Day 60 - You're a Star!

Well, celebrities move over - a new star is born! Last week I got an email from Nissan Ireland. Apparently the Sunday Times wanted to do an article on owning EVs in Ireland and they were looking for an end-user! So Nissan Ireland emailed me and asked me if I'd like to do it. I jumped at the chance! So, a few hours later I got a call from a journalist. He was asking me about the cost (both purchase and running) and about my reasoning for purchasing an EV. I explained to him my reasons and indeed my analysis of the cost involved. He seemed quite interested. Then I got a call the next day to organise a photo shoot! The photographer brought me down to the O2 and took lots of photos! Ideally hope he got my good side.

Day 59 - Is the Future Here Already?

I was sitting in my car driving towards Clonshaughlin. My boyfriend's brother was up in our house and I was dropping him back home. We were chatting away about a myriad of things, including Pepé. I was telling him about my trip to Wexford and about the return trip home with the crazy drivers, and the death and the mu-hey mu-hey! Anyway, I also happened to mention about the new battery technologies that are being developed (blogged about earlier this week) and I was telling him that it was only a matter of time until they reduce the charging time, increase the range, and then the BEV would prove to be THE viable alternative to the petrol engine car. "These cars are the future!" boldly declared!
"The future?" He questioned, "These cars are viable now! You have proven that Ciarán. You are proving it everyday you use your car!" I think he might be right!

Day 58 - I vont to Sock Yur Blawd! But first I have to charge my car!

I didn't bother charging Pepé on Friday night. I hadn't anything planned for Saturday except the usual excursions to the shops and my parents. But on my way back home from our traditional family lunch I suddenly remembered - My friend Barry was playing Jonathon Harker in a production of Dracula, adapted for the stage. (By the way, a special congrats to Barry and his colleagues from the Parnassus Arts Group for an excellent performance on Saturday night. I really enjoyed it!) Any who, I realised coming home that I did not have enough charge to get to and back from town. Not to fear, I decided to pop down to my local FCP in Glasnevin, top up Pepé and then back home, in time to prepare dinner and get ready for a night of blood-curdling entertainment. And there you have it, just like any regular petrol car, Pepé was able to adapt to a changing and unplanned scenario!

Day 57 - Are Liquid Batteries the Future of Petrol Stations?

I had a look at the following article concerning something called "Cambridge Crude." Apparently it is a type of liquid battery that could be "pumped" into electric vehicles allow them to "re-fill" in minutes. It is a very interesting idea and could provide a whole new future to petrol stations...

Day 56 - Wexford, Here I Come! (Part Three)

ROAD CLOSED! - No! I slowed Pepé down and read the big red sign in utter desperation! As I slowed down, the vehicle behind me did so to. There was a little orange sign indicating that there may or may not be a well sign-posted route. But I already knew that if I took the diversion, I would not make it to the fast charging point. I stopped the car. The driver behind me was unsure as to what I was doing. I put on the hazard lights and he promptly went around me, and passed the Road Closed sign! Maybe he knew something I didn't. I decided to follow him. A few hundred metres down the road a roadside digger was laying down piping. One side of the road was closed off. But my side remained open. The car in front waited at the blockage for a signal from one of the work men. He waved us both on. I drove carefully by the road works and emerged the other side! Yes, I was going to make it after all!

I continued along the road looking at my sat-nav for the next and final turn. I knew that shortly after the turn I would see the Wexford Car Centre. As I approached the turn the nav-system kept shouting "extremely low battery charge. search for charging stations". Obviously it could not locate the one at the Wexford Car Centre. I reached the T-junction and turned left. I saw what looked like a Car Sales Garage, but no Nissan. I pulled in, called the Wexford Card Centre and asked them if I was near. They said they were just up the road. I drove another few hundred metres, expecting Pepé to give up and go into emergency Tortoise mode (I'll explain later!) I saw a series of car sales garages. I took the turn left but again so no Nissan sign. I called once more and the very nice receptionist informed me that they were just a few more hundred metres down the road. I had no choice but to trust her. I drove back out onto the main road and continued towards Wexford. And sure enough, there on the left hand side of the road, a few hundred metres away was the most calming site of the morning - the Wexford Car Centre. I breathed a sigh of relief as I pulled Pepé up to the FCP, at which point I took this picture:




Pepé had just travelled 152.8km on a single charge! I was so impressed! Now the only question is, would I make it back?

