Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

I like cats but one thing I hate is having a clean car and they walk all over it with dirty paws. 

Edit...

  did I just watch...?  

mnem
dood.... that was dark, even for a guy who watches Venture Bros and Love/Death/Robots...   

[McBryce]

It seems that BMW's PHEV (Performance Hybrid EV) drivetrain is more about making a 4-cyl vehicle perform more like a 6-cyl vehicle than any real strides towards being more carbon-neutral? Am I missing something here? I read that the rated battery-only range is 14 miles with 7 hours charging via regular extension cord...

C, you just read the manual... that is a misprint, right?

Don't get me wrong... I'm generally for the shift towards EV; it has to happen if we are to survive past the next generation. It just seems the way they're doing it is such tiny steps so slowly... it is physically painful to watch the progress sometimes...

mnem
 

The "P" in PHEV stands for "Plugin" not "Performance" (ie: you can charge it externally, not just from the ICE).

The slow progress isn't due to the car developers or makers. Customer demand and infrastructure are what's mainly slowing the progress. If you are BMW and only 5% of your customers want an EV, why would you make more than that?

McBryce.

[TERRA Operative]

..All seems to be working well now, except for the one little shaft coupling that has broken as they always do (you can see it in the image).... Anyone got one of these spare?

Since I've never had the pleasure... it's a crack in this aluminum collar that I'm supposed to be seeing?

Can something 3DP possibly work, or is this unit for resale so not a acceptable solution...? I was thinking if one made a part that replicated the collar and the tube, might have enough meat to hold up to a set-screw. Unless this coupler is about HV isolation, in which case not good to substitute a different plastic, as most of the popular 3DP filaments are hygroscopic.

mnem
 

Yeah, they always seem to crack right there. Apparently from what I've read online, the aluminium part is a standard size and they alter the nylon insert for different shaft sizes.
If I had a lathe or even a drill press, I'd make a new one myself. Alas, the workshop is still on the horizon...

This unit will be sold off as I have the newer DC503A, so something more permanent that 3D printing would be best.

[mnementh]

It seems that BMW's PHEV (Performance Hybrid EV) drivetrain is more about making a 4-cyl vehicle perform more like a 6-cyl vehicle than any real strides towards being more carbon-neutral? Am I missing something here? I read that the rated battery-only range is 14 miles with 7 hours charging via regular extension cord...

C, you just read the manual... that is a misprint, right?

Don't get me wrong... I'm generally for the shift towards EV; it has to happen if we are to survive past the next generation. It just seems the way they're doing it is such tiny steps so slowly... it is physically painful to watch the progress sometimes...

mnem
 

The "P" in PHEV stands for "Plugin" not "Performance" (ie: you can charge it externally, not just from the ICE).

The slow progress isn't due to the car developers or makers. Customer demand and infrastructure are what's mainly slowing the progress. If you are BMW and only 5% of your customers want an EV, why would you make more than that?

McBryce.

Sorry... the stuff I was reading, I think that rephrasing was BMW marketing wank; not sure if it's an "official" product designation of any sort. 

Customer demand...? I don't think they can hide behind that spin-doctoring anymore. It's more like they haven't gotten the memo that the customer is sick and tired of being told what they want rather than being asked. The real customer demand for EV is obviously very high and has been legitimately viable since the EV1 became a martyr for the cause; otherwise there's no way a snake-oil product like Tesla could have survived this long. If the established car manufacturers keep looking at the problem through "fossil-fuel-colored glasses" and using that Cretaceous-era business model, Tesla may actually last long enough to evolve into a real car manufacturer rather than a publicity stunt like GM's creation/dissolution of Saturn. 

Ummm... because we are right now at the point where the real math is more like "Ummm... lemme see; everybody is dead, so 5% of zero is... ummm... carry the zero... still zero effing customers for everything we make...?" 

Delays in realizing real EV infrastructure is and has been entirely politics for the entirety of my adult life, so again... IMO, still pure automaker marketeering .

mnem
This space carbon-neutral since 2019.

[mnementh]

..All seems to be working well now, except for the one little shaft coupling that has broken as they always do (you can see it in the image).... Anyone got one of these spare?

