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Electric cars

I had to hire a Zipcar today, and it was a Vauxhall e-Corsa. As there has been much discussion here recently about the size and quantity of display screens on electric cars, I thought I’d share the view of the main instrument panel from the driver’s seat…

View attachment 307369

And guess what irrelevant piece of driving data the wheel was hiding, only to be revealed if one crouches down, as I was doing here:

View attachment 307370

:facepalm:

And yes, I am aware both the steering wheel and the seat can be height-adjusted. Still a shit narrow view of the panel whatever you do.

Urrgh yeah I know what you mean. I once got into a car that was completely undriveable because the seat was set far too far forward. What were those stupid manufacturers thinking?
 
I had to hire a Zipcar today, and it was a Vauxhall e-Corsa. As there has been much discussion here recently about the size and quantity of display screens on electric cars, I thought I’d share the view of the main instrument panel from the driver’s seat…

View attachment 307369

And guess what irrelevant piece of driving data the wheel was hiding, only to be revealed if one crouches down, as I was doing here:

View attachment 307370

:facepalm:

And yes, I am aware both the steering wheel and the seat can be height-adjusted. Still a shit narrow view of the panel whatever you do.

So you were using your phone whilst driving? I'm going to pass your details to that CyclingMikey guy.
 
So you were using your phone whilst driving? I'm going to pass your details to that CyclingMikey guy.
Be my guess. I am undoubtedly in breach of the law. And regardless of the fact that on both occasions I took the image in stationary traffic at a red lights that were not going to change for at least 30 seconds, the law clearly always knows best.
 
In related news I recently decided to try having the driver's seat in my Volvo about 1cm further backwards, and duly set it as such yesterday. However I forgot to suspend write protection on my cabin profile so the position wasn't saved, meaning the seat moved itself to it's previous position when I unlocked the car this morning, without me noticing.
 
Be my guess. I am undoubtedly in breach of the law. And regardless of the fact that on both occasions I took the image in stationary traffic at a red lights that were not going to change for at least 30 seconds, the law clearly always knows best.
If it’s a full 30s you might be okay, but people tend to be really bad at estimating time. If it’s less than 30s, you might start getting into distraction territory even after you’ve put the phone down


It can be seen that the viewing behavior not only has a significant influence on the sensitivity and stability of driving control, but also that the influence will still exist for a period after the distraction behavior ends. Therefore, at least on highways or expressways, it is necessary to prohibit the use of smartphones to view all kinds of information.
 
If it’s a full 30s you might be okay, but people tend to be really bad at estimating time. If it’s less than 30s, you might start getting into distraction territory even after you’ve put the phone down

I wouldn't disagree on principle, but apart from the fact that I know both light sequences very well as they are in my daily commute, when it comes to assessing risk, a mobile phone being simply used to take a photograph is just an electronic device like any other. And no difference from, say, scrolling through the extensive list of DAB radio stations on the screen, or touching climate control buttons.

Plenty of non-driving activities a driver might choose to undertake whilst waiting at a lights should perhaps be considered an unnacceptable risk of course, such as deciding to check their briefcase or handbag sitting on the passenger seat because they suddenly can't remember if they brought their reading glasses with them.

Is grabbing a mobile phone sitting on the passenger seat while stationary at a red lights to simply take a photograph and put it straight down again any more dangerous than briefly rummagging through your bag, or searching through the radio list on the console? Is it fuck. I can understand the law being overtly strict towards peoople touching mobile phones at all because of the tendency to go and check messages, online content, etc. But from the safety standpoint, certain tasks done with a phone, such as in this instance take a photograph, are about as risky as scratching your chin.
 
Yeah I go through red lights sometimes if there's good visibility, no one around, and I know that particular light sequence well. It's no different from a give way line really. I think to myself - why wait there like a lemon just because the law is overly strict about light-controlled junctions? :oldthumbsup:
 
I wouldn't disagree on principle, but apart from the fact that I know both light sequences very well as they are in my daily commute, when it comes to assessing risk, a mobile phone being simply used to take a photograph is just an electronic device like any other. And no difference from, say, scrolling through the extensive list of DAB radio stations on the screen, or touching climate control buttons.

Plenty of non-driving activities a driver might choose to undertake whilst waiting at a lights should perhaps be considered an unnacceptable risk of course, such as deciding to check their briefcase or handbag sitting on the passenger seat because they suddenly can't remember if they brought their reading glasses with them.

Is grabbing a mobile phone sitting on the passenger seat while stationary at a red lights to simply take a photograph and put it straight down again any more dangerous than briefly rummagging through your bag, or searching through the radio list on the console? Is it fuck. I can understand the law being overtly strict towards peoople touching mobile phones at all because of the tendency to go and check messages, online content, etc. But from the safety standpoint, certain tasks done with a phone, such as in this instance take a photograph, are about as risky as scratching your chin.
That’s not what the research shows, though. Making sense of a display requires reservoirs of attention that rummaging through a bag does not (not that the latter is a good idea either). Scratching your chin can be done without even touching the types of attention needed for driving.

