A Frugal Diesel bargain of a car: The Skoda Fabia Greenline Estate II
It's a damp Bank Holiday Monday and I'm hopelessly behind with a number of blogs. I've escaped the hectic home and taken refuge in a local coffee shop as I wanted to share with you 2 days of driving the 2012 Skoda Fabia Greenline Estate II.
Now we've already decided on the 100% electric Nissan Leaf but still had a couple of demonstrators left to try; now let's level set here; this is a £14k Skoda with a 1.2 Diesel 3 cylinder engine; so my expectation was not on any performance or frills.
Frankly, with the caveats on price and engine, I have been pleasantly surprised, the car drives admirably though is a little noisy and the gear ratios very close. The gearbox is not refined, but practical , acceptable acceleration, an ok ride and, if you really drive it silly slow, returning a frugal 67.5mpg, which blows away the earlier hybrids.
Equipment is better than expected with cruise control, a decent digital display radio with iPod connectivity and an aux in for non-iPod, and a decent trip computer showing you current and average mpgs and even showing you when to change up and downs gear to maximise efficiency.
The internal finish is good with upholstery and plastics feeling better that you would expect at this price point. Being the estate there's also plenty of room for hound or homebase trip.
If you are considering this type of frugal diesel you are probably looking at something like a VW Golf Bluemotion; the Fabia is a full £7k cheaper than the golf and has more kit. Yes there are some compromises, such as the clink of a door shut rather than the smoothness of VW but would I pay £7k more for that over this car, absolutely not.
And how does this compare to the Nissan Leaf we have selected, well you could get 2 of these for the price of a leaf so that's not really fair. The leaf is a far better car.
For £14k, VW engineering in a reasonable shell, take a test drive in the Skoda Fabia Greenline II, it's a lot better than you would think.
Choosing a high MPG, low fuel cost Family Car = The Nissan Leaf
Fuel Cost, Car Tax and Our Requirements
Passenger car sales in China rose 2.6% in March from the same month in 2011 to 1,268,489, that's a new car every 2 seconds. So demand for oil is only heading one way, at an accelerating rate. So any hope for motorists seeing any kind of fall in petrol and diesel prices, due to supply, is unlikely. Here in the UK, another 3p tax rise is being added to fuel in August taking diesel well over the £1.50 a litre mark. For the first time this week , an average family is paying more to fill the car (£71) than on the weekly food shop (£70). Source: Sunday Times 22/4/2012. This relentless rise in fuel cost has driven the need for higher MPG on our next car.
We're a 2 car family; the company car is a 2008 Seat Altea XL 2.0D Sport and the personal car a 2007 VW EOS TDi Sport. Both have the same Volkswagen engine with the Altea capable of 46mpg and the EOS 60mpg. However the cost of the Altea has been rising as the CO2 figure 157 has meant a year on year rise in the Company Car Tax I pay, which is based on emissions. So along with good MPG I was determined that the next car should have a CO2 no higher than 99, preferably below 95 as there an no compamy car tax rises below that mark in the next 4 years.
Over the past 4 years the Seat Altea has perfectly met our needs as a family of 5 + spaniel! It's had enough space for Center Parcs trips, bikes and kayak on roof etc yet with just under 150bhp it can shift when it needs to as well. However what cost £65 to fill 4 years ago now costs nearly £80 to drive about 400 miles. Which started me thinking about the way we all use our cars; we fill the car up, groan at how much it costs; then carry on using the car as before with no real connection to the cost of that trip to the out of town shopping centre, or day out. It's a problem I also see with our energy usage at home; we have no connection between the energy we buy and how it's used; for instance how much did that bath cost to fill, or a 5 min shower in water end energy cost. These costs of both journeys and home fuel consumption can be worked out, but not at the point of use. Now the later will begin to be addressed with Smart Meters coming to all of our homes in the next 6 years, but what about the motoring cost?
Well as a company car driver one cost that has gone up is company car tax, raising by 1% a year. For the Seat Altea XL this cost is now £68 / £136 per month dependent whether you are a lower / higher rate tax payer. That's a painful £1,632 a year and it's continuing to go up for every new car above 95 CO2 by 1% each year. For the private motorist this matters as with 50% of new car sales being company cars, these are the cars we buy in 3 or 4 years time; in addition the CO2 of a vehicle determines the vehicle excise duty it pays.
