How tuff are Aussie blokes?

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I see we dont have an EV section yet.
We have many that tow vans in the group.
Stole this from another place.


I’m seeing a lot of posts lately about towing with an EV vehicle and despite commenting on a lot of these posts about the do’s and dont’s I can’t comment on them all so I thought id just do one post for everyone to read and take on board.
I work for Audi and have done on and off for the past 8 years, I’m an Audi accredited service adviser, meaning im qualified to do my job, I’m also an e-tron (EV) specialist for Audi, so I spend all day every day telling people what’s wrong or right with their cars and explaining things in a way my customers can understand. I’ve also worked for Mercedes, Jaguar Land Rover and VW so I’ve got a bit of experience in my field.
My biggest tip to any of you considering an EV for towing is DO NOT DO IT, and below are my reasons why.
Range: most EV’s have a range of approx. 200-300 miles give or take, which is quite good if you’re pottering around town, doing the school run etc. Although the car on paper will have the capacity to tow based on its weight and stopping ability, the range will not cope with what you are asking it to do. If you put 1500-2000kg on the back, your range will be cut by at least half, not to mention running the AC, having the heating on, your radio going etc which will also have an impact on range. Most EV’s will have an efficiency mode in place which will help you out but running an EV like you would a diesel or a petrol will impact range dramatically. You may make it to your destination but how will you get home? You also have to take the weather into consideration as this also has an impact on range and how much you will get on full charge.
Battery volatility: with EV’s being very volatile at the moment as its very much in the early stages and batteries randomly combusting, I’m not sure I would want my precious horse on the back of an EV. An Audi site had a fire recently which was caused by a brand-new EV vehicle and they’ve lost 50% of their workshop as a result. JLR Melskham went up in flames as the EV battery of a Range Rover hybrid arced and took 90% of the site with it. If an EV goes up in flames, you can not put them out, you have to let them burn themselves out, so the question is, should this happen to you, would you want to be in a position if trying to unhitch your loaded trailer from the back of you EV whilst its on fire then try and save all of your tack that’s in the boot as well? You only have to look back at the cargo ship that went up in flames earlier on in the year, which had 350 EV’s on board to see what damage they can do if and when they go up in flames. Despite the media propaganda playing it down, the fire was caused by an EV vehicle.
Infrastructure: In the UK there is not enough of it. Fast chargers will give you 80% charge in 20 mins then trickle charge you to 100% over so many hours. Charging an EV works in the same way your smart phone will charge, I get messages every night on my iPhone telling me my optimum charge will finish at X time. An EV is exactly the same, and this is to preserve the battery. You’re also not mean to charge an EV up to 100% as you will do damage to it over time reducing the life span. Most venues that you wish to compete at will also not be able to support your EV, the hook up for lorries is not compatible for EV, that’s if the venue has hook up at all, and as the hook up points will not be fast charging, if you are lucky enough to find one you can plug into, it will probably take you 24 hours to get enough charge to get you home.
Maintenance: Keeping these EV’s on the road is not cheap, Tyres are more expensive as they have to cater for the extra load, Brakes, especially the ones that do regeneration braking are really expensive, Service costs are on a par but should anything go wrong with the battery outside of manufacturer’s warranty, it’s a hefty bill to pay. During my time at Mercedes, I ran their break down team for the best part of 6 months and the cost of the replacement batteries for the EQB’s and EQC’s that came in on the back of a truck was eye watering. Don’t be disillusioned that an EV will be more straight forward to maintain as there are less components, that’s simply not the case. When it takes 4 technicians, and a specialist fork lift driver moving the battery around, to put a new battery in an EV, its not like switching out your double AA’s in your remote control. The EQB battery I over saw cost £17k for the battery before VAT and without labour or associated parts, EQC battery was £28k before VAT and labour. Please also be mindful that a lot of the cables and hoses in an EV are made from sustainable products, meaning they’re coated in plastics made from vegetable oils making them very tasty to Ratty McRatty, so do be surprised if you get rodent damage, I’ve seen a lot of that as well.
Insurance: Due to EV’s being so temperamental, insurance companies are hiking the premiums up to cover the expensive costs, I have seen some insurance companies charging as much as £8k a year to insure one so be prepared for that.
My biggest tip other than to not get an EV for towing would be to speak to the manufacturers about the car you are considering. They are the best informed about the product and can give you the best guidance, however, I would advise speaking with the service department about any queries rather than sales as the service team are the ones working on them everyday and are best placed to give advice, sales will give you what’s in the brochure which you can find out yourself online. Save your pennies and buy a new diesel while you can, once they have gone towing a trailer will be a thing of the past.
I hope this helps??

