MICHAEL McALEERanswers your motoring queries
From PM:
I’m interested in getting an electric car when they come out but I’m still not sure what it might mean or what I’d be required to do. When are they coming and what as an owner will I have to do? Is it just an outdoor plug I need? I need a proper family car, but the sort of mileage they are talking about is well within the 25 miles a day I would use it for. Some say the battery runs out after 10 years. What happens then? I’d really need to be changing my car next year.
I think you might have to consider one last hurrah in a fossil burning or hybrid car before you go electric. It will probably be 2013 before you see electric cars on our roads in any numbers. Only this week I got a short spin in Renault’s upcoming all-electric version of the Fluence, but it’s not due here until the end of next year and even then in very limited numbers.
The good news is that apart from their limited range between charges, there will be few other demands made on motorists.
The plan is that owners can install special outdoor charge points for their electric cars, likely to be priced at about €500. Similar to public charging points, they will be more secure than the average outdoor plug.
In terms of driving, as we’ve frequently mentioned in the past, the car firms are eager to make the driving experience as similar as possible to a regular automatic car and the only noticeable difference will be less freewheeling when you take your foot off the accelerator. The silence might unnerve some motorists initially, but it’s nothing more than the same encounter you have at the moment with the current crop of hybrids when they run on battery power.
The life of the battery is important and most estimate it will have a useful life in a car of about 10 years, though that doesn’t mean it is completely useless after then and plans are already being drawn up to use them as electric storage units after their time in the cars.
Given the limited lifespan of the batteries, their cost and the potentially horrendous impact the need for an expensive battery replacement might have on an electric car’s resale value, different purchase models for the batteries are being considered by the various car firms, with the most viable being that you lease the battery and simply get it replaced at no extra cost. That way you own the metal shell and comfy seats and can sell it on with or without the battery pack.
We’ll have to wait until these cars go on sale to find out the full details of the various options on offer and make proper comparisons on the business models. I suggest your best bet is to consider a hybrid like the
Prius if you really need to change next year and then look to getting an electric car the next time you buy.
Ideally you should get your Prius in the next few months, as the tax incentives for hybrids are due to run out at the end of this year, unless the Government has a change of heart in the upcoming Budget.
Send your queries to Motors Helpdesk, The Irish Times, Tara Street, Dublin 2, or e-mail motorshelp@irishtimes.com