Kimbers
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Posts posted by Kimbers
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Well it turns out for the best for the detectives, not sure about the Murdered people!!
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2 hours ago, Bibs said:
Glad to hear you're ok mate, sounds like some luck there and a happy ending (for want of a better phrase!).
I was in the doctors yesterday, I'm 50 in a week and asked for a PSA check as my Dad had Prostate cancer and my Mum also had cancer. They said no, I wasn't showing symptoms so no need for a check. I'm going to pay for one privately.
I'm 56 and my Doctors refuse to do a "Well Man Check" which the NHS keep telling me I should have on a regular basis! All I get is "Do you feel ok?" Yes, You don't need it then. Prevention would save Billions of £'s vs treatment! We really need to sort the GP system out in the UK and stop building huge amounts of housing in areas without Healthcare in place, That is the pure reason I can't see a GP. FFS! My son cut himself due to depression and they would only do a "telephone appointment!"
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It's very rare I comment on anything "Serious" like Politics or laws etc but todays news does make me wonder when they replaced Politicians with Aliens.
1. We have overcrowded Prisons and no spaces for those currently going through the system what's their answer? Delay sentencing people and let out prisoners early. I mean, if you can't see the problem with both those items please apply to be a politician! Delay people who should be in prison, or going to prison and release those who should be in prison but early to put in more people who should be in prison but you have left out in the community whilst you sort spaces. We can all see how to solve it, make more spaces!
2. Cancel sex education for children under 9. Do they actually understand what is taught in Sex Ed for young children? Well, for a start try "Consent", "Inappropriate touching, talking and coercion", "Sexting", "Use of Social Media and sending pics" and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Who doesn't want their children being taught those things.... I'm sure we all know!My mind is seriously blown. Please someone sack the Politicans and create a new Party we can all understand and get on board with! "The Common Sense Party".
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5 hours ago, Barrykearley said:
Ahh now this I do take issue with. The Met police had officers sat in or outside Downing St watching the comings and goings and general partying occurring. And what exactly did they do? Turn a blind eye and continue to persecute the public.
Police forces seem totally different and they pick and choose what they consider is important to them. I won’t even digress into the “it’s a civil matter” fob offs they seem to give so many people when they simply can’t be bothered.
I can't speak for the Met mate, all I know is what Officers I know were told. It is poor that in one area you would be prosecuted and in another not but I would suspect that is about the position of the people breaking the law. And I know it shouldn't be different but I refer you to the "MP's Expenses scandal" and the fact that so many MP's broke the law and fiddled their expenses and avoided paying tax and just got to pay it back. If that was you or me we would be prosecuted by our company, HMRC and the Police.
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Are they guaranteeing the price of Electricity then? Otherwise it's twice as expensive to do the same mileage filling up at a filling station!
And I notice TESLA are offering cheap home fitted chargers! Yours for only £6400!
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2 hours ago, C8RKH said:
Surely the Police only act based on the powers and instructions they have been given. Therefore, the real people who should be victimised and prosecuted are the law makers and those who provided the instructions.
Absolutely correct. UK Parliament pushed through laws about mingling, travelling etc etc and then put out that they wanted them followed fully and to the full extent of the law. Therefore, even if you disagreed with it, Police would still have to enforce it! It was, quite literally, the law.
It was no different to speeding, drunk and disorderly etc that basically involved a ticket and a fine. It was also recorded and too many tickets and you got a whalloping fine. I know here in Norwich a group of university students who kept having parties got a £10,000 fine in the end.
Whether you agree with what was done or not, it was the law and the Police had to enforce it like any other. Sure, now when you look back it looks draconian. But the trouble with quickly drafted laws to handle "States of emergency" is they often allow very little or no room for an Officer to use common sense and leeway.
So, for example, we have a food processing factory near me. The workers are all on minimum wage and often from abroad. They can't afford cars so always car share or own a car between 4 of them. However, they don't live in the same house and as such, when stopped by Police, were breaking the law mixing together in the vehicle. Luckily most Police are not the Nasty people the press would have you believe and even though the law stated you had to ticket them I suspect words of advice were often given.
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Had it 4 or 5 times so far. Most recently in January and still have an annoying cough even now.
