Short test drive in an Opel Ampera

Opel Ampera electric car

Today at work suddenly an Opel Ampera electric car appeared, and it was available for short test drives. Of course I didn’t need to be told twice and I was allowed to make the first test drive with this interesting car.

The Opel Ampera is the first electric car by Opel. According to the factory specifications it should be able to travel 80 km in full-electric mode on its 16kWh lithium-ion battery. By comparison: the Nissan Leaf (which I was allowed to test for a  week last year) can travel 160km on its 24kWh battery. Many people suffer from ‘range anxiety’ and the Ampera could cure this with a so-called ‘range extender’. This is a 1,4 litre petrol engine which, when the battery gets depleted below a certain point, starts up and keeps the battery charged. The petrol engine is not connected to the wheels, it’s purely a generator. This makes it possible to make short journeys (e.g. commuting) on electricity, while longer distances can be travelled on the petrol engine. The Ampera can be charged from any wall socket or at a charging pole which have been shooting up out of the ground everywhere for the past year.

Continue reading

On holiday with an electric car

In literally all conversations I have about electric vehicles (and electric cars in particular) a lot of time is spent on the r-word: Range. When people learn that a certain electric car has a range of 150km people sigh and say something like “That would easily get me to work and back, and getting groceries and visiting family wouldn’t be a problem either. But you can’t use it to go on holiday…”

Or can you?

De Leaf aan de snellader

A Dutch family from The Hague did what most people would consider ‘impossible’; they rented a Nissan Leaf in the summer of 2011 and just drove it to Italy and back. on their very readable (Dutch) website they describe exactly how they did it and by the looks of things they had an awesome holiday.

By making smart use of fast chargers along the route, but also by charging during the night at hotels and campings they drove from the Netherlands to Italy in a few days. The (Dutch) daily reports paint a picture of a very interesting journey with lots of nice human contacts along the route.

The statistics paint their own unique picture of this holiday in numbers.

The conclusion is very clear, contrary to what most people think (people who, for the most part, will have never driven an electric car) it’s perfectly possible to go on a foreign holiday with an electric car – without having to give up any holiday pleasure. Quite contrary, even, judging by the photos. Of course, it’s different – if you’re used to racing from the Netherlands to Italy in two days time then this different pace of travel may not appeal to you. But if you’re some one who lets your holiday start right after closing the front door behind you, and not right after you’ve arrived at your destination, crazy from travel stress, then this seems a relaxed and fun way to travel.

The website made me very enthousiastic. I hope to do something like this someday.

Dutch Open Solar Boat Challenge 2011

Besides the World Solar Challenge coming up in October we have the Dutch Open Solar Boat Challenge 2011 in the Netherlands! It’s a race for solar-powered boats, held by the end of next month.

The race has nine stages and four classes, and is held in the province of Zeeland, in the south of the Netherlands. The finish is on Saturday, June 2nd in Vlissingen. If I don’t have anything else and the weather isn’t too bad I might go and take a look. it’s not around the corner from where I live, Hilversum, it’s a train journey of nearly three hours.

(Nederlands) 130 km/u – een goed idee?

130 km/h, a good idea?

One of the spearheads of our current cabinet is the item that on a certain numer of Dutch motorways the maximum speed will be raised to 130 km/h. The media is alive with the pros and cons, but the question is: is it a good idea?

Proponents of the plan claim it will have big advantages like time savings and they ignore disadvantages like reduced road safety, noise pollution, a higher fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

Opponents fear reduced road safety, a higher fuel consumption, more noise pollution and a higher CO2 emission, while that group usually considers the time savings minimal.

Who is right? I don’t know, and as a layman in this area I don’t have the illusion of finding out, but I can still think about it.

Continue reading

Nissan Leaf short test drive – report

Nissan Leaf

On December 16th, 2010 The New Motion () organised a test-drive day, and they offered me the opportunity to make a short test drive in a Nissan Leaf (), which has been chosen as car of the year () 2011. I was of course very interested in driving this special car, the first car from a major manufacturer to be designed from the ground up as an electric car and not a conversion or adaptation of a fossil car..

The day was divided into slots of about half an hour in which the car could be driven. A these things go on days like this, they were running a bit late by the time it was my turn but that was all right. The weather was very bad that day, it was cold and it rained hard continuously. Unfortunately the weather kept me from taking pictures; I didn’t fancy exposing my camera to the rain for exterior shots and most photos of the interior turned out way too dark. That’s why this article will feature only a few photographs. At about 11:00 it was my turn and together with an employee from The New Motion and an employee from Nissan I braved the rain to run to the car.

Continue reading