kgwilson

Putin is a dictator who would really like to be a Tsar of a revised Russian Empire that would include all the republics lost in 1990. No Russian dictator has ever given a toss about how many Russians die so long as it fulfills his aims. Putin is also like Trump, a complete and utter malignant narcissist. That's why they seem to get along though Putin is all over Trump like a cheap suit.

He always looks pissed. I have never seen him look anything near sober.

Digital displays have got a lot better since the days of Falcons. Now with so many electronic things in a car to control so many things, the hard part is remembering where everything is and what it actually does. It took me weeks to work out all of the different functions till I finally gave up & left it all as standard. One of the best features though is Adaptive Cruise control. Set it to the speed limit & it adjusts for traffic flow and corners etc. Traffic Jam assist is a low speed type of Cruise control which will automatically stop & start in heavy traffic situations & also keep the car within the lane. Basically the car will drive itself in these situations. You could read the paper while the car negotiates the traffic. Mind you the posh English woman who lives in my car tells me to put my hands back on the wheel if I ever let it go.

My car has a tactile button to turn the HVAC on or off & one for instant demist, but for adjustments it is a large 10 inch screen with huge well labelled screen buttons to tap for things like air direction (face, feet, screen) and a large ribbon display for fan speed about 200mm long so tapping it anywhere will adjust the fan speed or just hit the auto big button etc. Motoring journalists need to move into the 21st century. Far better than physical buttons IMHO.

I noted when the press interviewed MAGA nutters or even more conservative less bombasic republican voters they all seem to claim Trumps policies were better especially the economy inflation and cost of living. The thing is all of these things are better now under Biden that at any time under Trump. Inflation is under 3%, growth was at 2.7% in the 3rd quarter of this year. This is better that most countries. Cost of living rose dramatically after Covid but that happened world wide. Prices will stabilise but they won't come down. This would cause deflation, something that will have a very negative effect. If Trump goes ahead with tariffs on ALL imports & deports all the immigrants who currently do all the shit low paid jobs then I can see a major disaster ensuing. The minimum wage is still $7.50 an hour. The gap between rich & poor continues to widen.

If Trump carries on the way he did in 2017 making threats to leave NATO, etc the best thing the Europeans could do is ignore him. Europe is as big an economic block as USA and they have already begun to shore up NATO with additional funding and are providing a lot more aid to Ukraine. There are a lot of large and pretty sophisticated Arms manufacturers in the UK, Sweden, France & Germany. BAE Systens is the 3rd largest in the world and arguably produce the best nuclear submarines. Trump was told by the EU Secretary General last time that he needed to be more conciliatory & pleasant to friends stating "after all you haven't got many". A concern amongst a lot of democrat voters was that Trump would take the US away from alliances and back in to an isolationist state as it was after the great depression till they entered the war. Trumps rhetoric certainly displays this. The world for a huge number of Americans starts and finishes at the US border. They have one of the lowest passport holder %ages in the world. Most only have passports to go to Canada. In 1989 it was only 3%. By 2017 it was nearly 40%, now its 47%. Those thinking of leaving will already have a passport. 50% don't think there is anything else in the world except the USA & everyone else wants to move there especially rapists, murderers & child molesters. They know it's true, Trump told them. The Republican Party is now the Trump Party. Not one of the earlier Republican Presidents endorsed him.

As far as i know these hydrogen powered vehicles use fuel cells to convert the hydrogen to electricty & then power the car that way so in a sense they are EVs using a clean fuel to produce the electricity. They are not ICE cars burning hydrogen. The technology has been around for a long time. The big issue is the ability to store the fuel as in its liquid form the pressure is immense. That is being overcome with new technology.

There are always budding entrepreneurs whenever emerging technologies look like being successful. Many of them fail or don't get sufficient backing to go ahead. Some get enough money to proof of concept and even prototypes and then are abandoned. Ideas and reality are two different things and investors want good returns. This is happening also with all the startups in the race to produce electric aircraft, automated air taxis etc.

Heavily shopped? It is probably done by a 75 year old with alzheimer's. A 6 year old wouldn't have made any of those mistakes.

Most of the people who write reviews on productreview are those who have had a bad experience so the results often look bad. Most of those who have had a good experience don't go near these review sites. BYD didn't do anyone any favours when the cars for our market arrived with Ling Long tyres which are absolute crap designed only for driving around town on smooth asphalt. Plenty of owners have now changed them for better quality tyres designed for Australian road conditions and EVs. My car came with Bridgestone Turanzas specially designed for EVs with very low rolling resistance

True but it does indicate they have confidence in their product. In China & Thailand, MG are now providing a lifetime warranty on the traction battery capped at 20,000 km/year. This is backed by the battery manufacturer, CATL who have introduced 1.5 & 2 million km warranties for some of their new truck & bus batteries.

There is a price war on at present so a good time to buy an EV. New models are due out in the new year so it is a good time to buy if you have the money. I could buy my car now new with a 10 year warranty for 10k less than I paid for it in September last year with a 7 year warranty.

They are called Faraday cages and can be bought on Ebay, like 2 of them for $10.00. Pretty cheap insurance. Most new cars sold these days have keyless entry fobs. I bought a new wallet recently and it has shielding for all my cards.

This is a new innovation for destination charging installed in the carpark of the university of Surrey in just 3 hours. It was delivered on the back of a truck. 12 EV chargers with a solar panel covered roof. It is slow charging (7.7 kW single phase of 11/22kW 3 phase) but perfect for all day parking places or even Supermarkets. It is bring your own cable, plug in and scan your card. The one in the video is also grid connected but it could be off grid with battery storage.

the 4 seasons become less pronounced as you move closer to the tropics. When I lived in NZ, Summer was dry, warm & pleasant with a few hot days, Autumn was very colourful with deciduous trees showing brilliant colours, the days warm but nights cool. Winter was wet and cold with frosts often followed by fog & not much sun & Spring was absolutely fabulous with new birth and new growth,lots of spring flowers like daffodils everywhere etc. Here on the NSW North coast at 30 deg South, the seasons while still there blend in to each other & lots of plants that have dormant periods in Winter don't do well but you can grow sub tropical fruits and other things. We do get the odd frost, this year we had 3 that I know of but by 8 am it's gone. Summer is the worst season with high humidity and stifling temperatures at times in January to March. Autumn is the best time for easy living though with no requirement to find cool places or turn on air conditioning to feel comfortable.