Owning an Electric Car

[MikeBoxwell]

Sorry I haven't been on the forums for a while. The reason is I have been hard at work completing my new book, 'Owning an Electric Car'.

The book is finally out and available in the shops. The publishers have been sending out press releases left, right and centre and the amount of media interest has been incredible: the book was featured in the ITV Central TV News last Thursday, and I've also been on BBC Radio Wales and in various newspapers. It all goes to show how much interest there now is in electric cars.

I won't bore you by posting the whole press release here. There will be a series of press releases on this particular book, however, because there are an awful lot of newsworthy subjects and groundbreaking research covered by the book, so hopefully it will all help encourage more people to look seriously at owning an electric car, either now or in the future.

The book website is at Owning an Electric Car, which is being updated and improved all the time: any feedback on how I can improve it would be welcome. I'm particularly pleased with one page that shows the carbon footprint of the UK National Grid, updated every five minutes throughout the day.

[MikeBoxwell]

I sent out a second press release regarding the book today, talking about the environmental efficiencies of an electric car compared to petrol models (there is a YouTube video on it here YouTube - Electric Car efficiency, and you can read the press release - if you really want to - at Code Green Publishing - media and press information).

It just so happens that the Government announced the details for their electric car subsidies today as well. It was a fluke, honest! As a result, there has been a lot of media interest in electric cars today and you'll probably see more details on the government plan this evening on the TV news.

In effect, the subsidy allows people to get 25% off the purchase price of an electric, hydrogen or plug-in hybrid car purchased after 1st January 2011, up to a maximum value of £5,000. There are various safety, economy and performance parameters that have been laid down which means, for instance, you can't get a discount on a car like the G-Wiz, but it does mean that the G-Wiz's successor will be covered.

[Mike]

Im really surprised at how "normal" the car seems, sounds stupid to say, but all my experience in the past have been bad!

[MikeBoxwell]

I think it is fair to say that the electric vehicles that have been on the market up until now have been a little too 'alternative'. But that is more to do with the manufacturers themselves rather than electric drive.

Over the next year or so, you'll start seeing electric cars on the road from manufacturers like Renault, Nissan and Smart, with Vauxhall and Ford not that far behind. These are going to be normal cars with the exception they won't have a tailpipe and won't need trips to the petrol station every few hundred miles.

Electric drivetrains are ultra-smooth with a superb torque curve making them ideal for cars. The motors have a really wide power curve which negates the need for a multi-ratio gearbox and the effect is that for most driving they are far better than petrol or diesel. My Mitsubishi iMiEV can zip along on the motorway and comfortably keep up with the rest of the traffic, and it does it far more effortlessly than most of the other cars on the road. It is a really horrible experience going back to a petrol powered car afterwards - the constant drone of the engine on the motorway, the vibrations from the engine, the need to be forever changing gear when driving in traffic, they really are genuinely horrible after driving an electric car.

And that is the reason why car manufacturers are now pumping billions of dollars into electric car development; for sure the politicians are handing them money, but the real reason is that electric cars are just better. For sure there will be teething problems with some cars, and for sure the range on early cars isn't going to be great, but we're moving into the realms of electronics and everyone who reads this forums knows how rapidly electronics improve. Expect the range of the cars to double every two years and the price to halve. At what point do electric cars make petrol cars entirely redundant?

[EfficientEnergy]

I have just completed a week long diary on our electric car blog. The Mitsubishi i MiEV was used for all our journeys. This is a fairly typical week for us, lots of short journeys.

We started the electric car blog section so people can see what it is like to live with an electric car everyday.