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Well, we're taking the jump. My wife and I test drove 3 EVs today - MG 4, MG 4 Urban and MG 5. Kate had already put down a deposit on the MG 4, but after driving all 3 we're tossing up between the Urban and the MG 5. In all 3 cars the acceleration is brilliant. Handling is great. We found the Urban and MG 5 more comfortable because we're both tall (and possibly a bit wider than we should be). Over the weekend we'll decide which way to go and switch the deposit on Monday.

You know that old thought exercise about which famous people, alive or dead, you'd invite to you ultimate dinner party? People choose Einstein, Jesus, Confucius, Plato etc. I'd choose Trump, Vance, Hegseth, Putin, and Netanyahu. Catering by Erin Patterson.

NRMA also have a battery on their vehicle to transfer energy to an EV. Battery to battery can be very high speed so it does not take long to get enough charge into the empty EV battery to enable it to get to the nearest charger. using a generator would take hours to get very little energy in the EV unless it was a massive generator capable of 150 kW plus. I don't know of anyone who has run out though. EV owners are good planners, partly because the public charging network has not kept up with EV sales. Also because the cars software knows the range and can list all the chargers within range. State & federal governments are now putting a fair bit of effort into improving the number of chargers particularly in regional areas. There are plenty in large centres and along major highways. Installing chargers is a lot easier than building a petrol station & once built at huge cost it has to be supplied with fuel. Portable units are being installed in the outback. They have a large battery and solar panels & get delivered on the back of a truck. Several companies are supplying these to Outback farms etc. Larger ones have a small solar farm & big batteries to supply several vehicles at once. NRMA have one in the NT somewhere with 4 chargers. Public EV charging is only in its infancy & some of the early ones were very unreliable. Not so now & there are plenty that are capable of 350 kW way more than almost all EVs can receive. I am off on a 350km round trip tomorrow. The battery is fully charged (free from my solar system) & I won't need to top up anywhere. If I did though there are heaps of charging options. I just hit the go to button & the Satnav guides me to the neared public charger & lists all within range. Simples.

This is beautiful.

Most People who've experienced such circumstances hate war and seek something better.. Nev

GON - There's a classic old phrase, "a Pyrrhic victory". The saying comes from King Pyrrhus of Epirus, who defeated the Romans at Asculum in 279AD. But it was at horrendous cost to Pyrrhus and his powerful tribe, and the King was quoted as saying after the battle - "If we have another victory like this, we'll be ruined". The Americans, led by Trump, have just expended vast amounts of their high-tech war arsenal, had nearly all their Middle Eastern defence sites destroyed or damaged to the tune of multiple billions, lost billions in military aircraft losses, in Trumps attacks against Iran - and he has achieved very little, except to create an even more bitter and hardline enemy than he had before. This is simply due to Trumps lack of leadership ability, his lack of war strategy, his failure to consult his allies - who has constantly abused and denigrated since he came to office - and his failure to topple any of the hardline Islamic leadership in the country. This Islamic power bloc has 150,000 Revolutionary Guard troops, who are still largely intact as a resisting power force. Australia doesn't need an ally such as the America led by Trump, because he fails to treat any ally with respect, he fails to consult allies when he takes warlike action, and fails to produce a cohesive strategy for actually winning a war against Islamic hardliners. He always wants to go it alone as a King-like leader, but he fails to understand even the basics of military strategies, and the fact remains that America now always loses every war it ventures into, because it has no plan to deal with the aftermath of any warlike action. The full cost of this warlike action against Iran is yet to be felt by Americans and the American economy - but when it does, it's going to become another nail in the American coffin.

But in answer to your question - I would start a foundation with very smart and trustworthy people at the top, with the remit to determine the underlying causes of the most urgent problems affecting people - climate change, inequality, poverty, access to health care / education / justice / clean water / food etc, and the most effective way of lessening those problems. Every billionaire out there could give 99% of their wealth to endeavours like this and still live very comfortable lives. The fact that they don't speaks volumes about their character.

