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Electric vehicles spotted in Ireland

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  • 13-06-2009 12:48am
    #1
    towel401
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,917 ✭✭✭


    So far I only seen two. one was a "Micro-vett" electric van on Inis Oirr. A fairly recent reg too but the van is fairly tiny. Its a good idea to have an electric yoke if you can go around the island about 10 times on a single charge. I meant to take a pic of this thing but I lost it

    Yesterday I saw an electric ESB van, the new model Peugeot Expert. It looked like some sort of conversion - still had a RPM counter that seemed stuck at 1,000 RPM and a tiny lil stick where the gear stick used to be. presumably only forward/neutral/reverse or something.

    anyone else seen any decent electric cars around? don't count the G-Wizz/REVA. stuff like that makes a bad name for electric cars :)


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    #2
    Macha
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 6,376 Mod ✭✭✭✭Macha


    Do you mean 100% battery electric vehicles? Or also plug-in hybrids and hybrids?

    BEV - I've seen an i-Miev (http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com/special/ev/)


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    #3
    towel401
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,917 ✭✭✭towel401


    taconnol wrote: »
    Do you mean 100% battery electric vehicles? Or also plug-in hybrids and hybrids?

    BEV - I've seen an i-Miev (http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com/special/ev/)

    100% electric. havn't seen any plug in hybrids. what year was the Miev?


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    #4
    BendiBus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,075 ✭✭✭BendiBus


    taconnol wrote: »
    Do you mean 100% battery electric vehicles? Or also plug-in hybrids and hybrids?

    BEV - I've seen an i-Miev (http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com/special/ev/)

    I saw an iMiEV on North Wall Quay a couple of weeks ago. It was a UK reg, covered in "I'm electric" type logos, so presumably just here briefly for some sort of marketing task. Probably a photo-op with Eamonn Ryan :pac:


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    #5
    quentingargan
    Registered Users Posts: 1,627 ✭✭✭quentingargan


    I've had a Citroen Berlingo Electrique for a few years. Great, but only does 50 miles or so on a full charge. You can see more at http://ardnashee.com/electric-car/ Before that I had an AVT custom car.

    EVs are the future, though plug-in hybrids will enjoy more sales in the short term - the car industry never got serious about EVs... :mad:
    Q


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    #6
    towel401
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,917 ✭✭✭towel401


    quentingargan wrote: »
    I've had a Citroen Berlingo Electrique for a few years. Great, but only does 50 miles or so on a full charge. You can see more at http://ardnashee.com/electric-car/ Before that I had an AVT custom car.

    EVs are the future, though plug-in hybrids will enjoy more sales in the short term - the car industry never got serious about EVs... :mad:
    Q

    fecking hell i looked for one of those and wanted to buy one at one point. would be ideal for me, nice looking yoke too. actually i prefer the saxo electrique but there are hardly any of those around. converting it to NiMH should double their range.


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    #7
    cards
    Closed Accounts Posts: 196 ✭✭cards


    Any ideas how you would come across a Citroen Berlingo Electrique as mentioned above.Interested in getting something electric and that doesn't seem humiliating at all! Sorry but some of them are terrible looking! :o


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    #8
    quentingargan
    Registered Users Posts: 1,627 ✭✭✭quentingargan


    I found mine through a yahoo group (electriccarsUK) but there is a dealer in London who sometimes has them - Joe Burge <snip>. I haven't dealt with him personally but know others who have.


    Try to get one of the later models - the batteries started to fail on some of the earlier ones. If you google Evan Tuer you will find more about these - Evan reverse engineered some of the maintenance kit you need for topping up the water etc.

    Q


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    #9
    cards
    Closed Accounts Posts: 196 ✭✭cards


    Thanks Q. Much appreciated.


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    #10
    Cookie_Monster
    Registered Users Posts: 24,475 ✭✭✭✭Cookie_Monster


    Real vehicles?

    There are quite a few of those awful little Gee-Whizz things around Dun Laoghaire, saw one today for some bakery company.


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    #11
    cards
    Closed Accounts Posts: 196 ✭✭cards


    I have to say I was very surprised to see the citroen available as electric and for several years too. I have only recently become interested in getting something a lot more enviromentally friendly and didn't know such conventional vehicle were available. It would make you wonder why the heck are the big players not pushing more decent EV's into the market.


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    #12
    netwhizkid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,558 ✭✭✭netwhizkid


    Didn't Father Dougal drive an electric milk float around craggy island while delivering milk to desperate housewives?


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    #13
    quentingargan
    Registered Users Posts: 1,627 ✭✭✭quentingargan


    netwhizkid wrote: »
    Didn't Father Dougal drive an electric milk float around craggy island while delivering milk to desperate housewives?

    Yes, and if he went below 10mph it would blow up! But almost everything we use has, at some stage, had a spin around a warehouse on an electric forklift. At one time in the early 20th century, there were more electric cars than petrol ones. There's nothing new about all this, just a long period of hibernation for the battery technology, while petrol engines improved massively. Catchup time!


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    #14
    quentingargan
    Registered Users Posts: 1,627 ✭✭✭quentingargan


    JimmyMolloy wrote: »
    ...they do not produce any carbon. Yeah, and does the station that produces the electricity not produce any carbon?

    Yes, if I run my Berlingo on day-time electricity, its carbon use is a whopping 220g - double that of a Prius. Of course, this is an early model with NiCad batteries weighing about 750kg so this could be dramatically improved on.

    But from a carbon perspective, Electric cars have a more important function. By buying off-peak electricity at night, they facilitate the introduction of a lot more renewable power on the grid. Also, if they are tethered to the mains at times when not in use, there is the potential for them to sell power from their batteries at peak time, ironing out some of the ups and downs of renewable energy.

    In this way, a fleet of EVs with battery banks could be a very valuable tool for introducing more renewable energy to the grid. :)


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