kgwilson

He came close by bombing Syria.

NRMA had a lot of free charging points all over the State. Most were quite slow at less than 50 kW but they were free. Most of these are no longer free as the original incentives to install & run them has expired. Chargefox that installed them now charges for them but they are not expensive at around 30 cents/kWh. The faster the charger is, the more expensive they are. Tesla Super chargers seem to be the most expensive, at least for non Tesla owners at 60 to 70 cents per kWh but they are fast at 350 Kw.

Hybrids are being heavily promoted by legacy car makers as a clean alternative to ICE even though they are not. The scaremongering around EVs in the press has manifested itself in the new car market by manufacturer promotion of Hybrids so they can have a bob each way. The fact that the electric range of hybrids is very poor doesn't matter. They are cheaper than pure EVs mainly because of the tiny battery so that is a plus to the buying public. They are being promoted as a greener alternative to ICE vehicles which is true too but they stlll burn fossil fuels and spew out toxic emissions. The other main attraction is the (now) irrational Range Anxiety fear. They are also far more complex that either an ICE vehicle or pure EV so have higher maintenance requirements and are much more likely to catch fire than either. There is also a trend towards plug in hybrids and several studies have noted that the fuel consumption values touted by manufacturers are rarely met mainly due to owners who don't bother plugging them in which indicates a poor attitude towards energy efficiency. The other issue which to me is most important is you do not get the EV driving experience with totally noiseless power, instant torque, regenerative braking, hardly any servicing, & one pedal driving among the many EV advantages plus the long term total cost of ownership being less. For me also is it costs me nothing for fuel as my car runs on sunshine, that is unless i am going on a plus 400km road trip.

The problem is that these large fossil fuel behemoths have too much influence with Politicians & provide huge donations to all sides of politics. State & Federal governments need to stand up for the people who have elected them & cancel some of these deals & get LNG shipped to the East Coast via rail.l If there was a war on this would be done instantly.

Toyota and other legacy car makers have been actively campaigning governments to allow them to continue producing ICE vehicles well past the original targets. What they have seen is a large swing away towards EVs and they are unprepared and are failing to compete with Chinese EV manufacturers who are now producing more than 2 thirds of the worlds EVs at the present time. Volvo is owned by Geely, a Chinese car manufacturer who produce some of the best upmarket EVs you can buy. Zeekr is one of their brands. EV sales have not plateaued as is often touted by the ICE manufacturer & fossil fuel company friendly press. By the end of 2024 there will be around 17 million new EVs on the road. At the end of 2023 there were 14 million new EVs on the road. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2024/trends-in-electric-cars There has been a slow dawn of car sales world wide in the 3rd quarter of this year. This is what got the press to sensationalise parking areas full of new cars waiting to be sold, many saying they were EVs when they weren't. Even channel 7 got on the band wagon when a whole lot of Teslas were pictured in a car park in Melbourne awaiting delivery. These were stated as unsold Teslas which of course was BS. Teslas are ordered on line and are sold before being shipped from China. The slow down is largely due to tough economic conditions around the globe. Toyotas global sales have dropped 3.5% mainly due to a fall of 27% in their biggest market, China. In many markets there was a slowdown in EV sales when government incentives stopped but these have largely rebounded now. Toyota was an early adopter of hybrids but put its energy in to trying to develop the hydrogen market with nothing going in to the EV sector. Toyota is now way behind the EV 8 ball and is now partnering with BYD to produce EVs for them. Their first entry into the Australian EV market is in fact a rebadged and urbanised Subaru which is a good car but far too expensive for what it is.

Again another weird anomaly of the American system is that all former Presidents are entitled to be addressed as President.

Solar panels and animal grazing has been around for a few years now. With panels mounted half to 2 metres above ground level and spaced a bit more than intense solar farm panels the grass is able to grow quite well under the panels and of course between rows. When it rains the run off from panels spreads out to ensure there is plenty of moisture to nourish the grass underneath. Not only that but the animals get shelter from the sun and rain. https://reneweconomy.com.au/more-than-6000-sheep-now-call-australias-largest-solar-farm-home/

One story is he was shot down by one of Ukraines own missiles & that led to Zelenskyy giving the top man the sack.

The Japanese and now the Chinese have come up with many weird sounding names for cars. To them the name probably sounds cool but to native English speakers they are just plain strange. It is probably safer to just have a number for the different models but then that gets confusing too when they add alpha prefixes or suffixes to the number just to confuse everyone even more.

