Author Topic: Electric cars  (Read 694825 times)

equaliser

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #1545 on: October 09, 2020, 10:46:29 PM »
The problem I have with some rental cars is that they have got the lights and wipers control stalks the wrong way round compared to what I'm used to and this results in an intention to indicate to turn results in the wipers operating, or vice-versa.

John, can I ask when you last hired a car in the UK? I haven't seen any cars with this problem in 30 years. Japanese and Korean cars from the 80s were the last to have the stalk controls switched.

John Ratsey

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #1546 on: October 10, 2020, 04:42:23 PM »
John, can I ask when you last hired a car in the UK? I haven't seen any cars with this problem in 30 years. Japanese and Korean cars from the 80s were the last to have the stalk controls switched.
It's a long while since I rented a vehicle in the UK but last year I drove a Toyota Corolla in New Zealand for a week and that had the stalks switched.
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Jocko

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #1547 on: October 10, 2020, 06:10:00 PM »
It must be designed that way for NZ as the UK models are the same as the Jazz as page 191 of the manual shows.

https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM02535U/pdf/OM02535U.pdf

guest4871

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #1548 on: October 10, 2020, 07:11:14 PM »
In the last twenty years (I can't remember before that) I have had four cars two on one side, two on the other. And now both my current cars, both Japanese, have the stalks on opposite sides.

Jocko

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #1549 on: October 12, 2020, 04:55:12 PM »
Midlothian Council is introducing charges for it's, till now, free charging points. Dearest will be Rapid chargers at  30p/kW which works out about £6/100 miles. Fast and Slow chargers will be about half that price.

https://www.midlothianadvertiser.co.uk/news/people/rising-costs-spark-end-free-midlothian-council-electric-vehicle-charging-points-3000750

culzean

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #1550 on: October 12, 2020, 08:54:01 PM »
There has been a honeymoon period for BEV, but no way will the councils and government continue to subsidize them, especially when income from road tax, fuel duty etc starts to dry up.
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culzean

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #1551 on: October 18, 2020, 10:48:22 AM »
According to UK grid portal since Thursday the UK ( in a period of medium demand ) has had to rely over 85% on Gas, nuclear and biomass and French nuclear via channel cable.  Looks like the expensive ornamental fans on sticks failed completely ( despite the government keep telling us UK is the 'wind capital of the world' - more like the hot air capital ).  Germany still generating from coal,  in fact recently commissioned lignite ( dirty brown coal ) power stations.  What would have happened if weather had been colder like it was a few years ago when we almost ran out of gas and Russians embarrassed us by sending us a gas tanker and demand was over 49GW.  Fans on sticks should be consigned to garden ornaments, solar panels are OK for garden fairy lights but if we intend to be a self powered industrial country we need a stable power supply that does not depend on the whims of nature. If UK was a sailing ship,  for the past 4 days we have been becalmed in the doldrums.  Germany has it right,  they protect their power supply and industry by building massive 'conventional' backup capacity for the 'whim of nature' renewables,  in the UK we spend billions on renewables and cross our fingers - and no plan B.

see attached PDF
« Last Edit: October 18, 2020, 11:18:14 AM by culzean »
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

Jocko

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #1552 on: October 18, 2020, 11:48:06 AM »
The problem with wind turbines is we don't have storage. That is what we should be spending money on. The hundred-odd turbines around me have been going great guns the past few days. Perhaps it is time Scotland severed connection with England in more ways than one.  ;D

culzean

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #1553 on: October 18, 2020, 12:21:23 PM »
The problem with wind turbines is we don't have storage. That is what we should be spending money on. The hundred-odd turbines around me have been going great guns the past few days. Perhaps it is time Scotland severed connection with England in more ways than one.  ;D

4 days of storage capacity is a big ask - especially in winter when demand can be >40GW

As I have said before with nuclear you build the capacity you want and maybe a spare power station to allow others to be off-line for upgrades or maintenance.  With renewables you build 10x the capacity you need in the hope that in bad times you may get something near the capacity you need,  but in reasonable or good times you are paying people NOT to produce anything. 

