EV (electric vehicle) News and Discussion

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

1 | ... | 759 | 760 | 761 | 762 | 763 | 764 | 765 | 766 | 767 | 768 | 769 | ... | 771

4054 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2652

Trusted

#3474511 27-Mar-2026 17:31

jarledb:

It IS possible to have EVs without home charging. It is just not as convenient.

My point being, if there is no tangible cost difference for people who cannot charge at home, they will opt for convenience.

And if the price of $124 to drive 500km is correct, then there is no tangible cost difference.

dafman

4054 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2652

Trusted

#3474516 27-Mar-2026 17:40

PolicyGuy:

And what proportion of the NZ population are in the unfortunate position of being without home charging?

A significant chunk of Wellingtonians living in the city hills or in apartments. Or flatting, see next sentence.

Also consider the many flatting situations in NZ. There may be access to home charging, but sorting out the power bills between flatmate with EV’s and those without could be challenging. I remember my student flatting days and arguments over heaters in bedrooms!

If you are a single family household with offstreet charging, then yes, it makes sense. But a significant number of NZ’ers aren’t in this situation. And for them, convenience will always win out, especially if the Chargenet rates remove any tangible cost incentive over petrol.

gzt

18682 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 7821

Lifetime subscriber

#3474520 27-Mar-2026 17:48

Similar situation all over Auckland but particularly in the city ring suburbs. It's not at all uncommon for a three or four bedroom house to have six cars on the street.

And yeah the flatmates/tennant relationship thing is always going to be a major pain with charging. The genesis account remote charging discount will help that in some cases. In other cases there will be zero interest in splitting up the bill differently every month.

It's not a complete bust of course people who already have electric vehicles are going to select homes where they can home charge if possible, and people are going to advertise household charging availability where they can.

dafman

4054 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2652

Trusted

#3474521 27-Mar-2026 17:48

jarledb:

Shock horror, they raised their prices by 5 cents per kWh.

Or in percentage terms, they raised their prices by double the current rate of inflation.

For you, maybe not an issue. For many on fixed income who travel a lot, maybe it is.

HarmLessSolutions

1228 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 810

Subscriber

#3474522 27-Mar-2026 17:50

dafman:

jarledb:

It IS possible to have EVs without home charging. It is just not as convenient.

My point being, if there is no tangible cost difference for people who cannot charge at home, they will opt for convenience.

And if the price of $124 to drive 500km is correct, then there is no tangible cost difference.

Using the calculation protocol I posted earlier 500km would cost $58 for home charged EV, $128 for publicly charged EV or $170 for a 10L/100km petrol car. $42 advantage for even a public charging restricted owner, plus minimal maintenance costs for an EV. Still worth running an EV and if cost is a major factor then signing up with a power supplier who offers home rates on the ChargeNet facilities is very attractive.

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

johno1234

3352 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2843

#3474523 27-Mar-2026 18:00

Seems a tad pessimistic at 10L/100km. My 2.2 tonne SUV is better than that, a lot better if it’s highway driving. And the very high fuel prices are temporary.

Dyson

Shop now for Dyson appliances (affiliate link).

BlargHonk

176 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 131

#3474525 27-Mar-2026 18:06

Anyone taken the Atto 2 (base) or Atto 1 (Premium) for a drive yet? The Atto 2 looked pretty nice when I went past it in traffic the other day.

HarmLessSolutions

1228 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 810

Subscriber

#3474527 27-Mar-2026 18:21

johno1234:

Seems a tad pessimistic at 10L/100km. My 2.2 tonne SUV is better than that, a lot better if it’s highway driving. And the very high fuel prices are temporary.

When I last had a petrol powered vehicle 10L/100km (28 mpg) was a respectable consumption target. I'm a bit out of touch with current ICEV fuel economy but as I said 10L/100km correlates with the RUC equivalency point for FET. Also YMMV so input your own numbers based on your own circumstances.

I'm not convinced the current fuel prices are a temporary thing. I suspect things will get worse in this regard before it gets better but energy factors such as this will be integral to how we vote in November.

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

fastbike

443 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 316

#3474528 27-Mar-2026 18:47

HarmLessSolutions:

johno1234:

Seems a tad pessimistic at 10L/100km. My 2.2 tonne SUV is better than that, a lot better if it’s highway driving. And the very high fuel prices are temporary.

When I last had a petrol powered vehicle 10L/100km (28 mpg) was a respectable consumption target. I'm a bit out of touch with current ICEV fuel economy but as I said 10L/100km correlates with the RUC equivalency point for FET. Also YMMV so input your own numbers cased on your own circumstances.

