A guest post from Robert Gavin and Di Elliffe, owners of Evie the Nissan Leaf, who recently took them all the way from Hobart to the Northern Beaches. Rob and Di participated in the Good Car Company‘s first community bulk buy.
We are not frequent car drivers. Our preference is for active transport – riding our electric bicycles and walking – around our hometown (Hobart) and when we are in Curl Curl we use our Brompton folding bicycles, and public transport for longer trips.
But, like most families, we occasionally find a car convenient … so when our existing fuel sipping car was due for a trade-in we took advantage of The Good Car Co bulk electric vehicle purchase of second hand imported Nissan Leaf sedans – and so Evie joined our household in May 2020.
The Good Car Co is a Tasmanian-based initiative giving Australians access to reliable, affordable second hand electric cars. Register here to find out how you could be part of their next bulk buy, or join us at ‘Accelerate your transition’,our free webinar on electric transport.
Introducing Evie
Evie is a 2017 Nissan Leaf with a 30kWh battery. When we bought her she had done 13,000 kilometres, and she cost $30,000 … effectively, almost a new car at just over half the price of a current model. Inside and out, she was in perfect condition, and The Good Car Co ensure the battery is at least 85% useable prior to purchase. The cost included purchase, shipping to Australia, conversion to Australian standards, and insurance while in transit – all handled by The Good Car Co.
Removal truck
Her first job was to help us move all our household goods into storage. The back seats fold down to provide a good volume of space (though a little odd in shape). Evie excelled at this task, quietly running to and from our store with countless loads of boxes. Around Hobart she averaged 7.2 kms per kilowatt hour (30 kWh battery, so a notional range of 210 kilometres, though in practice this was closer to 170 kms for us). We charged her at home where we had off street parking and access to a household power point and our own solar panels.
Road trip
Her second job was to take us to Sydney in June. Being a city girl, a road trip was a bit of a stretch for a Nissan Leaf like Evie, but we quickly found that, as long as we were prepared to take it easy and enjoy the trip, the journey with Evie was a treat.
A cold morning in Campbelltown, Tasmania
We stayed in a small B&B in Campbelltown, Tasmania, to break our journey to Devonport where we caught the ferry. This was because the distance between Hobart and Launceston was greater than Evie’s range, so she needed a slow (overnight) charge somewhere along the way. On our return, this will not be a problem because Campbelltown now has its own fast charger.
Making friends with a Tesla, Devonport, Tasmania
A fast charger will recharge a Nissan Leaf from low to full in 20-30 minutes. An overnight charge on a domestic power point (10 amp) will take about 12 hours.
Leisurely overnight charge at a guesthouse in Tasmania
In Melbourne we charged up in Coburg and headed North. Like Tasmania, Victoria does not have a well developed fast charging network yet. It was very frustrating driving past countless petrol stations along the way to the next fast charger. … When are we going to grasp the future?.
How to charge
Using the app “Plugshare”, we plotted our trip based on available charging stations. In Victoria we stopped at Seymour Park and then at a fast charger in Euroa. The Seymour Park stop was for three hours, and we had a great walk along the Goulburn river while waiting. An EV gets you fit as well!
Travelling at speed is a big drain on the battery, and we found our optimum cruising speed with Evie turns out to be between 85 to 95 kph. At that speed we could achieve a theoretical 150 km range comfortably. Given the slower travel speed, if an alternative route was available we would always choose it over the freeway. Fortunately, the old Melbourne to Sydney road is still running close by for much of the trip. It winds its way through the countryside and it is a pleasant, quiet and comfortable alternative road to use.
After spending the night in Wangaratta we headed off into NSW via Albury. Once in New South Wales we were pleased to find that the NRMA has a network of fast chargers to compliment commercial chargers already available. Plotting a route for an electric vehicle of a Nissan Leaf range all the way to Sydney is easily done. We stopped at Yass, ready to head into our destination the next day after an overnight slow charge.
The NRMA thinking about the future and installing fast chargers across the country
On average we were charging Evie up three times a day to allow for contingencies. Just as well, actually, because we had a minor drama at Tarcutta where a fast charger was not working properly and we could not charge up at all … so we had to drive relatively slowly to the dog on the tuckerbox (Gundagai) for our next charge.
