21 hours ago, Ootohere said:

The cost of electricity in the UK is  nonsense

Well said - with the vast increase in non fossil fuel based generation there really is no even half decent reason to link the UK price of electricity to world gas prices.

 

Even a good friend of mine who has an EV, an all electric caravan, PV solar panels, house battery and a heat pump finds it difficult to financially justify his investment due to the high unit cost of electricity - but is emotionally happy that he's doing the right thing for the environment.

Edited 12 December, 20241 yr by PetrolDave
Added house battery which I missed.

Today the news early on was that the Utility Companies should be offering different deals / tariffs and ones with no Daily Standing Charge. 

 

Loans on Used BEV,s has been available in Scotland.

Maybe the BBC could have mentioned that, then that could be read out on here.

 

 

 

 

Edited 12 December, 20241 yr by Ootohere

34 minutes ago, PetrolDave said:

Even a good friend of mine who has an EV, an all electric caravan, PV solar panels and a heat pump finds it difficult to financially justify his investment due to the high unit cost of electricity

Hang on, solar PV and heat pump but no home battery?

Heat pump are said to be roughly cost parity if using price-cap electricity, of course it's eye watering costly if on Agile and priced like yesterday. But if add a larger than average sized battery (15 kWh or bigger) and right time-of-use tariffs the cost should be manageable.

 

Actually, there's Octopus Cozy and should be cost effective when used a smaller ~5 kWh battery to only cover its peak period.

 

 

 

I agree, there's no good reason to link electric prices to gas, and different parts of the country shouldn't be paying similar prices.

Unfortunately I personally don't believe heat pump is financially viable before then.

 

 

Edited 12 December, 20241 yr by wyx087

1 hour ago, Ootohere said:

@Graham Butcher  I have watched his videos as he posted them so i did see the problems he caused himself to have.

He was collected vehicles and not then looking at getting charged to know he was good to go, or paying much attention to it was a BEV he was driving for Gain or Reward / Work. 

 

He is on about the state of the market & discounting we have been discussing all this year, who are the people that he thinks he knows better than that are non believers. 

He is just one of the many Vloggers that have been repeating the stuff on vehicles, pile them high, and eventually sell them low.

You also spotted registered vehicles, and like him really did not know what they actually were or why where they were there. 

 

.........................

He had driven Stellantis Cars before this, so forewarned is forearmed getting in a van..   

2 battery sizes, same as the cars were which was 50 kWh with 45 kWh usable, or the 75 kWh one. Which this is not.

 

Economy mode does not give the best range on a motorway / dual carriageway.

But you just need to try 5 miles in each mode and you would see that.

 

"But A i am not paying!" 

 So get on and start the charge and then do your 2nd job being a Vlogger and HMRC will be able to tax you on the income from that job. Youtube video maker. 

Not many overheads as while doing the main job the vehicles and charging costs are being paid and not costing you....

 

50 kWh Battery, but only 45 kWh useable battery (small battery), 

3.5 miles a kWh x 42 kwH. is 147 miles, they only get 3 miles a kWh though. 126 miles and not empty. 

**It can charge at UP TO 100 kW, but here is on 50 kW chargers.**

 

New Stellantis cars have the 50 kWh usable battery,

and the most efficient us the Citroen C4. 

 

Brain of Britain realises that from the coast which is at sea level to inland means going up hill. 

Also that Charging first then talk to camera is simply clever... 

Places to be and people to see and talk guff to. 

 

 

 

 

He more than likely does not know what type of vehicle it is that he is collecting, more likely that he has the registration number, the address of where it is and the destination and nothing else. Why would you assume otherwise, his driving licence covers him for all kinds of car and van. When I was working at the National Bus Company and I was told to go and fetch a new bus, I only had either the fleet number or registration number and its location, no idea as its type or make, assumed to be a Bristol, but always as we would also get Ford, Leyland or even Bedford demonstrators as well, manual gate crashers or semi automatics.

44 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

Hang on, solar PV and heat pump but no home battery?

Sorry I missed off home battery which he does have.

 

His major disappointment with his Volvo EV is that it doesn't support V2H - but he needed a suitable towcar for his large caravan.

1 hour ago, PetrolDave said:

Well said - with the vast increase in non fossil fuel based generation there really is no even half decent reason to link the UK price of electricity to world gas prices.

