It's the second year in which the ESB has been running its Great Electric Drive - a massive campaign to get us all to sit up and take more notice of the potential for an electric car revolution. Individuals were asked to submit a 1,500-word essay on why they should be chosen to be an e-Car ambassador, and 26 have been selected, spanning 20 counties around Ireland. Six companies, including Inland Fisheries Ireland; Parcel Zone (Dublin); Verve, the Live Agency; the Spelt Bakery (Kilkenny); Cork City Fire Brigade; and Mercury Engineering will also get an electric delivery van to try out.
The electric vehicles are being provided by major car companies and include the BMW i3, Citroen C-Zero, Mitsubishi iMiEV, Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid, Nissan Leaf and e-NV200 commercial van, Renault Zoe, Twizy and the Kangoo ZE commercial van.
Ireland has always been seen as something of a useful test case for electric vehicles. We have a small island, major urban centres that are relatively close together and an electricity network controlled and maintained by a semi-state body. We also have a temperate climate (batteries hate extremes of either cold or heat) and no major mountain passes to climb over. That has not, hitherto, much helped the sales of electric cars here and even well-known battery cars such as at the Nissan Leaf have failed to make an especially big dent in either the sales charts or the public consciousness. That's going to have to change, and rapidly, if the government wants to hit its previously stated target of having 10 per cent of new car sales taken by electric vehicles by 2020. A continuation of the e-Car ambassador programme (getting regular people to drive electric cars for a year and report back on their experiences to the media and their circles of friends and families) should help, as will the fact that many, many more electric cars will be coming on stream in the next 24 months.
John McSweeney, head of Innovation, ESB said: "We are delighted to have 32 new ambassadors to take part in the second Great Electric Drive. We have chosen people from all over the country and all walks of life. People in Ireland are really starting to realise the benefits of electric cars and their suitability for everyone, no matter what their driving patterns are.
"This year our aim is for the ambassadors to drive a total of 150,000 kilometres in their ecars, which is 50,000 kilometres more than last year. This will deliver a combined saving of almost €20,000 in fuel costs for the ambassadors and savings of up to 15 tonnes of CO2. The high performance and range capabilities of the latest electric vehicle models should really help the ambassadors achieve these goals."
Anything else?
The launch of The Great Electric Drive 2014/2015 was attended by Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte who said "the electrification of transport is a key component of Ireland's emissions reduction strategy and reducing our dependency on imported fuels. I am delighted Ireland continues to lead the way in this area and welcome the very strong response to ESB's Great Electric Drive from the general public."