Science fiction is becoming science fact as the electric car is with us!
As Europe fights to make us greener, one solution is the electric car. A few are on the market already, but big guns like Nissan and Renault are coming in a year or two as Ireland plans to reduce CO2 by incentivising the electric car.
You can't buy it just yet, but the Nissan LEAF will be here next year and it means business. It is a proper five-seat hatchback with a modern interior and all the creature comforts you'd expect from a car in the 'C' sector that at the moment is dominated by the likes of Ford Focus, Golf etc.
The big difference with LEAF is that it has only three or four virtually silent moving parts that make it go! It uses an electric motor to turn the front wheels (unlike a traditional car that uses an internal combustion engine), so servicing and fuelling costs are greatly reduced.
Under the Nissan badge at the front of the car you have a socket that allows you connect LEAF to mains electricity at home or to a charge point. LEAF has 42 laptop-sized battery packs located throughout the car that provide a range of 160km (far less than a normal car's 500-1000km range).
The pro-EV (Electric Vehicle) lobby says most cars travel less than 80km per day and this may be the case in cities but it is not the case in rural areas or for those on the rural/urban commuter belt. Range anxiety is the biggest hurdle that the EV has to overcome, and I for one know it wouldn't work in my world at present.
The idea of cars powered by just electricity isn't new. Many of us 'over 30s' can remember electric milk floats that would 'whine' their way along our roads at a snail's pace. The gentle chiming of glass bottles in their crates was the warning noise to other road users as there was no internal combustion engine banging away and belching out fumes. Milk floats weighed a lot due to being basically a chassis with wheels, filled with loads of lead acid car batteries - LEAF uses the latest mobile phone-type batteries and can go a lot faster than 25mph!
Motors took a Nissan EV that used the company's LEAF running gear for a test drive recently and was not surprised to find that the car was as expected - near silent and full of torque. The ESB says it will have no problem supplying the demand for electricity should we all go EV crazy because it is investing heavily in wind farms. Wind energy is green and because it is generated through the night, when most people will be charging their cars, demand will be met with ease. Ireland is pioneering the whole EV drive as we are an ideal location: unlike many European countries we have one electricity-generating network.
There is no price yet but the car benefits from zero VRT and a Government grant of €5,000, so for now my guess is it will be in the high mid to high €20,000s when it goes on sale. The Electric Nissan LEAF points to the future for motoring. Early adopters who took to 'Hybrids' will again be first to buy, but I think it will take impressive financial incentives to get the rest of the motoring public to jump onto the EV bandwagon.
Michael Sheridan
