Good Morning Good Night and General Chat.

[Fozzie]

Good afternoon

 

It's been a weird week. I put in an order for a company car after a recent promotion, a Cupra Born. It's an EV car based on the VW ID3. 

Delivery was going to be June 2023, and I've just cancelled it. 

 

Can't justify it for a number of reasons, chief among which are being forced to use public chargers as I can't get one at home, which is more costly than petrol. And I get a car allowance in lieu of it which is significant, could blow the engine in my car every 2 years and still be in the black. Going to wait for the inevitable 2nd or 3rd generation of EV batteries. 

[Yorky]

1 hour ago, Fozzie said:

 Going to wait for the inevitable 2nd or 3rd generation of EV batteries. 

 

Yes, I've never looked too deeply into EV cars but I just can't imagine them holding value. Once the batteries are done for the car is about worthless isn't it as the cost of replacements is significant. Or am I getting it all wrong?

[Fozzie]

1 hour ago, Yorky said:

 

Yes, I've never looked too deeply into EV cars but I just can't imagine them holding value. Once the batteries are done for the car is about worthless isn't it as the cost of replacements is significant. Or am I getting it all wrong?

 

So far, their values are holding very solidly. Kia's more than a few years old are selling at nearly as new prices. 

Old air cooled batteries could degrade quickly, like in the old Nissan leaf. Newer batteries are liquid cooled, and rated for 3000 cycles to 80%, which in theory is hundreds of thousands of miles. There has been a sharp drop of 10% in the first 50k or so noted by some long term testing, but it appears to stabilise and creep down from here. So worth noting, whatever you buy, assume it will lose 10% in the first few years of ownership. 

 

For me it's the inconvenience of not having a charger at home, and bad fast charging availability nearby. Which even with it would leave me sat around for a couple of hours a week. EV cars can only claim 9p per mile business mileage, yet cost 15-20p per mile due to motorway chargers being 60-80p per kWh and the best EV's only really capable of 3-4 miles per kWh. I'd be running it at a loss. Then factor in the car allowance I can get in return for owning my own car, I'd be over £200 down after costs if I went the company car route. Just seemed senseless. 

 

Fortunately they were pretty understandable, I went cap in hand and made my case, explained it wasn't for me. And looks like it's enough in advance there's no fees. 

[rennie]

I won't even consider an EV until I absolutely have to! (hopefully never)

Good Evening 

[MikeHorton]

[Bender]

Heathens  

[MikeHorton]

Cradley heathens now your talking, another fine speedway team now gone 'ommer um cradley' as we used to say! 

 

[dynax]

Good morning

[onesea]

Good Morning,

Had everyone else received in the last 24 hours at least one email from any site you ever possibly thought about buying anything from.

[S-Westerly]

Oh yes. 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

2 hours ago, onesea said:

Good Morning,

Had everyone else received in the last 24 hours at least one email from any site you ever possibly thought about buying anything from.

No. Not a peep. 

 

I dislike this silly pseudo-sale. Another American fad persuading to buy things they don't need.

 

As it happens I did go into Currys to buy a new tablet as mine is nearly dead and my mother is into her seventh week in hospital with no TV. I downloaded a shed load of films for her to watch, gave her the new tablet, and two hours later they wheeled her into a room with a TV. 

[Yorky]

17 hours ago, Fozzie said:

 

 60-80p per kWh and the best EV's only really capable of 3-4 miles per kWh.

Thanks for that explanation Fozzie, I'm a luddite on these matters.

So on the figures above, at motorway charges, an EV is costing around 20p per mile?. So at current petrol prices (£1.60/ltr - £7.30/gallon) any petrol ICE vehicle returning over 37mpg is cheaper to run, and far more convenient.

[rennie]

We took Sue's dirty old diesel Tucson for MOT yesterday! (it passed easily)

While we were there a bloke was talking about his EVs, work's cars he was on his third!

He absolutely hated them and said that his firm were considering going back to ICE vehicles

because they'd had so many problems

[MikeHorton]

Sad news I've always been a fan of Avon tyres, they are owned by Goodyear now I'd imagine they will be made somewhere in the far east now! 

 

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2022/november/avon-tyres-closure/#:~:text=The Avon Tyres plant%2C the,in Melksham%2C Wiltshire next year.