So the requirements for the new car: Low CO2, high MPG, 5 seats, a boot big enough for hound and shopping and some kind of enjoyment factor!
The Test Drives
Toyota Prius T4 £23,749
First stop was the hybrids, and the decade old Toyota Prius that arrived in glossy black. A great looking car and as you opened the car door with a touch strip on the back of the handle (key in pocket) the whole dash and console was very futuristic. Keyless start and with the push of a button the car was ready. It's spooky as it makes no sound apart from a beep when it sounds as at this point all the pulling away is 100% electric. However it only does a very short distance in electric mode and exceed 30mph or push the accelerator and the small petrol engine helps out to move this substantial size car. Dashboard is more space ship than car with plenty of digital displays showing which engines is being used and whole heap of other data, an amazing spec of equipment and a joy to drive round town.
BUT 'normal' driving only delivered 55mpg over a combined town and motorway run (our typical usage) and only driving un-realistically slow got it up to 63mpg, a full 10mpg off it's official figure. Another nasty surprise was the noise on the motorway; quite unrefined and as poor as the current Seat Altea (that was a known compromise). But the combination of low energy tyres, minimal sound deadening resulted in a quite disappointing ride for a £24k car. And quite odd was the hand brake where the clutch normally resides.
Toyota Auris T-Spirit £22,755
So we tried the Auris; same engine and tech under a smaller shell, again impressive spec in, what is essentially, the Corolla replacement. And, as such, from the outside it looked more akin to something you would spot in a mid-week garden center car park than a up to date hybrid. Externally it really was nothing special.
However, this top of the range demonstrator inside had a lovely jet black interior and another impressive set of toys. Sat nav, bluetooth audio, keyless entry and start, colour reversing camera, hands-free phone, all sorts of trip computers and cruise control, it even had enough space for the 3 kids in the back. Same electric / 1.8 petrol as in the Prius but, disappointingly, the same poor MPG and high speed road noise - only 54 mpg achieved in this on a 16 miles jaunt along the M27. Bot the Auris and the Prius also struggled with power, if you needed to put your foot down on a slip road or an over-taking manoeuvrer the engine revs so much it's like they had unleashed a dozen hair-dryers under the bonnet just to get either of them to 60mph, neither refined nor practical.
Honda Insight 2012
Last of the hybrids was the Honda Inisght. After poor reviews on the launch model Honda had apparently addressed steering and handling issues. Externally it was alright but nothing to shout about. but frankly the inside was something from a previous decade. A key to open and start the car, no sat nav, in fact no dot matrix display just a bulb that comes on when you engage cruise control, radio and dash were very utilitarian with none of the sophistication of the Toyota offerings. We had this demonstrator for a week and frankly it was driven once then parked. Poor design, poor ride (with an odd shudder when you came to a halt), and once more that poor mid 50s MPG 15-20 miles off the claimed MPG. If there is such a thing as 'an old mans car' this was it in every aspect of design and drive. It did feel well built and practical, but then so is my Bosh Lawn Mower and I'd approach both with the same anticipation; a chore!
These are the today's 3 leading hybrids and my conclusion for all of them is that for city driving they have their uses with no congestion charge and they handle stop-go city driving admirably. For any kind of motorway commute they barely met the MPG of the current Seat Diesel and that has considerably more horses under the hood.
This left us with a string of frugal 1.2 Diesel 3 cylinder cars to try and the 100% Electric Leaf. Now the 1.2 Diesels all have Volkswagen engines in small family cars so VW Polo, Seat Ibiza and Skoda Fabia Greenline II. I had spoken to a colleague about the Skoda and whilst it is excellent value for money and frugal with its' use of fuel, you needed to take a run up to overtake, could not specify sat nav or cruise control and only had 4 star NCAP safety rating. Lots of compromises and not as safe. As for the Ibiza and Polo; not big enough. Next size up from the 1.2 diesel is the 1.6 diesel in Seat Leon and VW Golf Bluemotion; while both frugal enough with mid 60s MPG but the Golf is overpiced with a CO2 of 99 (£100pm company car tax), which means a 1% year on year Company Car tax rise, and the Seat we have just had for 4 years and the Leon about to get a facelift. I had no desire to drive a 2 year out of date model
Then the Nissan Leaf turned up.
