Bob. The sequel

In the ever changing world we live in there is one essential thing that has existed unchanged for many centuries.....Money.

The image shown here is simply what comes to mind when I hear that word. It is an album cover, for those who don't know, from a band who had a hit song called... 'Money'. But I digress...

Money is the thing we exchange for goods and services. I believe it may have superceded a process called barter. It exists today as a measure of value which can be stored and saved for future use, is supported by government decree and can exist as banknotes or coinage or else as digital balances which are controlled and accessed electronically.

Being a car owner for many years I have always had to use money to pay for the fuel the car's engine needed to burn in order for it to rotate the wheels - the whole purpose of having a car. I have little recollection of those early purchases, most being lost in time, but I am certain that for a significant part of my car-owning life I would have used cash, money in the form of bank notes and coinage. In today's world many transactions are done electronically, typically using a plastic card which communicates with a bank in some mysterious way and reduces one's own digital balance at the same time as increasing someone else's. Strange as it may seem we accept this as perfectly normal so that goods and services can change hands without the need for our wallets to hold wads of banknotes or our pockets to be weighed down with coinage. The fossil fuels needed for burning in those cars can, of course, still be bought with cash if this is what one chooses to use and one of the advantages of money in this form is that it does not rely upon electricity in any way.

Enter the electric car world (in our case, with Bob) and suddenly cash is useless. It cannot be used to buy the electrical energy to put into the car to make those wheels turn simply because the charging locations are unmanned; there is nobody to give the cash to. Invariably these places are situated away from other retail premises and seem to be run by remote national organisations with no local presence. In order to buy the electricity (kilowatts) needed one has to rely upon the electronic wizardry of the modern world to transfer money to someone unknown and unseen. How we do this might be slightly different at every charging location - there seems to be little consistency - but there is another modern invention that can make this process easier. Indeed one might go as far as to say that life with an electric car is inextricably linked to this thing - some would say impossible without it. I am, of course, referring to the mobile phone.

Again, thinking back to my youth, the telephone (as it was then called) was a heavy object made of bakelite (a hard plastic material invented in 1907) with a dial on the top which was rotated using one finger.

The telephone had a single use; it enabled voice communication over any distance. For many people today the device we now call a 'phone' might be only rarely used for voice communications but it has a range of other uses. One of those involves linking wirelessly to the car, especially those like Bob that use electricity to get around. Regardless of where he is, Bob is continuously being monitored by my phone and it seems I can even flash his headlights remotely should I feel this is necessary! Our first attempt at using a public charging point left us confused until another kind electric car owner arrived and advised us to point the phone's camera at a QR code so we could start charging and then pay for the electricity we were putting in the car. The 'phone' is, of course, no longer simply that, any more than the modern day car is simply a way of getting from A to B. Both have become transformed in our modern world by adding functions barely conceivable just a few years ago.

Coming back to Bob, we are still on a steep learning curve as he can do so many additional things that have little to do with him moving us from place to place. Many of these are hard-wired into the car in such a way that they cannot be switched off. The steering column itself has so many mysterious buttons and knobs that there is a genuine risk of touching something whilst driving that can put the whole car at risk. Then there is the display screen (described as the Multimedia System) mounted centrally on the car's dashboard. Given the narrow twisty roads we drive on in our part of Scotland this unnecessary distraction seems a rather bad idea but fortunately it can be switched to 'Standby' mode so that it becomes a simple clock. There is also the slightly smaller screen in front of the driver which has a mind of its own as we discovered when a large message appeared advising us to check the tyre pressures. On doing so, after we arrived home, we discovered them all to be at the correct pressure and it turned out that the system merely wanted us to do this and then confirm we had done it.

There is one thing we can take advantage of on our roads and that is 'Regen', a feature which can come into effect when descending one of our steep hills. If this is switched on then as soon as the right foot is lifted from the accelerator pedal there is a gentle braking sensation which will gradually bring the car to a halt whilst simultaneously converting the kinetic energy into electricity for the battery. The effect is small but there is a sense of satisfaction in knowing the process is happening. Some caution is also needed, however, because when Regen is activated the car's brake lights come on as soon as the driver's foot leaves the accelerator pedal, something that could cause the driver following closely behind to panic. Perhaps the next generation of electric vehicles will have solar panels on the roof and an exercise bike connected to a generator fitted inside so the passengers can keep themselves fit whilst at the same time topping up the battery. (This may not be as weird as it sounds. There are already roads with charging systems built in so that EVs are topped up wirelessly as they move over them.)

