Day: April 22, 2018

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Noteworthy

A couple of random things in this communication [aren’t they always? I hear you cry].

firstly, a while ago there was some lovely helicopter noise over my house late at night. I looked it up on my flight tracker and discovered the Army Air Corps had passed exactly over my house.

Then, last night, while looking for the rain storms that were meant to be hitting the UK I noticed a Royal Moroccan Air Force Gulstream circling above the Essex – Hertfordshire border.

RMAF Heading to Stansted
RMAF Heading to Stansted

I followed this for a while wondering where it was heading, eventually it turned towards Stansted airport and I didn’t follow it all the way.

RMAF Heading to Stansted
RMAF Heading to Stansted

My suspicion is that this flight had some dignitary on board heading for medical treatment in London. The Saudis do this quite often and you can see their planes land at Stansted. The rail links are pretty quick as are road ways and even helicopter flights. The security is top-notch there too as it is where Air Force One lands with POTUS.

Gulfstream and Thunderstorms
Gulfstream and Thunderstorms

The above picture shows the thunderstorms heading over the UK along with the RMAF Gulfstream track.

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Metric Units Used Herein

A friend mentioned recently that he was thinking of buying a Nissan Leaf 2.0 and it got me to thinking what the running costs are. For this communication I’m not worried about purchase or servicing costs so this comparison isn’t a very good one but it is somewhere to start!

My car, Bora Horza Gobuchul, is a petrol/electric hybrid. Just your standard hybrid NOT a plug in hybrid. So it’s battery is charge either through regenerative braking or excess energy being produced by the engine, when at a standstill for example. My average fuel consumption rate is 55 mpg. Current petrol costs are about £1.20 per litre. This means my current driving costs are:

£6.20 per 100km

This is a variable though. The price of petrol is subject to many factors and changes constantly. The mileage achieved driving Bora Horza Gobuchul depends on how well it is driven!

The Nissan Leaf 2.0 is currently the latest ALL Electric vehicle developed by Nissan. It is a plug in car and so runs using electricity only. The manufacturer claims a range of 168 miles and a battery capacity of 40kWh. My current electricity tariff charges me 15.3 pence per kWh and the driving costs for the Leaf are:

£2.26 per 100km

The Tesla Model S claims a range of 220 miles with a battery capacity of 60kWh. This produces a driving cost of:

£2.59 per 100km

This comparison is VERY basic. It covers just the cost of charging the vehicle. I have not taken ANYTHING else into consideration but I am quite surprised at how much cheaper the electric cars are in terms of cost per 100km for driving. This alone would tempt me greatly if I had a garage where I could park my car. However, somewhere, a space, to park my car every day next to my house is my current dream. That is what happens when you live in a crowded Victorian street.

Just another minor comparison: energy consumed per 100km:

50kWh – Bora Horza Gobuchul
14.8kWh – Nissan Leaf
17.0kHw – Telsa Model S

This just shows the inefficiency of petrol based engines for transport. So, my current plan is: get house with garage, buy Tesla, save the planet.

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