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I thought there were new rules that mandated they did take card payments without an app. Maybe some haven't been updated to do that yet but AFAIK it's just a matter of time.

With a whole fleet of classics it not remotely viable. Ive just started building a 57 chevy truck hot rod project. I did, briefly, consider an electric drivetrain, but then i came to my senses and decided to stick with a 5.7 V8 LS1 driveline. That said, its rapidly getting cheaper. Whats a real shame is that GM never went ahead with the "eCrate" project. And electric "drop in" replacement for the LS series of engines. Dropped due to liability concerns. https://gmauthority.com/blog/2020/10/chevrolet-performance-launches-electric-connect-and-cruise-package/ The interest at its launch at the SEMA show was mental.

A few insights from my ICF build. The planks can only partially bear as you have vertical rebar coming up from the wall below that needs to tie into the next wall. You don't need to seal up the end of the slabs - a combination of the small diameter of the holes, interference from rebar, and by not working the concrete at that point (poker will vibrate the concrete at the bottom of the formwork), it simply won't flow in more than a short lenght if the consistency of the concrete is correct. You won't have an issue unless you are using an overly low slump / high flowing mix. Also, you normally need to bend over a certain number of the vertical bars and break into the planks. Then get grouted in, in order to tie the floor to the wall.

Which is a reason I have considered converting my classic car to EV, but the cost id prohibitive. I wonder how many classic car owners will try to hoard fuel for the apocalypse 😀

We only ever cash for the cleaner. Just never use it otherwise, would prefer not to use it for the cleaner either. Rarely even use cards now either.

Tree behind, but panels at top of bank - prevailing wind is straight at the panels

Yes, i recall your pictures. But isnt there a bank/tress behind offering some level of sheilding?

I also cant be in a position where travelling is reliant on my ability to use a smart phone. Which is clearly smarter than me.

I have wondered about this for a while. Clearly as the EV fleet grows, and the ICE fleet diminishes, total petrol(and diesel) sales will diminish. There will come a point, where its no longer economic to continue selling petrol. Clearly this is going to hit more rural areas first as volumes are lower. Which is a problem as ICE use is invariably higher. Regardless, there will come a point where fuel becomes hard to find, whilst a sizeable chunk of the vehicles on the road are still ICE. There seems to be no thought or plan as to how to manage that. I cant imagine it will end well though. Its also likely within 10 years based on renewal rates, the EV mandate etc. Will definitely be a problem for me, with no obvious answers.

No "technical" reason. But some dont.

Many thanks for this @-rick-. What you say about the BUS grant sounds entirely logical but was not mentioned by the surveyor, nor picked up on by the sales team. As explained by the surveyor the issue was load, not eligibility for BUS. My view was simply that 3-phase because of elec showers would be (expensive and) mad, so if I have to physically remove or otherwise 'incapacitate' them before confirmation of order or the arrival of the installation team then so be it - I've still got a tap!

It does. Try using a £50 note down here, not many places will take them. Cash handling is also expensive, a charge that gets passed onto the end consumer. I hate using cash at work, card payments are so much easier. There is no technical reason that EV charging points cannot take the major cards, self serve checkouts at super markets manage it.

Another reason not to go EV! I prefer to use cash wherever possible, as it doesn't crash, conduct random updates, or run out of battery at the worst possible time. And it is much easier to keep an eye on spending.

It’s currently done at the Borough level, so Runnymede BC (NW Surrey) definitely charge CIL - not sure what happens when West Surrey becomes a unitary authority. suggest you check your Borough planning portal for current situation.

I have installed a Matrix STP. With current enviroment conditions I wonder whether the out flow from the STP could be reused for irrigation purposes. I have been advised that the answer to that is NO. Has anyone gone down this route successfully?

Seems unreasonable to me if that left you without a working shower. Don't think you can get the BUS grant with an electric shower so would need to be removed before installation complete. Would be reasonable to say 'can't install any additional electrical load until one of the showers is removed' but definitely excessive to require both removed before starting IMV.

