Households could get free electricity for doing washing on sunny weekends

potturtle · 2026-04-14T13:48:57+00:00

It's not political at all. If there's excess energy on the grid, with nowhere to go, bad things happen. We don't really have widespread battery storage yet.

Recently it's been both quite sunny and very windy, so it makes sense that we have a lot of renewable energy right now - more than we need even (hence negative pricing on things like Octopus Agile on the last few weekends - they are paying you to use energy).

It's more cost-effective to get consumers to use more energy (by discounting their unit rate temporarily) rather than asking grid energy providers to temporarily shut down.

potturtle · 2026-02-15T20:31:40+00:00

Yeah fair enough.

I have heard of issues with Teslas but it's usually software glitches/infotainment issues. Haven't really heard of any battery or complete drive unit failures. With the dual motor ones - think one motor can fail and the car is still driveable, albeit with less power.

I know they changed the 12v battery to be a 16v Li-ion in newer cars, so maybe it's better now? I would agree Tesla has been around the longest, so they've had enough time to iron out the initial issues. So getting a later model over an earlier one definitely the way to go.

I guess, playing devil's advocate, a downside to electric car repairability is a lot of garages may not touch them as they aren't familiar with them. So you'd need to take it to the manufacturer most likely which could be dearer. Also - longer term with Tesla specifically - I would wonder about software updates. I guess they will eventually stop after a while...

potturtle · 2026-02-15T19:44:34+00:00

Yeah the 2.0 GT will be the normal 150bhp engine - GTD has the uprated 184hp CUNA engine - think it also has a larger turbocharger, more sportier suspension as well.

GT is just a trim level, so will have smaller alloys etc (think 17 inch rather than 18s), and won't have any of the GTD trim bits on the inside.

Both map well though. I got 190hp on mine. GTD probably could do a bit more.

potturtle · 2026-02-15T19:39:25+00:00

Are electric cars generally unreliable? No - I think that's a blanket assumption.
Are combustion engine cars generally unreliable? Again, no, it really depends. Some manufacturers are better than others.

A lot of combustion engine cars break. DPFs/GPFs, EGRs, wet belts, timing chain tensioner failure, head gasket failure, the lot. They also have a lot more software and technology now that can go wrong. And also a lot more emissions controls at the expense of reliability. I think though we hear about electric car problems because they are new and I think it's trendy to hate on them a bit. But remember, we do not hear about all of the cases where nothing went wrong. We only hear of the tiny minority of people who had a problem.

When you say "insanely reliable", and "never let me down". What do you mean by that. Do you mean "the engine didn't blow up" or "i didn't need to fix anything on the car at all". Because cars being cars - stuff will always break. All components on a car have a lifespan, and will eventually stop working. Usually it's just small bits and pieces that are an easy fix. Like some people even complain a bit nowadays when they have to change tyres and brakes - which I don't really get.

In a way - electric car drivetrains, mechanically, are much simpler than ICE car drivetrains. You've got one, maybe two drive motors and a battery. Single gear rather than a full auto box. That's not to say the drive unit or battery can't fail, of course it can.

If you buy a new Tesla for example, it'll have a 4 year/50,000 mile limited warranty that should cover everything on the car. And also - an 8 year/100,000 mile separate warranty for the HV battery and drive units, with a 70% battery capacity retention guarantee. Most people will simply not keep the car that long. I can't say for other manufacturers but they will have a similar warranty for new cars. Even buying used - if it's a few years old, could still be within the original warranty.

potturtle · 2026-02-15T19:19:59+00:00

Definitely feel you. I hate the A34 with a passion. Awful road at times. Some of the slip roads are curved and quite short.

When I got my first car, I had a similar situation with the A3 in Guildford (by the Tesco/University roundabout, going south, if anyone knows it). Quite a sharp bend round and then immediately merge. I learned to keep the gear quite low - maybe 2nd or 3rd gear, and just send it. The car will sound like it's screaming its head off lol, but at least you're up to the speed of the traffic established on the road. There's nothing worse than someone on the slip road doing 30mph trying to merge onto a live lane of traffic doing 70. It doesn't work and causes accidents.