Sydney Opera House to Dubbo is 392km so within range of most modern EVs. There are plenty of charging stations all the way there and at almost every reasonable sized town around Dubbo and other towns in the area has them. EV owners going on a trip use a number of Apps to locate chargers along the way. One called Plugshare lists most chargers. Open the link below and zoom in and you will find public chargers everywhere. The map is provided by plugshare. https://evpowerhouse.com.au/ev-charging-stations-australia-map/?srsltid=AfmBOor2YW9sTerfnMddVhMQQ8gP0a5sy3VWCE-b4ED_6MOSbgpMXV2H

One of the benefits of electric propulsion is the availability of full torque from virtually zero rpm. This is why modern ships and locomotives are Diesel Electric where the diesel is just generating electricity. My MG4 has a 150kW (204HP) motor and will accelerate from 0 to 100kmh in just over 7 seconds. A few years ago this was supercar territory. At the traffic lights an EV will beat every ICE car available unless the ICE car is revving its head off & the brake released or clutch dropped. A Tesla model Y Plaid (only sold in USA) will get from 0 to 100kmh in 1.9 seconds & considered dangerous by many as it can cause blackouts. The MG4 X power will do 0 to 100 in 3.4 seconds. Sub 4 seconds is now common at the more expensive end of the EV scale. The EV driving experience is unbeatable. It just does everything so effortlessly. I can get around 450km on a full charge if I drive conservatively but that is boring and not the way i like to drive. The design engineers at MG in the UK did a great job with 50/50 weight distribution, RWD etc producing a Corolla sized hatchback solidly put together in Shanghai that is really fun to drive. Throwing it around winding country roads leaves a smile on my face every time. On the Pacific Highway I cruise at 110kmh & still get from Coffs to Brisbane on a charge easily (around 400km). Lunch & 20 minutes on a fast charger & I get to my place in Noosa with heaps of charge left. Slow vehicles are no problem. Foot to the floor & the power/torque is instant. Even an uphill incline doesn't have anywhere near the same effect as an ICE vehicle. The power meter % value goes up but there is no noise or motor tone to indicate anything different. I have not noticed any appreciable difference to the range. All EVs have to make a noise at low speed. The reverse noise generator on mine is a whine like a reverse gear in a manual car. The Drive noise generator is a lower tone that changes to a woosh sound & cuts out at 35kmh when tyre noise becomes apparent to those outside the car.

Asymeo, You are entitled to your opinion on such things, however the above issues are not that relevant to the subject of this thread. To address all readers as "You" is disingenuous when that word relates to different countries or governments in the context of your post. Much of your commentary is also not backed by verifiable fact. Breaking the monologue in to paragraphs would be a good start.

It means that they source their energy from certified green energy suppliers as they cannot produce enough on the rooftop to run everything especially at night unless they have installed batteries.

It makes sense to do this anywhere is Australia given the amount of Sunshine we have but it does take forward thinking people and planning plus additional up front cost. The ongoing benefits and payback easily outweigh the initial cost. It shows that too many of Australian business managers are not thinking in to the future and are only concerned about short term gains. Shell OIl on the other hand knows very clearly that the writing is on the wall for them and partnered with BYD to install a 258 bay EV charging hub next to Shenzen Airport in China which is covered in solar panels producing 300,000 kWh of energy annually. This was opened almost a year ago. https://www.shell.com/what-we-do/mobility/mobility-news/shell-opens-largest-ev-charging-station.html

Car crashes are NOT accidents. Almost all are caused by driver stupidity, inattentiveness, incapacity or neglect. Even those caused by mechanical failure are often due to poor or no maintenance. 50 years ago most of these would have resulted in fatalities. Seatbelts, airbags, crumple zones, rollover cages etc have lowered the risk of the crash being fatal dramatically. These scenarios are precisely why authorities have had to come up with AEB & FCW systems. They may not be perfect but they are light years ahead of the idiots we have on our roads.

Yes my last car was new in 2012. Now there are heaps of new things that manufacturers have to comply with to receive a 5 star ANCAP rating. The SOS button on the roof electronic cluster is common now. How it works may differ by brand but with mine it sends a message to MG automatically forwarded to the contracted service agent in the area that they need to contact the car owner. The button provides the precise GPS location, owners details etc. If out of mobile coverage then you just have to wait till they get there. This is part of the 7 year warranty. I imagine there will be an annual fee after this time is up. Some of the systems take a bit of time to get used to and there were a couple that scared the crap out of me when I encountered them for the first time. For example I was reversing out of an angle park & the car just stopped instantly. I thought I'd hit something & got out to check but nothing. I realised it was the collision avoidance system that operates if it thinks I'm likely to hit a pedestrian, cyclist or another car. This system works for all 360 degrees & the 360 degree camera comes on automatically with the danger quadrant highlighted. It happened when I was driving past a school with lots of parked cars etc. I was doing less than the limit of 40kph & saw a woman walk out between 2 cars, turn towards me as if to go to the drivers door of her car. The system slammed on the brakes as it thought she might walk out in to my path. I'd already figured out she was just going to get in to her car but the system is obviously not programmed to consider that possibility and erred on the side of caution. Initially it annoyed me but in hindsight I think the system did the right thing.

