im now possibly thinking of getting some solar and a storage device. A mate of mine has installed a large solar array on his new build and has a Tesla battery in the basement to store the energy generated. plus kit to export when available.

To be honest, the on cost of it at the moment is still too much to justify the Battery is pretty big chunk of cash to start with. But that said he's not spending on power and is fully electric with no gas so overall it probably will not take him that long to recoup the costs.

We have a fairly large south facing roof area so we would be able to generate a fair bit of power, but with the overall costs still into 5 figures then I will wait a bit and see what happens with storage solutions as more and more batteries work their way out of cars and into the storage side the costs should start to come down....... possibly There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
KIA E-Niro 4+
2021 Discovery 5 D300 MHEV commercial

I guess you have to factor in the fact that the cost of electricity is only going to go up, whereas the cost of the sun stays static. It's just a question of how much it's going to go up.

Google Kia EV4
No official yet
Boxy little thing. Quite like it. Gone to a good home: 2011 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue with Ivory and clear glass = "Rory"
2025MY Defender D350 90 in Silicon Silver on coils
1974 Series 3 Lightweight = "Millie"
Many, many other Landies over the years
My preferred specialist: www.glenrands.co.uk
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gotto wait till 2023 to get one of them Rob.. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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The Ev6 was quite cool looking but too big for SWMBO, like something out of blade runner from the 80’s…..

With the tax incentives available at the moment LR really need to get on the case because by the time they get their act in gear no doubt HM government will have made these incentives and tax breaks disappear……. 2%BIK and 100% cap allowance is not to be sniffed at. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
KIA E-Niro 4+
2021 Discovery 5 D300 MHEV commercial

Went fully electric as well earlier this year - Model 3 Tesla and a Skoda Enyaq. Thought the Skoda would be big enough for two labradors - it’s not quite - but it’s a great car in most other regards.

Briefly had a FFRR for the dogs, now back to looking!

Picked up the Kia Yesterday. So far so good, after some fumbling around I found the 3 pin charging cable in the boot, having done 100 miles in it yesterday I though it pile do with some more juice for today. So I’ve charged it overnight and 10 hours got me an extra 100 miles roughly….. so I think the 3 pin will work until the wall box is installed.

As a car it is generally deserving of its praise in the press. It rides nicely, it’s quick, quicker than 7.5 sec to 60 which is claimed….. I reckon it’s more like 6.5, anyhow that’s by the by. The connectivity and media are all pretty decent, the JBL radiogram goes loud enough, I can CarPlay my phone and the seats have heating and fart wafting. It also has ACC with Lane assist, which I’ve got to find out how to switch off permenantly….. works well in the motorway, not so much on A roads where it pulls you into the lane during spirited racing lines!

If only it looked nicer from the outside!

Click image to enlarge

Storm Arwen has flagged an issue with EVs
Smug daughter who gloated during the petrol “crisis” that wasn’t has just been without electricity for 40 hours.
She had to borrow one of my cars to get to work, I spent half of Saturday burning fossil fuel looking for a public charging point, all were full mostly with taxis who seemed to be hogging most of them.
Even when the power came back on she needed fossil fuel for another day as hers needed 8 hours to fill up.
We were in darkness as well but at least I could use the RR to get warm find something to eat and watch the TV.
EVs may be the future but the fossil fuel burning dinosaurs aren’t done yet😁

clutching at straws there really to make a point..... How often has your daughter had a powercut in the last 10 years? If it was a significant number a small backup genny would cover the need for the house and the car to charge.
Oddly enough, petrol pumps have been known not to work when theres a powercut! BMW i3 Electric Car
2012 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8 (now gone)
2006 VW Touareg 3.0 TDi V6

How big a generator would I need to power my house and charge my car? I've got a little 1KW petrol generator for the fish pond in an emergency, but a whole house and car?

2kw should provide sufficient power to operate gas / oil boiler, lighting and TV. When its not needed for house power then it should be ok to charge a car on a granny charger and should add about 8 to 10 miles range per hour. obviously increasing the generator size would increase what can be done.
A few years ago we had a power cut on Christmas eve and it continued through Christmas day. We cooked our Christmas dinner, ran the heating and lit up the Christmas tree powered from a 3Kw generator. in January I purchase a much bigger 7.5 Kw silent diesel generator which I installed permanently with auto start etc. How many power cuts have we had since then ? - none LOL
I suppose we have the best of both worlds, my wife has an Outlander PHEV, her daily routine she does about 7 miles per day, 6 days per week to work and back, 2 nights a week she does around 14 miles. Most of that is managed on electric, occasionally it uses the engine, the occasional longer trips she does it returns around 45 mpg on the 2 litre petrol engine. My i3 manages 170 miles in the summer and down to around 120 in the cold weather like we have now. BMW i3 Electric Car
2012 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8 (now gone)
2006 VW Touareg 3.0 TDi V6

Won't help with electric vehicle charging but nothing to stop you using your FF or any other car for that matter as a standby power source in the event of a prolonged power cut.
All you need is a suitable power inverter connected to your car, run an extension lead from your house to the inverter and let the car engine idle. Done it a number of times without issue.
I would point out that should you do the above or use a standby generator connected to your house you must switch off the main switch on the consumer unit in the house to ensure that your back up power source doesn't back feed voltage onto the distribution network.

Ive got a 2Kw inverter generator in the garage for emergency use and for camping if needed.... It should power the freezer, the telly and the boiler, but won't leave much for charging. however, as we currently have 4 ICE cars in the drive as well as the E-niro, I'm not seeing that as an issue.....

Tesla battery wouldn't help much either as they would only put a few miles into the car in any case. TBH even in bad weather round here in 20 years I've never known the power go out for more than 1/2 hour, and that normally because a tranny has blown somewhere. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
KIA E-Niro 4+
2021 Discovery 5 D300 MHEV commercial

1 week in abs SWMBo is racking up the miles on the Kia. She did 550 miles in the last week. So I think that would class as heavy usage…….

Still waiting for the charger to arrive at the merchant so we are still on the 3pin. But that is coping so long as it goes on every night. It will put back in about what she uses in a day, so does need doing every night otherwise it will creep downwards over the weeks abs would leave her short by Thurs/fri. Won’t be a problem once the wall box is in tho.

Fairly impressed so far.  There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
KIA E-Niro 4+
2021 Discovery 5 D300 MHEV commercial

does this cold weather hack down the miles?. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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