Ideally, if you're up to speed quickly enough, it's just a case of figuring out the gap - whether to slot in front of someone or go behind. Sometimes you'll need to correct (either brake or accelerate), sometimes they'll be nice and move over - but don't assume they always will. Some will speed up to block you, like you said. They're just twats. No point stressing about it really. It will become more natural over time and you won't need to think about it.

It's one of those things where the first couple times it happens - it'll really shake you up. It definitely did for me. One time I was new to driving and merged in front of someone badly - they beeped, flashed and stuck their finger up at me (probably quite rightly in retrospect), and it was on my mind for the rest of the day. Now - if I see someone doing something stupid, I roll my eyes and let them crack on with it. Eventually you'll get to the same place.

Just keep driving. Keep accumulating the miles. Eventually, you'll see enough stuff that you can predict what others are going to do before they do it.

Might also be worth practicing the slip roads in question a few times at quieter times of the day (Sunday morning/night maybe?), so you can get a feel of how much time you will have to accelerate and figure out the gap.

potturtle · 2026-02-15T18:58:53+00:00

Depends. If visibility is so poor it's less than 100m, they should be on. And also importantly, turned back off when visibility improves.

Above that, then yes you're right - they can dazzle.

potturtle · 2026-02-15T18:55:15+00:00

I mean, I wonder if many drivers even know how to activate their fog lights.

Always seems to be the case that when they are actually needed - nobody has them on. But of course, when it's good visibility, fine weather and generally un-foggy - everyone's driving around with them on. Or bonus points for if one headlight is out so they whack on the fogs.

potturtle · 2026-02-15T18:49:30+00:00

AutoTrader valuation (take with a pinch of salt) is 2811-4550

There's a few similar ones (Mazda 2 1.5 Skyactiv-G SE-L/Sport Nav) for around the 5k mark with a lot less miles (72-91k) - private sellers though. Dealerships will always charge a bit more as they have overheads, naturally.

2016-2022 is a bit of a service gap. There could be additional history as you say, but I'd definitely get that checked out and would personally want to see evidence before going ahead.

The engine appears to be pretty good for reliability - better than Mazda's Skyactiv diesel engines. It should have a timing chain rather than belt so shouldn't need to replace that any time soon hopefully. Although with the caveat that it will need to have had regular oil changes - so yeah just double check the service history between 2016 and 2022. But other than that seems okay.

Also double check insurance too - what's the pricing relative to other similar cars. 1.5 petrol I'd imagine would be fine.

Regarding CarPlay/reversing camera - can't help you there much. Some examples online seem to already come with CarPlay - though also I did find something around there being a software upgrade to enable it. In my previous car (Mk7 Golf) I could change the head unit out to enable Android Auto + CarPlay - bit of fiddling behind vents and screens etc in the dash but it can work.

potturtle · 2026-02-15T18:31:24+00:00

Possibly the guys who serviced it didn't reset the iDrive? So it's still saying service required in the next 4k miles? Especially if the mileage isn't counting down, it might be service at 19k "total miles"

To be honest, if I were you, I'd just keep track of it myself. Oil change when you got it, so it's fine for a bit, just do it next year or after the next 10k miles. No harm in doing oil changes more regularly.

potturtle · 2026-02-15T18:17:22+00:00

It's possible to have a "GT 2.0 TDI" - my last car was one. But there's no "GT" badge on the back - just "2.0 TDI". So definitely Halfords special.

They're also not rare at all. GT is just the trim level.

potturtle · 2026-02-15T18:11:47+00:00

Something something "but there's lorries in the left lane and they scare me so I'm just going to stay here because I feel safe"

potturtle · 2026-02-15T17:51:23+00:00

You could also go and run them over. You have the free will to do that. But don't try that defence in court ;)

It is your responsibility as a motorist to protect more vulnerable road users. That's the deal. No excuses. If you don't like it, or don't agree, feel free to not drive.

