👋 Meet Elinor
“I live in an apartment and charge in the city. Charging is free for Dundee residents, and there are other low-cost options outside of the city!“
🚙 Drives: Nissan Leaf
📍 Lives: Near Dundee
🔌 Charges: Using public chargers
🚘 I was offered a test drive in a Nissan Leaf - and I really enjoyed it!
Back in 2015 I drove a Nissan Qashqai diesel but my PCP agreement was coming to an end. I absolutely love my EV and it has caused me to think about where I get my energy from. I am now applying for solar panels on my home and plan to charge my LEAF from the solar power.
Even though I have a short range EV, it has not stopped my partner and I driving all over the country. You just build stops into the journeys. With apps showing you the charging infrastructure, you plan where you want to stop. It feels so clunky when I go back to a petrol and diesel.
🔌 Charging availability was the deciding factor for me.
Dundee City Council has made it so easy to charge your EV. Charging is free for Dundee residents if you have an EV. But even though I commute into Dundee I charge there as the charge fees are low. There are three rapid charging hubs across the city.
Plus, there are chargers in the multi-story car park for commuters who drive into Dundee in the morning, plug in, go home, then local people charge their EVs on the chargers available. Even the taxi fleet in Dundee is electric. The Council now has a huge electric fleet including an electric refuse lorry and an EV bus.
😎 Driving electric comes with some surprising perks!
With my EV, I can pre-heat the vehicle while I sit inside my home by turning on the heating in the LEAF by using an app. This is a cool feature. My LEAF is also reliable. There is so little to go wrong with EVs given that they have fewer parts than a conventional combustion engine vehicle. The batteries just keep going and if you want to extend the range of your battery, you can always arrange to have a larger battery with greater range installed.
🙌 Owning my LEAF has led to me meeting many interesting people.
Owning my LEAF has led to me meeting many interesting people. There is a lot of curiosity about EVs out there. There is an EV community of supporters giving advice, which is extremely helpful. Then the conversation turns to renewables.
My husband and I loved our EV so much that we even had a Nissan LEAF as our wedding car – something Nissan provided.
