acorb
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Posts posted by acorb
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Well I drive one (which from reading the thread so far nobody else does!), so let me provide some facts from 2 years & 35000 miles.
-Affordability. Yes they are expensive to buy, but most people use finance or lease. Mine is on a business lease and it was more affordable than hybrid or petrol. Given I charge mine at home I have saved a fortune on fuel in those 2 years.
-Practicality. I live in the middle of rural Wales. I use my car every day, but virtually all my journeys are under 150 miles, so I don't really need to use the public charging network. However, in the last 2 years nearly every town near me has acquired a charge point. Many are now used frequently.
-Useabilty. Once you have driven one, you will be amazed with the performance. Instant power. Far from new untried technology, my car has been fault free, reliable and a pleasure to drive. Several of my colleagues have now ordered EVs.
-Green? They are emission free, but only as green as the electric that goes in. New battery technology uses far less rare metals than ev batteries 10 years ago and are now recyclable - but they aren't perfect. But lithium batteries are in all sorts of portable electronics including mobile phones, do we boycott them?
-Power supply - I hear this a lot. EVs can already be programmed to charge off peak, that's when I charge mine. New technology means EVs can be used as portable storage, storing electricity at times of plenty and are capable of providing power, to remove the grid's peaks and troughs. Let's get solar onto roofs and pair them with EVs where possible, your EV could power your house for free potentially and actually reduce grid dependance.
-Are EVs the future? For me yes, it works and I'm impressed with the technology. It is still developing, new EVs go further and charge quicker than just 2 years ago. But I agree with the poster above, we still need to better develop public transport - nothing is greener than an electrically powered train for long distances or cycling / walking for short distances.
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In the last 30 minutes we have gone from snow, to ice pellets to rain..
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Rhayader is actually just outside that, looking out the window at the moment should be in it I think!
6 inches on the lawn which includes yesterday's snow, 4 inches on hard surfaces which didn't collect any yesterday - still coming down hard..
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Another good effort overnight and still coming down, 24 hours of continuous snow now. Good few inches where it settled yesterday and several cm level fall from overnight, 8/10!!
Only question now is how long it lasts before turning to rain.
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Plenty more snow here this evening, look carefully and you can see one of our badger visitors!
Probably a good cpl of inches, some of the hard surfaces have now covered over this evening and anything thawed has been replaced.
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2 hours ago, 121 said:
Your area is my favourite in the whole of wales with weather like this - everywhere you look is stunning. The amount of times I’ve driven up to Elan for it is borderline unnecessary
Can only agree, we are very lucky. Although the last 2 winters have been fairly snow less, this one has been a bit better, but we are due a proper dumping!
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Snowing heavily in Rhayader, settling on vegetation, but not roads. Seems surface temperatures just a little high.
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Still hanging on here too, certainly not much of a thaw today, temp currently 1c with fog..
Longest stretch of lying snow for a number of years.
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Just now, andymusic said:
bbc were a bit to bullish in pushing the temps up this week - they have since realised there error and pegged them back now - meto also guilty of the same
Indeed and it makes me think anyone making predictions beyond Wednesday or Thursday atm needs to be very careful.
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The continuing snow and frost brought an unusual visitor into the garden first thing this morning, never seen one in the daylight in the garden - must be starving. A reminder to remember our furred and feathered friends in this prolonged cold snap!
Still seems considerable uncertainty in both the short and medium term over on the other thread, all I know was that we certainly weren't expecting to still have snow on the ground now!
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3 hours ago, andymusic said:
We were out and about last night and come into contact with that freezing fog type of weather - nasty stuff - driving in it is murder
Yes, had some near Brecon yesterday evening, fortunately it was patchy and short lived - but not pleasant.
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Snow remarkably continues to hold on, temp barely got above freezing today and now - 2, despite cloud cover.
Managed to get a walk in around Elan Village, didn't venture much further up the valley as roads are thick with ice still.
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Just been for a walk around town, glorious conditions out there. Very little thaw and snow still quite thick widely. Temp has struggled up to 1c, has been much colder this week than forecast and doesn't look much warmer tomorrow. Hopefully the snow will last well into the weekend. Netweather forecast for next week seems to have backtracked on much of a warm up and shows colder conditions returning mid-week? Certainly no sign of the Atlantic deluge we enjured since Christmas, thank goodness.
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-5 & an ice rink here.
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Had to drive to a meeting in Newtown earlier. After 30mins of clearing the snow and gritting, managed to get both cars out safely, temp was - 3. On arrival in Newtown not any snow to be seen and felt quite warm in the sun, temp 6c!
On the way home the sky darkened and by Llangurig there was a full on blizzard! 0c and A470 was starting to white over in places. Continued all way back to Rhayader.
Partial thaw in the sun here, but temp only 1c, will freeze hard again tonight.
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Suspect there is even more up in the Cambrians, but reports are that Elan Valley area is a total no go, 4x4 only and even then very dodgy!
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Rather unexpected few more CM overnight, on top of what was left from yesterday - proper winter wonderland out there. This spell has delivered well for us, but very localised - much less snow in Llandrindod yesterday.
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Throwing it down in Rhayader currently, good few cm on the ground. My daughter was disgusted her school was still open!
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That streamer looks very, very interesting for this part of the world - slight correction South will do me!
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Whiteout conditions in Rhayader!!
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Air temps dropped below freezing again at 5pm. Snow showers at 3pm and another at 6pm have given a covering. Plenty of activity forming in Cardigan Bay, for once I have a good feeling about tonight!
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Well it's certainly cold!!
Have to see if any showers actually make it this far inland - seems to have been the issue this winter.
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Can report snow falling in Rhayader, tops of hills white. Suspect blink and you will miss it!
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Woke up to a light covering and falling snow - looks suspiciously like rain now..
The Electric Car - saving the climate or just polluting in other ways?
in Climate Change
Posted
Probably about £40 a month compared to £150 a month previously in fuel.
Electric cars have adjustable torque, usually via an eco mode or some now have a snow mode button - this reduces the amount of power put down on the road.
Overall handling is excellent, the low batteries mean it is grounded in the road and holds corners remarkably well for a heavy car.
If there was that much snow on the road I would not be driving in it anyway, in petrol or electric! However, I would add that the country with the highest number of electric cars per person is Sweden - not known for its mild winters!
A 50kw battery holds enough power to run an average home for a week, a few hours powering a heater in a car won't bother it..
I'm not pretending electric cars will suit everyone (yet!), or they are going to save the planet on their own (they're not) - but the amount of scaremongering that is being published by some media at the moment is especially laughable to someone who actually owns one!