Car (or bike) Chat!

[dave2010]

We went for 2 SolarEdge 9.7kwh batteries, £5k rack and a 8kwh hybrid inverter £1.2k fitting was about £1.5 with cables etc.

Prices have come down a little a GivEnergy 9.5kwh battery can be had for £3.6k and inverter £1k. So should be able to do for around.

We peak in winter at around 25kwh per day usage when it coldest. I spent quite some time looking at our previous bills and working out what would meet our needs. Don’t forget that with the Solar PV we usually get some power in the day as well unless it is completely overcast, but Dec to Mar is pretty low.

Thanks for this - interesting that your daily usage is around 25kWh per day in cold weather, so you are able to get most of the power you need from the batteries. Does that include charging the car(s) as well, or do you have to schedule those for different days - or perhaps you charge the cars and the batteries up at the same time.

It seems that at the moment we are using about 25kWh per day, though it's hard to work out whether that's using electricity from the PV arrays - because the meters may not show that. That would be about £5 per day at the recent rates of 20p per kWh.

Perhaps it's not going to bother us, but how long do you expect the batteries to last? I would hope at least 10 years, again hopefully with minimal servicing, and also without burning the house down - or affecting insurance.

[There have been some instances of batteries catching fire - I think].

It's difficult to get a handle on "real world" costs, but maybe for us it would now be interesting to get batteries fitted - I would hope for something as big as your system for around £6k, which might pay for itself in 4 years.
[Actually looking at your costings - not fully filled in - it looks as though £10k would be needed to get 2 or 3 batteries for 25kWh, including installation - so might take 10 years or more to "recover" the costs.
Could be dead in that time - sadly!]

One problem is that one is still at the mercy of the electricity suppliers - but Octopus do seem to be good for us so far. Another sad fact of life up in the far north is that just getting people to do the work is not easy - and that would be to some extent independent of the costs.

Tesla, a company which I will now try mostly to avoid like bubonic plague - would likely charge at least double my target price for a system which would probably not be as capable - so I'm not doing that - and they probably still wouldn't provide adequate service or installation.

The market for ASHPs and other environmentally conservative technology is still too fragmented, so it really does take a lot of organisation to get jobs done to complete satisfaction.

We still have to dispose of our old oil boiler [scrap metal merchant?] and the oil tank [legally disposing of oil tanks isn't so easy ..].

The UK is not really geared up for big [or even smallish] organisations which can really tackle the whole of any job, and just "get it done". There is too much buck passing.

[AJSki2fly]

Thanks for this - interesting that your daily usage is around 25kWh per day in cold weather, so you are able to get most of the power you need from the batteries. Does that include charging the car(s) as well, or do you have to schedule those for different days - or perhaps you charge the cars and the batteries up at the same time.

It includes charging the EV up overnight when needed. Car as Octopus schedule in the daily plan between 23:30 and 5:30 and Batteries get charged from 23:30 until full or until 5:30am.

It seems that at the moment we are using about 25kWh per day, though it's hard to work out whether that's using electricity from the PV arrays - because the meters may not show that. That would be about £5 per day at the recent rates of 20p per kWh.

You should have a PV Array meter or and app for it that shows generated or Total house usage, you can see Grid Imported usage on the Smart Meter, so should be able to get what Solar you are using each day/week.

Perhaps it's not going to bother us, but how long do you expect the batteries to last? I would hope at least 10 years, again hopefully with minimal servicing, and also without burning the house down - or affecting insurance.

I would expect 10 to 15 years, possibly more but less efficient. Our batteries effective charge is to 80% of total capacity to maximise life this is built into system config.

[There have been some instances of batteries catching fire - I think]. Ours have built in fire extinguisher system.

It's difficult to get a handle on "real world" costs, but maybe for us it would now be interesting to get batteries fitted - I would hope for something as big as your system for around £6k, which might pay for itself in 4 years.
[Actually looking at your costings - not fully filled in - it looks as though £10k would be needed to get 2 or 3 batteries for 25kWh, including installation - so might take 10 years or more to "recover" the costs.
Could be dead in that time - sadly!].

It depends what you are looking for, do you want to insulate yourself from rising power costs, be able to run off grid, do you care about power costs or not, do you want to do your bit for the planet? If you think 10 years paying around £4K a year for power is (without inflationary or increasing power costs) is OK then do nothing.

One problem is that one is still at the mercy of the electricity suppliers - but Octopus do seem to be good for us so far. Another sad fact of life up in the far north is that just getting people to do the work is not easy - and that would be to some extent independent of the costs.

Most Suppliers are moving towards the Octopus model or similar, they know they have to for several reasons, one being that Octopus has become so successful, thinking about the customer as well as making a reasonable profit.

