Tring’s Liberal Democrat County Councillor, Nick Hollinghurst, has now picked up his new Nissan Leaf Acenta. After an hour’s discussion with the salesman right at the start, a 30-minute test drive for Nick and Rosemarie, his wife, followed by a 24-hour test hiring (nothing to pay) and a final hour of driving instruction and hints, the purchase of an all-electric vehicle is not something you do without a fair amount of thought.
The picture shows Nick with the car at Nissan Aylesbury on Friday. Nick’s comments were enthusiastic, “I’m delighted with the car,” he said. “It felt strange at first because it’s more like an automatic than a car with a manual gear box – and I’ve not driven an automatic car for more than 30 years. It’s also highly computerised so the older driver – not as computer literate as younger ones – needs to learn the way round the software and to handle and get good use of the array of features.”
“But it’s a joy to drive,” he added. “And I’m sure it’s making me a better and more careful driver. At this stage in the technology you need to be aware of the rate at which the battery pack uses power – and I can’t see that changing significantly for some time to come. So you naturally fall into a more steady type of driving. When you take your foot off the accelerator the car starts to slow down just like any other car – but the “braking effect” is no longer caused by the friction of a cylinder engine but by the regenerative braking kicking in. Of course you will also need to use the effective conventional brakes – but if you do that you slow down by wasting energy as heat. So it makes you study the road and the traffic ahead more caefully and plan your moves. Now, that can’t be bad, can it?”
“The onboard satnav gives notice of the current speed limits and also provides audible warning of speed cameras. But with a clear display of your speed on a second screen right in front of you there is no excuse for driving too fast. Again, that has to be good,” he concluded.
Nick has now signed up to two charging point networks and has found out through the dedicated website where all the local public charging points are and where the County Council charging points at County Hall in Hertford are situated. But of course he can charge up at home and has already done so overnight using a connection to a standard 3-pin plug. That, of course may not always be fast enough, and he has booked a company to fit a special faster 30 amp AC (same current as an electric stove full on can use) home charger.
However the car is also able to accept charge from the UK network of 50 amp rapid DC charging points. These are a must for long distance motorway driving and recharge the car in 20-30 minutes – about the right time for a break and a cup of coffee. A second type of charging cable will be required for this and charging is limited to an 80% capacity maximum to prevent battery stress. The in-car electronics control the whole process, detecting voltage, type of current, frequencies if AC, power delivered and selecting the cut-off either at 80% or 100% of capacity as appropriate.
The 5-door Nissan Leaf – assembled in Middlesborough – has a practical range of 94 miles but the smaller two-door Renault Zoe has a range of 120 miles. The two companies are in a strategic alliance with reciprocal shareholding in each other.
All-electric cars are admittedly expensive, but at the moment each purchase attracts a flat-rate government grant of £5,000 for the car and for 75% of the cost of a home charge unit up to a £700 maximum. There are also significant motor industry and dealer discounts available at the moment but these depend on availability and negotiation.
In Hertfordshire and Northants there is a pay-as-you-go all-electric car share club based on the Leaf and the Zoe with costs of around £6 per hour to members. Contact E-Car Club, 29, Shand Street, London SE1 2ES Tel: 023 603 2259 or e-mail: info@e-carclub.org or visit www.e-carclub.org