An electric car that's nimbler than it looks

In the novel "Three Comrades" by Erich Maria Remarque, there is a car — Karl, whose humble appearance hide a racing engine. This story is about humble looking electric car — Piglet, which can be driven like much more modern, heavier and more expensive cars. Because Piglet now has one-pedal drive, cruise control and new running batteries.

I have predicted long ago, that in future, fiddling with internal combustion engine oils, filters, belts and chains will gradually be replaced by renewal of electric car batteries. And when I learned from the Fully Charged show that in Australia Oz Electric Vehicles offered to renew Mtishubishi i-MiEV batteries, I invited not only local Latvian craftsmen, but also some in Europe to start such a business. Unfortunately, the craftsmen I approached did not dare to focus on this business.

But then I found that for Mitsubishi i-MiEV/Peugeot iOn/Citroën C-Zero, or "tripplets" running battery replacement is offered by De EV Garage in the Netherlands.

Instead of original 50Ah batteries, CATL NMC 100Ah batteries are installed, with 90Ah usable capacity. Since Piglet had only 28Ah left from the original 45Ah, capacity was increased more than 3 times.

We agreed with the mechanic to carry out general maintenance, and to prevent car from becoming morally obsolete, I also purchased a CCS2-CHAdeMO adapter. Looking at the prices of the services, you could say that it is "enormously expensive". But I stick to the principle that it is better to pay double price for a necessary thing than to buy an unnecessary thing for the half price. After all, money is imaginary, but natural resources are not. Therefore, it is better to replace only batteries instead of entire car.

I took the car to the service by carrier, but when it was ready, my wife Ieva and I went to receive it in person. Because it is safer and more solemn to accept such a serious job at the place.

Journey from Ogre to Amsterdam was boringly predictable nap (because we had to get up earlier than usual in the morning). But when traveling by train from Amsterdam to Emmen, we got into a snag, because in Bergentein the train (after an incomprehensible speech in Dutch) suddenly started going in the opposite direction. We got on at next (formerly previous) station in Marienberg and searched what had happened. The conductor of the next train explained, that a guy had committed suicide on railway after Marienberg, so trains were not going in that section, and we had to take bus instead to get to Hardenberg, where we took the train again.

Despite delay, we managed to meet mechanic on Thursday evening. After a thorough maintenance and polishing, car looked like a new in setting sun, and interior was as clean as it had been in a long time.

The owner of the service, Henry, is a second-generation car mechanic. My car was "about 15" for which he upgraded batteries. And he already had "about 5" cars waiting in line, which he plans to restore in about 3 months, spending about 2 weeks per car. Since he has more work than time, he is looking for employees with interest and knowledge in automotive and electrical engineering.

Henry took us on a test drive to a fast charger, with which CCS2-CHAdeMO adapter did not work. Later, we tried another charger he recommended, with which it did. For authentication, we used RFID card recommended by the master which I ordered in time from Ecotap.

The next day (Friday), after additional instructions on using cruise control, we drove from Emmen to Travemunde. On the way, we stopped in Heede, where we charged with CHAdeMO, and in Oldenburg, where we successfully charged car with CSS using a Chargemap RFID card. There were many Smart in Oldenburg, but all with internal combustion engines. We had planned to stop in Bremen, but on the highway near Bremen's access roads we got into a traffic jam that was at least (I didn't start measuring the length right away) 5km long and lasted 40 minutes, so we cancelled our visit to Bremen.

We arrived in Hamburg in the evening and in many places where the Chargemap map claimed, that charging places also have CHAdeMO plug, in fact it was only CSS or even only AC with a Type2 plug. Two machines failed to authenticate with any RFID card (so as not to always depend on the phone's internet connection and pesky apps, I collect RFID cards from electric car charging providers). One of them looked like it was intended only for employees of some organisation. Of the machines where I was able to authenticate with a Chargemap card, none cooperated with the CCS2-CHAdeMO switch. The place where there was only AC charging failed to authenticate and was used as a parking space by internal combustion cars. While I was fiddling with RFID cards and the CCS2-CHAdeMO switch, locals next to me were authenticating with Shell station cards. I practically did not see any electric cars in Hamburg. Of course, I do not recognize all electric cars, but in Riga BMW i3 are definitely more noticeable than in Hamburg. I got the impression that in Germany a "normal" electric car is considered to be one that weighs at least 2 tons and is no older than 5 years. That's why all i3s are "morally obsolete" for Germans and have moved to Eastern Europe.