I never take a HTV card. Firmly of the belief that everyone who is eligible to vote should take their responsibility to engage in democracy seriously and number all boxes. It's not a big ask, once every 3 years.

Wait up..... I'm confused ...... I'll have to go back and find some episodes of 'Blue Hills' and 'Dad n Dave'...... that should clear this up.

Every ON voter questioned on TV, when asked why, said "We needed a change."

Geez, you've really been sucking on the Trump Kool-aid bottle, haven't you? What do you think is going to be the next thing to happen? A long-lasting peace plan engineered by Trump, where the Iranians lay down all their arms, and come meekly to the surrender table to sign the surrender document? You're off with the fairies, along with the Tangerine Toddler. He's so full of sh**, it's a wonder they haven't called the portaloo collectors to come and collect him.

It seems funny hearing people refer to 4% as high interest rates. It was 17.5% when I took out a variable rate loan to buy my place, and the loan peaked at around 20%. My father was paying around 22% on his business loan at it's peak.

I tried the beer when I was up in the country, but it was hard to get, warm and tasted like the worst home brew you'd ever tried. Rotten egg gas smell when you opened them and no two bottles were the same. Apart from right hand drive cars driving on the right, another oddity was a couple of years later when Ne Win introduced new currency based on his lucky number 9. He also demonetized three existing notes which rendered 75% of the country's cash invalid. It wiped out most people's savings in a country that relied heavily on black market cash and hammered the economy. The military government was a bit crazy. In the first place I stayed there was a window between floors in the stairwell. In the distance seen out of the window was a big red building, and on the wall a poster with a stern government warning not to look at the big red building. I imagine in the big red building there would have been a government agent with the job of looking through a telescope to see if any foreigners were looking at the big red building. I wouldn't have even noticed the big red building if I hadn't seen the warning sign, so of course the natural response on reading the sign is to look out the window at the big red building.

I agree with you there Nev...the media in this country is shockingly bad. Journalism is now tainted with woke and left bias. Very few have any right bias its mainly left. What ever happened to unbiased fact based journalism that just gave you the facts and not the spin depending on who owns the media company The ABC used to until it was poisioned by idealogy and crap interviewers

Great man. He's done a lot for the world.

The mothers may have been under the same duress as the Iranian Women's Soccer Team who wanted asylum in Australia, with threats to their family in Iran. They may have had no say in who they married, the Muslim religion treats women worse than dogs. 9 year old girls are forced to marry. The mothers did not want that sort of treatment for their children. Bringing them here gives the kids a chance to grow up as caring compassionate human beings.

No need to squabble guys. Every tech answer has an application. Diversity of energy sources is like an insurance policy against one source stopping. Specifically relating to Energy, reducing the pollution caused by any industry, is a benefit to all humanity. We should wean ourselves off the fossil fuel industry because burning it causes many kinds of pollution. Sooner the better, as long as we do it progressively. And EV's are a great step in the right direction.

Random government thought......... At some point in the future there will be a need to reward a person who tells the truth. A No Bull Prize.

Aren't they called ESV's - Emotional Support Vehicles?

Have you got a NEW Cause Celebre, Mark? You can get artificial Spray on Mud for those Toorak Tractors. Enhance your MANLY Image (and that of your Wife ) when she takes little Johnie to Private school. each day. The whole 1-2 Kms that doesn't even get the engine Warm. Nev

What I can't understand is why people drive those kinds of vehicle around the suburban area. They take up 1.5 car parking spaces, and anyone in a medium sized sedan parked beside them can't see past them when exiting their parking space.

This presupposes that we are the only country attempting to cut CO2. Yes, our share is small, but all of the countries that contribute under 2% make cuts adds up to 30% (I am happy to back that figure up) How are these actions abhorrent? When you say you don't accept the science, are you saying that CSIRO is incompetent or part of the malicious conspiracy that you alluded to? I approach climate science like any other area. I have had people tell me that vaccination doesn't work or causes autism, etc. I reject this because I can see what CSIRO says. Being extra cautious, I can cross-check this with other respected sources. This seems to me to be a solid method of determining what the likely "truth" is. If you believe this is a flawed method, then suggest a better method. If the outliers in climate science are right, then why not the outliers in medical science or any other field? Vaccine sceptics also tend to cite "grand conspiracies."

