3 hours ago, Alex.S said:

I know nothing about trains but our local lines been electric all my life. A long time, not quite back to coal fired though. 

Back in the 70's where I lived about a 5 min walk to a field we as kids played on. Next to that field but down a slope was, and still is, a railway line which was electrified. That is the lines themselves were electrified. Unfortunately on one occasion one of my friends went down that slope and made contact with that railway line. He was electrocuted and died. This happened, I believe, all over the country and led to those lines being disconnected from the electric grid. Sorry I had to post this but s#it happens. That railway line now has overhead electric lines which the trams use.

My personal view Mr Bloodaxe is that New electrification for railway should not be implemented but another power source like hydrogen be used.

15 hours ago, tazzman600 said:

My personal view Mr Bloodaxe is that New electrification for railway should not be implemented but another power source like hydrogen be used.

Very sorry to read of your experience - these things can have effects for years. In a sad coincidence my aunt lost her life crossing a railway line and my mum and gran were paranoid about me going anywhere near the spot.

We were talking on here specifically about the Merseyrail train using batteries rather than extending the third rail network, which seems to me a good thing in view of the dangers of that system. I think the general policy nowadays is to go for overhead line electrification but we have the legacy of such third rail systems (mainly in the South East but also places like Merseyside).

Railways worldwide have been adopting electrification (mainly by overhead line) for over a century and long before politicians dreamed up "nett zero" so it seems pretty much a done deal whatever our views.

There are circumstances where full electrification is impractical, not cost-effective, etc and hydrogen and battery electric certainly have a part to play.

Loads of interesting stuff on the web on the topic of alternative power sources for trains if you have a search around, but better not drone on here as it's a car forum after all!😀

 

Couple of interesting articles doing the rounds of the media on EV repair and insurance costs:

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-12602961/Repair-claims-owners-electric-vehicles-soar-370-past-three-years.html#:~:text=Repair claims by owners of electric vehicles have,years%2C figures from specialist warranty firm MotorEasy reveal.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/sep/30/the-quotes-were-5000-or-more-electric-vehicle-owners-face-soaring-insurance-costs

50 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Couple of interesting articles doing the rounds of the media on EV repair and insurance costs:

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-12602961/Repair-claims-owners-electric-vehicles-soar-370-past-three-years.html#:~:text=Repair claims by owners of electric vehicles have,years%2C figures from specialist warranty firm MotorEasy reveal.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/sep/30/the-quotes-were-5000-or-more-electric-vehicle-owners-face-soaring-insurance-costs

So number of insurance claims have risen on EVs , well obviously,  I can 100% guarantee the number of claims has risen on every type of car since the year we were all in lockdown and not using our cars, and as the article does say there has been an explosion on the number of EV sold in the UK , with them accounting for around 30% of new cars and more than double the number on the road than there was 3 years ago.

 

I don't know where the guy lives or his driving record but my quote for a brand new Tesla Y is under £1800 and from Aviva his insurance company under £2000 full comp for social and commuting with protected no claims

 

 

 

52 minutes ago, Mark-UK said:

So number of insurance claims have risen on EVs , well obviously,  I can 100% guarantee the number of claims has risen on every type of car since the year we were all in lockdown and not using our cars, and as the article does say there has been an explosion on the number of EV sold in the UK , with them accounting for around 30% of new cars and more than double the number on the road than there was 3 years ago.

 

I don't know where the guy lives or his driving record but my quote for a brand new Tesla Y is under £1800 and from Aviva his insurance company under £2000 full comp for social and commuting with protected no claims

 

 

 

I can beat that , just a quick quote with £500 vol excess. Saga top quote cause im an old duffer at 59

Think I've mentioned this before but my insurance cost didn't change when I went Mondeo at £159 to ioniq and then  Paid £191 for ioniq in may, then to change to Kona was £0 again. And that's with the Aviva bad guys mentioned in the article. 

1 hour ago, Mark-UK said:

I don't know where the guy lives or his driving record but my quote for a brand new Tesla Y is under £1800 and from Aviva his insurance company under £2000 full comp for social and commuting with protected no claims

 

Yes, the trouble with these media things is they sometimes go for the headline, without digging into the details. Bit surprised at The Guardian though - sort of article you'd normally see in the Express  or Mail.