Infotainment updates are completely separate to any system updates. While the car is capable of over the air (OTA) updates MG have not yet invoked this & I have to drive in to the dealer after making an appointment & leave the car while they plug in a PC or whatever. If it is not an essential or fix update they won't do it under warranty so I'll have to pay. But if I wait till the next scheduled service I get every update there is. The car is a year old & its first scheduled service is in a years time. The updates I know of are mostly cosmetic so I am not bothered as everything works anyway.

My MG 4 came with a Satnav system and has its own inbuilt GPS & Esim. Wherever I am, I can click on the Navigation icon & choose chargers & it will show all chargers within current battery range. Usually there are heaps. Drilling down will show the exact location, Charger brand, number of them and speed 50 kW, 350kW etc. Plugshare and ABRP (a better route planner) APPs for your phone show how many of the chargers are currently in use & can be used with Android Auto or Apple carplay. An upgrade to the MG system will show all Chargers along the chosen route with details as before, the time to get there and estimated battery level on arrival. Choosing one of these then directs you to that charger. I've not had the upgrade installed as I don't go on long trips often & the existing system is good enough anyway. I am happy that my normal weekly driving costs me nothing in fuel costs at all.

All it takes is a little trip planning and there are plenty of apps available to do that. All of the apps state which charging cables they have. Only the very early Teslas have the standard Tesla charging port and at Tesla charging stations they will usually have one of the original Tesla cables. This is the one least likely to be in use. Some Tesla charging stations are only available for Tesla owners because these were installed entirely at Teslas cost. Any installed after government incentives came in to play must be available to all EVs. Also all EVs imported in to Australia since 2020 are required to have a CCS 2 (combined charging system 2) port. Only pre 2020 Teslas had the Tesla port and old Nissan Leafs and some Japanese plug in hybrids have the CHaDeMo port.

The number of EV SUVs and UTEs is expanding rapidly & most have pretty big batteries. Power out put is generally much higher that for petrol or diesel variants and torque is available from 0 RPM. The issue is there are not many available in Australia yet and the cost is high. They are very versatile for a Tradie who may not do that many km per day and can use the power to load to provide battery charging for tools where no mains exists or 230 volts for big circular saws, lighting etc. There is a new Caravan in the US called the LightShip RV.The roof has 10kW of solar panels & battery and it has an E-Axle so the towing vehicle can run very efficiently. It can be used to power your house when parked outside as well. It is tall but the entire top section lowers for towing to reduce drag. Designed by a couple of ex Tesla engineers. It ain't cheap but neither is a large standard caravan. It has a fantastic future and is probably the benchmark for others to follow.

The blue EV badge on the number plate is aluminium and is an equilateral triangle with 25mm sides. It is held on to the number plate by 2 rivets. How it just fell off is pretty questionable and then how it punctured a tyre even more-so. OME there is a long list of what is checked at 40,000km all listed on the MG website. There is little to replace. Cost is $296.00 which in my opinion is a ripoff as they basically just have a look at everything. A capped price service regime with an ICE vehicle at $200/10,000km would be $800.00 in the same period. Brake fluid & aircon filter are the only things replaced. Battery coolant, windscreen washer fluid & electric motor coolant are checked & topped up if necessary which takes about a minute as the reservoirs are under the bonnet. I've no idea what new tyres cost. They are Bridgestone Turanza 235/45 R18 98W and at 15,000km they are not showing any signs of wear. The point at which an EV becomes more economical than an ICE vehicle is at around 33,000km according to analysis carried out in the US. Even accounting for the considerably higher purchase price in the past, the total cost of ownership is a lot cheaper over 10 or more years. This is all rapidly changing with the price of new EVs dropping all the time.

True, he's been so full of it for more years than anyone cares to remember.

They have deliberately kept it that way by ensuring their education system doesn't include information about the rest of the world and pushing patriotism to the highest level possible. For many years only 10% of Americans had passports. That now exceeds 40% but is very low compared to other countries. Among Trump rusted on MAGA supporters the percentage of passport holders is probably less than 10% & their knowledge of the rest of the world considerably less than that.

I do 95% of my charging at home for $0.00 from solar and free power from 12:00 to 14:00 every day which accounts for cloudy days. The charging cost relates generally to the charging speed. Superchargers capable of 350kW charging, cost the most (60-75c/kWh. Free chargers are generally at shopping centres & businesses & range from 7 kW single phase AC to 22 kW 3 phase AC. Other slow chargers of up to 50kW DC are pretty cheap usually 25-30c/kWh. There are other chargers called Destination chargers & these are mostly free as well. On my 550km trip I topped up at a 50kW charger while I had lunch at 30c/kWh (about 30 mins) which gave me plenty of range to reach my destination. The hotel had destination chargers which were 7kW AC chargers and were free for guests. I plugged in & the car was 100% full in about 4 hours.