Random EV thoughts.....

Anyway, in a desperate attempt to steer us back towards EVs, here's some vehicular p0rn

Don't get too excited, on 33 will be made and they've already been sold. So we probably won't be seeing one on the bargains thread anytime soon

Looks absolutely stunning IMO, Alfa really hit the money on this one

It's also being made with a V6 petrol, so I guess it's a platform vehicle then 🤔

No news on how many of the 33 cars will be EVs or combustion

I assume it's for all the petro state royals who bought one where petrol is cheaper than water 😏

In other news, hope you weren't planning to rent an escooter in Paris

It's a bit of an interesting case, one where both sides have legitimate arguments and faults

On one hand, e-scooters are a solution to a lot of last mile mobility issues in cities and are a more efficient method of getting people around than cars. The "referendum" to ban them had around 7% turnout so hardly represents public opinion. The road accidents that have occurred are an indicator that the city isn't well adapted to scooter or bike traffic

On the other hand, it can't be denied that the scooters were a nuisance. Pictures of them dumped on street corners were commonplace, and there were frequent issues with drivers speeding around pedestrians

Crossing the waters to our own fair isle, I think we have some of the same problems. Services like Tier or Bleeper bike are handy but I've seen the bikes parked across footpaths, so anyone on a wheelchair or pushing a buggy would have to go onto the grass to get around them

And then there's the typical situation where 3 bikes have fallen over like dominoes and are sitting in a heap somewhere

I've also seen a fair number of e-scooters driving dangerously along paths with no regard to pedestrians. I see it with other vehicles as well but e-scooters seem to be the worst offenders

I think the lesson here is that laws and regulations need to be updated ASAP so there are clear guidelines on how how these vehicles can be used safely. There's been rumblings about this for years but it seems to be going nowhere

I also think there needs to be regulation of the rental bike and scooter services. The whole dockless, leave it anywhere, system is just too open to abuse. They need to have designated parking areas like Dublin bikes

Interesting, and slightly strange, development

So VW are establishing their own charging network in France aside from Ionity

And chose Electrify France as the name, presumably because Electrify America never gets any criticism 😏

They'll be targeting VW dealerships mostly and installing at least one 150kW charger with 2 plugs (yay for SPOF)

To be fair to them, they do mention a lot of the sites will have multiple units, so not a total disaster

The idea seems to be to fill in gaps in the network in France, presumably by using land they won't have to rent for the charging spaces

The network will be available to all cars 24/7 despite being in VW dealerships

Tbh, I don't think it's exactly a bulletproof plan given car dealerships are usually in the back hole of nowhere and you wouldn't exactly want to be sitting there at night getting a charge waiting to be stabbed 😬

Still, more chargers are always good and it's a good sign that VW are actively looking to improve the network in some countries

Maybe we'll get an Electrify Ireland soon, which would never be confused with Electric Ireland 😂

Many did when they bought cars and in particular 8 seaters. Manufacturers putting tinted glass in vehicles as standard hasn't helped the situation, it's just the NTA being obstinate because they're behind the times as usual.

Presenting the Cupra Dark Rebel concept

It was apparently designed by using some sort of online configurator to get ideas from 270,000 designers and chuck them in a blender to produce the final product

With so many designers you'd think someone would have remembered to include a boot 😂

They also forgot the center mirror 🤦‍♂️

Well I guess that's why it's a concept, realism isn't a necessity

The interior looks pretty cool I'll admit, the centre console design is very futuristic

The screen is also used to show Spike, a CG dog that represents the “fully-fledged voice assistant” the company announced a few months ago. (If you don’t like the dog, there’s also a “stylized representation of a Mini” option.)

Does anyone actually use voice assistance? I've never used it as it always gets it wrong. That looks hideous, the big round speedo looked nice in 1959, that's where it should be left... They'll be fitting the Rover 75 oval clock next🙂

It's brilliant. Really good.

Got into my wife's BMW and it was useless. I tried saying the name of the road in Dublin and it tried to send me to an industrial estate in England.

Daughter said the name and it was nowhere close.

Trying to use that i-drive controller after being used to a keyboard is nigh on impossible.

I saying that I haven't tried the Born's va, I'll try it later but I'm not holding out much hope tbh🫣

I had this issue with both Android and Tesla. I think Android called Colgate so I changed to "Call Parking".