When you run a diesel out it of fuel it will get air in the system will have to be Bled properly. Sometimes even changing a fuel filter has to be done by a competent person with the right equipment. Contaminated Fuel with water can cost thousands of dollars. None of this with EV's No turbos , No EGR Valves. No air cleaners No Mufflers to rot out. No need to warm the engine or watch it on a hot day. No starter Motor, gearbox or clutch to wear. Reduced Brake wear. Servicing reduced to tyres and windscreen wiper Blades. No fumes No tuning. . Dramatic revolutionary change. Nev

Run a Diesel to empty and you don't just fill it and drive away either. Same if you get contaminated fuel. The Longer you delve into electric the BETTER it Looks, Independence from war causing Oil and It's greedy Price and supply manipulators.. The Modern ICE Piston engines are remarkable but Now becoming an obsolete technology. Time to move on in your conceptions of it. It will continue to be even better as engines did in their day. Nev

The USA has been on Israel's side since Day-1 if the State of Israel. At the birth of the State of Israel, the Middle East was territory overseen by the British and French under United Nations mandates. The USA shouldn't have had anything to do with things there.

To the extremely rich, it is Just a Game. Death is the final Leveller, You can't take it with you . Others will try to steal it from you. Your Health is much more important than Money .Nev

Post here or in the AI thread? An enjoyable use of AI to make a cute video.

I'm have got to stop starting posts with headline-like sentences. They are always misinterpreted. What I was trying to say was that it was a good thing that domestic solar installations were being done at a great rate and that the battery subsidy was a big help. It was my belief that the inability to store excess electricity was holding back the adoption of solar. That disability now seems to have been overcome That's good. An aside: I was nearly going to write that solar installation rates were going through the roof, but I didn't want to pun.

Good onya Marty. Our choice is limited by needing AWD for our driveway. This limits us to more expensive cars - dual motor and more (unnecessary) bells n whistles. Presently looking a KIA 5 and Skoda. Really liked the big Zeeka, too. Not in a rush. Still waiting to see what's on the market later in the year. So far, our solar/battery is exporting enough surplus to cover an EV charger.

I used to take a HTV from every party so as not to signal my intentions. I haven't done this now for many years. My next stage where I used to live was because I knew the local school where the polling booth was, I was able to enter from a direction that avoided the people handing out HTVs Fir the last few years I have mostly voted by mail and therefore have done my research about who to vote for online. I did vote in person at the last election so I researched online, came up with a voting strategy and wrote it down so I wouldn't forget. My area is a very safe seat so I usually vote for a smaller party or independent knowing who will win anyway.

I take every HTV card offered to me from every Party as I walk towards the polling station. I do that out of politeness to the volunteer. I already know who I am giving my first preference to, but the card is useful in sorting out lower preferences amongst a large number of candidates.

Two seats in the House ome, you forgot about Barnaby. Only two seats but one of them is an ex National Party leader, ex Deputy Prime Minister and a seasoned politician. So as one commentator said, it's not as if the new member will be wandering lost around Parliament House wondering where the coffee machine is, he'll be well chaperoned.

So, since Trump is saving the world from the spread of mass killings and nuclear weapons, when can we expect him to make Israel give up their nuclear weapons?

"Real Australians" are a mythical beast invented by absolute fuckwits who spew their ignorance and racism on sites like this.

And for good reason ... to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons ... and the spread of international Islamic terrorism.

these children were all born in Syria NOT in Australia ergo yhey are Syrians , let them all stay there with thier Traitor mothers

I am reading a book about the WW2 Burma campaign. The US 111 Brigade retreated from Blackpool to Indawgyi Lake and couldn’t take the badly wounded. They were all shot to save them from falling into Japanese hands.