 

Even a good friend of mine who has an EV, an all electric caravan, PV solar panels and a heat pump finds it difficult to financially justify his investment due to the high unit cost of electricity - but is emotionally happy that he's doing the right thing for the environment.

 

Many miss the real way to win.

Get batteries, or more precisely so called solar generators, download lecky at 8p a kw at night, use instead of lecky at 25p a kwh during the day.

 

These batteries are now about £100 for a half kwh, solar panels of 100w for £40 and falling all the time. I use for fridge freezer mainly but lots of other devices.

 

Solar panel is use are portable ones, lightweight and easy to point towards sun and i will take with me when I move house. Batteries I have up to 2 kwh and can run devices up to 2 4 kws.

 

Nice to know I have them for power cuts which are becoming for frequent due to these more frequent violent storms.

 

@Graham Butcherhis driving licence when he gets it back will cover him.   He knows about everything else.  He had a tongue in his head. 

7 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

@Graham Butcherhis driving licence when he gets it back will cover him.   He knows about everything else.  He had a tongue in his head. 

I know he lost his licence, but he was talking from memory and I was just saying that is the only information that he is likely to be given, just as I was with buses. The thing with buses and coaches is that they don't even have a fuel gauge, you just have to take it on trust that the tank is full. 

28 minutes ago, lol-lol said:

Get batteries, or more precisely so called solar generators, download lecky at 8p a kw at night, use instead of lecky at 25p a kwh during the day

As already mentioned in my reply to wyx087 my friend does have a battery.

1 minute ago, PetrolDave said:

As already mentioned in my reply to wyx087 my friend does have a battery.

 

And they are superb. The versions that are in the house rather than garage or outside wall are that they produce a bit of incidental heat when charging and discharging.

Also they stop the use of those dirty peaker plants.

I believe pay back is more like a few years rather than a decade or two with Solar but then the price of panel is dropping fast as well. Well under a hundred quid for a 625w panel now !!!

 

17 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

The thing with buses and coaches is that they don't even have a fuel gauge,

 

Do you really believe that sweeping statement?

 

Is there some law against the manufacturers fitting one?

12 minutes ago, lol-lol said:

 

And they are superb. The versions that are in the house rather than garage or outside wall are that they produce a bit of incidental heat when charging and discharging.

Also they stop the use of those dirty peaker plants.

I believe pay back is more like a few years rather than a decade or two with Solar but then the price of panel is dropping fast as well. Well under a hundred quid for a 625w panel now !!!

 

Do you have any links to these cheap solar panels & batteries please?

Especially interested in portable battery storage as I've been holding back on putting this in as I'm likely to move house within a normal payback period but if I could take it with me that could move the dial somewhat...

37 minutes ago, lol-lol said:

I believe pay back is more like a few years rather than a decade or two with Solar but then the price of panel is dropping fast as well.

The important thing to remember about payback calculations with solar panels is their half life i.e. the number of years when their output will be half what it was when new. Typically the half life of monocrystalline and polycrystalline PV panels is around 25-30 years, no data available yet for thin film panels.

 

https://www.renewableenergyhub.co.uk/main/solar-panels/how-long-do-solar-panels-last

1 hour ago, lol-lol said:

Nice to know I have them for power cuts which are becoming for frequent due to these more frequent violent storms.

I just installed a UPS (uninterruptible power supply, not the parcel company) and dedicated wiring between machines last night. It covers my Home Assistant machine, switches including PoE security cameras and NAS at a different location. So even with a power cut, where Tesla Powerwall takes ~5s to switch over, all my smart home wouldn't be affected.

 

There was an attempted burglary at a neighbour's house a few weeks ago. They removed/cut an outdoor light, in doing so, their whole house power tripped. So even if thief trips my house breaker (this is the regular house consumer unit fuse box, after Powerwall), with UPS, my security system will stay online for long enough to capture enough footage.

 

2 minutes ago, PetrolDave said:

Typically the half life of monocrystalline and polycrystalline PV panels is around 25-30 years, no data available yet for thin film panels.

Hum. not sure that amount of degradation is correct. My panels from 9 years ago are warranted for 20 years maintaining above 80% output, it's monocrystalline.

I thought most warranty are 20-25 years and pretty much all guarantees above 80% generation.

