Brexit, for once some facts.

[Zlatan]

Can imagine Putin waking up and exclaiming "O blast".

It's also reported Russians intercepted an aquatic drone, packed with explosive, last week. Probably one got through.?
Would a truck bomb cause part of structure to collapse?? Would need tons more explosive on bridge than under it to render out of commission. Think there is more to come out about this.
One in eye for Kremlin tho who boasted a few months ago bridge would be impossible to destroy as it was so well defended.???
Unfortunately tho I suspect the more successes like this we see for Ukraine the more likely a tactical nuke will get used. And the rhetoric suggests that would mean an immediate and massive escalation. (NATO/USA said they would destroy every Russian combat asset /soldier in Ukraine. WW3?)

 

[oyster]

One in eye for Kremlin tho who boasted a few months ago bridge would be impossible to destroy as it was so well defended.???

One of the many pieces of advice I'd give is never to make claims like that. Even if the claim itself seemed rock solid, the making of it will encourage those who wish to destroy it.

I can imagine that someone might have been holding back, worried in case they failed or something, actually changing to supporting the sabotage.

 

[flecc]

Naturally this will be very reassuring to Crimean citizens.
If I had the misfortune of being one of them the notion of fleeing over the bridge not knowing if there was a car bomb somewhere in the line.......

You have a strange propaganda view of this war. What makes you think the Crimean Russians will actually be fleeing in reality?

Either this war will be going on for many years, eventually in a desultory fashion, or there will be a cease fire agreement. Either way the Russians will not be going anywhere now they are digging in.
.

 

[jonathan.agnew]

Matt does it again

If had to make the same decision now, I would not buy an ev - aside from 60% bigger ecological footprint of manufacture there's dragging 2500kg around, quite dirty electricity and financially it really doesn't make sense anymore.

 

[oyster]

If had to make the same decision now, I would not buy an ev - aside from 60% bigger ecological footprint of manufacture there's dragging 2500kg around, quite dirty electricity and financially it really doesn't make sense anymore.

Most of the time, I be perfectly happy with about a 30 mile radius of driving. With just the odd foray further afield.

I'd like there to be a way of buying a relatively inexpensive, shorter-range EV, but being able to increase range, or swap vehicle, easily, quickly and at a reasonable price.

We need to go to Cardiff sometime soon. That would obviously need a much greater range. But need to be able to decide pretty much on the day - due to illness issues affecting whether we are well enough to go, as well as weather. Booking a hire car for a week ahead just isn't going to work.

 

[Danidl]

Excuses, excuses. Read my reply to Oyster just above showing the other aspects of Ukraines ineptitude in the South.

Yes, Russia made a complete mess of invading the North. I know it hurts you to admit it, but the roles were reversed in the South with Russia getting it very right. Ukraine in contrast messed up completely there by having their prepared defence at Donetz facing the wrong way and caught completely by surprise by the rapidity of the attack from the rear.
.

Not so ..there is a consistency in my responses. Ukraine did not believe that Russia would invade. , They did not expect the airborne blitzkrieg, They did not believe that Belarus would be complicit and be a staging post. And remember that they were fighting initially with only a small fraction of the armaments that Russia allegedly possessed. Nobody ,neither Russian, NATO or even Ukraine expected Ukraine to survive beyond a few weeks, and the weapons provided were for short range guerilla war defense. Russia had a 10 fold advantage in artillery, and still has many more artillery tubes . The difference is that now Ukraine has agile and highly accurate long range devices
In Mariupol etc, the Russians obliterated a city using artillery, and were in a position to use air strikes from Crimea.

 

[Zlatan]

One of the many pieces of advice I'd give is never to make claims like that. Even if the claim itself seemed rock solid, the making of it will encourage those who wish to destroy it.

I can imagine that someone might have been holding back, worried in case they failed or something, actually changing to supporting the sabotage.

