EV (electric vehicle) News and Discussion

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

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#3473953 26-Mar-2026 11:26

Thanks all. What about the 24 versus 30 watt, is there one that needs to be avoided, I vaguely recall that 30 was bad?

Is it correct that you can also run a fridge on it in a power cut? Does that require some special equipment. Feels like a toss up of fridge defrosted or dead car which is why the hybrid is not being dispatched.

Sigh then there’s insurance, I’d only have third party, and reg and Wofs, but wait, if they are so popular they will also go on the most stolen list. So much to consider.

gzt

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#3473956 26-Mar-2026 11:36

EV stealing for sale and parts isn't really a thing in NZ so far. On the plus side there is no petrol to syphon and there is no catalytic converter to chop off. I feel a lot better about that aspect personally.

HarmLessSolutions

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#3473957 26-Mar-2026 11:37

Eva888:

Thanks all. What about the 24 versus 30 watt, is there one that needs to be avoided, I vaguely recall that 30 was bad?

Is it correct that you can also run a fridge on it in a power cut? Does that require some special equipment. Feels like a toss up of fridge defrosted or dead car which is why the hybrid is not being dispatched.

Sigh then there’s insurance, I’d only have third party, and reg and Wofs, but wait, if they are so popular they will also go on the most stolen list. So much to consider.

We have a 30 kWh batterey Leaf and was prompted to check with our local importer of them recently. He's imported and sold a heap of Leafs and has had one 30 kWh Leaf require attention due to a cell/module fail. In that case the bad cell was replaced and it was up and running again.

From his experience he advised not regularly using the vehicle at low SoC levels, particularly in cold weather and/or under heavy loading (acceleration, hills, etc). In other words don't flog the battery and you should be fine.

There's quite a bit of comment online criticising 30 kWh Leafs but it may result in them being slightly out of favour with buyers so maybe a better chance of picking one up for a more reasonable price than a 24 kWh (older) Leaf.

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

gzt

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#3473960 26-Mar-2026 11:39

How to know the difference without leafspy? I've seen a few things about vin numbers but nothing solid.

HarmLessSolutions

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#3473965 26-Mar-2026 11:42

gzt: EV stealing for sale and parts isn't really a thing in NZ so far. On the plus side there is no petrol to syphon and there is no catalytic converter to chop off. I feel a lot better about that aspect personally.

A stolen Leaf is unlikely to get too far away so 'out of province' is typically out of the question for older low SoH Leafs. The whole tech side of EVs also make them far less attractive to steal I would imagine. Our Polestar for example can be located by my phone at any time so in the very unlikely event it was stolen I'd be telling the police where they can find it.

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

HarmLessSolutions

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#3473969 26-Mar-2026 11:46

gzt: How to know the difference without leafspy? I've seen a few things about vin numbers but nothing solid.

Any reputable seller will be stating the battery capacity in the sales blurb. In any case a dongle to enable you to check via LeafSpy can be bought for under $100 and is a good peace of mind device ongoing.

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

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richms

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#3473971 26-Mar-2026 11:47

gzt:
richms:
gzt: Does your hybrid really need 95? I think if you check the manual you'll find it will be fine on 91 just a bit less power which you may or may not notice depending how you use the car.

Don't do that. They list that they will work on 91 because some people refuse to buy anything that needs "premium" and economy will tank with all the mitigations that the ECM does to prevent detonation. The biggest one that I was told by a mechanic they see is a totally carboned up intake from the EGR filling the cylinder with inert exhaust and running rich to prevent knock.

I had EGR fail and fixed at 160,000km. The dealer mechanic said that was approximately normal. I have owned it since 60,000km and used 91 since then. Premature failure or about right?

The problem is that its all opaque and hidden behind an orange check engine light what is happening and why. All I know is the best money came from Mitsi GDIs that people abused the hell out of with 91 and would be getting broken EGC, clogged everything with soot and a big bill when run on 91, yet those on 98 like they were supposed to have lasted fine.

Richard rich.ms

richms

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#3473973 26-Mar-2026 11:49

HarmLessSolutions:

The whole tech side of EVs also make them far less attractive to steal I would imagine. Our Polestar for example can be located by my phone at any time so in the very unlikely event it was stolen I'd be telling the police where they can find it.

So could all those toyotas that were missing in Aussie. They can be tracked till the can bus attack disables the modem because of the crap security that toyota thought was acceptable. Hopefully polestar with better developers is not as useless.

Richard rich.ms

HarmLessSolutions

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#3473992 26-Mar-2026 12:45

richms:

HarmLessSolutions:

The whole tech side of EVs also make them far less attractive to steal I would imagine. Our Polestar for example can be located by my phone at any time so in the very unlikely event it was stolen I'd be telling the police where they can find it.

So could all those toyotas that were missing in Aussie. They can be tracked till the can bus attack disables the modem because of the crap security that toyota thought was acceptable. Hopefully polestar with better developers is not as useless.