First time I had it in March 2020 I thought I was dying and nearly ended up in hospital. Last time in January I felt really crap for a few days, and then generally unwell for a few more. However I haven't had a booster. The last time I had one I was ill for longer than I was with COVID so guessed I would go with COVID rather than the jab.
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3 hours ago, mik said:
Lengthy post warning.
Mrs mik has run a launch-edition E-Tron 55 for 3.5 years. She was really keen to get an EV, so we got an EV. Generally it’s a superb thing, with tech that all works and integrates well. It’s fast and extremely quiet, rides very well (air sus) but it’s not particularly efficient, and doesn’t therefore have a great range. Charging at home for normal daily use is awesome. Charging on the public network for longer journeys is pretty dismal. No revelations there.
It’s now 3.5yrs old with just over 30k miles on the clock. I took it for a “larger car task” last month. 25 miles from home on an A-Road the car suddenly sang out some loud warning chimes whilst flashing up “Electrical System Fault – Safely stop vehicle!” followed immediately by a 4WD system fault message, and then a warning related to the drive system, with “Limited Performance Available”.
Audi’s definition of “limited performance” actually translated to no performance whatsoever, so I was lucky to be able to pull up safely at the entrance to a rural driveway. Once stopped I decided “actually I’ll shuffle it forward 2m to give the house owner more space to get in and out”. Nope. Zero drive.
A quick look underneath - fluid was leaking out towards the front of the car – not a very pleasant smelling one.
Called the AA and asked that they just send a flat-bed. Zero drive. 2.6 tonne car. Fluid leaking – it’s not going to be possible to do a roadside repair. Computer said no, so I waited 3hrs for a patrol to arrive, who looked at it, sniffed it, and said “I’m not even going to touch it mate”. 🙄 Another 75mins for a sub-contracted flat bed to recover the car to their holding yard for delivery to the dealership on Monday morning, and mrs mik came to pick me up. In the Evora. A car she has driven for a total of approximately 1.5 miles, when I got it 8 years ago.…erk. 😐
Luckily she, the Evora, all of it's gearbox ratios, and all originally fitted pistons & valves arrived unscathed. Phew. 🙂
E-Tron is 4wd of course and has motors both front & rear. Audi took a look and confirmed that the front motor had lost all coolant. Unfortunately that doesn't require a seal and refill, it renders it junk. Yes the entire motor unit. 😬 A new replacement motor is <tap tap tap> £6.2k fitted.
Thankfully I had previously opted to extend the 3yr manufacturer warranty (full cover for a very reasonable price), so this was a warranty job with courtesy hire car. Like really thankfully.
Some people might suggest however that this doesn’t appear to be a particularly good advert for EV’s. I might agree with them. A quick web search suggests that – whilst its a long way from being a “common” occurrence - we aren’t the first E-Tron owners to suffer this issue. It also appears to be an ongoing low-level problem for Tesla and presumably all other manufacturers who use fluid-cooled drive motors. Which triggered me to go and learn a little more.I'm still scratching the surface as opposed to diving deep, but I understand that in order to maximise (particularly continuous) output, manufacturers are deploying motor cooling circuits that go around the stator (sounds absolutely fine, and that was what I expected), past the electronic controls (erm - probably ok, but wasn’t aware of that) and through centre of the rotor itself (blimey – definitely wasn’t aware of that).
The first two seem straight forward in terms of keeping coolant appropriately isolated - in a similar way to the water jacket around an IC engine. The latter however appears to require “mechanical seals” that run on the main shaft of the motor. I know a bloke who works on ship engines (amongst other massive power units) who assures me that these types of seal are common, and generally extremely reliable, but I suspect that they might have a harder time in EV’s in terms of rapid heat cycles and speed changes (?)
Below is an Audi motor graphic (front & rear E-Tron), but I believe Tesla (and others) are similar.
So the point of my post? EV’s are still pretty new tech, so we remain on the lower slopes of understanding in terms of longer-term running issues. I think most folks are pretty aware of battery longevity concerns, but I have to admit I assumed the motors would last the life of the car (in as much as the vast majority of IC engines last the life of the car). Full motor swaps are clearly (potentially ruinously) expensive and quite some way from eco-friendly.