A strange question you may ask, but as the terrain is slightly different, there's was some question as to whether or not the journey could be completed. But there were a number of helpful factors in play, most notably the FCP in Nissan Deansgrange would be now open and thus I could pop in there if I had to.

I'm going to cut to the chase and tell you that I did make it home. But there are some things that I have to mention about the return trip. Firstly, it took almost exactly one hour to recharge the car to 100%. After 30mins there was certainly about 80% charge in the battery pack. Secondly, the terrain was different as I had quite a bit of distance left in the car by the time I had returned. In fact I had increased my speed to 85kph when I reached the Tallaght exit on the M50 and was still left with 22km on the clock. But perhaps the most worrying aspect of my trip home was the reaction of other drivers to my slow speed on the motorway. Despite being on Dual-carriage ways (and in some places triple and quadruple-carriage ways) a number of drivers felt it appropriate to flash me, honk me and even dangerously approach my vehicle at great speed only to overtake in the overtaking lane at the very last minute. I should point out that those involved in this disgraceful behaviour included a Bus Éireann bus driver carrying passengers, a trades man in a small van, a young woman driving a small car and Merc driver (whose licence I unfortunately did not have a chance to get as he was attempting to break the land speed world record, I presume!)

The conclusion I have drawn from this is, that despite the now confirmed fact that a Nissan Leaf can drive from Dublin to Wexford and back again, charging only once (which was free by the way!), the journey requires an uncomfortably (at least for me) slow speed that I felt placed my safety in jeopardy on the way home. Thus,I have decided that despite my success in reaching my destination, I will not be driving down to Blackwater for my cello lesson until the FCP planned for Arklow is installed and operational. I intend to lobby the ESB very aggressively on this matter.

Day 55 - Wexford, Here I Come! (Part Two)

So this was it. The only way to go now was forward. Turning back was no longer possible. I simply wouldn't make it home. I continued to drive along the N11, which at this stage had become single-lane traffic. I knew that travelling at 70kph might be an issue here. No matter how many people might be aggravated by my slow speed on the motorway, they could always overtake. But here, it would be challenging. However, I did my very best to facilitate easier and safer overtaking. And it seemed to pay off. Not a single driver honked their horn, flashed their lights or looked at me with eyes that tried to blow up my mind telepathically! I continued along until the road dropped speed to 80kph. Now my constant speed of 70kph seemed more reasonable. Again, there were no issues with motorists behind me.

The range-o-meter continued to fluctuate, although not as aggressively as it did on the motorway. Before I knew it I was heading back into dual-carriage way driving again. Motorists were free to over take. While observing my available range I was conscious of the gap between the distance-to-empty reading and the distance-to-destination value from the sat-nav. For the most part there was a 10-20km differential between these two values. A couple of times the values kissed - briefly. But they always separated, with the range value always being the higher one. This helped me remain calm.

Shortly before reaching exit 23 on the M11 the range had dropped and consistently remained below 90km. My distance to destination was about 58km, so I was ok with this. However, the range would drop quite a bit more by the time I exited. However, once I did exit and returned to regional roads, something wonderful happened - the range-o-meter calmed down. And so did I! The lack of the constancy of speed and straight road seemed to be the preferred option for the car. From this point on I started to relax and actually enjoy what was turning out to be a scenic drive in the country.

Shortly after this I reached Courtown, the first Waypoint (as my sat-nav kept shouting at me) on my journey. I had to add a couple of waypoints to the route to ensure that the sat-nav system kept me on the shortest, rather than the quickest route. With the continued availability of range I felt that the journey was now more than possible. But trouble lay only a few kilometres ahead. Just before reached Kilmuckridge, the second Waypoint on the journey I started to see road-works signs. A quick glance of one them said something about road closures. I hadn't planned for this. At this point the range value and destination value were pretty close together, but they we decreasing at almost exactly the same rate, so I wasn't too concerned. However, the values indicated that very little change to the route would be tolerated! I knew that the route I was on was the shortest distance. That meant any alternative would add distance and Pepé wouldn't make it. I started to feel that panic feeling kick in again.