   Since I've never had the pleasure... it's a crack in this aluminum collar that I'm supposed to be seeing?

Can something 3DP possibly work, or is this unit for resale so not a acceptable solution...? I was thinking if one made a part that replicated the collar and the tube, might have enough meat to hold up to a set-screw. Unless this coupler is about HV isolation, in which case not good to substitute a different plastic, as most of the popular 3DP filaments are hygroscopic.

Yeah, they always seem to crack right there. Apparently from what I've read online, the aluminium part is a standard size and they alter the nylon insert for different shaft sizes. If I had a lathe or even a drill press, I'd make a new one myself. Alas, the workshop is still on the horizon...

This unit will be sold off as I have the newer DC503A, so something more permanent that 3D printing would be best.

      
https://www.amazon.com/Drixet-Drill-Stop-Bit-Collar/dp/B073VS72R3/

Could you maybe hand-tool massage one of these into a crude substitute? I know they're like $2 a set at Horror Fraught, so definitely available through the usual China-Direct markets for a pittance.

https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20220326070340&SearchText=drill+stop

mnem
 

[McBryce]

It seems that BMW's PHEV (Performance Hybrid EV) drivetrain is more about making a 4-cyl vehicle perform more like a 6-cyl vehicle than any real strides towards being more carbon-neutral? Am I missing something here? I read that the rated battery-only range is 14 miles with 7 hours charging via regular extension cord...

C, you just read the manual... that is a misprint, right?

Don't get me wrong... I'm generally for the shift towards EV; it has to happen if we are to survive past the next generation. It just seems the way they're doing it is such tiny steps so slowly... it is physically painful to watch the progress sometimes...

mnem
 

The "P" in PHEV stands for "Plugin" not "Performance" (ie: you can charge it externally, not just from the ICE).

The slow progress isn't due to the car developers or makers. Customer demand and infrastructure are what's mainly slowing the progress. If you are BMW and only 5% of your customers want an EV, why would you make more than that?

McBryce.

Sorry... the stuff I was reading, I think that rephrasing was BMW marketing wank; not sure if it's an "official" product designation of any sort. 

Customer demand...? I don't think they can hide behind that spin-doctoring anymore. It's more like they haven't gotten the memo that the customer is sick and tired of being told what they want rather than being asked. The real customer demand for EV is obviously very high and has been legitimately viable since the EV1 became a martyr for the cause; otherwise there's no way a snake-oil product like Tesla could have survived this long. If the established car manufacturers keep looking at the problem through "fossil-fuel-colored glasses" and using that Cretaceous-era business model, Tesla may actually last long enough to evolve into a real car manufacturer rather than a publicity stunt like GM's creation/dissolution of Saturn. 

Ummm... because we are right now at the point where the real math is more like "Ummm... lemme see; everybody is dead, so 5% of zero is... ummm... carry the zero... still zero effing customers for everything we make...?" 

Delays in realizing real EV infrastructure is and has been entirely politics for the entirety of my adult life, so again... IMO, still pure automaker marketeering .

mnem
This space carbon-neutral since 2019.

I agree with most of that, but the infrastructure (and with that I also mean the ability to supply enough electricity) is still a major obstactle. A gallon of petrol contains about 33kWh of energy. A pertrol car is about 20% efficient, so every gallon of petrol supplies around 6.6kWh of useful energy. According to the US EIA there are about 135 Billion gallons of petrol sold per year in the US. So if everyone in the US were to suddenly swap to EV, the US would need to produce and distribute an additional 189 Billion kWh of electricity just for the cars. Where's all that going to come from? I believe the US currently produces 3.8 Trillion kWh per year and the grid is already struggling to deliver that. In European countries where people tend to use less electricity per household, the delta would be a lot higher.

McBryce.

[mnementh]

Yeah, that's a large part of what I wind up getting into painful recursive debates with some folks (mostly those who are even worse at math than I am... how is that possible?  ); they just can't seem to grasp the fact that every step you get away from the point the energy is created to the point work is done is an order of magnitude of loss in total system efficiency.

