Jerry_Atrick

Yes.. they are.. In terms of thread drift, I meant not changing it solely to a discussion about Tesla.

Back to climate change and combating it.. I haven't looked at the video yet, but as I understand, replacing the tanks with batteries and the ICE engine with motors, we are looking at c. 677 kms with a fully loaded truck. I did a google search and a Kenworth loaded to 44000lbs (number sticks in my head for some reason) will have a range of 1200 - 1800 miles - so around 2,000 to 2,800 kms give or take. I doubt any truck driver would do that in a day, but then I thought road trains loaded to their max weight after which AI told me it was 1,400 - 2,400 kms. I am guessing a truck with a single driver only will not do much more than 677kms in a day. But without changing stations, it would be interesting to see how long it would take for those big batteries to recharge sufficiently. Over here, the smaller commercial fleet is electrifying rapidly. This will put pressure on the grid, but will have to drive renewables to help.

At the risk of thread drift, they may be, but the used EV market is, at best, immature still. Also, I guess the used market is a measure of what has been, not what is coming. And, although not a fan boy, I like Teslas.. My point is that Tesla's engineering - once pioneering - seems to have been well overtaken. Yes, the Chinese have the state subsidies Tesla doesn't directly get (and probably indirectly reduced significantly since Musk's spat with Chump), but even in the innovation stakes, Tesla seems to be falling behind.. The Cyberfluck was a vanity project gone massively wrong., so let's discount that one. But, they have been at EV trucks for years and it looks like they have yet to crack that one. Their EV car offerings don't seem to have moved that much, and their quality control (at least in the USA plant) is apparently still woeful. And we shoudl remember, Tesla is a single company, not some institutionalised dev and research centre. Of course, they are a single company that is multi-faceted facing a whole industry (or number of industries). and I should have contextualised my observation to the EV market rather than everything Tesla does.. And maybe that is part of the problem for Tesla (not including Spacex in that).. They are in so many pies, will they be tha jack of all and master off none. So, I asked Chat where they stood against their competitors for innovation. There were too many categories to take a screen shot, so here is Chat's analysis (lazy, I know): AI Driving (autonomous I guess): Strongest commercially scalable but competitors have better proven tech Robotaxi/Cybercab: Middle of the range AI hardware: Most vertically scalable - ahead of the pack Batteries; Middle of the range on technology (still leading commercial position). Fast charging: Has been overtaken - Now at the lower end of the pack. Note, that could be commercially - Chat didn't say, so lets say it is in the middle of the pack now technically Charging Ecosystem (I am guessing this is the commercial bit): Ahead of the game with over 80k installations Grid batteries: Still ahead of the game Commercial humanoid robots: Potential there; behind the pack for deployment. Solar home energy - Still ahead of the pack. This was the prompt I used: "what are teslas latest technology innovations and how do they compare to the competition" So overall, they are they are still technically innovative - yes.

BTW, sitting on an electric double decker bus - clean air, no resonating vibration and no heat from the engine getting onto the back seats

I wonder why, despite the corporate shenanigans, Tesla's engineering falls behind like it does

The Trivago ads over here featured ab Aussie voice. I don't get ads much as I only watch YouTube channels that rarely play them.. or streaming..

I had an odd experience at work yesterday. A work colleague and I sparred quite some time ago- around the time of the election - about Chump; he was defending Chump vehemently and of course I took the opposite position. We respectfully agreed to disagree and left it at that. I probably wrote about it on this thread. Yesterday was the first time in eons we were in the office coincidentally. To be honest, I had totally forgotten our conversation, but he dragged me aside and quietly conceded he was very wrong about Chump,, Interestingly, the final straw wasn't the criminal activity nor the corruption, but the invasion of Iran...

