Autocar test the Nissan Leaf range

Few points raised here I'd like to address. The statement regarding electricity being "dirty" when produced from a coal plant is valid enough. We'll ignore the fact that it is much easier to clean up a multimegawatt power plant than x number of passenger vehicles for now. However , to look at the CO2 output of an engine powered vehicle consuming one gallon of petrol or diesel fuel and doing a direct comparison with the CO2 output of an ev charged from electricity generated from a coal plant is invalid. Why? Ask yourself how that gallon of fuel arrived at the pump nozzle. In the US it has been estimated to require 7.5kwh of electricity to deliver one gallon of petrol to a passenger car fuel tank on a filling station forecourt. Add to the fact that all of the transportation of said fuel is done by oil buring vehicles (trains , trucks etc). The electricity is already at your house , place of work , on street charge pole etc.

Regarding the cost of Lithium batteries. Yes , they are comparatively expensive but not anywhere near the nonsense figures touted by media. How would I know any better you may ask. Back in '09 I shelled out €3,300 for a lead acid agm battery pack for my ev mostly beacuse i beleived the crap about lithium. Too expensive , dangerous and all that. Car was a disaster. Twenty miles if I was lucky. 0-60 in 6.7 iceages , 365kg of lead. This year I finished upgrading to Lithium Iron Phosphate. Cost €4,500 to build the pack. Delivered to my door , vat and duty paid. And i'm joe public. Not an OEM. Weighs in at 95kg total for 50+ miles of range , 70mph+ motorway speeds , 0-60 in 10 secs , 5000 cycles claimed by the manufacturer if discharged to 70%. 3000 cycles to 80%. Thats a good bit of driving in my book before the "fuel tank" wears out. And all of this done by a moron like me in a ratty old '96 E36.

So I very much subscribe to the view that the OEMs can do electric cars. And do them well. The Leaf is a prime example. They just have to learn.

keithclancy , I didn't mean it to sound like an attack on yourself:). Apologies if I came across that way and I would agree in principle with a lot of what you said. They don't suit everyone for sure. But some yes. And I would like to believe that as the manufacturers get more comfortable with the technology and it matures that the percentage of people who would consider an EV will increase.

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

In fairness there are charging points out there and anyone who has bought one can charge it in their own home. You can't "fill up" at home using any other fuel that I know of.

http://www.esb.ie/electric-cars/electric-car-charging/electric-car-charge-point-map.jsp

Course you can:
http://www.gasfill.com/

CNG is massive in Germany

Sesshoumaru wrote: »

In fairness there are charging points out there and anyone who has bought one can charge it in their own home. You can't "fill up" at home using any other fuel that I know of.

http://www.esb.ie/electric-cars/electric-car-charging/electric-car-charge-point-map.jsp

There's also the obvious point that in a fairly short space of time, there will be easier access to charging points than petrol stations. There are plenty of petrol dark spots around the country where you have to go out of your way to find petrol on a journey. So petrol stations only exist where it makes financial sense to have them. And petrol stations need a fairly big plot of land (relatively speaking) with safety regards in mind.

A charging point by contrast can be placed basically wherever you have room for a parking space, and the economic requirements are far smaller - you don't have to attach a shop and all sorts of other tat onto the station in order to make money.
The end result is that they will likely be far more ubiquitous within ten years than petrol stations. You'll be able to find a charging point in most backwater villages. You can't say the same for petrol stations.

You'll also find private car parks (hotels, shopping centres, etc) installing them. Complaining about a lack of available charge points is a very short-term problem. In the not distant future, we'll think how ridiculous it is to have to drive 20km to the next town to find a petrol station.