 

But you are correct that they do degrade just like EV batteries. However, I've not noticed much degradation in its generation over last 9 years, for example, first whole year 2016 generated less than in 2022. There's more variation with weather, a few good days in summer will make up the difference from degradation.

 

Actually, just like EV battery, these degradation warranty is potentially difficult to prove and claim.......

50 minutes ago, Dieselgate said:

Do you have any links to these cheap solar panels & batteries please?

Especially interested in portable battery storage as I've been holding back on putting this in as I'm likely to move house within a normal payback period but if I could take it with me that could move the dial somewhat...

 

Panana 100w portable solar panel setup I added to my arrays couple of weeks ago, all the connectors, folds in to a nice carry case one can take away. I got for £40 as was further reduced in Black Friday.  May well go under £40 in January sales.  Might get another two sets so they can go in series as some of my solar generators will take 60v open voltage. 

 

As for batteries just also bought a £119 half a kwh with 500W inverter, no longer available, fin for low to medium device ie 60 inch telly etc. It did not like power the fridge freezer at it is the startup spike that knocks it out.

 

For the beastie application I have an Allpower S2000 Pro. Will run at 2400 W for a while, chargers at 1500 W and has a 1.5kwh battery.  had mine a couple of years and is now being superseded by their R series solar generators.

 

Also have a Bluetti EB180 ie 1.8 kwh battery, only can run at 1 Kw but good and silent ie no fan noise most the time. I believe the EB240 can be found at a silly price under £400 for a 2.4 kWh battery which is good if you are not powering stuff over 1 kW usually.

 

I am looking at the next size of beast, maybe the R3500 All power but I keep an eye on Ecoflow, Amazon refurbs particularly and even Jackery.  Best deal should emerge from Boxing day onwards I reckon. 

 

Edited 12 December, 20241 yr by lol-lol

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

 

Do you really believe that sweeping statement?

 

Is there some law against the manufacturers fitting one?

Well seeing as you don't believe me, here is a photo of the dash on a Bristol RE and all the driver has is a temperature gauge and an air pressure gauge on the left and a large speedo. These coaches were also used on continental trips and the driver would be told where to refuel on his trip, usually another bus/coach operators depot and the tank would be brimmed each time. Local buses are also brimmed every night and that fuel would last the entire day, and this I also know because I used to work extra shifts after I had finished as the electrical engineer, to provide breakdown cover or helping the fuel fillers at night to fuel every bus and take them through the bus wash before parking them up as they returned to the depot. 

 

 

London Routemaster dashboard is spartan too.

 

 

Dashboard of a Bristol FLF Lodekka, equally spartan and not a single fuel gauge among them.

 

 

 

Edited 12 December, 20241 yr by Graham Butcher

3 hours ago, Graham Butcher said:

Well seeing as you don't believe me

Obvious really; JayOrr has never driven a vehicle without a fuel gauge, therefore all vehicles have fuel gauges. No pics, but Ford Turboflow (coach), Leyland Leopard (service bus or coach depending on bodywork), Dennis Dominator (double deck service bus), Scania "2 Series" (truck and coach) and MAN (coach) also don't have fuel gauges.

48 minutes ago, Paws4Thot said:

MAN (coach)

Looks like fuel gage to me: 

 

MAN Lion's Coach | GO Group Virtual Wiki

 

 

Disclaimer, I've no knowledge of buses or coaches. Just seems rather strange no fuel gauge in a modern vehicle. 

3 minutes ago, wyx087 said:

Looks like fuel gage to me: 

 

MAN Lion's Coach | GO Group Virtual Wiki

 

 

Disclaimer, I've no knowledge of buses or coaches. Just seems rather strange no fuel gauge in a modern vehicle. 

Maybe on some buses or coaches, but the ones that I'm talking about don't have any, may be that is because they know how big the tank is and on service buses at least, they are on known routes so they actually now how many miles they are doing and are always refuelled every night in the depot? But I've always been interested in buses and go some bus running days etc and none of the normal day to day buses and coaches I've seen have them. Some of the more gimmicky makes do, 

5 hours ago, Paws4Thot said:

Obvious really; JayOrr has never driven a vehicle without a fuel gauge

 

I have driven several historic cars without fuel gauges but that would not make me claim "The thing with buses and coaches is that they don't even have a fuel gauge"

9 hours ago, Graham Butcher said:

Well seeing as you don't believe me, here is a photo of the dash on a Bristol RE and all the driver has is a temperature gauge and an air pressure gauge on the left and a large speedo.