What's really disheartening is trying to explain to these people that this model goes all the way up to the root source of all energy on this planet, which is the sun itself. Every step we get away from using that energy directly is another step of storage in some form... and again, an order of magnitude of loss in overall efficiency. 


mnem

[McBryce]

Yeah, that's a large part of what I wind up getting into painful recursive debates with some folks (mostly those who are even worse at math than I am... how is that possible?  ); they just can't seem to grasp the fact that every step you get away from the point the energy is created to the point work is done is an order of magnitude of loss in total system efficiency.

What's really disheartening is trying to explain to these people that this model goes all the way up to the root source of all energy on this planet, which is the sun itself. Every step we get away from using that energy directly is another step of storage in some form... and again, an order of magnitude of loss in overall efficiency. 


mnem

Then try explaining Hydrogen cars to them! Going from sun energy to actual vehicle movement has a loss of somewhere around 88%, so only about 12% efficiency.
If you are trying to explain these things to others, there are some really good comparison charts available showing each loss along the way for each fuel. All in percentages, so good for arguments with the mathematically challenged too.

McBryce.

[Robert763]

In the UK your plug in hybrid EV (PHEV) now has to be capable of >30 miles on battery to get benefits like zero road tax.
My 2016 model year Outlander PHEV ony does 24 miles, but fortunatly was registered in 2015 just before the change in the rules.
On that note my PHEV is in the garage at the moment with a dragging front nearside brake. Diagnosis is siezed caliper and warped disk (rotor). SWIMBO made me buy an after market warranty when we got the car. Much to my surprise they have agreed not only to pay for the caliper but both disks and four pads  I'm payimg £100 towards the labour to fit the disk and pads on the "good" side.
I fully expected them to say "brakes are wear and tear, not covered". Pads were about due to be changed anyway and the garage quoted £200 just for that.
When the car is out of warranty I'll be dong this stuff myself.
 

[Andrew_Debbie]

Yesterday morning this is not what I'd have told you was going to be my first job today after making coffee:



Bejezzus this thing is complicated. I spend most of yesterday evening reading the handbook, trying to learn the 1001 settings and controls on the car. What happened to "Stick the key in, turn it, go"?

You do realise that is unsafe, right?


Trip hazard aside, that is a fire risk.    The EVSE lead has a temperature sensor in the plug.  It will reduce the current or even stop the charge if the  plug or socket overheats.

An extension lead does not.

[Andrew_Debbie]

I believe the US currently produces 3.8 Trillion kWh per year and the grid is already struggling to deliver that. In European countries where people tend to use less electricity per household, the delta would be a lot higher.

McBryce.

There is plenty of off-peak capacity. 

Most of us charge our cars overnight when demand is low.     I am on an EV tariff that is only  £0.05/kWh between 00:30 and 04:30.    Just about everyone I know with an EV is on that or something similar (like the old Economy-7 tariff.

[Specmaster]

Yesterday morning this is not what I'd have told you was going to be my first job today after making coffee:



Bejezzus this thing is complicated. I spend most of yesterday evening reading the handbook, trying to learn the 1001 settings and controls on the car. What happened to "Stick the key in, turn it, go"?

You are now exhibiting one of the reasons why the EV will be slow to be adopted by most city / town dwellers, the lack of suitable charging facilities is one of their main Achilles heels. Charging from a single phase via extension cords will seriously restrict the charging capabilities to just a few miles for each hour of charging. Plus the risk of being sued for damages if anyone trips over the lead, or in the worst case get an electric shock from poorly maintained, or poorly wired leads. Plus some toerag nicking your charging lead because they need one, or just as a prank, thus leaving you high and dry with no energy when you thought it would be fully charged 

[Specmaster]

Yesterday morning this is not what I'd have told you was going to be my first job today after making coffee:



Bejezzus this thing is complicated. I spend most of yesterday evening reading the handbook, trying to learn the 1001 settings and controls on the car. What happened to "Stick the key in, turn it, go"?

You do realise that is unsafe, right?


Trip hazard aside, that is a fire risk.    The EVSE lead has a temperature sensor in the plug.  It will reduce the current or even stop the charge if the  plug or socket overheats.

An extension lead does not.

Water ingress is another consideration with extension leads.

