Owners speak candidly about electric vehicles
Electric vehicles such as the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf have been available for sale in Canada for several months now, meaning there are hundreds of owners out there with a good sense of how these battery-powered cars operate under a variety of conditions.
One of those owners is TVO senior editor Steve Paikin, who anchors the current affairs program
The Agenda with Steve Paikin.
Last May at Exhibition Place, officials from the Toronto Atmospheric Fund organized a test drive of several Volts as part of the fund’s Fleetwise program. Paikin, who was hosting a show inside the Ex’s old automotive building, was intercepted by TAF staff and encouraged to go for a spin.
He did, enjoyed the “smooth” drive, and was instantly hooked. “It made me think, wow, get it now, get this car,” recalls Paikin, who admittedly was in the market for a new ride. His kids are now in university and he no longer needed all that extra space that came with his six-year-old Dodge Caravan.
Paikin’s driving patterns made him a good candidate for a plug-in vehicle. “The reality is I do short city driving 90 per cent of the time.”
After the test drive, he spent a few weeks researching the Volt before taking the plunge. He received his vehicle in October and, for the most part, is happy with his decision. It used to cost him $75 to fill up the Caravan, but now he spends about $1 a night on electricity to keep the vehicle charged.
Paikin chose the Volt because it’s a hybrid, meaning it can be driven in pure electric mode for a short distance before a small gas-powered engine, the range extender, kicks in to drive the electric motor and recharge the battery, along with regenerative braking.
Like many who may have “range anxiety,” Paikin took comfort in having the option of driving longer distances without worrying about the lithium-ion battery pack running out of juice. “I can drive to Sudbury in this car,” he says.
Indeed, he already has. Even so, Paikin adds, “I’ve only been to a gas station twice since owning it. The fact I’m going to be spending far less on gas was very instrumental for me.”
So, too, were the environmental benefits. He wanted to reduce how much pollution his vehicle was spewing, and he felt that Ontario’s decision to move away from coalfired generation and add more renewable energy to the grid would make the electricity he uses to charge his Volt cleaner over time.
Negatives? Costly at $41,500, but an Ontario rebate of up to $8,500 took the edge off. “And when the weather gets colder the battery holds less of a charge,” he says.
In warm weather, Paikin figures he can get 60 kilometres of driving out of the battery pack, versus about 35 kilometres in the winter. But given his short commute, it hasn’t translated into more gasoline use during the winter. One person who didn’t have range anxiety is Mel Ydreos, vicepresident of marketing and customer care at Union Gas. Ydreos decided last year to purchase the 2012 Nissan Leaf, a pure-electric vehicle that in the city can drive up to 160 kilometres (possibly more) before needing a recharge. It matched well with Ydreos’ lifestyle. He lives in the neighbourhood of Leslieville and works downtown, meaning a round-trip commute of maybe 25 kilometres. He has a laneway garage that can accommodate a Level 2 wall charger, which at 240 volts gives him faster recharging. For long trips, such as from Toronto to Montreal, he can drive the family’s second car. Ydreos says he chose the Leaf because he was impressed with Nissan’s engineering work. Besides, he adds, “I wanted to show some leadership for my 2-year-old son.” The car itself is quite attractive inside and out, quiet, smooth and has some major zip. But what impressed me the most was what Ydreos showed me before we got in for a drive. Sitting in front of a laptop in his kitchen, he logged into the Nissan website and immediately began interacting via Wi-fi with the computer system of the car, which was parked on the street in front of his house. From his laptop, he can set up a schedule of when the car starts charging, allowing him to take advantage of time-of-use electricity prices. Ydreos can see how much charge is left in the battery, how far that will get him based on historical driving patterns, and how he ranks against other Leaf owners in Canada — around the world, really — in terms of fuelefficient driving behaviour.
The most significant drawback, not just for the Leaf but for any battery-dependent vehicle, is the impact of the climate control system on driving range. With a 75 per cent battery charge, the Leaf’s computer tells us it can travel an estimated 134 kilometres, but with an estimate that assumes the heating system is turned on that number plunges to 88 kilometres.
That’s why Ydreos pre-heats the car when possible. From his laptop, he can turn on the heating system as the car sits in the garage and warm things up, all the time drawing power from the wall socket instead of the battery. Little tricks like that save more charge for travel time.
Shouldn’t Ydreos, given his job title, be driving a car powered by compressed natural gas? “I do get a lot of raised eyebrows when I tell people I work in the natural gas industry,” he admits. “But, for me, it’s not about this or that technology, it’s about this and that.”
For his particular situation, he explains, an electric vehicle fits the bill. EVS may never completely take over the world, but they do appeal to a certain segment of the population — home-owning city dwellers with short commutes, a garage, a desire to pollute less, and a dislike of rising gas prices.
That segment is destined to grow as costs come down, battery capacity goes up, and new technologies make electric cars accessible to more people in more situations. Tyler Hamilton, author of Mad Like Tesla, writes weekly about green energy and clean technologies.