EV (electric vehicle) News & Discussion

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#1693391 21-Dec-2016 16:33

naggyman:

If you go to https://www.tesla.com/en_NZ/supercharger and select '2017' you'll find the three stations planned for NZ next year!

Thoughts on the placement? Should make Wellington - Auckland relatively easy.

Auckland, Taupo / Turangi, Wellington?

With 400km range.....Turangi might be best. It's pretty much the mid-point.

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Linuxluver

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#1693394 21-Dec-2016 16:37

wellygary:

naggyman:

If you go to https://www.tesla.com/en_NZ/supercharger and select '2017' you'll find the three stations planned for NZ next year!

Thoughts on the placement? Should make Wellington - Auckland relatively easy.

Although unless you are a current owner, its going to be pay-to-charge

http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/7/13549828/tesla-supercharger-fee-january-2017-model-3-preorders

"Tesla is making a big change to its network of free fast-charging stations. Any customer who orders a Tesla Model X or Model S after January 1st, 2017, will have to pay “a small fee” when filling up at a Supercharger station. Customers will also have to take delivery of those cars by April 1st, 2017 — so the fees will apply to people who preordered the Model 3. Tesla says the fee will be “less than the price of filling up a comparable gas car.”"

Fair enough......free charging at 120kw was never going to stay free....

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Linuxluver

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#1693888 22-Dec-2016 15:28

There is a new Charge.Net EV fast charger open in Mangaweka on SH1 as of today (22/12/16).

At the Papa Cliff Cafe

It's going to be an important part of the charging network down State Highway 1 between existing fast chargers at Hamilton and Otaki. At present, coverage Auckland to Wellington is much better and almost complete (Taupo is the big hole) provided you go SH5 to Napier and down SH2 to Woodville, then across to Palmerston North and over to SH1 and carry on down. My 30kw LEAF was easily able to do Wellington to Palmerston North - both directions. It could also do Taupo to Napier easily (and the reverse, with some care taken - different energy profile) on a single, full charge.

(Screen capture from Plugshare)

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Linuxluver

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#1694187 23-Dec-2016 09:00

Two new destination chargers (J1772 / 32amp, presumably from the info in Plugshare) at Auckland Airport in the covered parking at the Domestic terminal.....and these are dedicated EV *charging* spaces near the pay stations. Don't park there if you aren't going to charge.

The charging is free, but you pay for parking.

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Linuxluver

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#1695318 27-Dec-2016 07:06

Interesting developments on the EV charging front.

Tesla appears to be getting ready to roll out a "Supercharger v3" that can charge a Tesla Model 3 with 500km range to 95% in 15 minutes. Hopefully this is what they install in NZ in 2017. Their office is supposed to be open in Auckland around April.

Tesla Supercharger Model 3

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Rikkitic

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#1695389 27-Dec-2016 13:49

Idle curiosity question: I do not have an EV and am unlikely to be able to afford one until NZ is flooded with cheap second-hand Japanese imports. But I wonder what happens if someone who does have one misjudges and runs out of charge in the middle of nowhere. Is there any kind of emergency service for this, or do you just have to be towed home? I can imagine this may become more of an issue in the future. Just think how many people still manage to run out of petrol.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

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#1695402 27-Dec-2016 15:09

Rikkitic:

Idle curiosity question: I do not have an EV and am unlikely to be able to afford one until NZ is flooded with cheap second-hand Japanese imports. But I wonder what happens if someone who does have one misjudges and runs out of charge in the middle of nowhere. Is there any kind of emergency service for this, or do you just have to be towed home? I can imagine this may become more of an issue in the future. Just think how many people still manage to run out of petrol.

It's a common question. :-)

If you're an AA member, they can tow you to the nearest charging station. If it's within 6km there is no charge, apparently.

But a better answer is that you would typically not misjudge things so badly. Most EV owners I know would allow at least a 10% "buffer" in attempting anything they considered marginal for their vehicle that someone hadn't already done (or that they were aware of). That means you'd only get caught short if there was a big detour for some reason and your planned route wasn't possible. Online tools like "Greenrace" are proving to be pretty accurate at estimating the power needs on a given route and taking account of the speed driven, the topography and the attributes of the specific vehicle (many are known to the tool).