[Robert763]

Not all EVSE leads have plug temperature sensor though I understand the original BMW ones do.
The car end plug is locked into the car (except the earlier "type 1" plugs) so can't be stowlen. The extension lead is a hazard for several reasons though. As a minmum it should have a weather protected socket, RCD and cable protector. Ideally it should be powered from a dedicated radial circuit, not plugged into a ring main.

[ch_scr]

Yesterday morning this is not what I'd have told you was going to be my first job today after making coffee:



Bejezzus this thing is complicated. I spend most of yesterday evening reading the handbook, trying to learn the 1001 settings and controls on the car. What happened to "Stick the key in, turn it, go"?

You are now exhibiting one of the reasons why the EV will be slow to be adopted by most city / town dwellers, the lack of suitable charging facilities is one of their main Achilles heels. Charging from a single phase via extension cords will seriously restrict the charging capabilities to just a few miles for each hour of charging. Plus the risk of being sued for damages if anyone trips over the lead, or in the worst case get an electric shock from poorly maintained, or poorly wired leads. Plus some toerag nicking your charging lead because they need one, or just as a prank, thus leaving you high and dry with no energy when you thought it would be fully charged 

IMHO PHEV are pretty pointless. It's greenwashing in its worst form - a lot of pointless (even harmfull) additional effort for little gain. How much recuperation can this thing do, if even any at all? Because the only two upsides I can see for PHEV in general, are charging the battery while breaking a lot (think driving downhill in the Alps), then using that charge on the next uphill, and not having to turn on the ICE at all just to go buy groceries. One is hampered by the limited charge rate of small batterys, the other by the sparse charge opportunities in cities. While both will get better over time, it still seems like bandaid at best.

[mnementh]

Yeah, that's a large part of what I wind up getting into painful recursive debates with some folks (mostly those who are even worse at math than I am... how is that possible?  ); they just can't seem to grasp the fact that every step you get away from the point the energy is created to the point work is done is an order of magnitude of loss in total system efficiency.

What's really disheartening is trying to explain to these people that this model goes all the way up to the root source of all energy on this planet, which is the sun itself. Every step we get away from using that energy directly is another step of storage in some form... and again, an order of magnitude of loss in overall efficiency. 


mnem

Then try explaining Hydrogen cars to them! Going from sun energy to actual vehicle movement has a loss of somewhere around 88%, so only about 12% efficiency.
If you are trying to explain these things to others, there are some really good comparison charts available showing each loss along the way for each fuel. All in percentages, so good for arguments with the mathematically challenged too.

McBryce.

Yes... okay... but then when you try to explain to them as a comparison the many steps involved in fossil fuels... how the first step of reduction is solar energy absorbed by plants and the planet itself, followed by animals which eat those plants (and animals which eat those animals; another step), followed by a really huge reduction in the form of biological breakdown and cooking by more solar energy which has again undergone a stage of reduction first into gravitic energy, then into geothermal literally on a planetary scale, then that compounded by millions of years of such pressure-cookery, it breaks their pee-weeny little brains.

Hell, I'm pretty good at grokking "the big picture", and I have a hard time imagining just how small an amount of the energy expended in the process is actually stored as usable energy in fossil fuel... for the sake of my own sanity, I imagine it as a easily grasped "very approximately 1/10 of a percent", but I'm pretty sure even that is a gross overestimate. Now when I realize that we have expended in 300 short years almost all of millions of years of product of that process... that is where my own pee-weeny little brain starts to break.

Oh, and by the way... how many other steps in that chain did I miss or forget...?

mnem

[mnementh]

Yesterday morning this is not what I'd have told you was going to be my first job today after making coffee:

   Bejezzus this thing is complicated. I spend most of yesterday evening reading the handbook, trying to learn the 1001 settings and controls on the car. What happened to "Stick the key in, turn it, go"?