I managed to get a great deal online for a Citroen C3 1.2l petrol manual for hire since my Volvo's diff decided to poop itself on the weekend. But, imagine the horror on my face when they didn't actually have one and the only car they had that they wouldn't charge me extra for was a BMW i-4 M Sport, with range just shy of 300 miles. I was not impressed at all 😉 So, I have this fancy sparky car for the princely sum of GBP 95 for the week (around $190).. plus GBP45 for the excess insurance. I suggested they do a 6 month rental but the manager told me they are paying about twice for the lease on it I have had it 36 hours now; picked it up from Exeter airport. I love it. It is probably a cut above the MG4 Urban I am looking t, but taking away the fancy stuff, it is soooooo smooth. And there's enough road noise to cover for the lack of engine growl. What I really love is you can park just about anywhere there is a charger and as long as it is plugged in, at least on council parking areas, you don't pay car parking fees.. it doesn't have to be charging. Though, some people have abused it so our council is bringing in limits post charging complete. Virtually every supermarket is installing fast chargers. I stopped at the Sainsburys in Richmond and the price for a 400kw/h charger - not that I got anywhere near that - was 62p/hr with my nectar (loyalty) card or 72p/hr without it. I did top up the car last night before the commute to Londong this morning at a 200kw/h charger in the council car park - that was a rip off at 92p/kwh. I did get some range anxiety this morning on the way in. wanted to make sure that I had enough to get to the services tomorrow, so stopped at Reading Services and aid 92p/kwh. FFS, how can the vendor of a council site - and the council - allow the same cost as a services and the charger at the council site was 1/2 the recharge rate of the services! Out council is stuffed (another thread I know). . Compared to the Sainsbury's charging,, the services costs were expected as they are about 20 - 30p a litre more for petrol. But the real advantage is that you can almost park anywhere near where you want to go and charge up while you do whatever you want to do, That council car park was around the corner fro where we went to dinner on Sunday night. So, if I am low on fuel, I can park nearby and while chowing down, shipping, or whatever, the car fuels itself. Now, if that charging point happens to be full, the satnav in the car will direct you to the nearest that is available at the charge rate you want. Back to the driving.. It is as smooth as silk and the acceleration is brisk to say the least.. think pushing you into the back of the seat like an F18 with your lips and gums compressing against your cheek bone fast. Sorry Jeremy Clarkson, some ICE based Porsche simply doesn't compete (a fiend as a 911 targo or something - admittedly older - and it is quick - but nothing like this). BTW, it doesn't matter what speed (at least to about 70mph) one is doing.. the acceleration feels much the same.. break neck. Because it is a heavy car, and with a lower centre of gravity, it really sticks to the road.. And I mean sticks. I have thrown it around roundabouts and corners at speeds that were pushing my innards outwards from the sides.. but the car stuck to the tarmac like it was a fly to flypaper. And braking is almost a thing of the past, except for emergency braking. After about 20 minutes of driving on the motorway, I worked out how to just use normal foresight to come off the accelerator enough to put s smidge of electricity back into the battery, but more important to the environment, massively reduce the asbestos dust that is being generated I have had my Volvo for 13 years - it is a big old lump that I rarely drove respectfully.. and in that time I went through a set of pads once... and at the same time discs.. As a cheapskate, I found OEM aftermarkets a darned sight cheaper than the fleecers (IMHO) of the main Volvo dealer somewhere near me.. so I am not saying regenerative braking will save me a lot of money... but the environment has to be worth something, right? But there are some niggling things - not all to do with the car or the battery/technology. But, some were to do with the car. Despite the car's supposed 200kw/h charging capacity, it only peaked at 120kw/h and only for a short period. It averaged 50 I would say, and reduced significantly as the charge rate went up. This meant, when the battery was at 45% charge coming into Reading, it was a good 40 minutes before it got to 85%, I did a bit of research as to why that would be the case and there are two reasons.. a) something wrong with th charging system or b) I didn't pre-condition the battery, Although I didn't.. it was after a 100 mile trip at 75mph and I would be very surprised if it was not warm enough to take the faster charging. I got similar recharging rates this afternoon at Sainsbury's and I forgot to pre-condition - but it was 28 degrees. I have put a post it note in the car to pre-condition the battery before the next charge. But, although not necessary in this case and I know the battery charge rate is probably better on a non-hire car, 40 minutes was a bit shit. Thankfully, at my age, I managed to get two pees in the service's dunnies, rather than the regulatory one. So, I feel the ore expensive charge rate was justified in this case. But seriously, as my daughter did point out, if you are low and in a hurry, liquid fuel is going to be quicker. But how often does that really happen? One of the rubbish things about renting a BEV is that you only have what charging cable they give you. And it will rarely be a 3 pin power point plug. And I will be darned if I am going to buy a GBP* 50 adaptor for the week (but I may well be paying for it in higher electricity costs of public charging stations). OK, that has nothing to do with electric vehicles per se, bit it would have been gppd for the standard plug to the the basic power point plug of the country. Of course, the UK domestic plug is a beaut and easily handles 32 amps; and I am sure Aussie ones do, too. but with a rental, at least in the UK from this major brand, you have to either buy an adaptor (assuming you have a 32A socket) or pay more at public charging points/stations. And one of the issues is the sheer inconsistencies of the infrastructure. I sort of lump the problems of it. You know those lively distributed charging stations/points? They aren't monitored like the pumps of a servo (at least when it is opened). So, there are a lot that are vandalised. Oh they have CCTV, bit a balaclava sporting scrote on a stolen moped on a path of destruction is hardly going to be concerned about being caught on CCTV in a country where non violent theft is not even investigated anymore. Then you have basic incompatibility - with the car and the payment method. The Taunton Crescent car park, which was remodelled at great ratepayer (council tax payer) expense while at he same time reducing capacity beyond that from just the installation of BEV chargers, did not seen to recognise my rented car, nor despite the instruction signs indicating otherwise, my debit card for payment, I spent about 10 minutes faffing about before giving up and moving to the next place. And on top of that, my shit council (IMHO) charged for parking in addition to the rent they receive, and I am guessing the commission on that expensive per KW/H charging costs. Of course, if you can't charge your car they aren't earning the commission. Most of my gripes are about charging.. but like the above, are nothing to do with the car itself.. but, like the curtailment costs of Scottish wind generation, crap planning and implementation Serioulsy, how decision makers get into decision making jobs is beyond me, So, after giving up on the Crescent car park, I went to the next closed place with decent charging rate chargers - the Taunton Marks and Spencers Car park, and realised that they closed that car park not too long after closing.. and given I was there not too long before closing,, it rally wasn't an option staying as the beemer did not come with the optional root top tent to be used in the case of such a circumstance. The Beemer satnav told me the next closest fastest chargers was a Morrisons Supermarket carpark.. Morrisons is a cross between IGA and Ken Bruce in terms of its demographics (if you're not from Vic, you're not mad; you have never heard of Ken Bruce nor seen his quality ads with a stuffed cockatoo on his shoulder). I arrived and although the supermarket was going to be open for at least anout 1.5 hours, they set up bricks and bollards to block us now frustrated and somewhat nervous BEV drivers with only 48% battery left.. My dog.. With only 100 miles range left, where I am going to find a charger that works, is going to be open and will read my worn out debit card? The council buildings.. and they are, IMHO, mongrels for what they charge. Compared to the Devon council, IMHO, they are charlatans. Sadly, SWMBO is becoming a technophbe.. so I can't persuade her to go for the Beemer.. So it is an automatics M4 Urban... Petrol that uses a funny cable to deliver the petrol - that is because it has to be filtered properly.