The Nissan Leaf £25,000 (after government Grant)
I took delivery of the 4 day demonstrator on Friday 20th April. I was expecting the stock flat black colour but on the back of the flatbed truck were 2 Pearlescent White Leafs, or should that be leaves? Compared to the awful Honda Prius it was like jumping from Penny Farthing to the Starship Enterprise. It looked great from the oustide. Lots of smooth, curvy lines in a rich creamy white and as I got closer the metalic and pearlescent flecks gave it that 'inside oyster shell' blues and silvers on the curves, I was sold on the colour from that point. I got in the car and you either love or hate beige. Frankly I would have preferred a jet black velour (coming in the UK built 2013 Nissam Leaf) but the light seats and dash worked very well with the white paint; I'm not quite sure how that contrast works in a black car. Enough of the outside, tell us about the car!
Curvy rear of the Nissan Leaf
Close up shot of the mirror showing the pealescent tints in the paint
The Nissan Leaf is the first 100% Electric, zero emission 5 seater family car. It is powered by a batteries that give you a 109 mile range. You plug it into a normal 3 pin plug overnight and then it's good for another 109 mile range.
After a trip from Emsworth to Southampton the Leaf had 73 miles 'in the tank'
Range Anxiety - it's a myth.
I must have had this conversation everyday for the past month; but it's a great one to challenge how people think about change. You just read the 109 mile range thing and thought "That's not enough what about the trip to XYZ or the family in 123?". And I approach that as follows; But how many miles do you do on a daily basis? How many miles did you do yesterday? 109 miles A DAY is more than 99% of do on a daily basis. It's enough to get us to work, school run, shopping etc. So in reality a car with 109 miles fits potentially fits all of our every day needs with no change in routine and no diesel or petrol to buy!
30 mins charge on a FREE Rapid Charge at a Nissan Dealer gives you 80% battery life
But you're still thinking about that once or twice a year journey aren't you? Well this is where you do have to make a change and it takes all of 30 mins. You can Rapid Charge the Nissan Leaf to 80% of it's battery capacity in 30 minutes at a Nissan Dealer. It's FREE and you get to drink tea, watch TV or let the kids play in kids corner. I did on Saturday with my 4 year old. The West Way Southampton folks were happy to take the car and charge it and had a great chat about the state of EV (Electric Vehicles).
There are also slower charging points popping up in car parks that are only a little better than home charging. It's the Rapid Charge that makes the difference. If you do take the leap and are tempted by a scheme called POLAR Networks, avoid at all costs (long story get in touch for details).
The big Rapid Charge plug (30 mins)
Let's put that mileage into real world driving. I live in Emsworth, right on the Hants / West Sussex border and on Saturday I drove to Southampton and still had 73 miles left when I parked up in IKEA. So I actually have a single charge range that could get me to Basingstoke, Worthing, Southampton and back without worrying about Rapid Charge. Or with a that 30 minute stop off Rapid Charge I could make it to Bath (Salisbury Nissan recharge) or Oxford (Newbury Nissan recharge). Now depending on when you read this review depends on how many Rapid chargers are rolled out. Just call the dealer ahead of the journey is my advice (both Newbury and Salisbury connecting in the next few weeks).
The 6 meter cable that comes with the Leaf for Home Charge (10-12 hours)
How much does it cost to charge? If you ran the battery absolutely flat then an overnight charge at home costs you approximately £2 of leccy and that gives 109 miles the next day. That's a potential range of 3,270 miles for £60 of electric each month. The current Seat Altea can do 47mpg and at that MPG costs 18p for every mile it travels, the Nissan Leaf costs less than 3p a mile of electric and you never have to go near a petrol station again.
Back to the car review......as with the Toyota's its keyless entry and start and the same ickle control knob for putting in drive / reverse
All of this kit is STANDARD:
- Full satellite navigation with traffic updates and charging point locaters
- Full bluetooth phone integration with controls on the steering wheel and phone book upload to head unit. Supports 5 phones.
- Voice control of phone. "Dial home" and off it goes.....
- Keyless entry and start, just press the Start Button - plus a common sense check to make sure you dont lock the key in the car
- Bluetooth audio so you can play music from your phone without connection or use the USB plug for full control of any iPod / iPhone.
- Full energy monitor showing you what's using the juice
- Colour reversing camera with guide so you can see where your reversing into as you turn the wheel
- Full climate and air control
- Cruise control on steering wheel to a precision level where you choose the exact mph "I'd like to drive at 62mph"
- Solar panel on real spoiler, now standard on 2012 mode - only charges the 12 volt battery for audio etc
- Automatic LED headlights (50W power consumption and ~500 lumens @ 5500K.)
