Live Lab #7 (May)

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.

Live Lab #6 (April)

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.

Live Lab #5 (March)

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.

Live Lab #1 (November 2018)

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.