Slowly does it
While frequent fast charges are not a problem, doing four of them in one day sent the temperature of our batteries into the red zone. I learned to enjoy the slower pace the car is more comfortable with.
Entering Sydney, Evie came into her own and it was a pleasant drive from the South up to Curl Curl. By the time we reached our destination she had reached 6.9 kms per kWh, nearly the same result as suburban driving around Hobart. It cost us just over $20 for energy for the entire trip. Charging overnight at motels was included in the tariff, and NRMA fast chargers are free at the moment.
Living and driving around Curl Curl for three months, we have enjoyed having Evie there when we need her. In suburban Sydney she is achieving 7.6 km per kWh. We charge her up during the day, at home, taking advantage of home solar to get free energy from the sun. We charge up about once a fortnight. Best of all, it is really satisfying to know we are travelling in a Nissan Leaf without contributing anything towards global warming.
Job done, Evie gets back to her normal routine, shopping at the local market.
Our shopping centre has six priority spaces for electric vehicles (Stocklands, Balgowlah), so it is always easy to get a park. If we are going over 100km there is always a fast charger somewhere along the way.
Nissan Leaf: the verdict
In summary, a 30kWh Leaf is an ideal runabout for everyday suburban driving. It is easy to drive and has more than enough energy for a full day of commuting. Being 100% electric, the mechanics are simple and reliable. Nissan also produce a small electric van which can come configured with five or seven “fold away” seats. These are also imported by The Good Car Co at a good price. Although second hand, these cars look and feel like new. They will easily pay for themselves in fuel savings over their life.
The Good Car Co are a pleasure to deal with. Anthony, Anton and Sam are passionate about transitioning away from carbon based transport and they have worked out a successful business model that everyone (including the planet) benefits from.
Robert and Di are leaders in climate activism in Tasmania. They volunteer with Bicycle Network Tasmania and Coast Watchers. Their next big project is setting up Australia’s first community owned electric vehicle carshare for an apartment block in Hobart.
The Good Car Co is a Tasmanian-based initiative giving Australians access to reliable, affordable second hand electric cars. Register here to find out how you could be part of their next bulk buy.Or join us at our next EV webinar, where Anthony and Anton will be our guest speakers.
Since publishing this post, we’ve been able to confirm three electric cars and four electric bicycles will be at our first stall at Mosman Arts and Crafts Market on Saturday October 3. Many thanks to our transport group and volunteers. Come and see the Nissan Leaf and the Hyundai Kona (from 9.30am) and the Tesla (from 12.30pm) and chat to the owners about the driving experience.
For the curious, young and old, there will be hands-on exhibits, like a pool pump which could save you $100s of dollars, and a photovoltaic panel, converting the sun into power in real time. Plus have you seen the Tesla PowerWall battery in action? We’ve got an app for that, and you’re invited to come and play.
We’ll be there from 8am till 3pm, with information on ways to reduce your emissions ranging from rooftop solar to electric bikes to home efficiency tips. If you’re in the area, please drop by and say hello.
Many thanks to Mosman Council for their support and Mosman Council Community Grant to help us buy our market tent and market equipment and to print hand-outs. Don’t forget to sample the food, have a good coffee and browse the beautiful, hand-crafted jewellery, clothes and other treasures while you’re there.
Nearly 200 people joined Mosman Council’s online Climate Action Forum last night, where they listened to a stellar panel of guest speakers and government representatives discussing climate resilience.
The panel included:
The Hon. Matt Kean MP, NSW Minister for Energy & Environment and Member for Hornsby
Zali Steggall OAM MP, Federal Member for Warringah
Felicity Wilson MP, Member for North Shore
Mosman Mayor Carolyn Corrigan
Professor David Schlosberg, Professor of Environmental Politics at the University of Sydney and Director of the Sydney Environment Institute
Professor Ruth Irwin, Team Leader Sustainability, Mosman Council.
Dominic Johnson, General Manager of Mosman Council was Master of Ceremonies.
It was a lively forum with some insightful questions posed by audience members including representatives of Zero Emissions Solutions. You can watch the complete forum here.
Highlights
Zali Steggall MP explained how the proposed Climate Act will confirm a Federal net-zero-by-2050 target, which all States and Territories have already agreed to. Then she discussed how legislation has helped successful climate action in conservative-governed-UK.
