EV (electric vehicle) News & Discussion

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1153 posts

Uber Geek

#3082696 31-May-2023 11:33

billgates:

Thanks for sharing your experience @djtOtago

It is a 65KM trip from New Plymouth to Ōpunake so you would need a fair bit left in the reserve. How much spare range did you allow for during the 3000KM trip before needing a recharge to avoid any faulty charger issues like in New Plymouth's case?

The Polestar 2 LR would do 400 km on a full charge without having to granny it.
From memory I had 150km left when arriving in New Plymouth from Wellinton airport after a 30 minute top up in Hawera. Spent the next day in New Plymouth. Then next morning headed to Ōpunake early, had breakfast at a local Cafe while charging (10% -> 80% 1h 12m) then heading off for a day of site seeing.

I don't recall arriving anywhere with less than a 100 km range left. This was not a conscious decision it was just the way it worked out. Even on days where I was doing 400 or so km in the day, I would be stopping somewhere for lunch so even 50 minutes on a 50kw charger gets you another 200 km of range. It was just a matter of choosing a place to stop that had a charger close to a place to have lunch.

Most of the time I was in the lower North Island between New Plymouth, Hawkes bay, Greytown and Wellington zig zagging between them multiple times, so there was usually plenty of choice for a quick lunch and charge. There was always an easily reachable charger in the direct I was traveling, and a 30 minute charge and coffee waiting if needed. ☕

This was my first time in an EV, hired from SIXT. Once I got a good idea of its consumption and range from the initial trip from Wellington airport to New Plymouth, never really had any range anxiety. Being the LR version of the Polestar probable helped.

Scott3

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#3082701 31-May-2023 11:47

I too think having fast charging facilities in or nearby each city is a good idea:

Serves as a backup for locals. If for whatever reason, you can't charge at home, you can easily fast charge. Examples include: - Power cut impacting your street, EVSE fault, driveway being resurfaced etc.
Allows local to have the confidence to return home with a nearly flat car, knowing if they need to head off again (say forgot something really important), a short stop at a fast charger will allow them to make the trip.
For use as a Destination charger. Lots of people visit cities, and it is not unusual (even with petrol car's) to get to the destination, unload the car, drop the trailer etc before a single person goes out to get fuel for the car. AC charging at accommodation isn't always available, and can fall through, so a backup is desirable even if it is.
Cities (perhaps excluding New Plymouth) are often on the way, or close to it. Sure having the taupo supercharger out on the bypass would save drivers some time, but it would be under 10 minutes.

Tesla's North island super charger coverage is getting pretty impressive (given that the widespread charge.net 50kW units can serve low volume destinations). Other than the East Cape, it is approaching a complete network. It is getting to a point where additions are going to be largely to improve user experience. For example a station at Turangi, to allow the faster SH1 route from Auckland to Wellington, rather than going through taupo. Or a station in Taumaruni or National park to allow better access to Whanganui from the north, and serve the Auckland to wellington route at times when the desert road is closed.

Obraik

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#3082707 31-May-2023 11:57

jonathan18:

I hadn't heard about any of these, but it's great to see; Bulls will be well-stocked given the recent opening of a ChargeNet hypercharger there.

I was interested to find out where the Paraparaumu charger was, given that's the one I'm most likely to use; looks to be in the Coastlands carpark, between Countdown and Pak 'n' Save. I'd kinda been hoping for one closer to the on/off ramps to the expressway (ie, Kapiti Road), so this placement means the J'ville Superchargers are probably more convenient for easy access on and off the motorway.

From the photo someone posted on the FB group, it's right outside the ANZ branch there.

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#3082714 31-May-2023 12:21

Scott3:

Tesla's North island super charger coverage is getting pretty impressive (given that the widespread charge.net 50kW units can serve low volume destinations). Other than the East Cape, it is approaching a complete network. It is getting to a point where additions are going to be largely to improve user experience. For example a station at Turangi, to allow the faster SH1 route from Auckland to Wellington, rather than going through taupo. Or a station in Taumaruni or National park to allow better access to Whanganui from the north, and serve the Auckland to wellington route at times when the desert road is closed.

While the 'spine' of the NI is increasingly well-served by fast chargers, the peripheries of the island are still sparsely supported (which isn't a shock re population/travel numbers). And it's not always just an issue of lack of chargers but what they do have being fairly limited. For example, I believe until recently Wairarapa's only 'fast' chargers were the standard Chargenet 50kW units in Eketahuna, Masterton and Featherston. Given the ability of these to only charge one car at a time that's not particularly generous charging infrastructure for the region. (When we stayed in Masterton last year I ended up charging at 6AM to avoid the long wait I faced the previous day at the only charger in town.) I do note that Moore Wilsons in Masterton now has a 75kW charger, plus hopefully ChargeNet will upgrade more of their stations to faster units capable of charging two cars at a time, as they've done recently in PN.

richms

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#3082748 31-May-2023 12:53

There is still nothing on the north shore so if I want to go north and I am low, I have to go over the bridge to K road and back again, whereas there should be something Albany or higher up so that I can quickly get it to 80% or so if going to whangarei.

Richard rich.ms

SaltyNZ

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#3082751 31-May-2023 12:59

richms:

There is still nothing on the north shore so if I want to go north and I am low, I have to go over the bridge to K road and back again, whereas there should be something Albany or higher up so that I can quickly get it to 80% or so if going to whangarei.

