benavison - Network

I’m seeing lots of people comparing the Riyadh talks this week between the USA and Russia about #Ukraine with the 1938 #Munich agreement...

I’m seeing lots of people comparing the Riyadh talks this week between the USA and Russia about #Ukraine with the 1938 #Munich agreement between Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, the UK and France, about Czechoslovakia. Part of me fears we might be further along than that, and they could be a closer parallel to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact which divided Poland between Nazi Germany and the USSR.

Anyone able to share their experience moving away from #StarLink? (Assume fibre and cellular Internet are not available.) #ProjectKuiper...

Anyone able to share their experience moving away from #StarLink? (Assume fibre and cellular Internet are not available.) #ProjectKuiper doesn’t seem to be ready yet, and it feels only marginally better to be paying Bezos. #OneWeb doesn’t seem to serve domestic customers. Geostationary services vary around the world by their nature - if you have it, do you have trouble with the latency? Here we seem to have services provided by Eutelsat, who apparently have no qualms still operating in Russia…

US politicsI received a number of copies of this today. The spammers are clearly on Trump’s side. That figures.

US politics

I received a number of copies of this today. The spammers are clearly on Trump’s side. That figures.

I was surprised the other houses on this street weren’t named Casterly Rock, King’s Landing, The Eyrie, Storm’s End etc!...

I was surprised the other houses on this street weren’t named Casterly Rock, King’s Landing, The Eyrie, Storm’s End etc! #GameOfThrones

Another UK taxation problem for #EV adoption that I belatedly realised due to the complete lack of any mention of it in the #Budget - the...

Another UK taxation problem for #EV adoption that I belatedly realised due to the complete lack of any mention of it in the #Budget - the fact that VAT rates are still much higher for those drivers using public charging infrastructure vs those charging at home. Many in the EV community have been pushing for this to be equalised, but it sounds like the new government isn’t listening.

Meanwhile, massive sops to the oil industry in the form of frozen fuel duty, and investment in the white elephant that is Carbon Capture and...

Meanwhile, massive sops to the oil industry in the form of frozen fuel duty, and investment in the white elephant that is Carbon Capture and Storage. Sigh…

Not particularly impressed with the UK #Budget regarding the #EV transition. It proudly announces a reduced first year VED (road tax) for...

Not particularly impressed with the UK #Budget regarding the #EV transition. It proudly announces a reduced first year VED (road tax) for zero emission vehicles, glossing over the fact that the previous government’s plan to introduce it at all hadn’t yet come into effect, and does nothing for any EV of two years or older. In the small print, they recognise the disproportionate impact of the expensive car supplement on EVs but only commit to considering changing the threshold in a later budget.

Not in the Show, but I had to share this “doggy in the window” of an estate agent on #Stokesley high street!

Not in the Show, but I had to share this “doggy in the window” of an estate agent on #Stokesley high street!

And even more #StokesleyShow pictures…

And even more #StokesleyShow pictures…

Here are a few more pictures from #StokesleyShow yesterday. I can’t possibly cover everything that was going on, but at least give you a...

Here are a few more pictures from #StokesleyShow yesterday. I can’t possibly cover everything that was going on, but at least give you a flavour. See the alt text…

#StokesleyShow 2024 is now officially open!

#StokesleyShow 2024 is now officially open!

Linked article has an interesting breakdown of the innovations in the motor of the Kia EV9. The electronics largely goes over my head, but...

Linked article has an interesting breakdown of the innovations in the motor of the Kia EV9. The electronics largely goes over my head, but it nicely illustrates how we’re still early in the journey of optimising #EV components compared to ICE vehicles that have all had the benefits of R&D and economies of scale for decades. Expect more of this sort of thing to come.

From: @natureshelperokanaganhighlands
https://mastodon.world/@natureshelperokanaganhighlands/113164661950739674

Rewatching #StarTrek #DS9 two-part story #PastTense which is set this week, it’s amusing what they thought August-September 2024 would be...

Rewatching #StarTrek #DS9 two-part story #PastTense which is set this week, it’s amusing what they thought August-September 2024 would be like back when they wrote it in 1994. But one thing they bizarrely got spot on was deep sea mining being in the news… https://youtu.be/JO1amobnSoI

Under the old scheme, the combined monthly cost was £5 more for the #EV, but under the new scheme, £55 more. Once you take fuelling costs...

Under the old scheme, the combined monthly cost was £5 more for the #EV, but under the new scheme, £55 more. Once you take fuelling costs into account, the EV can overcome the £5 if you can charge at home overnight for about 1000 miles of your annual range - easy for many people - but suddenly the new scheme means the EV is more expensive to own unless you do well above the average mileage.

And the government had the cheek to justify this as being “fairer”… 😤

3/3

In practice, it means that even relatively modest family cars like the Kia Niro will be affected in their #EV form, but not their petrol...

In practice, it means that even relatively modest family cars like the Kia Niro will be affected in their #EV form, but not their petrol one. To illustrate, I’ve done some back-of-envelope calculations on this.

Monthly lease cost (same ‘4’ trim, same supplier): Petrol £376, EV £396
Annual VED 2024: Petrol £180, EV £0
Annual VED 2025 (not allowing for raises): Petrol £180, EV £590

2/n

UK people may or may not be aware of the upcoming imposition of Vehicle Excise Duty (“road tax”) on EVs from April 2025, at least as...

UK people may or may not be aware of the upcoming imposition of Vehicle Excise Duty (“road tax”) on EVs from April 2025, at least as planned by the outgoing government. A particularly damaging aspect of it is the fact that the “expensive car supplement” will also apply, but this is a cliff edge rate based on the list price of the car, and as anyone who has been paying attention will be aware, the costs of an #EV are more front-weighted than traditional cars. 1/n

So there, I’ve offloaded my frustrations on social media and probably made myself even more unelectable locally than I was beforehand. And...

So there, I’ve offloaded my frustrations on social media and probably made myself even more unelectable locally than I was beforehand. And just to be clear, I have no financial stake in #Sunnica, other than the indirect one of benefiting from living in a world less threatened by climate change and less in the pockets of the oil barons.

There’s a lot of “solar panels should be on roofs instead” but looking around there’s very few people practicing what they preach....

There’s a lot of “solar panels should be on roofs instead” but looking around there’s very few people practicing what they preach. “They’ll be an eyesore” but the plans show they’re all screened off by new woodland and nature reserves - and what of the eyesore of all the “Say NO to Sunnica” signs we’ve had to put up with everywhere for years? Complaints about construction traffic I can understand, but that’s only for a brief period, and it will bring local jobs during that phase and beyond.

I have never been convinced by the arguments against the solar farm, they mostly sound like classic NIMBYism to me. Foremost seems to be...

I have never been convinced by the arguments against the solar farm, they mostly sound like classic NIMBYism to me. Foremost seems to be loss of agricultural land, but (a) I understand the plan is to do agrivoltaics and then return the land to agricultural use at the end of its life, and (b) it’s the Brecks, land so famously poor that it’s largely used by the military (USAF bases and Stanford training area) or for forestry (Thetford Forest) or set aside for nature.

While I give the old Conservative government credit for recognising the #Sunnica scheme was of national importance for our climate change...

While I give the old Conservative government credit for recognising the #Sunnica scheme was of national importance for our climate change and energy security goals, has been extremely cowardly by repeatedly delaying the ministerial decision until Labour was in power - something that was obviously going to happen for years - and you can only assume that this was largely so they could weaponise local opposition as a stick to beat Labour with. To them, I say: grow up, for goodness sake.