[avtur3]

Electric is brilliant for a lot of stuff and that includes powering air/ground source heat pumps for domestic heating. It will force housing stock to be properly insulated for a start, rather than burning 'cheap' fuel to make up for the losses through ineffective housing stock.

Amen to that. If heat pumps are rolled out as a magic solution and fitted into crappily insulated British houses, wait for the massive push-back against the technology as the enormous heating bills roll in.

Isn't this going to be a significant limiting factor in chasing efficiency, there is only so much that can be done to improve insulation in the existing housing stock. I'm concerned about aftermarket cavity wall insulation, installed in designs that were originally intended to have a cavity.

Also, when you have suspended timber floors at ground level there has to be an air gap open to air bricks, which results in cold floors. Most things I've heard about heat pumps is that you use the heat to provide low-level heat via underfloor heating which is installed under solid floors on top of huge amounts of insulation. This seems to be at odds with the logic behind underfloor heating.

The chancellors recently announcement green deal appears to have some limitations, firstly as far as glazing is concerned it is only available where existing glazing is single glazed. And secondly, it can't be used to fund a more efficient gas boiler, now I understand that we're told that gas has a limited life expectancy but surely even a few years of greater efficiency is better than none?

[Flyin'Dutch']

Isn't this going to be a significant limiting factor in chasing efficiency, there is only so much that can be done to improve insulation in the existing housing stock. I'm concerned about aftermarket cavity wall insulation, installed in designs that were originally intended to have a cavity.

Also, when you have suspended timber floors at ground level there has to be an air gap open to air bricks, which results in cold floors. Most things I've heard about heat pumps is that you use the heat to provide low-level heat via underfloor heating which is installed under solid floors on top of huge amounts of insulation. This seems to be at odds with the logic behind underfloor heating.

The chancellors recently announcement green deal appears to have some limitations, firstly as far as glazing is concerned it is only available where existing glazing is single glazed. And secondly, it can't be used to fund a more efficient gas boiler, now I understand that we're told that gas has a limited life expectancy but surely even a few years of greater efficiency is better than none?

Maybe there needs to be a scrappage plan for cr@ppy inefficient old housing stock? I am sure that even the most ardent lover of victorian terraces can see the benefit of having a carbon neutral comfortable house.

As far getting a sensible evidence based policy on moving anything into the next century..........don't go there.

[cockney steve]

ISTR a recent conversation, where property-owners in a recent development, literally couldn't afford to run the air-source heat-pumps. (Ground-source is , apparently , far more efficient, if you have the ground-area.)

The cost of insulating property is , in normal circumstances, a ridiculously-long payback-time. same with the big boiler-con. the huge cost of refitting, often needing new pipework/valves/radiators will never be repaid by the saving in gas(your fuel-source may vary) . Underfloor heating relies on the insulation under the slab, to make the heat "loss" mainly into the room, as opposed to the ground. The concrete slab effectively becomes a giant storage-heater. Late stepfather built an eco-house on the Isle of Wight. It had suspended floors, all insulated underneath, he put in extra and the whole lot was underdrawn with plastic netting to eliminate any tendency to sagging. there was also an enormous hot-water cylinder which was about 6 feet high and was covered in several inches of foam.

A lot of this "greening" is just eco-hogwash. What about all the extra energy to make and transport and install this insulation. How often is a skip loaded with ripped-out insulation when buildings are modified?

[Colonel Panic]

Quite a balanced review in this video; whilst he is US based, there is a fair amount of European stuff too.

[Rob P]

Back to EV briefly and the costs of the Tesla Super Charger outlets are under scrutiny in Australia

https://www.whichcar.com.au/car-news/te ... etrol-cars

Rob P

[malcolmfrost]

The price of petrol quoted is equivalent to £0.78/l

[Rob P]

Similar to the price round here.

















Assuming you have a pass to get onto RAF Lakenheath or Mildenhall

Rob P

[malcolmfrost]

Just done the maths for the UK, taking an ICE car doing 50mpg over 1000 miles with petrol at 114p/l works out at £105.
Tesla SR+ 247w/mile, Supercharger £65, at home £37.50.

[Rob P]

Anyone buying EV simply to save money is somewhat missing the point.

Still a decent benefit though for the time being, until the government pounces..

Rob P

[malcolmfrost]

You can probably add another £10 to the ICE costs for unnecessary coffee and chocolate bought!
So really us EV owners need to stop trying to convert everyone else!!

[Jim Jones]

In today’s Sunday Times James May reports how an over the air upgrade of his Tesla changed his steering so when he moved over to the side of a lane to allow an on coming tractor to pass, it pulled him back. Another user, a senior government minister, found it had switched off his heated rear seats and wanted money to restore the feature. He declined, to the chagrin of his children.

Any one here had that kind of experience?

[malcolmfrost]

Day 2 of ownership, we were driving up the M6 in lane 2 and indicated to move to lane 1 as it was empty. The car steered us back into lane 2 as someone came belting up the inside. It would have been a massive pileup.
Shapps bought an Sr+ which never had Premium connectivity or heated rear seats. Just before last Christmas they were enabled as a trial, then removed later.
May also sort of admitted he should have read the release notes which appear on screen after every update.
Anyone who buys a Tesla really needs to be aware that the car is in constant development!

[johnm]

Anyone who buys a Tesla really needs to be aware that the car is in constant development!

That's really very interesting and raises questions about safety management and construction and use regulations as well as the annoyance of the car changing its behaviour from time to time. At least it would annoy me, I like my cars to behave consistently and predictably

[Bill McCarthy]

Just like yourself

[johnm]

Just like yourself

Yup I'm generally pretty predictably rational

It may astonish you to know that I'm also known for being flexible, creative, kind, generous and helpful when I can.

Though I do admit the appraisal I had in my early years at work was very true

"John does not suffer fools gladly and makes no attempt to hide the fact, this is not always helpful when dealing with customers"

I'm quite fascinated by the way car technology is going though and the speed of development is quite impressive. There's a fair bit of the usual bovine ordure in advertising but some pretty impressive kit around now, I suspect that I'd have been very tempted by Tesla in my company car days, had they been around.