Shocking Name

I keep hearing a Toyota advert on the radio.  They are trying to make it exciting.

It isn't.

It's an electric SUV.

I mean, just look at it.

But to make it even more difficult for the woman doing the voice-over, the car is called the bZ4X.  You can tell she is struggling when she says it.

Anyway, talking of electric cars and stupid naming, would you name a charging network after what happens when you get an electric shock?

Jolt have.

And they're giving away free electricity.

And their charging points look exciting.

Mark Harping on.

According to this Auto Express story, A new law is set to bring self-driving cars to UK roads in two years and puts responsibility in the hands of manufacturers if there is an accident.

No it won't.

The article goes on to clarify...

The vehicles must “achieve a level of safety at least as high as careful and competent human drivers”.

That's not going to happen in two years.

Plus "the government says the legal culpability will be placed firmly on the manufacturer, as well as the insurance company that covers the car, with the driver not deemed a driver per se, but a user-in-charge"

So even if they could find a manufacturer happy to risk some prosecutions for causing death by dangerous driving - the insurance companies will refuse to insure such usage.  Which is a shame because this law would be the get-out clause allowing me to drive to a party or pub, get somewhat inebriated, and be driven home by my own car.

The landlords of country pubs will like this law.

Mark Harper, who is our current Transport Secretary apparently, jumped on the bandwagon stating, "Britain stands at the threshold of an automotive revolution, and this new law is a milestone moment for our self-driving industry which has the potential to change the way we travel forever.”

No it doesn't.

He also turned up polluting one of my favourite Youtube channels the other being "interviewed" by Steph from idriveaclassic  - I don't know if she is a bit Tory but she gave him an easy time and let him make snide comments about Labour and the London ULEZ zone without pointing out that it was Boris Johnson who introduced it and it is the government that is forcing the metropolitan councils to hit stricter air pollution target levels - not that that is a bad thing.

I was quite amused though that he and several of the anti-electric brigade commenting on the video seemed completely oblivious that he was stood next to a Rolls-Royce Phantom II that had been converted over to run on...

...ELECTRICITY!

Here's some info on it.

Anyway, back to his comment about Britain being at the threshold of an automotive revolution.

It isn't.

We now have to compete with Europe as well as Korea and Japan and the like but the Chinese are miles ahead - especially when it comes to electric vehicles.  They are even after a share of our London buses.  Autocar have finally decided that I don't have an ad-blocker after all so I can share this story now.

If Autocar thinks that you have an ad-blocker you won't be able to read this so I'll give you the gist.

This is the BYD BD11...

The Chinese hope that this EV will be the replacement for the hybrid Wrightbus New Routemaster - which I was surprised to learn was only built from 2011 to 2017.  A thousand were built - in the UK - before the company went into administration.

Charging is possible at up to 500kW via a pantograph connection which sounds fun, trolleybus anyone? - but you can plug it into the mains too.  A usable range of more than 400 miles is being suggested.

BYD UK's commercial vehicle managing director Frank Thorpe said he "hopes" it can replace Wrightbus's New Routemaster as the default London bus.

Seems legit.

Parking Made Complicated

This story took a bit of getting my head around.

Here in the UK, you can rent out the driveway of your home to someone who needs a parking space in the vicinity.  Martin Lewis has an article about it here.

Similar schemes seem to run in Australia.

One of them is called "Parking Made Easy" and it is them who feature in the story above.  The story is headlined...

Wish someone would pay your parking fine? Now they can.

If you sign up to their service, they will pay off your parking fines or help with putting together appeal letters if you want to challenge your fine.

So what is to stop you parking wherever you like and then getting them to pay your fines?

Herein lies the catch.

They will only pay off the fine of one lucky winner of a draw performed every month.  Bad news for the motorists of Queensland at least...

Queensland motorists owe $42.3 million in unpaid parking fines

So the initial headline is misleading.

Maybe not surprising since the author, Kathryn Fisk admits to having worked for The Sun - a paper aimed at the hard of thinking.  She has also apparently worked on two "renowned" UK regional publications although I can't find anything by her outside of Australia.  Google does come up with the message, "Some results may have been removed under data protection law in Europe." which means that someone has stated that they don't want irrelevant stuff they've done searchable.  So I tried Bing.  Someone in Silicon Valley must have been briefly excited that somebody outside of Microsoft had just used Bing but they also couldn't find anything by her.

You'd probably have more luck finding an article by me.

World In Motion

 There is so much wrong with this photo.

And I say that as someone who was born just after ENGLAND - not GB, won the World Cup.  I was born about 20 days before Tony Adams (MBE apparently) and he was the first England player to be born after ENGLAND - not GB, won the World Cup.

Next issue - I am 57 years old so whoever has chosen that plate is living somewhat in the past.

Next up (and this isn't an issue if they are stuck in a traffic jam) is how close whoever has taken that photo is to the car in front.  While on the plus side, it looks to have been taken from the passenger seat so at least the driver isn't messing about with a mobile phone.

Now wouldn't you have thought that a proud British patriot would have bought a British car? Not a 2018 Subaru Forester XT SYMM with CVT.  If you are impressed that I can tell the transmission from the back of the car, you don't know about mycarcheck.

But, apart from all that, nice photo.

Dog in Boots.

Not the chemist shop.

Unless you particularly dislike cats and dogs, (not the film - that really is awful) you will probably appreciate what Battersea Dogs Home (as I always remember it being called) do.

So I was rather surprised when this shaggy dog story appeared from Battersea Power Station rather than from their neighbours south of the river.

It involves an electric pooch pampering station for the back of large cars - specifically, Genesises.

Even more specifically, Genesis GV70s.

Genesis, not the band, who are also known as posh-Kia (by me), seem to have teamed up with Battersea Power Station and have an exhibition on there - or a "studio" which they describe as, "more like stepping into a contemporary gallery than visiting a car dealership."

Hmm.

The dog-module is currently on display there.

When I saw it, I thought the story looked more dodgy than doggy but it is apparently true - even if the number plate is fake:

Bloody Cyclists

Do I dislike cyclists as much as I dislike SUVs?

Probably not - I own a bike (that I extremely rarely ride) - I've never driven an SUV nor do I have an inkling to.

But I have been known to point out cyclists' shortcomings now and again.

Anyway, this one gave me a shock yesterday morning.

I didn't even know there was a cycle lane there.  There is also one similarly located at the junction that I usually leave the M53 at and that one is signposted - but the signs are hidden in overgrown bushery.

There aren't even signs at this junction (I checked) so you would have thought that this idiot might have actually looked before crossing at speed.

It might have helped if he was travelling a bit slower and was a bit higher up...

Really, though, I think this post is just an excuse to use this picture again: