So today, at the godforsaken hour of 4:30 am I got up. I expect Nikki got up earlier, because she had to treck across Bristol to meet me at 5:30, but at any rate, ignoring that, at 4:30am I arose, washed and wandered downstairs where I stared balefully at the cereal thinking ‘but I only ate dinner at 21:30’. Having decided that even my nurse’s stomach wasn’t really in the mood for food (basically it kept saying it was full), I supped a fine cup of Two Day Coffee, drank some juice and dinked on the internet until Nikki arrived.
Why was she here at the almost equally ungodly 5:30*? Because, today was the day I’d decided to go and get our ‘new’** Mitsubishi iMiev. Never one to rest on my laurels when I’ve reached a decision, after we’d agreed on getting an electric car, I rapidly spent a large chunk of the Bank’s Concept Of Money on it. Interestingly, the Bank gave their concept of money to a chap without me ever seeing any physical money, thanks to the wonders of mobile banking and the internet, which makes spending it feel ever more surreal. Anyhow, we’ve not got there yet, so wait, god damn it.
Now, you may be thinking, because you’re all sane people (unlike Nikki, and perhaps to a lesser extent, myself), Bristol’s nearly 200 miles from Liverpool…and the range; the real world range of an iMiev is around 60 miles. Is that wise?
Of course, one could look to the inept Jeremy Clarkson, who, it seems is unable to control his leaden right foot sufficiently to be able to drive an electric car***. Whilst much amusement can be drawn from his manifold failings when it comes to electric cars (mind you, perhaps it wasn’t his fault?) I assumed that given that my right foot has the ability to adjust to different driving conditions and vehicles, that with careful planning we could achieve success – if somewhat slowly. Well, when I say ‘I assumed’, it was more that Nikki persuaded me. Although she didn’t have to try very hard when I saw the price of the train tickets.
So, we piled into Nikki’s Prius (about to be traded in for a Volt, incidentally) and headed North. And North. And North. And lo, we did arrive at…the wrong address, because I’m a ditz. This almost became a recurring theme.
Having gone to the right address we inspected the in excellent condition, 3 year old, ex CABLED (Coventry and Birmingham Low Emissions vehicle Demonstrators) iMiev. It was essentially perfect. A few minor cosmetic blemishes, and a very early (possibly Japanese spec.) interior – but the batteries were in excellent shape (according to Nikki’s dongle) and at only 7000 miles on a 3 year old car… well. It’s almost new.
A quick test drive was then commenced, and in the car park of ASDA I dropped my brand new Ecotricity card. Well, I assume I did. I can’t be wholly certain, because I didn’t notice. So test drive completed (It’s a car! It drives! Nothing fell off!) and the concept of money passed between us, and the car was mine****. We popped it back on charge, did paperwork, and Nikki gave me driving tips (‘Try and keep it around the Ec of Eco, and we’ll be travelling at 50’ to surmise).
And off we trotted.
When we got to the first service station, Keele, Nikki’s research said that the rapid (DC) charger was not working. ‘Powers On Looks Good’ to quote a well-known e-bay phrase meaning ‘horribly broken’. However, the North side charger was, apparently, online. Permission from the Gods Of The Rest Stop was sought and we toddled across the super sekrit access bridge from the South side to the North side.
15 Miles***** range remaining said the car…
Not only did the North side charger Power On and Look Good, it also gave satisfying clunk noises, the aircon fired up and the batteries got charged. Only, of course, before it made satisfying clunk noises there came ‘the dance of the Ecotricity card’. This is where one idiot realises that her brand new, shiny, had less than 24 hours Ecotricity card is not, in fact, in her pocket anymore. Oh no.
Nor is it anywhere in the car. Nor is it anywhere in Nikki’s Prius. No, it is, in fact, most likely in a carpark in Liverpool. Arse, says Kate. Thankfully (oh, so very thankfully), Nikki had brought her card and we were able to charge.
Wheeee, said I. And off we went with a nicely charged iMiev.
We dived off the Motorway to the very nice Moat House Hotel who have a Zero Carbon World charger. At which point there was…a problem.
[cue the top-gear music]
It seems that the very early CABLED car that I’d just bought possibly lacks a rather important thing. Whilst it sports what’s known by those in the know as a J1772 connector, that connector appears to lack the back-end bit that tells the charger, when connected, to please start charging. So whilst the plug fits, there ain’t a lot happening once it’s in. Now, I’m going to be having a nice friendly chat to Mitsubishi, who I hope can rectify this, because at the moment, the cable supplied with the car doesn’t actually meet EU regs for cables, apparently.
Thankfully, ZeroNet offers both Level 2 and bog-standard British 3-pin, 13A (where it’ll draw 10A) charging. So we plugged ‘er into that and off we trotted to have a very nice lunch and look extremely underdressed.
Coming back out, the range guessometer had gone from 66miles (at full when we collected it) to somewhere in the region of the 70s. Whee, my light right foot FTW.
So we headed off and pulled in to another motorway services and plugged in to another DC charger. Chargey Chargey went the batteries… and then Nikki broke it to me. The next section ends with a bloody great steep hill and was 61 miles. The ‘we could stop and top up’ charger that was in between for ’emergencies’, well that was now moot since the car wouldn’t charge from a level 2 (J1772) charger. So, I girded my loins, prepared my very lightest feather foot for the drive, and off we went.
I drove like a saint. Well, if saints were intensely irritating to other traffic and drove at an almost perfectly steady 47-51 mph. The hills were met with nun like calm as the little gauge would drift right of the Eco towards the ‘non green’ section.
Did we make it?
Did we?
Of course we bloody did. I’m not Jeremy ‘Lead-foot’ Clarkson. 11 miles range she said as we pulled up at Ecotricity’s Forest Green Football Club charger. I will grant that the ‘please charge me blinky light’ had come on at this point, but that is akin to the yellow ‘please fill me up’ light which I’ve seen rather often on Chester.
The final stretch, from there to Bristol was less saintly. Not ridiculous, but less saintly…
Yeah, okay, that didn’t work. Like the last time lapse it all went wrong. Mind, I tried. I should have charged my phone at the same time as the car :)
The music? OSnap! offers you the chance to add music, but doesn’t seem to offer you any other tweaks like ‘start from here’ or ‘fade in/out’. Which is a shame.
Unsurprisingly, we got home with 11 miles on the guessometer, two bars of charge and the little ‘please charge me’ flashy coming on about 5 minutes from the house. It turns out our garage is just big enough for the iMiev and the Minor and the bikes. Just. It’s not spacious at this point, despite my previous assumptions about spaciousness.
However, we got her in, she’s charging, and we are now an EV household. And very shiny she is too.
*Which is when I normally get up for work
** For 3 year old values of ‘new’
*** An unfortunate condition for someone who has a vague relation to an automotive journalist.
**** Well, Kathryn’s and mine.
***** I know it says KM on the range display, it’s actually in miles.
