Electric Vehicles-Infrastructure

[NewcastleFalcon]

Plunge Pricing....
Octopus, now one of the big six, innovate again. New to me, old-ish news.

https://electroverse.octopus.energy/com ... ge-pricing

We're very excited to announce that from November 2023, Octopus Electroverse has launched Plunge Pricing - discounts on the public charging network when energy is in high supply!

The gist...

What is Plunge Pricing?
Plunge pricing is an exciting development on the Electroverse network, which allows certain networks (supplied by Octopus Energy) to benefit from cheaper prices when energy's in high supply - these cheaper costs can be passed straight through to the EV community!
Why is there excess energy on the grid?
This doesn't happen all the time - but it is becoming more frequent for a number of reasons:
High solar generation from a very sunny few days
High wind generation from a few windy days Etc.

When this happens, the amount of available energy exceeds the amount of energy typically needed.
In other words, if a local corner shop selling strawberry-flavoured Octopus sweets has more stock than they can keep, what happens? Discounts......Voilà: Plunge Pricing.

Neil

[bobins]

I can see a super-wizzo brand new smart phone arriving in the Falcon household in the not too distant future I'd assume you're going to need to be connected to the big wide world with all the latest apps in order to make use of all these 'offers' ?

[NewcastleFalcon]

I can see a super-wizzo brand new smart phone arriving in the Falcon household in the not too distant future I'd assume you're going to need to be connected to the big wide world with all the latest apps in order to make use of all these 'offers' ?

Its already happened, from the archives of the FCF it got a mention here on St Valentine's Day 2024 on the "Big Brother is Watching You...your evidence please" thread Nice pic of a coffee cup and an anecdote! The phone is never allowed to be in my possession although I do regard it as communal as I sometimes operate it with the words "Can you" occasionally.

The embryonic days of the Chez Falcon Smart Phone
viewtopic.php?p=745251&hilit=smart+phone#p745251

Shortly after I came up with this observation

Yes we have only just got a smart phone, and won't be entering the world of pet apps and associated equipment any time soon and "App Controlled Dog Doors" remain a development we have never had the need for in all our years of having dogs.

Neil

[Gibbo2286]

Got mine too yesterday, must give it a try at the earliest opportunity.

[NewcastleFalcon]

First time failure with the Electroverse Card

Electroverse partner with Raw Charging who operate rapid chargers in the towns of Northumberland on behalf of Northumberland County Council. Not every rapid charger is listed on their map. 2 fairly recent, but months old, chargers at Morpeth operated by Raw Charging are neither on Raw Charging's website or on the Electroverse app or desktop map or on Zap-Map.

Hence...currently the Electroverse card doesn't work on them

Really there should never have been a need for an "Electroverse card". A mandatory Contactless payment option will be required for all rapid charging installations 8kW and over from 24th November 2024, which is what I did when the Electroverse card didn't work.

Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 In force from 24th November 2023
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... 3-guidance

The Contactless bit lead time 1 year from regulations coming into force ie by 24 November 2024.

New public charge points of 8kW and above and existing charge points of 50 kW and above must offer contactless to consumers. Proprietary networks that open their charge points for public use will have one year from the date that the charge point becomes public to offer contactless.

The 99% reliability bit. lead time 1 year from regulations coming into force ie by 24 November 2024

Rapid charge points must be 99% reliable, measured as an average across each charge point operator’s rapid network. Information on reliability compliance must be published on the charge point operator’s website.

Neil

[myglaren]

Plans to build a giant battery plant have collapsed after more than three years of uncertainty.

Britishvolt had planned to build a £3.8bn car battery factory in Cambois, Northumberland, but the company fell into administration in January last year.

Northumberland County Council said it was now considering selling the site to allow the development of a computer data centre.

Council leader Glen Sanderson said the money from the sale would be used for economic projects along the reopened Northumberland line.

Britishvolt had promised to create 3,000 jobs in Northumberland following the planned creation of its so-called gigafactory.

But the business struggled to make a profit and ran out of money, leading to its collapse.

Australian firm Recharge Industries took control of Britishvolt after it went into administration in January.

Beeb

[myglaren]

Beeb again

Tesla will lay off more than 10% of its global electric vehicle workforce.

In a memo, first reported by news website Electrek, billionaire owner Elon Musk told staff there was nothing he hated more, "but it must be done".

The world's largest auto-maker by market value had 140,473 employees globally as of December, according to its latest annual report.

Tesla has not responded to the BBC's request for comment.

"We have done a thorough review of the organisation and made the difficult decision to reduce our headcount by more than 10% globally," said the email from Mr Musk.

"There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done. This will enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle."

[myglaren]

[Gibbo2286]

I like this from the lady.
"Bookmark this video so you can come back in five years and laugh about how wrong I was. "

[bobins]

She's promoting realism over idealism ????
That's no way to talk up the electrification of everything Whatever next ?

[NewcastleFalcon]

Nice places to charge up at in Scotland
Number 1 Peebles Hydro Hotel

The Hotel

View from

Neil

[myglaren]

Much of the problem with range anxiety comes about because drivers of electric vehicles get stuck in their old mindset: constantly looking at how much range they might have left, and spending time thinking about where they might be able to charge up.

Instead, drivers might find it much better to switch to a new way of thinking, which researchers refer to as the “event-triggered model”. Rather than filling up when the gauge shows the petrol is running low, it means automatically plugging in whenever the driver arrives at home or work, for instance. ✂.....

Seems like common sense to me.


Indy