Tesla, a company which I will now try mostly to avoid like bubonic plague - would likely charge at least double my target price for a system which would probably not be as capable - so I'm not doing that - and they probably still wouldn't provide adequate service or installation.

Whatever your beef is with Tesla, and I understand your frustration getting hold of a rear light cluster, by the way they can be got https://www.motor-doctor.co.uk/rear-...5yj3/143476-ev https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/Tesla-Rear-.../bn_7079103892 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225428820...0001&customid=

Might be the cheaper and quicker option, just get your local garage to fit and then MOT it.

Some people though do have a good experience with them, their Powerwall is not one I would personally choose anyway, it can be a bit restrictive and only offers 13.KWH for around £9.5K and is a AC Inverter system.

The market for ASHPs and other environmentally conservative technology is still too fragmented, so it really does take a lot of organisation to get jobs done to complete satisfaction.

ASHP installation has not been that well thought through by the government in terms of installer and the number of them needed longer term. A MCS certified installer needs to meet specific standards, our installer was very good, and answered all our questions and made sure we got a system that worked efficiently for our home. Maybe it is different up your way with how many installer are available to you. I did do quite a bit of up front work so that I had some base knowledge and understanding of how a ASHP system should work and some basic design criteria, I was then is a position to ask pertinent questions of prospective installers before we chose, I also asked other customer their feedback. No gain without some pain here, I think this applies to most things to get the best VFM and something that is reliable and works.[/QUOTE]

The UK is not really geared up for big [or even smallish] organisations which can really tackle the whole of any job, and just "get it done". There is too much buck passing.

Our supplier, actually does, they do Solar PV, Solar Thermal, Wind generation(in limited numbers), Battery storage, ASHP, GroundSHP, and Thermal Battery storage . So they have a good understanding how to integrate these together depending what the customer wants get out of it, they do commercial and home installations, from very large to small. Needless to say they are overrun with work and have double in size over the last 2 years due to demand.

This is deviating from this thread somewhat apart from my thoughts to try and help with your rear light issue.

[dave2010]

Free Tesla charging today - and not only Tesla vehicles - but check compatibility.

29th August, 2023

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/ele...ing-today-only

[Cotlake]

Whatever your beef is with Tesla, and I understand your frustration getting hold of a rear light cluster, by the way they can be got https://www.motor-doctor.co.uk/rear-...5yj3/143476-ev https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/Tesla-Rear-.../bn_7079103892 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225428820...0001&customid=

Might be the cheaper and quicker option, just get your local garage to fit and then MOT it.

Dave, my understanding is your Tesla is still under warranty. You won’t want to invalidate that. I think the problem is your remote location. If you don’t do the 280 mile round trip to a Tesla service centre, the field mechanic has to do it, which they should honour even if the job spends time in the ‘Too hard to do’ basket. If your M3 is still under warranty, and having booked a service appointment, if Tesla can’t fix it there and then, their policy is to supply you with a courtesy car which normally is another Tesla for however long it takes. Could that be worked into your planned road trip? Don’t Tesla service centres have their own third party MOT centre contracts?

[AJSki2fly]

Dave, my understanding is your Tesla is still under warranty. You won’t want to invalidate that. I think the problem is your remote location. If you don’t do the 280 mile round trip to a Tesla service centre, the field mechanic has to do it, which they should honour even if the job spends time in the ‘Too hard to do’ basket. If your M3 is still under warranty, and having booked a service appointment, if Tesla can’t fix it there and then, their policy is to supply you with a courtesy car which normally is another Tesla for however long it takes. Could that be worked into your planned road trip? Don’t Tesla service centres have their own third party MOT centre contracts?

A good point as the Warranty is 4 years. I think I would consider booking a service at Tesla ensuring they have the Part(s) in stock and driving there early and treating it as a day trip, either coming back with the car or a loan car.

[dave2010]

A good point as the Warranty is 4 years. I think I would consider booking a service at Tesla ensuring they have the Part(s) in stock and driving there early and treating it as a day trip, either coming back with the car or a loan car.

Thanks both of you.

We currently "almost" have something which works, but there's no plan B associated directly with that.

If the mobile mechanic comes and gets the rear light fixed before (say) the 5th of September, then we will set off and do the MOT appointment in Sheffield. I hope there won't be a problem with that - windscreen wipers, tyres etc. If there is a problem I'll then drive the car round to the Tesla centre in Sheffield - and take it from there.

Personally I don't care where the mobile mechanic comes from - Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen - I just want someone to turn up and do the work. Apparently there are a lot of Teslas up here, so there might be a new service centre. In the meantime we are supposed to console ourselves with the thought that the Lake District is [allegedly] even more poorly served - though I don't do schadenfreude - well not now - anyway!

