Blog: The Silent Invasion – Electric Vehicles

I first drove an electric car four years ago. It was a converted Citroen C3, belonging to West Sussex County Council, that could hit 50 miles per hour and travel 60 miles between charges. It was very quiet, quick off the mark and easy to drive, though ironically had manual windows.

In the short time since, electric vehicles have moved on leaps and bounds and all major motor manufacturers are now releasing pure electric or range extended models. The popular Nissan Leaf can reach 93 miles per hour, and in optimum conditions cover 124 miles on a single charge (though less if you are frequently stopping and starting or driving up hill).

The major barrier still is cost, although this is currently aided by a government grant of 25%, up to £5,000, towards the cost of buying an electric car or 20%, up to £8,000, towards the cost of buying an electric van. Grant considered, the Leaf costs around £21,000 and the smaller Renault Zoe in the region of £14,000. The Renault Kangoo van is on sale for around£14,000, excluding VAT.

A typical electric car costs around 2 pence per mile to run, which is around 10 pence cheaper than its petrol equivalent. If you cover 10,000 miles in a year therefore you will save around £1,000 on fuel, plus be eligible for an exemption from road tax and the Congestion Charge.

Government grants are also available to cover the cost of installing home charging points (South Downs Solar are running a scheme locally) and there are currently over 6,250 public charging points across the UK, most of which are next to the best parking spaces! Check out Zap Map on the Go Ultra Low website.

Catching on

Whilst there may seem a gulf between the 2,500 electric vehicles sold in the UK in 2013 and the government’s prediction that there will be ‘hundreds of thousands’ on the road by 2020, over 2 million new cars are registered annually. In an unprecedented move to help develop the wider electric vehicle market, high performance motor manufacturer Tesla recently announced that it will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use its technology.

On publishing the event programme for our Energy Efficiency Breakfast in Chichester on the 17th July, which will focus on electric vehicles and renewable energy, we had a small flurry of bookings from EV enthusiasts. Several mentioned they were members of electric vehicle clubs which meet to test out the latest models. There are two charging points at the venue, please share!

Renewable energy

Electric vehicles compliment solar PV, with workers able to recharge at the office when the sun is at its peak. West Sussex based vegetable growers Barfoots, charge their fleet of Renault electric vans and cars using electricity generated by their anaerobic digestion and combined heat and power plant, which Head of Sustainability Keston Williams will discuss at the Chichester breakfast.

Once my Toyota Yaris gives up the ghost I am tempted by an EV. Avid public transport users, we still sometimes have to drive to events if transporting equipment and to site audits if located deep in the countryside. With most of our work in Sussex we are unlikely to run out of battery, and there are charging point available in most major towns.

I will need to wait for the Tesla Model S to come down in price a little first though!