- Automatic wipers
- Remote climate control - you can switch the heaters on from your iPhone app (carwings) so the car is defrosted and warm whilst still plugged in. No more scraping frosty windows, and the car is securely locked as it does all this.
- Remote charging control via iPhone app (Carwings). You can also check how the charge is going from smartphone or PC.
- Programmable charging and climate control from the car dashboard so you can take advantage of off-peak charging or have the car heated each morning at the same time
- Oh and the sound system - loud, lots of rumbling bass and crisp treble without distortion until the very end of its volume range
- Electric windows all round and mirrors.
Now if you add that list of extras to a VW or BMW that's the best part of £5-10k worth of kit.
Touch screen display for sat nav, audio and here displaying the energy use of the car. Then you can just see the battery store and range indicator beyond
Wireless Bluetooth or USB connection to your iPod or smartphone or USB stick
It has two modes a 'D'rive mode and en ECO mode, the later throttling baclk on the responsiveness of the accelerator and more regenerative braking. And if you've not heard of Regenerative Braking - it recharges the battery as you brake the car, the hybrids do the same thing.. Now this D mode - errr - WOW - I simply was not expecting this kind of performance from an Electric Car. A few times this weekend I have parked the car up, wound the windows down pressed the accelerator to the floor and it no so much goes as launches, it is inexplicable just how quick this thing goes. With no gears it just pulls, and pulls and pulls.
50w Low Energy LED Headlights delivering circa 500 lumens of light
With a traditional engine there's lots of processes turning diesel/petrol into torque (the ooomph that makes a car go), and most cars only generate the majority of their torque at high revs (like 4,000 revs or more). But the Leaf delivers 100% of its torque at 0mph and with no silly gear-box before you know it you're at 60mph and the only noise is the tyres on the road. It's near spooky. None of that growling engine noise or 'hear comes a boy racer' it's stealth acceleration. It has to be tried to believe.
I've rarely been out of the car all weekend with trips to Segensworth and back Friday followed by trip to Portsmouth and back, Southampton and back then onto West Dean (north of Chichester) and back, then Sunday - Waterlooville, Southsea back home then back to Southsea. The Leaf is very smooth to drive, firm but not silly suspension, good performance and frugality and ah yes the handling. The 24kwh batteries weigh in at 300kg (the whole car is 1,500kg). But these batteries run along the floor of the car and under the back seats, center of gravoty just where it should be and as a result lots more space and a great drive with handling effortless and no lumbering about the place.
Solar Panel that trickle charges the 12 aux battery for Radio, interiror lights etc (not the main battery)
I've just come back from a 9pm 26 mile spin along the A27 / M275 down to Portsmouth all along Southsea seafront and back. The goal here was to try and drain as much power as possible. Heater on 30 degrees, aircon on, lights on, wipers on, stereo bouncing away, up to 80mph on the motorway and lots of foot to the floor "pull aways". Now I would frankly never drive like this but wanted to make sure that even with silly driving the car still can happily meet our range needs. I got home I did manage to deplete the battery from 80 to 30 miles on only a 26 mile run. So it really shows you that if you drive like a loon with all the electrics on full it can have a significant impact on range.
The Nissan Leaf is a game changer. And even my partner Jo had to concede how great a car this is after a weekend of real world usage. Even 2 cynical teenagers who a week ago were using words like "embarrassing" and "pointless" had switched to "yeah" and "it's alright" after the weekend which, for teenagers, is near evangelical.
Before we get too carried away; this is not the solution to the fuel crisis and neither is this the strategy for future driving. The future is range-extended vehicles (electric cars with an engine to charge the batteries when they get low), or Hydrogen Cars (but hydrogen is incredibly expensive to capture) or even better performing batteries in Electric Cars or some mix of all 3. If we do need to do a very long trip we would still probably use the VW EOS Diesel but this the 10% versus the 90% rule. Some may just choose to hire a car for a long long journey, or indeed other like the Rapid Charge every 100 miles and planning their journey, after all you could travel for £0 fuel cost if you planned it well enough.
From a private buyer perspective; none of these electric cars are cheap the Nissan Leaf is £25k, the Vauxhall Ampera £26k and the up-coming Prius Plug-in £27k (all with the £5k government grant taken into consideration). And if you are a private buyer wanting a Nissan Leaf I would suggets waiting until next year when production moves to Sunderland with a rumoured price drop of 20-30%.
