kwhelan

3 hours ago, Palazzo said:

I just got off the phone with my father, were  you eavesdropping? 
Actually it’s 50/50 National/Labour.

nzta.govt.nz

 

they spent millions fitting wire rope barriers on the supposed single lane motorway between hastings and napier which everyone hates and causes more issues than it solves. the only death since I think happened in the 500 odd meters from roundabout exit till where the ropes started, Irony!

after cursing them for blocking any overtaking whatsoever Its hard to notice that you can't go more than 1km without finding a stretch that has been damaged/hit, broken posts-wires flapping in the wind. does this mean all those hits were going to cross the center line? and they worked?, not so sure,it would appear more farm and heavy machinery seems to clip them because the road is now too narrow to be safe

4 hours ago, jon dee said:

The money that is being pumped into setting up the new speed camera network (that will use facial recognition to see who is in the front seats) has to come from somewhere. Just a question of priorities. 

Cheers... 

PS: If potholes are that effective maybe the police should use them instead of road spikes ?

Brisbane has had them for ages, I'm not completely against them or road safety if they catch the phone users which is what they use them for, they can even nab you with the phone on your lap ,got no proof but suspect phones cause alot of accidents which didn't happen 15 years ago.

6 minutes ago, Palazzo said:

Best video commentary.

The whole network is f&&ked, NZTA came out the other day and said the reason the roads were so bad is they were making sure they got their monies worth out of what they spent on them 10 years ago. It’s beyond belief.

NZTA never heard of them, use their correct te reo pakeha name please,

10 years? that just means its nationals fault because 9 years neglect

no its combination of green ideology "cars are bad"

and zero road toll

its the perfect way to get everyone out of their vehicles

oh and free public transport as your yoof demanded in their march the other day

https://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/303912-traffic-congestion-reported-on-sh29.html

watch the clip, I wonder if they even had phone recording or missed the start

what sort of new venezuela  are we becoming

enjoy it while it lasts , be 80km per hour the whole way before you know it, yes I still ignore the 80 on the taupo road but its easier to get over the 40km over limit where the penalties get serious and they are investing in a whole lot of new cameras including timed gates, imagine when they clock you at start of journey and end and can calculate the difference,

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/holden/commodore/listing/3761163791

take one of these for a drive, there euro economical 9 speed 2.0 or v6 and go like a cut cat when floored, handle well, comfy and roomy, aussies didn;t take to them but there better than a mondeo and hugely underated, the car has the same floor plan so hatch is large too, can swallow 3m lengths of wood and sheets or ply easily

there's a rim breaking hole in Hastings main street, probably 20cm deep not quite  in the middle of a roundabout that has had cold mix thrown in it at least 4 times in the last 4-5 weeks, only for it to be all gone 2-3 days later and be back to square one, criminal really, only good thing is its probably got a few cyclists judging by its location

we have hp pro series  i5 laptops at work which we buy as they come up ex lease, put an ssd in them and they are still going strong 10 years old. if anything most lower end laptops have got slower because the holy grail is thin light and long battery so the old processors can still almost compete just. And the fact that most people use them for word zoom or internet so they are overkill anyway but I bet your not running the latest versions of photoshop, editing 4k video from a go-pro, try copying a big file through your usb compared to a usb-c port. Just saying its all relative and if that does you then all good.

comparing your laptop to a surface pro, is like what model ? the basic one that had an i3 and 4 gigs of ram, again its all relative and pointless argument there, his has touchscreen, probably faceid which is the bomb and probably a high res screen.

the new m1 m2 macbook airs are freaking amazing though, more power than the old  intel pro macbook and battery life for days, they need to add faceid like the phones ,the price not so much

I look after a considerable number of both systems at work ,used to love apple but since they dumbed it down to basically ios on a desktop and locked everything including the system drive  not so much, Trying to get apple to work well in a windows network is nigh on impossible now. And yes I'm fully qualified in both and go back to windows 3.1 and mac 8.

