betty boop

the BYD plug in ute being teased before au release in 2nd half of 2024... https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/byd-ute-plug-in-hybrid-ranger-rival-teased-ahead-of-australian-release not much is known...but "it will consist of a turbocharged 1.5-litre engine mated with two electric motors for a total system output of 365kW."

its only ev purists .. "EVangelists" will say "worst of both worlds" ....they cant seem to fathom the fact an EV just wont suit everyone... even if it's just yet... we are on a journey to transition across and the PHEV i feel is the bridging for those not quite wanting to sit in either camp of pure EV and want to move on from ICE ... and why not ..as you say for bulk of time you can drive around pure EV and where need the extended range go with ICE. Phev are quite sophisticated now too. and it can be one or other .. but also a blend as you say .. so can provide a significant boost too if needed. cars like outlander are a pretty special thing. i have had one as a rental they can run pure electric so very smooth to drive and with excellent NVH and if needed the ICE side can kick in phev are quite popular in china for instance that is a pretty ev mature country ...they are way ahead of us in take up... https://insideevs.com/news/707264/china-plugin-car-sales-2023/ have a look at PHEV while a bit more than half EV sales they are still quite significant ... and this is also coming from newer battery tech so can have much larger batteries in PHEV now.... "Plug-in hybrids are getting more and more popular in China. In December, a record 362,000 units were registered (up about 80% year-over-year). One of the reasons behind the PHEV popularity is that new models are equipped with bigger batteries (roughly 40 kilowatt-hours). Plug-in car registrations for the month (YOY change): BEVs: about 618,000 (up 31%) PHEVs: about 362,000 (up about 80%) Total: 980,737 (up 46%)" what press is bagging this ? i thought i had read the cx60 itself was a pretty good thing a step up for mazda and from what i understand it features toyota plug in tech which we dont see here as toyota is still pushing its non plug in hybrids here ? the brands themselves dont help..eg kia said they wont worry about phev here as public doesnt understand them and they were not sure it was worth the bother of education.. and are flogging their petrol/diesel and EV instead... I wouldn't bother about press too much ... certainly use press to use as a heads up to check out things they might highlight but then make your own assessments to drive to decisions. some other phev are the outlander... long wait i think ... not sure the volvo is still a prospect... what other contenders are you looking at ? i believe byd has their option coming at some stage...

good luck with this FNQ O. hopefully you do... and its not a consignment thing .. which is possibly what happens.. ie dealerships buy at price ...and ten make profit on it ...can see the grief below from dealer side... "It's just not selling well at all. There's hundreds of these unsold in Australia, most are now having a birthday. They have no option but to discount to get some sort of action. Most dealers don't want to stock a single vehicle now – they can't afford to keep paying interest on cars that don't sell." unfortunately as a car it just hasnt sold all that well. market just not taking to it.. it sells for far more in UK for instance ...but makes quite a bargain here, but i suspect the dealerships are suffering !

MG last week brought their MG4 to under $40k drive away nationally ... big news the ora cat that was previously under just $40k has been dropped to $35,990 drive away https://www.gwmanz.com/au/models/ev/ora in QLD with the $6k gov bonus that for some folks (means tested ) will make it a under $30k prospect for an EV... only the base model mind you... Ora and MG have been fighting it out for which is lowest price for a while and looks like the chinese price fight down down has come here !

Nullarbor must be in the EV sights as the last stretch to conquer or something good article below comparing crossing the nullarbor on diesel with a Hyundai tucson vs tesla model Y https://thedriven.io/2024/03/29/diesel-vs-electric-across-the-nullarbor-which-is-the-lowest-cost-in-fuel/? trip total for diesel $153.56 one fuel stop plus rest stops cost for electricity $140.20 with a 3 stop strategy cost for electricity post july $115.20 with same 3 stops, (this is once works get concluded with the new charging stations) apparently right now you pay a flat rate... all you can charge fee at the Nullarbor chargers .. and this is moving across to pay for use and hence the cost saving not sure a stretch i'll ever do but interesting to read how charging infrastructure is reducing the costs to do this trip...

for the ute chasers .. a sub $40k from geely (the deep pockets owners behind volvo, polestar, smart, zeekr and such) and it will be for RHD markets... https://thedriven.io/2024/04/01/geely-offshoot-unveils-sub-40000-electric-ute-for-right-hand-drive-markets/ theres also a big battery 100kwh long range unit...and it goes for $41k upwards.. not sure we will see such pricing here if makes it here. as the chinese market is dog eat dog and little competition here as we are still in early days just past tipping point...

