Summer season is here
With the weather getting warmer we are starting to see more cars with A/C issues. Here is a Peugeot RCZ […]
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What do you get it you cross an Electric car with a Kettle? You might ask yourself why on earth is a car electrics specialist in Widnes writing an article about crossing an electric car with boiling a Kettle ? Strange you might ask. However, I thought it might be useful for you all to know that, according to the National grid, attempting to boil a kettle whilst charging your electric can could actually blow your fuse!
A “thought piece” document obtained by the Financial Times – Source – Telegraph warned that if you used household items such as kettles or even electric ovens at the same time as charging your electric car battery would blow the fuse.
“If one were to use an above average power charger, say 11kW, this would require 48 amps. When using such a charger it would mean that you could not use other high demand electrical items… without tripping the house’s main fuse.”
What makes this particularly interesting is that this comes just weeks after the Government announced plans to ban the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040 in a bid to encourage people to buy electric vehicles.
It suggests that the ability to travel longer distances without stopping to recharge will be a “must have” if motorists are to abandon petrol or diesel cars. In order to do this electric cars may well need more and more powerful batteries which, when charging will continue to effect your daily appliance usage.
So what are the possible solutions? 2 most popular trending suggestions are to build several thousand “super fast” charging forecourts — similar to modern day petrol stations — or “large scale rebuild of the domestic electricity infrastructure” by fitting homes with the maximum 100 amp main fuse. Not sure which is the better option as yet. My thoughts would be that we would all prefer the convenience of charging our cars whilst at home. But the question remains, will we be ready for the next step in the automotive industry.
After many false dawns the electric car is finally making headway in replacing the internal combustion engine.
The future of Electric Cars – A recent update by Transport & Environment suggests that by the end of the year there will be more than half a million battery, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles on Europe’s roads; and sales this year should account for 1.5 percent of the market. These figures may be modest with all things considered it appears the electric car is finally forcing carmakers from their comfort zone.
Volkswagen recently launched its I.D. concept car, which is set for production in 2020 and will have an electric range of at least 400 kilometers. Herbert Diess, head of the VW brand, described the car as “revolutionary,” comparing its impact on the brand’s history to the Beetle or the Golf. This followed an earlier announcement that the VW Group aspires to get a quarter of its sales from electric by 2025 and is planning 20 models.
Mercedes launched an equivalent Generation EQ concept car that will become a new sub-brand with at least 10 plug-in models.In other announcements, Vauxhall unveiled the Ampera-e and Renault and BMW detailed upgrades of the Zoe and i3 respectively, with Renault commenting: “Our vision of the electric market is that it is not a niche market.”
The future of Electric Cars – So why are carmakers finally changing their attitude? Four recent developments have been particularly important in triggering action:
- The rapid growth in EV sales in China, which is now the world’s biggest market and dominated by national manufacturers. Non-Chinese carmakers are desperate to succeed in this expanding market and terrified their Chinese competitors, like BYD, will soon be successfully exporting to Europe;
- The astonishing fall in the price of battery packs to around $150 per kilowatt hour, a level which makes EVs competitive with conventional vehicles. Also, it is possible to produce affordable EVs with ranges of over the psychologically important 300 kilometer range;
- The success of the Paris climate talks is driving a progressive tightening of car CO2 emissions limits around the world, inevitably leading to a gradual phase out of fossil fuels. This has been hastened by the dieselgate scandal and the realization that the rest of the world will not be tricked into using diesel as a way to artificially reduce CO2 emissions as Europe did;
- The remarkable pre-sales of the new Tesla Model 3 — a car for which 400,000 drivers put down $1,000 each without even sitting in it. Suddenly even German premium carmakers recognized that a true market exists that they needed to supply it.
The future of Electric Cars – Fears that electric cars will decimate the value of the important European automotive sector also appear to be unfounded. VW has outlined plans for a €10 billion battery factory; Samsung SDI is to invest €320 million to build an electric-vehicle battery plant in Hungary; meanwhile LG Chem is reported to be planning a factory in Wrocław, Poland. Independent studies estimate that the shift will create between 500,000 and 1 million jobs by 2030.