The real barrier to EV theft is that they can't be hotwired and the level of tech involved is well above your average car thief's pay grade, for now.

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

calm

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#3474072 26-Mar-2026 14:45

Does anyone here know if https://smartevchargers.co.nz do good products? A fair bit cheaper than the OEM version. They have come up in search as mentioned in discussions as price points but nothing I could find on the quality of the products or customer service.

TIA

PolicyGuy

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#3474111 26-Mar-2026 16:19

calm:

Does anyone here know if https://smartevchargers.co.nz do good products? A fair bit cheaper than the OEM version. They have come up in search as mentioned in discussions as price points but nothing I could find on the quality of the products or customer service.

TIA

I bought a "blue caravan" 16A charger off them last year and have used it all the time for the last four months. It works fine.

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Scott3

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#3474145 26-Mar-2026 17:49

Eva888:

Thanks all. What about the 24 versus 30 watt, is there one that needs to be avoided, I vaguely recall that 30 was bad?

Is it correct that you can also run a fridge on it in a power cut? Does that require some special equipment. Feels like a toss up of fridge defrosted or dead car which is why the hybrid is not being dispatched.

Sigh then there’s insurance, I’d only have third party, and reg and Wofs, but wait, if they are so popular they will also go on the most stolen list. So much to consider.

30 kWh is a bit more likely to drop a cell at random.

For your application, Ideally you want the best 24 kWh State of health you can find (ideally 70%+). That said, your range needs are so low, you could potentially buy a leaf with a trashed battery pack. But then the risk of weak cells gets higher, and you would want to mitigate the risk of the car stoping when going up a steep hill (can be restarted), by checking Cell balance under load and Hx value.

Also there is quite a variety of trims. AUTECH looks a bit nicer. some cars have bose audio & 360 camera. Relatively few have side airbags etc.

Leaf's don't really get stolen. They all have push button starts, so can't be started with a pair of vicegrips and a screwdriver like many aqua's can.

No built in V2L on a Leaf. But you can buy a pure sine inverter and run whatever you want via the 12v system (DC:DC converter is good for about 2 kW to keep the 12V charged)

Given your low travel distance, & how you already own an efficient car, I would consider if right now, when people are going crazy for used EV's is the right time to jump into the market. Before the Iran thing I sold my 66% health leaf for $2300, and 40 kWh ones were going for $10k.... Prices have spiked a lot.

Also with RUC, you are not really going to save much vs your hybrid, so will be well behind financially once you cover fixed costs (WOF, REGO, insurance etc).

FYI SOH / Capacity bars:

Please explain Nissan Leaf battery/charge gauges to me : r ...

100% to 85% = 12 bars (15%)
85% to 78.75% = 11 bars (6.25%)
78.75% to 72.5% = 10 bars (6.25%)
72.5% to 66.25% = 9 bars (6.25%)
66.25% to 60% = 8 bars (6.25%)
60% to 53.75% = 7 bars (6.25%)
53.75% to 47.5% = 6 bars (6.25%)
47.5% to 41.25% = 5 bars (6.25%)
41.25% to 35% = 4 bars (6.25%)
35% to 28.75% = 3 bars (6.25%)
28.75% to 22.5% = 2 bars (6.25%)
22.5% to 16.25% = 1 bar (6.25%)

kangaroo13

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#3474166 26-Mar-2026 20:36

Scott3:

Given your low travel distance, & how you already own an efficient car, I would consider if right now, when people are going crazy for used EV's is the right time to jump into the market. ...

Yep - maybe an e-bike for local trips, to complement your already fairly efficient hybrid?

Scott3

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#3474197 27-Mar-2026 01:04

Facelift BZ4X pricing is out.

https://www.toyota.co.nz/new-car/bZ4X/

bZ4X Pure: $56,990 Driveaway. 167 kW FWD. 750 kG towing, 591 km WLTP range.

bZ4X Motion $66,990 (+$1k for two tone paint). 255 kW AWD, 1500 kg towing, 517 km WLTP range

bZ4X Touring $69,990, 280 kW AWD, 488 km WLTP range, 33% more boot space.

Class leading 212mm ground clearance on all trims (per aust spec shet)

Notably there is a big boot version - Kind of a comeback of station wagons. I like this a lot.

The Big range bump, improved fast charging etc & $15k price cut compared to the old model make this a very completive. Pricing overlaps substantially with the rav4, which sells like crazy.

Dingbatt

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#3474256 27-Mar-2026 08:11

I just had a look on the Toyota NZ website. I admit I’m intrigued by what is on offer, both full BEV and PHEV in a “welcome to the party” kind of way.

In typical Toyota fashion the offerings seem to lack some of the “fruit” that other brands do. But that is not necessarily a bad thing from a reliability perspective. Also fixed priced servicing.

I did find a mistake on their website though, apart from two-tone, they don’t seem to charge more for different paint colours😉.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

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