I've finished my 🍺 for 2023. Now onto far harder stuff. 

I had an amusing thought... to get the topic back to electric cars... this is perhaps more for @Lady Elanore petrol veins...

 

Sound up of course for the reference play through...
 

Watch that

Now I was thinking how could it be remade for the electric generation...

It's surprisingly easy.

1. turn the sound right down/off on the video, or leave it up a bit, for the faux noise generator effect.
2. Open your favourite music player, start Ray Stevens cannonball run

2. Click replay

 

We'll need an AI to alter the paint to green of course at 0:58.

Then at 2:16, well that was a cheeky supercharger 350 top up, big solar farm just off shot, easily missed...

However I've been wracking my mind how to deal with the 3:04 dialogue where car 42 is in pursuit for 2hours...  Just go the next supercharger


Now the LP500, a 4.8L v12 had a 0-60 of 5.6seconds, no idea of fuel economy, not a lot so many hydro carbons released, anyhow will cost you north of 775k today.

 

MG4, 3.8seconds for <40k. However probably not going to make it to Arizona in the remake.

I'm still set on the next car being electric; swmbo lease has to be, however I'm really still torn on what happens the '19 superb. Kind of want to get it done now, early '24, nothing VAG is doing floats my boat, fossil or electric...

Odd interlude, yesterday I decided to cycle to our little cycle day out meet up & cycle back. So I saved myself 90km of petrol burning by getting up early and getting back late; although 3hours in the rain kind of dented the elation. I might of blown some of the 'saving the planet' mojo on a hot sausage roll, some flapjack, mars bar rice crispie thing... but it's all part of the grand plan. Also read of a chap, cyclist, being killed on the road, a road I know well as driver and rider... A city at 6am is lovely, a city at 6pm in the rain is horrible, RIP fellow human enjoying yourself amidst the steel monsters.

If the deadline does slip back I'd be wary of infrastructure push equally slipping. Recent travelling I've seen a lot more ev's charging, but never quite full stands. Only one or two cars away from being full though.  So I keep flip flopping back and forth to a euro6 diesel, although fully aware the ulez of the future will come for diesel first. i've pushed my local trips on foot out to an hours walk, upto 10km for cycling where practical. Well aware thats all good because I can, or have the time. When I need a new hip or whatnot, time will cheap, pain will be a great friend.

Anyhow hopefully back to the ins and outs of EV, if we can please. I've got ma whisky to savour. Slange var.

Edited 1 October, 20232 yr by ColinD
to add line on news of cyclist killed in rivelin.

A have loosely followed the last few pages of speed limit stuff, not sure how we got there from the truth about EV's but hey ho.

 

I did hear some numb nuts circulating that the 20 mph had to be brought in because heavier EVs could not stop as quickly. 

 

Anybody want to know braking distance for most mainstream EVs and compare them to an ICE I suggest the ZEPREF website.... https://zeperfs.com/en/perfs.php?Action=Duel

 

A few points I would make of the 20 mile limit is, which I support as an ex Department of Transport Officer at Exeter SWRO scarred by reading numerous fatal accident report and recognising cars much braking performance, tyres etc.

1. Car increasingly will have black boxes that will record the speed of vehicles just before the accident.
2. Autonomous driving will only operate at the maximum speed for the area.  In Wales I can see big queues behind such cars as I experience just about everyone driving at 22,23,24 or 25 or so in these areas.
3.  I wonder if there might finally be applying a minimum standards of frontal safety of cars in relation to safety which would perhaps majority change the frontal profile of Chelsea tractors ?  The death of the two children killed at the Wimbeldon school by collision with a Range Rover.  Might they have survived if the car had been a car such as a TESLA with their Higher Vulnerable Road User score  https://www.euroncap.com/en/results/tesla/model+y/46618  compared to Range Rover and RR Sport variants.  RR https://www.euroncap.com/en/results/land+rover/range+rover/47130 and RR sport - https://www.euroncap.com/en/results/land+rover/range+rover/47131     

 

UK has done well to reduce road deaths but there is still much to do and advanced in car safety systems should bring the road death numbers down from the hundred to dozens and then singles and the zero eventually.

 

14 hours ago, Graham Butcher said:

You really don't think that there might well be another reason why they don't want large cities like London in the future and being less able to freely move to other cities in large numbers? Really?

15 minute cities does not prevent people from moving around, at all. It also does not prevent formation of large cities. It is a model to build more accessible amenities and do away with reliance on cars.

 

Remember, cars does not equal to freedom. When a society has over reliance on cars, it is actually the opposite for people in the lower percentile. Building amenities within walking distance helps everyone.

 

If we can do away with private car ownership, it's even better. Eg. Community car clubs?

 

 

Small Close is something like this, where the space is shared between cars and all road users. I don't see any problem allowing children to play on the road between the bins and house to the right.   20 houses is not a small close......

 

I'll leave it at that, relying to anything else just goes further off topic. The groan reaction will have to do.

Banks closed, post offices closed, libraries and community hubs closed, schools and doctor clinics closed, police stations closed.

