We have just done 500 miles of mixed driving with the new Mitsubishi PHEV since I set the cost per charge meter. I decided to get the calculator out and check how much the aggregate cost of driving has been over the said 500 miles.
We have used £13.80p of electricity, and about half the 30 litre tank of petrol at 92p per litre which works out at the same cost.
500 miles of driving has cost us £27.60p or 5.52p per mile.
I keep thinking I have got this wrong, but I have checked it a few times now.
The Chevrolet Captiva used 28 miles per gallon on longer journeys, and around Jersey in the lanes only 23 miles per gallon. At 28 miles per gallon this equates to 4.52 litres of diesel at about 95p per litre at the moment.
That's a staggering 18.66p urban cycle and 15.33p for longer trips. Plus all the nasty emissions from diesel. Wow... And this on the cheapest prices we have had in years.
We have a French friend up the road who has a free to roam chicken shed covered in solar panels. Last Tuesday we had a 36C heatwave and he got 400kw of power downloaded to the grid. Today is overcast and about 19C, so I said is that about 100KW, I think the look of surprise said yes.
He is very happy on sunny days! I asked how his chickens coped with the heat last Tuesday. He said they wouldn't go out in the sun, and did a great impression of a chicken trying to sit still with its wings out to try and cool down. I asked if he lost any from heat stroke but he said no he spent the day keeping them cool.
Anyway back to the Lithium ion batteries in the PHEV. I am sure these are going to be a leapfrog to a more environmentally sound solution, and advances in battery technology within a few short years will mean more efficient batteries that charge quicker, and last longer, and have better life than these will become available.
This means the car itself will become a resource instead of a problem.
In France there is a complicated energy tariff that I am sure is linked to their wind farms. When it is going to be very windy often wind farms have to dump their energy because there isn't enough storage capacity to save excess output. With massive battery capacity installed in cars, and an extra battery for the house, all this cheap energy could be got cheaply and stored for later.
This means within a short period of time, with some clever wiring options renewables become very much more attractive, and nasty expensive nuclear power stations that produce radio active material we can't get rid of are already obsolete.
The news today said that Ford are going to close their engine manufacturing plants in England because of BREXIT. I think it is more likely that the petrol engine has now become old technology.
I don't think it's fair to blame this on BREXIT. This is more about the public wanting to drive electric and PHEV cars, which are much cheaper, especially for urban driving, and avoid congestion charges.
We Brits are the worlds best inventors and manufacturers of high quality products, how about we develop the best electric cars, and roll out renewables in conjunction with all that spare battery capacity!
500 miles of driving has cost us £27.60p or 5.52p per mile.
I keep thinking I have got this wrong, but I have checked it a few times now.
The Chevrolet Captiva used 28 miles per gallon on longer journeys, and around Jersey in the lanes only 23 miles per gallon. At 28 miles per gallon this equates to 4.52 litres of diesel at about 95p per litre at the moment.
That's a staggering 18.66p urban cycle and 15.33p for longer trips. Plus all the nasty emissions from diesel. Wow... And this on the cheapest prices we have had in years.
We have a French friend up the road who has a free to roam chicken shed covered in solar panels. Last Tuesday we had a 36C heatwave and he got 400kw of power downloaded to the grid. Today is overcast and about 19C, so I said is that about 100KW, I think the look of surprise said yes.
He is very happy on sunny days! I asked how his chickens coped with the heat last Tuesday. He said they wouldn't go out in the sun, and did a great impression of a chicken trying to sit still with its wings out to try and cool down. I asked if he lost any from heat stroke but he said no he spent the day keeping them cool.
Anyway back to the Lithium ion batteries in the PHEV. I am sure these are going to be a leapfrog to a more environmentally sound solution, and advances in battery technology within a few short years will mean more efficient batteries that charge quicker, and last longer, and have better life than these will become available.
This means the car itself will become a resource instead of a problem.
In France there is a complicated energy tariff that I am sure is linked to their wind farms. When it is going to be very windy often wind farms have to dump their energy because there isn't enough storage capacity to save excess output. With massive battery capacity installed in cars, and an extra battery for the house, all this cheap energy could be got cheaply and stored for later.
This means within a short period of time, with some clever wiring options renewables become very much more attractive, and nasty expensive nuclear power stations that produce radio active material we can't get rid of are already obsolete.
The news today said that Ford are going to close their engine manufacturing plants in England because of BREXIT. I think it is more likely that the petrol engine has now become old technology.
I don't think it's fair to blame this on BREXIT. This is more about the public wanting to drive electric and PHEV cars, which are much cheaper, especially for urban driving, and avoid congestion charges.
We Brits are the worlds best inventors and manufacturers of high quality products, how about we develop the best electric cars, and roll out renewables in conjunction with all that spare battery capacity!
RSS Feed