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My "gloves for handling dirty cables" usually live on the passenger seat, so I unlock from the screen while getting them out.

Had one a few years ago when they were doing them at Nettle Hill near Ansty - lovely surroundings, good coffee. That was where I learned my favourite bit of motoring trivia - the same year (1935) saw the introduction of the driving test, the Belisha beacon and the 30mph urban speed limit...

This morning was the first time I noticed the display showing the wheelie bins by the side of the road - may just be the first time I've driven around much on bin day. It then got a bit trigger happy and represented an old cooker dumped by the side of the road as a wheelie bin. Is this new, or...

Coal is still part of the planned energy mix, but it's turned off when other sources are available. Burning coal when the other sources are low isn't a sign of anything wrong, it's exactly the plan. As is not burning it when they're plentiful. That's why it's called a transition to green...

That's all I do: my M3LR puts in about 9% per hour, so I leave start at 00:30 and set maximum to current level + 35% from the app after plugging in. Doesn't need any more technology and if I have two long journeys on consecutive days just set it to 100%: the standard rate juice is still cheaper...

Other than "don't leave it at 100% all day, every day", the BMS will take care of the rest. Frequent hard acceleration is the biggest electrical stress on the battery, but you'll notice it on your tyres first. The main influence on my charging schedule is that I can put in 35% in the four hours...

If the chargers are on free vend then maybe the VIN matching is disabled? Had a long chat with Osprey at the Fully Charged show this weekend: most auto makers haven't implemented the parts of the CCS standard that communicate the VIN (I think she said that Porsche have). This is why general use...

That was from my last SC at South Mimms. Not sure why it was still showing. Nothing landed for the Tolvaddon charge.

Nice and perky this early evening, some guys doing landscape work with their ICE truck across three bays, but only me there. Obviously they need to put a surface down as the picture above shows. 50°13'38.8"N 5°16'46.0"W is the entrance to the bays, or ///sleeps.rainwater.olive

If I were Tesla I'd put someone "front of house" or marshall at the busiest sites at the times when they are expected to be busy (e.g. holiday routes). Managing the queues, helping people decide how high to charge, suggesting drivers at 50% continue their journeys ... not a year round job, but...

I've never liked people tailgating me, but when someone drives close behind me now I drop out of TACC - all it needs is someone to wobble in the adjacent lane and the car will drop anchors. OTOH, the other day in the M1 roadworks someone pulled out into my path without looking, and TACC reacted...

Not sure if it's documented, mine is set to engage at current speed, and seems to do: short tap down - engage at current speed long tap down - engage at speed limit So, as the set TACC is the same gesture as putting into drive, I can see a circumstance where you could inadvertently put it...

I think the primary reason is because an overseas SIM can roam between UK providers giving better coverage for navigation.

I don't think it's cynical at all. If, for example, their output is constrained by shortage of chips then that contrained output would focus on higher margin products. A company expanding as fast as Tesla will hit all sorts of bumps in the road even without pandemic related supply chain...

Are we going to have a sweep on when the first production vehicles (post final regulatory sign-off) come out of Berlin? I'm going for Q3 2023. #Mods - please move to another thread if appropriate.

Seems a rite of passage. Did mine day one, Mrs D added on day 4. Is it always nearside for everyone?

Had a go on the new ABB chargers at Cobham yesterday, just me and 1 other vehicle at about 17:00. About 50KW on a 50% full battery at about 17 degrees. Shame the actual services are like the third circle or so of Dante's inferno, acoustic like a public swimming baths. Best option between...

My C Class Merc that's just gone back had Eco, Comfort, Sport and Super Sport mode. 99% of the time I ran it in Comfort mode. Sometimes I wear a trilby when driving to give other motorists a visual warning.

Wow, did you see the comments below the line. The usual stuff from people who can't think backwards and forwards in time and imagine that 2031 wil be exactly like now. My grandfather was an architect. My grandmother remembered him, in the 1960s, at the scene of a fire at a combined garage and...

Right, we're on. M3 LR AWD now on my driveway Text from AnyVan at about half nine with tracking link - seems to have been picked up from NEC (about 30 minutes away). I might have checked the progress of the van once or twice on the way... A reasonably careful check over showed no obvious...

Delivery day tomorrow :) Many thanks for the checklist - I'll check some of the technical functional stuff after delivery, but will do the build checks external and internal before signing. As it's a lease car, I'm guessing it will be some hours or a day or two before it shows up in my account.

This doesn't surprise me at all. I would expect that Tesla are varying calibration factors between individuals and using reports to tune them. And I further expect that they use bug reports to train the models. Certainly I plan to bug report every instance of phantom braking and wiper...