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Philosophers of the Century

. ~ Jean Kerr. The only reason they say 'Women and children first' is to test the strength of the lifeboats.

~ Prince Philip...When a man opens a car door for his wife, it's either a new car or a new wife.

~ Harrison Ford... Wood burns faster when you have to cut and chop it yourself.
~ Spike Milligan...The best cure for Seasickness is to sit under a tree.



~ Jean Rostand...Kill one man and you're a murderer, kill a million and you're a conqueror.

~ Arnold Schwarzenegger...Having more money doesn't make you happier. I have 50 million dollars but I was just as happy when I had 48 million.

~ Cheers WH Auden..We are here on earth to do good unto others. What the others are here for, I have no idea.

~ Johnny Carson...If life were fair, Elvis would still be alive today and all the impersonators would be dead.

~ Steve Martin.. Hollywood must be the only place on earth where you can be fired by a man wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a baseball cap.
~ Jimmy Durante... Home cooking. Where many a man thinks his wife is.

~ Betsy Salkind.. Men are like linoleum floors. Lay 'em right and you can walk all over them for thirty years.

~ George Roberts... The first piece of luggage on the carousel never belongs to anyone.

~ Jonathan Winters... If God had intended us to fly he would have made it easier to get to the airport.

~ Robert Benchley... I have kleptomania, but when it gets bad, I take something for it.
~ John Glenn... As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind - every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder.

David Letterman. America is the only country where a significant proportion of the population believes that professional wrestling is real but the moon landing was faked.

~ Howard Hughes... I'm not a paranoid, deranged millionaire. Actually, I'm a billionaire.

~ Old Italian proverb... After the game, the King and the pawn go into the same box.

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I can’t tell the difference between a rose, and a dandelion. So, when it came time to fix up my garden, I had no cue which plants to keep and which ones to remove. That is until I was given this handy tip: “Pull them all up. If it comes back, it’s a weed.”



Three friends stranded on a deserted island find a magic lamp. Inside it is a genie who agrees to grant each friend one wish.

“I want to go home,” says the first friend. The genie grants her wish.

“I want to go home, too,” says the second friend. And the genie sends him back home.

“I’m lonely,” says the third friend. “I sure wish my friends were back here."



A mechanic was removing a cylinder-head from the motor of a Harley motorcycle when he spotted a well-known cardiologist in his shop. The cardiologist was there waiting for the service manager to come and look at his bike when the mechanic shouted across the garage: "Hey Doc, want to look at this?"

The cardiologist, a bit surprised, walked over to where the mechanic was working on the motorcycle. The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked, "So Doc, look at this engine. I open its heart, take the valves out, repair any damage, and then put them back in, and when I finish, it works just like new. So how come I make $39,675 a year and you get the big bucks when you and I are doing basically the same work?"

The cardiologist paused, smiled and leaned over, then whispered...... ''Try doing it with the engine running."



A man feared his wife was not hearing as well as she used to, and he thought she might need a hearing aid. Not quite sure how to approach her, he called the family doctor to discuss the problem. The doctor told him there is a simple informal test the husband could perform to give the doctor a better idea about her hearing loss.