talking about charging in WA.. looks like a first in a "drive thru" charger for folks with trailers, boats and caravans in tow... The first trailer-friendly Supercharger site in Australia has been opened in Western Australia, with multiple stalls geared to cater for drive-thru fast charging. https://thedriven.io/2024/04/01/tesla-ruins-weekend-with-first-australia-supercharger-site-designed-for-towing-caravans-boats/ apparently be more added in charging stations around the country ...

understand ... re type 2 cables, just something like this will do https://evse.com.au/product/5-metre-type-2-to-type-2-ev-charging-cable-22kw/ re local forums. likely something on facebook.. which is where most things forum like have gone. there is a thread here can check out locally too on WP https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/3xv6m12p

Nice one ! Congrats they make for some very affordable buying and lot less than they pay for them in uk and such definitely different, but having owned a few different cars over years can understand the attraction. yep type 2 cable is worth getting if car doesn’t come with one. What we use for either our evs for the free public charging have you ordered a Chargefox or Evie card ? Can use one of these rfid cards across most networks … Chargefox, Evie, no pulse and like … then it’s just tap and that’s it no need to use app Yes unfortunately these do switch off some settings back to default, and yes there are some setting owners are switching off. Can’t help you with those two features sorry, check in with your dealer, they should be best placed to talk through all these

great to hear enjoying being out and about, just the kind of trips we like doing. looking forward to our next on in vic aline high country Perth and WA greatly is going through some decent investment in chargers.. covering SA border to far north west WA. About 98 chargers in 49 locations all up.. so should end up I believe from memory about 200km at most between chargers... https://www.synergy.net.au/Our-energy/Projects/WA-EV-Network as of jan this year they were half way through completion with all works to be done by mid 24 i understand .. when work started on it couple of years ago, it was described as the worlds longest electric vehicle network, and great to see this kind of commitment from WA government. https://thedriven.io/2022/12/01/construction-begins-on-worlds-longest-electric-vehicle-network/ SA government has also stepped up.. towns i visit in regional areas there which were bereft of charging now have fast dc charging and park and charge AC as well for back up...not only at town but also leading upto in town prior as well. the Nullarbor stretch is now covered too with the gap getting ready to be plugged with an NRMA charging station at the Nullarbor roadhouse.. this was and probably still is done by a chip fryer powered charger they have there now times are a changing indeed https://thedriven.io/2024/03/21/nrma-ready-to-open-stand-alone-ev-fast-charging-site-at-nullarbor-roadhouse/

no idea pn.... i too was talking A45 and like my a250 had very much a real exhaust.. no pipped or fake noise at all. all ca remember was a nice cackle of the "engineered by AMG" exhaust it had and yep the first gen a45 too had very much a real "whip cracking" exhaust i remember. if they made it fake later on no idea...

I am truly amazed about all this ... still thinking surely this is an April 1 joke or something .. but no it seems legit ? perhaps we will know post april 1 ? if still the case 3 years of work gone in with melbourne uni and wires to ... they are moving to on road trials... all power to them. https://www.volkswagen.com.au/en/roobadge.html? sure looks like amazing amount of work gone into it... I do a lot of regional driving and one thing i fear is a kangaroo.. these things can weigh 200kg ! and yep try to go beefy hire cars for that reason as i know a car and the roo is going to come off 2nd best in an altercation... hopefully this helps

thank goodness .. but yeah can imagine shook up and the hassle... a lady at my wife's work had similar .... her car at end of lease and getting a new one... goes to work.. its the day of the 5min storm in melbourne that wrecked havoc ! the office car park was devastated.. with large trees falling on 5 cars.. hers was one that just clipped an edge thankfully but still requiring some roof work.. now the bad bit... as it was end of lease.. the insurance had actually run out that week... fortunately buildings insurance is picking it up. thank goodness not seen as "act of god" or something that insurance doesnt cover ! while she picked up her new car, apparently the poor thing didnt sleep for two days ...worried on financial loss while insurance was in limbo... hopefully a distant memory now ...