Day 54 - Wexford, Here I Come! (Part One)

Following last week's aborted attempt to drive the 152km distance from my house to the FCP in Ardcavan, Wexford, I discussed my failed journey with a number of my new EV friends, a couple of whom had completed the journey successfully. They assured me that the car was capable of reaching the distance, but I would certainly have to limit my speed. I decided that I would give it another try. So I charged up my car and headed off to Wexford at 6:30 in the morning.

The first thing I did was put the car into ECO mode. This gave me 10% more range and ensured that I did not over-accelerate. Next, after safely joining the motorway near my house I turned on Cruise Control and limited my speed to 70kph. Now, if I had to over take (which I did not have to do at anytime during the journey!) I would immediately put the car back into standard Drive mode, to allow me to manoeuvre more quickly. But for the most part I knew I would be driving this slowly and in ECO mode. Luxuries such as air conditioning were not allowed, but I did have the stereo playing for the entire journey down.

Driving on a motorway at a constant speed of 70kph is a unique experience. Firstly, you notice that most people don't care. They simply overtake you and ignore you after that. Secondly, you find that on average most people are driving closer to 80 - 85 kph anyway and a few times I managed to catch up with some people due to spots of heavier traffic. But certainly, when the motorway speeds change to 120kph, you realise you are travelling very slowly - perhaps too slowly!

Anyway, as I watched the range-o-meter like the proverbial unboiled pot my heart-rate raised and sank with the ever-changing distance-to-empty number. Constantly comparing it with the distance left in the journey (via the on-board sat-nav system) I was reminded of Homer's shouts of joy and frustration as he weighed himself on the ever changing weighing scale! "I'm going to make it! I'm not going to make it. I'M GOING TO MAKE IT!" I kept shouting in my head.

75.2km and I'm at the Beehive on the N11. This is the half-way point. After this the closest charging point will be Wexford and the option to turn around will be gone! I pass the Beehive and keep on driving.

Day 53 - Fast Charge In Five Minutes

This is interesting:



Apparently a Japanese developer is after patenting a new method of fast charging EVs in just FIVE minutes! Have a read of the article here

Location:Lower Mayor St,Dublin,Ireland

Day 52 - 110km for €0.53!

Have a look at this:



This is how much it should have cost me to Fast Charge my car yesterday! Of course, it ended up costing me nothing as Topaz have decided not to charge EV customers until September. But even if we were being charged, this is a pretty impressive price. Sure, I had to wait 28 mins, have a coffee, relax in their little cafe area and surf their Internet for free. But I certainly think it's work it. The real question is, is this the price they will charge come September?

Day 51 - Taxi! Can you take me 160km from here?

Yeah, well, it's not a question I have ever asked a Taxi driver before. And I don't suppose a lot of people generally do. So, I guess that's why National Radio Cabs have agreed to trial out to new BEVs and get some real-world data on the feasibility of using EVs for commercial taxi services. Have a look at the Irish Times article here.

Day 50 - Cost Benefit Analysis

Below is a little spreadsheet I did out for myself in advance on making my decision to purchase a Nissan Leaf:




These figures are based on Petrol prices and Car Tax prices from November 2010. As you can see from the highlighted totals my ownership of Pepé isn't exactly saving me a huge amount of money. But you must understand the purpose of this spreadsheet. I didn't want to see if I was saving money. I wanted to see if I could afford the purchase of this vehicle. Obviously I would prefer if I were saving money. But, as you can see, I'm not really. So the question remains: why would you want to buy a range-limited vehicle?

Well, the answer to this question is multi-part. Firstly, the range of a BEV is only a major issue if you are commuting more than 120km a day, which I don't. Longer trips are possible with the help of a growing charging infrastructure. So range wasn't a big issue for me. Secondly, I prefer the fact that my car not add to Ireland's already exceptionally high carbon footprint. I have to admit, this was not my biggest concern, but has become more and more important (and noticeable) to me since purchasing Pepé.

