What's Coming?

This is the new Nissan LEAF:






It is my brand new car. In fact it will be the first "new" car I will have ever bought and owned in my life. Until now it's been second hand all the way. But this car is also unique for another reason - it is a 100% Electric, Zero Emissions vehicle! It is called a BEV or Battery Electric Vehicle and is being described as the world's first mass produced modern electric family car.

I have been interested (at least in passing) in alternative fuelled vehicles for that last number of years. In particular, hydrogen fuel celled vehicles really started getting me excited about the possibility of zero carbon vehicles. But I had always thought that BEVs just weren't workable. The problem, as I understood it, was simple - in order for the car to go fast and far the battery needs to be bigger. And the bigger the battery, the slower and less further the car could travel. It seemed like BEVs were just not destined to be.

However, battery technology has been slowly but surely improving over the last number of years, no doubt in part to the mobile technological revolution that has been occurring during that time. And with this improvement in a key component of BEVs came the possibility of their resurrection. So, last year when I heard that Nissan, a large and respectable car manufacturer, was not only producing, but mass producing a hatchback, capable of functioning as a normal family car, I was intrigued.

I did a lot research into EVs (electric vehicles), charging systems, costs (running and purchase) and of course into the Leaf itself and convinced myself that to purchase this vehicle was a leap of faith, but one I was willing and able (both financially and practically) to take. And so, in less than one month's time I will take delivery of my first ever new and electric car.

I have done more research into this car purchase than for any other I have made in the past. But there is still much I don't know. It is these unknowns that I believe will keep most people from considering the purchase of a BEV. I hope to be able to alleviate those concerns over the next year by blogging about my own experience, in Ireland, with my first ever electric car.

No doubt, there will be people who, after reading about my experience will decide that a BEV is not for them. That's fine. At least they will be making that choice consciously. But I hope that reporting on my experiences, both good and bad, will give people (in particular, people living in Ireland) the information they need to be able to decide for themselves.