Professor David Schlosberg talked about Australia’s potential to be a renewable energy superpower
Matt Kean MP and Felicity Wilson MP spoke about NSW State based actions including the new renewable energy zones
Professor Ruth Irwin presented climate facts and solutions. Both Ruth and Mayor Carolyn Corrigan spoke about Mosman Council’s actions so far. These include the 51 kW solar installation on the Marie Bashir Mosman Sports Centre, LED upgrades for all street lights, and informational videos on the Council’s website. They also offer discounted access to the Climate Clever app for all residents.
The panel spoke passionately about the need to support vulnerable people in our community who will be impacted by rising heat and unstable weather. They urged people to use their democratic power to vote for climate action.
Videos
The panel ended with a video of a Q & A with local school students talking to Matt Kean and Felicity Wilson. The video makes it clear that young people are well across the facts. They want to hear how we are switching to renewable energy, protecting our forests and animals. Creating renewable and sustainable jobs for their families and the students in the future matters to them.
Mosman Council’s three presentations from the recent workshops are available to view. To read more about Mosman Council’s climate action programs and initiatives, visit their website. And if you like what they’re doing, please tell them!
As it’s getting colder, we’re spending more time inside and our energy bills are going up. The perfect time to make some changes to reduce our energy consumption.
The Australian Energy Foundation recently ran a helpful webinar with a special focus on the top 2 energy vampires: Heating & cooling your house (40%) and hot water (23%). AEF’s top tips range from do-it-yourself fixes to investing in big-ticket items – such as reverse-cycle air conditioning for heating and heat pumps for hot water.
In our last post we covered the easy behavioural changes that you can use straight away. Now, some ways to make a big difference – to your bill and your carbon emissions.
Heating & Cooling
How to heat your house?
Reverse-cycle split-system air conditioning is now the most efficient and cheapest system to use. If you’ve got solar on your roof or are buying your power from a renewable electricity retailer, you can feel even better about your environmental footprint. Gas heaters are now second place with a bleak future: gas prices are going up and, as a fossil fuel, gas produces carbon emissions.
Properly insulating your house can cut your heating/cooling bills by 40-50%! If your house was insulated before 2010, you should re-visit the roof space and see if you need to upgrade to better materials. Insulating your walls is expensive and only recommended as part of a reno project – you can do one room at a time.
The average old Aussie home has cracks and gaps that amount to the equivalent of a football-sized hole in your wall! Get cracking and start fixing those cracks. Some ideas to get you started:
Seal door gaps with products from your favourite hardware store or a door snake
Close off your air vents – could be as simple as a piece of cardboard and duct tape
Use ‘No more gaps’ products to fill in the gap between your floorboards and skirting
Buy a ‘chimney sheep’ to seal your unused chimney
Need inspiration? Just follow the step-by-step videos “Green It Yourself” with Lish, Queen of Green.
And windows?
10-20% of heat escapes through windows, unless they have double-glazing. Some easy fixes:
Thick curtains that touch the floor with pelmets at the top.
Do-it-yourself double glazing: Put adhesive film on your window (check out Lish again) or even cheaper, use bubble wrap.
Hot Water
If your existing hot water system (gas or electric) bites the dust, replace it with a heat pump. Heat pumps can use up to 80% less energy than a standard electric tank. Start doing your research when your existing electric tank is about 8 to 9 years old (check age on the compliance plate on your tank) – they last about 10 years. Know exactly what you are going to buy when the old tank stops working.
I have discovered a secret weapon in my quest to persuade people to make the switch to renewable energy. It’s called GADGETS!
We’ve had solar panels for nearly ten years now. 18 months ago we bought a Tesla 2 battery for $11,500 (which, as I now realise, was quite a bargain since prices have gone up this year). The installer, who did a great job, showed me how the app tells you exactly how much electricity you are consuming at any moment, and where that electricity is coming from.
I didn’t realise at the time how powerful that insight could be. Three pictures
A sunny day in North Balgowlah
A sunny day in November 2019
The big yellow mountain is solar energy, collected from our rooftop panels. The jagged line is our household energy consumption. (You can see that I made a cup of tea just before 8 a.m., and I ran the dishwasher and the washing machine in the morning.) Below the horizontal axis shows how the battery works: when the sun comes up excess solar energy feeds into the battery. It’s full by noon, so the grey area is excess energy flowing back to the grid (and earning a feed-in tariff). And you can see that, on this day, the battery powered the house right through till sunrise, so we were 100% self-powered. ☺
Solar Offset
Of course, the sun doesn’t always shine
But this screen shot shows that across 2019 we offset our usage — 8166 kWh — with 5473 kWh solar power from our roof. So a 67% reduction in our electricity bill and a 67% reduction in our carbon emissions. The retail price in NSW per kWh is 33c. So *furrows brow, doing sums* that’s $1806.09 in savings in 2019. Nice.
