Electric cars

[ColinB]

The person who gave out the poll information was Richard Tice. A respected ex MEP.

Further statements made on the item were that heat pumps are noisy, less efficient so will cost more to run.

Please don't assume everything you disagree with is fake.

I didn't say that I assume anything I disagree with is fake. But I regard unattributed statements, along the lines of "A bloke said ...", with suspicion. I just feel it's important any discussion anywhere is soundly based on supportable evidence (by quoting reputable sources) rather than on supposition and rumour.

Thanks for clarifying the source, I know nothing about Mr Tice but his Wikipedia entry suggests he holds views with which I disagree (but they are his views so he is entitled to them). Moreover the organisations he supports are not (IMHO) renowned for balanced objective reporting, just like most other political groupings with their own agendas.

[JimSh]

Je ne dis plus rien.   

My intended translation of "je ne dis plus rien"  -------"I'm saying nothing again." ( with reference to a previous spat with Zzaj)

However I've just read Mr Tice's article in  the Express and find his views at odds with all I believe.
(except I don't like the idea of heat pumps as a catch-all solution).
I feel this is getting well away from the original thread on electric cars.

[richardfrost]

I think there is a separate thread on all things to do with energy generation, zero carbon etc. Let's keep this one about electric cars shall we? Assuming there will be electric around to charge them.

[embee]

.....So the consumer will always have a choice; .......

That's a bit like the restaurant menu with roast beef, barbecued pork, lamb cutlets, chicken kiev, and there is a vegetarian option ....... they can **** off.

I welcome action to reduce the deterioration in conditions, but there's always a risk of throwing baby out with the bath water. Measured moderation unfortunately doesn't make good sound-bites and tabloid headlines.

[peteo48]

I am getting a new consumer unit fitted in early December, not for an EV charging point but it will allow for one to be fitted. A Granny cable would suit me fine. The last time I filled my tank was the 30th of September and I still have more than half a tank left (and I am not in lockdown). The longest trip I have had recently was 17 miles. Any EV would be right for me.
Looks like Rolls Royce will be getting the finance for its small nuclear reactor programme. The government will give them £210M if private finance does the same and that should be in place this week.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59201945
With regard to China, I recommend anyone interested to read "Tiger Head, Snake Tails" by Jonathan Fenby.

Just on the granny cable thing (discussed in my post above) I entered into a bit of a discussion on Speak EV a few months back. Very helpful reply from a chap who is using a granny cable as his default option. He is also able to take advantage of low electricity prices at night by using the car's timer (I suspect he has a Nissan Leaf because not all cars have timers).

[Jocko]

I didn't think there was any difference in the price of electricity, day to night unless you have an off-peak tariff. My last house had off-peak heating and water heating but you had to be connected to that circuit to benefit and you had no control over when it came on. You could put a socket into the off-peak circuit and charge from there overnight.
Now I have a Smart Meter, but as far as I am aware, all my usage is charged at the same rate, day or night.

[culzean]

I didn't think there was any difference in the price of electricity, day to night unless you have an off-peak tariff. My last house had off-peak heating and water heating but you had to be connected to that circuit to benefit and you had no control over when it came on. You could put a socket into the off-peak circuit and charge from there overnight.
Now I have a Smart Meter, but as far as I am aware, all my usage is charged at the same rate, day or night.

Not having a variable tariff, with cheaper rate at off-peak was a huge own-goal for smart meter roll-out,  but knowing sneaky energy supply companies they would leave base tariff the same and increase prices at peak times     Mind you solar goes out of use at night by default, and wind often goes AWOL,  so maybe they need every amp they can get and want to discourage rather than encourage people to use more at certain times.  The whole idea of the EU plans to scrap 3KW kettles and replace them with 500watt ones (LOL ) was to spread the load over a longer period... didn't save any electricity but you just had to waste more time waiting and could no longer rely on kettle boiling during an advert break on TV.

[Kremmen]

My daughter has dual tariff as she's all electric (or the house is)

It's a single meter and has 2 separate readings. At about 23:00 it clicks over to off-peak and about 06:00 it clicks back to peak. Each month she enters both readings and gets billed accordingly at each rate.

She's researched and a smart meter can detect your usage and times and you will be billed accordingly.

However ........ what if it breaks or you need to change supplier ? Probably peak rate 24x7 till they sort it.

[John Ratsey]

Now I have a Smart Meter, but as far as I am aware, all my usage is charged at the same rate, day or night.

However, smart meters make it easy to change to a time of use tariff such as https://octopus.energy/go/ or https://octopus.energy/agile/ as all that needs to be done is to tell a computer how to charge for each for each half hourly slice of electricity. When I switched to the Octopus Go tariff my request was submitted in the afternoon and the change was implemented at midnight.

[peteo48]

I didn't think there was any difference in the price of electricity, day to night unless you have an off-peak tariff. My last house had off-peak heating and water heating but you had to be connected to that circuit to benefit and you had no control over when it came on. You could put a socket into the off-peak circuit and charge from there overnight.
Now I have a Smart Meter, but as far as I am aware, all my usage is charged at the same rate, day or night.

I am not completely sure how it works but our company, Octopus Energy, have a low rate tariff specifically for EV charging in the small hours. I haven't gone as far as asking them how to apply for it but I gather it's straightforward.

[Jocko]

It's a single meter and has 2 separate readings. At about 23:00 it clicks over to off-peak and about 06:00 it clicks back to peak. Each month she enters both readings and gets billed accordingly at each rate.

Yhat is what I had but as far as I was aware it was only the storage radiators and water heater that was charged at the low rate. maybe it all was! What I do know is the storage radiators only got energy during the off-peak hours.

[John Ratsey]

That is what I had but as far as I was aware it was only the storage radiators and water heater that was charged at the low rate. maybe it all was! What I do know is the storage radiators only got energy during the off-peak hours.

If you've got those and a smart meter then you need make sure that you are on appropriate tariff so you get cheaper electricity for the period when they are switched on. Any electricity used by other devices in the house also benefit from the cheaper power which is better for the customer than the non-smart dual meter setup.

[Kremmen]

Correct.

The way hers is wired, the storage heaters can only be charged off peak, but the rest of the house is also off-peak.

Her hot water is controlled by a Horstmann7 timer user set to only heat the water off-peak unless she hits the boost button..


 

[Jocko]

Exactly the same as mine was. My electricity Direct Debit was £179 per month. hate to think what it might have been if it was;t for the off-peak then. Glad to be out of there.

[JimSh]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/08/china-calls-for-concrete-action-not-distant-targets-in-last-week-of-cop26

Great article. Really enlightening and adds a lot to what my Professor friend was saying. China is very misunderstood.

Hope on the horizon?

https://news.sky.com/story/cop26-us-and-china-announce-unexpected-declaration-to-work-together-on-climate-change-measures-12465048

"'While areas of real difference separate the two countries, says Secretary Kerry, ‘we can cooperate on the climate crisis’

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/us-china-cop26-glasgow-agreement-b1955373.html