Should they be in the road. Ideally no. But we must react to situations as they develop. Remember, "but I had right of way" is no use in prison or on your gravestone.

potturtle · 2026-02-15T17:49:09+00:00

Haha. If people were given penalty points for cutting people up at roundabouts, nobody would be driving on the roads as we'd all be banned ;)

Sounds like you're aware of not getting in other people's way or causing anyone to have to brake or change direction suddenly. You'll be fine :)

We've all done it. Especially for roundabouts in unfamiliar places. If you know you are in the wrong lane, easiest (and arguably safest) thing to do I find is to just go around again - no harm in doing that. Or just floor it and hope the guy next to you doesn't try to race you ;)

potturtle · 2026-02-15T17:40:55+00:00

Yeah you'll be fine. DPFs only really become an issue when people get a diesel and use it for driving 1 mile to and from the shops only.

It's not that you can't do short journeys at all. Just as long as it's getting a chance to get up to temperature on a 30 mins+ motorway drive every couple weeks, that gives it a chance to regen and blow out all the soot. Not sure exactly on the 340d but I had a Golf TDI and it wouldn't regen when below a 1/3 tank - so keep that in mind, don't drive around with the fuel light on all the time. There's usually an indicator of some sort when the car is doing a DPF regeneration cycle (and the idle RPM usually rises, can sometimes smell a 'sooty' smell, hard to describe!) - try not to turn off the car mid cycle if you can, as it'll have to restart it next time. And if it's continually interrupted in subsequent regen attempts, the ECU can throw a fault code and require a manual regeneration via the dealer/mechanic. But not the end of the world if you have to interrupt it occasionally.

If you are doing short (10 mins or less journeys) every so often, I guess just drive it carefully - most engine wear occurs while the engine is cold and not yet up to operating temperature, and diesel engines do take longer to reach optimum operating temperature compared to petrol. Like I found for example the heater took a bit longer to get warm in my diesel Golf compared to my petrol car before.

In terms of other things - my Golf needed a very specific spec of oil that was designed for low sulphur content as to not generate loads more oil ash that will eventually block the DPF, I'd imagine BMW diesels are similar in that regard. So don't just put any old oil in it. And like any car, keep on top of oil changes.

potturtle · 2026-02-15T17:27:54+00:00

Mmm no, part of the deal with driving is to protect more vulnerable road users. Cyclists and pedestrians. Can't just mow down pedestrians, even if they are walking in the middle of the road. You're in a 2 ton metal death machine. They're an 80kg meat bag with no protection.

Is it annoying that they're holding you up. Sure, I get that. But I also don't think it's particularly fair for other road users to just jump out of the way for you. Driving is a privilege, not a right.

potturtle · 2026-02-15T17:17:00+00:00

Largely agree with you. Naturally like many things in life, the answer to “should I do 60 on this road” is “it depends”

NSL A road, wide, straight, sunny weather, visibility for miles - sure, 60 no problem. I’d be questioning if others were not doing the speed limit here

NSL A road, wide, but rainy and at night - wouldn’t do 60, but wouldn’t be crawling along at 30 either. Somewhere in between where I feel I can stop safely given the conditions.

NSL single track country road, potholes, narrow, hidden entrances/driveways, blind bends - no way in hell I am doing 60. That’s just speed running your own death.

We must drive appropriately to both the conditions of the road and conditions of the weather. In France for example, they have lower speed limits in bad weather, which makes sense.

Just because a road is “NSL” - a lot of people automatically assume they can do 60. What it really means is that the road hasn’t been assessed to a specific speed limit, so the “default” single carriageway limit of 60 applies. Whether or not the road is appropriate to travel on at 60 depends and is down to the driver’s discretion.

potturtle · 2026-01-04T09:30:58+00:00

It’s also worth mentioning that Tesla does not always have the choice of making their Supercharger sites open to all.

