Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: Sir Tigger KC on 10 February 2026, 22:19:02
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More EV chat! :)
I pulled into a big Sainsbury's in Exeter this afternoon and there were three electric Royal Mail vans parked in the charging spots and the Posties were standing around having a chat while their vans charged up.
I doubt that this time counts as break time and I wondered how long every day these Posties have to hang around charging their vans. I saw three this afternoon, but there must be hundreds around the country twiddling their thumbs at the charging point at any given time. :-\
No wonder the postal service has gone to shite! ::) ??? :D
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Surely, I mean surely, they charge them up overnight :-\
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Surely, I mean surely, they charge them up overnight :-\
You're assuming that when Royal Mail's top brass decided to go electric and spent millions on a fleet of electric vans, they included charging facilities at the sorting depots in their plans? ??? ;D
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It will be done on purpose by the posties to manipulate "break times" - and 3 of them all at the same time?
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Surely, I mean surely, they charge them up overnight :-\
You're assuming that when Royal Mail's top brass decided to go electric and spent millions on a fleet of electric vans, they included charging facilities at the sorting depots in their plans? ??? ;D
Because as we know, using the public charge points, like those at supermarkets, makes them far more expensive to fuel than petrol or diesel.
Our lot who have leccy vans love them. They can refuse jobs because they are too far away, and have a constant excuse for turning down challenging jobs because they need a couple of hours of charge. Lazy bastids.
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Surely, I mean surely, they charge them up overnight :-\
They probably do, but suspect they will be out of battery very quickly.
Loaded up heavily with cargo, with drivers who don't want to be economical, using heaters, lights, power inside. Then are using the throttle like an on/off switch. (much like someone else I know ::))
I bet their range is awful... a quick Google
The Ford E-Transit offers an estimated WLTP range of 166196 miles
So in Winter that will be sub 100 miles, bet they get 80 miles range at times if that.
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Bring back the green (painted) GPO Austin and Morris vans, with 'A' series engines! >:D >:D
I was thinking about those the other week, and then amazingly I saw a pre-1962 example going along around our way, still in GPO green! 8) 8)
I once had the benefit of being given great advice by one of my ex's uncles who was about to retire as the senior mechanic of the GPO's maintenance section in London. He very quickly taught me how to strip down the 'A' series engine of my Austin A40, replace the valves, and rebuild. What he didn't know about those vehicles wasn't worth knowing! :D :)
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All the Royal mail vans round here are electric & Anglian water seem to be running quite a few.
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One other thing I noticed about the electric Royal Mail vans is that they all had Charlie's CRIII logo rather than the familiar ERII. :)
They're certainly taking their time in changing things from Lizzie to Charlie though. ::)
So far I've seen some stamps, a fiver and a tenner with Charlie's head on them. I took some cash from the cashpoint a while ago and all the brand new twenties had Lizzie on them. :-\ I would have thought that they would have the new designs ready to start printing as soon as a new monarch is proclaimed. Obviously not. ::)
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Probably blame it on sustainability :-X
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A mate of mine is doing an EV conversion on an old Morris Minor based post office van.
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Surely, I mean surely, they charge them up overnight :-\
You're assuming that when Royal Mail's top brass decided to go electric and spent millions on a fleet of electric vans, they included charging facilities at the sorting depots in their plans? ??? ;D
Anything that runs on elastictrickery needs a home (or depot) charger. No home charger then forget it. Otherwise it will prove prohibitively expensive and inconvenient.
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Anything that runs on elastictrickery needs a home (or depot) charger. No home charger then forget it. Otherwise it will prove prohibitively expensive and inconvenient .
You mean like an EV Fire Engine in London thats never attended an actual fire since its introduction three years ago. It carries the water, it carries the foam, but it cant be relied upon to get to the fire, pump gallons of water for several hours and get itself home again. ::)
However, it can be modified to make it useful, by fitting an auxiliary engine that runs on diesel or petrol. ;D Still, it was good publicity at the time for that arrogant midget Mayor. ::)
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Bring back the green (painted) GPO Austin and Morris vans, with 'A' series engines! >:D >:D
Complete with the restrictor! I mean, they were as flat as a witch's tit without the restrictor ;D
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Actually, my first van at British Smellycom was a Morris with an A series.
