Tag Archive for: climate change

Honda E

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We’ve recently had the pleasure of testing out the small city car the Honda E. It’s brand new and it’s a right little city slicker! It’s perfect for whizzing around the city or cruising in the countryside. Furthermore it’s Electric! So, it’s amazing to the environment and even better on your wallet!

It’s a nippy little car too, hitting 0-60 in 8.3 seconds! While it can go up to 137miles without needing a charge and if you are using a superfast 50kw charger it can get from 0-80% battery in just 31mins!

The Honda describes the Honda E as:

The new Honda e is a car designed and shaped by the city and how we live our lives today. A car that seamlessly links all the different aspects of your life with intelligent connectivity. A car created with a sporty character, yet capable of offering remarkable levels of comfort. And of course, a car that produces zero emissions.

We have to say that the design of the Honda E is something to behold, it’s a friendly little car and isn’t mean or bulky looking it’s in fact rather cute! It not only looks good but the design helps to reduce drag! Which in turn will improve efficiency!

Design

The Honda E is designed in a rather genius way as there’s A LOT of tech in one single panel. The front headlights, radar sensor and front facing camera are all located in one panel! How cool is that! What’s even cooler is that two compact high definition cameras replace conventional mirrors! We’re also very impressed by a dramatic black tinted glass roof!

Advanced tech is not limited to the inside either, the front door handles fit flush to the body work. They only extend outwards and illuminate once you approach the car. While on the rear they’re hidden within the window areas. The front/rear headlights also incorporate the indicators and the headlights even welcome you with a cool animation when you unlock the car! The charging point is centrally on the bonet. Therefore allowing you to access it from either side of the vehicle!

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Smart Design

There is some smart design features that Honda have added which make all the difference. For example where you place your smartphone has been created from fabric to secure and protect it. Also, every passenger has their own USB port so everyone can keep their phones charged and connected!

The rear view mirror is dual function as it can be used in a conventional wide angle mirror mode, or in a camera mode. Which will provide you with a clear digital image, even at night. Whilst it also provides anti-dazzle technology to reduce glare from headlights.

The door mirrors have been replaced by HD cameras, which provide clear iamges on screens from within the cabin. The cameras are smaller than regular mirrors and fit well within the width of the car. Reducing drag, wind noise and drag. But are also great for narrow streets and car parks!

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Electricity

As you should know by now electricity is what powers this little beast. Electricity is cheap, efficient and provides zero emissions whilst not letting up on power and performance.

The Honda E has been designed to be electric from the ground up. Power comes from a compact 35.5kWh lithium-ion battery. It drives the rear wheels via an electric powertrain which has been developed for the Honda E. Fully charged it can hit up to 137miles. Perfect for city driving! Whilst performance and range are constantly maximised as there’s a clever system on board which helps keep the E’s battery at their optimum working temperature!

The Honda E has a smooth and instant response to pressing the accelator. It has a power output of 154PS and 315Nm of torque. There is a 50:50 weight distribution on the car and a low center of gravity. Giving it this sporty feel to the drive.

Whilst sport mode will increase the acceleration response even more! Turning on Single Pedal Control will allow you to drive with more ease. As you can accelerate and decelerate by pushig your foot down to go and taking it off to brake! The Honda E has a great turning circle too at only 4.3m you’re incredible manoeuvrable and agile, perfect for city driving! Not only that, furthermore the Honda Parking Pilot assistance will help you get the most out of the city.

Connected

You can connect to your Honda E with the My Honda+ app. It will allow you to schedule charge times, close the car windows and even pre-heat the interior! Use your smartphone as a Digital Key and unlock, lock and start the vehicle. Furthermore the voice activated Honda Personal Assistant can hold a natural conversation with you. AS it will use contextual understanding to learn how to offer you recommendations! Helping you to find nearest charging points, favourite music or restaurants!

The dashboard is incredible as it has five displays to always keep you informed, entertained and connected! Two central 12.3″ touchscreens allow multiple information to be accessed by both the driver and passenger. You can switch screens by simply swiping from one to another. Even personalise them with your favorite pics! Send destinations to the navigation system from your smartphone via the My Honda+ app. Select music and do extra things with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto!

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Interior

The interior is spacious and beautifully designed, especially with the premium sound system providing the entertainment!

The seats in both the front and rear of the vehicle provide great legroom and are very very comfortable. The rear seats can also fold down and provide more boot space! LED Spotlights have been positioned overhead providing passengers with additional lighting!

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Charging

Charging the Honda E is effortless thanks to the charging point in a very easy to reach part of the car, the center of the bonnet! It also features an integrated LED light which will clearly indicate the status of the charge. There is also a safety lock to ensure the power cable cannot be removed whilst in use.

