Electric cars and the grid..... it has begun.

[Morrisman]

What’s bankrupting the country? Nothing, that’s just hyperbole. We are paying a lot for energy at the moment but it’s not a phenomenon isolated to the uk.

The fact that the energy market works weirdly and every energy source gets the same price of the highest, so it’s inevitably linked to gas.

There’s your culprit. If we were 50% nuclear we would be paying the same price.

 

[fizzy]

View attachment 376520

Funny how the countries with the most renewables are at the top of the list

 

[Morrisman]

Funny how the countries with the most renewables are at the top of the list

Renewable burnables, neither cheap, nor 'green'.
I really don't get the big picture.

 

[brewdexta]

Funny how the countries with the most renewables are at the top of the list

The countries with the highest renewable percentage of electricity production are

Iceland 100%
Norway 98%
Costa Rica 98%
Uruguay 97%
Kenya 93%

Kenya is 10th in that list, the others don't appear.

 

[fizzy]

The countries with the highest renewable percentage of electricity production are

Iceland 100%
Norway 98%
Costa Rica 98%
Uruguay 97%
Kenya 93%

Kenya is 10th in that list, the others don't appear.

Iceland has loads of geothermal and hydro.
Norway has masses of hydro
The others are well below my Radar
Perhaps I should have said wind and solar rather than use the generic term renewables!

 

[bricol]

Anyway, I have found a problem with my electric car,
yesterday the windscreen washers froze, there is no heat from the "engine" to defrost them.

I've only ever seen electrically heated windscreen nozzle washer jets - and I've never owned a car with them - the engine heat alone has never been enough to stop the jet from freezing, even on my Alfa were the jet is under the trialing edge of the bonnet, out of the air stream - it freezes even with extremely concentrated screenwash (ie undiluted").

I've seen devices to heat the fluid in the bottle, or on it's way to the nozzles using engine heat - but if the outlet is covered in a blob of ice, it makes no difference

 

[DAPPH]

pffft... you need to look left and right at roundabouts around there.

My friends wife in her four month old Astra on a large busy roundabout didn't, she looked right toed it fromm stop onto the roundabout and ran straight in to the back of th car in front of her because the driver hesitated and stopped to let the high speed boy racer who had just entered the round about to her right to get off if. Both cars written off . Kath is still adamant 24 years later that it was the driver of the car in front of her who was at fault .

 

[DAPPH]

I'm sorry for your loss.
However - it's not tripe.
I average over 30,000 miles annually - I get to see first-hand whats happening on the roads (roads all over Wales at least - mostly, though I get up as far as Manchester and east as far as London on occasion).
I'm not defending the unhinged, the dangerous, the reckless, the dismally inept, the wholly incompetent - I'm out amongst them most days of the week.

However, I am defending the generally law-abiding, good driver who is unquestionably the main target of the Scamera Schemes - and the persecution and the way they operate demonstrably has sod-all to do with genuine road safety. That is what I rail against (& so should you if you truly want safer roads).

"Speed Kills" is a handy strapline - but it's a naive and misleading one.
The truth is that "Bad Driving Kills" (which of course includes the wrong speed at the wrong time/ place/ conditions).
Catching the truly bad drivers though, requires proper policing and investment, where lowering limits and using Scamera's does not (although "GoSafe" Partnership got over £24M of taxpayer money last year alone - & thats without their "Earnings").

Stupidly low posted limits and high-traffic-volume Scamera deployment does nothing to address the root cause.
Scamera's don't catch the truly appalling and the unhinged, or those with a total disregard for others.... because they don't deploy them when or where they are likely to catch them (& if they did snap them, they cannot apprehend them).

The only thing Scamera's do successfully - is take money from Licensed Drivers with a properly registered vehicle.
They dont & won't save many lives - its not their true purpose, nor are they suitable as an effective method.... they are there to get money.

"The Rules" are being altered to suit an agenda that (while of course claiming the Limits & Scamera's are for public safety) has other objectives in reality.... and only the blind or ignorant can fail to see that.

If you want better road safety, then you should want your taxes spent on genuinely effective policing and sensible action - not supporting a system that's much much more interested in your money than in any life.

I was taught advanced driving in June 1968,
It was stated to me that a good driver stays within the speed limits , obeys the highway code , all the legal statutes and is always prepared for the unexpected & be prepared to stop or give way .
I've never had reason to question that valuable advice , but I have had to question some of my driving on odd occasions .

 

[brewdexta]

Iceland has loads of geothermal and hydro.
Norway has masses of hydro
The others are well below my Radar
Perhaps I should have said wind and solar rather than use the generic term renewables!