On a positive and more serious note, we are pleased to announce that our bikes will fit into the car, folded of course, and we have discovered that unlike in most fossil cars where winding down a window to let in fresh air also brings in a lot of noise (from the engine) in Bob's case there is almost no noise at all. Best of all we can plug him into our home electricity supply and programme a schedule using Bob's Multimedia System so that the charging begins at night when the electricity being provided by our domestic supplier is at a reduced cost. Programming this was not easy, however, despite my reading two different user manuals (each of which has over one hundred pages), but eventually by trial and error we worked it out. All this was to ensure that Bob had enough kilowatt-hours in his battery to take him as far as we needed by morning.

We have no intention of using Bob for longer journeys but we did recently use him for a trip into Glasgow, a distance of over one hundred miles. This highlighted another distinction between ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) and EV cars which is that it is best  for us to establish the mileage to our destination before setting off so that we know whether or not the car will need a top-up charge on the way. A charging stopover needs to be factored into the timetable for the journey - a twenty minute break from driving which can be quite welcome - and this way of thinking was never necessary with an ICE vehicle.

For those long journeys Bob will sit comfortably in his garage at home as we would normally use the buses which pass through our village and these can take us to a train station if needed. Both of these things can take us, plus our bikes, anywhere we want to go without the stress of driving on and fighting the traffic on our busy roads so we think we have made a good move in changing to a small EV. So far we have yet to meet anyone who seems motivated to make a similar change although occasionally we do get the impression that some of our bizarre behavioural traits are admired by others.

Families

There is an assumption in the social hierarchy of our world that we start as children, grow into parents, then become grand, or even great grandparents. Inevitably though there will be those who, for whatever reason, do not follow this beaten path through life but can still experience the joys that go with the grandparent role. For this to happen the same level of trust must exist between adult and child despite them not being related to one another. The trust might take longer to build but it is entirely possible and as it happens this is the position we find ourselves in since our own lives have not taken the path towards becoming grandparents.

Some years ago we got to know a growing young family, which now consists of no less than four children, and we have been a part of their young lives as they have grown taller and wiser, this being something that children do. We think of them as if they were our grandchildren and to an extent we fill that role in their lives since they now live quite close by whilst their 'real' grandparents live many miles away in the south of England. The trust that they have in us must be handled carefully, as is true in many other situations but the pleasure that comes from being with them is immeasurable.

Which was how I found myself teaching a ten year old boy how to ride a bike in our local play area. The bike involved, my old mountain bike with knobbly tyres and front suspension, had been at home sitting around unused for some years but after a bit of cleaning, fixing a puncture and then lowering the saddle it found a new lease of life in the hands of this young boy.

So how does one go about teaching someone to ride a bike? Well fortunately we had a head start since a 'balance bike' had been part of his upbringing so we started by discussing brakes - what they do and how to use them. Our first riding session was in the road outside our house, which is on a slope and therefore far from ideal, but with me supporting the saddle from beneath he wobbled his way slowly downhill as he got the feel of using the brakes to slow down. Next came pedalling, the most difficult part being setting off from a standstill. We took this in steps. First, balance the bike with one foot on the ground (holding the brakes if needed). Next, the other foot is used to lift the pedal close to the top of its stroke then place the foot on it, ready to push. Finally on the count of three pedalling starts and one might think the rest is easy but it is not. Each action requires concentration and whilst correcting a wobble with the handlebars his legs temporarily pause until he remembers what they should be doing. What he did understand from the start is what he called 'muscle memory', the idea that he could focus on doing one thing whilst another part of his body continued doing something else, and this helped him a lot by encouraging him to keep trying to ride, each time getting better. By the time we got to the play area later in the day he was pushing off without my support, using the steps we had gone through to get going and riding on his own with only my verbal guidance and encouragement as I jogged alongside him.

I have no memory of learning to ride a bike myself. It is a skill that once learnt at a young age lasts a whole lifetime without any conscious effort. The thing we refer to as muscle memory is what enables us to do both simple and complex tasks like swimming, playing a musical instrument, even just walking, and it can last forever. I had no preconceptions about whether I would be able to pass on my own knowledge and skill but I seem to have managed it and found joy in doing so. I look forward to his next visit then perhaps one day soon we can take him on a ride with us so he can master the basics of riding on roads and coping with all the hazards that go with this.

Electric power

Big changes in our lives have been taking place recently. If I were to spell them all out here then most people would switch off or go away and do something more useful with their day.

But as it turns out many of our lifestyle changes are associated with electricity in one way or another. Take our bikes, for example. From riding on machines for most of our lives which moved about solely by the power of our leg muscles we transitioned to ones that can move easier and quicker through having a small electric motor. After we moved into our our present house we changed it from one heated by gas to one using electricity both for heating and for cooking. This made even more sense (to us) since the house came with solar panels on its south facing roof, the effect of which is that when the sun shines brightly a lot of our electricity needs are met at no cost. We make best use of this by timing some things so they switch on at around midday when the sun gives us most benefit. As I am writing this the sun is beaming down outside and as a consequence we might be tempted to monitor this constantly so as to switch things on to coincide with the sunshine, making best use of the electric power coming from our roof. But we choose not to live in a sort of electricity paranoia, waiting for the sun to shine before boiling a kettle. Instead we take the more relaxed view and accept some of the inefficiencies that go with this.