Thirdly, cheaper running costs! Yes, the loan for this car is higher than my previous car. But the running costs are so much less. The cost of energy, the cost of insurance, the cost of tax, and most significantly the cost of maintenance are all reduced. In fact, if the first startling fact from the spreadsheet above is that I am not saving much money, the second should be the dramatic decrease in running costs for this car! I've had Pepé for fifty days now and I doubt I have spent more than €40 in energy! I have received over €300 back from my insurance company and I easily paid off my annual car tax bill upfront using two months worth of Car Tax that I had started to save for my previous car. Fourthly, it's a much easier and far less stressful drive! I cannot convey to you on these pages how easy it is to drive an electric car. It has all of the benefits of an automatic with none of the costs. It has a luxury feel in a family-sized hatch-back. and it is certainly the safest car I have ever owned!

So, I am playing a long term game here. Yes, Pepé's initial cost is swallowing up many of the immediate reduction in running costs. But this assumes that petrol prices will remain static. Once petrol starts to increase again (and it will!) my cost benefit analysis starts to improve. Pepé is a five year investment. And I sincerely believe that this investment is worth every cent!

Day 49 - 32k Left and I Feel Fine!

Yesterday I noticed I had only 32 kilometres left on my car and I could feel that range anxiety beginning to build up in my brain! But then suddenly it went away! I calmed down because I realised that my car had just entered the realm of a relatively normal, what with the arrival of the new FCP at Glasnevin. You see, a friend of mine had asked me a few weeks before I got the car, "What if you don't charge up the car, only have a few kilometres left and suddenly changed plans and need to go further?" Well my answer was simple, either I don't go any further or I steal my boyfriend's car. Of course, there was a third option that I failed to see at the time. I go to my local FCP. I had only ever considered FCPs as a means to doing long journeys, and therefore didn't really care if there were any in Dublin. All the FCPs that I would be using would be outside of Dublin. But of course, there will be times when I need my car for unexpected journeys. And if you had a petrol engine car, with very little petrol and you needed to do an unexpected journey, you'd drive to your nearest petrol station and fill up. That's exactly what I will do! So now, unexpected journeys are no more an issue for me than for anyone else.

And the really great benefits of this are twofold. Firstly, peace of mind! My range anxiety now just floats away! And secondly, I can now let the battery run down with worrying that I better have at at 100% all the time, just in case I need to do that unexpected journey. I think this should save me a good a bit of money over time!

Day 48 - Rescue Me!

Have a look at this:



This is a new road side assistance truck developed by Nissan for the Japanese Automobile Federation. And it is especially designed to assist EVs in distress, in particular if they run out of juice! Have a read of the article here.

Location:Ballyboggan Rd,Dublin,Ireland

Day 47 - Fast Charging Rocks! But stay out of my Space! Bitch!

To cheer myself up after my failure to reach Wexford I decided to treat myself and Pepé to a Fast Charge! (Yeah, I know, it's pretty sad!) Anywho, I knew that there were two close-by Fast Charge Points, one in a Nissan dealership (which is only available during business hours) and the other in a Topaz station in Glasnevin. I plotted my journey (just for fun) and then headed out to the wild! Of course, when I arrived I noticed that sitting in the all green, highlighted, sign-posted, CCTV-monitored EV-only parking spot was - A PETROL ENGINE CAR! Sticking out of the car was some lady hoovering her back seat! Well, I was having none of it! "Em, I may have to move you out of this spot!" I said begrudgingly as I stepped out of my car. "What?" was the surprised, innocent response. "This is an EV only spot, as you can see from the sign" I replied smugly, pointing to the various signage that clearly indicated it was not to be used to hoover the back seat of your earth killing vehicle! The lady looked at me and then at Pepé. She didn't understand! I stepped over to the FCP, unlatched the nozzle and started to walk to my car saying "I'm not sure this will reach the car!" Hoover lady responded, "well I'll move if it doesn't!" As it happened the cable did stretch and there was no problem at all. I looked over at Hoover Lady and smiled. She continued to hoover! I suspect this is a conversation I will be having again and again!

