Insider knowledge?

A long time ago, when I was learning about economics, the pound to dollar was around 1: 2.40. Some may recognise that a cent was equivalent of an old LSD penny.

Recently, when I was changing money to go to Greece, I noticed that the pound had almost reached parity with the USdollar and that it was bouncing along at the same conversion rate as the €uro.

We've seen a record setting descent after the new Conservative Party budget. There, I've said it. Budget - although by not calling it a budget the Chancellor manages to avoid fiscal scrutiny. That's a Borisovian trick, if ever there was one.

What if a few hedge funds shorted the pound? (In other words, forward sold large quantities of currency they didn't have hoping to pick it up cheaply before their debt was called).

Unhinged Liz decided to host a dinner for hedge fund managers a few days before the KamiKwasi budget.  

With the massive hints provided, hedge funds with remarkably close links to the UK government made shed-loads of money. 

Everyone else was gobsmacked, to use an economist term. £45 billion in new borrowing for new tax breaks in a curious bid to revitalise an economy facing recession.

Someone likened the trickle down philosophy to hanging from a cliff waiting to be rescued yet the money being provided to the rope-making companies.

More a case of fall-down rather than trickle-down. No wonder one of her victory tweets said she was ‘ready to hit the ground on Day One’. Ouch.

I suggest the puppet-masters will use her to make the UK into a casino for the elite. The recent all-in currency play is merely a taste of the structural changes being discussed to turn UK into an international deregulated tax haven. 

Truss may have run for cover over the last few days (guilt or gilt?). There is certainly room for her in the icey hidey-holes that the previous PM used. It is probably easier than having to explain how the new debt will be absorbed. 

Let the Bank of England bond-buying commence.

green policy disposal

The sun may never be enough to charge an electric car (eg optimistically 10 hours sun  at 3 kWh, compared with a car's capacity of over 60kWh), but I'm more suspicious of a government that creates green policies and incentives and then quietly disposes of them.

1 - Removal of the Feed in Tariff (FiT) incentive for solar panels. I did just scrape in to this one, which pays me for solar generation as well as export. The paperwork to get started as a micro systems generator was spectacular. The replacement scheme (Smart Export Guarantee) has low incentives for export, which were hardly generous in the prior scheme. Oh and the SEG scheme requires a smart meter as well.

2 - Smart Meter. I have a smart meter. I checked its spec and it is SMETS1 upgradeabkle to SMETS2. Most electric companies won't admit it though, and some used it as an excuse to not switch me to their cheaper tariffs. They say I need to have it replaced. It is a scandal that the UK spent 13.8 billion on smart meters, yet they mainly don't work. I am now with Octopus, who proved in a couple of days that my meter was fully smart.

3- Excuses used by other electricity providers: 'we can't switch you to a low tariff because of government policy' and other such bunkum which has stopped me for more than a year from getting a dual tariff system (eg Economy7 style). Thank you Octopus for fixing this.

4 - Taxing me at 20% VAT for use of electric vehicle charging when away from home, yet I can get 5% when on my own supply.

5- Removing the incentive to get a wall charger for an Electric Vehicle.

6 - Removing the 'discounts' to get an Electric Vehicle.

7 - Creating complicated 'type verification' to qualify for a Congestion Charge 100% discount in London. Three documents required including one from the car manufacturer. It is bonkers.

8 - Creating two separate applications for ULEZ charge reduction and Congestion Charge reduction in London. If I didn't apply for each, the default is that I pay both daily charges.

I think fracking will deserve a separate post.

charging the Tesla electric car

I've been keeping track of my mileage and running costs for fuel since I've had the electric car. 

Fascinating - I've had to become an anorak on pricing unit charges of electricity and their wild variations. 

I've travelled some 2,355 miles now and it's enough to gain an initial impression of the car and its range capabilities.

 

1) No range anxiety. It always adds an en-route stop if it thinks it will run dry and also predicts the remaining battery capacity to the end of the journey.

2) Several free charges - notably Westgate near Oxford and Tescos. And all Tesla Destination Chargers! https://www.tesla.com/en_gb/destination-charging

3) I always carry the spare Type 2 connector cable because often the free chargers are 'untethered' (ie don't have a connector) I also notice that many Tesla owners don't know how to charge from an 'ordinary' charge point and I've seen at least a dozen cars not charging because they've not been properly connected.

4) My practical full range is around 330 miles. Enough to get from Exeter to London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Penrith or York. To Newcastle it is a one stop refill at Hilton Park Services near Birmingham.

5) Since I switched from British Gas to Octopus Intelligent, I have drastically reduced the cost of a recharge at home. A 0%-90% charge is £5.40 and a more typical 20%-90% charge is £3.78! That is much less than a tank of petrol or diesel. British Gas proved massively unhelpful (and expensive) whereas dealing with friendly and faultless Octopus exceeded my wildest expectations.

6) Octopus Intelligent works seamlessly with the Tesla App to manage the charging and to schedule it to the equivalent of 'Economy 7' times - although it will also spot other cheap periods in the day. I can also override the 'no charge' periods and get a charge at any time, if needed. from the Octopus App.

7) The convenience of the Tesla Supercharger helps justify the relatively expensive cost of a refill from one (albeit still cheaper than petrol). They charge at around 500 miles per hour. So a full charge is around half an hour. 

The Tesla car calculates how much it needs to get to the next destination, with a reserve safety factor. That is the most economical way to use the Supercharger, and some of the refill times are as little as 5 minutes. 

And there is that opportunity to experience the Tesla auto-park in reverse into the charging space.

If I go for a coffee, then a full refill might cost £20. But it is still much less than a gasoline top-up. And some of the refill stops (eg Holiday Inn) give discounts to Tesla drivers!

As we have a petrol car and had a diesel, I've shown comparative costs below. Both internal combustion engine cars can take £100 of fuel, but I've shown the scaled back costs to a range of 330 miles, which is the typical maximum I get from the Tesla.

 

The kWh capacity of my Tesla is actually higher than I've stated (82kWh), but I have set it to the more commonplace 72kWh.

 

By way of a comparison, the charge rates are roughly as follows:

• UK Household mains plug:  9-10 mph (never used - really for if stuck somewhere)
• Tesla Wall Charger: 32 mph (ie at home - and every day gives a full charge)
• Public Locations  32 mph
• Fast public chargers 50 mph (ie the 22kW chargers)
• Tesla Destination Charger 32 mph (free)
• Supermarkets 32 mph (sometimes free)
• Tesla Supercharger (150kW-250kW)  300-500+ mph   (great for long distance)

The only connectors I've used are the ones on Tesla chargers and the blue Type 2 cable I carry in the car.

 

And how realistic are the range estimates? For Tesla - driving in 'Chill Mode', I'd say -'very'. I assume if I was driving in 'Sport' I'd get (10%-20%?) less.

 

Tactically, when I've been visiting someone, I've stopped on the way to recharge to '80% full', so that I'm at their place with an almost 'full tank'.

 

I know, it is probably too much information. And your mileage may vary, as they say.

 

Unexpected jab

A current post today. I'm mainly backfilling the last few weeks at the moment, but something quite interesting happened today. 

My iPhone reminded me that I was supposed to visit the surgery to get a flu jab. I'd forgotten about it because we're only just back from our Greek Idylls. 

Panic stations as I race out to the car, to go to the surgery. I start driving and realise that the iPhone has already downloaded the route into the car's satnav. The car knew where to take me without me doing anything. Now that's a new experience.

Then I get to the queue. I'd booked what I thought was an early appointment - to avoid backup, but so had everyone else around here, so there was a four deep queue running back along the pavement from the surgery. 

Then the magic of British queuing kicked in. We were all talking to one another, just like on t'telly at the moment. It may not have been THAT queue, but we had similar sentiments.