Agreed, its easily seen as a challenge...
Rather like the commander sticking his head above parapet and proclaimg
"they will never hit us at this "

 

[jonathan.agnew]

Most of the time, I be perfectly happy with about a 30 mile radius of driving. With just the odd foray further afield.

I'd like there to be a way of buying a relatively inexpensive, shorter-range EV, but being able to increase range, or swap vehicle, easily, quickly and at a reasonable price.

We need to go to Cardiff sometime soon. That would obviously need a much greater range. But need to be able to decide pretty much on the day - due to illness issues affecting whether we are well enough to go, as well as weather. Booking a hire car for a week ahead just isn't going to work.

that's just it - flexibility - even with a decent range ev & home charging it isn't as simple as the practical immediate indefinite range of an ICE (if in an emergency i have to go to Bournemouth at 3AM - a return journey of circa 250 miles - it becomes about state of charge, whether there are reliable rapid chargers en route. There's an americanised road movie bit of me that like being able to, say, in principle if not always practice, **** off to our "mexican" border (the eu) on wheels in a moments notice (beyond which, to paraphrase Axl Rose, the grass is green and the girls are pretty)

 

[AntonyC]

Hybrids - was it wise to ban them?

 

[flecc]

Hybrids - was it wise to ban them?

If you mean the ban coming in 2035, yes it is wise.

Already quite a few who've bought them often don't bother to charge when it's inconvenient, treating them as nearly full time IC cars, and the electric range of most models is very small.

But the real problem from 2035 would be those who buy them only intending to use them as pure ic cars to get around the ban on IC only.
.

 

[flecc]

If had to make the same decision now, I would not buy an ev - aside from 60% bigger ecological footprint of manufacture there's dragging 2500kg around, quite dirty electricity and financially it really doesn't make sense anymore.

I doubt that 60% greater ecological footprint.

My Leaf just exceeds 1500 kilos, not 2500.

My supplier to my home charger only supplies renewable energy, so no dirty electricity here

And as you might recall, WeBuyAnyCar offered me just under £21,000 for my 4.5 year old one that cost just £26,000 new in 2018. You show me a 4.5 year old i.c. car with that rate of return!
.

 

[jonathan.agnew]

I doubt that 60% greater ecological footprint.

My Leaf just exceeds 1500 kilos, not 2500.

My supplier to my home charger only supplies renewable energy, so no dirty electricity here

And as you might recall, WeBuyAnyCar offered me just under £21,000 for my 4.5 year old one that cost just £26,000 new in 2018. You show me a 4.5 year old i.c. car with that rate of return!
.

It's about perspective, here's an idiosyncratic but valid (run of the mill, working sod) one: if I were mid forties (when I bought mine), planning to keep it 10 years, do 12 to 15k miles/year (it's serviceable life, im all for the longeivity of evs but its a brave person who buys one with 150k miles) it would cost significantly more overall than an ice over the same period given present cost of electricity. solution is for ev's to become much cheaper - the equivalent of ice - for 60kwh mg4 to retail for £18k instead of £30k, which will happen once motor industry wake up and smell new post truss profit margins. And for battery technology, charging network to mature, a lot

 

[flecc]

It's about perspective, here's an idiosyncratic but valid (run of the mill, working sod) one: if I were mid forties (when I bought mine), planning to keep it 10 years, do 12 to 15k miles/year (it's serviceable life, im all for the longeivity of evs but its a brave person who buys one with 150k miles) it would cost significantly more overall than an ice over the same period given present cost of electricity. solution is for ev's to become much cheaper - the equivalent of ice - for 60kwh mg4 to retail for £18k instead of £30k, which will happen once motor industry wake up and smell new post truss profit margins. And for battery technology, charging network to mature, a lot

I agree, I'm teasing. Whether any e-car is a good buy is hugely variable according to usage, individual buyer and intended routes.

For most charging is no problem while IC fuel distribution is gradually getting to be one:

Information link
.

 

[jonathan.agnew]

I agree, I'm teasing. Whether any e-car is a good buy is hugely variable according to usage, individual buyer and intended routes.