Here's what you do," said the doctor. "Stand about 40 feet away from her and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response."

That evening, the wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he was in the den. He says to himself, "I'm about 40 feet away. Let's see what happens." In a normal tone, he asks, ‘Honey, what's for dinner?" No response.

So, the husband moves to closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet from his wife, and repeats, "Honey, what's for dinner?" Still no response. Next, he moves into the dining room where he is about 20 feet from his wife and asks, "Honey, what's for dinner?" Again, no response. So, he walks up to the kitchen door, about 10 feet away. "Honey, what's for dinner?" Again, there is no response.

So, he walks right up behind her. "Honey, what's for dinner?"

"Trevor, for the 5th time, CHICKEN!"



And finally, this from one of our readers, titled One Percenters. Your perspective on this piece may change based on your actual age……



99% of people born between 1930 and 1946 (GLOBALLY) are now deceased…



If you were born in this time span, your ages range between 77 and 93 years old (a 16-year-age span) and you are one of the rare surviving one-percenters.



You are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900s.



You are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war that rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.



You are the last to remember ration books for everything from tea to sugar to shoes. You saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into cans.



You can remember milk being delivered to your house early in the morning and placed in the "milk box" at the front door. Discipline was enforced by parents and teachers.



You are the last generation who spent childhood without television and instead, you “imagined” what you heard on the radio. With no TV, you spent your childhood "playing outside". There was no city playground for kids. The lack of television in your early years meant that you had little real understanding of what the world was like. We got “black-and-white” TV in the late 50s that had 3 stations and no remote.



Telephones (if you had one) were one to a house and hung on the wall in the kitchen (who cares about privacy). Computers were called calculators; they were hand-cranked. Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage, and changing the ribbon. INTERNET and GOOGLE were words that did not exist.



Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and your dad would give you the comic pages after he read the news. The news was broadcast on your radio in the evening. The radio network gradually expanded from 3 stations to thousands.



New highways would bring jobs and mobility. Most highways were 2 lanes and there were no Motorways. You went downtown to shop. You walked to school.



Your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into working hard to make a living for their families.



You weren't neglected, but you weren't today's all-consuming family focus. They were glad you played by yourselves. They were busy discovering the postwar world. You entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where you were welcomed, enjoyed yourselves. You felt secure in your future, although the depression and poverty were deeply remembered.



Polio was still a crippler. Everyone knew someone who had it.



You are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our country. World War 2 was over and the cold war, terrorism, global warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life. Only your generation can remember a time after WW2 when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty. You grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better.



More than 99% of you are retired now, and you should feel privileged to have "lived in the best of times!" If you have already reached the age of 77-years-old, you have outlived 99% of all the other people on this planet. You are a 1% 'er!

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SCIENTISTS DISCOVER NEW ELEMENT
Oxford University researchers have discovered the heaviest element yet known to science.
The new element, Governmentium (symbol=Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called pillocks.
Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact.
A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete.
Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganisation in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.
In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganisation will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as a critical morass.
When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium (symbol=Ad), an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium, since it has half as many pillocks but twice as many morons.

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Bit of an SA bias, but locations in order are:

Kangaroo Island, Shea-Oak Log, Flinders Ranges, Mt Gambier, Gillman Port River, Pt Vincent, Mt Schank, West McDonnell Ranges NT, Highbury quarry, Bendleby Ranges, Mt Gambier, Parachilna, Coober Pedy, Sillers Look out Arkaroola, Pt Fairy, Olgas NT, Lake Hart, Edithburgh windfarm, Kangaroo Island, Innes National park, Desert near Kings Canyon, Great Ocean Road, Bendleby Ranges, Two Wells, Sedan, Serviceton railway station, Mannum, Yunta, Hookina cemetery, Blinman, Barossa Valley, Churches near Eudunda , Waukaringa, Burra, Moonta Bay