Rail & tube and bus strikes etc.

 

At least with many building that will need demolished because of the materials they were constructed with there can be new buildings fit for purpose, 

maybe Community & learning hubs & sports facilities with health centers, police and emergency centers and banking / credit union hubs, food banks, constituency offices for councilors and MP's.

 

Wind Turbines and Solar and battery storage and bike and e-Bike / cargo bike hire and car / van club facilities all on site. 

 

Dead easy to do if Councils and the Government want to do that and involve the banks, post office / royal mail, mail order / delivery firms and the Energy Companies.

 

Actually places have done pretty much that in towns already, or partially done it. 

Edited 1 October, 20232 yr by toot

1 hour ago, wyx087 said:

Small Close is something like this, where the space is shared between cars and all road users. I don't see any problem allowing children to play on the road between the bins and house to the right.   20 houses is not a small close......

 

I'll leave it at that, relying to anything else just goes further off topic. The groan reaction will have to do.

That's exactly how small residential streets/ roads with traffic calming (and not necessarily Cul-de-Sacs) are here in Germany. As you enter you'll have a blue sign informing you there may be children playing in the street. Max speed is walking pace IIRC. As you leave the sign below will have a red diagonal line through it to inform you that you're leaving the zone. We live in one and it's no big deal.

Edited 1 October, 20232 yr by @Lee

The more i am reading about Public charging experiences and costs ..

 

I now think my next car is going to be a Euro6 diesel or Mhev/phev and then review in 2030 if i am still here.

 

I tend to keep my car 6 years after buying them at 3yo

 

Now i just have to find one that didn't cost more than £40,000 new to save £1,185 ved (needs to tow 1414kg)

6 minutes ago, Stonekeeper said:

The more i am reading about Public charging experiences and costs ..

 

I now think my next car is going to be a Euro6 diesel or Mhev/phev and then review in 2030 if i am still here.

 

I tend to keep my car 6 years after buying them at 3yo

 

Now i just have to find one that didn't cost more than £40,000 new to save £1,185 ved (needs to tow 1414kg)

That's my problem as well, the costs at public chargers vary massively far more than diesel. I'm currently on course for something around 750 miles on a full tank. I'm sure that once better price regulation is in place more EVs would find owners. 

Thank goodness there are the likes of you not buying into EV driving if you are going to have to public charge because there is not the infrastructure to even cope with 10% of vehicle on UK roads needing to and 50% is never going to happen.  Just keep on buying your diesel regardless of how much that gets to costing.. It will not be that much really and if it does get very expensive for private users then that's just how things go.    Importing stuff is out of the control of the countries government anyway.  The UK can not even be sure of keeping the refineries or cracking plants there are now. 

43 minutes ago, Stonekeeper said:

The more i am reading about Public charging experiences and costs ..  I now think my next car is going to be a Euro6 diesel or Mhev/phev and then review in 2030 if i am still here.

I tend to keep my car 6 years after buying them at 3yo   Now i just have to find one that didn't cost more than £40,000 new to save £1,185 ved (needs to tow 1414kg)

 

Today, the 1st of October, price of electricity to home owners has dropped by some 20% meanwhile the pound against the USD, what oil is bought and sold at has fallen by 3.3% making imported diesel erven more expensive which will further push up the price of diesel at the pumps.  There are more and more renewables coming on stream plus more international interconnector to countries with excess electricity much of the time.  Oil prices are controlled largely by the Saudis and to some degree the Russian where as electricity is a commodity traded by the minutes and sometimes in such excess it can be given away for free and increasingly so.

 

So to go a vehicle powered by a fuel price controlled by despots or one which is increasingly falling towards zero could and should be part of your thought process I suggest.

 

Youtuber Davetakesiton I think might be a Youtuber based out of Lancashire and like most UK places there are dozens of new chargers popping up every week and huge amounts on the trunk road network and with TESLA opening up its network to non-TESLA it is going to be the case that access to chargers that cost similar to home charging prices are going to be the norm at those hubs. Latest vid below.

 

I do not have an idea what the market for 3 year old EV cars which have a one and a half tonne towing capacity.  Model Y towing capability is 1600 kgs, not the best selling car in the world for nothing, much as ford was in its heyday.  Mustang-e towing weights were poor and have only just be upped.  https://octopusev.com/ev-hub/best-electric-cars-for-towing

 

Edited 1 October, 20232 yr by lol-lol

3 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

That's my problem as well, the costs at public chargers vary massively far more than diesel. I'm currently on course for something around 750 miles on a full tank. I'm sure that once better price regulation is in place more EVs would find owners. 

 

 

The infrastructure needs sorting though as well. Motorway services do not have enough chargers now, the ones i saw when walking to the building where amongst the parked cars but with no way of knowing who was queuing up for them so when one moved off i witnessed a bit of a to do over who was next.

 

Petrol hybrid v Diesel?

 

 

30 pence a kWh going down to 27 pence is not a 20% drop.  @lol-lol who is getting their electricity for 20% less? 