Apple tv is no match for a simple chinese no name windows tv box, especially if your into free stuff like popcorntime, torrents, kodi,  skysports etc. A lot of things are still better on a web interface chrome/firefox/brave than the app version including trademe, dropbox, onedrive for example. Spotify is totally different on a browser to the app and I run that all weekend while doing the weekend stuff,sound is hooked up to the onkyo reciever. plenty of power and choices to run a huge photo music video library as well as gaming. add a webcam and its your portal to the grandkids overseas, you can even use it to record tv with a tivo like app if you want for later viewing

currently using an intel nuc with a wireless keyboard touchpad combo a bit dearer than an appletv but well worth it and its just simple  things like multiple web  browsers with all their adblockers and extensions. Youtube with no ads, facebook, no ads, zoom , messenger video chat, windows 10 is so much better now with screen sharing, phone connections etc but it does need you to kinda know what your doing to get the best out of it.

on the odd occasion I will click on a youtube link from my iphone and am reminded how I hate ads so much,

probably depends on the colour but a little jiff on a damp cloth gently rubbed, the good thing about the low sheen is you can just run a roller of fresh paint over the mark once its off and it will blend right in and you won't see the touchup at all, I always keep some spare paint for knocks and repairs

10 hours ago, Eagle said:

Yeah batteries aren't cheap and many people dont understand how to reset the system etc when replacing it so even more cost. In my experience peoples laziness would easy override it too by a long shot. The amount of people who don't even check their tyre pressures for god knows how long is crazy. Let alone any other factors like engine condition and poor driving ability etc.

its never about the money though is it, think the millions your councils have spent on bike tracks,lanes and proposed bridges, rail to nowhere that no one will use,

reseal and straighten a few roads and you would save way more in the long term as a country, traffic that flows is using less gas especially in trucks

11 hours ago, Neal said:

So borrowed the wife’s 2017 cx5 diesel today which has istop.

In the time we’ve owned it istop timer was 7.5 hours in 80,000 kms. 

In the last 10000 kms it saved 91kms of diesel so 6.4 litres of fuel or $19.almost immaterial.

However, on the commute home the engine was at zero emissions for. 25% of the travel time.

To me the fuel savings of one tank of gas over the 80,000 kms is neither her or there and any fuel savings will be offset by the cost of a new car battery with the extra start cycles reducing its service life. But the 7.5 hours of zero emissions is worth consideration.

Disclaimer ….. this post used .12grams of carbon.

not disagreeing with you at all but devils advocate  I guess you times your savings by every other car on the road say in the EU and it all starts to add up personally I think better tech designed around shutting off cylinders would work and mean we could still have powerful cars for when the occasion was wanted, v8s that idled along like a honda jazz around town but still opened up when planted.

4 hours ago, Gaz said:

You can thank vw for that.

Personally I don't think fuel economy is the main purpose behind stop/start but more emissions.

yeah couldn't agree more, they were forced into it rather than it being a natural progression. I guess it all comes done to pure numbers or quantities,I think killing cylinders would be easier and probably a better outcome, not sure why bmw havn't done that

my 7 km drive to work has one stop sign and one set of lights,if its stops its for less than 45 seconds ever unless a train happens to come through town as its scheduled to do at 5.15pm every night but I guess in Auckland it all adds up,

it can be coded to remember the last settings at turn off with software too

17 hours ago, Navin said:

Yeah it's a pretty seamless transition in my G20. However lately it's rarely worked. Come to to think of it, didn't work pretty much all winter last year too. Assuming due to battery voltage from short trips in Akl traffic and the cold etc but I'm not complaining

sales guy told us it learns your route and then overrides it at certain stop signs etc, it certainly appears to know every morning where you are going  just like your phone so I guess its not beyond the realms.