Great Southern Land - YouTube

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YOU KNOW YOU'RE AUSTRALIAN IF:
* You believe that stubbies can be either drunk or worn.
* You're liable to burst out laughing whenever you hear of Americans "rooting" for something.
* You pronounce Melbourne as 'Mel-bin'.
* You believe the 'L' in the word 'Australia' is optional.
* You can translate: 'Dazza and Shazza played Acca Dacca on the way to Maccas.'
* You believe it makes perfect sense for a nation to decorate its highways with large fibreglass bananas, prawns, and sheep.
* You think 'Woolloomooloo' is a perfectly reasonable name for a place.
* You're secretly proud of our killer wildlife.
* You believe it makes sense for a country to have a $1 coin that's twice as big as its $2 coin.
* You understand that 'Wagga Wagga' can be abbreviated to 'Wagga' but 'Woy Woy' can't be called 'Woy.'
* You believe that cooked-down axle grease makes a good breakfast spread. You've also squeezed it through Vita Wheats to make little Vegemite worms.
* You believe all famous Kiwis are actually Australian until they stuff up, at which point they again become Kiwis.
* Beetroot with your Hamburger... Of course.
* You know that certain words must, by law, be shouted out during any rendition of the Angels' song 'Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again' and "Living next door to Alice."
* You believe that the confectionery known as the Wagon Wheel has become smaller with every passing year.
* You believe that the more you shorten someone's name, the more you like them.
* Whatever your linguistic skills, you find yourself able to order takeaway fluently in every Asian language.
* You understand that 'excuse me' can sound rude, while 'scuse me' is always polite.
* You know what it's like to swallow a fly, on occasion via your nose.
* You know it's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle and a seat belt buckle becomes a pretty good branding iron.
* Your biggest family argument over the summer concerned the rules for beach cricket.
* You shake your head in horror when companies try to market what they call 'Anzac cookies.'
* You still think of Kylie as 'that girl off Neighbours.'
* When working in a bar, you understand male customers will feel the need to offer an excuse whenever they order low-alcohol beer.
* You know how to abbreviate every word, all of which usually end in -o: arvo, combo, garbo, kero, metho, milko, muso, rego, servo, smoko, speedo, righto, goodo, etc.
* You know that there is a universal place called "woop woop" located in the middle of nowhere... no matter where you actually are.
* You know that none of us actually drink Fosters beer because it tastes like sh*t. But we let the world think we do. Because we can.
* You have some time in your life slept with Aeroguard on in the summer. Maybe even as perfume.
* You've only ever used the words - tops, ripper, sick, mad, rad, sweet - to mean good. And then you place 'bloody' in front of it when you REALLY mean it.
* You know that the barbecue is a political arena; the person holding the tongs is always the boss and usually a man. And the women make the Salad.
* You say 'no worries' quite often, whether you realize it or not.
* You understand what no wucking furries means.
* You've drunk your tea/coffee/milo through a Tim Tam.
* You own a Bond's chesty. In several different colors.
* You know that roo meat tastes pretty good. But not as good as barra. Or a meat pie.
* You know that some people pronounce Australia like "Straya" and that's ok.

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A man is alone in an airport lounge when an attractive woman comes in and sits down opposite him at the coffee table he is sitting at.
He decides because she is wearing what looks like a uniform, she is probably an off-duty flight attendant.
So he decides to have a go at picking her up and thinks he can impress her by identifying the airline she flies for.
He leans across to her and says the British Airways motto - 'To Fly, To Serve'.
The woman looks at him blankly.
He sits back and thinks up another airline and delivers the Air France motto - 'Winning the hearts of the world'.
Again, she just stares at him with a slightly puzzled look on her face.
Undeterred, he tries again with the Malaysian Airlines motto
'Going beyond expectations!'.
The woman glares at him now and says 'What the fcuk do you want?'
'Ahha' he says! 'Qantas!'