From a company car tax perspective only the Nissan Leaf is £0 until April 2015 (then 9%) so compared to a VW Golf Bluemotion that's saving of £100 a month in tax alone.
SOLD! Mine is on order on a 3 year lease (to sync up with the company car tax change) in the same pearlescent white. As there are no options (apart from which colour) lead times are great so should be here in 2-4 weeks 
I have thrown my normal energy behind this with arm-fulls of research, spreadsheets, discussions on forums (leaftalk) and a new contacts / meet ups on the horizon. If you are interested in the technology, the research or have questions please get in touch and I can try my best. I should also declare that I have a 4kWh Solar PV installation at home which further makes the Nissan Leaf compelling.
A note to editors: Grant Thomas is a Global Strategy Consultant and Sustainability Advocate who has worked for IBM since 1995. Grant lives in Emsworth, Hampshire as part of a family of 5 and had no affiliation or sponsorship in the creation of this article. This blog entry was published on Monday 23rd April 2012 and all facts and figures are believed correct at time of publication. The views expressed in this article and purely that of the author and not of IBM.
http://grantthomas.com/?p=493
The New iPad: Grant Thomas’ verdict: BUY!
Those with long enough memories will recall the big Apple show case last year announcing, what we thought, was going to be the fully featured iPhone 5. Instead we got the 4S, an incremental upgrade and Siri; which aint that useful in everyday life.
So it was with hesitant anticipation that we tuned in for Apple's offering today; the rumour mill had been rife in the days and hours and for once, most of it was right. The next generation of iPad, and the name iPad 3, iPad HD in the end the rather silly "The New iPad". But that's about it for silliness; Apple has today announced a serious leap in both hardware and software that I can only RECOMMEND YOU BUY if you are wanting an iPad or already have an iPad or iPad 2.
Here are the highlights;
- Retina Display for New iPad Has 1,000,000 More Pixels Than HDTV
- New A5X Quad Core Process speeding up everything and leveraging new graphics capabilities(5x better than predecessor)
- 4G LTE - superfast mobile broadband
- Same Excellent 5 megapixel camera as 4S
- 1080p HD Video with Image Stabilisation
- Voice Dictation
- World-Band - works wherever you take it
Some very nifty Software:
- New iWorks (MS Office equiv)
- Major updates to iMovie
- Very clever iPhoto photo app for image editing
- impressive new games 'console beating' (allegedly)
Want to see the iPad 2 vs New iPad comparison table?
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/07/new-ipad-vs-ipad-2/
Hands on video: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/07/apple-new-ipad-hands-on/
Will the New iPad’s 4G Even Work Here in the UK?
According to Apple’s vital statistics for the new Retina Display-packing iPad it’ll support LTE on the 700 and 2100MHz bands. On the face of it that’s bad news for us Brits. Our 4G plans might be a little way off still, at least the end of the year, but we’re planning on rolling out LTE on the old analogue TV spectrum, which pulls in at 800MHz, and the 2.6GHz band that’s already been vacated ready for 4G.
We already know not all LTE devices support all spectrum bands, otherwise we’d be running US LTE phones and tablets on the O2 4G trial right now. So unfortunately, if the new iPad doesn’t support different bands when it’s shipped in Blighty it won’t work on our LTE networks when we eventually get them. Everything Everywhere is champing at the bit to get LTE out there and, if Ofcom approves, it could even get coverage started before this year is out – well before Apple ships the next iteration of the iPad.
The good news is that Apple’s pushing HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA as well as LTE in the new iPad. In the UK at least one network, namely Three, is rolling out the HSPA+ update to the 3G specification. What that means is you’ll get theoretical data speeds of up to 21Mbps on HSPA+ and 42Mbps on DC-HSDPA (which essentially connects to two 3G towers at once for double the data rate). That’s plenty fast enough for a tablet on the move for sure, but it’s also just in theory. Whether we’ll actually get those kinds of speeds on the mean streets of the UK is another matter. Still, it’s better than nothing when there’s no 4G to go around I suppose.
Of course, by the time Apple’s recovered from its frantic updating of sites and stores in the next-generation iPad aftermath, we might find the UK specification differs. Let’s hope they add in our UK LTE bands just in case Everything Everywhere, O2, and our other networks get their collective arses in gear and get 4G up this year. Just don’t bet on it; I have a feeling Apple’s not going to care because we’re still all up in the air about when we’ll get LTE on the ground in Britain.
