Yesterday, I reserved a Nissan Leaf Ev. Due for release here in the UK in March. Nissan were asking for a refundable deposit of £257 to secure a car. I went for black, with the optional solar cell spoiler that can draw 2 watts of energy to add to powering the myriad of controls the car has. And this morning, in the cold light of day I realise that there’s no way i’d spend £23,000 on a new EV (and thats if we get the £5,000 government grant for it).
Its a fantastic, unbelievable car and I love it. Its powerful, comfortable, roomy for an EV. Just check the video post below. And its pure electric. Real, unbridled joy took over yesterday and before I knew it I’d secured myself one. Then I told my wife, who reminded me of why we should keep our cars as is, and I knew that the warm glow of owning a new car wouldnt last. You see, we already have a roomy estate car with a big boot for those long journeys - 10 years old and still going strong. And we have a Gwiz - a small urban runabout EV that is on still on its first set of batteries and has a ton of life left in it yet. And the gwiz can still fit the kids in it, amazingly, and you get free parking, and it you can fit 2 in a bay. And thats before you mention how cheap the car is to power. And we live in London. The Leaf wouldnt provide us with a big boot for those long journeys and you cant fit more than one in a parking bay. And its range is only 100 miles so it cant really become your only vehicle. Not while the infrastructure for EV’s remain as it is. And then there’s the small issue of £23,000 to buy the car which really should go on more important stuff, were we to have it anyway.
So, within 24 hours I realise I’ll have to let that lovely Leaf go. I knew I’d never get it when I put that reservation in. But boy do I love that car, and all my EV mad mates were ordering them. I’ll have to sit and wait for a third hand Tesla in five years that sets me back £10,000. In the meantime, if you want one, and I highly recommend it, go to Nissans preorder site and bag yourself one. And then let me come and film you telling me how wonderful it is. Not that I’m jealous.
I got to drive the new Nissan Leaf last week. Here’s film of the car, the journey and talking to Nissans EV staff.
On another note, great news that the new Govenrnment has stuck with the £5000 subsidy (or at least for some of the intended investment). Fantastic as these family cars are, they need subsidies to help reach prices that are realistic for most people to even consider switching to electric drive.
Click on the image to view video.
I was down at the LCVP conference last week. They had a fantastic range of speakers discussing low carbon transport for the future. One of their speakers was Lew Fulton who works with the International Energy Agency in Paris and his specialism is transport energy. We chatted about the future for energy consumption and its implications in the developing world.
On another note, I’ve been playing around with the idea of a new broadcast site called Primetime EV. I’ve stuck an ident we’ve been working on at the beginning to start trying some stuff out.
Roger Saul (top man from Mulberry) and Kevin McCloud (famous sustainable housebuilder from the telly) were driving Think EV’s at Ecorally ‘10. I got a chance to have a chat with them both about how they felt about the car and the forthcoming EV Cup, which looks great.
Click on the image to view video.
There’s been an investigation into EV Values based on 5 years of ownership here in the UK by Glass’s guide who track used care prices. Based on an average £8000 outlay to replace batteries which will need replacing after eight years, the car will be worth just 10% of its original value, and far below its diesel or petrol equivalents. They’ve based their research on cars such as the forthcoming Nissan Leaf with a starting price of £23,000 after utilising the £5000 Government subsidy. You can read the article here. Heck, maybe I’ll be able to afford that Tesla in 2014 after all….
We spent a day comparing the Kewet Buddy, Nice Megacity and the G Wiz AC. First up was a look at the Buddy in the garage. Click on the image to view video (7 meg QT).
Links:electric car vlogging video podcast buddy kewet gwiz nice megacity
Forget hillclimbs with huge amounts of torque and wheelspin. How about my DC with almost 3 year old batteries versus a new AC GWiz? The results speak for themselves. Of course, it has nothing to do with the fact that the goingreen driver in the AC was slimmer than me, nothing at all..(ahem). Click on the image to view video. (5 meg QT).
