Electric Cars.

[Tim Kearsley]

5 minutes ago, Learner said:

British gas offering a years free Ev charging for up to 8000 miles if you buy a hive charger.

Sounds ok but I doubt many on here would do 8000 miles so may not be worth it depending on initial cost.

It sounds interesting for those thinking of installing a charger.  I think it's actually a cap of 2,290kWh and they've assumed a consumption of 3.5 miles/kWh to arrive at the 8,000 miles figure.

[Tim Kearsley]

A question for the more experienced Intelligent Octopus Go users:  As I understand it, you tell the app how much charge you want e.g. 80% and when you want it by.  If you plug the car in at, say, 10 am and tell the app you want your 80% charge level by 6 pm, will it schedule in time slots to fulfil that, even though they might be during more expensive times?  Or does it assume 6 pm the following day?  Or does it just say that it can't fulfil the request?

[Frank Skilbeck]

Tim, I haven't tried that as I have a schedule set up for 80% by 8am, so not sure if you try to force the system into giving you a cheap slot outside the core hours how it will treat this.

 

But I have plugged ours in at 10am with the target set for 8am and got charge slot immediately, perfect to cook Sunday lunch!

[Tim Kearsley]

Nice one Frank!  It's an interesting question which I've also just asked on the Tesla Motors Club forum, as there are lots of IO users on there. It sounds like you get a lot of cheap electricity periods in West Gloucestershire!

[Ron Gray]

It will charge your EV when the schedule time slots come up, it will not charge your EV using more expensive leccy unless you use the boost charge facility.

[Tim Kearsley]

10 minutes ago, Ron Gray said:

It will charge your EV when the schedule time slots come up, it will not charge your EV using more expensive leccy unless you use the boost charge facility.

I don't disagree with what you say Ron, I'm just interested in how it would handle the situation.  Perhaps the answer is to try it!

[Ron Gray]

2 hours ago, Tim Kearsley said:

r does it assume 6 pm the following day? 

No, times are per day, so if you tell it 6pm that will apply to each day, if you plug in at 10am and there are no time slots before 6pm or if there is only say 1 ½ hour slot then I don’t know what will happen! My guess is that it will put in as much charge as it can in the time.

[Tim Kearsley]

19 minutes ago, Ron Gray said:

No, times are per day, so if you tell it 6pm that will apply to each day, if you plug in at 10am and there are no time slots before 6pm or if there is only say 1 ½ hour slot then I don’t know what will happen! My guess is that it will put in as much charge as it can in the time.

Someone on the Tesla forum has just pointed out that the app limits the end times available, so maybe the 6 pm time wouldn't be an option.  I'll have to give it a try. 

[Tim Kearsley]

The guys on the Tesla forum reckon you can only set the "Ready-by" time between 4 am and 11 am.

[Ron Gray]

Yes it does ask to ‘when in the morning’ so it won’t let me put in evening times.

[Frank Skilbeck]

Mmm, on my Ohme Charger I can set up a schedule to charge x% by 5pm, but I've not tried plugging it in in the morning and seeing what it does.

 

 

[GrumpyGnome]

I see on the news that more of those awful pylons need to be erected to supply charging stations/points..... blinkin' eyesores!

[Gary Manuel]

18 minutes ago, GrumpyGnome said:

I see on the news that more of those awful pylons need to be erected to supply charging stations/points..... blinkin' eyesores!

WiFi chargers are what we need!

Edited November 19, 2023 by Gary Manuel

[IDD15]

New pylon design.

National Grid New Pylon Design

 

idd

[Gary Manuel]

1 hour ago, IDD15 said:

New pylon design.

National Grid New Pylon Design

 

idd

I thought that the whole point of the older pylon design was that they were made out of a thin framework which became invisible from a distance. These new ones will be visible from space.

[Learner]

Novel idea.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.revoy.com/&ved=2ahUKEwjL7d3a7P2DAxWtgP0HHUT3By8QFnoECBUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0jWXeXluiBZqDIrxatiGaM

[Learner]

Apparently its Mr Bean's fault we're not buying electric cars😂

 

 

[MattyB]

14 hours ago, Learner said:

Apparently its Mr Bean's fault we're not buying electric cars😂

 

No, the problem is multi faceted, and essentially boils down to :

• The economics don't work for most private buyers (especially since the government have removed all the subsidies now)
• The infrastructure to support EVs isn't increasing fast enough. This is especially true if you have no way of charging it at home off-peak.
• Potential buyers are worried about fire risks and insurance costs since Luton and the recent London bus fires
• The most "affordable" current EVs don't have sufficient range to allay the fears of people for whom it would be their primary vehicle (and I say that as someone who likes the EV driving experience and would like to own one).

Add in the fact that the government has pushed out the date that new petrol and diesel cars can be sold til by 5 years, and it's not that surprising that EV sales have stalled. I suspect UK Gov are going to have to start incentivising again if they want private buyers to start making the jump in more significant numbers...