I don't recall anyone on these forums suggesting the extraction of energy from renewables is free.. maybe out in the big wide world they have.. .Clearly that is a fallacy. We have already dealt with the costs per mw/h of renewable sources v fossil fuels for electricity generation. And renewables generally win - although there are cases where it doesn't. But it is not just the cost of extraction - there is the cost of distribution and then there is the efficiency cost. And of course, the cleaning up costs and decommissioning costs.. Still for electricity generation, the costs generally favour renewables.. There is a cost that fossil fuels don't pick up (and to be honest, neither does the renewables pick up) and that is the inherent damage to the environment. There is no cost applied and effort performed to remove things like the additional CO2, which seems to be a major contributor to what is looking more like a looming climate emergency.. you know the thing the pesky scientists predicted using real facts and models.. and it seems to be coming a darn sight quicker than they had hoped. The cost of toxins such as nitrogen oxides and other respiratory and cancer linked toxins is early termination of people and in countries such as Australia, the taxpayer picks up the tab through the health service. Yes, this is also the case for the manufacture and operation of plant/technology for renewable energy extraction, but I would guess (but am happy to be corrected) it is a lot lower than that for fossil fuels - after all, accessing the renewable sources is a lot easier than accessing fossil fuels - I don't have to dig under the sea for it.. do I... And even sea born renewable energy - waves - are pretty accessible. But renewables don't pay for their emissions either (well, there is a carbon trading market, still, somewhere). But again, and I haven't done the research and am happy to be corrected - this cost from renewables technology is probably a lot less because they do a lot less of it. Yes, Li-Ion batteries - especially for cars - have a heavy CO2 footprint at manufacture - much more than an ICE engine. In early technology, the average technology meant it was about 5 years before the electric car broke even with the average emissions of ICE cars, after which the drop in CO2 emissions for the lifetime of a BEV over an ICE car increased dramatically. Here are the current numbers: The time even on a wholly coal grid is still 4 - 5 years, but batteries are lasting at least 8 (on average) and going a lot more.. So, even with the dirtiest grid, they are still doing well. But, we move to grids such as in Europe, Australia, Canada, and China, and the payback is down to 2 years, well within most ownership cycles of cars and well within the life of the vehicle. In Australia, the depreciation cycle is 5 years, so you are effectively getting, say 3 years almost emissions free driving in comparison. Obviously, the coal and gas and maintenance are emitting, as are replacement of service items - which are much less in a BEV than and ICE engined car.