The push towards EV is going to require development/creation of new skills/businesses to perform preventative maintenance (such as motor coolant seal replacement), or refurbishment of failed units that the manufacturers aren’t interested in getting into (you might suggest it’s not in their interest to get into that type of activity). Tens of decades of IC engines means we have specialist places that can strip & refurb IC engines, gearboxes, diffs, but it's not yet there for EVs, and if that doesn't change we may be looking at a lot of EVs deemed uneconomical to repair at a fairly young age.
I’ll be extending the warranty on the E-Tron again this year, but at some point Audi won’t offer that any more.... 😶
Excellent post, but think about the average driver who knows nothing about mechanicals and likely wouldn't extend the warranty (80% don't) because they are told EV's are super reliable and efficient.
Now add in your cost to replace the motor vs what your car is worth (virtually nothing as its an EV and they are still plumetting in value) and you can see why so many larger companies refuse to use EV's.2 hours ago, oneshot said:Watching the programme about the highways agency and they were attending an accident on the motorway involving a Tesla. It had smashed into another car and was stuck in the middle of the motorway with all traffic stopped.
The highways people had been instructed that they couldn't touch an electric vehicle. Also the police in attendance said they couldn't touch an electric car.
So the whole motorway was stuck until a specialist recovery truck arrived to take it away.
Had it been an ICE car they would simply have pushed/dragged it to the hard shoulder.
Fire have recently announced they need a minimum of 4, but preferrably 6 fire engines for accidents involving EVs. Whereas with normal ICE cars their Standard OP's are no more than 2.
The EV policy is costing more and more in hidden costs that people don't know and this is starting to be reflected in Insurance premiums, Council Tax and eventually RFL I suspect, top pay for all the extra damage done.
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I don't know any companies who use vans who do under 100 miles a day even multi drop deliveries.
Commercial EV isn't viable for 99% of uses.
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A lot of it is a "Positive Spin". I know several Journo's (well people around me do) and they are constantly being bombarded by requests from Manufacturers and Govt organisations to only publish positive things about EV's.
I pity those who believe them, though they only tend to do it once, but for Vans its an income stream they get shafted on.
Incidently, My new Peugeot Partner Diesel 1 ton van, fully laden averaged 57.6mpg and did 600 miles without missing a beat or needing any fuel!
Conversely the E-Partner we tested had a "Claimed range" of 170 miles (Empty with the wind behind us) and actually managed a staggering 107 miles on a motorway with a half load.
On my 600 mile trip that means I have to add another just under 5 hours to my trip Just for charging!! And that's if the charger is free!
How useable is that in real life?
Oh and here's an article backing up my figures (nearly). They say 120 miles but subject to conditions.
https://www.drive-electric.co.uk/electric-van-leasing/peugeot/e-partner/
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I don't think there's much future in Lotus Dealerships mate. Maybe as a tag on to larger manufacturers.
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Cars of course! I'm not a total heathen!
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If I was him I'd give up the Motor Industry and move to the Rental Industry. It's the way to go!!
Turn to the dark side Scott, the dark side. Bwahahaha
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Your update from my trade Press. As you know I am not an advocate of EV's but especially the idiotic plan to Electrify Commercial vehicles with the load limits, mileage restrictions and lack of range that all that entails. Seems like the Trade are starting to agree with me after many trials have failed abysmally. You can't flog a dead horse and the politicians need to start listening to knowledgable people in the trade rather than the manufacturers who just pander to the politicians to get more money. If all Manufacturers just said "Nope, we refuse to make them anymore" and overnight stopped EV manufacture until the infrastructure, range, useability and technology is further reasearched (and they are honest about how bad they are for the environment) then what could the govts of the world do? Stop their economies? Pffft!:
Electric van demand falls
Deliveries of zero emission LCVs were down 42.4% in April, with the SMMT warning the ZEV target for 2024 will be missed. -
Can you imagine the uproar if this was the other way round?
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Arg! And I thought I was special! You just have to copy me don't you!
Though mine was on my front and involved not only 3 Colonoscopies (also non sedated) but a one down my Japs eye...... So Nyahhhhhh!
In all seriousness, I did tell you to stop shoving things up your arse! it can cause these kinds of issues!
