Tips on electric vehicles – from driver to driver

We’ve been chatting with Olu about driving his EV, a Nissan LEAF. He told us about some of the pros and cons, how long it takes to charge and how much it costs.

I used to be a bus driver, in London. I’ve always wanted to do something for myself, be self-employed.

I was a bit nervous because I didn’t know what to expect. But it was a pleasant experience. I gradually started to get into the rhythm. I started enjoying it. It’s been fun since then.

That’s the beauty of driving with Uber, you can just make everything fit into your schedule. I’ve driven night buses and I didn’t really like the experience. So when I started driving with Uber, I decided I wasn’t going to do nights.

To be honest, I like technology. I like new things.

I love it! I love to drive this car, believe me. It doesn’t make noise, it drives really nicely, it’s fast and very comfortable.

It’s a massive difference. Because it’s a Nissan Leaf, if you drive to a Nissan dealership it’s 100% free to charge. That alone is a huge saving. Charging overnight, full charge, it costs about six pounds.

The maximum I’ve ever charged is three times. Once at home and then twice on the street.

One of two things, I have a Monopoly game on my tablet. So while it charges I just play the game on my tablet. Most of the time, once I plug it in I look at the time. I know it’s going to take about 40 minutes to charge from 0 to 80%, so I go for a quick run. That depends on my mood though, sometimes I just want to sit down!

Everyone that comes into my car says ‘oh wow this doesn’t feel like an electric car!’ or they don’t know it’s an electric car. When they get the notification that your driver is driving the Nissan Leaf, they expect a tiny car. But it’s not!

I would encourage them to go ahead and get it, 100%. I don’t think anybody should worry about getting one, it’s fantastic. They definitely won’t believe how much they will save. Plus, the congestion charge is coming and these are exempt from this. It’s a no brainer.

To learn more about Electric Vehicles and our Clean Air Plan, tap below.