Nev's right though. For all their absolute stupidity for going off to join the caliphate, and the abhorrent isis, they remain Australian citizens with Australian passports. Any crimes they have committed over there, which are offences under Australian law or international laws that Australia is signatory to, will be charged. The children of course are innocent and should be given the same opportunity to grow up in Australia as any of us. To suggest we should somehow prevent Australian citizens from returning home is just wrong.

IF they were Dumped there, Ford's project would be dead in the water. They Know what they are up against. Trump should spend a week or 2 in CHINA. to open his eyes. Nev

It is not surprising that Ford are pursuing the EV pathway. Their earlier efforts were not that flash but the CEO Jim Farley went to China and airlifted a Xaiomi SU7 EV home which he uses as his daily drive. AI Overview Ford CEO Jim Farley has heavily praised and personally driven a Chinese-made electric car—the Xiaomi SU7—for over six months, describing it as a superior product and a "game changer". While calling it a "shocker" that Chinese EVs are ahead of Western rivals in efficiency and software, he is focusing on keeping them out of the U.S. market to protect domestic manufacturing. Key Takeaways Regarding Ford & Electric Cars: 1. The Daily Driver: Farley stated he did not want to give up the Chinese Xiaomi SU7, stating on the Fully Charged Podcast that he didn't want to switch to a U.S.-made EV. 2. The Competitive Threat: Farley warned in 2025 and 2026 that Chinese automakers are "completely dominating" with superior products. He called their competition an existential threat on steroids compared to the 1980s Japanese auto boom. 3. Ford's Pivot: To compete, Ford has created a specialized, independent "Skunk Works" team in California tasked with developing a new, lower-cost EV platform to compete with Chinese competitors. 4. Upcoming Focus: Ford is planning a $5 billion investment in EVs, focusing on a new midsize pickup truck. Despite his admiration for the technology, Farley has urged the U.S. government to prevent Chinese carmakers from bringing their vehicles to the U.S. to prevent a massive hit to American, and specifically Michigan, manufacturing jobs.

Comment dredged from the interwebbything... Today, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stood before the world's media and made the following statement about Iran: “This is an international waterway, No country can control them. There is no international law that allows you to say, I’m going to put mines in an international body of water, and I’m going to blow up ships that don’t listen to us and try to go through.” “We cannot live in a world where a rogue state like this Iranian regime is allowed to claim, as a new normal, control over an international shipping lane,” I agree with him.

What we forget is that although China is building heaps of intermittent generation, it is also building a lot of synchronous generation as well.(includes traditional hydro) It will include enough capacity to keep the grid stable. China aren't silly. Really like this comment. By all means decarbonise but don't make Australia a basket case to do it. Do it in a planned, sustainable way. It will make no difference to global warming. The other countries with low emissions should do the same thing.

Siso there's no highly loaded bearings OR rapidly reversing loads etc in an electric Motor. Reciprocating motors are just trying to fling themselves apart and have Large Pressures and thermal stresses. and critical Lubrication issues.. The electric Motor is Near 100% efficient and can also GENERATE electricity to recover power. Nev

I like this girl. This youtube discusses the issue of EV battery degredation, which is surrounded by urban myth and misinformation. I especially note in the comments - there are a lot of anti-EV trolls simply bagging out EV's.