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Happy Birthday mate!
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On 02/05/2024 at 10:30, Mark Blanchard said:
What a great story, thanks for sharing.
Here's an original one for sale. They're worth a fortune and truly collectible.
It does depend on who it was given to. Cubby Broccoli's sold for nearly £120,000
On 02/05/2024 at 15:19, MPx said:Great to see you both on the tele @kimbers and a wonderful story. What an amazing job Brenton did on the car.
(Slight aside off topic, but I've always wondered how The Repair Shop works Tony - I'm guessing you approach and if they like your story/item you get selected...but do you then pay for time/materials or just hand it over and they put in whatever's needed?)
Yes mate, apply and if they like it (and the story is almost more important than the item) then they do it all from start to finish. We filmed the first part 5 months before the second.....hence why I was much more tanned in the second bit because I had just got back from Cyprus!
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Just been interviewed by a national newspaper which was exciting!
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But the ZEV mandate is a massive thorn in their side. All of them. Both in Uk which is even stricter and EU which has already extended their mandate to 2035.
Like the Sky News article says, one of the biggest problems is that Chinese companies can make the cars at half the price of European companies. So they are currently taking half the orders in Europe away form the existing manufacturers who then can't get anywhere near their mandate.
That being said the UK Govts Mandate is rediculous. Such a high % increase year on year. They keep asking us to take 20% EV and all the fleet companies refuse and they still do the deal for ICE cars anyway as they need to sell cars!
I keep saying it. Massive changes coming!
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2 minutes ago, C8RKH said:I guess you were confirming what I was reluctant to say, which is what future does Hethel really have "when", not if, the manufacturing stops.
As for the redevelopment, it's a brownfield site isn't it so I am sure a way will be found that justifies its use over potential green belt etc. I'm not a local though, so no idea of the politics around it but there does seem to be a lot of development happening all over Norfolk.
Apparently the most built on Green Belt in the country. Weird when they keep quoting Agriculture as the most important thing in Norfolk!
politics is more about the people who live around there. Some very prominent people with power. They overturned a wind farm at the Factory despite initial go ahead, closed potash road at one end causing chaos to get in to work, got time limited use of the track due to noise...... I could go on mate.
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23 hours ago, C8RKH said:Reading that press release I worry about the long term future of Hethel, the signs are there that Hethel will just become a manufacturing only location which, if we're honest, leaves open the future possibility to consolidate all manufacturing in China.
Yes, there has been a significant investment in Hethel but that woukd be largely recouped if the site was sold off for housing etc.
You may have missed the meaning from what was disclosed as Hethel being a "manufacturing Only" location. They stop the manufacture of ICE cars in 2027. All the EV's are made in China. So what does that say? As they won't be manufacturing anything and its a Manufacturing only location?
As for the "selling the site for Housing" that will never happen. I have lived in South Norfolk nearly all my life and that area is protected from New building (especially on that scale) for many reasons. If they try and sell it, believe me, it won't make them very much at all.
22 hours ago, Nelly said:If Geely hadn't bought Lotus, the company may have gone and Hethel would have been sold anyway - agree that its a concern, but at least its had a stay of execution to prove itself.
I would say the Lotus ethos isn't a sustainable model anymore, otherwise they wouldn't be making the sort of cars the hardcore fanbase don't like. Its a weird situation, the Chinese side of things has to exist for the "Lotus" side of things to survive at all.
I don't think this is true. But it's all "What If's". If Proton hadn't brought Bahar in, Lotus had a viable plan going forward and MJK had started to make profits in 2008 and going forward. The Esprit would have been produced and new Smaller entry level cars as well as the planned Hypercar. But that all went to crap.
Then, what you say about Geely is also incorrect. Look at why they have made such large losses and why the Share price has bombed (which in turn says that investors have no faith in their plans)
1. Shops etc in central London/Paris etc. Something that was done before and failed abysmally. You may get a few London Centric people wandering in but they are 100% a vanity project. The European model is very much a dealer based Sales system. Less than 5% of cars are now ordered online without a dealer visit.
