Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Time for Electric Power?

I think EV is similar to the diesel situation. Political decisions made to be seen to be acting at the time. Further down the line the situation changes.
EV is similar. A lot of “man maths” biased to suit the political “need to be seen to do something” taking place. The trouble is there are absolutely immense costs to manufacturers and infrastructure problems re charging, supply, lifespan and lifetime carbon footprint. Also non standardisation for charging systems. Just wait until EV charging tax kicks in too!
The current up front cost of owning an EV for a private buyer is also a barrier. If you can afford it great....if you can’t then tough. I also question the fitting of so much electric using stuff in an EV. It adds drain and weight. Both enemies of range. Do you really NEED electric seats on a simple everyday workhorse? OK for top end profit generating cars where image starts to kick in.
Roll on Hydrogen. Plug in fuel cells.
I wonder.......hydrogen firepit, pizza oven?
I like smoked foods and have a smokebox for the BBQ and an Abu smoker for the hob. Does that mean I am destined for BBQ’s with Satan when I go?

#extreme thread drift mode on

(all from bad memory 40 years ago)
My first job was a bench engineer fixing printers which was boring but a good learning zone. One day a box arrived for repair (under warranty) which smelt a bit odd as I registered it and performed triage. It was from a company called Farmfax who provided equipment for Farmers including the IT that ran the milking machines. On opening it contained 40% computing and 60% cow excrement. I was politely encouraged to take it in the car park and hose it down before I suffered an accident.

Once hosed off, dissembled and hosed out, then hosed and wiped again I bought it in. No fault note but it did have cow poop inside and everywhere so I had a good idea it was a right off. I phoned them to ask the issue (with a grin on my face) and they said they had sent it in for warranty repair as it had suffered a power supply problem. At this point I had to laugh a little bit at which point the FF guy got annoyed. I asked my boss to join me and put it on speaker phone as it was likely to be an interesting discussion on warranty coverage.

He explained that on of the cows was spooked by a noise whilst waiting to get into the shed. It jump or kicked the table containing the computer, printer and assorted other stuff. The computer and printer ended up in the trough that runs across the blunt end of the cows and tries to catch the poop etc. whilst they are being milked. Sadly two were in the process of filling it at the time this happened. The electricity went up the trough and both took a hit. One died instantly and the other became somewhat distressed. The fuse went and the power cut but a little too late.

My manager and I looked at each other (the phone was on mute) and were unable to speak as we imagined this happening. Poor taste I know given the poor things are sentient beings but it was hard not to see some monty python sketch unveiling in your mind hearing this. His deep Cornwall accent was not helpful in our remaining unemotional at this point, sorry I am insulting pretty much everyone at this point.

Anyway we managed to recover our self control and asked if this was the first time this had happened (playing for time to clear the tears) and he said no. We lost it completely. We phoned him back later on the auspices of trying to find out if we could cover it for him. Given the poor man had lost 1.5 cows that day we worked the system to get him a new printer, some recon parts etc. and said that we would send a request to the maker to ask for a waterproof model to be considered for production.

I will never forget that among many other things that happened in those early days prior to H&S being a serious subject. How we never killed other members of staff etc was a mystery to me.

#de-faulty mode on

Thanks for sharing that Alistair, I'm almost in tears here, laughing...

Cows are a mahor producer of methane, but ALL ruminant animals do the same.
Keeping cows in barns and feeding them silage and man made feed makes the problem worse, grass fed out door living cattle produce less methane and CO2.
They also produce better meat, but not as cheaply!

That's one major advantage down here in the West Country the beasts can stay outside year round with a little supplementary feed provided in the field, better quality meat produced more cost effectively with less gas, what's not to like.
Now where is that steak..

The dairy herds are kept outside too for the same reasoning.

Too True, Richard - Similarly for the irish Heerd which is almost exclusively pasture fed. I get most annoyed at the Plant protein lot who seem to ignore the fact that alot of plant protein nuts etc are produced far away and result in many air miles pollution and seamiles in ships polluting from heavy fuel oil!

Long live the healthy Irish Steak!!!

At least I only had to remove blasting grit (metal) from my worst one. Electronics was stuffed, obviously!

Robbie, we are on the same page here alright on the farming front.
I fondly remember my many visits to Eire and in particular a fortnights stay on business at Benner's in Dingle where the food was astonishing in it's quality and variety.
It was owned by a consortium of Americans at the time 1980 ish, around the time they had a resident Dolphin in the bay.

I think we probably share a similar climate down here in the South West corner to you with plenty of wet stuff but seldom cold rain.

I will always remember a drizzly morning meeting an elderly gentleman in Dunghloe high street and bidding him a good morning and his reply was the clouds are awful low this morning

For anyone seeking high quality grass fed meat, delivered to your door, go to the Dorset Meat Company.
This is the link:
https://www.thedorsetmeatcompany.co.uk/

We have purchased 3 times and the meat is simply wonderful. They also supply meat your local butcher doesn't offer, such as goat (perfect curry meat) and mutton (perfect shepherd's pie).
Needless to say I have no connection with them, other than as a happy customer.

This was supper, between 2 of us, on Sunday....


Half a kilo of T Bone steak, about 1" thick.

Vegaans, please accept my apology, should you be offended!

That looks good but a lot of food miles for me. I buy most of our meat from the farm shop in our village. When you walk in, they have a blackboard up telling you where all the meat has come from. Most to the time, all the beef and lamb is their own and pork is from another farm within 10 miles. Sometimes, they have their own pork. All the meat comes from outdoor kept animals.

Something to be aware of - a lot of supermarkets promote meat produced to the farm assured standard. However, that includes intensive indoor production.

We are fortunate to be able to afford to make the choice.