Vauxhall Pinch An Idea From Bombardier
Others may have too, but I was intrigued to see the review of the new Vauhall Ampera; which is probably best described as a bi-mode car. Or an electric one, with a small petrol engine that cuts in to get you home.
At first sight it looks like a solution to the range problem of an electric car, when you can’t find a means to recharge. The idea is not unique and the Bombardier TRAXX electric locomotive has an auxiliary diesel engine for use when the electricity has failed or is not available.
Will Electric Cars Ever Hack It?
I'[ve always had my doubts about electric cars and on BBC Breakfast, Rory Cellan-Jones was showing a new charging system, to help you do long journeys in an electric car.
As someone, who used to enjoy driving but doesn’t now, I’m rapidly coming to the point, where I think in the next few years many people will come to my decision and almost abandon cars completely.
Electric cars will not be the solution, unless they dsolve the range and cost problems, so they will only be for those who just can’t break their habit of driving everywhere. They will also probably only work if they are small and I doubt we’ll ever see an electric Range Rover.
On the other hand, where electric power and more efficient hybrid power will work is in larger vehicles, like buses and delivery trucks. Where I live some of the buses are hybrid and people like them because they are smoother and quieter than normally powered buses.
But we will change our lifestyles much more than you think.
As an example, these are things I do to avoid driving.
- I get my big grocery shopping done at Waitrose in Upper Street in the normal way and then they just bring it round an hour or so later. Even if I had a car, it would be less efficient and I’d to drive several miles to find a supermarket with a car park.
- I walk to the end of my road to the Overground and can get a train or tube to virtually anywhere in London, quicker than I could drive.
- For local trips, there are several efficient bus routes.
- Larger deliveries are easy, as delivery vehicles can park outside to unload.
So whether electric cars do hack it, I suspect that there are so many ideas to avoid driving, that they won’t be needed.
Top Gear Demolish Gravesend
Or at least part of the Kings Farm Estate was given the treatment on tonight’s program.
Search for Kings Farm Estate, Gravesend on Google and it would appear that the estate won’t be missed by the good people of Kent.
The E-Type is Fifty!
That amazing style icon of the 1960’s, the E-Type Jaguar is now 50. There a report here.
Range Rover Evoque
I went to a launch on the Range Rover Evoque at Earl’s Court last night. In some ways it was a bit of a waste on me, as I don’t drive, but a friend thought ashe might buy one, so she thought she’d take an engineer along.
I won’t comment too much about the vehicle, but I think it will sell well, especially if the 58 mph claimed for the diesel is obtained by real drivers. If I hadn’t had the stroke, I would probably have at least given one a test drive to replace my X-Type Jaguar estate. But it will never match the style and panache of my Lotus Elan.
What annoyed me was the presentation. It was all about style, with plenty of scantily-clad boys and girls, lots of lights and very little substance about the tjings that matter in a car. They didn’t even have any brochures!
Ten or so years ago, the lights would have caused me to have a headache and lose my vision. But since, I’ve been gluten-free that doesn’t happen anymore to me. So perhaps, it was a good test that my brain and eyes are working well in unison. But if I had needed to leave the presentation, it wasn’t obvious how I would have done it.
When I was shown the Discovery 2 or 3, it was an invite to a nice hotel and then I was given a map to take it for a drive. I didn’t buy one, but it was much more persuasive than a horde of scantily clad ladies.
Will Aston Martin Benefit from the Royal Wedding?
To many the iconic picture of the royal wedding is William and Catherine driving away afterwards in his father’s 1969 Aston Martin.
Aston Martin must be laughing their socks off!
Are Police Drivers Really This Stupid?
According to The Times today, policemen and I suspect policewomen as well are very adept at misfuelling their cars, as this extract shows.
Police forces have spent more than £300,000 in the past two years repairing diesel cars and vans damaged by officers who filled them with petrol.
Almost one in six diesel vehicles owned by the Metropolitan Police — the worst offender — was filled incorrectly, costing more than £170,000. Many forces have had to fit preventive caps and warning stickers because of the number of incidents.
How many plods have done it more than once. Surely, you get fired on the second time!
I’ve never done it and won’t now, as I don’t drive!
I do remember though a lady in serious distress once at Sainsburys in Haverhill. She’d taken her husband’s car to supposedly stay at her sister’s on Saturday night at somewhere that wasn’t Haverhill. But she’d gone to have a tryst with a man there. So being the good girl, she had left early on Sunday morning and then she’d gratefully replaced the fuel she had used. Except that she had put petrol in her husband’s diesel car. I’ve never seen a woman in so much tears, except where a death was involved.
No More Jump Leads
As I walked back from the de Beauvoir Deli this morning after getting my paper and lunch and having a coffee, a guy was putting his jump leads back in the boot of his BMW X5. To be fair, it didn’t look like the BMW that had failed, but someone had had a problem!
I laughed, as that is something that won’t bother me again. So buses break-down, but it’s not my problem to give them a push!
Moaning About the Price of Petrol
I’ve had a rough three years and now can’t drive because of the strokes. I just laugh at all those idiots, who insist on using their cars to do things, that I now have to do happily on the bus, or by walking. Although I live in London, I rarely use the tube, as the bus stops within a hundred metres.
Today, I’m off to Liverpool on the train from Euston. In First Class too! Paid for incidentally, by selling something on eBay from a car I used to own twenty years ago, that just happened to turn up in the move.
Life is fun! And funny as I listen to the selfish moaners!
The Anonymous Widower 