For the first time ever, an electric car has driven the length of Ireland, from Mizen to Malin Heads without stopping to charge.
The trip was undertaken by Blake Boland and Paddy Comyn from AA Ireland and the car used was the Mercedes-Benz EQS 450+, which, with its big battery and efficient aerodynamics, is probably the car with the longest EV range on the market.
The EQS is fitted with a 120kWh battery, the largest of any currently on the market and 108kWh of that is usable. A drag coefficient of 0.20 makes it comfortably the most aerodynamic car in production at the moment and it all adds up to a WLTP range of 784km. Of course, in real world conditions, the range is nearer 600km and I didn’t even get near that when I had the car, but with economy minded driving, I could see 600km being achievable.
Mizen to Malin is a drive of just over 600km and given that the drive took place in early January, with cold weather, heavy rain and strong winds affecting range negatively, it was a real challenge.
In the end, after over nine hours of driving, the duo arrived in Malin with just 2% of battery life remaining. I’ve had journeys like that in electric cars and it’s not for the faint hearted. As you near your destination, you’re just hoping that the computer is accurate and that you’ll make it to the end.
The trip was completed at an impressive average of 16.8kWh per 100km and there was just 15km left in the electric tank at the end. I’ve found that anything from 20 to 28kWh per 100km is typical for an EV so driving so frugally was a necessary part of completing the challenge.
Charging at home on night rate could cost as little as €13.50 to make a similar journey of 600km, although using high powered public chargers could push that cost over €70, comparable to an ICE car.
As it turned out, there aren’t many high speed chargers at either end of the country, necessitating slow charging the car using a three pin plug fed out through an open window.
There’s a long way to go before we have a truly adequate network of electric chargers.
