Sean is an Electrical Engineer and lives with his family in the rural midlands. He has owned a Generation 1 Nissan LEAF since 2012 which has 328,000 KM on the clock and was among one of the first EV owners in Ireland. The cost of owning and running an EV as well as the environmental benefits were among the factors which motivated his decision.
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1.
What is your current vehicle and what are your thoughts on it?
2012 Nissan LEAF – I couldn’t be parted from it!
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2.
What do you consider to be the benefits of driving an Electric Vehicle?
Cost, vehicle reliability, comfort and ease of driving.
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3.
Are there any challenges to owning an Electric Vehicle?
Trip planning beyond the roundtrip range.
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4.
What advice would you give to someone considering their first EV?
If you have the option to fit a home charger then there’s really nothing to be said, it’s easier and better than ICE in every single way.
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5.
What does your average journey look like?
Our average journey has evolved since buying the Nissan LEAF. It was purchased to meet a 1000KM/week commuting requirement. These days we only do about half of that and it’s mostly school, grocery and weekend runs along with 50km worth of commuting a week on my wife’s behalf/ We went from a 50,000 KM/per annum requirement when we bought it, to only doing about 27,000 KM last year.
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6.
What are your thoughts about the existing infrastructure to support EV drivers? Is it sufficient?
Sufficient is probably the right word in so far as it’s possible to get anywhere on the island in a modern EV using it, however it isn’t Easy.