A few months ago, I blogged about how cost efficient electric cars are. Last week I took delivery of a BMW i3 REX - so here's a quick review of the vehicle. A warning, I'm a grumpy, demanding, sod. I really like the car - but that doesn't blind me to its flaws. But first, and brief diversion into PHYSICS and MATHS! Physics Imagine a kilogram weight (1Kg) sat on an ice rink. You want to push the object 1 metre. The energy you require to accomplish this is 1 Joule. If you want to…
Continue reading →
After three years of driving a nifty little hybrid, it's time for my company car to be replaced. Of course, being a hippy, it's only right that I choose an electric vehicle (EV). Why? Cost, obviously. I've been obsessively tracking my fuel consumption using the Fuelly app. If I'm lucky, I get around 60MPG (UK) - given my mileage, the yearly cost is around £1,350. That means that my average cost per mile is £0.104 (over the last 3 years). Electric cars are, generally, more expensive to b…
Continue reading →
I'm currently test-driving a BMW's all-electric i3 REX. One of the options the demonstrator model has is a web browser! Yes, for just £95 per year, you can get a slow and painful browsing experience IN YOUR CAR! (Only to be used when fully stopped - or in autonomous drive mode.) Here's a quick run-down of its features. HTML5 A fairly miserable score of 268 out of 555 points on http://html5test.com/ The screen is 1280*480 with good visibility. It's slow to scroll and, even with the …
Continue reading →
Last year, during Britain's windy season, my car was struck by a tree. I say struck. I saw it teeter and made the wise decision to accelerate through it as it fell on top of me! Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edentSlightly more detail of the tree what fell on me. pic.x.com/5fgi1zhyln❤️ 0💬 1🔁 009:55 - Tue 21 October 2014 It wasn't quite as dramatic as some of the footage you see from Russian drivers - whose dashboard cameras picked up a meteor streaking through the sky - but I thought it was the …
Continue reading →
Friend, colleague, and fellow geek, Sam Machin has introduced me to the wonders of the OBDII port! Essentially, OBD (On Board Diagnostics) is a port which is found on every car produced since the late 1990s. It allows garages to see all sorts of diagnostic information about your car, its engine, and all other manner of petrol-headed goodness. It's designed to be easily accessible and conform to a common standard. So, it's no surprise that a whole cottage-industry has developed around this…
Continue reading →
Since taking a job at Telefonica I've had a fairly dramatic change of lifestyle. Namely - I now have a car. This car is red I learned to drive pretty much as soon as I hit 17. Within a few months, I had passed my driving test (first time!) and so I took to the road. That last year of sixth-form before university I drove my batterd old Peugeot to death. I remember driving my friends everywhere - cinema, pub, randomly around town - it didn't matter. I had the freedom to drive where I wanted.…
Continue reading →
