Unfortunately, the above photo is a bit of a lie, I technically owned two Tesla Model S cars at one point but only for around 30 seconds as I signed over the ownership of my original P85D back to Tesla when I upgraded to a P90DL.
In reality, our second EV is a Nissan Leaf 30KW Tekna, it does the job, it is rather ugly (matter of opinion) but once inside it’s good to drive and for the 8-10 miles my partner drives per day it’s perfect, the fact at a push it can do 110 miles on one charge means it is still perfectly usable for other day-to-day trips and the addition of Chademo rapid charging means it’s still perfectly possible to travel longer distances.
We do however have a Tesla Model 3 on order which will most likely replace this Nissan Leaf in 2019.
Things to remember:
- You will need to have two home chargers in my opinion (we have two Rolec 32amp units, 1 tethered type 2 and 1 untethered type 2) and remember under the current OLEV scheme two household members can apply for a discounted charger.
- The learning curve for someone not interested in EVs is much steeper than someone who is, especially when that new EV owner isn’t interested in cars at all.
- Creating a few mini guides for the new EV driver to keep in the car reduces those frustrated phone calls whilst ‘stuck’ on the Motorway.
- You might be able to get away with just one charger but in reality it’s going to be a pain, if you have two chargers pulling in full power at the same time means you need to be careful what other electricity you use in the house (e.g. if oven, hair dryer and tumble dryer are switched on most likely you will blow the main fuse, depending on the size of the fuse).
- Explaining “you should just plug-in the car whenever you arrive home” doesn’t go down so well after a stressful day at work
- The ability to say “We both drive from the power of the sun” is rather awesome