Many other companies which have chosen to operate and provide service in Scotland do actually send people out, even if they do have to drive 200 or more miles. I have talked to service or delivery people who came to us, and then said they were on the way to Wick, or back to Aberdeen before returning to Glasgow, Edinburgh or points south of those cities. Given that I specifically asked before buying the TM3 whether service would be a problem, and was given positive assurances that things would be OK, it does rather seem that Tesla doesn't give a **** about service when they are trying to sell cars. I also don't care if they make a paper loss on servicing people in out of the way places - they shouldn't be making a profit on other activities when they can't support service.

If the wretched car isn't fixed in time for us to travel, then I will have to cancel the MOT appointment, and we'll use another car - but I really don't want to have to do that. The stress of trying to get this done has been very painful and a major distraction, and has interfered very considerably with other things we wanted to do.

Go on - somebody tell me of other EV cars which are worse!

The light assembly seems expensive, and Tesla should fit it FOC - they just need to get their act together and do it.

[dave2010]

Free Tesla charging today - and not only Tesla vehicles - but check compatibility.

29th August, 2023

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/ele...ing-today-only

I derived a modicum of satisfaction earlier this afternoon by driving to Inverness and charging the TM3 up to 100%. OK - in real terms it was probably only worth about £3, so miniscule in comparison with the value of the aggro we've had to put up with - but I would still encourage everyone else to go out and screw the juice out of them!

[AJSki2fly]

Thanks both of you.

We currently "almost" have something which works, but there's no plan B associated directly with that.

If the mobile mechanic comes and gets the rear light fixed before (say) the 5th of September, then we will set off and do the MOT appointment in Sheffield. I hope there won't be a problem with that - windscreen wipers, tyres etc. If there is a problem I'll then drive the car round to the Tesla centre in Sheffield - and take it from there.

Personally I don't care where the mobile mechanic comes from - Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen - I just want someone to turn up and do the work. Apparently there are a lot of Teslas up here, so there might be a new service centre. In the meantime we are supposed to console ourselves with the thought that the Lake District is [allegedly] even more poorly served - though I don't do schadenfreude - well not now - anyway!

Many other companies which have chosen to operate and provide service in Scotland do actually send people out, even if they do have to drive 200 or more miles. I have talked to service or delivery people who came to us, and then said they were on the way to Wick, or back to Aberdeen before returning to Glasgow, Edinburgh or points south of those cities. Given that I specifically asked before buying the TM3 whether service would be a problem, and was given positive assurances that things would be OK, it does rather seem that Tesla doesn't give a **** about service when they are trying to sell cars. I also don't care if they make a paper loss on servicing people in out of the way places - they shouldn't be making a profit on other activities when they can't support service.

If the wretched car isn't fixed in time for us to travel, then I will have to cancel the MOT appointment, and we'll use another car - but I really don't want to have to do that. The stress of trying to get this done has been very painful and a major distraction, and has interfered very considerably with other things we wanted to do.

Go on - somebody tell me of other EV cars which are worse!

The light assembly seems expensive, and Tesla should fit it FOC - they just need to get their act together and do it.

Hi Dave, I feel your frustration, and agree Tesla could do something’s better especially on the service front.

I just raised a service issue this week reporting a bug in a new software release that causes the service manual to be displayed in Catalan language, when the screen language is set to British English, a service chap has come back asking for further clarification, I had already sent photos of the issue, I really do wonder at the quality of some of their people[emoji848]

I hope you get it sorted and you enjoy your trip.

Cheers

[Macca]

Hi Dave, I feel your frustration, and agree Tesla could do something’s better especially on the service front.

I just raised a service issue this week reporting a bug in a new software release that causes the service manual to be displayed in Catalan language, when the screen language is set to British English, a service chap has come back asking for further clarification, I had already sent photos of the issue, I really do wonder at the quality of some of their people[emoji848]

I hope you get it sorted and you enjoy your trip.

Cheers

Saw a show the other day where some bloke was saying A.I will soon be taking over the world and we should all be worried.

I'll start worrying when they can manage to get basic stuff like that to work properly and consistently let alone program some electronic super brain to achieve global dominance.

[Pigmy Pony]

Saw a show the other day where some bloke was saying A.I will soon be taking over the world and we should all be worried.

I'll start worrying when they can manage to get basic stuff like that to work properly and consistently let alone program some electronic super brain to achieve global dominance.

I think AI not working properly and consistently is more of a worry. "The weather man said we're in for a stormy night, my pet robot thought he said exterminate. I got out of there just in time. Oh God it's here again! It's relentless!"