kgwilson

Hybrids are complex and have generally very poor range on the battery which are always small so they can keep the price below a pure battery EV. It is slick marketing by the legacy car makers who are desperate to maintain market share against the new EV companies. Most have less than 100km of range and while some in theory have more, most of the tests and reviews have demonstrated that the range quoted by the manufacturers is a very best case scenario and not able to be attained by an average driver. Also studies have found that plug in hybrids rarely have better fuel consumption than pure ICE vehicles because owners fail to plug them in often enough. The appeal is the price being lower than a pure BEV, the promise of cheaper running costs with the quoted lower fuel consumption, the reduction of emissions due to the lower fuel consumption giving a feel good factor to purchasers and the reduction of range anxiety that many people have that makes them balk at a pure EV purchase. The facts are that Hybrids are the worst of both worlds. They have small batteries very ordinary electric drive systems compared to any BEV and all of the maintenance costs & issues of an ICE vehicle and still spew out toxic emissions. They are also the most likely to catch fire by over 300% than ICE vehicles and many times more than pure EVs.

A lifetime warranty is determined by the list of conditions in the fine print. The headline gets the public interest as that is what it is designed to do & increase sales. The reality usually ends up being disappointing. I bought my last car in 2012 & it had a 5 year warranty with an extra 5 years on the mechanical components but there were heaps of conditions and individual bits that were excluded it was completely confusing. Luckily nothing went wrong in the 10 years.

MG have a lifetime warranty on its EV batteries in China & Thailand & have just announced a 10 year warranty on all of its cars in Australia including EV batteries but with a 250,000 km maximum which is 25,000km a year, much more than most people drive. The China lifetime warranty is limited to 30,000 km per year. When I bought my MG4 it came with a 7 year unlimited km warranty on car & battery. Despite all the wrong headlines rabbiting on about EV sales slumps and EV owners returning to petrol power, by the end of last year there were 40 million on the road world wide, with around 14 million new sales which was a 23% increase on the year before. Current sales are on track for around 10% increase in 2024 with world wide sales of around 17 million. The percentage increase is still well ahead of ICE percentages most of which fell and continue to fall in 2024. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2024/trends-in-electric-cars

If he gets in and makes good on that promise civil war is pretty much a certainty. Then again just add that to his 30,573 lies the last time he was in.

Legendary British Blues Rock musician, John Mayall has died aged 90. He is often described as the Godfather of British Blues and influenced many of the greats. People like John McVie of Fleetwood Mac fame and the great Eric Clapton began their careers with the band he formed called the Bluesbreakers in the early 60s.

While Biden has endorsed Harris she is not the presumptive candidate. There are at least half a dozen others that look like throwing their hats in the ring. A lot can happen in the month before the Democratic convention. They can spend up as well with more than 50 million being donated on Sunday. I doubt Trump has managed anywhere near that amount in the same timeframe.

Well it finally happened, an attempt at assassination. The first since Reagan or one of the Kennedy's I am not sure. While I don't condone such actions if it was successful things may have gotten easier for Biden. Now the recriminations begin. The MAGA mob will be baying for Democrats blood blaming them for everything to cause a 20 year old to try this. Not only that Donny will be full on using the attempt to his advantage. A bit like a Muslim Martyr would.

His death was reported as to be from natural causes, whatever that means. Unless the skin cancer was a melanoma that had spread, that is not likely to be the cause.

The attention of the US media should be focussed on Trumps unsuitability for office. He lied continuously through the debate but all that was lost in their full attention to Bidens gaffes & losing the plot for a few seconds. Bidens press conference later said all the right things but it was too late. If Biden decided to pull out my bet is that Gavin Newsom would put his hand up. He has already stated support for Biden but if there is no Biden in the race that changes everything. Kamala Harris has the credentials and capability but as a woman and black, not the charisma and public support she needs.

BMW doesn't have the best reliability record but when new they have heaps of power and superb handling with a pretty good driving experience. This has always been their hallmark. Anything that is highly strung is going to suffer in the reliability stakes. German engineering is no better or worse that any other. It all depends partly on how much you pay, how complex it is and how difficult the task it is designed for is.

The US system of democracy is extremely flawed. Some states have discriminatory legislation regarding voting and even if a candidate wins a state the electoral college can vote the loser in as their presidential nominee. The whole issue of Presidents installing judges that can and have sided with that president when a major issue is at stake is just pathetic, undemocratic and downright criminal is some circumstances. Also their heavily amended constitution that provides the President with extraordinary powers and immunity from prosecution would not pass go in a genuine democracy. How their system functions at all is a mystery with the House & Senate often dominated by opposing parties. It seems almost annually the government runs out of money to pay its public servants & there is horse trading at the 11th hour to pass the bill to allow these people to get paid. Compulsory voting would never work there. They'd all be screaming about freedom to vote or not. They talk about freedoms but have some of the most draconian systems and laws around, worse than some with totalitarian regimes.

