Fenman

No. No more than I knew the cost of a replacement engine or gearbox on my previous ICE car. Why would I know the cost of a replacement battery? Two reasons why I don't bother: 1) All the indications are that EV batteries suffer nowhere near the apocalyptic predictions that were being made (from "research" funded by oil companies?); there are now enough older EVs to reassure us that they can do a formidable mileage without significant deterioration. An EV battery is not like the battery in your mobile phone; 2) the battery in my EV comes with an 8 year warranty. It's anyway been a long time since I kept a car that long, so 8 years is more than enough. I bought an Ioniq 5, the rest of which also comes with Hyundai's 5 year wrranty (Kia also offers 8 years for the battery but 7 years for the rest. There are one or two other manufacturers that offer longer warranties. If you're feeling nervous, pick from one of their ranges). Paul

The Campbell’s Soups factory in King’s Lynn had rail service (and I’ve seen models of dedicated branded wagons). It’s the only rail-served soup factory I’m aware of (its location was chosen partly because it was close to the vegetable-growing areas of the Fens). Class 31s were typical. The factory closed in ~2007 but a Google search hasn’t told me when railway service stopped. Sorry that’s not as helpful as it might have been! Paul

The Fenline between Ely and King’s Lynn was singled over much of its length when it was electrified in the 1980s. Too much for today’s (or, rather, 2019’s) demand, and attempts to introduce half-hourly frequencies have foundered on the capacity constraints of the long single sections (and the junction at Ely North). Even with an hourly frequency, there are often untimetabled waits at, eg, Downham Market station, to enable a late-running train to leave the single-track section before the waiting train can restart. Paul

I’m sorry you feel I’m trying to push you into something. I’m really not. I’m clearly in the final stretch of my time on this planet so I think it’s actually not my place to tell others what they “have” to do. Equally, I am still responsible for myself so, if I can, I should try to minimise my own negative impacts and instead make positive choices. But I do worry it’s all a bit late and future generations may well have a miserable time (especially, as you point out, the world’s poorest). It looks more likely than not that big chunks of my own county, Norfolk, will be susceptible to massive (permanent?) flooding and even more coastal erosion. There’s a sporting chance that even biggish towns like Cromer and King’s Lynn will be uninhabitable within a couple of decades. But you must decide for yourself what balance you think is right. I’m certainly not trying to make you do things you don’t want to and, if you think driving ICE cars is your only option right now, well, of course that’s your choice to make. Paul

All governments are short-sighted. Let's see what happens to that gas pipeline in the next few weeks and months... I think there's a sporting chance it won't see a single therm flowing through it. I completely agree with you on the first point. I completely disagree with your second point: their headline was sensationalist nonsense, a whipping-up of hysteria for no rational purpose I can think of. Your third point makes no sense to me: "less reliable"? Certainly wind-generated power is much less predictable; while the existence of solar is very predictable to a 24-hour cycle, although the intensity of it can vary enormously. But the object is to have a varied portfolio of renewables such that when one is not delivering you have others to bring into play. This is not dissimilar to what happens now when the system has to respond to enormous variations in demand: at some points you need to bring in reserve power-generating capacity, at others you need to shut it down. There is a constant balancing of supply and demand. In the new world of renewables there will be a different sort of balancing. But it doesn't feel to me as if that is impossible, or even scarily unpredictable. And I take comfort from experiments with forms of decentralised storage, using existing capacity (ie, EV batteries) to smooth power supplies for all of us. What a clever idea. Paul

I'm sure the Daily Mail feels big enough to be able to cope with my sneer. After all, they survived the humiliation of being pro-Nazi and it doesn't seem to embarrass them... The article beneath the ridiculous sensationalist headline about "draining your batteries" makes it clear it's a voluntary experiment to see if using EV batteries as part of a balancing mechanism is both practicable and desirable. You'll note the bit where the Grid person says that it may even be desirable for the Grid to transfer their surplus electricity to your batteries. Fascinating that the Mail feels it necessary to say not once but twice that we are in "transition to renewable – but less reliable – energy sources". Funny. Being an old fart who remembers power cuts and the three day week as if they were yesterday (back in an era of almost exclusively coal and nuclear power), I haven't experienced anything like that level of unreliability since renewables started forming -- at times -- a majority of our power supplies. I'm pretty sure Germany is looking at the supply of power from renewables and not worrying that it's less reliable than Russian gas. Paul

Aah, the Daily Mail, the voice of truth and reason... There are experiments underway to see if it's practical to use EV batteries to try to balance loads (which is not the same as the Daily Mail's Orwellian vision of some remote faceless agency "draining your battery"). But if you're worried, and since that wouldn't affect people with their own PV supply, that might be another reason to look at local generation if you can. Paul

On the one hand, the UK's National Grid people seem to think it won't be a problem, so I'm not desperately worried. On the other, we're slowly being encouraged to develop micro-generation: I can't be the only one toying with the idea of installing rooftop PVs and large batteries, at the same time as converting from oil-fired central heating to a ground- or air-source heat pump?* Not everyone will be able to do that, and many won't be able to afford to unless the government gets its act together with a grant-programme to help those living in fuel poverty, and neighbourhood programmes for those living in blocks of flats, for example. But if a significant number of us do something similar it will take a huge amount of pressure off the grid. It feels to me as if we're on the verge of doing lots of things very differently. EVs are just one symptom of that. Paul * Living in a remote rural area this is as much about resilience of power supply as everything else.