Those rates would cover me for about 10 years though, but I'm an even older duffer than Ian and yes, with Saga!😀

Yeah, the papers need the clicks at all cost to the truth. Hardly supprising the doubters all believe what they see in the papers. The doubters don't even delve into the real story and spout what they see/hear. If a story pops up on here I go and investigate the truth then counter the *****. That's unfortunately the society we live in now. 

44 minutes ago, iantt said:

If a story pops up on here I go and investigate the truth then counter the *****.

The article on the repair costs, when you read it, is actually a bit more balanced than the headline suggests - unfortunately a lot of people stop at the headline.

My local garage, as I think I've mentioned before, is now doing a few older EVs for service/MOT. They tell me the faults they come across are pretty much as most cars - brakes, suspension, lights, steering, etc - with perhaps a few more premature disc replacements where regen braking has been used a lot so the discs rust more. They report very few faults with the EV parts themselves, though if it happens it's a component swap rather than repair - but again, that's often the case with ICE nowadays.

The other thing - and I've seen this on Toyota hybrid forums also - is many owners not realising they have a 12V battery as well as the traction battery(ies) so problems with that.

6 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

The article on the repair costs, when you read it, is actually a bit more balanced than the headline suggests - unfortunately a lot of people stop at the headline.

My local garage, as I think I've mentioned before, is now doing a few older EVs for service/MOT. They tell me the faults they come across are pretty much as most cars - brakes, suspension, lights, steering, etc - with perhaps a few more premature disc replacements where regen braking has been used a lot so the discs rust more. They report very few faults with the EV parts themselves, though if it happens it's a component swap rather than repair - but again, that's often the case with ICE nowadays.

The other thing - and I've seen this on Toyota hybrid forums also - is many owners not realising they have a 12V battery as well as the traction battery(ies) so problems with that.

The discs rusting can be prevented by applying the brakes to slow down while in neutral( motor is purely disengaged) . Just the odd occasion will stop them rusting . 

All cars have a 12 volt battery with the exception of some of the Tesla's I'm told. Batteries going flat seems a common occurrence with all flavours of car nowadays. With the EV the batteries are so small due to not requiring power to turn engine over. But any significant drain will discharge one quickly As ice have bigger batteries for cranking engine, they can cope better with leaving something switched on.

Don't know where Toyota hide the battery but on the Hyundai it's quite obvious it's got one. If mine goes flat ( and has done when a window tinter was opening/closing doors and windows multiple times over 3 hrs ) I've got my noco jump pack handy in my car at all times and have done in the last 4 cars I've had. 

 

28 minutes ago, iantt said:

Don't know where Toyota hide the battery

Only really looked at the Corolla. On the 1.8 it's under the bonnet (so if you're the type who never looks under there you might not know) but on the 2.0 it's in the boot so pretty hard to miss!

WOW 2 really interesting articles you posted Roger. The cost of repair one was very interesting and enlightening. The cost of insurance article intrigued me however. Oh that guy with the Model Y lives in Bradford. 

Back to insurance. Oh yes I've seen insurance quotes risen by quite some and that figure of 29% seems near. In my case the car I had before my current focus was the superb Lexus is250. Last year I paid £450. Unfortunately I wrote that car off hence me having the focus. But I was searching for quotes and OMG quotes were £750 for the focus. 

I've read articles why insurance quotes have risen. One I can't get my head over is the war in Ukraine. I'm currently with the RAC so it cost me another £90 to swap from the Lexus to the focus. 

Blimey if Toyota hybrid owners don't know their car has a 12v battery aswell is very poor. I've had 3 Lexus hybrids and fellow owners in the Lexus forum all know about the 12v battery and yes they can be an issue because they're capacity is about 60% that of a 'standard ' 12v battery. That's why they're physically smaller hence put away out of the way.

Insurance has gone up this year without a doubt, in fact it's the first time in many years mine has gone over the £200 mark it's 25% up on last year. I think as with all prices there some profit inflation going on, everyone is talk about rising cost so we'll just pump ours up and nobody will complain much.

 

I'm sick of the Ukraine war it's the reason I burnt my toast this morning and why I couldn't find my keys yesterday.

8 minutes ago, tazzman600 said:

One I can't get my head over is the war in Ukraine. 