The West is so far behind China it is almost laughable. Companies like Shell have been divesting for years in new Electicity supply industries. Shell owns Powershop in Australia who I am now with as my Electricity supplier. Shell has partnered with BYD to build the biggest EV charging hub in the world (well it was when it was opened in September 23) in Shenzhen near the Shanghai airport that has 258 charge points & can charge 3300 EVs a day with rooftop solar producing 300,000 kWh a year. https://www.shell.com/what-we-do/mobility/mobility-news/shell-opens-largest-ev-charging-station.html

The newer superchargers are being installed with a battery buffer so they can deliver the full 350kW to the car even if the grid supply is only 150kW or less. During the day there is often a glut of power from rooftop solar and this leads to the spot price going negative. This is the time to fill up your batteries if you have them. I have just changed to an electricity supply plan that provides me with free power for 2 hours a day every day from midday to 2pm. As a retiree this works for me. My peak rate has fallen to 32c/kWh (was 42c) shoulder from 36c/kWh to 32c & off peak has increased from 27c/kWh to 32c/kWh and also my daily supply charge has fallen from $1.45 to $1.10. The downside of this plan is that my solar feed in tariff has gone from 7c/kWh to 1.4c/kWh. Based on my power consumption from the old plan the new one is considerable cheaper for me, plus I get free energy for the car. I was managing my charging based on solar generation but now I don't have to as when i am home the car automatically charges for the 2 free hours a day. I'll only need 2 to 3 days a week of free power in order to never have to pay for any charging at all, that is unless I go on a long trip. The existing grid is old and incapable of delivering what we need for the future. Successive governments have failed dismally in this regard and are trying to play catch up now. In NSW if you have a single phase 100 amp supply the maximum you can supply back to the network is 5kW/h so people with large solar systems on their roof have to use it or it just dissipates as heat. This is to protect the ageing network from falling over and causes the spot price to go negative. Future needs are not just EVs, everything is going electric. Look at power tools, lawnmowers, chainsaws, whipper snippers, eBikes & scooters. Then of course there is battery storage on every scale you can think of.

EV fires are incredibly rare but there has been a huge amount of disinformation spread by social media and the sensationalist press looking for headlines that they fail to verify. Between 2010 and June 2023 there were 4 EV fires in Australia. One was arson and the other 3 were parked in structures that burnt down. EV Firesafe has compiled the data and an EV has a 0.0012% chance of catching fire. Petrol and diesel cars have 0.1% chance of catching fire, about 100 times more likely but still a small percentage. Hybrids are more than 300 times more likely to catch fire than either pure ICE or EVs. https://www.drive.com.au/caradvice/how-many-electric-cars-have-caught-fire-australia/ If a lithium ion battery experiences thermal runaway and catches fire the heat is extreme and they are almost impossible to put out until all the energy is dissipated & that depends upon the state of charge when the thermal runaway was caused. There have been quite a few fires caused in rubbish tips and even in rubbish trucks from old li-ion batteries that have been thrown out. The other main cause is people charging cheap electric scooters, bikes etc with incorrect chargers that have not built in limitations to prevent over charging. In some cases they keep charging till the battery explodes with pretty serious consequences. EVs have numerous safety mechanisms to stop anything like this ever happening. The battery charger is built in to the vehicle and will only charge at a given rate applicable to the battery no matter how much power you try to pump in. AC power first has to be converted to DC via the inbuilt inverter & the maximum from a single phase is limited to 32 amps or 7.4 kW. Some EVs will accept 3 phase power so can charge to a maximum of 22 kW. Most EVs have 400 volt architecture and some can charge at 350 kW from a DC supercharger. My EV has a maximum DC charging rate of 140 kW. Some of the new expensive EVs have 800 volt architecture and can charge at over 500 kW. In theory that means a car with a 100kWh battery could be charged from 0 to 100% in 12 minutes. Also the battery chemistry of EV batteries is not the same as your mobile phone or eScooter and is far more resistant to thermal runaway, plus of course the battery isolation function all EVs have if involved in a crash. Without it they would get a zero ANCAP rating. The newer LFP batteries are even better than the most common NMC EV batteries and BYD have produced a video showing nails and steel bars puncturing their blade batteries with no effect at all. The area punctured is isolated and the battery continues to operate. Sort of similar to self sealing fuel tanks in aircraft.

A cockpits common definition these days is where pilots & crew sit to fly an aeroplane but it is also used to describe a race cars drivers seating area. The words original definition was a pit where a cockfight happens and in the 1700s cockpit became the Royal Navy's term for the area where a coxswain, or ship's pilot, was stationed.

The emergency brake on the MG4 is the black flush mounted lever to the right of the rotary gear selector. It also actuates the parking brake but I never use it as the simple option is to press the rotary gear selector when the car is stopped. This takes the car out of drive or reverse & applies the parking brake automatically. For emergency braking you just pull the lever up with a couple of fingers and it is activated for as long as you have it pulled up.. I've never tested it though. All these electronic systems have to comply with ANCAP safety procedures so they have various parallel systems operating them in case 1 fails.

