Tuesday 22 May 2012

To EV or not to EV, that is the practical question...

Well I've been naughty and skipped a week of Blogging, but I have a genuine excuse Miss.
It's been a very busy week and I have officially lit the candle in the middle, which initially gives me no where to hold it as both ends were lit ages ago. The middle section flame is heading towards either end and soon there will be two slightly smaller candles....which I can hold in either hand, in the middle, and carry on with more light!!
For those of you that have worked it out it does mean that the candles will in actual fact take a 1/4 of the time to burn, releasing all of their light energy, and Co2, in a 1/4 of the time also. But... can I get the jobs done in that time?
Well this is the same predicament I have just had to deal with with my 24 hours ownership of the Nissan Leaf Electric car. The metaphors just keep on coming...
I had planned my date with the leaf week's in advance, taking into account the promoted range of the vehicle, the fact that I wanted to demonstrate it was actually possible to live the electrical dream, including business and domestic pleasure (according to the insurance policy), however things did not go all to plan....
I have to say it was not Nissan's fault, but my planned route of 89 miles for the day, including two designated charge points was not to be...I set off bright and early to pick up the Leaf from Desira Nissan in Norwich, I arrived for my 10AM rendez-vous and 'the chap that normally deals with Nissan Electric is not in today' so the leaf had a charged range of 80 miles indicated when I picked it up. Not too much off a problem. I excitedly drove to my first business appointment in Gt Yarmouth, getting used to the feel of the car, choosing econ mode, switching off all the climate trickery and concentrating on the drive.
After Gt Yarmouth a steady drive to Hethel in South Norfolk was next, and the first charging post!
The car drove faultlessly if a little slower than I would have normally driven, but I arrived with 11 miles to spare...PHEW! but to my horror the post was broken!!! blimey! that's a problem, 11miles left, and about 13miles to my next appointment. Too risky. I felt like a 1906 Silver Shadow driver with a one gallon petroleum Spirit can standing in a Que at Boots Pharmacists....
Nice car, but infrastructure lets me down. Luckily for me the kind bods at Magnus Marine lent me a 13Amp socket for a couple of hours and I got some charge on board. Magnus laughed, they do BIG charging systems and power control for super Yachts, so Abramavich and clan can have an air conditioned Deck while they watch someone else play deck coytes....
Anywho, I had to cancel much of the afternoon's meetings, and a suprise test, take the Leaf home and prepare for family life activities.
A Leaf today with a hairdryer from boots

The wife likes it, so does Baby Em, plenty of room for shopping and baby stuff, quiet enough to have a conversation with the passengers, and plenty of power in the lower speeds to make driving interesting. But a few too many dash board distractions, side lights that won't go off, and a handbrake with a mind of it's own....Electric transmission is the future, but.....
and it's the But that trips me each time, infrastructure...I'm not happy filling up from a vandalised-exposed-bollard in the middle of no where. I'm sure it will change as more people but them, but for now it's a problem.
Would I have one, possibly, it's a very good car for its application, but there are alot of hybrids that are comming about now!
I'm all for clean tech, in all its guises, and support the Nissan's future, and the diesel and the petrol and the hydrogen, and the.......
I'm just left with thinking that it's a compromise of large ish proportions, you want comfort? Well you have to burn the candle in the middle. You want to get there? Then just light one end, and role the window down and be happy you will get there....


Next time, New Job and what it means to change tack in life at my age....

These views are the views of the author and not associated to Nissan or any other automotive manufacturer.

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Hydrogen Galore...and other single malts...

Well last week was interesting from a technology and travel point of view.
I was in Oxford, Edinburgh and Newcastle within a couple of days of each other, and I drove the entire way! I was talking to clients and partners about technologies that the company I work with has got. Its all gone Hydrogen, which is a good thing. Hydrogen is going to be the new fuel for transport, but has it got it's work cut out if it wants to compete with smelly diesel or petrol?
Technology is always tomorrow, and as a result people see it and scoff at it, and continue to use the existing technology until, quietly, methodically, inevitably technololgy is there! In your hand...
I note that Hydrogen is always 30 years away acording to some Hacks, but in all realistic terms we've already got it. It's like the day you woke up and realised you can't live without your mobile phone or the internet. I can remember when it was novel to have a mobile telephone, and now my 75 year old father has two!
If we're really going to use Hydrogen, Alternate fuels, Electric cars etc it will happen passivly and without us concensly being aware of it. What do I mean? Well government are pushing for cleaner tail pipe emmisions, and the UK golden target is 100grams per Km out put of Co2. The vehicle companies have duely reduced emmisions, and a vast number of cars are there, we are more likely than ever to purchase a clean tailpipe car than ever, and we would'nt know. We would'nt care that we can fill it up at a petrol station or plug it in, we're used to plugging our phones in every where. So Hydrogen? well it will come because we need to reduce Co2 further, and its an easy change to meet the rules. We wont have a national change over day, or a special Hydrogen Bank Holiday, but cars will move over, infrastructure will move over, technology will move over, and we, the users will never know. Thats the process and relentless march of technology!!
Cars take in the view at Edinburgh Castle last week

What will make hydrogen easier to use is its flexabilty and ease of manufacture, we'll be making it locally and cleanly, and that's the game changer, that's the bit that makes it all worth while, even in the remotest parts of the country, from the highest Highlands of Scotland to the lowest lowlands of the Norfolk fens, Hydrogen will be there.

For reference, I managed 48.8Mpg to Scotland, in my gas guzzler, and I'm happy with that, 630 miles a tank ful makes for better driving. I wonder what the next trip will bring....
Next week... The Nissan Leaf arrives!!!

Tuesday 1 May 2012

Naaa, I'm off to rent a Neutron gun...

Last week was a normal week in my world apparently...This week not even a day into it, and I've been to the biggest science lab in the UK, walked on top of a Neutron accelerator, and seen more people in white lab coats than an episode of Silent Witness.
Where was I? I was was at the UK's top secret Labs, just outside of Didcot in Oxfordshire, called Rutherford Appleton Laboratories. This place is massive, from Nuclear to Geology it does amazing things. I was only there to talk about Hydrogen, another areas they are leading in, as they can see what makes hydrogen work...wow!
What struck me the most about this facility was the fact that everyone has heard about Cern, but hardly anyone brags to the British public about the scale of the work going on in the UK. More experiments, more analysis, more answers to monster questions. The site there has been at the forefront of British science since the 50's and just keeps on getting bigger.
You can even rent the neutron accelerator by the day for your own experiments!! WOW!
Rent a Mondeo?..."Naaaa, I'm off to Rent a Neutron gun!!"
The energy used at the site is horrendous, one of the reasons it's a tad pricey to rent, but if it enables us to lead the world in new fuels, understanding new space exploration, test electronics etc etc then it's worth it.
I'm proud of the fact that we still have such facilities in the UK, I'm proud of the fact that they lead the world, I'm not proud of the fact that we say so little about our status in leading the world...as part of the Uk's inward investment and overseas investment, we as a Nation should be taking pride in these technologies and facilities....Darn it...

So this week, as part of my 'sneak up on Science week' I'm off to Edinburgh, and Newcastle Universities. Both strong hydrogen and plasma facilities in the UK...I'm even more excited to see what they've got in their labs, though I do doubt it will be as big as RA labs...

Special thanks to the team at CellaEnergy for a perfect day!