Flogging a dead horse comes to mind….  Regards

David

Lovely i6 has now gone, but not me......

Please let me know if anything in my post offends you, as I may wish to offend you again......

More important to replace the kitchen than upgrade solar with batteries. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

I've decided to go with external insulated cladding as parts of our house have only single brick thick walls.
Not cheap but as inflation is rapidly eating into my savings I might as well spend now.
The house has 4 gabled roofs all running N to S, with no roof facing South - I'm told solar would be a waste of time, unfortunately. Jules

Watched "Inside the Factory" last night building Londons buses (notwithstanding that irritating Greg Wallace) and was shocked to see that the complete chassis including electric pack and drive is imported from China and driven off the transport into the factory. We, as a country, must become more self reliant because if we seriously fall out with China sooooooooo much disruption could be caused.
I'm becoming anti globalist.  MY 09 GS manual in Lago Grey, Wood Co arm rest and side bumper strips - now sold.

MY 15 SD4 SE Auto Orkney Grey with colour coded Bumper Door Mouldings

Tenet said
We, as a country, must become more self reliant because if we seriously fall out with China sooooooooo much disruption could be caused.

I could not agree more, Tenet has pointed out the problem of the 1980's (and since) policy of selling off all the our assets and wealth and hoping that we can live off the rewards of handling this money and the proceeds of handling other peoples money.

When I started my working life (1959) the UK owned, and manned, many world leading makers of world class engineering products.

I used to watch the 'Bristol' bus chassis being driven from the local works (by men in goggles and serious grade canvas greatcoats) away to the coach builders around the country, and most likely abroad.

The revolutionary change in design of EVs surely should give us a chance to get in and invest in plant and training, IN THIS COUNTRY. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 77k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

Keep an eye on Arrival (not the excellent film, rather the start-up EV company)

They have been hit hard by global supply shortages and have had to make some tough decisions to focus on launching their electric van, for which they already have 20k orders. Next in their lineup is an EV bus. They've postponed development and laid off staff to ensure they get the vans on the road first, but given time I hope to see their buses becoming part of the wider transport revolution we need in the West.

Smaller, cheaper, more frequent and zero emission public transport will help in smaller towns. That and an increase in adoption of electric bicycles for shorter journeys. We took a long hard look at our car usage and due to our rural location, many of our journeys are 3-5 miles each way. Two electric bikes with racks and panniers arrive this week, we're going to be trying to do as many of those shorter trips by bike as we practically can. Current driveway contents:
2021 V60 Cross Country B5
2009 FL2 dog bus and shooting wagon

On Order: 2023 Fisker Ocean Ultra - deposit paid.

I heard arrivals problem is that a lot of Russian money was involved in setting it up, obviously funds have dried up now. At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

It seems so, which to is just narrow minded stupidity.

Lightwater wrote:

More important to replace the kitchen than upgrade solar with batteries.

chicken george wrote:

I heard arrivals problem is that a lot of Russian money was involved in setting it up, obviously funds have dried up now.

Nodge68 wrote:

It seems so, which to is just narrow minded stupidity
I can't see why others are so anti solar, as it's a much better investment than anything else right now, and the returns are instant.

Nodge68 wrote:

… those solar panels have saved my about £80 per month in electricity charges, and gives me about £20 per month in feed in payments,

At about £20/month, I'm guessing you must be on the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) rather than the original Feed in Tariff (FiT) which was closed to new entrants from 1st April 2019.

I have a 4 kW/p installation split 40/60 on my east and west facing roof slopes which has yielded a six year average of a little over £650/year or around £55 per month in FiT payments. British Gas (our FiT Licensee) send us a cheque at the end of each quarter - smaller payments for Q4/Dec & Q1/Mar with the majority split over Q2/Jun & Q3/Sep.

Under the original FiT scheme, we get paid a per kWh rate for every kWh generated plus an Export rate for 50% (presumed export) of every kWh generated. That is entirely regardless of how much of that energy we actually use ourselves.

Until this year's energy crisis, our FiT payments have always exceeded our electricity bills and better yet, we heat our water almost entirely by solar during the summer which reduces our per annum gas bill a bit too.