( PS Scotland has a much bigger economic deficit than Greece,  who are the basket case of Europe,  also do not have a currency off their own... you cut off the southward supply of electricity, we cut off the northward flow of money and a hard border at Gretna - and decide who you will sell all this excess electrical power to without moving it over English soil - I have been reading rumours that places like Orkney and Shetland have had enough of SNP and want to be separate from Scotland -  and Boris can give them an Indyref ). 
« Last Edit: October 18, 2020, 12:38:10 PM by culzean »
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

John Ratsey

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #1554 on: October 28, 2020, 08:44:17 PM »
As I might have already noted here or elsewhere, the surplus erratic wind energy could be used for generating hydrogen, which we'll most likely be using as a fuel (transport and heating) and that hydrogen can be stored and transported by pipelines. I recall that Boris is dreaming of wind turbines off the Outer Hebrides where he thinks the wind is always blowing. I don't know if that's true as I haven't been there.

However, that leaves us with the problem of where to get carbon-free electricity when the wind isn't blowing or the sun shining. Wave and tidal energy are much more reliable and we have plenty of access to it. However, this seems to be too invisible to excite the politicians. That leaves nuclear as the only option but there seems to be a lot of foot-dragging as it isn't cheap. However, if the need to create backup for unreliable renewable energy is charged against those unreliable sources then the costing would look different.
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Jocko

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #1555 on: October 28, 2020, 09:09:12 PM »
Outer Hebrides. Not a lot of trees. Why not? Too windy.


sparky Paul

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #1556 on: October 28, 2020, 11:53:30 PM »
There is a great deal of wind throughout the Highlands and west of Scotland, and indeed the the west of Ireland, and is largely uninterrupted throughout the autumn and winter. Wind turbines in these areas can produce 3 times the annual output of similar turbines further south.

As I might have already noted here or elsewhere, the surplus erratic wind energy could be used for generating hydrogen, which we'll most likely be using as a fuel (transport and heating) and that hydrogen can be stored and transported by pipelines.

That hydrogen can also be turned back into electricity on demand. This is already being done in a small scale in Orkney, where surplus wind power generated hydrogen is used to power ferries while in dock, as well as powering a fleet of council vans and school heating systems.

Tidal turbines are another technology being developed and trialled up there. Whilst there are many difficulties to be overcome, the amount of energy that could be harnessed is immense - and the moon is definitely not intermittent.

John Ratsey

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #1557 on: October 29, 2020, 11:52:16 AM »
Tidal turbines are another technology being developed and trialled up there. Whilst there are many difficulties to be overcome, the amount of energy that could be harnessed is immense - and the moon is definitely not intermittent.
The Orkney trial is called tidal https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-45246445 but is an unusual situation where it is possible to extract energy from a mass flow of water without having to impound it and may be difficult to replicate on a very large scale. Normally, tidal energy uses the twice daily (approx) change in water levels, eg the Severn barrage or Swansea bay lagoon proposals which has been feasible for years (eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rance_Tidal_Power_Station ) but upsets the environmental lobby. Capturing wave energy seems somewhat more difficult https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_Hub but more encouragement by gov't could give it a shove in the right direction.

However,
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JimSh

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #1558 on: October 29, 2020, 04:53:03 PM »
Tidal turbines are another technology being developed and trialled up there. Whilst there are many difficulties to be overcome, the amount of energy that could be harnessed is immense - and the moon is definitely not intermittent.
The Orkney trial is called tidal https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-45246445 but is an unusual situation where it is possible to extract energy from a mass flow of water without having to impound it and may be difficult to replicate on a very large scale

Lots of other tidal flows between islands off the west coast.
The island races, involving sailing and running up the highest mountain on each are won not so much by the speed of the runners as by the skill of the sailors in interpreting the tidal charts.(or so my sailor friends tell me)

culzean

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Re: Electric cars
« Reply #1559 on: November 03, 2020, 10:59:30 PM »
Some people will only consider you an expert if they agree with your point of view or advice,  when you give them advice they don't like they consider you an idiot

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