Absolutely, they really would suit a lot of typical commutes. However, many people living in towns or doing these commutes don't have off-street parking where they can securely fit a convenient home charging point. I passed by the public charging point nearest me on my way home last night, there were non-EVs parked in those spaces, the same cars were there this morning. To be effective, the parking around these points would need to be restricted to EVs while charging.
True, ICEing of EV bays a big issue and no local authority has implemented fines. The new building regulations require pre-wiring for chargers in at least 10% of parking for multi-tenancy units. Some people (like me) have gone ahead and fitted a charger to our apartment car parking anyway (ESB will not do these installs for the free charger, I got the free charger fitted to my weekend place instead). But this is Ireland, a larger percentage of people than most countries do have their own driveway or suitable parking space. In some cases people who can't charge at home have been able to charge at work ( since the cost is so low many workplaces do provide charging at no cost to the employee ).
A lot of the resistance is down to having the option to do those occasional longer journeys without having to plan ahead for stops, and wait around for chargers. Remember the
fuss a few years back when it was suggested we didn't need on-motorway services because we had more than enough options within minutes of many junctions? People just didn't want to deviate from their journeys.
True, and there's an additional issue that ESB has been siting many of the rapid chargers at large shopping centers which causes more issues over ICE vehicles blocking parking.
I'm also skeptical that people realise the rapid charging is even possible. People come up to me at chargers on a regular basis and none seem to be aware of rapid charging. Even the vehicle range is a pleasant surprise to many.
People in the Focus/ Golf market are generally looking for something more than most current EVs offer. Comparing like with like, the Leaf base prices range from €21,450-26,390, similar sized Micra is priced €15,095-€16,095. Those Leaf prices incorporates the SEAI €5k grant, and there's no guarantee that will last, it keeps being extended year to year.If the government manage to meet their 2020 targets, that scheme, and the motor tax rates are likely to be altered.
The Micra isn't even remotely similarly sized. The Leaf is larger than the Pulsar inside and out (taller, wider and even longer (by more than 20cm)). The Pulsar starts at €20k not €15k, and has far less standard equipment than the Leaf.
The SEAI grant is taken off the vehicle before purchase and it's even per vehicle, therefore it's fair to include it in the advertised price. While there may be no guarantee the grants will not be lowered in the next budget, EV powertrain prices are dropping fast enough that an EV powertrain will be cheaper than an ICE powertrain in 2019/2020. It cost Nissan €33,000 to produce and import a Leaf in 2010 excluding taxes and grants (they were making a loss on each unit).
In 2015 that number has gone down by more than a third based on: reduced battery prices (this is the majority of the saving), reduced production costs (the first Leafs were all made in Japan, they are now made in local factories for each region) and increased volume allowing component suppliers to reduce prices.
Fully agree Leo. It would be great to see some real-world total cost-of-ownership comparisons of EVs vs fossil-fuelled vehicles that exclude the gimmickry of short-term grants and "free or discounted until we decide different" small print.
My numbers are fairly typical, although I do double the mileage of the average owner.
I did 4500km in November on a Leaf. Telematics from the vehicle reported 413 kWh of power used for the month. 70% of which was on my home charger which with an additional 10% for charging losses is confirmed by the energy monitor I put on the cable between the distribution board and the charger.
Like pretty much every EV owner I use a nightsaver meter (though my unit rate is around 1c below available domestic night rates (my home is on a multi-property commercial account)), this meter costs €50/year in increased standing charges.
Discounting the fact that a third of my charging was on free chargers, if I paid for all the electricity used at my unit rate the fuel bill for the month is in the region of €30. Multiply 413 by your own unit rate if you like.
Heck I moved running my washing machine and dishwasher to the night rate hour too and currently my electricity bill is lower than it was before I moved to an electric car.
Here's a post by one of the ESB "ambassadors" detailing their costs:
[broken link removed]
I am deeply suspicious of these free lunches as inevitably a bill of some kind follows consumption.
It's not a free lunch, you get an electricity bill and currently even with the grants you pay a little more up front. eCars are eventually moving to a system where energy use at public charging points plus a per charger convenience fee will be added to your household bill.
The vehicle prices are dropping fast enough that reduced grants in a few years won't matter.
If the real cost of an EV is twice that of a similarly-sized and specced diesel, petrol or gas powered vehicle, then depreciation is going to a tough pill to swallow.
You must be joking. EVs retail at €2-4K more than ICE equivalents. EV running costs are consistently eight times lower than an equivalent diesel. The motor and battery is more than four times more efficient than the best diesels in raw numbers. Lower maintenance, night rate electricity and tax differences between diesel and electricity accounts for the rest.
I have the OBDII recorded fuel consumption numbers from my old '12 Avensis, the numbers from the telematics on the EV and the service bills for both vehicles for their first year. Personally I'm running in excess of 10 times lower.
That means payback of the price difference in some cases within the first year. Because of the low volume they are not stripped down and much higher specced than "equivalent" ICE vehicles sold, so you might even be ahead the day you drive it out of the dealer.
As I said by 2019/2020 ( when we get to $70-100/kWh for the battery ) an EV will be cheaper to build than a petrol or diesel car. Wide scale adoption is almost certain when the numbers reach $150/kWh.
Tesla's Gigafactory will single handedly double worldwide cell production, is already under construction (as you can see above) and predicted to drop prices below $100/kWh in its first year of operation (Q4 2016 - 2017).
You'll note that real-world prices in the chart from 2014 are already HALF the predictions for 2015. You'll also note that Nissan's initial per kWh cost for the first Leafs was in the region of $750 and that in 2013 that cost had lowered to $275 per kWh. Tesla pushed their costs below $250/kWh in 2013 (
http://insideevs.com/tesla-battery-...less-than-a-quarter-of-the-car-in-most-cases/ and confirmed by Tesla's later SEC filings, and confirmed again this month when Tesla started selling batteries to utilities for less than $250/kWh).
Given the battery is the most expensive part of the vehicle with the motor itself costing as little as €700 you can see why I'm confident.
We know how a Leaf depreciates, there are 2010 and 2011 units on the market. go look at autotrader (because of the VRT credit all UK Leaf imports are €0 VRT) or carzone.
When it comes to the OPs question about buying a car today and considering with the scrappage and grant a new leaf starts at €17k and a used leaf can be got for €12.5k. You'd need a use case substantially outside the Leaf's capabilities to justify the extreme increase in running costs for a diesel or petrol vehicle.
