As you can see from the image above, the car averaged 13.3kWh/100km in May. This is a slight improvement over the 13.7kWh/100km observed in April. The improvement is most likely down to an overall increase in air temperatures as we move into the summer months.
This works out at a cost of €1.68 per 100km (charging at home). By way of comparison, a reasonably good efficiency in a petrol car would get about 5l/100km. At current petrol prices around Galway (€1.47-ish per litre), this equates to about €7.35 per 100km. Over the distance travelled in May, such a petrol car would have cost about €55 in fuel.
Would you rather pay €55 or €13 for your entire monthly commute?
Interesting to note that over the past couple of months, petrol prices have risen. This can have a big effect over a longer period of time. Fossil fuel is not only running out, its price can fluctuate wildly. In the 18 months or so that I've had my LEAF, the price I pay for electricity has barely changed at all. So, at a time of year when the EV is getting more efficient to run due to warmer weather, and fossil fuel prices are rising, the overall savings are getting even better.
*A note on the stated CO2 Savings shown above:
This figure is calculated by Nissan, not by me. Please refer to the note on this page for more information about this.
As you can see from the image above, the car averaged 13.7kWh/100km in April. This is a reasonable improvement over the 14.9kWh/100km observed in March. The improvement is most likely down to a change in weather.....warmer air temperatures make the batteries more efficient.
This works out at a cost of €1.73 per 100km (charging at home). By way of comparison, a reasonably good efficiency in a petrol car would get about 5l/100km. At current petrol prices around Galway (€1.46-ish per litre), this equates to about €7.30 per 100km. Over the distance travelled in April, such a petrol car would have cost about €45 in fuel.
Would you rather pay €45 or €11 for your entire monthly commute?
Interesting to note that over the past month or so, petrol prices have risen by about 10cent per litre. This can have a big effect over a longer period of time. Fossil fuel is not only running out, its price can fluctuate wildly. In the 18 months or so that I've had my LEAF, the price I pay for electricity has barely changed at all. So, at a time of year when the EV is getting more efficient to run due to warmer weather, and fossil fuel prices are rising, the overall savings are getting even better.
*A note on the stated CO2 Savings shown above:
This figure is calculated by Nissan, not by me. Please refer to the note on this page for more information about this.
As you can see from the image above, the car averaged 14.9kWh/100km in March (up slightly from the 14.6 in February). This is consistently good fuel economy for this time of year.
This works out at a cost of €1.88 per 100km (charging at home). By way of comparison, a reasonably good efficiency in a petrol car would be 5l/100km. At current petrol prices around Galway (€1.39-ish per litre), this equates to about €6.95 per 100km. Over the distance travelled in February, such a petrol car would have cost about €56 in fuel.
Would you rather pay €56 or €16 for your entire monthly commute?
*A note on the stated CO2 Savings shown above:
This figure is calculated by Nissan, not by me. Please refer to the note on this page for more information about this.
As you can see from the image above, the car averaged 14.7kWh/100km in February (down slightly from the 15.6 in January). This is the best fuel economy that the car has returned during this Project, and is probably down to unseasonally mild weather for this time of year. There's an irony in a car with no emissions gaining an advantage from global warming!
This works out at a cost of €1.85 per 100km (charging at home). By way of comparison, a reasonably good efficiency in a petrol car would be 5l/100km. At current petrol prices around Galway (€1.35-ish per litre), this equates to about €6.75 per 100km. Over the distance travelled in February, such a petrol car would have cost about €59 in fuel.
*A note on the stated CO2 Savings shown above:
This figure is calculated by Nissan, not by me. Please refer to the note on this page for more information about this.
The range, and more precisley the limitation of the range, is often cited as a reason not to buy into the EV dream. More often than not, you will hear about how EVs are only suitable for short trips but this month's guest blogger has a longer trip story or two to tell. Guillaume Séguin is the editor forwww.irishevowners.ie; of French origin he has been living in Ireland for over a decade and has been advocating EV adoption through the Irish EV owners Association. Contact: editor@irishevowners.ie - Instagram & Twitter : Lutecia44
For many, EVs are just good for the city, or maybe further if your range is enough to cover your daily commute plus some errands. But not made for long distance trips. They are right and wrong at the same time.
I'm based in Cork and bought my first EV exactly 5 years ago. A first generation used Leaf found in the UK. That's what my budget allowed. So my first real EV experience (bar some short test drives) was also a long distance trip. I had never driven a Leaf before and here I am in Nissan Oxford picking up my new car when the salesman tells me, realizing I'm going to drive to Ireland the next day : "You're brave". I'm sure that in 2019 dealers believe more in their own EVs ! :)
So the next day I drive from Milton Keynes (where I was staying for a few days) all the way to Fishguard, 400km west. That first trip went actually quite smoothly, all chargers were available and operational (Ecotricity did a great job with their Electric Highway network back then), with a charge every 80km or so (winter range of the Leaf 1 isn't too impressive)... The key to that smooth trip was serious planning, with plan Bs, and plenty of extra time (12 hours total!), just in case something went wrong (and a flexible ferry ticket!). In hindsight, I can say that I've actually had more stressful trips later, just because I didn't plan correctly!