26 minutes ago, toot said:

Thank goodness there are the likes of you not buying into EV driving if you are going to have to public charge because there is not the infrastructure to even cope with 10% of vehicle on UK roads needing to and 50% is never going to happen.  Just keep on buying your diesel regardless of how much that gets to costing.. It will not be that much really and if it does get very expensive for private users then that's just how things go.    Importing stuff is out of the control of the countries government anyway.  The UK can not even be sure of keeping the refineries or cracking plants there are now. 

 

 

I was very much going to buy a Hybrid next year but am concerned about the VED i will have to pay for one that can tow the caravan.

 

 

1 minute ago, toot said:

30 pence a kWh going down to 27 pence is not a 20% drop.  @lol-lol who is getting their electricity for 20% less? 

Octopus users, I would have thought. My daytime rate has gone down from 40p per kwh to 30 p per kwh so by  a quarter. Night time did tick up from 7.5 to 9 p per kwh but still ridiculously cheap.

@StonekeeperWhy would you buy a hybrid just for the cheap running on electric near home.

@lol-lolthat is your electricity then and others maybe with the same as you.    Someone paying £3 yesterday for 10 kWh and £2 70 today but with a few pence more of a daily charge has not even got a 10% drop.   There are too many that are not aware of the cost to the many in this country.  

What if every one bar me goes ev

 

I remember in 2020 when the sale of fuel dropped significantly due to little use the price dropped to below a pound a litre.

 

Oil was traded below $0 a barrel because they had nowhere to store it.

 

So if i am the last one with an ICE i may be onto a winner 😉

8 minutes ago, toot said:

@StonekeeperWhy would you buy a hybrid just for the cheap running on electric near home.

 

I was thinking more of a MHEV than a PHEV

 

The video above explained that around town the MHEV beat the diesel for economy

The might be a Covid pandemic again. Every cloud has a silver lining.  Millions die and road fuel in the UK is cheaper. 

9 minutes ago, toot said:

@lol-lolthat is your electricity then and others maybe with the same as you.    Someone paying £3 yesterday for 10 kWh and £2 70 today but with a few pence more of a daily charge has not even got a 10% drop.   There are too many that are not aware of the cost to the many in this country.  

 

Apologies. Mine was coming off an annual tariff so the step down over a year rather than the 3 month step. I am quite happy with 29.9 p per KWh, combined with the 9 p per kWh for 4 hours I suppose that gets me to your 27 p per kWh if I had linear use around the clock but when one can use over half electricity in the 4 hours it give me an average cost of less than 20 p per kWh on the old and new tariffs.  Greg Jackson of Octopus is the man.  They are still making quite a loss per year but still getting massive investment.

I do hope there is nobody thinking that the more people turn to EVs that the price of Electricity will plummet.

 

I also hope they don't think having a smart meter reduces their electricity bill.

 

Unless they had no idea boiling a kettle cost money before.

5 minutes ago, Stonekeeper said:

 

I was thinking more of a MHEV than a PHEV   The video above explained that around town the MHEV beat the diesel for economy

 

MHEV, Mild Hybrid?  I have one ie my Arkana, it is not great round town on mpg, maybe 40-45 mpg. The non-plug in hybrids seem to be good like the ETECH series with Renault. 60 to 80 mpg for a these models whether segment B, C or D segment.

 

How often the guy says Cold start without mentioning the ambient temp is just silly.       @Stonekeeper It is already ridiculous how some parts of England get electricity cheap now.   There is no way England is going to have energy security and low electricity prices unless the nonsense continues of how the Name National Grid and the Westminster government conspire with pricing and deals to import from overseas. 

Edited 1 October, 20232 yr by toot

4 minutes ago, toot said:

How often the guy says Cold start without mentioning the ambient temp is just silly.    

 

I think the video did prove in the end that the cold/warm start was irrelevant to the outcome.

 

The outside was around 23/25c he was meaning sitting there till it warmed up to operating temp i think.

2 minutes ago, Stonekeeper said:

I do hope there is nobody thinking that the more people turn to EVs that the price of Electricity will plummet.  I also hope they don't think having a smart meter reduces their electricity bill.  Unless they had no idea boiling a kettle cost money before.

 

Uk just had a second Scandinavian 1.4 GW interconnector plumbed in a few days ago, plus more people getting solar and getting home battery storage plus charging their car on cheap overnight lecky like I do.  If electricity did go up I would install several kws of solar panels, their price is falling like a stone same as home storage batteries.

 

Electricity is a ubiquitous fuel and if one source becomes expensive then just find another unlike diesel which comes from people who chops hands and heads off or start wars and both and control the price to fund such.  Russia has just decided to double it arms budget, just as the US senate decided to stop further finance to Ukraine.  Where does Russia gets its money.  I gather Saudi has been refining Russian heavy fuel which diesel is fracted from.   Smart meter measures usage.  Octopus just lowered my day time per unit price massively.  Oil is up nearly a quarter since June and the pound has lost about 5% of its value against the US dollar. Noticed the change in pump prices over the last couple of months ?

More to come !

   

Solar power and a power bank is great if you are young enough to recoup your investment in them