What then? Well, I have a charging cable (7.5m + 10m extension rated at 10amp) in the boot that can plug into literally any ordinary household power point and charge my car at the rate of about 8% per hour. That would translate into about 15km/hour. If I have to, so I could knock at someone's door and offer to pay them some money for a charge.....and I would never be so empty that I couldn't just go to the next house (or the next) if they said no. Or you could go to any nearby caravan park or camping ground and pay for access to their power. They are all over the place.....though they tend to only be open in the daytime or early evening.

If anyone helpful nearby has power, then I'm good. It's never happened......but I suppose it might one day. The chances of it happening are rapidly declining as more and more fast charging (and slower 'destination' charging) stations open up over time. The growth of the charging network has been rapid the past year and that will continue through 2017. That's why I've started posting here as each new fast charger opens....so people can see the rapid progress for themselves.

As for affordable EVs there are dozens of Gen1 Nissan LEAFs on TradeMe for around $14,995. Pretty much every one of them can do at least 100km-120km. That's a affordable car for anyone who lives in a town or city.

It's worth keeping in view that you don't buy petrol and most of the normal servicing required by a 'normal' car simply doesn't exist for an EV - particularly a LEAF. No radiator (no coolant to leak), no fan (no fan belt to break), no air filter or oil filter (no combustion and no pistons) and no cam belt....etc...etc....

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#1695801 28-Dec-2016 13:42

Hi Leaf Owners go to the electric car map and register your Leaf in the NZ section

http://www.electriccarmap.com/search

Also Link to UK most popular small car sales in November

https://cleantechnica.com/2016/12/27/nissan-leaf-sales-fastest-growing-uks-small-family-car-segment-november/

Linuxluver

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#1696110 29-Dec-2016 12:00

LDV in NZ are now offering an electric version of their V80 delivery van. Range is about 400km assuming a steady speed of 40kph (city traffic, obviously).

http://evtalk.co.nz/ldv-throws-down-light-commercial-ev-gauntlet/

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Linuxluver

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#1696111 29-Dec-2016 12:01

gulfa:

Hi Leaf Owners go to the electric car map and register your Leaf in the NZ section

http://www.electriccarmap.com/search

Also Link to UK most popular small car sales in November

https://cleantechnica.com/2016/12/27/nissan-leaf-sales-fastest-growing-uks-small-family-car-segment-november/

It says I'm already registered and won't let me reset my password.....which isn't what I thought it was, it seems.

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clinty

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#1696225 29-Dec-2016 16:23

Details of a nice trip through the South island

Sounds like they had a long day, but a nice drive :)

http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/87990061/careful-planning-fuels-epic-electric-journey-from-christchurch-to-nelson

Clint

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#1696231 29-Dec-2016 16:57

clinty: Details of a nice trip through the South island

Sounds like they had a long day, but a nice drive :)

http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/87990061/careful-planning-fuels-epic-electric-journey-from-christchurch-to-nelson

Clint

Mark is the reason why I ended up with my leaf ;-)

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#1696708 31-Dec-2016 08:38

We followed a BMW i3 over the Rimutaka Hill road on Wednesday in our Xtrail. Those things go great up the hill . Very impressed at its rate of climb and it pulled away from us on nearly every corner.

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#1699259 6-Jan-2017 10:47

MikeB4: We followed a BMW i3 over the Rimutaka Hill road on Wednesday in our Xtrail. Those things go great up the hill . Very impressed at its rate of climb and it pulled away from us on nearly every corner.

The instant access to 100% of the power makes EVs great for leaping away at the starting line. :-)

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Linuxluver

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#1699274 6-Jan-2017 11:29

Chinese-backed Faraday Future have presented their electric concept car - the FF91 - in real life at CES 2017.

It looks good. They are taking reservations for only US$5000 / each. They claim to have had over 64,000 reservations in just 36 hours. But you have to be in the US, Canada or China.

1050hp / 783kw (over 1800 newton meters of shaft torque)

610km range (378+ miles EPA adjusted) at high speeds.

775km range at 90kph.

1200km range in city driving.

Auto-valet. You get out of the car and tell it to go find a park. You then either summon it when required or tell it what time to come back and pick you up.

Facial recognition / scanning to access the vehicle.

Loads of other stuff......

Car auto-adjusts settings to match the individual driver's preferences.

130kWh battery (in largest config)

(Clearly not a low-cost family car).

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