Posts by MadAxeMan

EV's = Marmite, they either work for you or they don't, it works for me, get over it....

It's quite funny how its easy to be negative about electric cars and make fun, but the reality is, they either work for you or they don't.

I purchased a Nissan Leaf (Fed up with waiting for VW to release the e-Golf), to use as my daily commute car for work covering between 15,000 and 20,000 miles per year, the Leaf has a reported range of in excess of 109miles, however lets face it most people have a heavy right foot and that will not be acheivable.

I've cover on average 1,600 miles or more each month commuting to work and at an average cost of around £50 for electric not to be sneezed at.

To put electric consumption into perspective they are better suited to A/B road driving as there is a constant drain on the batteries when using them on the Motorway, for example if I take my kids to school, which is a round trip of 8 miles, leaving home with 73miles range I can get home with 77miles range still in the tank (the wife can get more) whereas on my 40mile each way commute to work (nearly all on the motoroway and dual carraigeways), I use anything up to 50-60miles of range to get there and 35miles of range to get home (all down hill)

On average my car generates in excess of 90KWh of electric each month due to regenerative braking (I leave work with say 70miles of range and I get to the Motorway with 73miles of range and it's a 13mile drive to the motorway. It's all about how you drive them, and if you test drive one, you really need it for at least 2 Days and I'd like to thank Nissan Cardiff for being the most helpful car dealer I've ever spoken to!

Yes I do top up during the day, but only 20miles or so worth of range, and yes I do regularly drive it to places further than the range of the car (Sat Nav reports, at start of journey "Turn Right" followed by "You may not be able to reach your destination" LOL

Range Anxiety? Once you've owned the car for a couple of weeks and you know what it can do, you don't even bother worrying anymore, you just look at the range when you get in and you instantly know if you can get where you're going and back :)

I chose an EV as Hybrids do not work for me, as I wanted to elimitate the fuel cost completely as the engine would be running for nearly all of my journey as they kick in over a "certain Speed" the only one that comes close at the moment is the Mitsibushi PHEV.

It works for me, people need to accept that things have to change and like smart phones, EV's are evolving all the time, and please stop parking in the public charging bays with your ICE vehicles.

Can't wait to get my e-Golf next year :)