launches-new-brand-campaign/

 

In 2016 they had a rethink.

Electricity continue to wipe fossil fuel from the map.......

 

Much lower per capita usage of electricity (due to Lower energy bulbs and appliance etc) 

 

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-electricity-generation-2018-falls-to-lowest-since-1994

Analysis: UK electricity generation in 2018 falls to lowest level since 1994

 

The amount of electricity generated in the UK last year fell to its lowest level in a quarter century, Carbon Brief analysis shows.

At the same time, output from renewable sources rose to another record high, generating an estimated 33% of the UK total in 2018. In combination with nuclear, low-carbon sources contributed 53% of UK generation in 2018, with the share from fossil fuels at its lowest ever.

Lower per-capita electricity generation and cleaner supplies have contributed roughly equal shares to the reduction in power sector CO2 emissions since demand peaked in 2005. This has helped to cut UK greenhouse gas emissions overall, even as the economy grows and population rises.  The reduction in the UK’s per-capita electricity generation has saved 103 terawatt hours (TWh) since 2005, slightly more than the 95TWh increase in renewable output over the same period. If this electricity had instead been generated from gas, CO2 emissions for the entire UK economy would have been around 80 million tonnes (MtCO2, 20% )higher than the 368MtCO2 total seen in 2017. If it had come from coal emissions would have been some 180MtCO2 (50%) higher.  Carbon Brief’s analysis of UK electricity generation in 2018 is based on figures from BM Reports, Sheffield Solar and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). See the notes at the end for more on how the analysis was conducted.  Last year, Carbon Brief analysis showed that, for the first time, more than half of UK electricity generation was low-carbon in 2017.

Falling generation

Some 335TWh of electricity was generated in the UK in 2018, Carbon Brief analysis shows.

 

 

Fossil fuel decline

The sources of UK electricity have shifted dramatically towards cleaner sources as generation has declined, with low-carbon supplies making up a record 53% of the total in 2018. This was mostly down to strong growth for wind, up 16% to 58TWh in 2018,

Edited 4 January, 20197 yr by lol-lol

A 5 tonne battery or 3 at Premier inns and other locations will help with Customers EV charging using off peak power as the off-peak energy is charging other vehicles as well.

http://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-46749022

 

I sense a pent up demand for the 500 km Kona/Niro and series 2 long range Leaf with its LG Chem liquid cooling system.

I also sense our conservatives will drag their feet when it comes to addressing infrastructure and certainly won’t be considering any form of rebate.  On the contrary, they fear loss of fuel tax revenue.

Classic head-in-the-sand reactionaries who hate working on policy development to accomodate change of any sort.

 

17 hours ago, Skoffski said:

A 5 tonne battery or 3 at Premier inns and other locations will help with Customers EV charging using off peak power as the off-peak energy is charging other vehicles as well.

http://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-46749022

 

 

We do these sorts of setup in Africa and other remote places.  As storage costs fall and off peak power is encouraged by lower prices and on peak by premium prices more companies and household will put in battery storage.  Our Lithium Metal Polyamide batteries like to run a just over 50c.

2 hours ago, lol-lol said:

Our Lithium Metal Polyamide batteries like to run a just over 50c.

Out of interest - how many charge/discharge cycles before the capacity of those batteries drops to say 80% of rated Ah?

1 hour ago, PetrolDave said:

Out of interest - how many charge/discharge cycles before the capacity of those batteries drops to say 80% of rated Ah?

 

Drop off has not been too bad ie less than 5% per year and the cars have been used up to 40 times a day so is being charged and partial discharged thousands of times but after several years the batteries are removed and put in to banks of older batteries where they have a second life for a few more years after that.

Renault work on 75% and our cars also have 250 km nominal range ie 40 kWh Zoe and our blusolution cars which is even smaller than the Zoe.