Electric cars are not a panacea but together with e-bikes, electric scooters, trains and trams, they will provide the opportunity for a cleaner, greener mobility future that assigns dirty diesel cars and trains, which choke cities and commuters, to the scrapyard of obsolescence. It is no longer a question of whether this happens — but how quickly.
Ford Aims for building Cars that have no Steering Wheel or Pedals by 2021
No steering wheel or pedals by 2021 – We all know the world is change. Everyday new things are discovered, new scientific and technological improvement is made. Vehicles are not apart from this. They too are suffering or gaining, depending on the views, with these new findings that surprise us daily. One of these new developments is what normally called smart mobility. Less and less, drivers are needed to guide a car. They are starting to be able to do it themselves.
Ford is one of several companies that is working in the industry to achieve these vehicles. Since this summer we are hearing from Ford CEO Mark Fields that they hope to have a car with no steering wheel or any brakes by 2021. They believe that this will be a benefit to those who can’t buy a car, since that usually ends to be expensive,
and, for other way, a method to help the environment as well.
These vehicles that need no driver are imagined to be used for ride-sharing, like for example, with Uber (that would be a company interested in these kind of development). Actually, Ford is working with Baidu that also works with Uber. Nevertheless, other companies are being involved in the process, like for example companies that can help create new sensors for these no drivers’ cars.
Obviously this isn’t a great solution to everyone. Some people that in reality like to drive themselves, may come to a time where that isn’t possible. The passion of driving may be at an end. Nowadays we have cars that don’t need gear, so if a car as no pedals or no steering wheel, we are faced with no need to actually drive. Whatever we may feel about this new solution that Ford, like other car companies, are investigating, the truth is that this can be very beneficial to the world and our society.
Maybe one day this can even be implemented into the public transportation, for example, during the night. But for now we still have to wait a few more years, at least with Ford, to know what is going to happen and if these goals will be achieved.
Dieselgate -Volkswagen vow to fix affected diesels in Europe by 2017, EU claims:
Dieselgate – You probably all know about the “dieselgate” or “emissiongate” scandal that began in September of 2015. It was found that Volkswagen was falsifying the amount of emissions of nitrogen oxides that their cars produced by programming TDI diesel engines to not show the true quantity of those polluting gases.
This situation affected 11 million cars throughout the world, with the majority of them being found in Europe (around 8,5 million vehicles were defective here). Until recent, these European owners did not have a solution for their problems, unlike the nearly half million owners in the US that already knew they were going to be financially compensated for their troubles.
While in US things are getting resolved, only last month, during a meeting, Volkswagen board member Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz told that the company is going to warn, the costumers in Europe that need their car fixed, until the end of this year. Since the beginning of 2016 the company is working on finding a way to fix these cars. The repairs are based in adapting the engines with a “flow transformer” and a software update. However, for now, this will only fix one of the three type of engines that need to be fixed (1.2-, 1.6- and 2.0-liter diesel engines, being the 1.6-liter engine the one who is getting repaired).
Despite all of these efforts that are being unveiled, costumers in Europe aren’t very happy with, what they call, a differentiation treatment between the US and the European clients, since US clients already have a solution that goes through indemnifying them (they have a settlement plan that revolves around 15 billion dollars) and not having to deal with all of the waiting and worrying to get their cars repaired.
Nevertheless, Automotive News Europe, a weekly newspaper, reported that Volkswagen is planning to repair all the cars by the fall of 2017. European Commission claims they are doing all they can to assure that all owns that are affected by this situation are getting a solution, but until now only 10 percent of costumers impacted in Europe got their vehicles fixed. For now, the only thing that the 90 percent of owners that are still waiting for a resolution can do is wait and hope that all of this is going to be mended soon enough so they can continue with their lives.
What does the Future look like for the Used Car Market?
If you are interested in the used car market and its future then read on. According to a fleet news article, the used car market is starting to reach the long-predicted tipping point into oversupply with values coming under pressure as a result, reports Glass’s.
