EV (electric vehicle) News & Discussion

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › EV (electric vehicle) News & Discussion

1 | ... | 309 | 310 | 311 | 312 | 313 | 314 | 315 | 316 | 317 | 318 | 319 | ... | 727

4098 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#2693916 16-Apr-2021 17:14

Dingbatt:

Any word on the China sourced Teslas re built quality? i.e. paint quality, panel gaps, general fit and finish, etc.

A quick google suggests quality is much improved with the Chinese built Teslas.

First article I found:

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-china-model-3-build-quality-shanghai-manufacturing/

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

lchiu7

6474 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#2694146 17-Apr-2021 12:36

I got a ride in a Tesla 3 the other door - the performance model. I wasn't quite prepared for the acceleration which was breathtaking. And the self-driving mode was very impressive. Also we drove by the new bank of super chargers being built in the Johnsonville Mall (Welly).

I think after that I am very keen on an EV but this ride has spoiled me for another brand apart from a Tesla (perhaps the new Mercedes :-) )

Didn't look really hard but the build quaiity seemed very good.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

gzt

17111 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2694151 17-Apr-2021 13:02

I find myself wondering if the Tesla has a Mild Mode aka lend it to a friend or relative mode to prevent overpowered accidents by unfamiliar drivers.

RunningMan

8954 posts

Uber Geek

#2694192 17-Apr-2021 13:34

@gzt it's called chill mode.

Gordy7

1906 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2694233 17-Apr-2021 15:10

I recently considered buying an MG ZS EV and did a cost comparison with my 1997 Corolla.

My EV calculations used figures direct from the MG ZS EV spec and did not take into account charging efficiency or battery aging.

Anticipated RUC of $77/1000km was taken from the NZTA web site.

My Corolla petrol usage was based actual usage on 120km hilly road trip in Hawkes Bay.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

MarkH67

518 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2694245 17-Apr-2021 15:51

Gordy7:

Anticipated RUC of $77/1000km was taken from the NZTA web site.

It really doesn't make sense that EVs would be made to be as expensive as petrol cars to run by taxing them. That goes against the government's stated aims. The only logical thing to expect is that once EVs have to pay RUCs there will be a new EV RUC rate that will be cheaper than the diesel car RUC rate. Or maybe they will drop the road-tax from petrol and make ALL cars pay a RUC - but even then they could make the rate cheaper for electric cars. They could even decide to let EVs keep going RUC free until they are 20% of the fleet, which would give us several more years of very low running costs.

I've had my 2015 Leaf for almost 4 years now and the entire time I've been paying $0.00/1000km. I've ran up over 60,000km, mainly commuting to work and back (360km/week) with some trips into Hamilton thrown in. I've saved so much money that if I look at what the car cost and what I've saved (compared to a cheaper 2nd hand petrol car) and what my car would currently sell for - I think I'm ahead by thousands of dollars. My savings aren't just in weekly running costs, regular servicing and maintenance costs on a petrol car would also be a lot higher. I've not needed any oil/filter changes and depending on the car and mileage a petrol car could have cost me for a new cambelt by now if I hadn't gone with a Leaf. Obviously the costs work out a LOT better when you buy a 2nd hand Japanese import compared to buying a brand new car, but running costs on an electric car have been a LOT cheaper than with a fossil fuel burner.

Gordy7

1906 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2694263 17-Apr-2021 17:08

MarkH67:

Gordy7:

Anticipated RUC of $77/1000km was taken from the NZTA web site.

It really doesn't make sense that EVs would be made to be as expensive as petrol cars to run by taxing them.

.... snip....

I agree... however the Gov't hasn't stated what any RUC will be. There is a lot of speculation.

I did my calculations back when the MG ZS EV first came out to NZ.

You have not said what your actual running costs have been.

For the MG ZS EV I calculated $5.99/100km vs $14.70/100km for my Corolla.... a significant saving.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

Wise

Send money globally for less with Wise - one free transfer up to NZ$900 (affiliate link).

Obraik

2123 posts

Uber Geek

#2694276 17-Apr-2021 19:01

Gordy7:

I recently considered buying an MG ZS EV and did a cost comparison with my 1997 Corolla.

My EV calculations used figures direct from the MG ZS EV spec and did not take into account charging efficiency or battery aging.

Anticipated RUC of $77/1000km was taken from the NZTA web site.

My Corolla petrol usage was based actual usage on 120km hilly road trip in Hawkes Bay.

What are you including in that EV running cost?

Where are you located for a 35c/kWh rate?

Looking to buy a Tesla? Use my referral link and we both get credits

MarkH67

518 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2694296 17-Apr-2021 20:36

Gordy7:

You have not said what your actual running costs have been.

And you failed to include repairs & maintenance in your costs . . .

My 360km per week commuting costs me about $15 in electricity (I pay less than 30c per kWh). With local petrol pricing being over $2/litre I would be looking at $55 or more depending on how economical the car was. Powering the car is easily $40 per week less for me. Since I bought the car I would have needed 6 oil/filter changes if it wasn't a petrol car and maybe one cambelt replacement and quite possibly other repairs/maintenance costs. It isn't hard to see how I would be $2500 better off per year with my Leaf vs a petrol car.

My repairs & maintenance over 60,000km of driving my car: One set of 2nd hand tyres, one set of front windscreen wipers & one puncture repair on the front left tyre. That's it. I have literally spent nothing more than that except for the power bill.

Gordy7

1906 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2694307 17-Apr-2021 21:23

MarkH67:
Gordy7:

You have not said what your actual running costs have been.

