Daily Archives: June 27, 2017

Nissan Leaf Charges To 20,000 UK Sales

Electric Cars, Leaf, Leaf 30kWh, News, Reviews and Comment, Nissan

As Nissan LEAF charged past the milestone of 20,000 sales in the UK, owners of the best-selling electric vehicle have heaped praise on the model in the 2017 Driver Power survey.

The Nissan LEAF was awarded Best Green Car overall and also came top in the Best Engine and Gearbox and Best MPG and Running Costs awards categories.

Driver Power is the UK’s biggest and most in-depth car satisfaction survey, with seven surveys covering the different phases of vehicle ownership. There also nine Judging Category awards split into satisfaction categories.

Editor of Auto Express, Graham Hope, commented;

“The Nissan LEAF’s results in the 2017 survey indicates that the hard work that the Nissan team has put in developing the vehicle and educating the market about the benefits of Electric Vehicles (EV) has paid off.”

“Leading the way in EVs is important. People are becoming more conscious of green vehicles (Hybrids and Electric Vehicles) and this year we have seen a 375% increase in the number of green vehicle owners.”

The Driver Power results came as Nissan GB confirmed it had sold its 20,000th Nissan LEAF in the UK.

The buyers of the milestone model were Diane and Chris Ray of Hollesley in Suffolk, who took home a range-topping 30kWh LEAF Tekna from local dealer Hammond Nissan.

It is the couple’s second Nissan LEAF – replacing a two year-old 24kWh model – and it was the only car on their shopping list when the time came for a replacement.

Diane, who runs a holiday let business, said:

“I love the LEAF. It does everything I want from a car and is beautiful to drive.

“When the time came to replace mine I didn’t look at anything else. I only wanted another LEAF but this time with the bigger battery.”

She added:

“It was a real surprise to find out I was the 20,000th LEAF customer but it’s so encouraging to see more and more people switching to all-electric cars and exciting to know I’m a part of that story.”

Read more: Fleet Point

HS2, space and electric cars in the Queen’s Speech

Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment

New laws to extend the High Speed 2 line will be announced in tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech as part of a drive on key infrastructure projects.

A computer generated image of artist impression issued by HS2 of the proposed HS2 station at Euston.

Legislation to encourage space rockets to be launched from UK soil and to spread the use of electric cars will also be included in the two-year programme, which will otherwise be dominated by Brexit.

A Bill that will allow the extension of the HS2 rail project from Birmingham to Manchester will be announced in the Queen’s Speech. Officials say that as well as providing quick trains to London, the development will expand capacity on commuter lines.

Phase one of HS2 London to Birmingham has been approved by Parliament but even by the most optimistic estimates will not be completed for another decade.

The total budget for HS2 is £56billion but critics say the eventual bill could top £100billion

Ministers said they want to establish spaceports in ‘regions across the UK’, to allow satellites to be sent into space for the first time from UK soil, and to allow spacecraft to fly to the edge of the atmosphere. Satellites cannot currently be launched from the UK.

The new law will allow ministers to licence various space-related activities including rockets, ‘space planes’, and satellite operation. Other powers will make it easier for drivers of electric cars to register to use charging points. There are an estimated 100,000 electric cars and vans on Britain’s roads.

Read more: Daily Mail

An Electric Car – You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone

Blog, Electric Cars, Renault, ZOE

Being faced with any issue on a standard petrol car is bad enough, we have been used to these mechanics for years, but what happens when your car is electric and something goes wrong?

Arranging a time for repair is the same as any car, and I found Renault Customer Services to be very helpful, they acted straight away getting me a courtesy hire car with no delay. However I was disappointed that it wasn’t an electric car, I was given a Petrol Renault Twingo.

I must say, it felt like I was driving something much older than 2 years, it felt archaic and awkward. While there was nothing actually wrong with this little car, I soon realised that the Renault ZOE is much more than a regular car.

Renault Twingo & Renault ZOE

The benefits alone are undeniable, with this petrol car I was now paying parking at almost £5 per day, using a petrol station felt grubby and the cost of fuel (£32.55 for one tank) was twice as much as a month’s worth of ‘electric fuel’ in my ZOE. Luckily Renault Customer Services were understanding and agreed to pick up all of these expenses that I’d otherwise have not incurred. Aside from the running costs I must say, I really missed the serenity and ease of driving the ZOE, with its automatic driving (there are no gears), reversing camera and quick acceleration to name but a few features I really like in the ZOE.

After what felt like an age, I was finally reunited with my ZOE. I won’t miss the Renault Twingo but if nothing else the time spent with this little petrol car made me realise that I had made the right decision going electric and I won’t be looking back.

Tesla In-Car App To Soon Offer Solar Roof & Powerwall Monitoring

Energy and Climate Change, Energy Storage, News, Reviews and Comment, Solar Power, Tesla

Soon Tesla owners will be able to check solar roof and powerwall status, as well as manage settings via an in-car app.

Elon musk went on a bit of a Tweetstorm again recently, and out of it came some new information. Being that Musk believes that eventually most customers will also go solar, and invest in a Powerwall, the company has already taken steps to further integrate the products.

The updated mobile app allows those with solar roofs and Powerwalls to check power status and adjust settings via their devices. This is simply on par with many of the new home management systems in which users can mobily adjust their thermostat, engage or disengage alarms, monitor energy usage, etc.

Basically, with access to the app, Tesla owners can check how their home system is using power. Is the power coming from the Powerwall, or the solar system, or from the local grid? This way, you can see exactly what is happening at any given time.

We recently reported about YouTuber, DeRage, tapping into Tesla’s API to create a program that shows vehicle and home data all in once place. He used a program called Splunk to design dashboards for such information.

Mobile App now shows Powerwall and Solar energy flow

Soon, if you own a Tesla vehicle and a home solar system, you will be able to do this yourself, using the car’s touch screen. Being able to see vehicle energy consumption, along with home energy consumption, and especially being able to tie them together, will be a helpful tool. If you happen to have a non-Tesla home system, something like DeRage designed would be the next best thing.

This is just another way for Tesla and Musk to further tie all products together, in hopes that consumers will come to Tesla for all their needs, instead of a third party.

Source: InsideEVs