10 things to know about EVs

A Nissan Leaf will take 10 hours to fully charge at a standard wall plug, five hours from a specialised charger — but only 10- 30 minutes at a fast charging station. are cheaper, he gets about 5000km of driving for $ 100 of electricity. To travel that distance in my Mazda 6 I’d be looking at about $ 700 for petrol. “The cost of a cup of coffee will largely get me through my week’s worth of motoring,” says Magnusson. The Government has made EVs exempt from paying Road User Charges to encourage their uptake — and that helps keep their running costs down — but at some stage that will change. The other side of the equation is that the purchase price for an EV is high for a lot of people. You can find a used Leaf for upwards of $ 12,000 while new options range from about $ 60,000+. As depreciation on the initial outlay contributes significantly to running cost calculations, they’re considered as more expensive than a petrol- fuelled car. However, as the number of EVs being produced worldwide increases, these prices will likely come down. How long do they take to charge? This varies between vehicles and what type of charger you are using. For Magnusson’s Nissan Leaf it would take about 10 hours to fully charge if he was using a standard wall plug compared to five hours from the specialised unit he had installed on the outside of his home. If you are using a fastcharging station ( and more are appearing around the country), it can take 10- 30 minutes to recharge. Do they need special maintenance? EVs are cars and so you still need to get your regular WoF inspection and replace things such as tyres, wiper blades, brakes, etc. In terms of what’s under the hood there are a lot less parts than in an internal combustion engine; so there is less to wear out or break. You don’t need to go to some sort of special EV mechanic ( although Tesla is a slightly different story) and Magnusson takes his Leaf to the same garage he has used for his other vehicles. What happens when the battery needs replacing? This is a question that a lot of non- EV owners have. It’s a a tough one to answer as none of the owners I talked to had needed to replace a battery — or known anyone in New Zealand who has. The reality is that the batteries in the vehicles do degenerate over time and this will reduce the amount of charge they can hold. It’s hard to put a timeframe on how long this will take to happen as the amount of driving, the type of driving and even the climate can affect how well batteries last. If you keep an EV long enough, a point will come when the battery needs replacing and Magnusson says replacement batteries overseas can cost from $ 5000-$ 10,000. The good news is that battery technology is improving so putting in a new battery in the future would mean you could travel further than in the original model. You don’t have to have a garage A lot of the owners I spoke to do not have a garage at home but that hasn’t stopped them being able to charge overnight. Some have had an electrician set up a charging box on the outside of their house ( costing about $ 1000) while others just use an indoor socket, and use the vehicle’s charging cord to connect through a window. If you can plug in your cellphone to charge, you can charge an EV There is nothing complex about pulling into a service station and filling up a car with fuel. It’s just as straightforward to fill up an EV. You simply pop open the cover like you would for fuel and plug in a charging cord. It’s just like a supersized version of charging your phone or laptop — nothing fiddly or complex. What is it that makes owners love their EVs so much? If you spend any time with an EV owner, you will quickly find out how passionate they are about their vehicles. For some it is due to the environmental benefits of zero emissions, while for others it is more about getting an equivalent of 30c per litre fuel cost savings or reducing reliance on oil from overseas. One owner summed it up by saying that every time she heard the “click” of the plug when she charged her car, it made her feel good.