we have noticed it not working lately on very familiar streets and even when we pull up to open our gates to property but kicks in if your going somewhere different, its not great in an f40 there's a definite shake or vibration as the 3 cyl fires up which gets tiring really fast, the fours seem much better and in the big ones you'd struggle to hear it had even stopped. wish they gave you the choice or it remembering your on/off state and not resetting everytime you start the car though

an f40 at idle is not exactly thirsty

That is a stunningly dismissive statement of what appears to be a genuine effort to document the effects of stop-start operation on various engine operating parameters. Quite frankly it sounds like something a Chinaphobe would say, but sobeit

pot kettle

you were obviously interested enough to comment

first you gave us your expert opinion, completely write off the video with smarmy comments that because he didnt do the tests,( its invalid etc

you rave on for a whole paragraph with a personal theory about starters and whether they allowed for that, FFS just watch it and save yourself the embarrassment next time

all without, by your omission, watching it

you make a weak joke about all of youtube being crap,

then trying to defend your obvious smuggness in the first post actually find and give a counter arguement, (good thats how its supposed to be done)

yes the video was dummed down to make it watchable in todays 15sec attention span audience and it was done with humour.

unlike yours where 90% would just say TLDR

then when someone dismisses your argument mostly in jest but just probably trying to point out to you your smugness ,

like a typical lefty you make it personal, start calling someone names, Chinaphobe  (FFS how embarrasing for you and you should apologise)

make it personal because thats how any lefty wins an arguement, hint that the person is RACIST and bang I win.

I don't know why I'm even writing this because I know it all just flying past your head, God help my grandkids with the state of NZers critical thinking now

Trying to discuss anything with a lefty is like banging your head against a wall, unopen to anything that might contradict your preconformed science

if it doesn't come from the podium of truth, the single source, it must be burned to the ground.

3 hours ago, E30 325i Rag-Top said:

@kwhelan be careful, referencing scientific tests like that will get you banned from the internets!!

Ive always believed stop start was a waste of time , may have to reconsider now, its interesting that i think most people quietly agreed but I guess manufacturers would hardly have bothered with all the expense if they didn't know something we didn't

2 hours ago, jon dee said:

If I was interested enough I would want to see the original test data and methodology used. That guy is just a youtuber who makes a living out of presenting basic science to uncritical audiences. He did not make the actual tests. 

For example, every time the starter cranks the engine it draws energy from the battery. That energy is restored by the alternator putting extra load on the engine, and that requires extra fuel to be burned. Was this factored into the original test data ? Small four cylinder engines can be expected to be more fuel efficient that larger 6 or 8-cylinder engines. How would this affect the results ?

Until proven otherwise, youtube videos are not worth the paper they are written on  

Cheers...

