Save money and the planet with an EV
Owning an EV can change your life and improve your bank balance
Saving the planet is nice, but so is the money that can be saved by owning a low-maintenance, low-cost electric vehicle.
When Kiwi couple Sean and Imogen Thompson bought their electric car last year, its green credentials were a plus, but the couple were also motivated by the money they would save by going electric.
“Financially it’s a no-brainer for us, and from an environmental perspective it’s just awesome to know there are no more emissions going into the atmosphere every time we drive,” says Imogen.
Low costs
At $17,000 their 2011 Nissan Leaf EV was much less than they expected to pay for an electric vehicle. The ongoing maintenance and running costs have also been a pleasant surprise. Sean has worked out that they are spending between $350 and $400 a year in electricity to charge the car. “Compare that to over $2000 in petrol a year that we were spending - and that was on a fairly economical little 1.6 litre car. There are virtually no maintenance costs apart from getting tyres, there’s no oil to change, no filter to change. The costs are very, very reasonable,” he says.
All charged up
Sean spends a fair amount of time in the car, travelling about 60km getting to work and back each day, but he no longer has to spend any time at his local petrol station. Instead he plugs his car into his garage each night. It takes eight hours to fully charge the car, which gives it a range of between 100km and 120km. Sean says newer models would get more mileage out of a charge.
A car for life?
It’s just as well Sean and Imogen like the car, because they could have it for a while. “We don’t expect the car to ever stop running. The only thing that will slowly wear down is the battery. Batteries have a limited life expectancy, they don’t suddenly die, but they do decrease in their range over time,” says Sean. He’s confident that as electric vehicles become more popular in New Zealand service providers will pop up offering battery repair, refurbishment and replacement services. Apart from the batteries, and having to change tyres when they wear down, Sean says there is no other wear and tear on the car. “Having fewer moving parts there’s a lot less that can go wrong with them apart from the odd bit of body damage and the usual tyres and brakes.
The kids are onboard
The couple’s children – Leo, 6, and Phoebe, 4, are also EV fans. Not only do they not get carsick in it - something Sean and Imogen attribute to the smooth way the car handles, as well as its lack of noise and fumes – they have also fully embraced the environmental aspect of it. “They learnt the words ‘zero emissions’ quite quickly for their age,” says Imogen.