Now ye're talking - to an electric car driver

What charger did you get installed at your house and why are they such a rip off?

How much was the long range car (approx is fine)


If electric didn't exist would you have spend the same amount of money on a ICE car?

One year in for us and it has been an almost seamless transition and completely painless. We've been practically everywhere in Ireland on a single charge (ie from Dublin) to places like Donegal, Kerry, Cork, Waterford, Galway, Limerick. From a driving perspective its very relaxing in ways I had not foreseen, but can accelerate like a bat out of hell if needed. We drive at 120kph on the motorways, so none of this urban legend nonsense about having to drive like a hearse with the heating off, etc.

Range is down about 10-20% during the colder winter months, but we did Donegal on a single charge last Jan, and Kenmare in February on a single charge only stopping for rest room and quick coffee, no charging needed, and we had the heating well on including heated seats and heated steering wheel. Believe all the myths if you like, 'hydro carbon' interests have spend hundreds of millions sponsored many urban myths about BEVs in an attempt to slow down the rate of market transition from ICE to BEV.

Cost savings are truly massive we only charge at home on night rate electricity twice a week, and about only 6 times in the past year used public charging infrastructure which was painless. We pay about €8/week now on extra electricity instead of €85/week on our previous diesel compact SUV. Another cost saving is virtually zero servicing costs compared to ICE, no brake ware due to non mechanical regenerative braking, no oil, no filters to change, a 100th of the no of mechanical moving parts so little to go wrong or service. Tyres are the only consumable item.

Ok it wasn't all perfect, we had to give up a tow bar and give up AWD, but at least being front wheel drive with socks or chains or in our case winter tyres from Nov to March snow would be manageable had it happened. During summer months we achieve real world driving range of 500km around the greater Dublin area, and 440km on long motorway trips which was about 380km during winter months. Have not yet experienced a range issue and I'm happy to drive down to 1% confident in the range remaining data the GOM is displaying (Guess O'meter).

I would never go back, my wife's next car will also be a BEV, not sure which make/model just yet except it will certainly NOT be a Nissan Leaf

Pros

• Massive running cost savings
• Relaxing to drive
• Quiet
• No range issues
• Refulling easy - happens while you sleep at home
• Regen braking facilitates almost one pedal driving
• Acceleration
• Zero tail pipe emissions
• Net low true emissions cause Irelands electricity grid is greener than most countries
• AppleCar play using GoogleMaps and Waze integrates well
• 8 year Battery warranty

Cons

• No tow bar
• No 4x4, AWD
• Marginally smaller than our former diesel SUV
• You need to plan a little for long trips (>300km) but this becomes automatic second nature after a while

There are many other myths about BEVs having net higher dust2dust CO2 foot prints, but these have been debunked. There are enough research papers out there executed by charitable scientific research foundations sponsored by big oil to wall paper the Aviva stadium. Ireland's electricity grid is close to averaging 50% wind with a target of 80% using French grid interconnector for the balance (ie CO2 zero nuclear), or when the wind doesn't blow enough.

The legacy ICE manufacturers who don't keep pace with the now well established transition era risk becoming the next Nokia's.

In truth I was really apprehensive when making the switch and wondered if I had made a big mistake until the first few long trips.

Had also been a little concerned about battery degradation but based on real world data from existing base that has not been an issue. Mobile phone batteries have helped create this concern for battery lives. On recycling BEVs have no oils to dispose of, and battery packs get repurposed to domestic and commercial storage batteries. After that battery packs can be recycled and all the precious metals extracted and reused in manufacture of new battery packs. Battery technology continues to evolve in terms of density, power output/kg, with smart battery management systems including thermal management for better cold weather performance (ie <10ºC) and hot weather recharging speeds. Battery prices continue to fall exponentially approaching $100/kWh.

Conclusion. Glad we did it, wife and son also going BEV. It does what it claims in the tin and none of the scare stories came to pass.

Wished I'd done it a few years ago, its a no brainer. Take it or leave it, its a free world. Don't do it to save the planet, or because you feel climate change shamed by ranting nutters, rather do it to save your family money.

PS: You gotta remember there is a war being waged out there right now by big oil and legacy ICE interests to delay or slow down the adoption to BEV. These interests are using micro targeting on social media and through the normal media seeding the market with FUD about EVs. The only truth is hybrids are a double con job on consumers and the marketing phrase used by some 'self charging' is a lie defying the laws of physics, newton and einstein. These are petrol cars with a tiny battery that cannot travel 50% of their distance in electric mode unless santa is real and elvis lives and physics has been reinvented by the tooth fairy