Day 46 - To Wexford and Back Again? Nah!

Well, this morning o got up with the enthusiasm of a kid on Christmas morning. I was hoping that my wonderful Pepé would be able to bring me to Wexford and back again. No, not on one single charge, but with the assistance of the FCP located in the Wexford Car Centre. Everything was ready to go. I had my granny cord, my free phone number for road side assistance from my insurance company and a fully charged Nissan Leaf. The on-board navigation system did not complain or grumble about the 148 Km journey from my house to the charging point, and so, I headed on my 'epic' journey.

I put the car into Eco mode, giving me 10% more range, kept the air conditioning system off and kept my speed to an average of 70kph. The first thing I noticed is that it is very possible to travel along a motorway at 70-75 kph. In fact, I was kind of surprised but no one seemed to care that I was travelling this slowly. Actually, what I noticed is that most people seem to travel at this speed (on average) around junctions or sharper bends. Of course people do tend to floor it on the straighter strips. Anywho, after getting used to a slower than normal speed, even for me, the thing I really started to noticed was terrain! Terrain, I think I heard you repeat? Yes, terrain. You see the auld distance-to-empty meter fluctuated widely depending on the terrain of the motorway. At point I went from 130km left to 112km to 154km! This is quite a difference. And it was this difference that started to panic me the closer and closer I got to the mid way point. When I starting getting into distance readings where, if they were accurate I would certainly not reach my destination, I decided to tuck tail and run back home to safety. After travelling 72km I found somewhere to turn around and started my way back home.

What I have learned from this is simple. While it may be possible for Pepé to reach this distance (and I am pretty sure he could do so if I reduced my speed to 60kph!) I am not comfortable with such a low margin for error. This is consistent with my policy with most things in life. Of course, at no point before I purchased this car did I ever intend to attempt such a journey without a FCP at the mid way point of Arklow Town. And hopefully that FCP will be put down soon. But for now, I will have to continue to borrow my boyfriend's car for my weekly Blackwater cello lesson.

Day 45 - To Carlow and Back Again? Yay!

Well, in the end I decided not to drive down up to Belfast in Pepé for two simple reasons - time and charge! Yesterday was a busy day for me. I had to go to Belfast, pick up the granny cord, come back home and then head on down to Carlow to stay with Paul's folks for the weekend. I knew Paul's mother wanted to see Pepé. I also knew that if I went up to Belfast, fast charged three times and came back home that I would be in no mood at all to drive down to Carlow, to say nothing or arriving in Carlow at a very late hour. So, instead Paul drove us up and back to Belfast in his car. This, as it turns out was a great idea. Not only did we make good time in our excursion to and from Belfast, but with the purchase of the granny cord, and Pepé all charged up, I was ready to leave the comfort zone of 70km from my house and take Pepé further than he had ever been before.

I was very cautious driving him down to Carlow, using Eco mode most of the way and keeping my speed down (although not particularly less than most other vehicles on the road). By the time I had reached Carlow I still had 57km left. That means I could easily have pushed Pepé a little harder on the motorway if I needed to. Then it was crunch time! I had the granny cord, Paul's parents had the outdoor socket and there was a spare bed for us for the night. I plugged in Pepé and he started to charge up immediately. Now I should mentoned that the granny cord is a 10amp cord versus my standard charging cable which is 16amps. In practical terms this means that charging on the granny cord is going to take longer. So, even though Pepé still had a third of his charge left, it did take 7 and a half hours to charge him up fully. But, long before the end of the night he was completely charged up. If we wished, we could have decided to go home there and then! But Paul's mother makes the BEST Sunday breakfast ever, so I insisted that we stay the night! The next day we headed home after dinner with not a car in the world. And just like that Pepé was ow capable of bringing me closer to the in-laws. I just hope the don't might me stealing some of their electricity every now and again!

Day 44 - I got me a granny cord!

Woohoo!

Day 43 - To Belfast and Back Again?