wasting your bait SM, sorry i am not biting ... for those interested in off roading, fun review popped up of ecotricity's run with the subaru Solterra ... he was quite impressed with it off road... calls it a "real subaru" (even though he knows its toyota underneath with subarus X-mode doing its thing). yep he takes it off road and was impressed, which is not surprising with the thumbs up most have given it in reviews so far for that aspect and in even worse conditions... ps put aside the rather bizarre kiwi pronunciations and their sticker shock !

no doubt have best thing for the task.. i suspect we are going to be flooded with more PHEV trucks/4WD as time comes.. we have the ford ranger phev version coming and a BYD as well. landcover seems to have 6 ! models in the armoury and a full electric also coming... https://www.landrover.com.au/electric/driving-a-phev.html 3 of them seem to have some serious tow capability ... one thing electrics have a lot of is power and torque... but yeah batteries will reduce towing capability also higher you go in weight range becomes a concern be interesting how things pan out in time

there are EVs with high ground clearance if all want is a shopping trolley ! AWD ones too ps having had rangers for work they are shocking things if you want to put anything in the back ! very hard to get out off.. hence mummy you mention wont be using the back for shopping ps having lived rurally... the whole thing of you need a 4WD or truck to live out there is just a myth... sure folks have 4WD or trucks thats more a lifestyle choice.. the everyday cars are not those...i work in regional areas in 3 states and visit most other weeks .. tend to have all sorts of hire cars... all 3 of regional areas of states I visit could be done with an EV... all areas i visit now have pretty good charging, hire cars being company hires they havent come up as ev to me so far...

what government ev incentive... i understand most states have other done way with it or soon too as we have past point of early adopters...

is there some reason the PHEV ranger ford ute announced cant do this ? after all for about half the folks according to ford that own one they can drive around purely on its EV battery for most of its life.. leaving the 1 to 2 days a year some folks might need to tow long distances and 3T + that takes care of that ? mining man showed as an example how PHEV makes sense in their scenario... and this way you end up driving around an EV most of the time ...

couple of weeks later, still no word on mine apparently went on sale in japan in last day their website had to be shut down and a stop order put on it to suspend anymore orders being taken https://www.fujirumors.com/strict-rules-cant-stop-fujifilm-x100vi-madness-instant-sold-out-in-japan-causes-website-crashes-and-order-suspension-issued/? what have fuji gone and got on their hands ... not sure when folks in japan will ever see one... let alone around the world given what seems the demand for this thing ! Back in early March, Fujifilm announced that the Fujifilm X100VI will be for sale in Japan starting today, March 28. Well, today the sale started, and the Japanese Fujifilm webstore crashed due to “heavy access”. Moroever, the first batch of X100VI cameras already sold out and hence Fujiiflm Japan issued an order suspension. Fujifilm writes: Both “X100VI” Silver and Black have exceeded the planned number of sales, so we have temporarily suspended the acceptance of orders. I’m very sorry. We will post the future sales schedule as soon as we know.” And all this despite Fujifilm Japan having set strict purchasing rules such as restricting sales to individuals with a purchase history at their store and limiting purchases to one unit per person/household.

last disel volvo rolled off the line.. now aiming for electric only ... as the sister brand polestar already is ... https://thedriven.io/2024/03/28/rip-volvo-diesel-cars-last-xc90-diesel-rolls-off-production-line/? "The last ever Volvo diesel-powered car, an XC90, has rolled off the production line at the company’s plant in Torslanda, Sweden, a key step in the company’s promise to produce only fully electric cars by 2030, and to sell EVs only in Australia from 2026." ps as per the article jaguar is making the move earlier no more ice in 2025...

This is very unfortunate. Sorry to hear situation you are in …$1700 seems extreme ? can I suggest posting in the recommended repairer thread as folks should be aware of this. Not good at all !

Understand if can’t seem to fathom the benefits of vehicle to load SM, I guess we never had it back in the time warp and more something to appreciate for tomorrow

Yes we had them at our renovation in last year or so… they descend and want to use your power … don’t bring a generator of their own and yes have masses of power packs charging off your power as well a vehicle to load Ute may not help that am sure they will still be sucking what can off customers …but might help with remote jobs and not needing to take generators

Good centre speaker will help this especially if a centre with vertically aligned tweeter mid range eg WT/MW design https://amp.svsound.com/blogs/speaker-setup-and-tuning/placement-tips-for-a-center-channel-speaker as opposed to WTW designs that have poorer off axis performance …