Source for 4G article: Gizmodo
Carnival upbeat despite fall off in Q4 profits
Global cruise giant Carnival Corporation has reported a decline in fourth quarter profits but says booking levels are strong going into the peak January wave booking period.
Net income for the three months to November was down to $217 million from $248 million in the same period last year. Annual net income was $1.912 billion against $1.978 billion in the previous 12 months to November.
Fuel costs in the 12 months rose to $2,193 billion from $1.622 billion while revenues were up to $15.793 billion from $14.469 billion.
Describing the full year as “encouraging,” chairman and chief executive Micky Arison, said: “Our North American brands performed well, achieving an almost four per cent revenue yield increase, while our European, Australian and Asian brand yields were in line with the prior year despite having been significantly impacted by the geo-political unrest in the Middle east and North Africa.
“Higher revenue yields partially offset a 32% increase in fuel prices, which reduced earnings by $535 million.”
Booking levels for the first three quarters of 2012 taken in the last six weeks are running “well ahead” of the same time last year but at lower prices.
Cumulative advance bookings for next year are at slightly higher prices with slightly lower occupancies, the company said.
Looking forward, Arison said: “Our base of business for 2012 is solid and we are experiencing strong booking volumes leading into wave season, our heaviest booking period which begins in January.
“Despite the uncertain economic environment, we anticipate a continued slow recovery in yields in 2012 driven by ongoing consumer recognition that our cruises provide an exceptional value.”
The parent company of brands such as P&O Cruises, Cunard and Princess Cruises remains focused on strategic growth through the addition of two to three ships a year, according to Arison.
“We estimate our cash from operations will approach $4 billion in 2012, while our capital investment commitment will be $2.6 billion,” he said.
Three new ships are due for delivery in 2012 – Costa Fascinosa in April plus AIDAmar and Carnival Breeze in May. P&O Cruises Australia has sold the Pacific Sun for an undisclosed sum which will leave the fleet in July 2012.
Sir Jimmy Savile tribute planned by Cunard
Cunard is to pay tribute to regular passenger Sir Jimmy Savile by staging a sailing past his burial place in Scarborough.
The DJ, who died in October aged 84, cruised extensively with the company. His last voyage was on board Queen Elizabeth on its maiden round-Britain voyage in September.
The ship has been specially scheduled to sail past Scarborough on August 1, 2013.
Sir Jimmy was among celebrity guests at a ceremony in Southampton when the Queen officially named the vessel in October 2010.
A spokeswoman said the ship would sound its whistle in respect to Sir Jimmy, who was "a true friend of Cunard". "He was marvellous on the ships, always speaking to anyone and everyone as he made his way round the decks," she said.
Solar PV: ACT NOW or lose £20k tax-free income
£20,600 is one big lump of cash, but this is the actual loss of income that the Government announced today by cutting the Solar PV Feed In Tariff by over 50%
In recent weeks I have created a six part blog breaking out the complexity of Solar Electricity Panels and the financial case to act. I even playfully titled the first part of the blog as "You'd be mad not to". Well today the Department for Energy and Climate Change has acted before the £897M it had put aside for this scheme ran out.
Here's the summary:
If you can get a Solar PV Panels installed before 11 December 2011 then you will join the scheme at the current 43.3p per kWh scheme tax free and guaranteed for 25 years. If you have them installed after this date then the rate falls to 21p per kWH from 1 April 2012 which will wipe out over £20,000 in the 25 year life in the scheme.
Having spoken to my installer today they are fully booked up to this deadline.
If you have been considering Solar PV you need to act NOW, THIS WEEK if you are to stand any chance of getting an installation before the 11th December.
Here is the full DECC press release: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn11_091/pn11_091.aspx
Independence of the Seas ceases year round from UK…
Only just got this news......seeking more details....