What’s happening here?
This is a screenshot from March 2020 showing where our power is coming from. We’re in the middle of a powercut. The Tesla battery automatically takes over, so that the house can be independent of the grid, using power from the solar panels and, if needed, from the battery. WFH with no grid? No problem.
We love checking on the app to see how much we are saving. But above all, this funky little app, with its visual representation of real time household electricity usage, is an amazing communications tool. Household power bills aren’t sexy but gadgets totally are. Therefore, my husband, even though he is not involved in environmental campaigning, gets a real kick out of showing his friends how we are helping ourselves to free energy (and helping the environment at the same time).
Do you have a battery? Do you have a story to tell about your journey towards zero emissions? Let us know by [best way to connect]
Welcome to Zero Emissions Solutions Inc news. Behind the headlines, behind the government policies and reports, behind the technical nuts-and-bolts, there are real stories to tell which connect us all.
It seems only right to begin at the beginning, and tell the story of how Zero Emissions Solutions was founded and launched.
What was our goal? It was back in May 2019, after the Federal Election returned a majority Liberal National Party government, against all projections from three years of opinion polls. A group of locals, deeply concerned about the growing climate crisis, sat around a table in our local café with concerns. Before that day we’d been full of hope that the next Australian Government might be one which took action on climate change, but now that seemed less likely. However our community had elected a pro-climate Federal MP and we wanted to help our community to reduce emissions together.
What did we do next? Our talk quickly turned to – What we could do now? What practical actions could make a difference? That’s when our ideas began to flow. Taking inspiration from the Beyond Zero Emissions network, seven of us – Dof, Susie, Ursula, Ann-Charlott, Kirsty, Tina and Anna – decided to using our experience in science, technology, business, design, law, psychology and community impact – to join the network with a zero carbon community for our area. So Zero Emissions Solutions North was incorporated: a volunteer community group of people from all walks of life united by a common goal: taking swift, practical action on climate change.
What have we done so far? We spent months of research, consultation and brainstorming to solve questions like – what actions make the biggest impact on reducing emissions? what gets in the way for people considering taking those actions? We met renewable energy companies, rooftop solar installers, industry experts and more.
We then created a suite of programs to deliver reliable, unbiased advice on no-cost and low-cost ways households, businesses and schools can switch to renewable energy and become ‘heroes for zero’. We’ve met many amazing people in our community who have joined our core team – including Chris, Jenni, Mona, Fay, Louise, Kate, Alan, Louisa, Tania, Linda, Lesley, Harriet, Milo, Narween and Marieken. We’ve learnt a huge amount, adapted to COVID-19, and helped our community save money and save thousands of tons of carbon emissions from the atmosphere – equivalent to a small forest of trees!
Since launch in 2019 we’ve: 1. held over 70 free events with over 1,500 bookings, helping homes and businesses install rooftop solar and switch to renewable energy, electric transport, electric appliances and more. 2. created over 30 free guides, case studies and videos on our website 3. launched the Zero Emissions Schools Mosman network for all Mosman LGA schools 4. won 3 Council Grants, 1 Federal Grant, and a Council Sustainability and Climate Award 5. created the Mosman Sustainable Living Guide which Council provided to the LGA’s 30,000 residents. We’re developing further LGA specific Guides with other Councils 6. built zero emissions communities online with our Facebook Page, Facebook Group, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn; and 7. installed 13.3kW rooftop solar for local mental health charity Pioneer Clubhouse in Balgowlah.
Above all, we’ve discovered that like-minded friends and taking action are great antidotes to despair.
L-R: Linda Robertson, Chris Lee, Susie Morgan, Tina Jackson, Anna Josephson, Ursula Hogben, Kirsty Gold, Ann-Charlott Paduch, Harriet Cunningham and Lesley Treleaven, (and a shout out to Dof Dickinson who couldn’t be here.)
