By her own admission, our Electric Dream winner Jessica O'Brien ranks "below the average for tech-savvy Gen Y's" but her competition entry was bright enough to make her the pick of the finalists.
Jess once thought that a Lamborghini was an Italian meat pasta dish however she's fast learning all about motoring in a high-tech plug-in electric car from Mitsubishi, the i-MiEV. You can read her weekly weblog updates below...
Break a leg, Jess
Ahhh, long weekends... the time for long catch-ups, long drives, long celebrations and, dammit, a long stint on crutches...
My beautiful friend had her dreamy wedding last Saturday and as she broke away from her maiden name, I managed to break away from my ankle, (during the bouquet toss, it would have been utterly hilarious to see).
This injury of course was extremely surprising to me, as I was under the impression that I was completely invincible. So when I realised that my Achilles heel was in fact my fifth metatarsal, it got me wondering about what else I had foolishly mistaken for been infallible. Considering that I am now stuck on the couch in charge-mode for the next 12-14 weeks I have time to consider....
Take the electric dream Mitsubishi i-MiEV for example: Had it been mine to keep, I would have happily driven around thinking that it would last forever, but much like my bank balance, everyday it gets used and slowly worn down and I fear that I would drive the i-MiEV one day and be utterly shocked at how shabby it feels after sustained use.
So I know that these electric innovations are still fresh on the market, but does anyone know for sure how long these buzz box batteries are meant to last? And how much is this life affected by the way it is used?
Like all internet research, I came across a plethora of information... and after 45 minutes of been captivated, I decided to stop messing around and look up the battery life of the i-MiEV.
There are a few variations on the i-MiEV life span estimate, and of course this can be attributed to the development of the battery over the last five years.
The i-MiEV will be advertised in Australia for a span of 10 years or 160,000 kilometres. This is expected to be yielded from about 1000 full charges. However the range is expected to drop around two per cent a year as the lithium battery diminishes. This is not too bad considering a new battery is expected to retail for around just $200.
As far as prolonging the life of your i-MiEV battery as a whole, some sites recommend allowing the battery to completely drain every now and then in order to stimulate the recharge (and the range anxiety of the driver if you ask me!).
Anyway, it seems that the proof will be in the pudding, but one thing I have been able to see for sure is just how much work is going into making the EV’s user, bank-balance and environmentally friendly.
Not to mention the opportunity to save about tonnes of CO2 emissions per 10 year battery!
Jessica's weekly weblogs:
>> Taxing conversations
>> Happy six week anniversary
>> Feeding your i-MiEV
>> Electric cars become cool in Europe
>> Just call me Julia
>> Still in a buzz
>> And the winner is...
>> Electric Dream Competition - Introduction
Related reading:
>> Mitsubishi i-MiEV Road Test
>> Mitsubishi i-MiEV joins Carsales fleet
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