The Irish leg (from Rosslare to Cork) was actually quite interesting, as the existing network was not completed back then, and there were no fast chargers in Waterford. The range was too limited to drive from Rosslare to Dungarvan, so I actually had to drive to Kilkenny before driving down to Cahir and Cork. A 6 hour mini-adventure for a 200km distance. After a few months, the range anxiety faded, and I felt more comfortable with the capabilities of my car (and got myself the Leafspy app, a great investment for any Leaf driver going for long distances, allowing to have a more precise battery gauge).
I'm telling you that story to show that driving a mainstream EV could be quite a challenge, just a few years ago. Thankfully things changed since.
In 2015 I did my first trip to France. I usually drive to Nantes to see my family for Christmas but the fast charging network was just not there that year so for the first time I had to wait for the summer crossing to Roscoff which was much easier to manage (and without need for heating!) thanks to a better charging network on that route.
The following year (2016) I upgraded my Leaf to a 30kWh model. What a great feeling to see the range expanding! It meant, thanks to an ever improving network, that I could drive to France in winter and enjoy my first electric Christmas trip, all the way to Paris, even if the route to home was not straight forward and added a few hours to my trip.
In 2017 I decided to go to Scotland (great charging network!) and the north of England : it was so easy! And of course another French Christmas, this time, I could drive the 350km home just like in an ICE, bar the 3 quick charges (but without detour) and more moderate speeds. Very acceptable.
In Autumn 2018 I decided to go for a 33kWh BMW i3. The range is a bit better. Far from what Tesla or newer models can do now but a fair progress over the Leaf. Next week I will drive from Cork to Wexford. But won't go through Kilkenny, and it won't take me 6 hours. I'll actually do the 180km trip without recharging on the way. At the same pace as the other cars, with the added comfort, toll discount, and cheap "fuel".
My next EV will have an even longer range. Maybe it'll be a Tesla Model 3, a Kia e-Niro, or another of these newer EVs that have battery packs of over 60 kWh. I'll go from Cork to Dublin in one go, with some electricity to spare. The range anxiety will be gone, but then I will probably suffer from bladder anxiety.
As you can see from the image above, the car averaged 15.9kWh/100km in December (up slightly from the 15.6 in November). This is pretty good for the time of year, and is reasonably consistent over the two-months of this Project so far. The cost of driving is still around €2 per 100km.
The total cost of €21.09 shown above is inaccurate, in that it is the cost calculated if all charging was done at home at the domestic rate. However, as mentioned in a previous post, the charge point at my house was replaced during December. For about 2 weeks of this month I was using public chargers, so I estimate that the actual out-of-pocket cost for driving just over 1,000km was about €10.
*A note on the stated CO2 Savings shown above:
This figure is calculated by Nissan, not by me. Please refer to the note on this page for more information about this.
I'm afraid so. You know the way I was saying that maintenance is so cheap with an EV? Well, I got a surprise when I hopped into the car last night. Something was wrong, and it was going to cost.
Yep, that's right, a dipped bulb had blown. Oh well, that's another €10 I can add to my maintenance bill for the year.
There are generally five arguments made against choosing an electric vehicle over an internal combustion engine vehicle.
They are too expensive
They don't go far enough
The charging infrastructure is poor
There is not enough choice in vehicle type
They have poor performance
I've heard some of these in the time I've been talking to people about my EV experience, and to be honest, most of these perceived issues are either already addressed, or are well on the way. Here is how I usually respond to these claims:
They are too expensive
Well, it depends. If buying brand new, EVs are almost on par with a petrol/diesel equivalent at this stage. I say almost, because they are still a bit more expensive. But if you consider running costs (where an EV can easily save the average driver the best part of €2,000 per year), then over a 5 year period of ownership, you have to add €10k to the sticker price of a petrol/diesel car to get a better like-for-like price comparison. Added to this, battery manufacture technology is becoming more mainstream now, and so battery pack costs are dropping year-on-year. So, the sticker price for EVs is going to drop over time.
Buying second hand is a different matter. Have a look on the car sales websites and compare something like a 151/152 Ford Focus to a 151/152 Nissan LEAF. Go ahead, I'll wait here.....
Well, what did you discover? (For anyone that cheated and didn't go looking, get ready, spoiler alert!). Yep, that's right, they're both about the same price, all things considered. So EVs are not really more expensive at all, if you think it through.
They don't go far enough
How far is "enough"? That will depend on user expectation, and is likely to differ for everyone. But as a starting point, even older EVs with the smaller battery packs should be good for 100km from a charge. So, if your daily commute is up to 100km, you're fine. For the majority of drivers, this is more than enough. For longer trips, you can plan around the location of rapid chargers. Of course, there will always be outliers and drivers that need more range, and that's where the newer EVs that are being released will help. 200km range is now about the "norm", with 300km being the likely norm in a year or two. I suggest keeping a log of your daily distances over the course of a month or so (I did this leading up to buying my EV), just to record how far you do actually drive every day. Psychologically, a 200 or 300km range may be a comfortable number, but in reality you might find you don't need that from a charge.