For most charging is no problem while IC fuel distribution is gradually getting to be one:

Information link
.

Yes, snag is that best way to get meaningful return on considerable capital investment (say £30k plus) before was through lots of inexpensive miles. which isn't possible with evs anymore, even for business users. But I imagine motor industry will have to adjust to new reality through lower upfront cost.

 

[oyster]

Hybrids - was it wise to ban them?

I drive both a hybrid (not plug-in) and a standard ICE. Ironically, I get similar mpg a lot of the time. But the hybrid really is much better round town. Whereas the ICE is significantly better on motorway journeys. By swapping with some thought, I think I do the best I can.

I did consider a PHEV but they were both expensive and heavy.

Unlike many, I really would have used EV mode a lot of the time. Certainly wouldn't have got one as a tax dodge.

Had the government done something like mandate 75% EV mode, which might have superficially seemed attractive, I think there would have been widespread faking/fraud.

 

[jonathan.agnew]

Hybrids - was it wise to ban them?

yes - thought the same - hypothetically (am not technologically minded, but nonetheless) something like i3 platform that's biased towards bev with very small cheap - if this exist - turbine that runs on diesel (which has lot in common with jet fuel) generator (instead of motorcycle motor that takes much space, is quite heavy, produce quite limited power) for occasional backup, but i guess that leaves the whole destructive fossil fuel industry in place instead of removing it..

 

[flecc]

yes - thought the same - hypothetically (am not technologically minded, but nonetheless) something like i3 platform that's biased towards bev with very small cheap - if this exist - turbine that runs on diesel (which has lot in common with jet fuel) generator (instead of motorcycle motor that takes much space, is quite heavy, produce quite limited power) for occasional backup, but i guess that leaves the whole destructive fossil fuel industry in place instead of removing it..

The real solution remains to get rid of i.c. altogether.

We only developed this bonkers habit of driving long distances and travelling so much because i.c. engines made it possible. Without them, or if we'd had the foresight to avoid using them so much, society's structures would have developed very differently and far better. We may not have even bothered to develop e-cars.

Just think what we could have done with the trillions of hours we spent travelling. How clean the air would have been without all those i.c. exhausts. How much grief would have been spared if we hadn't been killing 1.35 millions on the roads every year, not to mention the injuries, disabilities and suffering caused.
.

 

[flecc]

Can imagine Putin waking up and exclaiming "O blast".

Channel 5 should watch out.

They scheduled and are showing "A Bridge Too Far" today.
.

 

[oyster]

The real solution remains to get rid of i.c.

We only developed this bonkers habit of driving long distances and travelling so much because i.c. engines made it possible. Without them, or if we'd had the foresight to avoid using them so much, society's structures would have developed very differently and far better. We may not have even bothered to develop e-cars.

Just think what we could have done with the trillions of hours we spent travelling. How clean the air would have been without all those i.c. exhausts. How much grief would have been spared if we hadn't been killing 1.35 millions every year, not to mention the injuries, disabilities and suffering caused.
.

I spent years in a city from which many travelled to London. And many travelled to that city from further away. Many by train, but an awful lot at least partly by car. The traffic jam round the station caused by (typically) wives coming to pick up hubbies was crazy.

Never did understand how we got to this place.

Although I have commuted, I've always hated doing so. However, there have been times that even short distances took an hour or more.

 

[oldgroaner]

You have a strange propaganda view of this war. What makes you think the Crimean Russians will actually be fleeing in reality?

Either this war will be going on for many years, eventually in a desultory fashion, or there will be a cease fire agreement. Either way the Russians will not be going anywhere now they are digging in.
.

Of Dear oh Dear
Let's see at the very least they accepted Russian rule,and of course many will have actively aided them.
Put yourself in their shoes and imagine that the Ukraine army shows up.
To hell with your propaganda, in their shoes I would be heading out of the country.
This war isn't going to go on for years and it will end with either a rather bright sunrise, or the Russians quit, a far more likely scenario