Eric Bloodaxe Posted December 24, 2021 Share Posted December 24, 2021 More madness: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10341173/ROSS-CLARK-idle-UK-power-stations-available-hire-says-insane-policy.html I spotted the advert referred to in the article when it appeared a week or so ago and wondered if it was a spoof - apparently not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unofix Posted December 24, 2021 Share Posted December 24, 2021 The Finns have always liked to up-cycle, or is it blowup-cycle 🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenFord Posted January 21, 2022 Author Share Posted January 21, 2022 Now that Covid is calming down, a real issue is now rising fast, and is effecting everyone. The cost of energy is now exposing the weakness in our governments 'green' policy. It's reluctance to allow investment in fracking, and nuclear development will head us into a bigger crisis than a virus ever did. (It could cut the price instantly by dropping 5% VAT and the 25% 'green tax'!) Yesterday, it was headline news in the Belfast Telegraph when Tesco announced they would introduce 2 (yes, 2) charging points at one of their supermarkets. I genuinely don't believe that those in power have the intellectual capacity to realise the huge asteroid of disaster heading right for us. The 'green' policy now being zealously followed by government takes no account for the fact that if the UK, overnight, achieved 'net zero' by tomorrow, it would have that exact result on global warming - zero! Just like Covid, when those with simple common sense saying over & over again that lockdowns were ineffectual, masks for general public use didn't work, and eating a scotch egg with your pint, were NOT following the science The same modelling techniques for global warming are being used as with covid, where 'experts' said there could be 10,000 deaths/week, worst case scenario, and now with global warming, the planet will end in 10 years! I am NOT denying global warming, but I am absolutely denying it is an 'emergency'. (Kinda like going to A&E when you should be attending your GP) Common sense needs to prevail, and quickly. If everyone went electric, we don't even have the capacity to watch Corrie, and charge our cars at the same time! I know I'll have loads of detractors, just like I did when I expressed 'common sense' opinions on Covid, but this madness has to stop now before the poor in our country start dying of hypothermia in their own homes... 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iantt Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 I'm ok as I don't watch Corrie. Phew , panic over. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unofix Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 Thank you @StephenFord for that considered opinion (some no doubt will call it a rant). I whole heartily agree. Speaking as an electrical engineer I have been saying for the last 10 years to anyone who would listen that the UK and for that matter most other countries do not have the infrastructure to support the massive increase in electrical demands that switching vehicles over to electric and banning gas boilers. I predict that in 20 years from now after civilisation has totally collapsed, everyone is freezing to death and there's no food to be had because there's no meaningful transport, there will be a mass world rebellion against the crazy policies than naive and corrupt leaders have pursued for their own political and financial gain. Sadly it will take at least forty years from then to start to rebuild what we once had. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark-UK Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 A major problem is our government lack of investment, gas prices could have been held at a more stable price if only we hadn't scrapped all the storage facilities. They have been dilly-dallying for decades over wave power, invest some real money in it and get it working. We know when necessary they can come up with money, £35Bn for a poor test and trace, £4.5Bn of illegal furlough money written off, and so on) Charge points again they need to spend much more money, and introduce building regs (which I understand they are doing to force charge points in new build) I personally don't believe everyone will be charging cars at the same time, the idea that a a certain time everyone will plug-in is a bit bogus, for many people who have short commutes a once a week charge will be enough. If every ICE car in the UK turned up at a filling station at once we'd be fcuked too. Watching 5th Gear Recharged, shows that EV can work very well, last nights program in Norway proved how it can work if the charging infrastructure is there. As with car scrappage scheme (which worked very well in Spain I believe) they will have to offer VERY attractive incentives for older homes to convert to more environmental heating systems. Technically I see no long term issues, we just need sensible honest professional people in government will to do the right thing, and not charlatans out solely to line their own pockets. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenFord Posted January 21, 2022 Author Share Posted January 21, 2022 20 minutes ago, Mark-UK said: Watching 5th Gear Recharged, shows that EV can work very well, last nights program in Norway proved how it can work if the charging infrastructure is there. Norway was interesting with plenty of Hydro power generating, and also a zero VAT on EV cars, a saving of 25%. Of course, in the 90s our government also offered sizeable subsidies on the sale of diesel cars, and diesel was initially half the price of petrol, so there was a mass take up. Of course, when a critical mass was in operation, they increased the taxation on diesel to out charge petrol, and dropped all sales subsidies on the cars!! It should also be noted that the population of Norway is 5 Million, as against a 70 Million UK... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iantt Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 My town has 5 charging locations, of which 1 out of service for over 3weeks , 1 with charging issues. 2 are slow chargers . Leaves one working as we speak with medium/fast charging cappabilty. Plus side is this one has 2 charging stations!! No rapid chargers. So basically 2 for the whole town and surrounding area, visitors to the town to use. That should keep those pesky tree huggers out our town. !!!! 😂😂😂😂. So unless you have a driveway and your own charging point at home your stuffed. 😂😂😂😂😂 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenFord Posted January 22, 2022 Author Share Posted January 22, 2022 16 hours ago, unofix said: Thank you @StephenFord for that considered opinion (some no doubt will call it a rant). Must confess it was motivated as a rant. I had just filled out a cheque for my mum's electric bill which was 68% higher than her previous one... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iantt Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 19 minutes ago, StephenFord said: Must confess it was motivated as a rant. I had just filled out a cheque for my mum's electric bill which was 68% higher than her previous one... And the next will be higher again unfortunately. I twitch now when I look at my smart meter in the evening and it shows £10-12 usage daily. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomsFocus Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 I started a direct debit for electric a few months ago so haven't felt the effects of the increase yet. I've got to put in a meter reading over this weekend though...I'm expecting the DD to be increased after that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wino Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 2 hours ago, TomsFocus said: I started a direct debit for electric a few months ago so haven't felt the effects of the increase yet. I've got to put in a meter reading over this weekend though...I'm expecting the DD to be increased after that! I won't do direct debits with energy companies. Much prefer to be billed for what we've actually used. There was an article/ programme a couple of yrs back that reckoned the Utilities were sitting on roughly £4m of overpayments from its DD customers. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark-UK Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 I'm on a fixed tariff for energy so price rise won't come in until April. I've over paid in the past, you just ask for the money you're in credit and they give it back to you, OVO used to give me 5% interest on any overpayment and knock that off the bill, so I was nearly grand in credit at one point (the bank wouldn't give me 5%) I find DD a big advantage, if the company has worked your usage out correctly. They average the yearly bill out so I'm paying the same each month, I find that far better than wildly fluctuating bills depending on the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomsFocus Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 48 minutes ago, Wino said: I won't do direct debits with energy companies. Much prefer to be billed for what we've actually used. There was an article/ programme a couple of yrs back that reckoned the Utilities were sitting on roughly £4m of overpayments from its DD customers. Yeah, I've always been sceptical as well. But I had several issues with the payment app last year and couldn't be bothered with it any longer. If my circumstances change and I need to tighten the budget then I'll probably go back to paying as I go again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iantt Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 Octopus energy you can change your direct debit to any reasonable amount therefore reducing any credit to pretty much zero. I make the decision how much I pay depending on usage. Currently I'm in debt to £190 ish. Will tweek my direct debit so it reduces each month. So easy to control with octopus. Smart meter does the readings for me and I can see if I want to , each 30mins of usage on the app/website if your a bit anal about it. Looks like someone was using more electric while I was at work!!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenFord Posted February 14, 2022 Author Share Posted February 14, 2022 Even I didn't see this one coming - battery car owners getting parking tickets for overstaying their welcome in car parks! LOL 🤣 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/motorists-hit-with-parking-fines-as-they-charge-vehicles-dx39hxmmk 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Bloodaxe Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 1 hour ago, StephenFord said: Even I didn't see this one coming - battery car owners getting parking tickets for overstaying their welcome in car parks! LOL 🤣 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/motorists-hit-with-parking-fines-as-they-charge-vehicles-dx39hxmmk Just finished reading the same article! I always have a nosey around EV chargers out of curiosity whenever I see them to check out how easy they are to use, payment methods, etc. Quite a few of them are obviously in car parks and I have noticed that there seems to be no exemption from the parking charge. So, in addition to the cost of the power (I've seen some up to £0.75 per kwh) you can be paying £5 plus to park at the point for long enough to get a decent charge - or, as the article says, face a penalty if you don't. More interesting stuff in the same issue. Rolls Royce in partnership with Porterbrook, the rolling stock leasing outfit, are developing combustion engines powered by hydrogen and conversions to enable existing diesels to run on synthetic fuel. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Bloodaxe Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 Another one I hadn't thought about! Those EV charging cables contain lots of lovely copper and apparently cable theft is set to overtake catalytic converter theft. The copper I believe is worth around £50 scrap but a cable can sell for £100 - £200 secondhand. So some ***** nicks your cable and then in effect flogs it back to you via Fleabay or whatever. I understand most EV cables are "locked" while charging but that can be overcome with a bit of violence leaving you with no cable and a damaged car as well. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wino Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said: Another one I hadn't thought about! Those EV charging cables contain lots of lovely copper and apparently cable theft is set to overtake catalytic converter theft. The copper I believe is worth around £50 scrap but a cable can sell for £100 - £200 secondhand. So some ***** nicks your cable and then in effect flogs it back to you via Fleabay or whatever. I understand most EV cables are "locked" while charging but that can be overcome with a bit of violence leaving you with no cable and a damaged car as well. Incidentally we had a surge in orders for the very thing in the last couple of weeks. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iantt Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said: Another one I hadn't thought about! Those EV charging cables contain lots of lovely copper and apparently cable theft is set to overtake catalytic converter theft. The copper I believe is worth around £50 scrap but a cable can sell for £100 - £200 secondhand. So some ***** nicks your cable and then in effect flogs it back to you via Fleabay or whatever. I understand most EV cables are "locked" while charging but that can be overcome with a bit of violence leaving you with no cable and a damaged car as well. I saw the article too today . The cable does lock in well so I don't know how much Force would be required to break the lock. And no doubt it would be the car owners fault if the thief got electrocuted while attempting to steal it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenFord Posted February 20, 2022 Author Share Posted February 20, 2022 24 minutes ago, iantt said: ... The cable does lock in well so I don't know how much Force would be required to break the lock... Surely a well insulated pair of wire cutters would be able to snap off the source, then complete it at the car end? (I have a pair of metal cutters that can cut through fairly thick metal pipes with relatively little force) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iantt Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 12 minutes ago, StephenFord said: Surely a well insulated pair of wire cutters would be able to snap off the source, then complete it at the car end? (I have a pair of metal cutters that can cut through fairly thick metal pipes with relatively little force) Let us know how you got on if you survive . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenFord Posted February 20, 2022 Author Share Posted February 20, 2022 3 minutes ago, iantt said: Let us know how you got on if you survive . So, what your saying is that cutting through a live 32A cable isn't that wise?? 🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iantt Posted February 20, 2022 Share Posted February 20, 2022 16 minutes ago, StephenFord said: So, what your saying is that cutting through a live 32A cable isn't that wise?? 🤣 Didn't say that. You try first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenFord Posted February 20, 2022 Author Share Posted February 20, 2022 5 minutes ago, iantt said: Didn't say that. You try first. OK then.... aaaaarrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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