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Thanks for the useful video. Do you have any idea what material they used to avoid the high corrosity of NaOH?

Think we all know the answer to will it reduce bills.

We will be charged more in the name of saving the planet.

Cameron was so short sighted in renewables he put us back by 12 years in development of all the solar etc, A absolute disgrace

Put your stats on screen. Just show and explain. Dont be lazy..

No link to stats. Also: stats should include initial costs of solar panels and installation and the total investment costs w a possible loan plan structure. And..the system is not linear but variable including power put back into the grid, renumeration schemes and various subsidies. And variable contracts. My brother for instance had a 2 year fixed contract. But now there are new terms, all negative.

Very useful Chris. I started with Flux soon after installation of my panels and battery. While I appreciated the advantages of Flux over standard tariffs, I very soon realised that greater control (and opportunity for gain) would come from switching to Agile import tariff alongside the standard export tariff of 15p/kWh. So it has proved (so far!), with the small burden of spending 5 minutes each afternoon (after 4pm) reviewing the half hourly import rates for tomorrow and deciding on the timing of up to three charging periods in that day. I’ve done this from all over the world on my iPhone. It doesn’t take long to learn how to react semi-automatically to the highly changeable charging patterns - including occasional nights (and some days!) when the rate turns negative (up to 5p per unit)! I recently looked at doubling the capacity of my 3.5 kWh battery, but found that it wouldn’t allow me to double the amount of power I could import during any particularly cheap (or negative) half-hourly period. So I decided against, despite much cheaper cost than when I first installed last year. I also found a very useful advantage from Octopus’ Gas Tracker rate, so far always between 10 and 25% below the current cap, changing daily - but only marginally. So the combination of panels, battery and tariffs has saved me 76% and 51% on my net electricity and gas bills respectively over the first 12 months, although the tariff switch only happened half way through. I highly recommend this approach, AS LONG AS YOU ARE HAPPY WITH THE ACCOMPANYING RISK OF SPIKES IN THE PRICES LASTING MORE THAN A SHORT TIME.

Thanks. In the decision making process at the moment. This helps.

June was very poor statistically and July is shaping up to be just as bad

The latest show I have a problem with is the Aptera "Solar" electric vehicle. It says "up to 40 miles solar range " and "up to 1000 miles" charged range. We all know that "up to" includes zero. The size of the solar panel is tiny and so it can hardly be described as a solar car. There are no spec figures as far as I can make out, including on the Aptera website.

I am completely not surprised. I have had an EV for just over 8 years now. It has only done just over 40 k miles, yet the battery range and capacity has degraded by 42%. Not withstanding this, logistically it has been an absolute nightmare on a longer run. People in general are fully aware now of shortcomings of EV's and they do not want to invest in a vehicle that it's value will drop like a brick either. EV's will never replace ice vehicles because the bottom line is that they are functionally not as good and all lithium ion batteries degrade to a greater or lesser degree, whereas ice vehicles don't apart from wear related aging, not just sat there in the garage . I also have another two cars. A 20 year old Mazda MX5 and a 16 year old Mercedes E Class diesel. Both cars still work wonderfully well and both cars have the range that they were originally purchased with. The Mercedes being 650 miles brimmed at highway speeds. No EV can touch that. EV's are just not as good and are just not fit for purpose and people just won't buy them now. Your assumption about electric cars lasting for 10 years with little use doesn't match my experience. Lithium ion batteries degrade with use but they also degrade with time ( much different to ice cars ). After 10 years the battery capacity, like mine, would have degraded quite severely, just sat in the garage, in my experience. Things will only get worse on the bad publicity front for EV's, as this glut of recently bought EV's, ages and the batteries degrade, just like mine has.

Bizzarely enough I think EV sales have peaked for a few years. They just arent what they were promised to be. Too expensive, range is not big enough and piblic charging in Europe is the same price as petrol/diesel.

How you doing?~ Dr. you shared great sharing!

Hi Chris. Puredrive is no longer made any more so you would need to act now to buy up whatstock remains on the market. The fact you have only one Puredrive this far I'd sell it if I was you.. Puredrive and duracell are now partnered together. So the new dura + is the current battery but the Dura 5 is been released in July and can be connected up to 32 x5 kW batteries. This would be my advice go this route.. I have x3 puredrive batteries and you can safely go to 8% DOD. That came direct from head tech guy I'm close with in puredrive. GE good equipment but I think puredrive/duracell are superior... x1 5kw battery can discharge and charge rate of 5kw which many other battery manufacturers can't do. The company I work for has 500+ puredrive battery installs under our belt. We are Irish install company and puredrive NO1 client FACT.

Pretty good when you consider this has been a comparatively poor May for solar. I posted elsewhere, a relative in Bristol whose had solar since 2018, this is the worst of those 7 years, the worst by 15% lower than the previous worst May, and 75% of the average May. My system is new so this forthcoming June wil be my first full month on Intelligent Octopus, eg 7.5p overnight rate and 15p export. Had I been paid for all of May (tariff started mid month) I should have got around £110 for the export, so say £120-£130 for June seems reasonable to hope for.