wow,

just wow

I can see why they want to give the vote to 16 yr olds now

you must be hanging out for booster #4 by now

https://fb.watch/dIYvTHwSws/

cut and pasted,

has some interesting figures on NZ current power generation and usage

The investigation report on Lake Onslow is supposed to be released soon. This will be touted by the incompetent Minister as a real game changer but needs more taxpayer money to be wasted. Yet they won’t release the economic analysis to justify it. In any sensible world, this would be the first thing done. But in the Kiwibuild era, that type of report would just be decried as naysaying and the old paradigm. So for benefit of Kiwiblog readers, if you indulge me, here is the condensed version. Remember it when the Minister’s PR comes out about how good Onslow is and the puff pieces about it being a real game changer.
I haven’t included links as it would make this post too long. However, the info is factual so easily checked with public domain data – look for numbers and units, not words. A good place to start is here: https://www.transpower.co.nz/system-operator Read their reports.
Electrical energy is in Watt hours, Power is Watts – they measure different things, though many ignorant commentators confuse them, Nomenclature and units are a good way of quickly sorting the parrots out to disregard their twitterings. And remember, get units correct; kilo(k), mega(M), giga (G) and Tera(T).
NZ uses about 45TWh of electricity a year ~125GWh a day; more in winter, less in summer. It needs to generate significantly more than this to allow for losses (heat) on overloaded equipment. However, during a day, the power varies greatly. It is about 3GW at 4am and the peak about 6.5GW. Usually, absolute peak is about 6pm but the demand is high 7am to 9am and 5pm to 8pm. The generation has to match the demand within 1% at all times. If it doesn’t, then demand response is needed (a euphemism for turning your power off). Biggest single unit on the grid is about 400MW (a gas burner) at full load. Most are less than 100MW – lots of littleuns. For operational and maintenance reasons, hydro units don’t like being at part load. Most are either flat out or off.
An average 21TWh p.a. is generated by hydro, but this can vary from 16-24TWh depending on rainfall in hydro catchments. Typical thermal generation is around 10TWh a year, but half this is the make up for hydro/ wind shortfalls on a day to day basis. Onslow is supposed to replace a lot of this thermal – nominal 5TWh in dry years. It was going to store the mythical hydro spill (where water goes down the spillway, rather than through unused units) This last happened in 12 years ago when we had a lot more gas burning power stations. There is no surplus to spill there now.
Solar and wind are really good at generating power when it isn’t needed. We can hold back some water, running hydros less when the unreliables are generating, but that ability is very close to already being maxed out. That means the shortfall has to be covered by ramping up and down thermals – in $/MWh terms, about 10% of the cost of getting the electricity from batteries.
The typical electricity price on the spot market over the course of the year is around $150/ MWh. This is 15c a unit (kWh) of your power bill, rest is distribution and administration charges, plus the increasing costs of bad debts. Winter, it is higher prices and summer lower. When the thermals are running, a major part of their costs are carbon charges. For Huntly, it is around 10c a unit. At that wholesale $150 price, many new power stations are still not economic to build and operate. Even just getting consents (they are front end charges ) is a significant cost on future power.
The above sets the scene.
If we take Onslow sells a full lake of power at $200/MWh once every 5 years, that is an income of $1B. The other 4 years they have to buy power off the grid to fill the lake. They need to buy 20% more to allow for losses and inefficiencies. So that is an average 1.5TWh a year. If this is bought at say $100/MWh, then that is an expenditure over the 5 year cycle of $600M. So gross income averaged over that cycle is $80M a year. Then one has to subtract finance, administration and operating costs of say $20M. So there would be a net income of $60M a year. That “profit” has to pay for the cost of construction. For a long life asset for this, the nominal capital payback should be maybe 20 years. So anything more than $1.2B to build is losing money. And note all my assumptions were on the optimistic side for the government analysis. Nor have I added interest.
Now look up the cost quoted for Onslow and remember hydros usually cost twice as much as original budget price. The consents, which will be opposed, will add big delays and increase the costs further. I haven’t even factored in all the transmission upgrades needed which would more than double the overall costs.
To get the “cheap” wet year power, they will have to buy off a surplus generated by power stations yet to be built. There isn’t any there from existing stations unless we burn more coal. However, at that cheap buying price, the companies won’t build new stations as they would lose money. So building Onslow would guarantee no new stations would be built unless the power price to consumer went up by maybe 20c a unit in real terms. Think what this will do to cost of living, inflation and the economy.
That simple economic analysis above is why the generation companies are not interested in it at all. They can do the sums – it is a massive white elephant that will drag their balance sheets negative. Though the Labour appointees on the company boards might force bad commercial decisions – it has happened before. The only current support for it is from sycophants to give a vanity project to a Minister who wants to be seen to be doing something but is out of her depth in a puddle.
If they were to do day to day energy trading, like Dinorwig does, Onslow could replace thermal and cover the unreliability of overbuilt wind and solar. The lake could be smaller, but the power station would need to be bigger. Basic economics are better, though not positive, but still no new stations would be built and there would be no dry year reserve.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertbryce/2022/05/27/rolls-royces-smr-needs-10000-times-less-land-than-wind-energy-proves-iron-law-of-power-density/?sh=6cb8561298f0

Boris admitting they are going to build 1 plant a year

I don't deny EVs are here to stay, rightly or wrongly its going to happen,  we all seem to agree that NZ will do it badly without thinking the whole thing through generation wise etc  but it will still happen.