The cable has been designed to be angled away from the car to protect the paintwork when charging. The charging times will vary depending on the type of charger that you use. But if you use the rapid charger charging to 80% will take 31 mins.

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Safety

The Honda E has a lot of safety features to keep you safe whilst driving around. There is an advanced safety system including Honda SENSING. Which are designed to help you when you drive:

Collision Mitigation Brake System: If there is a possibility of a collision, with either a pedestrian or a cyclist. The safety system will alert you whilst simultaneously reducing speed. Helping to minimise the severity of an impact.

Road Departure Mitigation System: A camera will detect road boundaries. Therefore if the car begins to stray the system will provide a lane departure warning. The car will then automatically apply subtle corrections to the streeting to keep it in lane.

Traffic Sign Recognition System: Identifies traffic signs and relays the information to you via a visual display.

Lane Keeping Assist System: Provides a less stressful driving experience especially on motorways, by keeping the car in the middle of the lane. This can be overridden when the indicator is used.

Intelligent Speed Limiter: Automatically controls your vehicle’s speed to a speed pre-set by you or at the speed limit indicated by a traffic sign.

Adaptive Cruise Control with Low Speed Follow: This will maintain a safe distance to the vehicle in front. While if a vehicle in an adjacent lane cuts in front of you, the Honda E will predict this and adjust the speed accordingly automatically. While it only will resume to a set speed when the danger has passed. Furthermore the low speed follow tech will detect if the vehicle in front comes to a stop. It will automatically decelerate and stop if the brakes aren’t applied.

Auto High-Beam Headlights: Detects a vehicle in front, including oncoming vehicles and automatically switches between high beam and low beam.

City Features

The Honda E has specific features that help the car adapt to the city too:

Lead Car Departure Notification System: Alerts the driver when the car in front has moved ahead from a standstill and you are still stationary.

Low Speed Braking Control: This system is a combination of the following functions:

Low Speed Brake Function: If you are close to an object that you may not have noticed whilst driving at low speed, the Honda e will decelerate and give an audio and visible warning before applying emergency braking.

Collision Mitigation Throttle System: This system will warn you if you press down on the accelerator pedal while there is an obstacle, such as a wall, in front of you.

So what do you think of the Honda E? Let us know via our socials @howtokillanhour across all platforms!

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Audi e-Tron

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We love our cars here at How To Kill An Hour and cars are getting more and more technological. If not for the tech inside the car, such as sound systems and air con, but the actual car itself. Electric cars are becoming more and more popular and there’s more choice on the market too. So we decided to check out Audi’s first fully electric production vehicle. The Audi e-Tron.

Turning Audi’s well-known e-tron technology into a series. The car has tons of personal space, a fantastic and a powerful driving experience all thrown into an SUV. An all electric SUV at that. This thing is a beast and can handle anything you throw at it, it will handle city driving with ease and will handle countryside driving with a breeze. It’s the ultimate everyday use car.

Power consumption, combined*: 26.4–21.8 kWh/100km (NEDC); 23.6–21.0 kWh/100km (WLTP)CO₂ emissions, combined*: 0 g/km

Audi’s Electric Drive.

The e-tron is powered by two electric motors. Allowing the SUV, bearing in mind this thing is a beast. To go from 0-100km/h stupidly quick. During our tests Marcus estimates it’s around 5-6 seconds. So that’s comparable to a sports car. The Audi e-Tron is also all-wheel drive, allowing you to have optimal traction and handling in any driving condition. So, that’s right, you guessed it. Off roading!

The quattro drive can be switched on when required and the results are that which are specific to the situation that you are in. You’ll get situation specific torque distribution, flexible control of the axle movements!

Charing Solutions

Audi are great as they offer you various different ways to charge at home.

You can either use the standard mobile charging system, which allows you to use a household 23oV household outlet or a 400 volt three phase outlet.

Or you can use an optional “Connect” charging system. This doubles the charging power to as much as 22kW. Combined with a home energy management system this will offer some intelligent functions. As charging when electric is less expensive, or with solar electricity. If you have it of course. This will need a photovaltaic system if you choose this route of charging.

You can control all charging processes as well as pre-heating and pre-cooling via the myAudi app!

If you are just using the car for everyday driving, you won’t need to stop at charging stations. While if you are on a long trip you are able to use fast charging stations, which will use DC (direct current) at up to 150kW. This is a first for series production vehicles. This will allow the Audi e-Tron to get set for the next stretch of a long distance drive, all within half an hour!

It can also be charged using AC (Alternating Current) though this will take longer, recharging at 22kW is also available as an option.

Audi e-Tron design.

The car looks amazing, there;s no doubt about that. Not only does it look great the insides are just as good.