It's not just you. I have also switched off on a number of occasions. The show has become superbland and superficial.

good Morning Chris, I have a GE system of a AC inverter and a 9.5 battery, the battery wont go lower than 4% and has been a game changer when we added it to our system, just be aware of is the battery compatible with your current inverter I added onto a FIT system as a AC coupled so needed a GE AC inverter

I don’t have the tech you outline, but without looking at all the financials it would seem for future need ( as you have outlined) and flexibility installing the Givenergy solution would be the better route. On the other hand is there any hurry to make the switch? Until you have done the financials on electric heating etc there would seem to be no urgent need to install and as new products seem to be coming out at a steady rate just waiting may provide a more cost effective solution?

Hey, i cant able to view plant flow or import from grid in my app how to enable it

Hi there Need help regarding data logger state shows abnormal and not connected How can I connect data logger again

I'd interested in the conversation rate estimates for domestic use. If you say 10% loss to heat, then 40% loss from heat to electricity (a good steam turbine or triple expansion might hit 60% efficiency), then you would get around 54% of the energy you put in back out. The bonus would be, if you can use some of the "lost" heat to warm your home as a combined heat & power unit...

I agree that many marginal changes can add to (overtime) significant change. Whilst I agree on PV panels for new builds what would enhance new build housing (and commercial building), would be to require them to be built to “passive house” standards, thereby using a great deal less energy ( after all the cheapest energy is that which you don’t use). These standards could be gradually introduced, yes in the beginning they would increase the price of a house (or other building) but the payback over the life of the building would more than compensate for the cost. On shore wind in England should also be made considerably easier to build, yes the complete “ban” in respect of onshore wind was abolished by Sunak , but still very very difficult in England ( as opposed to Scotland) to build onshore wind, this does not mean that the country would be covered with turbines but would greatly enhance our energy security as well. Look at reforming the electricity energy market to encourage long term (pumped storage) schemes. As revealed in a paper (I believe written by Australian academics) there is considerable potential (worldwide) for pumped storage including many more sites in the U.K. than may be assumed, this is a useful adjunct to wind and solar. Reduce administrative regulations for small scale hydro schemes, estimated about 1GW of small scale hydro could be built in the U.K. ( estimated from a paper I found on web, I believe from small scale hydro organisation or similar). Make compulsory on all new EVs vehicle to grid technology ( and the same for home charger wall boxes) , again useful not only for individuals but helpful for grid balancing.). The key problem with politicians though is implementation!!!

I’m afraid I’m one of those people that doubt the National Grid statement. Currently my house consumes approx 11kwh of electricity per day. Add two EVs , one is only 10 miles per day, the other is 110 miles per day. So at 3 miles per KWh that’s another 40 kWh per day. Now add a heat pump, that’s another 20 kWh per day in Winter. So are they really saying that they can produce an extra 60 kWh of electricity per day? I understand that usage will vary from person to person but even without transport we are looking at 300% more electricity production during winter per household.

Going downhill? Maybe they are regenerating.

They are indeed a lot like corporate marketing unfortunately.

It is you, yes. They are still funny, and they cover products that mass media tends to ignore. Could they be more critical of the cars? yes.

Yes you are right - there is far too much padding and not enough facts. Also irritating is the self advertising of the Fully Charged Live show, which I have no intention of ever visiting. Some of the technology they promote is a bit dubious I think - heat panels for instance.

I can give you a summary of the effects of electrification on the grid. We'll break it down separately into EVs (electrification of transportation) and heat pumps (electrification of home heating and cooling). But I will point out that the original question imposed in that video clip was the condition of a full transition "in 10 years", which is impossible. It's impossible for EVs and doubly impossible for furnaces. The EV transition is a 30+ year affair and the home heating transition is a 50+ year affair. So the guy's answer should have begun with "no such transition could ever possibly occur in 10 years and here is why..." rather than the word-salad he spewed out instead. The reason these transitions will take a long time is because existing gasoline vehicles on the road aren't just gonna disappear. They will remain on the road for the next 20 years. Same with furnaces, except for furnaces it is more around 40-50 years. So you take the number of years before all new vehicles or appliances are electric, and you tack on another +20 for vehicles and +40 for furnaces. -- For EVs, a full fleet transition generally represents a 30% increase in grid generation and a 10% increase in grid capacity (peak handling). But that's over (10+20)=30 years so really the answer is 1% a year in generation and 0.33% a year in capacity. Basically a footnote. For home heating (air, not water) we are actually talking a lot more electricity, roughly 2x to 3x the electricity that the typical family EV needs. So rounding a bit, lets call it a 100% increase in grid generation and a 30% increase in grid capacity. But that is over (10+40)=50 years. So it is an increase of roughly 2% a year for generation and 0.66% per year in capacity. If we combine the two together we get roughly a 3% increase in generation per year and a 1% increase in capacity per year. Really not all that bad compared to electricity transitions in prior decades. The answer to "can the grid handle it" is thus "yes". Of course the grid can handle it. Start now 🙂 So that's the skinny, in very rough terms. -Matt

It has gotten a bit stale but I'm not sure I would fault the channel for that. The technology isn't new any more, and research breakthroughs happen a lot more slowly in real life than they do on social media. Most of the EV channels are in the same boat and you can tell because they spend more and more time on early research marketing releases and less and less on actual products.