And you failed to include repairs & maintenance in your costs . . .

My 360km per week commuting costs me about $15 in electricity (I pay less than 30c per kWh). With local petrol pricing being over $2/litre I would be looking at $55 or more depending on how economical the car was. Powering the car is easily $40 per week less for me. Since I bought the car I would have needed 6 oil/filter changes if it wasn't a petrol car and maybe one cambelt replacement and quite possibly other repairs/maintenance costs. It isn't hard to see how I would be $2500 better off per year with my Leaf vs a petrol car.

My repairs & maintenance over 60,000km of driving my car: One set of 2nd hand tyres, one set of front windscreen wipers & one puncture repair on the front left tyre. That's it. I have literally spent nothing more than that except for the power bill.

You are quite correct. You have a detailed development on my rudimentary comparison!

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

Gordy7

1906 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2694309 17-Apr-2021 21:32

Obraik:
Gordy7:

I recently considered buying an MG ZS EV and did a cost comparison with my 1997 Corolla.

My EV calculations used figures direct from the MG ZS EV spec and did not take into account charging efficiency or battery aging.

Anticipated RUC of $77/1000km was taken from the NZTA web site.

My Corolla petrol usage was based actual usage on 120km hilly road trip in Hawkes Bay.

What are you including in that EV running cost?

Where are you located for a 35c/kWh rate?

Just comparing cost of energy sources.
Location is northern Hawkes Bay and as noted in my table I used uncontrolled kWh rate. I did not look into cheaper kWh options.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

Geektastic

17943 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2694319 17-Apr-2021 22:38

MarkH67:

Gordy7:

Anticipated RUC of $77/1000km was taken from the NZTA web site.

It really doesn't make sense that EVs would be made to be as expensive as petrol cars to run by taxing them. That goes against the government's stated aims. The only logical thing to expect is that once EVs have to pay RUCs there will be a new EV RUC rate that will be cheaper than the diesel car RUC rate. Or maybe they will drop the road-tax from petrol and make ALL cars pay a RUC - but even then they could make the rate cheaper for electric cars. They could even decide to let EVs keep going RUC free until they are 20% of the fleet, which would give us several more years of very low running costs.

I've had my 2015 Leaf for almost 4 years now and the entire time I've been paying $0.00/1000km. I've ran up over 60,000km, mainly commuting to work and back (360km/week) with some trips into Hamilton thrown in. I've saved so much money that if I look at what the car cost and what I've saved (compared to a cheaper 2nd hand petrol car) and what my car would currently sell for - I think I'm ahead by thousands of dollars. My savings aren't just in weekly running costs, regular servicing and maintenance costs on a petrol car would also be a lot higher. I've not needed any oil/filter changes and depending on the car and mileage a petrol car could have cost me for a new cambelt by now if I hadn't gone with a Leaf. Obviously the costs work out a LOT better when you buy a 2nd hand Japanese import compared to buying a brand new car, but running costs on an electric car have been a LOT cheaper than with a fossil fuel burner.

It's quite sweet that you expect government decisions to make sense. I hope you never lose that sense of wonder.

HarmLessSolutions

972 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

#2694321 17-Apr-2021 23:09

Obraik:

Gordy7:

I recently considered buying an MG ZS EV and did a cost comparison with my 1997 Corolla.

My EV calculations used figures direct from the MG ZS EV spec and did not take into account charging efficiency or battery aging.

Anticipated RUC of $77/1000km was taken from the NZTA web site.

My Corolla petrol usage was based actual usage on 120km hilly road trip in Hawkes Bay.

What are you including in that EV running cost?

Where are you located for a 35c/kWh rate?

Worth shopping around for electricity prices. We're with Ecotricity and use their after midnight off peak rate of 17.96c/kWh to charge our Leaf by using a timer on the connection.

As the power companies are now looking towards a lack of capacity for charging the expected numbers of EVs I would expect other companies to recognise the ability to manipulate loading profiles on their networks by following Ecotricity's lead.

https://www.harmlesssolutions.co.nz/

MarkH67

518 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2694340 18-Apr-2021 09:01

Geektastic:

It's quite sweet that you expect government decisions to make sense. I hope you never lose that sense of wonder.

I actually find it fascinating that so many people make the assumption that EVs will pay the same RUC as diesel cars, with no evidence that this is the case. The fact is that we don't know what RUC rate EVs will eventually be charged, or when they will start being charged. We do know that there is a big push to be more environmentally aware and our country signed up to the Paris climate agreement, so they will open themselves up to a lot of criticism if they do anything to discourage uptake of EVs.

Clearly the government has made and will continue to make many bone-headed decisions which negatively affect the country, but they have made and will continue to make many good decisions too. My guesses as to what they will do are made with an eye to whatever agendas they seem to be pushing. I'm always interested to read what others predict the government will do, then over time we will get to see who is right.

lchiu7

6474 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#2694345 18-Apr-2021 10:04

I'm looking at getting a new car. And it needs to be an SUV. But unless the SUV electric car comes down to it something in the mid $40,000 range then that is way out of my budget. I think looking at the cost of electricity is red herring. The government needs to step in and provide better incentives to get EVs down to where people can consider them as alternative transportation from my cost point of view. $50,000 is just way too much for entry level SUV. And here referring to the MG which has had mixed reviews.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

1 | ... | 309 | 310 | 311 | 312 | 313 | 314 | 315 | 316 | 317 | 318 | 319 | ... | 727