Milton Keynes is probably the leading city in the UK for its support for electric vehicles (EVs). Today I went into the main shopping centre to have a look at the progress on the forthcoming EV Experience Centre.
The new Tesla showroom in the Intu shopping centre (Image: T. Larkum)
On the way I checked out the new Tesla showroom (in the Intu centre) which I hadn’t visited before.
Red Tesla Model S in the new MK showroom (Image: T. Larkum)
I was impressed to see that in the fairly small space they had fitted in a red and a white Model S, and further in a black Model X.
What is expected to be Europe’s largest community battery is set to be installed at an innovative regeneration scheme in Nottingham, with a 2MWh Tesla battery to be deployed in September as part of a housing scheme alongside community solar.
The £100 million Trent Basin project is a new housing development built at the site of an inland dock previously derelict for around two decades. It is expected to deliver 500 homes over five phases with 375kW of rooftop and ground mounted solar and the Tesla battery to be installed by EvoEnergy.
Representatives of the energy consortium behind Trent Basin gather to mark the launch of the pilot scheme. Image: Blueprint
In an innovative use of the solar farm, planning permission has been granted on the basis that the site shall be cleared by 28 February 2020. By this time, the panels from the ground mounted installation will be removed and installed on new homes built as part of the development.
With the addition of the battery storage facility and ground source heat pumps which will also be used on site, Trent Basin is intended to provide a new way to use renewable energy sources by generating, storing and distributing all at a neighbourhood level. A local energy company, Trent Basin ESCO, has already been set up to facilitate the local energy services.
According to project lead Blueprint, the battery will store energy from the local renewable generation to be used on site while also performing grid arbitrage and smoothing out the peaks and troughs of supply and demand.
When Mercedes first started this sub-brand, even it can’t have fully envisaged just how relevant a Smart car with an electric drivetrain would be in 2017
Smart FourTwo
While the first-generation Fortwo Cabriolet Electric Drive was good, it had its limitations. Those limits have been pushed back by this new model.
When you hop in, and it’s easy to do, you realise that the new car is larger, in fact a whole 110mm wider, which makes it feel far more grown-up. There’s more stowage, a smarter dashboard and a useful 7in touchscreen controlling the integrated TomTom. It feels like just the place to go from one side of the city in some style.
Smart FourTwo
The new electric motor is similar to the one in the Renault Zoe, and makes 81bhp and a relatively substantial 118lb ft of torque. That’s up on the first model, and it has a new battery pack that sits low under the seat for a great centre of gravity. That also allows another 10 miles of range, giving you a claimed range of 96 miles.
This is a city car, so you’ll need to be in a situation where you can recharge it easily, but Smart reckons a 2.5 hour charge using fast-charge software will give you a full battery ready to go again.
Smart FourTwo
So this isn’t a car you’re going to want to use for pounding down the motorways, but in city streets you’d rather be in this than say a BMW 5 Series. Horses for courses, depending on your lifestyle. If you do need to spend time in congested, narrow streets, then the Fortwo Cabriolet ED is just the mode of transport.
Pioneering electric car must make big advancements in range, tech to keep pace.
After seven model years and hundreds of thousands of units sold, it’s finally time for Nissan to reveal a new Leaf. The Japanese automaker has just confirmed that its second-generation all-electric hatchback will bow on September 6, although it remains cagey about further details.
The next Leaf is expected to draw its styling inspiration from Nissan’s well-received IDS Concept, an aggressive-looking five-door showcar from 2015 featuring next-generation electric propulsion as well as autonomous drive tech. The new hatchback — which will likely come to market as a 2018 model — is expected to substantially improve on the 107-mile range offered in today’s car.
It had better. Fresher competitors like the Chevrolet Bolt EV, Hyundai Ioniq and next-generation Volkswagen E-Golf have all eclipsed Nissan’s pioneering EV in both range and in-car electronics, and Tesla’s Model 3 looms large over the segment (even though it hasn’t been shown in production form yet). In other words, Nissan is going to have to seriously up the Leaf’s technology game in order to compete in this small but fiercely competitive segment.
The company may well be up to the challenge. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has made developing all-electric powertrains a cornerstone of the brand’s future product plans, and as the first modern mass-production electric automobile, the Leaf maintains a special place in the company’s heart.
To that end, the Yokohama-based automaker recently disclosed that the next Leaf will be available with a version of its ProPilot driver-assist technology. The hardware will manage acceleration, braking and steering within a single lane on the freeway to help increase safety and lower driver stress. Thus far, class rivals have yet to bring anything similar to market.
