Oh dear, what have I done

[Mart]

Covid is not my friend, had a chest X-ray yesterday and more bloods planned for mid Jan, as this flippin long Covid from early October won't p..s off. But I'm catching up on all the books I wanted to read.


Back to TM3's, I looked at the car reg data from the SMMT after the Nov delivery numbers, and figured that the TM3 was sitting just outside of the top 10 for UK annual sales. So I was hoping they might squeeze into the top 10 after a good Dec delivery figure, and possibly number one spot for sales revenue.

But, I never expected the TM3 to make it all the way to second place. I think that proves that the demand for BEV's is there, we just need the supply.

SMMT VEHICLE DATA Car Registrations

[nowty]

Parked up with the TM3 at the supermarket today and the guy next to me approached me as I got out, I thought he was going to have a go at me for parking to close to him or something. But he said he never even heard the car parking and when he looked round there was suddenly a car where there was no car a few seconds before. So he asked me if it was electric and we ended up chatting for quite a while about electric cars, he was a typical guy who has no idea about EVs and had vague pre conceptions about them. The highlights were,

Has it got an engine ?, No, two electric motors.

Just batteries then ?, Yes

I lifted both the bonnet and boot, showed him all the empty space.

Where are the batteries and motors ?, Underneath somewhere.

But there not very fast are they ?, 0 to 60 in around 4 secs, top speed 145mph.

But you can’t go very far with one ?, it gets me to my parents in Lancashire 250 miles away at motorway speeds.

On a single charge ?, Yes.

What's the car tax rate ?, Nothing.

And the killer question was,

How much does it cost to charge ?, At home about £3.50 from empty to full.
£3.50 gets you 250 miles ?, Yes, so that’s about half a gallon for you, gets you about 20 miles at best.

He left with his head spinning and he admitted it was the best looking car he’d ever seen. Just maybe another convert.

[Mart]

This is such positive news, as it goes to show just how little people in general know about BEV's. And that's not a criticism in any way, it just hasn't filtered through to the majority yet. So when they get to experience a BEV, and the always available torque, even from an old 24kWh Leaf, it's such a positive experience.

Putting aside the cost issue, which isn't fair, but just for a sec, I think almost everyone would want a BEV once they've had a quick play. It's simply a matter of bums on seats, and fans like us chatting in carparks etc. So quite an easy sell ...... cough apart from poor UK charging infrastructure and the cost cough ....... but that's all going in the right direction.


Little while back my neighbour (husband of my cleaning partner at the cattery) and good friend asked me if it was time to sell his Tesla shares (he got them after I tipped him off at about $600). So I suggested he go for a 10min spin in the car with me, as he's never been in a BEV. He was quite impressed, and surprised that it was so nippy (I'd barely had to touch the go pedal up to that point) then we got to a quiet road, 60mph limit and I asked if he was OK with me booting it, he said yes and I gave it about 80% throttle at 30 up to 60. He grabbed the side of his seat, and then my arm (which was resting on my left leg) and went full Vicar of Dibley "no, no, no, no, no" so I lifted off. I thought he was joking, but he was really shocked. Then we drove along a 3 lane road in the middle and he got to see the screen tracking all the vehicles around us.
Got home and asked if he was going to sell his shares, and he said 'not yet'.

[nowty]

Went out for a drive in the TM3 with SWMBO today.
Parking was difficult but we found a Tesco with a free Podpoint charger.

We had a nice pub meal whilst the TM3 was being slowly charged for free and we arrived home with a higher SOC than we set off with.


And sat right by an open fire which was bliss, but I first assumed it was a wood one but turned out to be the dirty black fuel, although it was a bit nostalgic of my childhood days.

[ALAN/ALAN D]

I popped into a pub last week that had a fair size open wood burning fire going.
The right hand side under the chimney breast of it had a large pile of wood ready to burn stacked up.
The left hand side under the chimney breast of it had a Blue Butane Gas Bottle with flexible hose and burner.
I did explain to the staff that the volume of gas inside the cylinder would get 270 Times Bigger If Things Go Wrong.
The pub would not be there any more.
It was removed outside and locked up straight away.

[Mr Gus]

Well played that man!

[nowty]

Drove up north again to repair my parents fencing after the recent storms. I drove up on Monday during Storm Franklin and unfortunately Zen was hit by some debris on the M40. Don't know what it was, never saw anything, just the loudest bang I have ever heard in a car, followed for a few seconds of whistling, then all calm again.

Some damage to the front bumper, cracked the number plate and smashed part of the number plate holder. I managed to temporarily tape up number plate and continue on my way. Could have been a lot worse if glass or a headlamp had been hit so I think I got off lightly, the bumper did its job.

By a strange coincidence the number plate company had previously mistakenly sent me two sets of plates so I already had a spare one, so just a replacement number plate holder for under £20 including delivery. Not sure what I'm going to do about the bumper yet.

[Fintray]

Damn, that's a bummer.

[Moxi]

Sorry to hear your news Nowty, fortunately just material damage and you remain unscathed which in any incident is best outcome.

Moxi

[Mr Gus]

Any in car video?

Bad luck nowty, it's going to be a bother to put right, but less so if you have the tesla boys nearer rather than far-rer, having gone to the MK compound (impressed by the key coding scenario there) it was pretty slick.