You are now exhibiting one of the reasons why the EV will be slow to be adopted by most city / town dwellers, the lack of suitable charging facilities is one of their main Achilles heels. Charging from a single phase via extension cords will seriously restrict the charging capabilities to just a few miles for each hour of charging. Plus the risk of being sued for damages if anyone trips over the lead, or in the worst case get an electric shock from poorly maintained, or poorly wired leads. Plus some toerag nicking your charging lead because they need one, or just as a prank, thus leaving you high and dry with no energy when you thought it would be fully charged 

The problem there is still primarily politics. The people we entrust to "lead" us have literally been playing the same moronic "the chicken or the egg argument" game of hot potato with the whole issue of EV infrastructure for over 3 decades now, and as a result what should have been a relatively painless process of gradual deployment and adoption and expansion is now a "FIRE!!! FIRE!!! FIRE!!!" in a crowded theater stampede to do something, even if it's wrong... so now they're using the spectre of widespread panic and economic ruination as an excuse to still do nothing.   

mnem
"The only inexhaustible resource is human stupidity." ~attributed to Albert Einstein

[ch_scr]

Yesterday morning this is not what I'd have told you was going to be my first job today after making coffee:

   Bejezzus this thing is complicated. I spend most of yesterday evening reading the handbook, trying to learn the 1001 settings and controls on the car. What happened to "Stick the key in, turn it, go"?

You are now exhibiting one of the reasons why the EV will be slow to be adopted by most city / town dwellers, the lack of suitable charging facilities is one of their main Achilles heels. Charging from a single phase via extension cords will seriously restrict the charging capabilities to just a few miles for each hour of charging. Plus the risk of being sued for damages if anyone trips over the lead, or in the worst case get an electric shock from poorly maintained, or poorly wired leads. Plus some toerag nicking your charging lead because they need one, or just as a prank, thus leaving you high and dry with no energy when you thought it would be fully charged 

The problem there is still primarily politics. The people we entrust to "lead" us have literally been playing the same moronic "the chicken or the egg argument" game of hot potato with the whole issue of EV infrastructure for over 3 decades now, and as a result what should have been a relatively painless process of gradual deployment and adoption and expansion is now a "FIRE!!! FIRE!!! FIRE!!!" in a crowded theater stampede to do something, even if it's wrong... so now they're using the spectre of widespread panic and economic ruination as an excuse to still do nothing.   

mnem
"The only inexhaustible resource is human stupidity." ~attributed to Albert Einstein

Oh, and don't forget here in Germany, they had to continously sabotage home solar and small wind for 15 years after they accidentally made it worthwhile for "the normal folk" to invest into. Now that they achieved "good luck making a penny on it" again, next step is to make it mandatory on newly built houses.  At least the UK is building offshore wind like crazy, because our great leaders were going to cull that industry after they stomped it out of the ground, like they did with solar.   

[Cerebus]

Yesterday morning this is not what I'd have told you was going to be my first job today after making coffee:



Bejezzus this thing is complicated. I spend most of yesterday evening reading the handbook, trying to learn the 1001 settings and controls on the car. What happened to "Stick the key in, turn it, go"?

You do realise that is unsafe, right?


Trip hazard aside, that is a fire risk.    The EVSE lead has a temperature sensor in the plug.  It will reduce the current or even stop the charge if the  plug or socket overheats.

An extension lead does not.

[sarcasm on]
Gosh no, I never considered that reading the rating plate on the back of the charger first (which says 10A) which is explicitly designed for charging from a domestic 13A supply, and plugging it into a 13A rated extension cable that had been fully unwound, with a properly fused plugtop, plugged into a radial circuit with a 16A ELCB wouldn't be OK. Thanks for educating me. I'm also having problems learning how to suck eggs. Could you help?
[sarcasm mode off]

There is no fire risk, at least no more than the 3kW kettle in my kitchen also presents.

There's a world of difference between a one off, let's see if this PHEV charges, to a permanent installation that can be used any time, unsupervised, in any weather. It's a dry day, I was pootling back and forward cleaning windows, exploring features found in the manual, and generally keeping an eye on things, and of course I checked ratings, loads etc. before starting, heck I even put the car in "reduced charge demand" mode beforehand so that it only asked for 7.5A, just in case. I ought not to need to point out the minutiae of all that, here of all places, before someone takes it upon themselves to offer ill-founded advice and implicit criticism. I'd like to think I've demonstrated my technical chops often enough here to avoid that.