Things began to get even more exciting for us when we reviewed our transport needs and we realised that after transitioning to folding bikes our large road vehicle no longer made sense. Once folded, the bikes could be carried inside a much smaller vehicle. We began thinking more about this as we realised that although our small village does not have a petrol station it does have electric vehicle (EV) charging points, six in total at three different locations. If we decide we need a car, surely it makes sense to have a small electric one (indeed one wonders why every local car is not electric). We clearly needed to learn more about these relatively modern machines and inevitably when you start searching the internet for advice on a new topic you soon get bombarded with offers of all sorts. I believe this is called 'marketing'.

Despite this we carried on and, once we had discovered the cost of using those public charging points, we realised that it would be cheaper to charge up an electric car at home by connecting it to our home electric supply, especially if we could arrange a cheap overnight rate. Home charging an EV might sound simple but in fact for us it was not, due to the position of our house above and away from the road - an overall distance of over ten metres. Worse still, our electricity supply enters the house at the rear, about as far away from the road as it is possible to get, and since wires that carry electricity longer distances need to be thicker, this adds to the cost of setting up a charging point in order to get those kilowatts into a car. Our EV investigations suddenly came to the fore when we agreed upon the date on which we would bid farewell to our campervan; soon to be sold to someone who will make better use of it.

It seemed to us that implementing such a change in the way we live our lives was less straightforward than we might have wished but we pressed on regardless, taking one step forward at a time. 

One thing that has come sharply into focus is the way cars have been 'spreading' in recent years, something that is particularly relevant to us given that a lot of our cycling is on narrow roads where the competition for space is limited. We soon discovered that there are only a limited number of small electric cars available in today's marketplace, although once again this research led to intensive marketing from enthusiastic car dealerships.

One thing that separates electric vehicles from those with internal combustion engines (these can be regarded as fossil cars) is the 'range', the distance one can drive with the amount of charge in a battery. This figure is always quoted in the vehicle specifications as if it is cast in stone and can be relied upon as being accurate - which it is not. (Strangely our electric bikes have a small display screen which also shows a 'range' figure, ignoring the fact that cyclists can use their legs to extend the range quite easily, not something that is possible with EVs.) Most batteries work better if they are warm, something that might increase the range just as on a cold day the temperature will decrease it. Energy is also needed for the heater, for the windscreen wipers, cooling fans, lights, etc., and it appears that some of these things run off a separate twelve volt battery mounted under the bonnet of an EV. Charging this from the traction battery that moves the car about must reduce the range to some extent. None of this has ever been relevant in those fossil cars where a heater makes use of waste heat from the engine and electric power for the wipers, lights, etc., is produced by the engine spinning an alternator and the energy for this is never measured. It seems that the only vital figure here is the number of miles that can be driven on a gallon of fuel, although this is a number which one might expect to decline as vehicles become bigger and heavier.

The whole world of EVs has been one of discovery for us and a steep learning curve fraught with misconceptions and steered by biased car enthusiasts. Nevertheless it was at this point that we committed ourselves by putting a deposit on our own small EV.

Having done this the next part of the process began with some space reorganisation, starting with the garage, where we planned to store the car. Again, it is a strange feature of modern life that few garage owners (nobody we know) keep their cars inside. Could this be due to the car-spreading phenomenon mentioned above which has rendered garages unsuitable for car storage?

Next we committed to some investment, getting an electrician to fit the electrical wiring through the house to give us an external socket at the front that we can plug into. A lengthy connection lead was also ordered although there was some doubt as to whether this would arrive before we had the car so we waited impatiently until suddenly, both the electrician and the lead, which fits into a rather nice bag, arrived on the same day. We solved the conundrum of getting the heavy car charging plug across our steeply sloping and overgrown front garden to the car by means of a zip wire which allows us to slide it safely downwards. We emptied our garage and measured the internal space carefully then finally, one rainy morning, we set off to catch the early bus to Dumbarton where 'Bob', as we decided to call him, was waiting to meet us.

We were confident that Bob's range would get us home without needing an electric top up but as soon as we drove away from the dealership the rain started, torrential bursts which swept across the busy road. Frantically we searched for the controls for the wipers and the demisters so we could see out of the windows and avoid bumping into anything but in the end we decided to pause in a layby so we could work out where everything was. Like all modern cars there were switches on stalks behind the steering wheel with meaningless symbols on them and these had little in common with those we were used to on the campervan. A short while later we set off again and thankfully made it home safely, still with a comfortable thirty three per cent of battery power remaining.

Bob seems quite happy with us and is delighted to be out of the rain in a home of his own.