Revolution no one heard coming
Charge of electric brigade quietly gains momentum electric cars on NZ roads on roads in 2013 sold last November sold in 2015
Asilent revolution is occurring on New Zealand’s noisy and polluted roads with the move to electric cars.
In 2013, there were just 38 electric cars on the roads, and a measly four in the South Island.
In November last year, a record 465 electric cars were sold, taking the total to 5804.
With monthly growth fast approaching the 504 cars sold in all of 2015, the Energy, Efficiency & Conservation Authority (EECA) has a goal of 64,000 electric vehicles by 2021.
This figure is still small when compared to the national fleet of more than 3.9 million vehicles, but a step towards a worldwide goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“Electric vehicles are part of the solution for decongesting Auckland and reducing pollution,” said Mayor Phil Goff, who drives one.
He was speaking in September at the release of a second electric vehicle by car-sharing company Cityhop. Kathryn Trounson, who chairs the Better New Zealand Trust, which promotes electric cars and zero carbon renewable energy technologies, says the biggest limitation to a year-on-year doubling of electric vehicles is getting enough secondhand vehicles from Japan and the UK.
Another impediment, according to the Ministry of Transport, is that New Zealand has one of the oldest vehicle fleets among developed nations, with cars averaging 14 years old, and many Kiwis may be slow, or financially unable, to replace their cars with modern electric vehicles.
“They are likely to wait until cheaper, secondhand electric vehicles are available,” the ministry has told Transport Minister Phil Twyford.
The Nissan Leaf, chosen as the most reliable car by Consumer in November, is the most popular electric vehicle in the country with about 2700 on the road. Most are used imports. Nissan does not sell them new in New Zealand.
The Mitsubishi Outlander SUV is the second most popular model, followed by BMW vehicles and Paxter delivery vehicles used by NZ Post. About 300 upmarket Tesla sedan and SUV models, priced from about $120,000, have been sold in New Zealand.
Trounson says Kiwis can get behind the wheel of a secondhand Leaf from about $10,000. They run at about $3 of electricity for 100km and are good for the planet.
“You can put your foot down and at a set of traffic lights you will take on a boy racer and leave him for dead,” Trounson says.
One of the advantages of owning an electric car, she says, is that there are virtually no maintenance costs, with about 20 moving parts, compared to 1600-2000 for an internal combustion engine.
Trounson says the major cost of an electric vehicle is the battery and having to replace it after several years. This is offset by saving $3000 a year on petrol.
A further complicating issue for electric cars is the limited number of charging stations and the time it takes — up to 40 minutes — to recharge the battery. Queues have been reported at busy charging stations in Auckland.
Mark Gilbert, who chairs Drive Electric, a not-for-profit organisation that aims to make electric car ownership mainstream in New Zealand, says it’s still early days and a lot of people are sitting on the fence.
The likes of Tesla, priced at the top end of the market, were helping to