idd15

The future of charging has arrived! It’s even got canopies...

Sadly Woodford is rapidly becoming a large housing estate. However it is now also home to the Avro museum that is well worth a visit if your ever visiting South Manchester. idd

The Fully Charged channel on YouTube has a series of videos about going electric, think it is called “Maddie goes electric”, you may find useful. idd

Brilliant I think you’ve nailed it! We can tax vehicles on how much Gravity they use, that should get rid of SUV’s! Win win! Anyone in need of a laugh this morning should wander over to the BBC website and read the comments (hysteria) on the Electric car announcement. Best so far is that the number of rural suicides will increase due to isolation... Not seen the one about EV drivers eating babies yet but give it time.... idd

That is not quite the case. EV’s do not use their brakes anywhere near as much as an ICE, there are Nissan Leafs used as Taxis that have done nearly 120k miles without a change of brake pads. Nearly all braking is regenerative. As a personal example my first Leaf started to develop some corrosion pitting on the rear disks at 18k. The Porsche Taycan discs are a special corrosion resistant alloy specifically to address this same point. The tyre wear “figures” are an extrapolation of a study into tyre wear on ICE vehicles. An assumption was made that because an EV is heavier that tyre wear will be greater. This may not be so because an EV does not deliver the driving force through a series of 5 or 6 step changes for the gear changes like an ICe does. In the 4.5 years I have been driving my Leafs I have not witnessed any excessive tyre wear on them. Yes there are emissions through the brakes and tyres, but not as much as some would want us to believe.

LGB used to sell it for garden railways. I’ve still got some so I might try it on my OO test track, can’t see why it wouldn’t work in a smaller scale. idd

Easily the best and most reliable is that run by Tesla, but you have to drive a Tesla... Nowadays there are an increasing number of fast chargers just off the motorway (Morrisons, Holiday Inns, etc) so it is possible to plan and overcome a charger problem. Not ideal but at least you shouldn't hopefully get stuck. Somerset is quite well off for fast chargers as we found on holiday last year, so savvy EV drivers would probably be OK. idd

Any port in a storm... Oh wait!

This is a very valid point. A little harsh perhaps....but hey! It is very early days for EV's, smart meters and smart chargers, but given the degree of inter connectivity already in these devices perhaps the next part of the jigsaw will be something to emulate the "sensible considerate consumer" ??? Another aspect to consider is the fact that electricity consumption is significantly decreasing year on year in the UK. Many devices are becoming significantly more efficient and it is not unreasonable to expect EV's to follow this trend. So the overall strain on the distribution system may not be as great as we perhaps fear??? Given it is in absolutely everyone's interests to keep the lights on and the cars charged it will probably all work out in the end! Stay safe idd

This is a very unlikely scenario. From a number of sources the average commute in the UK is around 24 miles per day which for the average EV would mean it would consume about 6 KWhr. In the UK most domestic EV chargers charge at 6 KW (around 70% of the load of the humble domestic electric shower) so an hours charging would be required each evening/night. The above linked document is about a possible means of protecting infrastructure during the main peak demand between 5-7pm. But we EV drivers do not charge then, basically we plug the car in and set the cars timer to charge during off peak in the early hours when can save maybe 60% on the cost of peak rate electricity. The total load on the local infrastructure is way below what the grid experiences between 5 and 7pm. When we eventually do have many more electric cars on the street we will also have Vehicle 2 Grid chargers where the local grid is supported by both vehicle batteries and those properties who have installed battery storage. So retired Mr X decides he can make a bit of cash by selling a bit of electric from his car (charged from his solar panels during the day) to help out charge Mr Y next door who has a long business trip the next day. Looking down our street right now there are an awful lot of cars parked on their drives doing nothing. Imagine though if they were all plugged in they could be supporting the local grid and earning their owners some cash. This may sound unrealistic but it is exactly the same as what my solar panels are doing right now. The surplus power from the panels is supporting other properties in the street and removing load off the local grid. Whilst this may all sound fanciful there are already extensive trials going on with V2G systems, and many properties are installing batteries particularly where they have solar PV. Contrary to the post above that said such V2G systems will degrade a vehicles batteries, trials carried out by Cranfield University would suggest the opposite is true. Indeed the life of the vehicle batteries was enhanced, which admittedly seems counter intuitive. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, big oils FUD campaign against electric vehicles and their charging has been very successful and there are an incredible number of myths and nightmares about them, and about vehicle charging in particular. In reality in four years of driving an EV if you can charge at home then it is no different to plugging in your phone at night. We use the Smart meter to get off peak rates and have successfully moved 60% of our electricity consumption to this rate using nothing more than the timers built into the car and various domestic appliances. However I flatly refuse to get up in the wee small hours to take a shower. Stay safe idd

I hereby rest my case for the prosecution m’lud! In respect of home chargers another satisfied PodPoint user here, though the choice was made for me as it was part of the deal with my first Leaf. Zappi do seem popular as well though as you can integrate them with a PV array. EV Man and EV Puzzle on YouTube have done a number of videos on chargers over the last couple of years which you may find useful. HTH idd

Typical established car industry myopic thinking. Meanwhile Chinese manufacturers see a huge gap in the market and have the vehicles to fill it... RIP Skoda... idd

Depron is no longer manufactured but you may find some at Steve Webb models in Frodsham. Graupner did a replacement foam material called Vector board but I don't know whether it will emboss. Again Webbies used to stock this. HTH idd

Happy day today as I was able to visit my local model shop. They’re located in a garden centre so I guess this is how they been allowed to open. Only one customer in the shop at any one time, sanitise hands on way in, and allowed ten minutes for buying and chatting! Made an essential purchase to keep me going slicing through acres of greyboard for my Scalescenes boxfile, and of course essential to support my local shop! idd

I have never had much luck using paint or felt tips for covering exposed card edges on Metcalfe buildings. I now use artists chalks ( NOT oil based) rubbed along the exposed card edge and then finish off using a finger tip. Job done in seconds with no risk to the printed face. HTH idd

Pah! No sense of adventure... Anyway it would probably bounce off! idd

So want one of these. But here in soggy Manchester I'd want the door option... Arcimoto You can even have one with flashy lights... idd

Small car with real style. Available soon... https://microlino-car.com/en/microlino idd

Model Y deliveries have commenced in the States. The premium brands are really going to start feeling the pain... idd

From the Q&A section on the ubitricity site: “Nowadays, most vehicles are equipped with a vehicle-side locking mechanism. In this case, the cable is locked both into the vehicle and the socket during the charging process. Nobody can pull the cable out of the socket or from the car. You can end the charging process by unlocking the vehicle - then, the cable is unlocked both from the socket and the car as well. Before opting for a SmartCable, we would therefore encourage you to check whether your car offers this function. “ It would also seem that some of their posts do not need the Brick and you can use their app. HTH idd

Charging cable is locked by car and by charging post. Cable does not unlock until user initiates it. This is usually done by smart card or a phone app. Hth Idd

Hybrid traverser, one that has a fixed track and yet can take cassettes as well? Just a thought! idd

Toyota finally coming off the fence? Toyota Aygo BEV

RC servo mounting screws work well. The socket head types from modelfixings.co.uk I have found to be particularly good. Cheers idd

This sounds a very pleasant adventure in RC. Cheers idd