Haha, I don’t think anyone can blame you for needing to go shopping.

That’s the sort of thing I’d be getting in I reckon (a leaf).  Budget for size/range it feels good value.  If we were doing pre-covid mileage i’d rip their arms off but I just don’t go anywhere anymore.  Now we’re down to one car (a PHEV) we kind of get 90% of the benefit of an EV already so makes it a hard sell to jump completely.  Particuarly as it’s a beast so my wife isn’t going to be happy about going down to a hatchback!

I can see you’ve got less excuses so just get the cheque book out and jump in! :)

We’re they £10k before covid?  Is this just a resetting to past prices on all of the automotive industry or just EV?

I’d love to move to full EV but environmentally feel it’s better to sweat my current 5yr old car for another 5yrs.  By then my son may have learnt how to respect our possessions a little better!

@frankconway.  Great Frank, thanks, just looked up what “Fettlin” means d’oh

@sprootlet. Yes, very tempted but I think it would destroy my wife and little boy!

@mert.  Not sure who that was directed at but yes, I’m aware it’s the HEV.

@stcolin.  Quite possibly, I think “mixed driving” is doing some heavy lifting there.  If your trips are mostly within the range of the battery I’d expect the equivelant mpg to be about twice that of an ICE. If he’s taking long trips then he’ll be carrying a heavy ol’ empty battery around with him. (YMMV based on cost of electric, car type etc).  Clearly a full EV will always win efficiency wise (dear god I hope not to revisit this in winter && apologise for jinxing things!)

Crucify you for hybrid instead of full EV?  Hell no, gatekeeping constrains adoption and my view is you get what you want and what you feel will work for you.  If it doesn’t; you’ve tried it and maybe decide something else next time.

I have a PHEV as I bought it 5 yrs back as there was no equivelant EV at least anywhere near the money it cost me.  It was the same price as the one without a battery so a no-brainer.  The range is either pathetic if you’re driving 50 miles a day, or amazing if you do what we do and drive 10-15 miles 2 or 3 times a day.

Being hybrid has allowed us to get rid of the 2nd car (our schedules and being quite remote mean that public transport/pedal power don’t work) and now have an electric moped instead.

Happy days and glad you’re enjoying it

Hah, that’s weird OP – my son is called Albert Royce….I think I’d better not mention it around it around his friends in fear he gets the nickname!

@theotherjonv.  Don’t be too hard on yourself, it’s a position that not many know how they’ll react.  We get very few chances to test what sort of a person we are morally in life and I feel you passed.

Shame, I hadn’t appreciated until @verses said, that it’s really the only reason I go into town now.  I’d not used Amazon before covid and have since stopped using them but it gets increasingly hard.

Got my bro in Germany to pay, my dad has so many kids you have a chance of convincing him you’re also a sister/brother? :)

Brill @ golfchick, thanks.  I am ashamed to admit I spend more time on the golf course now than riding so you are right, it’s not really something on the “need” list.  I do love a boxer but my wife is not so sure about them.  I think/hope I can move her off the golden retriever spot as I feel they aren’t right for us but she had them as a kid and they have a special place in her heart so will go with it last resort.

This has been so helpful so thanks to all, also for the amazing photos – audible snorts at most of your mad derps

@thisisnotaspoon   Ah, I’m 20 mins away myself – I’ll suggest we go this route to my wife as a way of trailling dog owenership.  I think training dog fostering (rather than puppy raising) is more fitting to our skills or lack there of.

Again, a massive thanks as each page brings new learning for me.  Particularly the time @golfchick has put in I feel I should answer:

Coat? Grooming requirements? VID: hadn’t considered, lower effort in honesty but the house isn’t a showhome so not a show sopper.

Size? You mention golden retriever so is that the sort of size you want or smaller/bigger? VID: realistically smaller than a golden for ease, so about 2 hands tall (lol, is that how you size a dog?!)

Prey drive? All dogs can go a day without exercise. VID: ideally not as I need the cats to accept it but I appreciate this also comes with training

Personality? Clever? Loyal? Loves everybody? VID: again honestly, dumb as a box of frogs probably rather than something that needs constant mental stipulation.  Loyal certainly as my wife/child are gutted our cats couldn’t give a flying frog about them.  Yes, one we can trust with others so my wife feels happy integrating to playdates ideally (and of course with close supervision).

Do you want a pedigree? Or will a cross breed such as a cockerwomble do? VID: no preference but now got an itching for one of these cockerwomble flavours!