I totally agree. I used to be excited when a Fully Chared video was released and watched them all. Since the new higher production quility came along they seem to have lost the idea of showcasing new technology and seem to be more focused on how things look. I am especially annoyed with all the car vidoes they produce and rarely show any more useful and affordable tech like electric bikes or scooters. I much prefer the Almost breaking news with Robert and the podcasts which are much more informative. Their total disregard for anything hydrogen related also annoys me, I have watched other videos which suggest hydrogen has a big part to play in a decarbonised future. The JCB video from Harrys Farm was very informative and something Fully Charged should be covering, not hot hatches that pretend to be petrol cars with fake gear shifters and engine noises.

Yea, I'm with you on this one. I unsubscribed a while ago because the reviews were just non-realistic. They raved on about EV cars saying they're affordable and easy to use when quite clearly, they're not. Other channels are more real world and provide a more balanced view.

I can't help look at this without waiting for you and the sofa to start sliding downhill to the right. But back on topic, I agree, I stopped following it some years ago because its just so relentlessly upbeat about everything they review. I cant, offhand, recall any negative reviews. I recall Roberts ridiculous praise for the dutch solar car that was £150k or whatever and was obviously a complete non starter, same for the sonos(Or whatever) that madea big thing about having moss for air purifcation. Never mind it wasnt sustaineable or economic. And yes, no excuse for letting that silly explanation go by regards gas and heat pumps.Even if they missed it should have been caught in production.

Hello sir?

This is literally unwatchable because of the sound.

This is exactly why I've bought a plug in hybrid. I can do 95% of my local journeys on a cheap charge from home. If I need to do any distance, I've got the backup of petrol with outstanding efficiency and cost.

You must allow grid charging as the battery will fall below the recommended level you have set. If this happens a recovery job is required to restore your batteries….

I'm just waiting for the export details to be rubber stamped with Octopus. I'll be going for Intelligent Go to keep it simple. 7.5 nighttime import, 15p export all day (currently on Go) and I'll be exporting all solar. My battery is big enough to get me through a standard day without having to import at higher rates (28p??) and I'll have higher usage stuff like washing machine, dishwasher running in the off peak time.

I'm getting solar installed at the end of the month - 8kw split almost evenly e - S - w. How long in viewers experience does it take to jump through the SEG hoops?

a ev will hold its value what bull i suggest you watch the MacMaster video on owning his Porche Taycan even the dealers did not want it back they are not green just a stop gap till the idiots get most of us off the road

Thanks a lot

We're finding savings in energy costs as well. My wife drives her EV about 300km per week. In a month she's saving just under $100 USD. (That's using the 12 cents per kWHr of the grid and not including our solar.) Add to that no tuneups (air filters, oil filters, spark plugs, oil changes, transmission service, ....) and no lost work days to take the car in. She really likes it and avoids the gas car now.

From the video & comments, do I understand that Octopus are paying you VAT (sales tax) when they should not?

Chris, I saw a post on another CZcams channel that the Octopus app is incorrectly adding 5% vat to the export value.

Hi, really interesting as per usual. My March results totally different from yours. Mar23 generated 344kwh, Mar 24 generated 343kwh.

Half price means that VAT electric taxes per kilometer of EVs will go up.

You can over 500 miles in a diesel car and fill up in 5 minutes.

I’ve just joined Octopus tracker, seeing the daily prices like about 12p per kw today shows just how insane the mark up is for charging on the road.

I guess you could have used the overnight AC destination chargers at your last stop if you’re not in a Tesla. Nice review though.

I hit a problem when adjusting the battery minimum SOC (to 5%, which Solis and the battery supplier said was fine) in order to get the greatest value from cheap rate charges. While I was in USA on holiday, the SOC fell below 5% (possibly related to a power cut) and triggered an alarm which I didn’t see until my return a week or two later. By that time the battery had fallen into a protective standby mode and would not charge normally, even after resetting the inverter as requested by the alarm. I had to get the installer out to take the battery away for an off-site commercial charge taking a couple of days. I now leave the minimum SOC at 20% (ie 80% Reserved SOC) as originally set, to avoid such problems. However, I have set the charge rate to 60A, the top of the offered range for my set-up. All works fine now.

Out of interest, what would happen if you add a second battery? Would it smooth out your gap periods & does it make economic sense with today's battery prices?