Electric cars

[RichardA]

Great buying a new EV if you have spare money.
If living in a house rewired with modern electrics but before roughly 1985-90, then a home charging point probably means a new control box with a a main fuse upgrade  to 100Amps and some/lots of wiring.

If I remember correctly, the new build house my parents purchased in 1991 had a more sophisticated consumer panel than the previous house (built in 1982). The new build house they purchased in 1996 had one where individual zones (downstairs lights, downstairs socktes, etc) could be isolated.

(Sorry I don't know exact technical terms).

[Kremmen]

Yes, separate up and down power socket zones is the norm now, along with surge protection MCB as well

Separate lighting zones has been the norm for many decades to help stop total blackout

[NoelM]

Yes, separate up and down power socket zones is the norm now, along with surge protection MCB

It’s an SPD not MCB

[madasafish]

Yes, separate up and down power socket zones is the norm now, along with surge protection MCB as well

Separate lighting zones has been the norm for many decades to help stop total blackout

Our 1820s house was rewired by prior owners in 1975 -78.
The consumer unite has separate power and lighting zones for upstairs/downstairs and surge protection MCB as well, The Granny Flat extension built in 2079 has a a separate Consumer Unit.

Pity the Main fuse is only 60 watts. It has blown once about 10 years ago; age I assume as there was no fault. Fortunately I had a spare fuse - no longer made.  I bought more unused on Ebay

[Kremmen]

Yes, separate up and down power socket zones is the norm now, along with surge protection MCB

It’s an SPD not MCB

In my consumer unit I have 2 grey SPD's with 'Wylex surge protector' on each. Neither has any switches.

To the right or them is a switched module/RCB with 'Wylex MCB' printed on it and the fitter has put a written label under it with 'Surge Protection MCB'

So my SPD''s are protected by a RCB !

[Kremmen]

How many more affected across the country :

Nearly 100 on-street charging points for electric vehicles in Portsmouth have been disconnected after safety concerns were raised by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN).   
The concerns relate to how the charging points were installed, using the electricity supply from lamp columns and, following advice from SSEN, Portsmouth City Council decided to disconnect all 98 on-street charging points.

Portsmouth’s on-street charging points have operated since 2019. They use power from lampposts in the same way as charging points across the country. The infrastructure is owned by the installing company who is responsible for liaising with the electricity distribution network operator (DNO), in Portsmouth this is SSEN.

The charging points were installed by ubitricity or Joju, depending on when they were introduced, and between them the companies are responsible for thousands of similar on-street charge points elsewhere in the country.

Following notification from SSEN of their safety concerns, as a precaution the charging points have been turned off while the situation is investigated.

It is not known how long the charge points will be out of action for, the council has instructed both Joju and ubitricity to work with SSEN to resolve the situation as soon as possible. 

[ColinB]

Congrats to Portsmouth for actually trying to be sensible and use the existing infrastructure. Here in Bath the council have spent shedloads of money moving all the lamp columns to the back of the pavement, effectively ensuring they can’t be used for EV charging in the foreseeable future.

[Kremmen]

Just in time for Xmas

[richardfrost]

Good job the Lego Munchkin fire service arrived to put out the fire. Hope they remembered you can’t use water!

[Jazzik]

Wouldn't you prefer "the real thing" (ICE) for Christmas?

 

Lamborghini............................ McLaren..............................Ferrari ............................................Audi

[Kenneve]

I think we are fairly safe with our hybrid Jazz cars.
Our HV battery is only 0.75Kw as compared with the 30 or 40Kw batteries in the cars shown, so only about 2% of the energy available for possible fire risk.

[John Ratsey]

Another EV "thermal incident" https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/23965287.audi-swindon-gives-update-fire-delta-business-park/ .

[Kremmen]

Tesla forced to recall 2 million cars over autopilot issues by US authorities

Oh dear

[Jazzik]

The world upside down!

The NHTSA sees an increased risk of accidents when the driver assistance system Autopilot is turned on. According to the supervisor, insufficient care is taken to ensure that drivers themselves continue to pay attention.

So, according to the Americans, the car now has to pay attention to whether the driver is paying attention.
And I, the driver, really thought that I should pay attention to whether the car is paying attention.

[Lord Voltermore]

There have been cases in America where the driver of a campervan, put it on autopilot then went into the back of the van to make a cup of coffee.  You cant fix stupid .   But I am uneasy of systems that allow the driver to doze, or pay attention to other things.   There was a system that monitors your eyes to check they are not closed, or looking away for too long.     Maybe thats obsolete by now  or too expensive. And no doubt some will complain its disturbing their relaxation, entertainment or multitasking.