Oh and also where do you live, what size house/garden, what is the environment near your house in terms of stimulation? VID: large house in an acre of fenced garden ready to be destroyed!  No roads about and it’s in a big wood we’re allowed access to so feel it’s a perfect set up.

what time do you have to devote for training? Do you want a dog that will excel at a particular sport VID: in honesty, we have the time but will need to step up as we only have experience of a young child and appreciate dog ownership is another level.  No desire for the dog to upstage my pursuit for mediocrity.  In reality we’re asking alot for a dog to integrate with existing cats and young children around so understand that it will be hard work.

borrow a dog? VID: We’ve done this in the past to help friends and enjoyed it, yet equally have been happy to give them back so appreciate it’s not the perfect test.

Thanks again, so so helpful

I really love the pride each of you have for your beautiful dogs, I can see in each of you how much they fill your lives

Haha, just finished work and catching up, fantastic – I’ll take one of everything (is what I expect @crosshair to say!)

Really brightened my day and I promise to give dog homes a try first but my wife is very nervous about scaring the cats off and never seeing them again as we do love them.

I promise not to have any more children in exchange for getting a dog!

Beautiful seeing everyones mutts and some really valuable points/breeds that I’d not considered so thank you

Thanks all, I apologise, I forget to mention the 2 cats we have!  Not sure if that counts a terrier out, Cockapoos are a lovely dog!

I think our existing cats are gorgeous but reject my wife/child completely so I don’t feel too bad about getting a dog.  That is partly what’s driving that we’d like a puppy so that the cats can assert dominance from the off.  The other part of it is we’ve shown great restraint for the last 20yrs not getting a dog until it’s the right time so feel we’ve earnt the right to choose the age of dog we’d like.

Oh, and we also plan to get a norweigen forest cat/kitten while we’re throwing the house into turmoil!  Doubling my chances of one of our pets showing some love to the rest of the family.

Thanks for asking.

Taking my wife and little boy to Avoriaz for 10 days over xmas/NY, a bit of a landmark holiday for us so very much looking forward to it.  It’s BA’s fault, silly flight prices to Geneva so I booked it without realising how expensive accommodation is over xmas but you only live once.

Going again with friends 2 weeks after that which is weird as I don’t really like skiing that much so limit it to once every 2 or 3 years

Yeah, Millets et al often get the discount codes wrong for a short period or time and then correct it.  If you’re serious I’d say put a search alert on one of the deals websites for millets and a new discount code will be along soon which again for a short period of time may work on this bike.

This is my first/only/current FS mtb, I bought it in 2019 and the frame hasn’t been updated since.  I like it but then I have nothing to compare it to.  It’s “on budget” and by this I mean that I washed my mates lapierre (which yes, I am sure was twice the price) one day after an alps trip and every part of the bike was superior/more substanially built.

It’s fits the amount of time I get out riding perfectly but I think given my time again I’d have saved up and got a better bike.

Is there a reason we would want to ban people from camping on the roadside?  Is it because they’re not doing it as part of recreation?

We’ve got a couple of burnt out superbikes turned up in our woods, couldn’t find them in the litter bag so reported it to the council but a week later and they’re still there!  I guess services are stretched but you’d think someone was bother between the council, police and insurance company

We’re increasingly getting fly tipping around here too. I in part blame the council as they’ve said only people paying council tax in our area can use the facility where. My view is the more convenient you make it, the less fly tipping.

Did quite a bit of litter picking last week, bit middle class of me but I’ve taken to picking up little as I play golf. Lol

@diggery.  Are they decathlon cycle tube patches? I’m interested as I bought a Sim second hand and don’t want to give up on it!

My well meaning friend used some kind of flexible epoxy that works really well but I still have a tiny leak so not sure whether to bother her again or try a patch but the surface now is quite uneven so not sure the latter will work.

The things we do to avoid waste!

Thanks @igm. As it happens I did some rudimentary sums and came up with a 12yr min payback on either 5Kw or 20Kw battery so very much cooling from the idea.

My next steps are, as @alan1977 is seeking, is to find a realistic calculator to see if that improves me views

They’re being hopeful if they think someone will call a number that’s clearly abroad!

Saying that, I’m more likely to call back someone I don’t know than someone I do. :)

@scotroutes.  2nd time today I’ve seen that youtube channel.  My Dad’s a retired road engineer so I’ve shared it with him

Thanks so much everyone, I really appreciate the time taken.

I apologise, I’d failed to re-mention something important: I already have a fairly inefficient 3.6Kw solar array (~2000Kw/year) already which is on a FIT agreement so I won’t have the opportunity to either expand it or export from any new array.

So what I’m hearing is I need to forget about:

1. a year round approach of importing offpeak
2. my 15-20Kw daily use.

Instead I should focus on:

1. moving to a variable rate tariff
2. shifting usage as much as possible to offpeak
3. summer: avoiding peak rate by capturing my net solar generation (i.e. gross generation less what I use) by getting a ~5Kw battery on the existing array.
4. winter: importing offpeak for onpeak use

I guess what I’m saying is I’m right :)  [to abandon the idea of a 2nd array and to focus on batteries] but with a different reason/scale.