 

But you made no mention of historic or vintage vehicles, you stated: The thing with buses and coaches is that they don't even have a fuel gauge.

 

My question was do you really believe what you stated?

 

I still dont believe you.

2 hours ago, J.R. said:

 

But you made no mention of historic or vintage vehicles, you stated: The thing with buses and coaches is that they don't even have a fuel gauge.

 

My question was do you really believe what you stated?

 

I still dont believe you.

Think about it logically then, why does a bus need to have a fuel gauge when they are normally used on known routes, exact length of route is a known, the number of trips it makes in a day is also known, the mpg is also a known, the size of the fuel tank is also a known, it is also a known that the bus starts its day from the depot and ends its day in the same depot, and it gets refuelled to the brim each and every night, before it gets parked up, so why make the bus overly complicated by adding in things that it does not need? The fuel consumption is all worked out in advance when planning the buses day, they all run to a timetable so there is no way that a bus can do more miles in a day, very often they do less because of heavy traffic will often lead to trips being cut short and another bus takes over the rest of the route in order to try and maintain some sort of timetable as they get fined if they are not able to keep within certain limits on timetables.

 

Each bus has a fleet number on it and the that particular fleet number is ticked off on a fleet chart and the amount of fuel it took to brim the tank is recorded against it. The crew will always drop the bus off at the fuel pump or in the queue for the pump, which is always located at the entrance to the depot and then the garage staff (like me) takes over the bus, fills it, and drives it through the washer, next to the pump and then drive it further inside the garage to find a bay to reverse into and leave it there for the morning. And on a freezing icy morning, the buses are (were) started and left idling in the garage to warm up before the crews arrive to take them out. And yes, we used to stuff a rag soaked in paraffin and attached to a long welding rod and burning, into the air intake while cranking the engine over with the half compression levers engaged to ease the cranking. I have already fully discussed this before with you.

 

I really don't understand why you have trouble believing it, have you any experience of buses, ever worked on buses? I would say that is a huge NO to that question, and that is why are struggling with it.

Edited 12 December, 20241 yr by Graham Butcher

16 hours ago, wyx087 said:

I just installed a UPS (uninterruptible power supply, not the parcel company) and dedicated wiring between machines last night. It covers my Home Assistant machine, switches including PoE security cameras and NAS at a different location. So even with a power cut, where Tesla Powerwall takes ~5s to switch over, all my smart home wouldn't be affected.

 

There was an attempted burglary at a neighbour's house a few weeks ago. They removed/cut an outdoor light, in doing so, their whole house power tripped. So even if thief trips my house breaker (this is the regular house consumer unit fuse box, after Powerwall), with UPS, my security system will stay online for long enough to capture enough footage.

 

Hum. not sure that amount of degradation is correct. My panels from 9 years ago are warranted for 20 years maintaining above 80% output, it's monocrystalline.

I thought most warranty are 20-25 years and pretty much all guarantees above 80% generation.

 

But you are correct that they do degrade just like EV batteries. However, I've not noticed much degradation in its generation over last 9 years, for example, first whole year 2016 generated less than in 2022. There's more variation with weather, a few good days in summer will make up the difference from degradation.

 

Actually, just like EV battery, these degradation warranty is potentially difficult to prove and claim.......

 

-5 seconds?

TESLA predicted the power cut ?

I knew TESLA software was good but that is impressive.  Do you mean 5mS ?

 

I wonder if KRAKEN and TESLA software is going head to head anywhere ?

Kraken did support Williams F1, lots of air time with them usually crashing. Maybe next season it will look like a good investment with Carlos driving for them.

I was just happy Renault/Alpine got sixth and the 95M USD.

 

Must look in to some UPS stuff and security stiff too.  

 

 

Edited 13 December, 20241 yr by Ootohere

Musk should stay out of politics, his game is not really pushing the emissions benefits of electric vehicles as much slamming the door on competitors, especially the Chinese by getting UK to slap duty on their cars to maintain his dominance over the UK market. Pure greed.