Rupert Pontin, head of valuations at the pricing guide, said the volume of vehicles at auction had already increased 3.7% in 2016 and that a wide range of models were starting to fall in value as a result.
“We have been predicting this development for a long time and, if anything, the robustness of the used car market has meant that it has happened later than expected but we are now definitely moving into a period of general oversupply.
“This is something that we expect to continue throughout the rest of the year and into 2017 as increasing numbers of vehicles come to market. A large number of these are, of course, one-to-three-year-old returns from the ongoing boom in new car PCPs.
“We are certainly not going to see a sudden collapse in values, we believe, but there will be a slow decrease as volumes gradually increase.”
However, Pontin pointed out the decreases in value would not be uniform across the market, with the falls concentrated on vehicles that are available in volume.
“What new car PCPs have done is bring a range of models into affordability,” he said.
“For example, entry-level models from the prestige German manufacturers have been very popular on PCP and their values will certainly be under pressure over the coming months.
“However, there are other vehicles – niche models and those that are simply unavailable in high volumes – that we expect to see stay relatively firm.”
The unknown factor in terms of the rest of the year was the EU referendum vote in June, Pontin added.
“If the UK votes to leave the EU, all bets are off and it is very difficult to predict the potential effect it could have on the new and used car markets. However, our general view is that it would be negative simply because of the high degree of uncertainty.”
Well the UK has voted to leave so it will be interesting to see what happens next. How Will Brexit affect the Used Market Market. What does the future hold. Watch this space!
Will the Wall of death speed record be beaten?
Defying the laws of nature is a gold that humans tend to have since the beginning of times. Motorcycling daredevils are some of those people. Challenging laws of gravity and g force is actually something that can be fatal. This is what happens when someone enters a Wall of Death (the spectacle that we can see in carnivals most
of the times, where a person on a motorcycle drives, not on the floor, but on the walls of something that is similar with a bucket).
Guy Martin decided that he would break the records of speed on this kind of exhibitions, but not in any Wall of Death – he did it on the biggest of them all. For resisting the laws of gravity, the daredevil needs to drive at 20 mph (miles GUY’S WALL OF DEATH LIVE per hour), what means he is experiencing 2.5 g’s. Well, this man drove at 78,15 mph. This is the equivalent of 6 g’s – more than what an astronaut goes through the departure of a space ship.
All of this confrontation with the laws of nature do have a big impact on your body. These men can truly die during the spectacle. They can fall or even pass out, since the g force they are experiencing can overwhelm them. “They don’t call it the Wall of Death for nothing” said Guy Martin.
Even though what he did was a true duel with life and death, he does not want to finish here. He wants to try and reach the 100 miles per hour. What you should understand is that even though this is the biggest Wall of Death, with 121 feet of diameter, it is not built to resist such speed.
Whatever Guy Martins decides to do from this day forward, we need to congratulate him for his courage and a bit of craziness as well. The World record belongs to him and obviously because he really deserves it. This kind of stunts are a true proof of the bravery of humans with nerves of steel that test themselves putting their life in risk every time they climb on to a motorcycle.
We know that a lot of people need consistent maintenance to their vehicles, and that doesn’t fall short in terms of Alternators. That’s why we at Widnes Auto Electrical are here to provide you with all of your needs in regards to Alternators.
The Alternators primary function is to keep your battery charged. As well as that, it also provides your car with all of the means to be able to run things related to electricity. A tip to look out for, is if your startermotor is cranking or turning slowly when you’re starting your vehicle it may be because the voltage in the battery is low and you may need to get the Alternator either repaired or replaced. If you think your car is suffering from this give us a call to discuss it further or pop in and we can quickly perform some tests to find the cause of all your problems.
