Buzz around town Family finds used electric fits their needs

THEIR main priority is writ large across their personalised number plate: NOCO2.

But the Barry family, from South Hobart, also made a hippocket decision when they purchased their used electric car.

They are the first customers of a new Tasmanian business selling second-hand electric cars, the Good Car Company, which start from $18,000.

So while their main concern was protecting the environment, the Barry family also realised that buying a car that doesn’t guzzle petrol was a smart financial move.

Rosie and Stuart Barry said they spent a lot of time zipping their four children around town to extra-curricular activities.

While they manage to do it all owning only one car, trips add up when after-school taxiing includes scouts, dance, drama, piano and badminton.

“The majority of our driving is short trips all over the place,” Mrs Barry said.

“And although we’ve bought a five-seater car for a family of six people, we realised the majority of our trips have a maximum of five people.”

Mr Barry said they calculated they had spent $45,000 on petrol in the past decade, so decided to spend $31,000 on a used electric car because they could charge it for free from their solar panels and it would pay for itself within seven years.

“Once we got to the stage where we realised we no longer needed a people mover, getting an affordable electric car seemed like a no brainer,” Mr Barry said.

They replaced their old seven-seater with the e-car two weeks ago.

The 2016 model 30kWh Nissan Leaf cost the family $31,000 and has a 170km range. The car retails new for about $55,000.

Co-founder of the Good Car Company Anton Vikstrom said they decided to import used electric cars to make them more affordable.

“Two things are holding people back from purchasing electric cars – one is how far can they go and the other is how much does it cost,” he said.

“The expensive entry point for buying electric cars is stopping Tasmanians from transitioning to electric cars. We solve that problem by offering high-quality second-hand electric cars, so that people no longer have to wait before they decarbonise their drive,” he said.

He said the company was selling cars from about $18,000, which have about a 110km range.

Mr Vikstrom said the lower range cars suited local driving and commuting, and they would soon be delivering vehicles with up to 240km range.

But he said the average Australian drove only 38km a day.

The fast charging network, supported by the State Government is being rolled out around the state with chargers no further than 140km apart along main routes. According to the electric vehicle charge map app “PlugShare”, there are already 97 publicly accessible chargers in the state.