There's a 75kW at the BP at Milldale now.

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Dingbatt

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#3082754 31-May-2023 13:06

richms:

There is still nothing on the north shore so if I want to go north and I am low, I have to go over the bridge to K road and back again, whereas there should be something Albany or higher up so that I can quickly get it to 80% or so if going to whangarei.

Are you just meaning Tesla SCs?

There’s a hypercharger (Chargenet) at Kaiwaka. Found a 2021 press release talking about a Chargenet hypercharger on the North Shore but can’t seem to find it on either the Plugshare or Chargenet apps.

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Obraik

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#3082759 31-May-2023 13:21

richms:

There is still nothing on the north shore so if I want to go north and I am low, I have to go over the bridge to K road and back again, whereas there should be something Albany or higher up so that I can quickly get it to 80% or so if going to whangarei.

Actually, in the list I posted I forgot to include a new Supercharger going in at Glenfield mall

I'm guessing you don't have charging available at home?

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SaltyNZ

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#3082761 31-May-2023 13:24

Obraik:

Actually, in the list I posted I forgot to include a new Supercharger going in at Glenfield mall

Glenfield? Albany would've been better...

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Scott3

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#3082796 31-May-2023 14:45

richms:

There is still nothing on the north shore so if I want to go north and I am low, I have to go over the bridge to K road and back again, whereas there should be something Albany or higher up so that I can quickly get it to 80% or so if going to whangarei.

The area just north of the north shore has recently become well-served by other networks. BP dairy flat is only 18km from Takapuna (vs 10km to go across the bridge to Tesla K-road)

BP Dairy flat 3x CCS2 cords and 1x Chademo. (accross 2x 75kW units)

Silverdale has the 2x free 50kW units

Z Walk-worth has 3x CCS2 cords and 1x Chademo. (accross 2x 90kW units)

Kaiwaka has 4x CCS 2 and 2x Chademo (accoss 2x 300kW units) + a 50kW unit around the corner.

Up until recently the charging situation in Warkworth was so tight that I stopped taking my leaf in favor of my non plug in car, but there are now a heap of plugs around their (especially CCS2).

But yeah, charging situation on the north shore is a bit disappointing. A number of times I have been looking to see if I could pick up some charge in that area on the way down the motorway southbound. Most of the chargers on the north shore are single units, and a few minutes from the motorway (other than the super busy 2x50kW free vector station).

richms

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#3082803 31-May-2023 14:56

Obraik:
Actually, in the list I posted I forgot to include a new Supercharger going in at Glenfield mall

I'm guessing you don't have charging available at home?

I do but if it's low and I need to go up north at short notic nice to have somewhere to juice up.

And yes I mean supercharger only because I'm 50/50 with bad experience on other chargers.

Richard rich.ms

Technofreak

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#3082804 31-May-2023 14:57

Dingbatt:

On a different topic I’m getting tired of the uneducated comments about “EVs getting a free ride with RUCs”. The fees are coming and as was pointed out by an Aussie commentator, the GST paid on a $30000 battery is quite a lot of tax that a ICE owner hasn’t paid.

Sorry, GST and RUC are two very different things. To conflate one with the other is disingenuous. GST is a consumer tax and in theory goes into the general tax pool. RUC's are collected to develop and maintain our roading network. EV's are getting a free ride with respect RUC's. I can see why the government has chosen to do this and I agree to some extent but it needs to change soon.

You're right EV's are no cheaper than ICE vehicles to run (that includes ICE servicing costs) especially if you're paying the rate charged at charging stations.

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richms

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#3082805 31-May-2023 14:57

SaltyNZ:
Glenfield? Albany would've been better...

Or wairau just off the motorway.

Richard rich.ms

johno1234

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#3082929 31-May-2023 17:18

Technofreak:

Dingbatt:

On a different topic I’m getting tired of the uneducated comments about “EVs getting a free ride with RUCs”. The fees are coming and as was pointed out by an Aussie commentator, the GST paid on a $30000 battery is quite a lot of tax that a ICE owner hasn’t paid.

Sorry, GST and RUC are two very different things. To conflate one with the other is disingenuous. GST is a consumer tax and in theory goes into the general tax pool. RUC's are collected to develop and maintain our roading network. EV's are getting a free ride with respect RUC's. I can see why the government has chosen to do this and I agree to some extent but it needs to change soon.

You're right EV's are no cheaper than ICE vehicles to run (that includes ICE servicing costs) especially if you're paying the rate charged at charging stations.

Fair Go covered this last night. You need to charge at home off peak to make EVs really cheap. The Otorohanga charger was $28 to charge a PHEV to 25km, more expensivet han petrol! It was because the car was AC only, takes 2hr to charge and station has a time charge of 25c a minute!

Dingbatt

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#3082949 31-May-2023 18:17

Technofreak:

Sorry, GST and RUC are two very different things.

No need to be sorry. I know the taxes are different. There’s fuel excise on petrol as well. And general taxes (or more accurately, tax backed borrowing) are being used to ‘offset’ the excise reduction at the moment.

I believe in pure “user pays” for all vehicles. A fee per km for each vehicle class, like diesel vehicles currently have, including petrol vehicles. Fairer for everyone, but unlikely to be instituted because the fuel excise is too easy for the government to collect as it can’t be avoided.

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