BREAKING NEWS: Independence of the Seas will be sailing from Ft Lauderdale for winter 2012-13. Offering guests fantastic 8 Night Eastern Caribbean or 6 night Western Caribbean sailings
Solar PV Electricty Blog
Link to the Solar PV Pages on this blog
- Part 1: 'You'd be mad not to?' - The high level financials, introduction and background
- Part 2: The Technical Stuff - Roof direction, pitch, The Panels, Inverters, Efficiency and remote monitoring
- Part 3: The Legal Bit - Planning, Building Regulations, Guarantees
- Part 4: Rent-A-Roof / FREE Panels Schemes - They install for free, take the FiT, but you do get free electricity
- Part 5: The Green Deal (2012 onwards) - The strategic replacement for FiTs
- Part 6: The Installation - Photos and a record of the installation - Oct 17-20th 2011
Queen Mary 2 refit details release
From "WeAreCunard"
In January 2012 Queen Mary 2 will celebrate her 8thbirthday. She is recognised in the new 2012 Berlitz Cruise Guide as the top large resort ship in the world. I was looking through our guest questionnaires recently and when we ask our guests to rate ‘Appearance of Stateroom’ and ‘Condition and Cleanliness of Public Rooms’ they have been averaging around 95% which is a good score. We have through every year of her life continued to invest in her upkeep and I have always been especially impressed by how well the Deck Department have looked after the extensive teak decks and outside areas.
Well in late November Queen Mary 2 will be taken out of service, and out of the water, for a planned refit in Hamburg, Germany. She will be out of service for 14 days. I have had a number of questions on the blog as to what we plan to do during that time. We will release that news later this week – but I promised to reveal the news through our blog first so – here goes;
Staterooms – We will refurbish every stateroom on board Queen Mary 2 – all 1,310 of them. Each of the Queen’s Grill Grand Duplex, Master and Penthouse Suites will receive a fresh individual design. All of our Queen’s Grill Suites, Princess Grill and Britannia Staterooms will receive new carpets, curtains, bedcovers, linen and some will also see new soft furnishings. The designs will be very much in keeping with the current designs and with the overall ship – but with a fresh look. I am really pleased with how they will look and our returning loyal guests will I am sure be delighted. I have always recognised just how important it is to feel comfortable in your stateroom – a home from home. The designs on Queen Mary 2 are very enduring and when the ship returns to service in December her staterooms will be more appealing and comfortable than ever.
Golden Lion Pub – our guests have worn the Pub out. The Pub lunches are more popular than ever, the bar area is always busy and sport and musical events are increasingly popular. So we have completely redesigned this room. Below are a couple of shots of how the new Pub will look. It recreates the best of British Pubs as well as the comfortable American Country Club feel. We will achieve more comfortable seats and more of them. We will have new and improved screens for sporting events and we will still be able to have our famous Jazz evenings and daytime activities.
Canyon Ranch – goes from strength to strength on Queen Mary 2. One of the highlights of our Canyon Ranch is the wet area and Spa Pool. Well we are completely refurbishing the teak surrounds of the pool and doing a lot of work in other areas of the spa. We will have a range of new exercise machines in the gym area and some new and improved features in the salon. Canyon ranch are one of our most prized partnerships – when it comes to health, relaxation, exercise and wellness – they are the real thing and I am so pleased we are investing in further improving the facilities.
Commodore Club – one of the most iconic bar locations at sea up on deck 9 forward. No radical changes here – but as you can see form the design layout below we are investing in new carpets and refurbishing and adding to our beautiful white leather furniture.
Children’s Club – one of Cunard’s best keep secrets. We have excellent facilities – but although they were industry leading in 2004 it is time for us to invest further in the facilities. We will refurbish the area, including the very latest in electronic gaming and entertainment – I am looking forward to trying them out for myself.
Sir Samuel’s – Originally designed when the ship came into service as a venue to offer the very best in classic wines. The advent of Cappuccinos, Lattes and Espresso has changed our approach and the room is very busy day and night. So time for new carpets and some new chair covers which will give the room a real lift.
Grill Restaurants – We will lay down a new carpet design for both the Queen’s Grill and Princess Grill Restaurants. These will be very much in keeping with the overall design but I think will give a lighter feel to both restaurants – which remain amongst the best restaurants at sea or on land.
Carpets – We will be refreshing the carpets in many areas of decks 2 and 3 both in public rooms and through our wonderful central walkways and landings. In one or two areas – and our guests have mentioned this on the blog – we have some wear and tear of the flooring under the carpet. We refurbished much of this in the last refit and will complete the work this time round.
