Autocar - First for car news and reviews

Renault-Nissan is planning to make its electric vehicles rechargable in three different ways when they first go on sale in Europe from 2011.

Drivers will either be able to plug their cars into two types of charger or swap their batteries in special “quick drop” exchange stations.

The two types of charging facilities will offer either a standard service, which will take four to eight hours to fully replenish a battery, and a fast charge will enable an 80 per cent charge in around...Read the full article

Well I can say that I will be one of the first buyers - as long as they price it right that is.  It will be ideal for me to use for work, and I like the Kangoo, although I have to drive around a city all day and thus require an auto box - which the electric Kangoo will obviously have.  The only thing that's bothering me is air conditioning - which I also MUST have.  How are they going to do that?

The Prius has electric A/C, that works without the petrol engine running, so it is possible. However, it also appears to be *very* battery hungry. I imagine if they do fit A/C, and you do use it, it's going to have a big impact on the real world range.

Whatever the arguments for and against electric cars, this is a good idea. The key concerns for electric vehicle owners are battery longevity, and so-called 'range anxiety'. Leasing the batteries resolves both these issues. However, whilst the change may take 'only 3 minutes', getting to the fitting station and waiting your turn may make this a more prolonged activity.
After all, it takes only 8 seconds to change 4 tyres in F1, but at my local tyre centre I usually manage to read all of the (worthwhile) newspapers, drink at least 4 cups of coffee, have a cat nap, reply to my emails, read a dog-eared copy of Autocar, phone the wife to tell her how bored I am, phone the girlfriend to tell her how bored I am with the wife, and cancel all of my afternoon appointments. If I'm having the exhaust changed, I also take a sleeping bag. Last time they took four hours, and changed the wrong part!

Autocar:

The firm plans to lease the batteries in its electric vehicles to customers, which help bring the cost of the vehicles down. It says that the operating costs will “compare favourably with that of a similar sized gasoline or diesel-powered car.”

Surely the point of electric cars is the the electricity is cheap, so that the operating costs are significantly less than a current petrol/diesel car?