Nissan Leaf
Electric Vehicles may lack va-va-voom, but they pack a punch when it comes to cost savings, writes Geraldine Herbert
Sales of electric cars have remained slow since they first arrived in Ireland in. Ask most drivers what they think of them and the most common responses are that they’re slow, with limited range, unreliable batteries and almost impossible to charge given the few charging points around the country. The drivers of these vehicles tell a very different story.
Sean O’Callaghans ‘s commute to work is much like yours, he hops in his car listens to the radio and sits in traffic for an hour. But his car costs less than two cent per kilometre.
Last May Sean traded in his Honda Civic for a Nissan Leaf and since then has clocked up an incredible 36,000 kms “My fiancée and I live in Westmeath and both work in different parts of Dublin” he says “when all costs are accounted for we are saving about €360 per month since we switched to the Leaf”
“We have a second car, a Renault Megane but it only gets used if we both require cars and in those cases whoever is doing the least mileage uses the Megane, the longer trips are all done by the Leaf”.
The Nissan Leaf was the first purpose-designed, mass-production electric car that runs on battery power alone. It must be recharged from an external power source when the battery runs down — usually after less than 175 kms on the road.
Sean’s story finds a resonance with other electric car buyers. Martin Doyle, a CEO of a Voluntary Housing Association loves his Nissan Leaf, which he has been driving for almost a year and 16,000 kilometres. ”I’m extremely happy,” he said. ”It’s wonderful, and I love it.”
Before Martin bought his car, he drove a BMW X5, now the Nissan Leaf is his only car. ”I haven’t really experienced range anxiety;” he said “with proper planning you will not be stuck. There is a callout service free for 3 years if you did happen to need a tow due to an accident or running out of power for any reason”.
Ray Norris, also owns a Leaf, and bought his in May 2011. He covers a distance of 270km per week on average. While he admits no range anxiety failed chargers have almost left him stranded “Once it was a failed fast charger, with a slow charger nearby, but insufficient time to make it to my destination in time, (assuming a 5 hour charge.)” on another occasion a charger simply failed but “each time I was able to call a Nissan rescue number, to get carried to the nearest charger”.
However, Sean, Martin and Ray belong to a rare breed of Irish buyers. Electric car sales in the country have been dismal. Only a little under 200 of them have found takers.
Last year ESB ecars, invited members of the public to take part in an electric car trial. Nineteen “ambassadors” were invited to drive either a Nissan LEAF or Mitsubishi iMiEV with the intention of sharing their electric driving experience.
Mitsubishi’s bug-eyed battery car the i-M iEV stands for Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle, is based on Mitsubishi’s “i” platform. It has room for four inside and has a maximum speed of 130km/h. The i-MiEV is also sold by Citroën as the C-Zero and Peugeot as the iOn.
Eoghan O’Donoghue, an IT worker based in Cork, was chosen as an EV ambassador and given the use of a Mitsubishi i-MiEV for a year ” My daily trip is around 30km, but that can go up to 50 or 60 if I go to the shops as well ” he says. ” In the 3 months I’ve had the car I’ve covered 4000km, averaging 40km a day. The car itself has a very limited range of around 70km, but that hasn’t been a problem for my daily commuting.”
With a specially fitted charging point in his home, Eoghan says he never once needed to charge the car anywhere else.
“I own a Toyota Corolla that runs on petrol,” he says. “while we still use the Toyota for longer trips, or when we’re bringing the dogs around, anything that involves extra luggage, the i-MiEV is our main car”
So would the huge cost advantage ever lead him to trade in his Toyota for an electric car? ” I certainly would” he says. “I would consider a second-hand EV against a second-hand fossil-car.”
Electric Ford Focus
Another ambassador Fintan Connolly lives in Donegal on the shores of Lough Swilly. He considers himself to be an early adopter and converted the house he shares with Jane and their 3 children to Solar & Wood Pellet power a number of years ago. According to Fintan, taking petrol out of his driveway or transport was naturally the next step.
Having stepped out of a VW Golf and into a Mitsubishi IMEV he know considers “getting back in to a petrol car almost seems archaic”.
“The value for money is exceptional. It equates to approximately 10% fuel costs to that of a petrol car. “ So would Fintan buy an electric car “Yes and if God is good to me, It’ll be a Tesla Model S!”
Damien Maguire, an electronics engineer living in Ballymoney , Co.Wexford decided to convert his car into an electric one by himself. It took Damien two years and about €8,000 to convert his 1996 BMW 316i to full battery electric power.
Damien is quite happy with the time and money that his car has cost “I don’t want my children to grow up in a world where every passenger car on the road is powered by antiquated pollution spewing technology simply because it suits the auto industry”
On the issue of range anxiety “It’s no different from driving a conventional vehicle with a small fuel tank” he said “I have found that most people I know suffer from fuel price anxiety a lot more than I worry about running out of juice!
The most novel electric vehicle we encountered was the Sinclair C5, with a top speed of 24kph it was first introduced in 1985. Created by computer millionaire Sir Clive Sinclair, the battery powered vehicle became the object of popular ridicule for being unsafe. It is estimated around 12,000 models were ever made.
Mark Dardis from Dublin uses his Sinclair C5 for the occasional venture to the shops; as it runs for about 10km on its current battery and its range is never an issue.
“I bought it as a bit of fun for us all and because it’s a bit anti-establishment, no tax, insurance or NCT” he says “Fed up with austerity, paying too much tax on everything else and trying to make my motoring as fun and as reasonably priced as possible “.
Electric cars may be not be suitable for everyone but there a real cost savings to be made by those who do. They work best in a two car household where at least one commuter regularly travels a daily round trip of between 70 – 120 km and has access to a charging point. But for commuters whose trips vary considerable and extends beyond this range Electric cars may not be the best option. Similarly for any household with a combined annual mileage of less 20,000kms the cost savings may not be significant enough to justify an EV.
Charging is easier than getting conventional fuel, and despite many misconceptions the ESB claims that Ireland has the most advanced infrastructure in Europe. But currently the system has two problems: it relies solely on charge point users reporting faults, and the number of parking spaces with charging access needs to be increased.
Electric cars still have an image problem, being regarded by some as milk floats, but the arrival of an electric version of both the Ford Focus and the Volkswagen Golf should help to change this. Up to now they have been touted as a rather dull way to reduce carbon emissions, but the launch next year of racing series Formula E should cause many to look at EVs differently.
EV take-up may be slow, but it is clear that many people find fuel-free driving to be liberating, so we may yet meet the government target of EVs comprising 10 per cent of all cars on our roads by 2020.
Do you drive an electric car? would you consider buying one? Leave a comment and let us know
8th May, 2013