I'm not convinced the current fuel prices are a temporary thing. I suspect things will get worse in this regard before it gets better but energy factors such as this will be integral to how we vote in November.

We've just traded in my Mum's Corolla for a 1.2l Swift. She does not do enough km to go electric , and the old car got to the point of needing $$ to keep it going.

This 1.8 liter 1400kg vehicle would get about 8l/100km so I'm dubious about the consumption of a heavier more powerful vehicle being only 20% higher.

Anyway, my informed sources are saying we are living in interesting times. I was a teenager in 1979 so this is new territory for a lot of us.

We collected our new EV a week ago today, having bought it just as the war started . We also mainly bike to work with some WFH, so in theory we are "sorted".

But the ramifications of the supply chain of scarce abd expensive diesel are yet to ripple through the economy.

Otautahi Christchurch

dafman

4054 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2652

Trusted

#3474533 27-Mar-2026 19:47

fastbike:

This 1.8 liter 1400kg vehicle would get about 8l/100km so I'm dubious about the consumption of a heavier more powerful vehicle being only 20% higher.

My driver profile on our 2.5l Subaru Outback is 7.7l (not a small car) Well under the 10l suggested.

jarledb

Webhead
3319 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1983

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3474540 28-Mar-2026 01:40

dafman:

My driver profile on our 2.5l Subaru Outback is 7.7l (not a small car) Well under the 10l suggested.

Please let us get back to topic. Keep this thread about EVs, not ICE fuel economy.

Jarle Dahl Bergersen | Referral Links: Want $50 off when you join Octopus Energy? Use this referral code
Are you happy with what you get from Geekzone? Please consider supporting us by making a donation or subscribing.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

alasta

6889 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3363

Trusted

Subscriber

#3474587 28-Mar-2026 07:23

Noted that the fuel economy debate is out of scope for this thread but, suffice to say, a hybrid is cheaper to fuel than an electric vehicle dependant on public charging. I have run the numbers, and have assumed fleet-wide RUC in my calculations to adjust out the road tax inequity between petrol and electric.

In the interests of steering this back on topic, I really like the look of the MG S5 and the upcoming update to the BYD Atto 3 and would happily consider these as my next car if we continue to see sustained long term fuel price increases as Tony probably quite rightly predicted in his post above. I think the big question is whether that increase in fuel cost will be disproportionate to the increase in the cost of public charging considering the structural challenges we have in NZ's electricity market.

johno1234

3352 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2843

#3474591 28-Mar-2026 07:53

jarledb:

dafman:

My driver profile on our 2.5l Subaru Outback is 7.7l (not a small car) Well under the 10l suggested.

Please let us get back to topic. Keep this thread about EVs, not ICE fuel economy.

Is comparing cost of operation BEV vs ICE not on topic?

MarkH67

522 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 320

#3474592 28-Mar-2026 08:01

My prediction:

Within a short time (3 years or less is my guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened this year or next) the cheapest car will be a BEV and this will lead to a very rapid increase in the number of EVs sold. Already BEVs are the cheapest option over a few years, for those that can charge at home at least. Right now there are BYDs and MGs that really are not much dearer than the cheapest petrol cars, I would expect them to keep getting cheaper. When we get to this point, we will need some major changes.

What we are going to really need is a better charging option for those that can't charge at home. Some workplaces have EV charging available for staff, but not very many. Maybe we should look at street charging like in the UK? Maybe more car parking buildings could offer slow charging for cars parked all day? If only we had governments here that were more forward looking! NZ has a lot to gain from having much higher numbers of EVs, something very obvious when we are faced with fuel supply concerns!

richms

29098 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10209

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3474598 28-Mar-2026 09:34

MarkH67:

My prediction:

Within a short time (3 years or less is my guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened this year or next) the cheapest car will be a BEV and this will lead to a very rapid increase in the number of EVs sold. Already BEVs are the cheapest option over a few years, for those that can charge at home at least. Right now there are BYDs and MGs that really are not much dearer than the cheapest petrol cars, I would expect them to keep getting cheaper. When we get to this point, we will need some major changes.

While the flood of Japans cast off cars continues, that will be what a majority of people drive here. Aqua or similar off a lot with finance is the lowest cost entry into car ownership. That has removed all the starter finance type deals on new cars that you see elsewhere. For EVs to take that over will take a shift in the NZ car buying market to be more in line with the rest of the world where its common to buy a crapbox NPC car new off the lot.

Richard rich.ms

1 | ... | 759 | 760 | 761 | 762 | 763 | 764 | 765 | 766 | 767 | 768 | 769 | ... | 771