Some of the Chinese EV manufacturers have gone right over the top with all the screens some taking up almost the entire dashboard. Tesla though has opted for one centre screen which I personally do not like. It does make it easy for left or right hand drive but I prefer to have all the driving info directly in front of me. My MG has a screen directly in front of the driver with driving info like speed/odometer, battery %, power use, regen, ACC, driving mode, tyre pressures etc, and another bigger one in the centre with all the infotainment, Satnav, HVAC, car settings etc on it.

The MG 4 is the first car I've had with an electric hand brake. It is just a press of the gear selector dial to activate. Numerous cars have these now.

EV brakes are hydraulic like any other car. Mine has multiple brake assist features and most modern ICE cars have these as well. All these systems are automatically applied by electronics determined by what the software has been programmed to do when it detects certain conditions. Brake force can be applied to all or any wheel or combination of wheels. If the inbuilt radar and camera detect an obstacle or possible collision the brakes are automatically applied. For example I was driving down a suburban street and a woman stepped off the kerb between 2 cars. The car thought she was going to step into my path & slammed on the brakes. In fact she turned right and went to the drivers door from the front. I think the cars software did the right thing. This has happened a few times when reversing out of an angle park as well.

Nio has a model the ET7 with a 1000 km range. Nio CEO William Li, who has gained a reputation as China's Elon Musk, live-streamed his mammoth 1,044km journey from Shanghai to Xiamen on December 17 2023 in a test of the Chinese EV company's groundbreaking battery technology. He was left with 3% of battery & managed this during a cold snap in the Winter. The car has a massive 150 kWh battery. My car has a 64 kWh battery and I get 400km of range at 100-110 kmh (450 at 80kmh) so it isn't that special but of course it weighs 2434 kgs so as much as a big SUV.

The blue triangle is installed on all new EVs. There are probably older ones around that don't have them as they were made prior to the regulation. They would be required for a rego check but then you don't need a rego check until a vehicle is 5 years old. The blue trim on the logo of a Toyota hybrid doesn't inform anyone of anything.

There are all the same myths about tyre wear and cost. Wear is no different to ICE cars. It is the driving style that wears tyres out. At 13k mine show no noticeable wear at all but then I am not a hoon. Bigger low profile tyres are more expensive no matter what the method of traction is. As for brake pads, well they don't get used much at all. If I am in one pedal drive mode I almost never use the brakes & even without this not much either due to the regen doing most of the braking for me. A bloke with a 2018 model X Tesla from Brisbane got his first service done at 440,000 km & had the brake pads checked. They did not need replacing but he got them done anyway because it was convenient at the time. One of the things that concerned me initially about not using the brakes was cars behind me not knowing I was slowing down quickly. I then found out when the regen gets above a certain % it automatically puts the brake lights on. The same thing happens with auto hold which keeps the car stationary at traffic lights or whenever stopped without the brake pedal depressed. The manual advises you to use the brakes about once a week to stop the discs from rusting.

The McKinsey Mobility Consumer Pulse presentation released in June 2024 by McKinsey & Company that indicated that 46 percent of EV owners in the US are 'very' likely to switch back to gas-powered vehicles is based on data acquired since 2021 and the full report tells a different story & not just a headline grabbing statement. A lot has happened since 2021 & the sky is not falling in on EV owners, prospective purchasers or EV manufacturers as can be seen in the analysis below. Add to that the fact that this month EV production in China has now reached 50% of all vehicles manufactured there, the US & Europe have slapped huge import tariffs on Chinese EVs (100% in the US) in an attempt to protect their own EV manufacturers. Chinese EV technology is now several years ahead of the rest of the world and they are now the only good choice for sourcing of batteries and most US & European EV makers have capitulated & are installing Chinese batteries in joint venture deals. https://cleantechnica.com/2024/06/27/unpacking-the-mckinsey-mobility-consumer-survey-henny-penny-edition/

Some of the Maga mob were asked if they would vote for trump if he became a dictator and they said YES. Then the system they have is considered a very flawed democracy that has been manipulated by the wealthy to maintain their influence and control. The whole electoral college process to select the President could over rule the voters. As it is Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 when he got in, was a long way behind in 2020 and who knows where this year. Joe came out with a few choice words after the debate debacle & hopefully there are enough intelligent Americans to keep the orange nutter out, this time for good..

He has hit the nail squarely on the head. It is the driving experience that is the game changer. The CEO of GM had a totally different outlook when I last looked at any interview or announcement from them. And yes Ford is the ONLY legacy US car maker that has NOT gone bankrupt. Of all the EV owners I know, there isn't one who is considering returning to an ICE vehicle. I also note that he has acknowledged and given credit to Elon Musk for re-inventing the EV and driving the change. I only watched the first 20 minutes when politics started coming in to the picture. About 95% of everything in any sort of battery can be recycled and this is where governments need to catch up and promote and subsidise setting up of battery recyclers like the one in Arizona, as well as legislating the recycling and promoting this to the stupid public till the message gets through. The problem is you can't legislate stupid. How dumb is it to bring a gas BBQ indoors to warm the house & that is just what happened the other day with a number of people poisoned by carbon monoxide.