Late in the evening, Ieva in plugshare managed to find an old-fashioned charging station (there used to be one in Ogre near Culture House) that had both CCS and CHAdeMO plugs, and we charged our car there. When I was later sent invoice for charging, price per kilowatt-hour turned out to be 1.11€/kWh. Maybe price was higher because I used Chargemap's roaming, but if price is the same for primary customers, I'm not surprised that electric cars are seen more here than in Germany. As a result of my experience, Hamburg will remain in my memory as a rather unfriendly place for electric cars.

We tried to charge car with alternating current in the Travemunde parking lot, registering in M8mit app. I stopped trying when I had reserved 80€ 3 times (they didn't allow me to specify a smaller amount), but I still couldn't get electricity. Ieva was more patient, tried 4 times and in the meantime also confirmed her email, and at the end she got electricity.

I lost 80 euros in a bet on that and once again it was was not clear to me, why such service providers need emails? Are card details and money not enough and do they also need to send us spam? If it is used for authentication, then it would be much more correct to use online banking instead of emails.

On ferry, we watched other drivers squeeze through narrow ramp. It wasn't difficult for me, because Piglet is only 1.5m wide.

After settling in, we could relax and enjoy nature. We discovered that cabins suitable for pets were also more suitable for us, because floor was laminated instead of carpet. Although Baltic Sea is not large, for the first time in my life I saw only water on entire horizon. I specially noted sunset time so that we could watch sunset over the sea.

When we went home from Liepāja to Ogre on Sunday evening, we had planned to refuel at Virši gas station near Brocēni on Monday night around 3:00. However, CCS plug did not work with adapter, but charger itself did not allow to use CHAdeMO plug. (Later, I suspected that adapter had a discharged battery, which I was not able to notice in time.) Technical support did not answer phone, but local employees at gas station did not know how to help or explain anything. I used car's advanced feature of range margin to drive back 8km to Saldus, where I successfully charged car with an e-Mobi station via CHAdeMO plug.

After that, we successfully drove to Ogre, except for the fact that I saw deers three times, which caused me to brake quite hard near Skrunda. The last deers I saw were after Ikšķile, before entering Ogre.

When I told to mechanic about my failures with CCS plugs through the journey, he answered that probably after some time they could offer a newer version of the program for adapter, which may improve its interoperability with newer CCS charging stations.

The one-pedal control and cruise control are a bit different than, for example, BMW i3, which takes some getting used to. But overall, car is a pleasure to drive, and (if nothing else, remaining range indicator on dashboard) makes you smile.

Since financiers and economists have taken over auto industry (as everywhere else), car companies no longer make cars that people want to drive. They make cars that they can make more money with (the USA is a prime example). Even expensive and exclusive new cars can be awed, but are not fun to drive and with all remote-controlled software options, it makes you feel more like a tenant being tracked by "big brother" than a car owner. Classic cars don't have these shortcomings. It's yours and you can customize and modify it however you want.

Aside from running gear, the most wearing part for electric car is batteries. But electric motors are much simpler and more durable than internal combustion engines. Therefore, with replaced batteries, such cars can last a long time. (Of course, you may have to replace broken door switches, seat handles, charging socket cover holders, etc., as I have had to do.)

TV host Jay Leno has a more than 100-year-old electric carriage in his collection. I do not promise that I will drive only Piglet for the rest of my life. Its interior heating is with a resistance heater, use of which in cold weather significantly reduces range of the car. (Therefore, broken seat heating should also be repaired by next winter.) But I assume that we will have a long time with Piglet together, with other adventures.