It's been about 4 years since I last did a post here. Much has happened on the global carbon reduction front but, frustratingly, the progress hasn't been fast enough. It looks like we're going to go through the internationally agreed limit of +1.5C and, even if all countries stick to their current pledges, we're going to end up with +2.4C, which will be bad for all of us.
Two areas where there has been significant progress are a) That China, long used by western politicians to do nothing as their carbon footprint dwarfs any other country's, are making serious inroads into their CO2 production and may have peaked it already, 5 years ahead of schedule; and b) Globally, 1 in 4 new car sales are electric.
Which leads me to the subject of this post: I've just bought a used electric car.
It's a 2021 Kia Niro 3:
Ever since I got the Toyota Prius back in 2008 (?), I've promised myself the next one would be an EV. So, I've been holding out until either new or used prices came down to reasonable levels.
The Niro wouldn't have been my first choice in terms of looks or the fact it's an SUV but there you go. The fact is, the motor industry is mostly making larger models, small car choices are limited (The good news is that small cars are on their way).
Anyway, 6 months on from buying it, here are my thoughts.
It's a good drive: It's obviously very quiet. No engine noise drowning out conversation or the very nice stereo system. It gives you instant power when you need it. No annoying delay when you put your foot down, or the long build up to full speed from, say, coming out into traffic, that you'd get from a petrol/diesel engine.
Charging: Charging from a 3 pin socket is possible but very, very slow, taking over 30 hours to charge from zero to full. So, I got a charger installed as soon as possible. They're not cheap, costing over £1000, but they make life a lot easier (10 hours to full charge if you get the usual 7kWh charger), and often add to the price of your house. UK energy companies offer special EV rates for their electric. Ovo give me 7p a kW, which is considerably cheaper than usual peak/off peak rates.
So, if you don't do long journeys, getting about is very cheap. My car gives me 4.4 miles per kW or 1.6 pence a mile. By contrast, the Prius would cost me around 11 to 15 pence per mile at today's prices.
The cost and aggravation comes in if you need to do a long journey which requires you to charge at a public charger. [Note: To keep your car's battery in good condition, you are advised to keep the battery between 20 and 80% full, which tends to force your hand a bit].
I tried this out on 450 mile round trip. I started with a 100% battery (Kia advise you to charge to 100% on a home charger once a month), and that got me to where I was going with 27% left. I then used a public charger for 49p/kWh which works out at around 11p per mile. Okay, I guess. However, in the UK, you have to download an app and enter your details, including credit card to do this. It's not just a swipe your card and go deal which would be much easier. As you know, you don't always get a phone signal, and technology doesn't always just work. In this case, the QR code that provided the charger's ID didn't work, so I had to find a workaround.
In the UK, there are dozens of charging networks, most requiring that you download their app even if the charger is contactless. As it turned out, I had to charge 3 times, and each was on a different network, requiring me to download 3 different apps. All 3 chargers gave me problems. The second one took an age to download the app, the ID had to be searched for, and, despite allegedly being able to charge at a rate similar to my home charger, provided me with the equivalent of a 3 pin socket, giving me an extra 40 miles after charging for 5.5 hours. The third was a fast charger and the app lost my credit card details and provided no way to add it again. In the end, I used contactless, and it worked. It was very fast to charge but cost 89p/kWh or over 20p a mile! It was a motorway service station but, I suspect, any fast charger would be expensive.
The lessons I've learnt from this are: a) plan your longer journeys in terms of where you'll charge using something like Zapmap; b) Build in contingencies in case the chargers are occupied or out of order; c) Download all apps in advance of travelling.
This should make life easier and, hopefully, charging cheaper.
I do wonder how it's got like this though. It's like the wild west out there. Maybe the previous government thought allowing a free-for-all amongst networks would create competition and drive down prices but it's not my experience. Using Zapmap to check prices, they seem remarkably uniform, almost as if they're all checking the competition's prices to see how much they can get away with. Maybe, just maybe, this would be okay if the tech just worked but, from my limited experience and reading Zapmap reviews, it doesn't in every case. As ever, it seems to be a rush to market with flakey hardware and software, and I hate to think what the security is like for our data.
Maybe one day the cowboys will be driven out of Dodge, until then I'm going to enjoy my EV and limit the number of long journeys.
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