And yes, this also goes for other console displays that require attention, like digital radio and touchscreen climate controls. That’s why they also should be got rid of.
 
Electric car issue has cropped up; have a client who lives near Hastings and is flying from Heathrow, it is 87 miles each way and his car has a real life range of ~200 miles. However leaving it for 10 days will drain some. It seems that terminal 2 short stay car park and a number of hotels have charging points, but only two or three each and they are on a first come first served basis and once you plug it it stays plugged in until you return. There is no such service like valet parking where they take your car off, charge it up and then park it. As it stands it seems that he will need to stop at Cobham services for 45 minutes or so on his drive home. No ideal…
 
I would not trust airport valet parking with my cars, heard far to many horror stories regarding them (it's easy for me to say, I know).
 
3 hours and £65 ish per person by train, with 2 changes. 90 minutes by car, which could carry between 1 and 7 people.
 
More like 2 hrs, plus the 45 minutes stop for charging.

£40 each way by train. How much does 10 days of parking cost at Heathrow?
 
Electric car issue has cropped up; have a client who lives near Hastings and is flying from Heathrow, it is 87 miles each way and his car has a real life range of ~200 miles. However leaving it for 10 days will drain some. It seems that terminal 2 short stay car park and a number of hotels have charging points, but only two or three each and they are on a first come first served basis and once you plug it it stays plugged in until you return. There is no such service like valet parking where they take your car off, charge it up and then park it. As it stands it seems that he will need to stop at Cobham services for 45 minutes or so on his drive home. No ideal…

Can he do something really crazy like set off 30 minutes earlier and charge his battery near the airport on the outbound journey so its all good to go on the return leg?

Also vampire drain ain't going to do for that much charge.
 
A hybrid, but still.



Back when I worked it car rental many years ago we supplied one of our cars as a courtesy car to a bloke who owned a 14 month old 911. The engine had just blown and in those days he only had a 1 year warranty on the engine. Porsche were telling him he needs to buy a new engine. Needless to say he wasn't overly impressed with that news and I left him at the dealership in Reading expecting him to burn the place down.

Anyway, long story short cars are cars regardless of the propulsion system. Want to own a car? Deal with the fact it might cost you a fortune at some point.
 
Electric car issue has cropped up; have a client who lives near Hastings and is flying from Heathrow, it is 87 miles each way and his car has a real life range of ~200 miles. However leaving it for 10 days will drain some. It seems that terminal 2 short stay car park and a number of hotels have charging points, but only two or three each and they are on a first come first served basis and once you plug it it stays plugged in until you return. There is no such service like valet parking where they take your car off, charge it up and then park it. As it stands it seems that he will need to stop at Cobham services for 45 minutes or so on his drive home. No ideal…
A stop for 45 minutes suggests he's going to fill it up to at least 80%. He wouldn't need to put that much juice in to get him home. A 15 minute stop should give him the extra range for him to get home and put it on charge properly. It should also be cheaper to fill it up to full at home.
 
Can he do something really crazy like set off 30 minutes earlier and charge his battery near the airport on the outbound journey so its all good to go on the return leg?

Also vampire drain ain't going to do for that much charge.

His outward flight is at 8am, so the start is early enough as it is.
 
A stop for 45 minutes suggests he's going to fill it up to at least 80%. He wouldn't need to put that much juice in to get him home. A 15 minute stop should give him the extra range for him to get home and put it on charge properly. It should also be cheaper to fill it up to full at home.

Good point.



The correct thing to do is get a cab, especially as he's on an 8 hour day flight back in business class 🍾🍾🍸🍻🍻🥂🥂🍷🍷🥃🥃🥃
 
Electric car issue has cropped up; have a client who lives near Hastings and is flying from Heathrow, it is 87 miles each way and his car has a real life range of ~200 miles. However leaving it for 10 days will drain some. It seems that terminal 2 short stay car park and a number of hotels have charging points, but only two or three each and they are on a first come first served basis and once you plug it it stays plugged in until you return. There is no such service like valet parking where they take your car off, charge it up and then park it. As it stands it seems that he will need to stop at Cobham services for 45 minutes or so on his drive home. No ideal…
A friend of mine had this recently, his Tesla was virtually flat by the time he got back to it after 10 days aways. He thought the security system must have drained it, I think you can disable it.
 
A friend of mine had this recently, his Tesla was virtually flat by the time he got back to it after 10 days aways. He thought the security system must have drained it, I think you can disable it.
I'm pretty sure there should be something in the system which reduces electrical consumption if the battery is low.

On my ICE BMW it reduces non-essential electrical consumption if the battery is low and it's just sitting there. The alarm still works but it turns everything else * off itself.

* I'm not sure what "everything else" is but it nags me about it when I next go to use it.
 
Toyota have filed a patent for a simulated manual system for EVs complete with fake rev counter. If it's a new BEV MR2 then I'm all for it.

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