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.