I have to head up to Belfast to pick up my granny cord for my Nissan Leaf. I was thinking of doing the journey in the Leaf. It is possible, but unfortunately I would have to do it in a roundabout way. I'd have to head to Monaghan first, fast charge, then onwards to Belfast, fast charge, then back to Monaghan, fast charge and finally back home! Seems like a lot of work. Not sure if I'll do it or not. I'll see how I feel tomorrow!

Day 42 - And how often do you charge it?

This is a question I have been asked a lot recently when showing off my little Pepé to the curious and the nerdy. And unfortunately I don't have a proper answer to this question. What I have been waiting for is a typical week. But I haven't had too many of those since I got the car. I guess a typical week for me would be driving to train station on Monday and Tuesday, heading to Wexford on Wednesday, driving to train station on Thursday and Friday and then miscellaneous journeys on the weekend. The problem is that life hasn't exactly been following that pattern recently. Between bank holidays, annual leave, sick days and atypical weekend travel I have been following a most irregular
Astern (which is very unlike me let me tell you!) So when it comes to charging Pepé, well, it's been a matter of necessity. And like with my mobile phone, if I want to make sure that I have enough power for whatever may happen the next day, I have tended to charge him most nights, even if it was only for an hour or so.

But something has happened recently that has started to change my current charging pattern. No, not a normalisation of my week (I wish) but the availability to not one but FCPs near my home. If I needed to do a long journey at short notice and didn't have a full tank of petrol that wouldn't have been a problem. I'd just go to my nearest petrol station and fill up. But, up to this week I had no such option with Pepé. But with the new FCP in the Topaz in Glasnevin, and another in the Nissan dealership in Ballycoolin, I can now be assured that even with only small amount of charge available to me I could quickly charge up my car to it's full capacity in a short space of time, should the need arise.

So I hope, very soon, the answer to the above question will be, whenever I have to.

Day 41 - £540 Plus VAT?!

Well, I decided I would find out if it was possible to purchase a granny cord (see Day 38). The prompt for this is my cello lesson. See, the only regular extended journey I make is my fortnightly visit to my cello teacher in Blackwater, Wexford. However, recently I decided to up the ante and change from a fortnightly lesson to a weekly one (my cello practises have already started to improve). Anyway, each time I head down to Wexford I have to swap cars with my boyfriend. This is because the Arklow FCP has not been installed yet. And without it I was under the impression I could not make it down to my lesson.

I should clarify this. I certainly could make the journey down to Blackwater. It's the return journey that is the problem. Unfortunately, unlike petrol stations, FCPs are not yet ubiquitous in Ireland. Once they are, journeys such as this will be no more of an issue than journeys to the local supermarket. But, as early adopters we must endure a certain amount of pain in order to help promote the use of EVs. Anyway, I digress. I spoke with a fellow EV owner who lives in Wexford. He explained to me that he had done the journey from the Wexford town FCP to Blanchardstown on a single charge, and he went through Blackwater to do it! Perfect. The route that enables me to do a return trip goes through the very village my cello lesson is in! The catch is that I have to travel a little further than I need to, I have to go to Wexford town. Now, this is not ideal. But it isn't a huge way out. It would require me leaving my house a little earlier each Wednesday, but I could certainly do that. But my friend warned me that this would run the battery down to the very last bar on the battery gauge. This made me a little nervous.

This is where the granny cord comes into it. Now, I know I can't just walk up to anyone's house and ask to plug in my car. But, if I really had to charge up in an emergency, the granny cord would certainly give me that option. So I decided that it was time to purchase this safety net. So I called up a Nissan Parts shop in Belfast (as Irish Parts shops would not be allowed to seek this) and asked them if they could order me in the granny cord. I had heard from some friends that it could easily take four weeks for them to order one in. But sure enough they had one there. So I told them to hold for it for me and that I would come up this Saturday to pick it up? They only remain question was how much. Answer: £540 + VAT! I thought about it for five seconds and said "I'll take it!"

Now I am sure there are a few of you out there that think I have more money than sense. Well, you're right! But in this case I think the spend is justified. This is a minimum five year investment and this cable has just extended the range and thus use of my car. Even though I don't believe the material cost of this ca el is anywhere near €700, it is invaluable to me and thus I am willing to pay for it. I can only hope that in time these peripheral extras will come down in price!