The charging infrastructure is poor
You might have a point on this one! By "poor" here, I'm referring to two issues: the chargers can be unreliable, and they can be occupied when you need them. Except, (and here's the big news) it actually doesn't matter for most people. Why? Because you can charge at home! The majority of people with an EV do not need to use the public charging network. So much so, in fact, the SEAI provide a grant to have a home charging point installed.
However, let's say you do need to use the public network occasionally. What about reliability/availability then? Since about 2012, the ESB has provided free rapid charge points around the country (about 70 of them at this stage), and therein lies the problem. They are free. What happens when things are free? They get abused.
There are two problems with the free model. Firstly, users will park up and get a free charge even if they don't really need it. Anecdotally, EV drivers will tell you about "Mary" or "Joe" who they know lives just a mile away from the rapid charger, but who will plug in at it instead of at home just to save a few cents. This is called "hogging" and is frowned upon, as it can block a user who actually really needs the energy. Secondly, with the no-cost model, the operator (ESB) has no incentive (or perhaps budget) to maintain charge points that need to be serviced. So, charge points can be unnecessarily blocked or simply not working when you drive up to them.
The simple way around this is to charge users to plug in at the rapid chargers. This will ensure an income for the operators to help maintain the units and install more of them, and it will discourage users from plugging unless they really have to. To this end, the ESB has announced that from mid-2019 onwards, there will be a charge associated with using the rapid charge points on its network. It should be noted that this applies to the rapid chargers only, and the slower ones will remain free to use for now.
There is not enough choice in vehicle type
This might have been true in the past. Up until a few years ago, the choice in Ireland was basically Nissan LEAF, Renault Zoe or Fluence, and Mitsubishi iMiEV. I'm not including hybrids here, because they are not EVs. However, more recently this choice has expanded, to include models from Kia (Soul), Hyundai (Ioniq and Kona), VW (Golf), BMW (i3), Tesla, and more from Nissan (the eNV200 van), plus other models too. So there is an EV option in a number of classes now. This is further expanded if you include Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles, but I'm focusing on pure electric vehicles here. And there are even more EV models coming to market in the next year or so. I don't see lack of choice as a barrier at this point.
They have poor performance
Really? Have you ever driven one? My own driving experience with an EV is limited to the Nissan LEAF, so I won't refer to the 0-100kph acceleration stats for a Tesla Model S (it's 2.5 seconds, just to save you having to look it up), or the fact that VW blew away all competition and set a new world record for the infamous Pikes Peak race using an EV (in some ways helped by the fact that at altitude EVs perform better than internal combustion engine cars because thin air does not affect them).
No, let's keep it more realistic. Even with a humble Nissan LEAF, the "off the line" acceleration is very impressive. Sure, it tapers off as you get above 60/70kph, and so the unofficial 0-100kph is a fairly ordinary 10 seconds or so, but the initial burst is more than enough to get you away from the lights ahead of most cars (I'm not suggesting you go street racing in it, or do anything that would get you in trouble with the law, but take one for a spin and you might be surprised). The top speed on my Nissan LEAF is just over 150kph, so again, it's not a slow car considering the maximum speed limit in Ireland is 120kph.
Still not willing to take my word for it?
In that case, take 18 minutes to have a look at the video below. It's UK-centric, but the mains points are still valid in Ireland. I recommend the "Fully Charged" channel on YouTube, if you are interested in watching more videos about EVs.
Well, November has been a mixed bag in terms of costs. As you can see from the image above, the car is averaging 15.6kWh/100km (to put that in context, that is a cost of €1.96 per 100km), which is reasonably good for this time of year. I was achieving better economy in the summer, and I expect the economy to drop further as the weather gets colder still.
So, why is this a "mixed bag"?
Well, the charging unit installed at my house has started playing up. The unit is older than the car, and came 2nd-hand with the car when I bought it in November 2017. This meant that for the entire month of November, I was only able to do about one full charge at home. That equates to about €2.40, which sounds great: I did all my driving (1,090km) for just €2.40! How did I do this? A combination of public (mostly) and a small amount of workplace charging.
So far so good! A whole month's driving for the price of a decent coffee.
What's the downside? Well there are two downsides, really. Firstly, relying on the pubic charging network is risky to say the least. On one occasion, the rapid charge point (near Carnmore Cross) was out of action for a few days, and on another occasion I had to wait there for about 30 minutes while another EV was being charged. Not the end of the world in either case, but had the charge point been out of action for longer, I may have been in trouble.
The second downside is that I now need to replace the charge point at my house. All of the cabling and switches can be re-used as they are, so the installation process will be relative easy, but the cost of a new unit will punch a hole in the Christmas fund. More on this as it develops over the next week or so.
*A note on the stated CO2 Savings shown above:
This figure is calculated by Nissan, not by me. Please refer to the note on this page for more information about this.