I've seen that also - apparently quite a number of components are/were manufactured there. Seems to have taken over from some of the previous excuses - Brexit, chip shortages, etc, etc.

9 minutes ago, tazzman600 said:

Blimey if Toyota hybrid owners don't know their car has a 12v battery aswell is very poor. 

Yes, considering a hybrid as a future buy so have done a fair bit of lurking on the Toyota forum. They don't seem as clued up on cars as folks on here - but maybe that's because they don't go wrong as often!😀

Roger. Maybe try the Lexus Owners Club Forum. I'm still on there but not as tazzman600. There you'll find arguably the best content and threads. They know their stuff. I'm a grand master on there. Oh and they are clued up better than any forum I've been on. Just goes to show. The owners of  'posh' version of a manufacturer know their stuff whilst the manufacturer car owners don't lol.

Mark. Do you have Ukrainian heritage? My mother was Ukrainian and I have a lot of family there. 

Oh and something I forgot to mention. Yes I wrote off my beloved Lexus and I'm guessing even though I've had NCD protection for decades it makes me wonder is/was it worth it. My personal quotes not far off doubling. First claim in decades too. Motor insurance is a ruddy rip off. An Evil we have no choice but to coff up.

Hope everyone is having a nice Saturday evening. 

😳

Massive fire in Luton Airport car park, over 1200 cars damaged, decking collapsed, huge insurance claim will follow. However, it appears it all started from your bog standard diesel car fault...

11 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Massive fire in Luton Airport car park, over 1200 cars damaged, decking collapsed, huge insurance claim will follow. However, it appears it all started from your bog standard diesel car fault...

 Another reason to put next years premiums up then.

According to reports, it was a rangerover diesel. Looks from one photo it wasnt parked up in a space. So who ever was in it was finding a space or leaving. More than likely an electrical fire that then was fueled by the diesel lines. Car park collapsed due to weight of range rover.😂😂😂

If a whole car parking deck collapsed because a Diesel engine caught fire, even if it spreads to one hundred fifty other vehicles, I would have more than a little concern about the structural integrity of the parking deck!

4 minutes ago, Scottman said:

If a whole car parking deck collapsed because a Diesel engine caught fire, even if it spreads to one hundred fifty other vehicles, I would have more than a little concern about the structural integrity of the parking deck!

Especially if it didn't have the most basic sprinkler system, which reports suggest it didn't. I managed a shopping center in the past (built in 1990), it had a sprinkler system in it's car park, it's not a recent invention, and cars are highly flammable. A risk assessment should have highlighted this basic omission, especially adjacent to an airport. Many questions need to be answered on a review of this fire...

1 hour ago, iantt said:

, it was a rangerover diesel. Looks from one photo it wasnt parked up in a space.

presumably it had just been 'hot wired' 🤣

It will be interesting to see how the insurance underwriters respond to the increased visibility of car fires in general, not just EV fires. 
In America, home insurance companies have applied a different rate for homes with attached garages, with good reason. 
modern cars are never really “turned off”. When I store my cars I remove the battery entirely. I have a separate area in a shed for battery storage and charging. I am probably over thinking the risk. But, I only have to be right about the danger one time. If I make a bad decision even once, I will lose three cars and eighty percent of my lifetime collection of tools and equipment. At my age , the loss of that would be the end of my automotive hobby days. 

7 minutes ago, Scottman said:

In America, home insurance companies have applied a different rate for homes with attached garages, with good reason. 
modern cars are never really “turned off”

What's worse in the UK is that a lot of Garages are Integral and also have a Bedroom above them, usually the Master Bedroom and just one or two sheets of Plasterboard (I believe you may call it Drywall) separating the Garage from the Bedroom.

It's not just fire that frighten me, it's the potential for fumes as well.

9 minutes ago, Tizer said:

What's worse in the UK is that a lot of Garages are Integral and also have a Bedroom above them, usually the Master Bedroom...

I have that configuration, but because I have a domestic H&S obsession, my car has always been left in the driveway in front of garage door.  Odd that when doing online car insurance quotes, you often get a discount for having the ability to leave your car inside a garage! It's a wonder that on doing online home insurance quotes, you don't get a discount for leaving your car parked outside the garage LOL