So, no fire risk. Fully supervised, so if I saw someone coming who it looked likely that would present a genuine trip hazard to (the old, very young, infirm, or congenitally stupid) I was on hand to say "Carefully now" and "Down with this sort of thing".

[Robert763]

Yesterday morning this is not what I'd have told you was going to be my first job today after making coffee:

<Image SNIP>
Bejezzus this thing is complicated. I spend most of yesterday evening reading the handbook, trying to learn the 1001 settings and controls on the car. What happened to "Stick the key in, turn it, go"?

You are now exhibiting one of the reasons why the EV will be slow to be adopted by most city / town dwellers, the lack of suitable charging facilities is one of their main Achilles heels. Charging from a single phase via extension cords will seriously restrict the charging capabilities to just a few miles for each hour of charging. Plus the risk of being sued for damages if anyone trips over the lead, or in the worst case get an electric shock from poorly maintained, or poorly wired leads. Plus some toerag nicking your charging lead because they need one, or just as a prank, thus leaving you high and dry with no energy when you thought it would be fully charged 

IMHO PHEV are pretty pointless. It's greenwashing in its worst form - a lot of pointless (even harmfull) additional effort for little gain. How much recuperation can this thing do, if even any at all? Because the only two upsides I can see for PHEV in general, are charging the battery while breaking a lot (think driving downhill in the Alps), then using that charge on the next uphill, and not having to turn on the ICE at all just to go buy groceries. One is hampered by the limited charge rate of small batterys, the other by the sparse charge opportunities in cities. While both will get better over time, it still seems like bandaid at best.

I'm not sure you fully understand the optimum use case of PHEV's. I'm a good example. I mostly do short jorneys but regualrly do long ones. I have no off-road parking at home. This means a full EV is not practical solution. I can however charge at work. So I am able to do my full commute totally on battery power. But can still do a long journey without having to plan charging stops and hope a charger is available.
The energy recovery of my Outlander PHEV is pretty good. I can control the amount of regenerative braking. This means I can drive and hardly touch the friction brakes. The overall recovery and storage efficency is not great, I guess around 70%, but it's a lot better than dumping it all as heat and dust. You lso don't have the engine speed and load constantly changing in traffic.
The IC enginge always runs at a optimum load point with any excess going into the battery or power short fall being made up by the electric. It has two motors and a CVT. At highway speeds the IC engine runs most of the time but will switch off when the excess fed to the battery has built up. IT also switches off downhill.
PHEV's are not perfect but compared to a conventional mid sized 4WD SUV it is very fuel efficent. In in the worst case long distance highway trip it's fuel consumption is about the same ae SWMBO's Ford Focus.

[Cerebus]

IMHO PHEV are pretty pointless. It's greenwashing in its worst form - a lot of pointless (even harmfull) additional effort for little gain. How much recuperation can this thing do, if even any at all? Because the only two upsides I can see for PHEV in general, are charging the battery while breaking a lot (think driving downhill in the Alps), then using that charge on the next uphill, and not having to turn on the ICE at all just to go buy groceries. One is hampered by the limited charge rate of small batterys, the other by the sparse charge opportunities in cities. While both will get better over time, it still seems like bandaid at best.

As I said earlier, I concur. The whole approach by the public sector, which almost directly drives demand, and hence what is made, is wrong. The idea that keeping my old car on the road, properly maintained, is actually on the bottom line the "greener" option in every sense is too hard an idea for policymakers to grasp as it can't be reduced to a soundbite. "Electric good, petrol bad" is about the limit of their thinking, and deep concepts like whole-lifecycle environmental costs, while easily grasped by a six year old, are beyond their ken.

I'm actually rather angry that the combined weak thinking of Westminster, the London Mayor, and my local borough council mean that I have to get rid of my old and much loved car, spend more money, and have a higher overall environmental impact than if I kept it.