2. Geely don't seem to be in touch with the Market in Europe. One which is pushing back big time against EV and being forced into Something they don't want. The same is true of the US and other area's. However what Geely see is their own country which has a good infrastructure and really cheap electricity mainly produced by Coal. They don't see that Electric is so expensive here and there is no infrastructure.
3. The reason why they stopped production of their best selling cars, Elise, Exige, Evora 2 years before they were ready to bring out the Emira was a terrible business and brand destroying idea. It makes no sense to cancel models bringing in income, Service work and parts/Aftermarket sales, while you basically develop their one replacement for 3 models. (and it takes 2 years before deliveries start). As @C8RKH says, the MX5 and other brands are catering to a large market which has less and less models in it due to companies going EV. They are doing very well thank you.
4. Despite Lotus's aspirations of being a "Lifestyle" EV brand. The way EV's are going and the way Many manufacturers are frantically looking at alternatives, means Lotus may not exist period. To even sell vehicles, Tesla have once again hugely dropped their prices. What was £60k brand new 2 years ago you can now buy for £30k. I have experience of buying and selling EV's (selling is a bit of a push as they don't sell very well) and buying a small EV at £32000 and selling it a year later at £12500 is not a viable proposition. These are the figures we are dealing with. So it's likely your "Lifestyle EV" you buy for £120,000 is worth less than £40,000 a year or 2 later. No one can sustain those losses, retail or fleet and neither can Contract Hire or PCP companies. And it's a false economy. Because of the lack of demand and dislike for EV's amongst the "General population" the cheaper you make them the worse it gets as they are worth even less used.
5. If you need any more proof of the way things are going:
India Govt have announced Hydrogen not EV is their planned route but only Carbon zero by 2050.
Russia/China have said Carbon Zero by 2050
America is less than 25% towards where they should be as of today, for carbon Neutral, and these plans are by 2050 anyway!
German Car manufacturers pushing for Alternative fuel vehicles (Hybrids and PHEV's) to be included in the EV target rather than the ICE part of the plans
Toyota, Honda and GM all starting to hedge their bets
Watering down of EV plans and Carbon Neutral Targets worldwide as the cost starts to hit home and the "Normal working person" pushes back.
Even Scotland, who were one of the most vocal on Carbon Neutral have lost their Govt coalition due to the watering down of Carbon Neutral policies.
Frankly, I'm a little bored with harping on about it but a change is coming and Geely need to understand this.Extend the Emira, bring out a new Small sports car and/or a new Espirt style car, Non EV and use hybrids instead of EV's. Hybrids and PHEV's are still included.
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Well, Wendy and I binged the whole series of Fallout in 2 evenings (drunken ones I admit). It has to be one of the best Post apocolyptic series I have ever seen. Definately the best game based series. Has to be a 10/10.
Now, the agreement was, we both got to recommend a series for each other. She watched Fallout and I am now watching.......
Bridgerton.
Oh the pain, the absolute humiliation and needless hand wringing (me not the series). I bloody love it! Arg! Help me!
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Is electric really the answer?
in Lotus / Motoring / Cars Chat
Posted
If people aren't buying EV's it makes absolutely no difference no matter what companies make, even a 10 minute charge. It takes me less than a minute to fill my car and I don't have to wait at the pump.
One of our company car users (only one with an EV) found themselves 200 miles away and 40 mile charge. They stopped at a large Motorway services to find 5 charge points out of 10 working. and cars waiting at each.
Knowing there was another services 20 miles (half their range) they decided to go there. 10 miles into their drive their 40 miles had gone to 20 at motorway speeds. They made it with 4 miles left. To find 3 working charge points because the site didn't have enough electricity to service all of them and even more people waiting. To make it worse none were superfast because the site didn't have the capacity. The whole debacle added 3 hours to their trip in the end and they are now handing back their EV.
It makes absolutely no difference how long a battery can be charged to 80% because you need the charging points that can do it! Do you know how many fast chargers there are in the UK? 18% of those fitted. How many are the New Superfast chargers? less than 5%.
Figures we see in the industry say to even get within 50% of the infrastructure as we have for ICE cars, well over a £trillion needs to be spent. And that isn't going to happen.
Roll on 2030 when the Govt have to revise plans and open the market to proper cars or lose massive swathes of their GDP due to the unsuitability of what they are forcing people to drive.