Geoffers

Yes, definitely, assuming there was a standard set of battery sizes and capacities but even then it wouldn't be easy. Lots of checks would need to be in place, the main one being capacity testing on board the battery with full display of history and energy used. This could be fed to the car. Without that you wouldn't know it's true capacity, only the usual vehicle voltage tests and maybe a quick cycle test. I wouldn't like to hire a 100kWh battery only to get 88kWh. They would have to be laden with a lot more stress sensors if in and out of cars. Minor bumps measured and that sort of thing too because you wouldn't know what's happened on previous trips if it wasn't your own battery pack. Maybe the answer is for everyone to have two packs - one on the car and one in the wash? At 500kg would still need a method to store and swap but possibly something to look at. Negates cost savings but still goes to help using more fossil fuels. We'll still need charging stations for a long time into the future though.

It's an absolute shambles. The National grid is under strain as it is, so it's not going to cope without massive investment. As electric cars become more popular, they are likely to be busy at the same time so no electrical diversity. The government is talking about cost incentives to charge out of peak hours but they would have to be very good for people to take their car out of a night just to charge it. On top of that, there are over 30 companies with different prices. Each has their own 'deal' of pre-paying something monthly for cheaper charging but you couldn't have contracts with them all as it would cost way more than recharging. Some do not allow you to charge without a pre-payment plan. The same applies to the charging protocol - no set standard so the charging stations won't do all cars. On top of that, there are exclusive contracts stopping other companies putting their charging stations in. Welcome Break for example has a Ecotricity only contract. Ridiculous move. Because of the obvious problems of turnaround being slow, people don't stay with it like they do when filling with liquid fuel. Off they pop for something to eat, maybe a bit of shopping, etc. so don't return when it's finished. Not all stations can notify you via phone message or people just ignore it so the turnaround per vehicle is even longer in an already long process. Until charging points are in the majority of normal everyday parking places, it will be increasingly difficult. It will get there but is a long time off.

It was the shocked look on it's face that tickled me....

Music certainly makes a big impact and triggers all sorts of thought processes, memories and emotions.

It's great that somebody would actually take that into account. Seeing less and less of things like that these days.

Look in the bottom right at the name "Bosstown Dynamics" They did another one a few months ago and show you how they made it:

Yes they are but very simplified. They use the fluid against itself, similar to some new coastal protection methods. I've physically been inside when I used to work at Shell in Stanlow. (Essar own it now). I've never seen more than two fluids so a single separator as above but believe there are models with 3 now. I guess it's possible for more but I saw a fair few daily as I inspected the sensors. They all have baffles though. Not all of them are outlets for separate fuels, some are doubled up. You also have vapour recovery (not vents, they are separate) per outlet. It may be different for grain, etc. If a [fluid] tanker didn't have baffles, can you imagine trying to control that with the full fluid motion across the length of its container or the forces if it was in an accident? also, when it braked and accelerated it would cause too much damage to the tractor coupling. That's why the baffles flow the fluid against itself. It's bad enough in a fire engine and they have relatively small tanks in comparison but have baffles because of this too.

If it's real I can't work out why. All the baffles have holes in to prevent any imbalance like a fire tender. They are large holes, not particulate size that would get clogged up. If it was a fluid that did that it would need to be very heavy (assuming the large holes did manage to get blocked or for some crazy reason it was engineered that way). If not, the fluid would level out and looking at the pivot point which is the stand legs, even Mercury would have a job I'd say.

Maybe somebody dropped a big magnet......

I'd love to live in your world believing all will be ok and it's not as bad as it's made out. Ok, we are from different areas and I do contract with Cheshire Police though so I'm bound to hear and see more. Immobilisers, especially if professionally installed are easily bypassed as they are installed to particular methods. You can pick these keyless radio amplification units up on the dark web for less than £50 now. It's not the professional thieves you have to look out for, it's anyone who's car takes their fancy used for breaking, export, other thefts and burglaries - there's lots of reasons so I wouldn't be so naive as to believe they wouldn't use on yours. You would be amazed the knowledge these scallies have. It's a shame they don't put it to better use. They haven't a clue what's in the electronics box, they are just happy to switch on near a car and it may open and start. Simple and quick for them which is what they want. They just walk around with it switched on to see which car's de-activate. Even if they can't immobilise the car, why have them inside pinching any of your stuff? Even torching it if they leave fingerprints? Doesn't make sense to me that. If something is preventable then why not? Confidence of "it won't happen to me" is just plain stupidity when there are very cheap or free simple solutions. We shouldn't have to I know, but unfortunately we do. Anyhoo, with most keyless systems, certainly the newer you can temporarily disable the keyless part. It also saves car and fob battery power when you are on holiday or not using the car for some time. In the latest firmware for mine, it is now able. In my case (and this may apply to other Lexus/Toyota's) you hold the lock button down and double click the unlock button, (must be in range of the car) the fob led will flash 4 times and the keyless element is disabled in the car and keyfob. The car is no longer sending out a signal to trigger your keyfob expecting to receive an electronic handshake. The standard alarm receiver with rolling code still works, older but less susceptible proven technology that uses an 8th of the power. You just need to press the unlock button on the keyfob to unlock the car and this also restarts the keyless option which then works as it normally would. Of a night I always do this out of habit now. I do like the security methods Lexus/Toyota use due to the randomness of negotiation at the time of setting unlike some other manufacturers who use a standard set. They also aren't affected by a certain common household item you can buy for under a tenner that stops the alarm being set from the keyfob as you walk away thinking it's set.

Stunning - I saw that on the news this morning.