The thirty or so minutes I had to wait passed in a flash and I was soon inside, jabbed and ready to go.

Lindos

Somewhat hilly with a single route into the town, with its alley-like paths and myriad shops. Finally, to a bayside beach, complete with cool, clear waters. Further inland it was jarring to see at least two dried river beds, both 100 metres wide.

Poolside

One of those annoying poolside pictures. Pass the cocktail.

Queen

The only head of state I've known. Total discretion yet my admiration for her private signals of opinion.

Rhodes

Experimenting with the nearby airport. A ten-minute taxi ride and then a four hour flight to a land of 33C sunshine. It's been worth the wait.

Placeholder : Good Riddance

So much to talk about, but insufficient time right now.

Floating along

We decided to visit the River Exe Café which floats on the river, off of the Exmouth coast.

We had to use a boat to get to it and once on board we were in for a treat. We'd also planned to be there for the sunset, so we'd get both a good view and then the approach of the magical evening.

As we were in the middle of the Exe Estuary we had been warned it might be windy, but no, it was a beautifully calm. Outside we could see sailboarders and small motor boats spinning around. We felt it had an almost Santa Barbara vibe in the sunshine.

Excellent food with west country accents and a wide variety of tipple. Luckily we'd come by taxi so I could also try some cocktails.

Delightful. And only a half hour from home.

got a feel for my automobile

A couple of friends and a neighbour have got electric cars. In each case they are insanely enthusiastic about their decision. All of them have different types of car too, with unfamiliar names like ID.3 and Ioniq5. I'm still in the era of 3,5,7 Series and A, C, E, S Class, plus the occasional Mondeo and Focus.

I didn't even realise that the S 3 X Y names were supposedly sexy, nor that Ford grabbed first dibs on the E, which scuppered Musk's plans. 

But since I started to drive electric I've become another one of the enthusiasts. What's not to like about having a space in the front where the engine would normally go? The Frunk. And all those dials that are no longer necessary. Oil Pressure. Water Temperature. Revolutions per minute. All gone.

Four wheel drive - yes, but no transmission tunnel. No complicated plumbing. No gearbox, no clutch.

I was sceptical about not having a separate speedometer and  just having one big screen with largely the sat-nav on it. But now I've used it, it is so much simpler. I've also received about four over the air (OTA) updates containing new features. And as for one pedal driving, with regenerative braking. Nice.

And I've realised that the Operating System has actually been designed for a car, not as an afterthought. And to think, in my novel Sleaze, a couple of characters said to one another that blokes in bars wouldn't be able to talk about cars after they all went electric.

Queuing Theory

That's not a picture of the Passport Office, although it is in Peterborough. I arrived the previous evening and then was early to my appointment. I asked if I could go in early. The security man politly laughed. He suggested I come back 15 minutes before my appointment time, which I did. 

"Get into the Queue," the next security man suggested. 

"What Queue?" I asked.

"Behind that lady." 

I was now in a queue of two people, waiting for my 1pm appointment. By the time we were let in, I was at the front of a significant queue. Then for the airport security and the dishing of the deli-counter style raffle ticket. I was quite a high number and I noticed that the system was running late. I suddenly realised that all 50 or so people from my queue had been booked for the same slot as me 13:00-13:30. 

I could see that there were only 2 interview stations open and they both had quite long and earnest sounding stories running.

"You lost it? - where?"

"I can't remember."

"When did you lose it?"

"I can't remember that either."

"Have you some other proof of identity?"

... and so it went on. I thought it would be a miracle if that person was able to get a passport.

My turn at the desk.

"Photos? Form? Old Passport?"

The whole thing took three minutes and I was given piece of paper saying I would receive a new passport by courier within week. Guaranteed.

I was just worried about the Bank Holiday and the various strikes. Then back to the car for a four hour journey home. The Superchargers at Rugby were quite pleasant and I had a tiny picnic at a table on the grass.