Hi Folks!
My name is Nikki and I’m one of those lucky people who gets to be paid to do the job she loves.
I’m the Saturday host at EVcast, where we catch up on the week’s news in the electric vehicle world. We have some fantastic guests so don’t forget to tune in!
I’m also the co-founder of This week in energy (TWiE). Our podcasts go out live on the Internet every Wednesday and deal with the world of energy future and generation. We aim to demistify the dot energy boom and give regular folks an understanding of climate change and energy future issues.
I also founded NikkiDrives, a site which aims to give a realistic and honest test drive to new eco vehicles.
These days I spend most of my time arranging shows, blogging and EVangelising about clean transport.
I live in Bristol, UK with my wife Kate. (She’s a freelance web consultant, so please give her a look!)
I started life as a music geek, never spending more than a few days apart from music. I trained as a professional oboist but these days just play for fun. I grew up on dairy farms and thanks to my parents, I’ve learned that nothing is impossible. I also developed a love for the natural world and fixing things.
Ever since I’ve been a tinkerer. My interest in EVs comes from way back when in I saw a picture of an Enfield electric car in The Tree of Knowledge, a publication mum and dad had brought for my sisters and I. I remember thinking that the car was really cool because it had a curved windscreen and ran on electricity. Since then I’ve always wanted one and I’ve been lucky enough to have been given one. Sadly she needs a full restore, but she’s just one of my many geeky EV projects.
My interest in classic cars also stems from my childhood - when I would quite happily stare for ages at the TV in the hope that I’d see a Morris Minor - another one of my dream cars. That came true in 2004, when I brought a 1965 Morris Minor called Hebe. She was joined in 2005 by Carrie, a 1962 Morris Minor Traveller hot-rod. Hebe was stock, but Carrie most certainly wasn’t!
My first EV grin came in 2006, when I brought a Sakura electric scooter. I hoped to convert Hebe to an EV, but after a complete strip-down I soon realized that both cost and a lack of metalwork skills would mean that Hebe’s poor chassis would cause me to ditch the project. I decided instead to look for an EV of my own and found a 1998 City El bubble car.
I ran the El for a few months in stock setup and then converted the battery pack to a higher power Lithium Ion pack. If you want more information about the El, please click here. By the summer of 2008 my business had taken off and I needed a car with more range than the El could provide. Not only that, but I needed to carry more luggage. Sadly the El had to go. I played around with various options but settled for a Prius. Kate already has one and we were really pleased with hers. Rather than buying a new one, we searched for a really cheap second hand one. We found Velma, a 2004 Prius at a retailer about 80 miles away. A quick trip there and we brought her. But once you’ve gone EV it’s hard to go back to petrol.
By October 2008 I’d already started to stockpile parts for Velma’s conversion to a PHEV. You can read about my conversion process here. Sadly, the project came to an abrupt end in June 2009, when a battery error while charging wrote the car off.
My latest set of wheels is a very rare 1985 Volkswaken Golf. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Golfs aren’t rare. Well, this one is. She’s one of just two right-hand drive electric golfs ever made by Volkswagen. At least, so far.
There’s more about my projects and myself at the FAQ. You can also follow me on Twitter. Don’t forget to say Hi!