The Audi Virtual cockpit is amazing, it has a sleek display and it stands virtually free in space and can display the optional virtual exterior mirrors. The navigation system will also intelligently give you suggestions based on previous routes!

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Listen to the guys chatting about this here!

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Go Electric: Electric Cars….Are you ready??

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It seems as though while electric vehicles may be popular and that they seem attractive to a lot of us. Electric vehicles are still confusing to the majority of UK consumers. As a result many potential customers are not seriously considering an electrified vehicle for a future purchase. This is according to new research* that is commissioned by Ford. Which is part of their UK Wide consumer education roadshow: Go Electric.

New Purchases Aren’t Electric

So, electric vehicles currently only account for about 5%** of total new car sales in the UK. The survey however highlights that there are still barriers before the mainstream adopts it. The apparent lack of appeal for electric vehicles is a reason why nearly half (46%) of Brits say that they don’t intened to buy an electric vehicle in the future. While 21% say that it is likely that they will not consider an electric vehicle in the next 5 years. While 20% say that they will likely only purchase in the next 3-5 years.

Reasons for this is mixed. Anxiety makes up 37% of those surveyed, apparent lack of affordability 53% and worries of charging locations make up 51% of those surveyed.

Furthermore the survey reveals that there is confusion around the tech itself. With 64% of those surveyed correctly identifying that an electric car is a vehicle that has one or more electric motors. Three quarters said that they are not confident in the difference between hybrid and battery electric cars. While 43% say that they don’t know enough about the technology to consider purchasing an electric or electrified vehicle. 29% don’t think the average person is ready to change to battery powered electric vehicles.

Go Electric. 

To help resolve this, Ford have created Go Electric. Go Electric is a consumer education roadshow. That aims to demystify the questions that many of us have about switching to electrified vehicles. Whilst also helping to address consumer concerns around hybrid and electric vehicles. It is an interactive experience designed to teach consumers about CO2 emissions. The future of local Clean Air Zones,  vehicle charging methods and finding the right vehicle for their lifestyle.

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Teaching about Electricity

Helping Ford continue the electric educational journey, technology presenter Georgie Barrat has filmed a preview of the experience. Which is due to return to the road later on this year. The informative video breaks down some of the most misunderstood phrases. Whilst answering some of the biggest questions on electric vehicles.

 “Technology has always been something that excites me but I totally understand that not everyone is at the same stage on their journey. For me, it’s all about making things easy for anyone to understand. There is no need for fancy language when something instead can be made simple to grasp. That’s why I was so excited to work with Ford on the Go Electric campaign and help make electrification accessible to everyone!” Commenting on Go Electric, Georgie Barrat

“While the move to electrification is gathering pace, there’s no mistaking that this is a huge task ahead of us that will require fundamental efforts to ensure consumers are taken on the journey, and the first step is understanding what their options are. Our roadshow will help demystify electrified vehicle options for all of our customers and give them all they need to make the right choice to fit their lives.”

Cont..

Beyond this, a range of stakeholders – including national and local government, energy providers and vehicle manufacturers – need to come together with a unified goal if we are to meet the electrification challenge. Given the size and scale of what we want to achieve in the UK, we need to kick-start this process. A fast start could include the creation of a specific senior role in government to help coordinate a comprehensive electrification strategy for the UK – a “Minister for Electrification” who can work cross-functionally across government and with the various stakeholders.

Ford has always sought to democratise vehicles and technologies and now we intend to do the same for electrification. “ Andy Barratt, Managing Director at Ford of Britain

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Notes:

*Source: Survey of 2,000 UK Adults conducted by 3GEM Research & Insights in August 2020

** Source: Latest SMMT figures for market share: https://www.smmt.co.uk/vehicle-data/car-registrations/

So, to learn more about electrification and find out when Go Electric will be back on tour head here. Furthermore, go to any Ford dealer for full information on Ford’s electrified products.

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Coffee under threat

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There could be a caffeine shortage

Climate change could push up the price of our beloved addiction coffee, prices might rise as the temperature does.

The price of coffee is likely to go up as the land where the coffee is farmed might not be suitable for the coffee to grow.

Ethiopia is the birthplace and the biggest exporter of Arabica coffee beans, but according to a report in Nature Plants today, the production of the bean could be under threat unless action is taken.

Basically we are drinking a lot more coffee than we are producing and so far the manufacturer’s have enough coffee saved up from previous years to continue to drink it as normal – which means we’ve avoided a price hike or a shortage altogether.

However the long term outlook is causing greater cause for concern. Scientists from London’s Kew Gardens have said that if action is taken, a coffee shortage could be avoided – 2 possible solutions are: the relocation of coffee-growing areas and forest conservation.

A combination of the two could avoid a coffee shortage, therefore avoiding the human population having a major meltdown due a lack of their caffeine fix!