Monthly Archives: July 2026

The best of both worlds – Hybrid cars

In response to an article on electric vehicles I published recently on this site, my co-columnist Eef wrote a reaction – an editorial comment if you like. As it was more voluminous than your regular ‘Editorial comment’, and was also in itself a very interesting read, I decided to publish it as a separate article – which you can read below. Enjoy!

I agree with Paul that EV’s have their advantages.
There is no doubt in my mind that the modern electric motor is far superior to the internal combustion engine ICE, no matter how advanced the latter may be.
I picked a few of the superior qualities from the internet:

Much greater efficiency (90% vs 30%), half the size and weight, hardly any service maintenance, no CO2 exhaust, no gears, near-instant torque, silent operation, long life span.

These characteristics are so outstanding that the discussion is closed, you should say.
However, there is a major setback: the energy supply by batteries. Continue reading →

De laatste etappe van de Tour-de-France 2026

Bij de 2025-editie van de Tour had de organisatie een wijziging aangebracht in het parcours in Parijs. Waar jarenlang de strijd om de etappeoverwinning bestond uit een aantal ronden op de Champs-Élysées, eindigend in een massasprint, was het parcours nu verfraaid met een steile klim naar Montmartre, een lus die drie keer moest worden genomen.

Aanvankelijk bestond er veel weerstand tegen deze wijziging, de sprintersploegen zouden te veel risico nemen bij de laatste afdaling om op de twee vlakke kilometers naar de finish goed gepositioneerd te zitten. Continue reading →

Car electrical systems – Audi A2 AC sensor replacement

As you may be aware, I value the process of diagnosing car faults to make an educated decision on what part to repair or replace. I do not appreciate a vague problem being commented by many as to replace this and that part. More often than not, these guesstimates lead to the replacement of parts that are perfectly good and do not lead to fixing the problem, while spending a lot of money. Worst case, the bad new part may introduce a new problem! Continue reading →

EV’s – Practical or affordable?

Electric vehicles, or EV’s for short, seem to be what we all need to drive in the future. At least if you believe the government and science. Our combustion-engined cars have done what they can; now we need to step up with better alternatives to limit polluting our atmosphere even more.

While I’m not a great admirer of EV cars, I do see their merits, foremost on the exhaust pollution aspect. That said, there are major downsides, partly with the cars and technology itself, partly with legislation. And of course, the elephant in the room: the way they are charged. Continue reading →