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Actually, my first van at British Smellycom was a Morris with an A series.
What memories! ;D ;D ;)
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A mate of mine is doing an EV conversion on an old Morris Minor based post office van.
The one I saw the other week was a green Morris Minor van, with the blue smoke, so not electric! ;D ;D
Nice to hear that some have survived in any form, even though, if they were like my A40, they should be a pile of rust by now :D ;)
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Actually, my first van at British Smellycom was a Morris with an A series.
What memories! ;D ;D ;)
None of them good when it came to that piece of shit rotbox.
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A mate of mine is doing an EV conversion on an old Morris Minor based post office van.
The one I saw the other week was a green Morris Minor van, with the blue smoke, so not electric! ;D ;D
Nice to hear that some have survived in any form, even though, if they were like my A40, they should be a pile of rust by now :D ;)
Battery fires smoke like a chimney >:D
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A mate of mine is doing an EV conversion on an old Morris Minor based post office van.
The one I saw the other week was a green Morris Minor van, with the blue smoke, so not electric! ;D ;D
Nice to hear that some have survived in any form, even though, if they were like my A40, they should be a pile of rust by now :D ;)
Battery fires smoke like a chimney >:D
It was my 'A' series engine that laid a real, thick, blue smoke trail, every time I deaccelerated then accelerated, until that uncle taught how to replace the very worn and broken valves!! :o :o ;D ;D ;)
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It was my 'A' series engine that laid a real, thick, blue smoke trail, every time I deaccelerated then accelerated, until that uncle taught how to replace the very worn and broken valves!! :o :o ;D ;D ;)
The problem here was that the valve stem rubber seals would become hard and would start riding up and down on the valve stem, instead of staying in the recess designed to hold them in place. On my van, I used to lay a smoke trail deliberately, by doing what you describe, if someone was sat too close behind me. ;D
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It was my 'A' series engine that laid a real, thick, blue smoke trail, every time I deaccelerated then accelerated, until that uncle taught how to replace the very worn and broken valves!! :o :o ;D ;D ;)
The problem here was that the valve stem rubber seals would become hard and would start riding up and down on the valve stem, instead of staying in the recess designed to hold them in place. On my van, I used to lay a smoke trail deliberately, by doing what you describe, if someone was sat too close behind me. ;D
Great for cyclists too :)
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It was my 'A' series engine that laid a real, thick, blue smoke trail, every time I deaccelerated then accelerated, until that uncle taught how to replace the very worn and broken valves!! :o :o ;D ;D ;)
The problem here was that the valve stem rubber seals would become hard and would start riding up and down on the valve stem, instead of staying in the recess designed to hold them in place. On my van, I used to lay a smoke trail deliberately, by doing what you describe, if someone was sat too close behind me. ;D
Great for cyclists too :)
;D ;D
Indeed. :y
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It was my 'A' series engine that laid a real, thick, blue smoke trail, every time I deaccelerated then accelerated, until that uncle taught how to replace the very worn and broken valves!! :o :o ;D ;D ;)
The problem here was that the valve stem rubber seals would become hard and would start riding up and down on the valve stem, instead of staying in the recess designed to hold them in place. On my van, I used to lay a smoke trail deliberately, by doing what you describe, if someone was sat too close behind me. ;D
With my A40 the problem was two valves had chunks missing out of them and as a 10year old car, in those days, it was worn out! It also had a body that was not attached to the chassis as the sills and cross members, especially under the passenger seat, had rotted away, with holes in the wings. It still passed the MOT twice though!! >:D That car was a bargain as it cost me just £30, which I recouped when someone knocked on my door and offered me £30 for the number! 8) ;D ;) Great days indeed! :)