Yes.. I know sometimes I argue against it, but since the press at best provides a tepid analysis of things Reform and Farage, in this case I would be completely for it as it does highly encourage people to put onto paper their vote and of course, that is one of its advantages - regardless of who is contesting.. As the press are not at all highlighting the low - even by Clacton standards - voter turnout.

I don't thing I disputed the energy density claim. And of course, there are fuels which are better suited for use cases. If I want to get to Australia, with current technology, avtur or Jet A1 id the best. I don't know anyone with any sanity that would suggest otherwise. But that doesn't mean fossil based fuel is good for all cases. Given the thermal inefficiency, there are applications where it is better. To take the logic a little further, coal has a much higher energy density than, I dunno, solar (in the case of the Solar Impulse 2 which flew around the world wholly on solar power (Rutans used 100LL Avgas); but I wouldn't try a steam engine in an airliner either because, although it is a fossil fuel, no one in their right mind would suggest it, right? Similarly, for cars, as the wheels support the weight rather than the wings and the force to overcome (in addition to drag) is friction - much lower than weight - battery technology is allowing denser storage of fuel (electricity) which is giving comparable mileage to ICE cars - not because of the density itself but because of both the thermal and mechanical inefficiency of the latter. So, for that use case electricity (which can be generated by renewables) is becoming a more efficient fuel for propulsion and drive train than fossil and mechanical means (yes, there are still mechanics in EVs.. but you should get what I mean). On wind generation in the UK, I agree - I should have used the word theoretically, because the generation capacity of the wind turbines installed is higher than demand. There are three main constraints to it being reality Wind does not blow all the time. However, for the UK, wind is a viable option as it does blow a lot of the time. The highest concentration of windmill installations are in and offshore Scotland. So, there is a concentration of the source of the power. Note, wind power generation in Scotland often exceeds demand. The planning in this country is poor, which is why a massive amount of renewable generation was installed before the grid was upgraded to be able handle it. That is not a failure of renewable technology; that is a failure of politics and planning. But if I am wrong on any of these, please feel free to explain why rather than just say it is BS. Saying it is BS does not mean it is. Proper credible explanation as to why, and I will happily change my position and concede I am wrong. Again, it depends on your use case. I think people are suggesting there are two camps - renewables or fossil fuels. I hope with what I wrote above addressed that.. but to repeat, we wouldn't put coal in an airliner and it has far more energy density than solar technology likely ever will (well, I have to check the convex cells.. They seemed pretty fearsome). But other use cases, such as cars (well, not all electricity is renewable - granted) and power generation - where other factors don't make density the major factor - then they can be better. And yes, in some regions, fossils will be better. Again, it is about the mix. Not justy blindly sticking with one. That is an economic thing - more supply than demand drops the price. That is not due to nuclear - that is due to more supply. Nuclear did bring a lot on at once. But in Australia, Solar is doing the same which is why you are able to get your electricity for FREE when supply exceeds demand. Re the Scottish Curtailment - we had already addressed that some time ago in this thread so I am not digging all the info out again,. but the above points cover most of it anyway.

The Farage party are claiming it as a victory. But, the parliamentary investigation into his £5m undeclared gift has resumed and if found he violated the rules of parliament, a recall petition is put to the electorate and if a certain percentage agree, it will trigger yet another by-election. The reality is that Clacton is one of, if not the most deprived electorate in the UK and immigration, of which Farage is a one trick pony politically, is being blamed by Clactonians for all their problems will mean that the recall petition is unlikely to get the numbers. Reforms winning electorates are all in deprived areas, and is more a protest about them being relied upon for votes be Labour and the Tories more than anything else.. and I would say the apathy of the electorate is partially the result of decades, if not over a century now of being promised the earth and still being sucked dry compared to those who live in marginal electorates. Pork barelling is alive where it will buy a seat. But, Reform's claims to a mandate by the people of Clacton are as hollow as the promises made to the people of Clacton. with a 44% voter turnout against an average turnout of around 65%, it represents 27& of the voting public of Clacton who have voted for him. Of course, we can't predict which way the other 66% pg voters in Clacton would have voted if casting a ballot was mandatory - I would imagine the spoiled ballot count would be high despite the onerous requirement of putting a tick against one person only; but I have a sneaking suspicion Farage would have found the numbers far tighter than the headline suggests.

Sorry - couldn't resist A leader resigns and decides to not contest the next election. Hardly news, is it?

