Car (or bike) Chat!

[walpurgis]

Things went downhill when they moved away from split screens!

[Firebottle]

I was prepping this EQC ready for its new owner and found the engine was pinking a little (you’ll only understand that term if you’re old) and for the life of me i can’t find the dizzy cap to adjust the points..

It's just under the Floggle Doggle dooferator at the top right, can't you see them?

[gninnam]

Thoughts on the best place to sell a car?
Looking to shift mine on and not sure what is best (or worst)

Cheers

[dave2010]

I was prepping this EQC ready for its new owner and found the engine was pinking a little (you’ll only understand that term if you’re old) and for the life of me i can’t find the dizzy cap to adjust the points..


Like it or not ladies, full electric is coming and i for one am looking forward to seeing how far the tech will take us

Points. Mmmmm. I remember them.

One fairly big possible snag with EVs is if they run out of steam on a so-called smart motorway they just stop dead, and block the lane, and it becomes hazardous dealing with the outcome. The chances of getting to one of the refuge areas which would work with a petrol or diesel car are rather low, I'm told.

Mind you, I never did think that smart motorways were particularly clever.

[struth]

Think these motorways are dangerous

[Pigmy Pony]

I was prepping this EQC ready for its new owner and found the engine was pinking a little (you’ll only understand that term if you’re old) and for the life of me i can’t find the dizzy cap to adjust the points..



Like it or not ladies, full electric is coming and i for one am looking forward to seeing how far the tech will take us

Right now about 240 miles I think, hopefully this will improve greatly. I saw a TV programme about electric cars the other day, an interesting point was made regarding smart motorways and the danger of electric cars running out of juice on them. Is it true they cannot be towed? Having to load them onto a truck would present untold safety problems

[Pigmy Pony]

It's just under the Floggle Doggle dooferator at the top right, can't you see them?

Ah this must be the 2020 model. Before that, the Vag Denominator used to be located there.

[Pigmy Pony]

Points. Mmmmm. I remember them.

One fairly big possible snag with EVs is if they run out of steam on a so-called smart motorway they just stop dead, and block the lane, and it becomes hazardous dealing with the outcome. The chances of getting to one of the refuge areas which would work with a petrol or diesel car are rather low, I'm told.

Mind you, I never did think that smart motorways were particularly clever.

Sorry Dave, just seen that you raised the same point

[dave2010]

Sorry Dave, just seen that you raised the same point

No probs - I think we must have watched the same programme. I'm not sure whether EVs can be towed, or whether the brakes can be unlocked for long enough to load one on to a trailer. Perhaps also there will be new types of bteakdown trucks - complete with a generator or very large battery pack, which can do at least a small recharge in situ - sufficient to drive the car off the motorway.

I calculated whether there is a real problem with the time taken to charge an EV. My simple analysis suggested that for most people there isn't an issue - that is people doing less than 150 mile round trip commute, or going on days out. There is perhaps a significant time saving in not having to drive to petrol stations, and spend perhaps 5-10 minutes filling up.

On the other hand long journeys may be more difficult, so might take longer, Suppose someone drives a long way once a month - say Edinburgh to London. That would probably wipe out any time advantages due to home charging or other patterns of behaviour. Ideally the en route charging time should overlap with activities, such as going for a pee or having a coffiee. Over a year I think there is a time saving for people who don't do very long journeys frequently.

For long journeys cars need to have a long range and fast charging capability, and there needs to be more and better charging infrastructure in place.

People who drive long distances regularly (one workman we met recently who came to install some electrical equipment was doing 1000 miles per week) might find EVs more problematic.

We have also encountered one person who was desperate to charge her car up just a little bit in order to get home. Seems something went wrong with the charging the night before - maybe the wire wasn't connected properly, and some of the charging points she tried to access during the day weren't working.

EVs aren't going to "save the planet" - but if cars are needed at all they will be better re energy and climate change issues. The advantages in terms of pollution reduction and noise pollution are considerable, but they are still cars. There can still be traffic jams and gridlock, and pointless unnecessary journeys, and roads like the M25 will still be madness if people continue to use them as they have done over the last decade or more. Eventually the UK might have to ration or charge for road use to force people to think whether they need to drive on any particular day, or at any specific time. Dynamic pricing may play a part too.

[Pigmy Pony]

As things stand, the national grid copes with people switching on their kettles in the morning, but how will it go on when everyone wants to plug in their cars upon getting home?