This week our motoring columnist Brian McDaid discusses the next revolution of motoring, as he takes us on a ride around Donegal in the newest electric car, the Nissan Leaf.
The revolution has started! “All –electric”cars are now matching the sales of their equivalent traditional type family cars.
That’s the story with Inishowen Motors for the class leader in “all-electric cars” in Donegal the Nissan Leaf. Not to be mistaken with hybrids which are after the same goal – but different.
They are half petrol and half electric. Toyota is the leading brand in this new race for low emissions.
Back to the future.
When I was a boy I day-dreamed about electric cars and imagined them plugged into a plug in my home in our council row where I lived.
Maybe sharing a double adapter with the sacred heart picture, like the way we did with Christmas lights on our Christmas tree, and wondering what Jesus would think with those eyes that followed you around the room, looking sorrowful, following the lead out the kitchen window to the garden where it would be plugged in to a car.
The old Sacred Heart picture, where everything was once plugged into with the help of a double adapter back in the day.
On Monday evening it was a bit like back to the future when I pulled the newest of the Nissan Leaf all-electric car up to the kitchen window and plugged the Granny charger into the mains.
Granny Chargers.
This is just one of the ways that drivers of electric cars will prepare in the future as they charge their all-electric cars for the next days motoring.
The Granny charger is one of three ways to charge the car, it has a house plug fitted so you can plug in anywhere and everywhere, even at your Granny’s, hence the name.
The Granny Charger in action with the Nissan Leaf. Just one of the three ways to replenish the batteries. Photo Brian McDaid.
Long-term charging at home – you can fit a charging station, which is best linked up to low-rate night electricity.
The third option, which gives you the best deal at the moment, is hooking up at public charging units which are ‘free of charge’ pardon the pun, to encourage the public to make the change to electric powered cars more attractive.
We had the latest Nissan Leaf out for a few days this week.
Gone are the days that electric cars only needed to look beautiful on the inside for all the efforts they made for the environment and emissions.
The classy interior of the new Nissan Leaf that I road tested this week. Photo Brian McDaid.
The latest Nissan Leaf is beautiful on the outside now as well.
We drove the ‘Leaf SEV’, which was finished out in dark soft leather with blue stitching, blue being the colour to hint that this car is both electric and also putting out a big ZERO emissions from its electric motor. When we collected our Leaf from Inishowen motors in Drumkeen, a quick tutorial on the workings of the car and away we went.
The very first thing that comes to mind is when you step inside the Leaf is the response from the throttle.
The automatic gearbox is seamless so before you know it you are nearly over the nations speed limit and you’re lifting your foot off the gas, sorry, the power to slow down again.
If you have this car in D (drive) it whizzes along like it’s sitting a few inches above the ground.
Everything is so aerodynamic – it’s so quiet and in this mode, it’s all about momentum.
Heading down into Letterkenny and down Lurgybrack, the car can be moved into B (brake) on the gear nob, which works in two ways, both in lifting your foot off the throttle or when you are braking. The Leaf is recycling energy back into the battery from the energy used to slow the car down or bringing it to a stop.
Road trip.
On our trip, we climbed to where I believe is the location of where the highest railway station once operated in Co. Donegal at Cashelnagor – high in the hills outside Gortahork.
I lined up the latest in electric transport, the Nissan Leaf, on where the old railway tracks once ran on one of the oldest and beautifully preserved sites of transport in Donegal, Cashelnagor Station.
From the very old to the very new. The railway station at Cashelnagor to the latest in electric transport, the Nissan Leaf. Photo Brian McDaid.
The evening light was starting to fall with the heavy low cloud, which made the place very moody and timeless.
Glancing at the 181 number plate on the Leaf, which ended with the numbers 1933, I thought of what this place would have looked like in the 30’s and could’ve easily expected to see and hear the Lough Swilly train filling the sky with smoke and steam as it puffed its way to the station.
Equally, the memories of watching the film, The Railway Station Man, which was shot here on location at Cashelnagor station a quarter of a century ago – including big stars of the silver screen like Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie.
Silent Movie.
On Monday, there was only one star in its own silent movie here as the Nissan Leaf pulled into the old station without a single sound from its electrical propelled power plant. The beautiful old street lights came on and it was gas lighting that brightened the evening here high in the Donegal Hills long before electricity ever reached Cashelnagor.
As we headed homeward bound we put the car in “Eco-Drive” to test the Nissan Leaf. This takes some of the response out of the nippy electric motor – focusing on the preservation on the battery power. In ideal conditions, a Nissan Leaf will give you just over 250 km/s.
The Nissan Leaf recharging its batteries, while braking indicated is in Blue this week. Photo Brian McDaid.
The Japanese manufacturer and the ESB Group have teamed up to map out public charging points around Ireland – with the help of apps on your mobile phone and satellite-navigation system that can plan your journey.
They can tell you locations and directions to your nearest charging point some of which can even give you a quick charge in 40 minutes.
With the more powerful electric motors and the increase in the capacity of the battery in newest Nissan Leaf, all electric motoring in Donegal is here and now!
The Range-topping ‘SEV’ that we drove is around the €30,000 mark when all the benefits are included for the purchase of this zero-emission family car.
Photo Brian McDaid.
It had all the extras including an unbelievable Bose music system, which had the Eagles, “Take it to the Limit” from my iPhone as if they were sitting in the back seat.
It doesn’t matter if you are out to do your part for the planet and reduce the pollution footprint, or you are looking for a more economical way to get from A to B – or even do both!
The Leaf is the way forward for the future, Granny Chargers included, as we move from the memories of the power of steam in Cashelnagor, to combustion engines, and now to the future in electric-powered cars on our roads ahead.
Happy Motoring Folks.
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