Indeed. Had a survey recently with a view to getting a HP installed. He asked me to run both elec showers (rarely used, and never together) and clocked 75A. He told me I'd need a 3-phase supply. (!) What neither of us initially clocked was that elec showers would no longer be required once we'd lost the combi boiler and gained a 300ltr cylinder. It took a while to get agreement on that. I had (not unreasonably) to confirm that the elec showers would be put out of use (in his view, removed completely) before the installation of the HP began. Apparently handing over a pair of breakers would not be enough!

A few other factors come to mind that will be impacting quantity of petrol stations about. it's all a supply and demand thing, init. Increase in out of town supermarkets selling petrol as a loss-leader to get feet into the store Increased efficiency of vehicles meaning less petrol used per mile so fewer trips to the gas station needed Perhaps?? - people are commuting further for work so more likely to pass a cheaper out of town station, not just looking for the most convenient local option. Since the 1990s diesel was gradually displacing Petrol, not sure what affect that might have, however combined sales peaked in 2016 and have been decreasing since then so decreasing overall demand ... I collected my EV and promptly registered on a pair of public charging apps to calm the immediate range anxiety for the drive home (I registered with VW's own app, and the Octopus one). It is interesting to see how the marketing landscape is so different compare to petrol, being almost all online and app based rather than giant billboards visible from the motorway, for what is essentially the same use case.

They're not “power showers”, they are pumped electric showers big difference. There may not be enough electricity to run 2 big electric showers. I’d say add a pumped digital shower upstairs and take the easiest route. The two boxes (1 x pump and 1 x thermostatic digital controller) go in the airing cupboard and then just a single 15mm pipe delivering the sum to the shower head. A wireless or wired control goes in the shower area, and is an elegant solution with the pumps away from the user. You can (iirc) time the max on duration with these too, if you choose well / care.

So 3.86kW, so not pence. 3.86kW exported over 6 hrs is 22kWh. A 10kWh battery in winter would be filled from the grid. You basically get a time of use tariff so you get cheap periods. My current tariff allows me to fill at 10p per kWh instead of 27p or whatever the standard tariff is. My array is 4" posts and uni-strut and I used postcrete, easy to move from A to B

And what is a reasonable target to aim for? Excluding passive house craziness

Sounds like i should re-run the numbers. No contraints (at least none i will concern myself with) around the panels. Though id really like to avoid concrete as it would be a bit of a nightmare to get it down there in any useful quantity. Will consider any solution. but 80mph winds are the real problem.

You saying you'd never fill that battery suggested that what you did may not have accounted for using the overnight cheap rate to charge. Should always be possible to fully charge overnight. Always worth checking the AI. Ok sorry, I thought it was a bigger array than that. In that case, prob not worth worrying about going over the G.98 limit. Just set those panels up to generate the maximum you can during winter/shoulder seasons. As far as mounting the panels go, do you have planning/visual considerations? You can get really cheap if you don't have to worry about that. (Scaffold poles set in concrete holes, unistrut, etc)

Hmmm, i did do the calcs 🤔. Though i did use AI to assist me. Which could be a problem! The array is 4.5kw. The inverter not sure. Its quite old, though still brand new. Ive worked on the basis of a new one. If i use the old one, its a bonus.

Unlikely maybe but it's easy to do so no harm in trying. (though sensible not to base decisions on access to more) In winter you fill the battery overnight with cheap rate electricity and run your workshop off it during the day. In summer, you export the max you are allowed and charge the battery with the rest. Then, when the sun goes down, you keep exporting until the battery has enough room to take the next days solar input. These two steps combined minimise your bill in winter and maximise you export (earnings) in summer. See above. Do the calcs based on what you are doing right now. Given you have the panels and inverter for free you should be able to make it work fairly comfortably. What size solar array and inverter do you have? Is the inverter approved for export G.98 and G.99/G.100? (It would be a big hitch if not, likely requiring a new inverter)