Edited November 26, 2022 by MikeHorton

[fastbob]

Day eight in the Hospital but I'm hopefully on the road to recovery. . Ten minutes of screaming this morning as a surgeon inserted a drain into my lung through my back . Seems I've had the constant  urge to cough because I've been walking around with at least a litre of blood in my left lung as a result of the broken rib . Comfortable now . 

 

[rennie]

Good Morning can't sleep 

[dynax]

Good morning

[MikeHorton]

5 hours ago, fastbob said:

Day eight in the Hospital but I'm hopefully on the road to recovery. . Ten minutes of screaming this morning as a surgeon inserted a drain into my lung through my back . Seems I've had the constant  urge to cough because I've been walking around with at least a litre of blood in my left lung as a result of the broken rib . Comfortable now . 

 

Chest drains not nice coming out or going in but I bet you felt the relief when the fluid started coming out. Hopefully you should be on the road to recovery now and out soon. 

[S-Westerly]

And the bloody hare bit back. Jointing out a hare and my super sharp  knife slipped and took a goodly slice out of my index finger. Blood everywhere and lots of cursing. Still looking forward to eating it this evening though. 

[Tiggie]

@S-Westerly this might cheer you up while your finger heals and its kind of related.

 

A friend of mine was telling me a story at her Dad's funeral of how she once asked him for the recipe for the amazing chicken pie they always used to eat when she was growing up.

 

" Well, the first thing you need to do is shoot yourself a rabbit....."   

 

He always told her it was chicken as he knew full well she'd never of touched it if she knew it was thumper 

[rennie]

Good Morning 

[dynax]

Good morning

[Fiddlesticks]

10 hours ago, Tiggie said:

@S-Westerly this might cheer you up while your finger heals and its kind of related.

 

A friend of mine was telling me a story at her Dad's funeral of how she once asked him for the recipe for the amazing chicken pie they always used to eat when she was growing up.

 

" Well, the first thing you need to do is shoot yourself a rabbit....."   

 

He always told her it was chicken as he knew full well she'd never of touched it if she knew it was thumper 

Sounds like the Jewish kids who came home from grandma's raving about the delicious French Chicken they'd been served up. 

 

Well,  a bit of bacon never hurt anybody.

[Fozzie]

On 26/11/2022 at 09:28, Yorky said:

Thanks for that explanation Fozzie, I'm a luddite on these matters.

So on the figures above, at motorway charges, an EV is costing around 20p per mile?. So at current petrol prices (£1.60/ltr - £7.30/gallon) any petrol ICE vehicle returning over 37mpg is cheaper to run, and far more convenient.

 

Not just motorway charges, any fast charger is around the same price. And most supermarkets have 1.5-3 hr car park charges so you could end up sat around on the slower stuff for a long time, and risk parking tickets. If you can't have a charger at home (which will be a substantial problem for many lease holds), you're consigned to using them.

London is possibly the only exception, as many of the lamp posts down there have chargers built into them. They are very slow, at around 2kW but you only pay 25-30p per kWh. I'm in Manchester, which has done its very best to match London in price but leave out the infrastructure. 

 

LiFEPO4 batteries are great as a grid solution for storing surplus renewable power. But we don't have that surplus yet, and it will likely be 2035 at the earliest by the time we do. I think it could slide to 2050 as we are racing to replace gas systems with heat pumps, which adds significantly more load onto the network. But equally, these are where the biggest carbon savings are, not personal motoring. 

[Grumpy Old Git]

On 27/11/2022 at 01:46, fastbob said:

Day eight in the Hospital but I'm hopefully on the road to recovery. . Ten minutes of screaming this morning as a surgeon inserted a drain into my lung through my back . Seems I've had the constant  urge to cough because I've been walking around with at least a litre of blood in my left lung as a result of the broken rib . Comfortable now . 

 

I had similar a while ago - But, in my case, the screaming resulted in them putting it in under general anaesthetic. All I felt when I woke up was a dull pain and a 'tugging' sensation as I breathed. Taking it out was a simple local and a gentle pull..... AARGHHHH!

Anyhoo, glad to hear that you are well on t'road t,recovery.