A POSTMAN hopes to save £2,500 every year because of his electric car.

Derek Fairbank, 51, of Salendine Nook, was one of the first owners of a Nissan Leaf in Huddersfield.

He and his wife Alison, 45, bought the electric car nine months ago and have already done 9,000 miles. And they claim they are reaping the rewards even though they have to plan their journeys carefully.

Charging points are still few and far between so they limit their journeys to within a round trip of less than 80 miles.

Derek, who works at Royal Mail in Bradford said: “When we were looking to change the car we thought about rising petrol prices and other cost factors.

“We had considered other electric cars but the Leaf was the first to be mass-produced and we really liked it.

“Based on the figures they produced, we worked out that it would cost me £8 to get to work each week as opposed to £60 – which I was paying in diesel.

“And with other trips that would add up to be a saving of £2,500 a year.

“We thought if we could manage to afford the Leaf and look at it as a 10-year investment – in 10 years time we would have saved the amount the car costs – which is £25,000.

“If we had bought a new Vauxhall or other car for £16,000 or £18,000, in 10 years time we would have spent a further £25,000 in petrol.

“In the month of December, we did 90 trips, which was a total of 643.9 miles which cost us £20.

“We decided that I would use it to go to work, as it works out to be a better deal to do the longer distance in the electric car. Alison uses the other car as she only travels a small distance to Elland.”

The Leaf is designed to do about 100 miles before needing to be re-charged. But Derek said that on the roads he uses, it is more likely to do around 80 miles.

It has a top speed of about 90mph, seats five people and takes three hours to charge.

The couple, who manage Longwood Mechanics Hall, said that they have a charger point and lead attached to the side of their home, which they plug in to the front of the Leaf.

The cost is just attached to their normal electricity bills.

To reduce the amount they are paying, even further they are considering getting Economy7 – an electricity programme that is designed to offer cheaper electricity during the night.

The father-of-three said: “If we used Economy7, it would cost us £10 a month to run the car, which is fantastic.

“Inside the car, there is built in sat-nav, and a map that allows you to see where your nearest charge point is. It has a built in climate control system, which I can programme to turn on before getting in the car.

“This means when I go to work and see everybody’s windscreen iced over, ours is completely clear.

“There is an app, so you can control the car through your I-phone as well as being able to check mileage, recent journeys and be in direct contact with Japan.

“Although Nissan is a Japanese car manufacturer, Nifco UK, based in Stockton on Tees, will be making the batteries for the car.

“The £1.65 million investment will also allow for 128 jobs to be created, and it is therefore helping the British economy. My brother-in-law saw it and really liked it, he lives in London so he gets other benefits from using the Leaf, such as free parking and no congestion charge.

As a Christmas present, Derek received the registration plate GB11 EAF.