You out yourself on a sticky wicket

Wow.. For some totally random reason, a couple of weeks ago, out of nowhere, the thought of young talent time popped into my head. I can't think of the last time I would gave thought about it and I think I watched it once under duress (wasn't the sort of show teenage boys would watch)

Just catching up n this thread.. Are you saying my post was totally absolute rot or a specific component of it? Let's go through what I wrote: The direct subsidies to the coal (and fossil fuel industry are well documented at c. $16bn a year. Of course, I was lazy and used AI, but you can get a glimpse here: https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/fossil-fuel-subsidies/ But we are now replacing with a much more abundant supply where technology is allowing the dense storage of that fuel. Are you saying the supply of electricity os not more abundant than fossil fuel? The very term reneables sort of should put that to bed.. but lets take a closer look: Resource Availability and Supply Horizon Fossil Fuels (Coal, Oil, Natural Gas): Derived from ancient organic matter, representing a fixed finite supply locked in underground reserves that take millions of years to form. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] Renewables (Solar, Wind, Hydro, Geothermal): Inexhaustible on a human timescale. The Earth intercepts solar energy alone at a rate roughly 10,000 times greater than total global energy consumption. [1, 2] Yes, AI generated, but ut sort of supports the virtually inexhaustible renewable supply v the exhaustible fossil fuel supply. Thanks for making me look. It looks like a lot of that fossil fuel energy density is lost as heat.. so the energy efficiency is much closer. That was a bit of an own goal. I don't need to cite sources for Germany shutting its nuclear generation facilities down in the aftermath of Fukashima. It i well known. It was around the time Merkel started going, IMHO, a little loopy. Are you saying Victoria (And NSW, and QLD) are getting free electricity because the supply is less than the demand? This should debunk that absurdity: Can you tell us hat you are reading that states different facts?

Those Victorians must be smart 😄

'twas not a formal statistical analysis.. I didn#' have the baggage capacity for that and I would be heartbroken with every one I would hand to people that I did not know.. But, it was a side by side taste test. As the chocolate is shaped differently here, it was hardly a blind taste test - and yes, I could have flaked the chocolate to make it a blind taste test, but I thought given the statistical population deficiencies, it was not worth the effort. In fairness, SWMBO has insisted for the most part that our kids wouldn't eat junk.. they are partial to dark chocolate as a result, but yes, the one who went for the UK version was a younger member of my family, and has a penchant - like me - for junk food. And I do mean junk when I say it. He liked the first taste of the Aussie one better, the but the after taste left it a little worse in the end. I think the one that did not like either could not bring themself to admit the Aussie one was better.. although in fairness that person prefers another brand of consumer cheap chocolate, so I may be being unfair to that tester. Newsflash: After hauling two packets of BBQ shapes across the world, I found that in my first sojourn into Waitrose since being back, they now stock them.. and cheaper than Aus normal retail price. I am going to launch a campaign to have Chokitos stocked in every supermarket now.

The final scores for the Cadbury Dairy Milk (Aus v UK) taste test are: I didn't like either: 1 UK better than Aus: 1 Aus better than UK: 2

You would have thought these countries would be perfect fits for solar + batteries?

And there's more.... But we are now replacing with a much more abundant supply where technology is allowing the dense storage of that fuel. That is because Germany shut a significant chunk of its energy generation capacity sans transitioning out. That is going to create a gap. Other countries, such as the UK effed up their markets politically, not because of renewables. Today the UK produces enough from wind alone to power the country.. Australia, using solar is now producing an excess supply so it is giving it away... It's not the fuels for generation - it is how it is managed.

Is someone still trying to fill in the gap?

If you recall, there was a huge incentive to get coal fired power going. It was called state ownership.. Once the risk was taken out of it, the private sector were availed the profits.

That really is clutching at straws - or pearls... Nuclear power stations close down for refuelling, too... Was 30 days per shutdown when I was in the game. I know, because our software saved a whole 2 days per shutdown. Which was a big deal and saved a couple of million per shut down.

Yeah.. I did get carried away, and was putting off yet another tip run. I did have one prior to judgement day.. I am not going to try and influence the results. After this one, I think I will retire from heritage refurbs.. The latest on the reno, which just gets more depressing, is that SWMBO called me at work in a mild panic that the power had gone out. Got the sparky around and there was some shorting in the basement that was throwing the RCDs. More inspection yielded corroded switches from a long gone damp issue, and more rewiring required. ` Having said that, I do follow a youtiber who tours rural towns in different stages of decline or prosperity, and have seem some tempting properties: https://www.youtube.com/@DaveWithoutAMap Here's one of towns in SA: Now, as it is still early, I am going to go and fill the car, which seems to be dying a slow death, with junk to take to the tip.