Post office to pilot CIG’s first electric car
Post Office electric vehicle
(CNS): The first ever electric vehicle to join the government’s fleet of cars is a new post office van. With a price tag of $36,520, the van is expected to save the public purse some $4,000 in annual fuel costs and cut maintenance expenses by 40%, paying for itself within five years. The post office van is the first but not the last government electric vehicle as there are plans to invest in more as well as the charging infrastructure to cut fuel consumption.
The van, which started work Wednesday 23 December, is a Nissan e-NV200 with a lithium-ion 24kWh battery and electric motor. The average energy cost of powering the van equates to approximately five US cents per mile. This is four to five times cheaper than diesel or gasoline.
Department of Vehicle and Equipment Services (DVES) Director Richard Simms said that not only did the department expect to see a full payback on the investment over four to five years, vehicle emissions would be lowered and the van would provide a better on-the-job experience for their mechanic.
The electric vehicle pilot supports the new vehicle standardisation policy approved by Cabinet this year by using new technology to help reduce CIG fuel expenditure. Introducing electric vehicles to the fleet is part of government plans to protect the environment and to reduce dependence on imported oil.
With all eyes on how the vehicle will perform, Postmaster General Sheena Glasgow said she was pleased her agency had been picked to trigger the pilot programme. She said the van would be used to deliver EMS and parcels in the George Town and West Bay Road areas and that a charging station to power the vehicle is to be installed at the Airport Post Office.
Both DVES and CIPS are part of the Ministry of Planning, and while electric vehicles have been used the world over for years, the chief officer in that ministry, Alan Jones, described the decision to get the new post office van as “out of the box thinking”. He added, “This is the start of a new era for the Postal Service, DVES and government as a whole. This vehicle has already been tested in service around the world by some large companies and I am really looking forward to seeing the results of the local pilot project.”
The van has an extended warranty period of five years. A normal charge on a 16 amp (220 volt) charger takes approximately eight hours (overnight) but in 30 minutes, quick charging achieves 80% of the battery’s capacity.
John Felder, Founder and CEO of Cayman Automotive who sold the van to government, said it could be re-charged from any 110 outlet, and that there are now eight charge stations on Grand Cayman, from West Bay to East End. Felder said plans are also in place to educate emergency personnel over the safe handling of electric vehicles in the event of an accident.
Category: Government Finance, Politics
Spin doctors at work again. Firstly, with our mains electricity being produced by diesel, it would have been better to simply purchase a diesel vehicle as energy is actually loss in distribution of electricity, making it less efficient. So, CUC is buying the fuel and producing the carbon in this case instead of CIG. So, unless they are purchasing a solar charging array at the same time, any statement on fuel cost savings is a complete falsehood. Secondly, even with a solar array, the cost of replacement batteries will drastically reduce the so called fuel cost savings.
Except that big municipal power plants, i.e., CUC, are generally more efficient than small power plants, e.g., home generators or the engine in your car. Its why ‘no one’ is running their emergency generator full-time instead of using CUC. The question you haven’t answered with your anti-spin is ‘what’s the miles per dollar of CUC electricity vs gas/diesel/whatever’ in a car. Apparently it $4,000 per year. Which is quite a savings. So I guess that why you’re trying to FUD the discussion.
Nissan batteries come with 8 years of warranty, and Nissan sales the battery for $6000 before a $1000 credit for the old one. So with savings of $4000 a year you pay for the battery in one year and 3 months and then you drive free for six years and 9 months not bad at all.
The problem with Nissan battery warranties (as too many Leaf owners have found out to their cost) is that there are a lot of get outs. One of which is simply a requirement that the vehicle is properly looked after and when was the last time that happened to any publicly owned equipment?
The other thing missing from your calculation is depreciation/wear and tear. What is the expected operating life over which the $36,520 purchase price will be written off? Do you seriously expect this van to still be on the road in five years let alone eight?
The problem with electric vehicles is they look very good on paper but the reality, particularly in a publicly-owned work vehicle, is not so encouraging. If the fuel saving really is going to be $4000 a year that means this is expected to do 20,000+ miles annually – I’ll believe that when I see it.
According to Nissan UK the warranty is 5 years or 60,000 miles. If the mileage estimate above is correct the warranty on this will expire in 3 years or less. In contrast the warranty on a conventional NV200 is good for 100,000 miles – I think there’s a message there!
The other thing is that the UK ‘on the road’ price for an e-NV200 is just over £18,000 (CI$22,000) so why did CIG have to pay so much for this? In fact the conventional NV200 is over £6000 cheaper, which with the extra warranty and elimination of the battery replacement costs pretty much wipes out any savings.
Agreed. Smoke and mirrors to make people feel good about themselves – doing the “right thing” for the environment. When in fact, when all is considered, especially with fossil fuel being used to produce the electricity needed, the environmental damage from chemicals etc. used to produce the batteries, there is no environmental benefits and more cost.
Just a promo for the distributor. Why no mention of the exhorbitant cost of replacing the battery after every 3 to 4 years at a cost of 6 to 7 thousand dollars.
Pay for itself eh? Has the inevitable cost to replace the battery been factored into this equation?
Electric cars are crap, impractical, ruin the experience of driving, and will never catch on.
Not to mention the fact that AGW is just another western conceived money-grabbing scam.
However, this is the new religion – so we all know the final outcome.
Blessings to all of you. We shall meet again in that carbon-free Paradise beyond the clouds one day. (And don’t you dare to criticize my belief! I’ll defend with every fibre of my being…despite no proof and clear evidence of contradictory data.)
“Paying for itself within five years.” Maybe so but will it survive that long?
I’ll also be interested to see how long it takes for someone to void the extended warranty in the same way CIG has done on just about every other vehicle they’ve ever bought.
Does anyone know why this has been purchased rather than, as tends to happen in the real world, leased?
Congrats CIG. Way to lead.
We are whipping into the future here. Well done CIG.