Considering we are sitting on gigantic oil reserves and could have been the next Oman, UAE it does make you cringe a bit but .we've gone from one of the highest standards of living in the world in the 60s to this so I guess it's inevitable.Just wish people would wake up and question a few things, have some critical thoughts for a change instead of just following Hillary Barry.

its not about saving the planet they don't give a toss about that, oil companies are the major shareholders in the renewables, they have just realised its a way to scrap everything and sell you all something ne w.

just follow the money, its always about the money

when you realise it always ends up at the same 2 companies you see we are just hamsters on a wheel

2 hours ago, NZ00Z3 said:

Yes, I totally agree.

So, why are we not seeing lots of news articles about all the resource consenting for new solar and wind farms?  After all, that is the first sign that the Govt owned generation companies are on board and pushing as hard as they can to build the needed generation.

because overseas its been tried and it doesn't stand up to scrutiny, old plant litters deserts everywhere, kills wildlife like crazy and is hard to dispose of. costs to install aren't recovered There isn't a serious scientist worldwide including the founder of greenpeace that now doesn't agree that nuclear is the cleanest safest fuel generation, not cherynobl size just little nuclear sub sized

easily moved to where they need to be, easily covered if something goes wrong but the tech of nuclear has come along way anyway

subs are all have reasonable safety records so far , we just need to convince the public but in the end it will happen

watch europe recommission nuclear big time now that they are bent over by Putin and have finally realised

heres a study done by tesla itself on total cost of ownership,fuel prices have risen since the war but so has electricity in most countries

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/lifestyle/shopping/tesla-model-3-rwd-5-year-cost-of-ownership-versus-toyota-camry/ar-AAXlNl9?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=1143af5eb9614155823b060221cf3161

48 minutes ago, aja540i said:

Totally agree that our current supply grid is not up to the task, but just pouring billions of dollars into upgrading that grid might not be the best solution. When I got my EV I also invested in rooftop solar at home, it provides enough power to keep my car charged and export some to the grid, obviously no good at night but if it were on the very large roof of the factory where I work and I could plug my EV in while I was at work it would provide all my transport energy needs and take load of the supply grid. A large enough system would cover the transport energy needs of 20 odd staff, repeat as necessary, consider solar systems at carport buildings, park and rides etc.

These are the options the government needs to be seriously considering if they want mass adoption of EVs.

like I alluded to above, those home panels actually add costs to the generators and their business models go out the window, they build a power station to provide power 24/7 not just to cover the times your panels arn't working.

we will need more generation to cope anybody can see that, no dams allowed, no gas, wind requires 80-100 % backup so you need another system of equal size to cope with slow days,solar similar,  more coal , oh and shipped on a evil diesil ship  hmmm

your getting away with it currently but it all falls over once you reach a critical mass

a bit like not paying ruc, good on you for being ahead of the curve but its not going to end well

UK power bills have doubled in last 12 months with power estimated at anything from 10-25% of entire household income

AUS power costs have doubled in SA , Queensland in last 12 months and expected to keep going higher

this is a greenie costs tho, not blaming EVS for that

Europe, US and others are all asking people to not charge cars and cut power use due to oversubscription and wind/solar not performing as promised

alot of insurance companies are getting very jumpy about EVs charging and house fires

every day there's another video of some electric bus igniting into a fireball usually parked at the time and boy there spectacular

and this is now becoming a problem?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/128270062/shipping-giant-mol-confirms-it-has-stopped-carrying-used-evs-over-safety-concern

judging buy how much indonesian coal we are importing absolutely nil it would appear

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/447679/new-zealand-likely-to-have-record-high-imports-of-coal-in-2021-officials