As part of the this year’s Great Electric Drive, Research leader of the Unit for Social Software at Insight, (formerly DERI ) John Breslin has received his BMWi3 electric car to begin his four month ecar trial. He is one of just 32 new ecar ambassadors chosen earlier this year, from 20,000 applicants across Ireland.
This is the second year of the Great Electric Drive, which gives 26 members of the public and six commercial organisations the opportunity to trial an electric car for up to four months each.
Over the course of the Great Electric Drive, the ambassadors will drive a wide range of electric vehicles and get first-hand experience of the benefits of electric driving.
The electric vehicles are being used include the BMW i3, Citroen C-Zero, Mitsubishi iMiev, Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid, Nissan Euro LEAF and Nissan e-NV200 commercial van, Renault ZOE the Renault Twizy and the Renault Kangoo ZE commercial van.
Each ecar ambassador will have a charge point installed in their home or workplace and will also be able to access a nationwide network of public charge points that have been rolled out by ESB across the country.
This includes the installation of fast chargers along the main inter urban routes, which is being co-funded by the EU TEN-T programme. Cross border compatibility will allow electric vehicle drivers access the public charging infrastructure in Northern Ireland.