Who's justifying a design flaw? I think everyone has agreed with you — I even described it as “infuriating”. Not much justification implied by that word. Feels to me like you’re looking for any stick to beat a dog with… Paul

Van drivers seem to manage.

Whereas, of course, the airflow in reality does no such thing (at least on the Ioniq 5), as a glance at any number of Youtube videos will show. I have one and it's infuriating: the rear window is a real mud magnet here in rural Norfolk. Within a day of being cleaned the damn thing is opaque again. To add insult to injury, when you turn on the windscreen wipers a little confirmation panel appears in the dash confirming the setting of the "Front Wipers". WTF? There are no other wipers, so why the "Front"? Or was there a rear wiper during development that was then axed as a cost-cutting measure...? The "work around" is that you can use the reversing camera at any time. The problem is -- you've guessed it -- that's quite low down so also gets covered in mud. First World Problems? Yeah: otherwise it's a pretty near perfect car for my purposes. YMMV. Paul

Both Hornby and Rapido are making announcements on Monday. The times seem to be changing, but Andy Y has said they'll appear on here fron 08.00. Paul

Me too. I thought it would definitely happen after some 313 units were transferred to Southern. I’d also imagined Rail Blue GN versions working splendidly alongside Hornby’s then-new HST. Or run-down Silverlink units on what are now the Overground lines. Still, now your brilliant build is nearly finished, maybe it’s one of the Big Announcements on Monday… Paul

Portsmouth Harbour? Paul

Curious. All the professional reviewers have stated that the Skoda Enyaq, for example, has a boot so large that you could just about carry the moon. Paul

That road map dates from 2018: all the current indications I'm seeing are that Hyundai will activate V2G in existing Ioniq 5s and EV6s sometime this year, and likely in the next few months. Paul

It's already changing: the Hyundai Ioniq 5 can export from its CCS socket: V2L at the moment (so you can plug your fridge or tv into the car), but it is capable of V2G. I vaguely remember there's a trial underway in The Netherlands to test it on a large scale, but when (as seems likely) it's confirmed, there'll be a software update to enable all existing cars to export to the grid. The Kia EV6 (which is largely the same as the Ioniq 5 under the bodywork) can do the same. Paul

I’m curious as to your sources — especially where he described aids as God’s punishment. Everything I can find says he supported condom use and called for the decriminalisation of homosexuality. He argued healthcare needed to be addressed to people as they lived their lives. He even described Catholic policy on condoms as “irresponsible”. Paul

He was tiny in stature but was a moral giant. Paul

Yes, lots of people have been giving thought to trucks and farming equipment. Tesla famously announced their giant artic tractor BEV unit, and whole new companies are focussed on BEV delivery trucks (including U.K. company Arrival). JCB is just like the Japanese giant legacy companies, apparently obsessed with hydrogen. But it’s a mistake to assume that clever people who have been hugely successful in the past will always be right in the future: just look at how the brilliant billionaire entrepreneur James Dyson screwed-up his attempt to get into EVs. Think about all the massive corporations from even a few years ago who were overwhelmed by technology change and either no longer exist or are pale shadows of their former selves (IBM, Digital Equipment Company, ICL, Hewlett Packard, Xerox, Kodak…). I’m not sure why you think people who have transitioned from burning irreplaceable fossil fuels to using at least (in the U.K.) a very high proportion of sustainable power are not making at least some contribution to reducing emissions (and also reducing local traffic pollution which, let’s not forget, destroys toddlers’ brains). Your final comment strikes me as just a bit odd. “Lower classes” eh? How is it there in the 1950s?! Paul

Agreed. And in stark contrast to Hyundai, where the Ioniq 5 scored an easy 5 stars. I’d assume the EV6 will follow. It’s becoming pretty clear which of the legacy manufacturers are taking EVs seriously, and which are half-hearted (the latter including the Japanese giants). There’s a nice parallel with the development of digital photography: Kodak had all the technology at its fingertips and even started manufacturing digital cameras. But it was obvious their heart wasn’t really in it, and they were soon crushed by consumer electronic giants like Panasonic and Sony. Market leaders often struggle when technology shifts: they have so much more to lose. Paul

The shortlist for the European Car of the Year awards has just been revealed: and 6 of the 7 finalists are pure EVs. The times they are a-changin’… Paul

Even setting aside your eminently sensible comments, Ravenser’s comment about range limitations is simply not true. There are already EVs on the market with a range north of 450 miles (albeit at the expensive end of the market — check out the Mercedes EQS), and cars with a WLTP range >500 miles arrive in the new year. For my use case, it’s already clear that ICE cars are vastly inferior to EVs. YMMV, of course. Paul

Unless you have the misfortune to live on one of the many routes that offer no apex discounts — just the same “flat-rate” (= high) fares at all times. Check out the 100 mile route from King’s Lynn to King’s Cross. “We’re all in this together” except when we’re not. Paul

I wrote “anti-EV arguments”, not anti-EV people, and nor did I criticise alternatives… Paul