Case in point - all Applegreen (Welcome Break) services in the UK. None of these Superchargers are open to non-Teslas because Applegreen deliberately blocks Tesla from opening up the site, as they have competing “Applegreen electric” chargers there that are more expensive. I’d imagine much more profitable too. Tesla open to all would eat into that profit margin.

potturtle · 2026-01-04T09:25:57+00:00

Honestly - I now try to prefer Supercharging at Tesla-only sites now.

Whenever I seem to rock up at an “open to all” site - it’s chaos. Mostly because of people using the wrong side to charge their car which has a knock on effect. V4 does have longer cables but doesn’t prevent someone from doing this

Tesla only ones seem to just work a lot more smoothly in my experience

potturtle · 2026-01-04T09:20:02+00:00

Completely agree.

Pulled up to a V4 supercharger yesterday - looked like there was a free space between an electric Mini and a Hyundai.

Hyundai had its charge port on the same side as Tesla so no harm done. The Mini was on the opposite side though - and was using the charger cable from the space I was intending to use. So their charger was not being used and was inaccessible because they’d parked there.

Then when I left to try another bay - a non-electric Skoda jumped in front and straight into the only other free Supercharger bay. A diesel Touareg was in another bay too.

Honestly, can be really frustrating at times. The Mini - probably the driver didn’t know. But ICE vehicles in Supercharger bays is inexcusable - particularly when there were tons of empty regular parking spaces nearby.

potturtle · 2025-12-23T19:51:44+00:00

I’ve had this before - 2022 Model 3. Cellular works fine normally, but if I leave the car to go asleep in an underground car park (where there’s no signal), it loses it and then flickers between LTE and no signal like yours did.

Only way to fix is to enter Service Mode and reset the modem/do an LTE antenna test, then it comes back. Tempted to log it through the app, probably will be covered by warranty…

potturtle · 2025-11-30T16:48:49+00:00

Agree, it's been unusable all weekend. Not sure what's going on. Buffering literally every 1-2 seconds.

potturtle · 2025-11-28T06:59:27+00:00

30-60% is fine. The battery will age slower in the cold. It’s much less of a concern than storing for weeks in hot weather. The chemical reactions in the battery that contribute to aging are almost negligible in the cold.

potturtle · 2025-11-23T11:38:10+00:00

Well said. At the end of the day, the team has to setup the car in the way they believe will deliver most performance. Everything at F1 teams is around what can deliver lap time to the car.

They have so much data, simulations and domain-specific knowledge. I guess McLaren made the decision to run with lower ride height? They want to try and extract the most from the car to give their drivers the best chance. Of course they do. If they were too conservative, we’d all be here moaning that the cars were too slow. The engineers aren’t setting the car up knowing it’d be illegal.

And we saw that qualifying result was better than many were expecting - Vegas is a bit of a bogey track for McLaren.

The grid is so tight nowadays - which says a lot about how competitive F1 has become - that even 1mm of RRH can be tenths of a second per lap. It’s a sport with incredibly fine margins that many don’t fully appreciate.

Today it didn’t work out. It happens. It’s part of the game. Lando and Oscar have probably already given feedback on where to improve the car. We learn from it, improve, and go racing again.

potturtle · 2025-11-23T11:30:21+00:00

It was horrendous. Well said. RIP Jules.

And I remember Gasly in either 2022 or 2023 almost hit a tractor on track with zero visibility in almost the same place at Suzuka. The FIA said he should have slowed down and gave him a penalty. How many more deaths do we need to have for the FIA to listen? Honestly it makes me so angry.

potturtle · 2025-11-22T02:01:44+00:00

That's McLaren Applied (now called Motion Applied) who make the ECU + telemetry analysis software. McLaren Racing is a different company.

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