 

Edited February 9 by MattyB

[Learner]

1 hour ago, MattyB said:

 

No, the problem is multi faceted, and essentially boils down to :

• The economics don't work for most private buyers (especially since the government have removed all the subsidies now)
• The infrastructure to support EVs isn't increasing fast enough. This is especially true if you have no way of charging it at home off-peak.
• Potential buyers are worried about fire risks and insurance costs since Luton and the recent London bus fires
• The most "affordable" current EVs don't have sufficient range to allay the fears of people for whom it would be their primary vehicle (and I say that as someone who likes the EV driving experience and would like to own one).

Add in the fact that the government has pushed out the date that new petrol and diesel cars can be sold til by 5 years, and it's not that surprising that EV sales have stalled. I suspect UK Gov are going to have to start incentivising again if they want private buyers to start making the jump in more significant 

 Mr Bean got the Blame when it was the Muppet shows fault!

[Erfolg]

Atkinson in reality pointed to the present issues with electric cars, and to some degree the problems with an electric economy based on renewables as presently installed.

 

The failure/reduced capacity of batteries is now recorded as higher than predicted, some cars/manufacturers are worst than others. It was noted in a recent newspaper that the available energy available on a cold morning was so low that the company operating the vans was reverting to diesel, as what was available did not permit usage as needed.

 

Another issue that has surfaced, is the higher insurance cost than conventional IC vehicles. Apparently a combination of a few things. Higher cost in repairs to both damaged and general running cost and a suggestion that they have been involved in more accidents ( I do not see why).

 

Another issue raising it head is the OBR stating that EV will have to pay both Road Fund Licence, and pay more energy cost to replace losses from Fuel Duty. A dispute is also started with regard Vat, fuel duty has Vat, at a rate that is greater than for home use.

 

I expect with time, money and development that these issues will be or can be resolved.

 

Perhaps the biggest Elephant that was in the room, is the need to double the number of interconnector (pylons and buried cables to most people ) and sub stations breakers etc. The cost of this infrastructure is high in itself, being part of the standing charges we all pay, and probably becoming a greater part of our bills.

 

As an aside SF6 breakers do more damage to the environment, if released than air breakers (really noisy) or Oil Breakers.

 

Another fudge raising it head is the reservoir scheme being constructed in Scotland. Trysfyndd station in Wales does the same, in that case to allow a base load Nuclear station to keep operating at rated capacity (at night) in periods of low demand. Again it costs, some one will pay the bill.

 

The use of smoke and mirrors just continues, encouraging some to make claims that are not true in the way they are presented.

 

I am sure that the use of oil will diminish, for numerous reasons (climate change is one), though I suspect that the time to transition will be much longer and will come with pain to some, the shorter the time the greater the pain.

 

 

 

[J D 8]

On 19/11/2023 at 15:05, Gary Manuel said:

I thought that the whole point of the older pylon design was that they were made out of a thin framework which became invisible from a distance. These new ones will be visible from space.

  The lattice type pylon takes several days to erect, once again initial cost is the issue like buildings made of RAAC concreate, cheaper in the short term but do not last.

  The old pylons have lasted decades, resisting some severe weather happenings and even the odd bomb damage. Will the T up in a day type do the same?

[J D 8]

    Just for information.

    It is the Dinorwig hydroelectric station at Llanberis that uses excess Nuclear power at night to pump water back up the hill for immediate use when demand surges. Been operational many years. A relation worked there during construction, He said it was a 20 minuet drive into the mountain to the main chamber.

   The Trawsfynydd nuclear station is a first generation MAGNOX type that shut down some time ago and is expected to be the first such station to be fully decommissioned.

  When that will be is another matter.

[Zflyer]

I do love the fact that Government is supposed to incentivise us to purchase an EV along with subsidies to build off/on shore wind turbines. Yet the proposed levy of tax on EV's to use the road and even have a VAT rate applied to the homeowners when charging their EV's raises horror and alarm.

Tax pays for all this stuff, it is not Government money, outside of that borrowed it comes out of our pockets.

Longer transition period was/is always going to be the way forward.

 

[Erfolg]

JD 8, many of us knew it as Trawfsnydd as you say strictly the station, although it was seen as a package by many. The point I am really making like so many of the fixes, it is really a fudge that comes at a price, be it a system that is not amicable to fast ramp up, or a system that has issues with no or high wind speeds.

 

One of the major problems that some are so committed to a method of generation (or anything else) that they either do not see the difficulties and often wave them away as irrelevant, or that others no nothing.

[Don Fry]

3 hours ago, Zflyer said:

I do love the fact that Government is supposed to incentivise us to purchase an EV along with subsidies to build off/on shore wind turbines. Yet the proposed levy of tax on EV's to use the road and even have a VAT rate applied to the homeowners when charging their EV's raises horror and alarm.

Tax pays for all this stuff, it is not Government money, outside of that borrowed it comes out of our pockets.

Longer transition period was/is always going to be the way forward.

 

The 19th-century French philosopher Frédéric Bastiat concluded, somewhat cynically, that “the state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.

Edited February 9 by Don Fry
From my file of ruthless truth.