Hmm, I’m the guy that was thinking of flooding is roof with solar panels incl batteries.  Ended up being ~£20k and out of my league.

I’ve kind of got in my head now that it’s better to throw the money at batteries on the grounds the payback on that is ~20p/Kw (cost avoidance difference between ~30p/Kw peak rate v ~10p Kw off peak, where the payback on the solar is only 10p/Kw (the cost of the off peak charge that i’d otherwise need to buy).

What am I missing please?

a couple of EV charging points were put in the motorcycle bays

Got excited when I read that as my moped is electric and there’s absolutely no infrastructure consideration for charging them (3 pin plug).  It’s massively niche over here at the mo so you can’t blame them but they should be thinking about it as I’d say I see twice as many 2 wheeled vehicles as I did a couple of years back and the natural progression will be for electric to dominate, like in China already.

It’s tough as I appreciate people have different images based on where they live – my town is a wide open wasteland affair so never a chance of being in anyone’s way but in a narrow historic town or in London it would be unthinkable.

I’d be inconsolable if I got a ticket as I’m cheap as hell :) so will probably have that steer my approach

Yeah, I think stop it. I’m being lazy as it took all of 3 mins to find about 5 in council car parks that I didn’t know about that I can park in for free.

I’d probably ride my MTB into town before I resorted to paying parking fees :)

No, had no idea it was a thing but I recently allowed my subscription to expire (not sure but I make the distinction as opposed to proactively canceling).

I had it for “free” with my mobile contract, I try not to order on amazon and found having prime removed the hurdle so feel better not having it

… Storytime!

@Northwind. Thanks for this, really enjoyable read.

I’d be tempted to go to Port Solent.  A reliable 10 minutes from the ferry port without potentially fighting further into Portsmouth itself.  Not exactly exciting but a nice environment for an hour or two mooch around the marina

Ooooh, I’ll take the whipped cream every time!

In other news, Rawtenstall has inspired me to spend an hour picking up a small bag of rubbish, that’s all I could find but still very satisfying.  Hope the judging went well.

Its amazing how you go from 🤮 to 🤷‍♂️ with poo.

That was the most surprising that thing about parenthood too!!

Am I being naive, what’s with your yoofs and disgarding baking equipment?! For a long time I thought we had a cyclist/puncture problem round here with all the co2 canisters disgarded, is this the same sort of thing?

Sorry that people have had to reiterate that point btw – I’m not ignoring them but am in the “ask as many people as possible til you get the answer you want to hear” phase :)

I suspect it doesn’t change my payback/decision making process and to be fair, only 12 odd years of FIT left and then I’ll be able to. Sounds odd to say but time flies when you’re having fun!

<p style=”text-align: left;”>What do you people do with all that speed</p>

I waste all but 20mb of mine! I got it back in my toilet roll buying days and thought I needed it for WFH so got 500mb package.

Turns out my company vpn throttles to 20mb anyway so almost entirely pointless! :)

Saying that, we’ve since decided to grow a child to consume the remaining bandwidth/money/time/black hair so will soon be efficient!

Is there some way that you can exclude the FIT export and get SEG on the export from the new system?

@Greybeard. I’ve got a mail out to Octopus on the offchance but per another thread on here and another on an electrical forum I fear the definitive answer is no.  Like @sharkbait says, I also recall that the contractor that came round said the same, it’s connected after the original FIT production meter.

You’d think that if you had a 2nd production meter on the 2nd array it would theoretically be possible to report accurately on the export volume of array #2 but as I too anticipate with the right size battery consuming near as damn it everything I generate I’m going to take the loss on the chin.

If I’m honest, I can’t afford the quote i’ve had so far and plan to go thro solar together tendering while waiting 3-4 months to see if prices come down.

Watch your prices as well.

Thanks @trail_rat. Where are you looking for prices of batteries and panels pls?</p>
To be fair, the quotes I got so far aren’t even itemised. I’m a little worried that these guys seem so busy they’re not even taking calls to quote, let alone negotiating on what they are quoting

@squirrelking, sorry for the slow reply.  No, my budget didn’t stretch even to the Silence range.

It’s a Lexmoto (well, they’re the importer, Lveng are the manfacturer) LX06 (https://www.lexmoto.com/models/LX06MAX-E5).  Bought for £3k last year as it was the best value option, price has been bouncing around either side of that since so I suspect they haven’t sold many.

Overall very happy with it taking the rough (that in the lower half of the battery the top speed tops out at nearer 40mph) with the smooth (that the range isn’t effected in winter as much as an EV, maybe 5%).   To be fair I don’t go far nowadays – 5 miles to golf, 10 miles to tennis, 15 miles to work.  The biggest negative is I don’t readily consider riding to golf/tennis now as it’s so quick/easy/fun on the moped