If you’re looking for a garage that can repair and fault find any issues in your vehicles electronics then look no further! Here at Widnes Auto Electrical Services we can repair almost any electrical fault in your vehicle and we can even re-fill & repair Air-Conditioning units in your vehicle! We have an extensive track record of happy customers who we see come back to us every now and then when something else has died on their vehicle. Below are just what two of our happy customers said about our service:
Start Motor Repairs:
Chris Moore, Start Motor Repair: I was on the way to work one morning (by on the way, I mean I’d just got out of my house and was sat in my car), I put the key in and turned it and….. nothing! I started to panic, but a neighbour must’ve heard me f*’ing and blinding and came to my help, they told me that Neil at Widnes Auto Electrics would be able to sort it for me, I gave them a call and they brought my vehicle in for me, it was repaired fairly quickly and after a call with my boss, I was told to get in whenever I can and that it was just an unforeseen problem occurring. My car got repaired and I kept my job! Thanks Neil!
Air Conditioning Repairs:
Johnny Perez, Air Conditioning Repair: I was cruising down the motorway on my way back from London when I started to notice a bad smell in the car, I thought it was one of the kids in the back having an accident, but the next day they weren’t in the car and I could still smell it. I looked up online and it said that my air-con may be faulty, so I looked for a repair garage in my area. I gave Neil a call at Widnes Auto Electrical services and they sorted it out for me that very day, thanks a lot guys, I don’t have to choose between not being able to breathe or smelling something awful in my car!
If you would like some more information on our Electrical Repair Services, or you would just like a free quote or you need some more information on our processes, then please don’t hesitate to get into contact with us and a member of our friendly team will be in touch with you shortly.
Here at Widnes Auto Electrical services we are experts in repairing everything electronic in a vehicle, this includes your vehicle’s Air Conditioning unit, but if yours is working fine, you may feel that you don’t have any requirement to get it serviced, but Air Conditioning can go faulty without you actually noticing (unless you know what you should be looking out for). Here at Widnes Auto Electrical services we can repair & service your Air Conditioning unit for your car throughout the Widnes area.
Why do I need to service my vehicles air conditioning if it is working fine?
- The right amount of refrigerant and fresh oil will improve the efficiency of the Air Conditioning system and can increase the life span of the compressor.
- Cleaning air intake ports in the vehicle can clean out the water drainage pipes together with bacteria treatment, as this prevents the Air Conditioning system from mould build up on the inner walls, which is the reason for bad odour coming into the car when the A/C is on, and may cause health problems to yourself or your passengers.
- An efficiently working air conditioning system may improve your vehicles MPG (Miles per gallon).
My climate control system only blows in warm air. Will an Air Conditioning service, procedure or recharge fix this?
Yes and no. If your system is low on gas, then a recharge should get the system working properly. But any other faults in the Air Conditioning, like gas leakage, electrical or any mechanical component fault(s) need to be diagnosed first and eliminated before recharge can be done, as this could cause more problems further down the line for yourself.
I recharged my Air Conditioning unit one month ago and now it’s empty again. Can you come out and find the leak?
Sadly, no: A micro (very tiny) leak can be very hard to trace, the wind and sun complicates the work of the technician and in some cases can extended the diagnostic procedures required. Leak finding test can be done solely at our workshop, located at the industrial area located under the Runcorn Bridge (Widnes side).
How often do I need to get my Air Conditioning system serviced?
The majority of vehicle manufacturers usually recommend to service the Air Conditioning system every two years. The cabin’s Air Filter usually has to be checked always during each annual maintenance service and must be replaced if required. Vehicle air conditioning can present unexpected and unexplainable problems such as: Heat that doesn’t heat up the inside of the vehicle. Air conditioning that doesn’t cool you down during those awful stuffy days in the car. Defrosters that can’t keep the windows clear, these can cause safety issues when driving in the winter. Unpleasant odour, this is usually caused by a build-up of mould in the inner walls and this causes the air to push the strong smell into the car forcing yourself and your passengers to cope with the smell.
If you are in need of getting your Air Conditioning repaired or serviced and you’re in the Widnes area, then why not come pop down into our garage and see what exactly we can do for you. Alternatively if you are interested in what we can do for you, or you would just like a free quote, then please don’t hesitate to get into contact with us and a member of our friendly team will be in touch with you shortly regarding your quote, or with information regarding on how to advance to our next steps.