What's not to like about solar energy? We have around 12 years left of our 20 year FiT scheme - hopefully, the per kWh rates will go up in line with rising electricity prices too

Maybe stupidly is a bit harsh, perhaps uniformed would be more accurate?
I was a bit anti-solar for a long time, really until it got became affordable to me.
But a good friend of mine used some redundancy money of his to have them installed on his garage (it's the only roof that faces south), at which point I did some investigations of my own, based on his actual generation and costs.
When I did the maths for my own system, I was shocked at just how much more my system could generate, and then worked out how the energy could be best utilised.
I seen over 22kwhr of energy per day on an average good day, which is more than my homes average daily consumption.
The high energy using appliances are set to come on when generation is at it's highest which I alter depending on the time of year. In summer the dishwasher comes on at 10:30 am, the washing machine comes on at 11:30 am, and the tumble dryer if needed comes on at 1pm. The first 2 appliances are timed so the heating of the water is done at different times, reducing the need to pull energy from the grid. Unfortunately the dryer heats all the time, so that's set to come on by itself, at the peak of summer energy generation.
Additional my hot water is heated by the spare solar energy, in priority to sending any excess to the grid, which minimises my grid or oil usage, maximising the benefit of solar.

When I can afford a battery solution for storage of excess solar, then that will be installed too.


Unfortunately an EV is out of the question at the moment, because they're too expensive to buy, and also because the wife is the driver in our household that does the most miles, but is also very particular about the car she drives, so for the moment, an EV is out the question. I drive 80 miles per week, which would also mean an EV isn't a viable proposition. Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate. The family car.
2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Gone.
2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE. Gone.
Audi A5 convertible, my daily driver.
1972 Hillman Avenger GT, the project.

ReggiePerrin wrote:

Nodge68 wrote:

… those solar panels have saved my about £80 per month in electricity charges, and gives me about £20 per month in feed in payments,

At about £20/month, I'm guessing you must be on the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) rather than the original Feed in Tariff (FiT) which was closed to new entrants from 1st April 2019.

I have a 4 kW/p installation split 40/60 on my east and west facing roof slopes which has yielded a six year average of a little over £650/year or around £55 per month in FiT payments. British Gas (our FiT Licensee) send us a cheque at the end of each quarter - smaller payments for Q4/Dec & Q1/Mar with the majority split over Q2/Jun & Q3/Sep.

Yes we're on the SEG, which is unfortunate, but at the time the FIT was being offered, we didn't have the spare cash to be able to afford solar, which at the time was also more expensive to install. Our 4kw system is SSW facing, and was installed in February. So far the savings on our energy usage have made a big difference to our expenditure, which makes the investment worthwhile.
I am looking at a battery solution at some point too, but that will need to wait for a bit.

To make the most of our generation now, we simply use as much as is possible whilst generating, and any excess does the hot water too, minimising what I export. The wife is a works school term time, so is at home for weeks per year, which does help us use what is being generated.
So far I'm very happy, and wish I'd been in the position to take advantage of the FIT, but unfortunately not.  Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate. The family car.
2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Gone.
2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE. Gone.
Audi A5 convertible, my daily driver.
1972 Hillman Avenger GT, the project.

Nodge68 wrote:

Unfortunately an EV is out of the question at the moment, because they're too expensive to buy, and also because the wife is the driver in our household that does the most miles, but is also very particular about the car she drives, so for the moment, an EV is out the question. I drive 80 miles per week, which would also mean an EV isn't a viable proposition.

My wife hates the i3, she says it's the worst looking vehicle BMW have made.

If I got a small EV to do my 80 miles per week, I'd have to get rid of my Freelander 2, which I love driving.

I'm looking at potentially turning a Freelander 1 into an EV, which for my weekly miles would be fine.
However the Freelander 2 is also used as our family holiday vehicle, as the wife insists on having a convertible of one form or another, but most are only 4 seaters, which for a family of 5 isn't very helpful.  Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate. The family car.
2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Gone.
2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE. Gone.
Audi A5 convertible, my daily driver.
1972 Hillman Avenger GT, the project.