It is difficult to ascertain how old this picture is. Whilst it is true that traditionally some old turbine blades have gone to landfill, this is changing. Quote "Wind turbine blades can be recycled, but it is challenging and not yet universal. While 85-90% of a turbine (steel, copper, gearboxes) is easily recycled, blades are made of durable fibreglass/carbon fibre composites, often resulting in landfill disposal. However, new recycling technologies and repurposing methods are rapidly developing, with goals for 100% recyclability by 2030. [1, 2, 3] Current Recycling and Disposal Methods Cement Co-processing: The most common method, where shredded blades replace raw materials and fuel in cement production. Mechanical Crushing: Blades are ground into materials for filler, panels, or industrial products. Thermal/Chemical Recycling: Technologies like pyrolysis or chemical baths are emerging to separate resins from fibers for reuse, though many are still in pilot stages. Repurposing: Blades are increasingly used in civil engineering, such as bridges, playground equipment, and noise barriers. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] Future Outlook and Innovation Recyclable Blades: Manufacturers are developing new resin technologies—such as Siemens Gamesa's RecyclableBlade and NREL's Pecan FRC—that allow materials to be easily separated and reused at end-of-life. Industry Commitment: Major firms aim for zero-waste turbines by 2030–2040. [1, 2, 3, 4] While landfilling is still a common, cost-effective method for older blades, the increasing number of decommissioned turbines is driving the economic viability of recycling. [1] What happens to wind farms in Victoria when turbines ... - ABC News In short: The Clean Energy Council says there are options for old wind farms as the originals approach the end of their life expec... Australian Broadcasting Corporation Recycling Wind Turbines, Solar Panels and Batteries: Fact Sheet Can wind turbine blades be recycled? Wind turbine blades are made of materials such as fibreglass or carbon fibre, as they are des... Clean Energy Council" End Quote Any newer technology creates problems that at first are challenging. We do tend to give a free pass to existing technologies. Consider the size of the pile of coal that would be required to generate the electricity that those blades generate in their operational life. Coal has end-of-life problems, also. Quote "Coal ash is managed through a combination of recycling and landfilling/storage. [1, 2, 3] 1. Recycling and Beneficial Use A significant portion of fly ash is reused, rather than disposed of. [1, 2, 3] Concrete Production: Fly ash is a high-performance substitute for Portland cement. It improves concrete durability and reduces the carbon footprint of construction. Structural Fill and Roads: Bottom ash and fly ash are used for road base, structural fill, embankments, and stabilizing soft soils. Brick and Block Making: Ash is used to make bricks, construction blocks, and lightweight aggregate. Other Uses: Boiler slag is used for roofing granules and blasting grit. [1, 2, 3, 4] 2. Disposal Methods Unused ash must be disposed of, often using "wet" or "dry" methods. [1] Ash Ponds/Dams (Wet Method): The ash is mixed with water to create a slurry and pumped into large holding ponds. This was traditionally the cheapest method, but it poses high risks for leaching toxic heavy metals into groundwater, particularly if the ponds are unlined. Dry Landfills (Dry Method): The ash is stored dry in landfills, which is considered safer as it reduces the potential for leaching, provided the landfill is properly lined. Mine Backfilling: Dry ash is sometimes placed back into old, abandoned coal mines. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] Environmental and Safety Issues Leaching: Contaminants in ash ponds can seep into groundwater and surface water, creating toxic cocktail, according to reports in Australia. Dust Management: Dry ash, if not covered, can be blown from storage sites into surrounding communities, posing respiratory health risks. Spills: Large-scale failures of ash dams, such as the 2008 Kingston disaster in the US, have caused massive environmental damage. [1, 2, 3, 4] As coal-fired power plants age and close, the rehabilitation of these ash dams is a significant environmental concern. [1, 2]"

This happens only at very low state of charge. My EV has a 64kWh battery with 62.1 kWh useable. When the charge shows 0% it goes in to limp mode & will still run but only at very low speed. I can't remember offhand but about 20-30kmh for 30-40km before it dies. I have never tested this & don't know anyone who has. A car review outfit in the UK took a number of different EVs on a specified drive from 100% till they died about 3 years ago & discovered this feature in some of them. I practice I rarely get below 20% but have been down to 5% at the lowest point. There is a woman who lives in my car with a nice English accent who keeps me informed of what is going on. She greets me by name when I open the door and has lots of friendly advice. When the charge gets to 20% I get a gentle reminder to charge. When it gets lower than 10% she gets a little more agitated.

A reason might be that the Law has not caught up to the technology. I will say, though, that the rapid acceleration of EVs is something that could get any driver into a bad situation. I'd guess that teh new owner of an EV with a bit of grunt would have to practise handling that grunt.