My wife commented recently that travelling in the Leaf is boring because it is so slow which took me a bit by surprise.
So when we next went out in her diesel Rover I would check her speeds; lo and behold, apart from motorways and fast A roads she rarely went much, if anything, faster than me in my Leaf.
So I had to ask why she thought the journey might be more boring; I knew she really meant that the speed was slow and tedious.
First, I guess is the acceleration and braking. It is true that I don’t rush to get my car to 50 as fast as she does in her car. But that only adds seconds to the time taken to get to full speed.
And, then there’s deceleration. No racing to the junction and then foot on the break to stop in time! Think of all that consumed energy and wear on brakes.
I lift from the Accelerator a little earlier than her and allow my car to do it’s own breaking whilst putting some energy back into the battery. That, of course will slow me a little earlier as I approach a junction or roundabout – but, again, only adding seconds to the journey.
Most of the journey is, of course, at the normal “full” speed – say 50mph on the A roads and I tried to asses my perception of speed in each car.
The Rover has all the rumbles that imply speed whilst the Leaf is silent and smooth and I realised that it can feel slower than it really is by comparison.
I certainly don’t find my EV boring and, for certainty, I don’t miss the noise of the ICE.
So, if you find a peaceful EV journey more boring than a noisy one from a petrol or diesel engine then get some appropriate music and take your mind off the peace!!
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