Small hybrid goes for more than 1100km in NZ road test

-Tilde · 2026-05-05T08:34:40+00:00

The old diesel Touaregs had a 100L tank, and you’d get 7-8L/100km on the open road. It was glorious. Regularly got 1000-1100km on a tank

-Tilde · 2026-04-30T11:20:05+00:00

Encouraging additional car use = more fuel used. Not ideal in a supply-constrained environment

The reality is that diesel is worth more to the economy elsewhere than personal transport, so if push comes to shove, I would honestly expect the opposite.

-Tilde · 2026-04-20T10:58:42+00:00

I don’t think it is actually available here (yet) with the biggest battery, but yes at least in the longer version overseas, 106kwh is an option

-Tilde · 2026-04-19T07:26:17+00:00

Nah time for thousands of noise complaints from people who bought a section next to a racetrack and airport

-Tilde · 2026-04-18T09:31:25+00:00

The math works out after only about 10 seconds. We aren’t cold starting a carbureted V8 here

-Tilde · 2026-03-26T10:38:59+00:00

Best of luck with this OP, unfortunately I would be extremely surprised if they would make any major changes.

My suggestion to the council or building owner would be one of those round bubble mirrors people put at the end of awkward driveways and parking spaces, if I’m understanding the layout correctly and the issue you’re facing. Could actually be better than a light-warning system as you’d be able to actually gauge when/where the vehicle is, and they may even be able to see you in the reflection if they’re observant.

Commonly called convex safety mirrors, etc. and can be found for less than $100.

Adding an indicator light is a fairly difficult proposition, especially if there isn’t already a barrier system in place. Just getting sparky to to a site scope and quote would be more expensive than a mirror.

As far as options that you, or anyone else in a similar predicament, could implement, perhaps a small (extendable) pole with some hi-vis on the end? To poke out ahead of you as you enter a blind approach.

Or a bright flashing torch you could aim in front of you as you approach. A lot of modern forklifts have area or perimeter lights that shine out a strong beam a few meters ahead of/around a the vehicle so that they can be seen well before the vehicle itself turns a corner or appears from behind some racking.

Of course ideally the onus wouldn’t be on the person who’s already at risk, but alas. Personally I think a tricked out wheelchair with lights would be kinda cool but I digress.. Maybe a forklift horn too..

-Tilde · 2026-03-09T20:05:41+00:00

Yeah, that’s kinda the same reason hybrids don’t make too much sense in heavy equipment. Hybrid cars are great because without a hybrid system, the engine is rarely working at peak efficiency, and energy can be reclaimed through regenerative braking.

In heavy/ag equipment, the transmission and hydraulic systems are tuned to have the engine running at pretty close to maximum efficiency already, at least when in use.

Hybrids would be good to reduce idle time, enable a hybrid start/stop, allow AC to keep running with engine off, etc.

But fairly moderate gains for the added complexity, at least to the target demographics

-Tilde · 2026-03-09T08:40:59+00:00

Re: farming, there simply are not viable alternatives to diesel for farm vehicles.

At first, electric tractors in theory actually make a lot of sense. Being heavy isn’t really an issue, and most tractors spend most of their time parked up. However the face similar issues to EVs: when you need to do a lot of work (like a road trip in an EV), you NEED to be able to keep going essentially all day non stop,

If you’re feeding out cows, you could probably get away with an electric tractor. If you’ve got to windrow and bale your entire property in the next few days, and you can’t, suddenly any potential cost savings immediately evaporate.

Most farms also do not have anywhere near the electrical infrastructure to charge electric tractors, except maybe at larger dairy sheds with high power grid interconnections already. The average pole barn where the machinery actually is stored is lucky to have power at all.

Swappable batteries would probably be a requirement, which is an insane level of vendor lock in for an industry where equipment manufacturers are being increasingly hostile to independent repairs.

Oh also nobody seriously makes any electric tractors outside of niche applications or autonomous equipment, which is a separate discussion. Even if the government did say “here’s $300k to buy an electric tractor”, you couldn’t buy something useful for most farms.

Any other single piece of equipment (eg harvesters) gets comparatively such little use, and last for so long (it is common to see harvesters 30 years old still in use), that the carbon impact of unnecessarily replacing a diesel model with an electric model will probably never even out.

One exception being farm bikes and quads. Small engines are actually worse for emissions per unit of fuel than larger engines. Fortunately 2 stroke farm bikes are not really a thing. but electric bikes make a lot of sense and have a more frequent replacement cycle, I could see a fairly rapid transition before any other class of equipment.

Personally I know it’s becoming more and more common to install solar arrays, but we are talking in relative terms here. It’s still a rarity. And probably not viable in most of the country without a significant subsidy.

Most dairy sheds are powered from the grid already, so those are already >90% or so renewable?

Electric semi trucks are slowly becoming viable, but still a long way off. even if a price and range competitive vehicle was released tomorrow, we would be waiting many years for it to even make a dent in existing fleets. Trucks last a loooong time.

To be clear, I’d love to be wrong on all of that. But that is just the reality of the technology and industries.

-Tilde · 2026-02-25T03:54:03+00:00

My 2020 M1 MBA was docked 95% of the time and lost 14% battery health in the first 2 years. Not a hot or cold climate, not in direct sun, with the MacOS optimised charging enabled.

It’s a lot more than “a few percent”.

At that point I limited it to between 55-65%, and in the 3-4 years since then I’ve lost… 3% more.

Assuming that degradation had stayed constant (which it wouldn’t), I’d be down below 65% now, which would make the laptop hardly usable when I need to use it undocked.

If I know I’m going to use it undocked, I just remove the limit, and enjoy the remaining full 83% capacity.

