Iain McLellan’s Post

View profile for Iain McLellan

Associate Dean, Charity Trustee

Today is #CleanAirDay and I thought I'd share my experience with buying an #electriccar. Before I start, I know there are concerns about the pollution from the electric batteries (mining, extraction of metals, the lack of recycling facilities). I'll deal with that another day. However for today, I'm focusing on the positives. Until the end of April I only ever had 1 car in my life. A 2008 Citroën C4 which I had named (yes I am that person) "Betty La Citroën". She had a 1.6l petrol engine and by the time I handed her over to the dealership she had done 112,530 miles and I had spent £11,291.87 on 8850.9 litres of petrol (again, I am that person). This comes in at a whopping 19,189kg of CO2. Thankfully the pandemic gave me an extra year with her, but the time came and I had to find a new car. My neighbour had recently bought a new EV through a interest free loan from the Home Energy Scotland South West through the Energy Saving Trust. I then started looking into the 2nd hand EV market and visited my local dealership who had a range of Nissan Electric Leafs. As we were in lockdown I couldn't test drive it, but I sat in it, switched it on and I loved it. I then phoned the EST to start the loan application (straight forward and great customer service). The next was to get the charge point installed which was less straight forward. In Scotland you can get 2 grants: from UK Government (£350) and EST (£300) and you have to get quotes from authorised installers, however I found that the lists of local companies were not the same on both websites. Bit of a pain, but quite easily sorted and after getting a quote, I had my charge point installed about a week later by IWL ELECTRICAL LIMITED. 6 weeks after the loan application was approved, I picked up my Leaf (or "Leticia the Leaf"). First registered in 2017, she had only done 17000 miles. Two things surprised me on the day I picked her up: 1. How quiet EVs are (yes people had told me, but hearing is believing) 2. How fast off the block they are, even in ECO drive mode. Since getting her on the 16th April, I have done 1,220 miles since collecting the car and according to the Transport Scotland 'EV Life' app, I have saved £131, but more importantly 220kg of CO2 emissions and I have zero tailpipe emissions of particulate matter. And that, on Clean Air Day, is the important message: no tailpipe emissions and no CO2 emissions. Clean Air Day, is organised in Scotland by Environmental Protection Scotland (EPS), and I am a Co-Chair of their Air Quality Expert Advisory Group. #electricvehicles #charging #cars #cleanairdayscot

  • A white Nissan Leaf electric car is plugged into a charge point at the University of the West of Scotland

I keep thinking about getting an EV but a 95 mile commute each way and daily charge off a diesel generator I think it would negate any environment benefits. Starting to think that perhaps a hybrid will be the answer.

Carol Ann McKinlay

Operations manager at GolfKings

2y

How far can you travel before charging again. That's the only thing that concerns me Iain.

John Bynorth

Senior Communications Adviser @ CBI Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales

2y

This is really helpful for anyone looking to buy an electric car. There's more information here than in any government press release - and it's basic on real life experience. Don't be afraid, try one for yourself. You'll love it!

Connor Piper

Area Sales & Development Manager with Scottish Power

2y

Great story. I’ve just taken on an EV (had a plug in hybrid for the last 9 months before that) I am now completely converted. It makes me so happy to know that I’m doing a little bit to help the environment compared to other polluting cars I’ve driven.

David Price

ICP-MS Product Specialist

2y

Great story Iain....congrats on your EV. I have a hybrid and and love the quiet and immediate pull away. So good to know the tailpipe rarely emits. I have to admit I am a little worried about Betty though. I hope she is OK

Dr Marjorie McCrory SFHEA RCDP

Senior Lecturer in Career Development; Specialist in Professional Education and Work Based Learning in HE

2y

Very helpful post! Also like your car names ☺️

Chao Guo

International Training Partner at University of the West of Scotland

2y

Thank you for sharing the story which is very useful for me to switch to an electric car! I drove one in China in 2019 and it was a fantastic experience, it’s so cheap here with free Charing installation all set up in one day. I then looked at HES for the funding and went to local dealers but they told me they had none in store, the technology was not mature, the performance was not good…lots of disadvantages :( Then the long time process and complicated market information put me off I ended up with a petrol car… Your sharing is inspiring and I will consider it again and plan enough time for it! Thank you!

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Peter Bloomfield

Principal Software Engineer at Qoria (formerly Smoothwall)

2y

I got a Leaf a few years ago, and I love it. Definitely a good choice. :)

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