 

[DAPPH]

The only way to effectively stop speeding is to mandate that vehicle manufacturers produce vehicles that cannot exceed any posted limit, anywhere at any time, and install whatever supporting infractructure this needs.*
However, since so much revenue is generated by those who have to wave a bigger willy, "speed sells", as much now as it always has.

*If you think this sounds far-fetched, look at 'smart' motorways. They spent a hell of a lot of money on the systems that are supposed to 'improve traffic flow' and 'make roads safer'; how long before they flick a switch and it turns into a mileage-priced revenue generator? Also, ever noticed how the majority of vehicles concerned with the maintenance of these systems have no company markings? You'd think if you were proud of your technology you'd want to tell everyone who you were.

All the above is in the pipeline including having the speed of the electric vehicle remotely reduced or even have the vehicle stopped , for unfortunately far too many seem to think that things like quality driving and not speeding only apply to other people rather than themselves . Yet when we look at the cost of the legalised murder on the roads and pavements the financial impact alone knocks the, " It doesn't apply to me " mindset on the head .

It seems a lot of people do not realise that legally driving, hiring or owning a vehicle is a privilege, not a god given right.

 

[cheb]

Legalised murder? Give over, you're starting to sound like a vegan.

 

[DAPPH]

Anyway, I have found a problem with my electric car,
yesterday the windscreen washers froze, there is no heat from the "engine" to defrost them.

Put a better screen wash in them , one that has enough alcohol in it to work at minus 20 oC or lower , not the Halfords /supermarket mouth wash that freezes at + 3 oC due to wind chill when your driving at the allowed speed limit if it's safe .


In Poland the extended family use neat 40 % ABV Vodka or higher as screen wash .

 

[daleyd]

The list of countries, while interesting doesn’t really tell the whole story.

For example, taking Denmark as an example it doesn’t mention that their energy market (as for most of Europe) ties all energy sources to the price of the highest (gas) - so if they swapped their wind power for nuclear their energy costs would be the same.

It also doesn’t give a true reflection of taxes, subsidies, levies from individual countries etc

Taken as read, all of the countries with lower energy costs than France have a much lower proportion of electric generated by nuclear, most of them have none! Does that mean we should abandon it - of course not.

If it makes you feel better to mash “rEneWAbLeS” in your keyboard every time there’s a post about energy then fair enough I suppose, as long as you get it off your chest…

 

[maroon]

My friends wife in her four month old Astra on a large busy roundabout didn't, she looked right toed it fromm stop onto the roundabout and ran straight in to the back of th car in front of her because the driver hesitated and stopped to let the high speed boy racer who had just entered the round about to her right to get off if. Both cars written off . Kath is still adamant 24 years later that it was the driver of the car in front of her who was at fault .

If you go into the back of someone it's your fault. No two ways about it.
Also if you're reversing under any circumstances you're at fault.
Those are two undisputed laws.

(i've had more incidents going backwards than i have going forwards)

i used to be a bit of a "boy racer" but i used to do my stuff out in the middle of nowhere, usually at night (so you can see people coming unless they're driving around in the dark).
i liked the pickering - castleton road. and the roads up around richmond/reeth/kirby steven/hawes
i would just go out driving/nailing the very life out of cars for no intents or purposes.

 

[barracuda816]

Britain does have one of the lowest accident rates in the World though!

True. But also one of the highest road rage rates. (With the caveat that I haven’t personally verified any of the studies)

 

[Richiew]

That's because anyone that drives faster than me is a maniac and anyone that drives slower than me is an idiot.

 

[minimutly]

The road outside my house has a 60mph limit. Some of the bends need 10mph. So technology wouldn't work there!

Ooo, on a dark winters night, with spots and a rally number sticker on the back, they would be 60....

 

[500e]

That's because everyone that drives faster than me is a maniac and everyone that drives slower than me is an idiot.

And

 

[daleyd]

Ooo, on a dark winters night, with spots and a rally number sticker on the back, they would be 60....

Could easily get to 60 with his massive Insignia tyres…be a struggle in a milk float though, probably be through the first hedge

 

[minimutly]

My friends wife in her four month old Astra on a large busy roundabout didn't, she looked right toed it fromm stop onto the roundabout and ran straight in to the back of th car in front of her because the driver hesitated and stopped to let the high speed boy racer who had just entered the round about to her right to get off if. Both cars written off . Kath is still adamant 24 years later that it was the driver of the car in front of her who was at fault .

Never wrong eh? I have one of them...