Thanks to autoblog green I had a tip off that the Tesla was going to be on show for a limited number of hours today at the "green wheels motorshow" in Norwich, where the car is built. The show has been organised by Cred and carbon connections, very useful departments of the University of East Anglia. Time to take the afternoon off and leg it up to Norwich. I got a really good chance to cover the car extensively, and meet the people behind it. I’ll be posting episodic clips so that my bandwidth doesn’t go too mental and I can show plenty of detail. Click on the image to view video (10meg QT)
Links:electric car vlogging video podcast tesla autoblog green carbon connections Cred
In terms of range and top speed (70 miles and 70 miles per hour) the Smart EV blows everything else away. They will become available in January on lease here in London, but only to a very select few businesses. Regular Smarts are all over this city - I cant believe the EV wouldn’t be a roaring success (particularly with better infrastructure but people are working on that - slowly). I met a man from Cenex recently who’s getting 5 in January. Cenex has been ’set up with the aim of assisting UK industry to build competitive advantage from the global shift to a low carbon economy’. Seeing as Smart are the first mainstream manufacturer to promote an EV here it would be great to see them on the roads, so why cant we buy one? Click on the image to view video.(6 meg QT)
Links:electric car vlogging video podcast vlog Smart EV ev cenex
George Monbiot has written an article in the Guardian today entilted "Save the planet in 10 steps" - here’s point 7:
"Oblige all chains of filling stations to supply leasable electric car batteries. This provides electric cars with unlimited mileage: as the battery runs down, you pull into a forecourt. A crane lifts it out and drops in a fresh one. The batteries are charged overnight with surplus electricity from offshore wind farms. Timescale: fully operational by 2011." Garage forecourts are completely alien right now. I drive in and try and get hold of some water for the batteries every now and again and usually fail. People are buying electric cars as quickly as they can get hold of them and the infrastructure isnt there by any means. Click on the image to view video. 3.7 Meg QT.
Links:electric car vlogging video podcast vlog George Monbiot ev
With the congestion charge and high parking costs, London is fast becoming a leading electric vehicle city. There’s a total of six models due to be on the roads here soon. With all these electic cars buzzing about, there’ll be a significant need for charging bays. Enter Elektromotive. You drive up to one of these little beauties and plug in right there on the street. The first intallations will be in Islington and Covent Garden in central London. Click on the image to view video. (5 meg QT).
Links:electric car vlogging video podcast vlog elektromotive ev
There’s been alot in the press recently about women driving these cars. In an attempt to give myself a bit more presence at the lights, I got a CD made up of some sound effects. Click on the image to view video ..(1.8 meg QT).
Links:electric car vlogging sfx video podcast vlog
We’ve had the car for almost a year now so it’s time for a review. The files come out pretty big (6.9meg) so I’ll sum up here for those of you without a broadband connection.
Pros.
Apart from the obvious environmental considerations it compares well as a general small purpose vehicle that is very suitable for urban living.
It is more robust than I thought it would be.
It’s nippier than I thought it would be.
Parking it is a gift because it’s both small and free.
It can fit my whole family in it, though I’m not sure for how much longer…
It really is cheap to run compared to a normal car.
Cons.
Range in winter is lessened. (25 miles)
Charging for 16 hours every month can be problematic to equalise the batteries if you don’t have a garage.
Safety, compared to a normal petrol engined car is questionable. Though I think it’s a better bet than a motorbike or a bicycle in London. I cycled for 17 years here and stopped after one accident too many.
All in all, I’m a big fan (as you probably guessed) who would recommend it to anyone who lives in a city such as this. Once range increases to get us outside the M25 the world will be our oyster! Click on the image to view video.
Links:electric car vlogging
Happy New Year to one and all. Now that winter is truly with us, (reduced range and all) my thoughts have turned to summer. Back in June we went on a green rally. This was a chance for all the electric cars in London to show some muscle (a load of Revas and an electric scooter). Camden council hosted it in Regents Park and there was music, entertainment and general fun to be had. Thumbs up to Camden for hosting this but I reckon they could take a leaf out of Westminsters book if they really wanted to encourage use of the EV in London. Keep an eye out for the boy laughing. I think he’s amazed at our embracing of a green future (he is, isn’t he..?). Click on the image to view video. (3.3 meg QT.)
Links:electric car vlogging
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