Given the state of wholesale prices just now I expect we'll see this from other operators. If you mostly charge at home then it's more important to have reliable chargers showing live occupancy and a perky charge rate. 10p per mile is about what my diesel C-class Merc costs in fuel, so IMHO...

Thank you so much Mr M for bringing my car's journey to life. Well on your way to becoming a National Treasure.

Rugby is one of the major crossroads of the country, that's why all the distribution companies have set up here. The provision of non SC capacity is more significant in many ways, twelve stalls of fast turn up and pay at a point where many journeys have a natural break.

Several years ago, before the M3 had been delivered and Fremont was really going through the mill, I was at Coventry Motofest. I went to the Tesla stall and had a long talk with a guy there while drooling over a Model S. And he said to me: When I went to test drive a M3 it was with two...

Thank you for the piece about the Panama canal Mr M. I'm guessing that if the Panamax limits are lock size then the draft must be 12.6m in fresh water? Is the Suez canal all at sea level?

Kewl, got a delivery date, 10th June. VIN ...234xyz - and number plate BP21 ... . 20 sleeps to go.

About the same. Order submitted by Kinto about 22nd April, then the "set up account" and "congratulations on your order" SMSes. Chased via online chat on Monday, told my car would be allocated "later this month". I'll chase again next week. Kinto delivery estimate resolutely stick at 22nd July...

I think it's a much longer game than that. There is a big centre of gravity for EVs around the Midlands: Coventry University has the biggest research centre in Europe for EV power trains; Warwick Uni has both fundamental power semiconductor research (my older son is a post doc researcher there)...

Sleeping. I liked the observation that your "clientele" turns over every quarter, so as part of your current cohort (not been matched to a vehicle yet, but conjecturing that my LRAWD is on Hyperion Ray), very many thanks for your updates. It turns a blind wait into a vicarious journey with the...

I thought the driver's window was for toll booths and drive throughs, so not a problem ;)

The short answer is that they're tokens, represented in a distributed ledger. They have value solely because of their scarcity. The longer answer is that the mathematics behind this ledger (blockchain) is much more interesting than the ability to buy and sell tokens with real money. The oldest...

THAT'S what I've been doing wrong, I haven't left out the mince pie, sherry and carrot.

Had an online chat with them earlier, mines to be allocated "later in the month", either from vehicles in transit or vehicles "on the ground" (which I assume means already in GB). Sounds as if we might be in the same tranche.

Beginning to understand why the US Founding Fathers proscribed "cruel and unusual" punishment in the constitution.

I was going to suggest RyanAir as the ultimate penalty, but we're both woefully off topic now. git branch -d {draconian digression}

From Wikipedia

My son drives a Leaf. For him any non-local journey needs significant planning, with Plan B and Plan C for when chargers are occupied or unserviceable. The ONLY reason I have an EV on order is because my budget just stretches to a M3, giving access to the SuC network. If government can...

Yes, but ... the art of the con involves targetting someone who thinks they'll get something for nothing. Applying the term "investor" to something doesn't change it's nature (though in some countries an investment in beer has a residual value when you take the empties back). I wish the young...

I think there's a place for a two track approach: Unregulated wild west "competitive" charging as now Government subsidised public charging, where the subsidy comes with obligations on price and availability and integration Just now we're in a build-out phase. I remember during the late 1980s...

How often do you think you'll make journeys that need en-route or destination charging? For me the SuC network was the clincher. - my son drives a Leaf and any long journey needs Plan A and Plan B and then Plan C for charging. I know the ID4 has much more range than a Leag, though.

Similar experience to mine Order "Created" on Kinto system 20th April Text from Tesla (+44 1733 xxxxxxxx) 29th April with RN number Email from Tesla Account Security to work email 28th April "Finish setting up your account" with password reset link Email from "Enterprise Order Confirmation" at...

The RN number was in a text I had from Tesla - Kinto had given them my (work) email and mobile. I'm not actually NHS, I'm with one of your IT suppliers, but we suffer the same shenanigans. I also had an email from Tesla to set up an account using my work email as username.

Makes me feel better - mine's ordered through Kinto (was Inchcape). Not had a VIN or delivery date yet, but got the RN number within a few days, and Tesla Birmingham can see the order. Stinks having an intermediary who charge for "adding value" and actually just get in the way and make things worse.

There are tax implications if they re-imburse over the HMRC advisory rate. If you do the majority of your charging at superchargers then you'll be out of pocket. Conversely, if you do the majority of your charging at home on an overnight tariff you'll be massively ahead (with no tax liability)...

M3 LR AWD ordered via corporate channels (Kinto/Inchcape), so details sheilded from me :( Current delivery estimate is 22 July 2021, I suspect they just lob in 3 months to fill the box, colleague had his LWD in about 4 weeks from order. Kinto gave me the RN number, but it's not showing on my...