What are we not doing – One area that I have received questions on is Kings Court – the equivalent to The Lido area on Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria. Given it’s location, and the fact that it covers such a large area with many sections – some of our guests have in the past found the area can be quite confusing – especially the first time you visit it. To make significant changes to the actual structure of this area would be very difficult and prohibitively expensive given it’s scale. So we have been tackling this in different ways. We have been looking carefully at customer flow, our food and beverage offering and in particular how we best manage the service in Kings Court. We have plans to increase the alternative dining opportunities and themed evenings, and removing possible confusion by not having too many different serving stations at breakfast. This has significantly improved the situation and we will continue to focus here and make sure we create the appropriate experience for our guests.
By the way and a small tip – when I travel on our ships I always choose to have breakfast in the Britannia Restaurant. It is a lovely place to eat, the service is impeccable, you have a wide choice, you don’t help yourself so the portions are smaller and better for you, you sit up straight, you can converse with our wonderful staff and the whole experience is a lot more relaxing. I normally have Grapefruit Juice, Bircher Muesli (nobody does it like Cunard), Scrambled Egg with American Bacon (yes some of us Brits do prefer the crispy American bacon) and a toasted English muffin (worth asking for it to go through the toaster twice) and fresh coffee. Marvelous.
Down Below – as ever we will take the opportunity to complete the regulatory and necessary checks and works below deck and that program is in place. Interestingly part of the technical work will be to add a Skycon to the ship. What is a Skycon I hear you say? You may have seen them on other ships but surprisingly Queen Mary 2 did not have this feature. It is a small rail that goes round the higher decks of the ship, to which you add a cage for the deck crew to clean and maintain many of the external railings and windows. When in port you will often see Cherry Pickers around Queen Mary 2 – tall extended cage like cranes to reach those parts that man simply cannot reach. With the addition of a Skycon we will be better able to maintain these areas of the ship and not have the expense of Cherry Pickers in port, so there you have it – some inside knowledge on what we have to do to make the ship look as she does.
To make this happen we will be adding enough carpet to cover 10 football pitches. We will be adding miles of fabric – and we will have a team of thousands of workers to make it happen.
In these tough economic times it remains very important for us to continue to invest in both the technical and hotel areas of our ships. With Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth we are fortunate to have two very young ships that provide a fabulous experience for our guests. In Queen Mary 2 we have something very special, the most famous ocean liner in the world and a ship that still turns heads everywhere she goes – she is unquestionably the pride of our fleet. And that is why we will be investing in the ship and in our future guests experience through the upcoming refit.
I hope this exclusive sneak peak at some of the things we will be doing has been of interest. We will be announcing some new on board experiences nearer the time for when she comes back into service and during the refit we have plans to keep you up to speed with the refit through a series of videos and blogs.
I trust you are keeping well.
Best Regards
Peter
Recent Ramblings
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The Death of Electric Vehicles by a 15% rise in Company Car Tax
In March 2012 George Osborne announced that in April 2015 the rate at which Zero Emission vehicles pay Company Car tax will jump from 0% to 13% and then to 15% in April 2016. This single action could be enough to wipe out the growth of Electric Vehicles in the UK and the EV car industry at a time when Nissan is moving production of the Zero Emission Nissan leaf to Sunderland in 2013. The purpose of this article is to launch a raise awareness so that we can urge the UK government to change this policy which contradicts a sustainable government agenda.
What is the cost impact?
Electric Vehicles today are expensive in comparison to their Internal Combustion Engine siblings with a Nissan Leaf Costing £31,375. Now there is a £5,000 government grant off the purchase price BUT this is not reflected in the Company Car Tax Calculation; here is the math:
This rises to £156.88 in 2012. In comparison if you were to chose a leader low emission similar diesel car :
So by choosing a Zero Emission Nissan Leaf a company car driver will be paying £100 a month more in 2015 in Company Car tax versus a polluting diesel VW Golf Bluemotion.
Half of all cars sold in the UK are sold to Lease Companies for Company Car use. So the tax incentives the government gives actively guides the cars that are driven both new, and on the second hand market. Up until March I have agreed with the year on year increase on the Company car tax rates linked to emissions as it promotes choosing lesser polluting vehicles; but with this blanket grouping of all cars under 75 Co2 emissions in the same band; there is little incentive for anyone to choose a zero emission car over any other frugal car; despite the clear environmental benefits.
I hope that through awareness, contact with our MPs and publicity we can change this policy so that zero emission cars, that emit no pollution when driving, are continued to be offered free of company car tax. It's not only a sensible sustainability policy it is also pro-industry encouraging a fledgling Electric Vehicle sector in the UK.