[mnementh]

[sarcasm on]
Gosh no, I never considered that reading the rating plate on the back of the charger first (which says 10A) which is explicitly designed for charging from a domestic 13A supply, and plugging it into a 13A rated extension cable that had been fully unwound, with a properly fused plugtop, plugged into a radial circuit with a 16A ELCB wouldn't be OK. Thanks for educating me. I'm also having problems learning how to suck eggs. Could you help?
[sarcasm mode off]

There is no fire risk, at least no more than the 3kW kettle in my kitchen also presents.

There's a world of difference between a one off, let's see if this PHEV charges, to a permanent installation that can be used any time, unsupervised, in any weather. It's a dry day, I was pootling back and forward cleaning windows, exploring features found in the manual, and generally keeping an eye on things, and of course I checked ratings, loads etc. before starting, heck I even put the car in "reduced charge demand" mode beforehand so that it only asked for 7.5A, just in case. I ought not to need to point out the minutiae of all that, here of all places, before someone takes it upon themselves to offer ill-founded advice and implicit criticism. I'd like to think I've demonstrated my technical chops often enough here to avoid that.

So, no fire risk. Fully supervised, so if I saw someone coming who it looked likely that would present a genuine trip hazard to (the old, very young, infirm, or congenitally stupid) I was on hand to say "Carefully now" and "Down with this sort of thing".

Okay... okay... you're right. You posted one pic of the first, tentative charge of your first EV... and we descended upon it like hyenas picking a carcass to pieces.

We all know you're smart enough to have considered this choice carefully, and I for one never imagined you'd make a habit of charging your vehicle this way. 

Sorry. That is a wee bit ridiculous. 

mnem
*toddles off to Discord*

[mnementh]

IMHO PHEV are pretty pointless. It's greenwashing in its worst form - a lot of pointless (even harmfull) additional effort for little gain. How much recuperation can this thing do, if even any at all? Because the only two upsides I can see for PHEV in general, are charging the battery while breaking a lot (think driving downhill in the Alps), then using that charge on the next uphill, and not having to turn on the ICE at all just to go buy groceries. One is hampered by the limited charge rate of small batterys, the other by the sparse charge opportunities in cities. While both will get better over time, it still seems like bandaid at best.

It is for most people who need a car. But sadly, before we can get to the point of changing legislation, we have to beat the legislators up with proof of demand for real EVs in the Court of Public Opinion, and we do that most convincingly by voting with our dollars.

It is a maddeningly slow and exhausting process, and mired in bureaucracy like a trying to wade through an ocean of Jello... or maybe a city-sized Roach Motel...    but we cannot just ignore the Band-aid choice until we are able to force them to give us a real choice.

EDIT: Sadly, this dysfunctional model also applies to your comment on household solar above.   

mnem
*toddles off to make a toddy for my body*

[Andrew_Debbie]

only asked for 7.5A, just in case.
So, no fire risk. Fully supervised,

I keep forgetting that people here know what they are doing.


Fires do happen, usually because the socket or the extension lead are not up to the task. A 10A load all night long is different that a kettle running for a few minutes. 







   

[ch_scr]

I'm not sure you fully understand the optimum use case of PHEV's. I'm a good example. I mostly do short jorneys but regualrly do long ones. I have no off-road parking at home. This means a full EV is not practical solution. I can however charge at work. So I am able to do my full commute totally on battery power. But can still do a long journey without having to plan charging stops and hope a charger is available.
The energy recovery of my Outlander PHEV is pretty good. I can control the amount of regenerative braking. This means I can drive and hardly touch the friction brakes. The overall recovery and storage efficency is not great, I guess around 70%, but it's a lot better than dumping it all as heat and dust. You lso don't have the engine speed and load constantly changing in traffic.
The IC enginge always runs at a optimum load point with any excess going into the battery or power short fall being made up by the electric. It has two motors and a CVT. At highway speeds the IC engine runs most of the time but will switch off when the excess fed to the battery has built up. IT also switches off downhill.
PHEV's are not perfect but compared to a conventional mid sized 4WD SUV it is very fuel efficent. In in the worst case long distance highway trip it's fuel consumption is about the same ae SWMBO's Ford Focus.

Yes, there exist additional circumstances where the specific benefits add up. It's nice if it does. But if even one, let alone two of these specifics fall away (charging at work or at home, regular mixed distances, actual need for a big car), it's a net negative.