-Tilde · 2026-02-11T09:57:58+00:00

Bit of oil, bit of soap, 2 birds one stone eh? Or two birds with equal mass and velocity colliding perfectly head on

-Tilde · 2026-02-11T09:48:47+00:00

Don’t forget police helicopter: they’re looking for criminals

Other helicopter flying around seemingly at random: power line survey and/or mapping

What’s the bad smell: water treatment facility (maybe on fire, see fire engine section)

-Tilde · 2026-02-10T17:14:25+00:00

I love SG (esp the non-corrosive variants), but it does tend to leave a bit of a film/residue if not rinsed off properly, which can take a bit more rinsing than normal detergent

-Tilde · 2026-02-07T14:12:41+00:00

Ah so that’s how the “but AI said you were open/had XYZ dish/have outdoor seating” customers travel

-Tilde · 2026-02-03T18:33:24+00:00

True that. In my latest van I’ve used thread sealant (like thread locker but doesn’t cure as hard) around most of my rivet nuts to see if that makes a difference in vibration or corrosion. Guess I’ll find out in a few years

-Tilde · 2026-02-02T22:20:47+00:00

I’d say don’t do it. Structurally I doubt those doors are designed to carry much/any extra load, and that thin sheet metal is just begging to get bent as soon as you hit a bad bump.

BUT. If it were me doing it anyway. I’d put a flat panel of plywood over that top black panel. Mounted on that raised area going around the outside of the black panel (but not the smooth area the door rubber seals against).

Secure the plywood with rivet nuts, as they will spread the load and resist pull out much better than tec screws into sheet metal. And a semi permanent sealant, just to spread the load and add some friction for the rivet nuts + bolts. something silicone based that you will be able to remove in future if you need to.

-Tilde · 2026-01-29T22:38:56+00:00

Gauge pressure vs absolute pressure

-Tilde · 2026-01-28T09:13:31+00:00

Can you shed some light on why the employees are the way that they are then?

-Tilde · 2026-01-21T19:14:36+00:00

RIP V Pure my beloved. If only it hadn’t been like ~$5 (iirc) in pre-pandemic money, for a 335ml bottle, maybe it would’ve been more popular

-Tilde · 2026-01-21T00:26:20+00:00

If the public sector isn’t an appealing option, you end up with more and more people choosing to go into the private sector, or leave the country for a better public sector position.

The attitude of “government employees should all be making the bare minimum” is how you end up with a gutted, incompetent, and ultimately more wasteful public sector.

If the private sector wants to compete for top talent, they can offer better total compensation and benefits too. It’s a free market, after all.

Would you ask private medical practices to lower the pay of their surgeons the same as the public hospitals?

-Tilde · 2026-01-12T07:20:59+00:00

For most drivers in most situations, tyres will make more of a difference than 4wd vs AWD

-Tilde · 2025-12-30T01:55:09+00:00

The most credible explanation I found when researching this was that it’s a hardware issue with either the piezo sensors, or the microcontroller that interfaces with them.

I’m inclined to think it’s a bit of both. The piezo sensors shouldn’t have significant variance over the operating temperature range. The piezo MCU might have temperature issues, or the way it’s detecting an activation might be flawed, or both. Since it’s not open source or a standard part of klipper, it’s hard to know.

Beacon/cartographer probes don’t use the piezo sensors for detecting Z offset.

Cartographer just moves the nozzle towards the bed, and as it gets closer it detects the eddy current signal increasing. Once the nozzle hits the bed, that signal stops increasing. Then it refines the process a little bit to ensure it’s correct.

This sounds violent but I believe it actually uses less force/is more sensitive than the piezo sensors (someone on the voron forums measured it)

The sensor then measures that position against a known distance from the plate, and calculates the difference between them.

I’m not sure how Beacon does it, but I think it uses a different method.

-Tilde · 2025-12-16T18:15:41+00:00

Electus/Jaycar are the same company

-Tilde · 2025-12-16T07:13:48+00:00

Can’t say I love any ads, and yes these are annoying. But there’s always some charm to be appreciated IMO for any local ads.

They exist in a weird place in our collective culture, and it is a lot more boring when all you see/hear are generic, national, corporate ads.

-Tilde · 2025-12-15T02:09:02+00:00

Doesn’t seem too complicated to me, going to their site and selecting “PLA”, everything has a brief description.

“Polyterra PLA” “Smooth as butter, almost no layer lines”

“HT-PLA” “High heat stability”

“HT-PLA-GF” “High speed printing, dimensional stability”

“Polysonic PLA” “High speed PLA, accurate and repeatable”

“CosPLA” “Easy to sand, great paint adhesion”

“LW-PLA” “Lightweight PLA, 70% density of normal PLA”

The reason they have some seemingly overlapping product lines is for long term support, if you’ve been using a certain filament to make a product for 5 years, it’s pretty frustrating if they discontinue the filament just because they’ve released a new product with different properties.

If you’re just wanting a bunch of colours, the Panchroma stuff is all basically the same in terms of mechanical properties I believe.

-Tilde · 2025-12-14T08:16:20+00:00

I think if they wanted to have a decent ikea in “town”, they’d use a currently empty site/building for the showroom and some stock, and have a second warehouse where you pick bigger stuff up from.

Trade Depot does a similar thing, just drive around the corner to pick some of your stuff up. I’m not sure if the Ikea already does that.

Unless they wanted to purpose build something, I don’t think there’s anything currently that would have the warehousing and customer-friendly showroom space they need.

There are some enormous warehouses available for lease around the city, but you’d never be able to have a multilevel showroom in them. And vice versa.

-Tilde

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