EV (electric vehicle) News and Discussion

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

1 | ... | 761 | 762 | 763 | 764 | 765 | 766 | 767 | 768 | 769 | 770 | 771

6889 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3363

Trusted

Subscriber

#3474991 29-Mar-2026 13:45

Since I can't charge at home, the Genesis EV roaming deal looks like a good option.

Unfortunately it requires you to switch your main electricity plan to their 'EV Home' plan which appears to have the same daily charge but with higher daytime rates and lower nighttime rates. This isn't ideal for me as I am an old man living alone in a small unit so can't run appliances late at night without disturbing my sleep.

Admittedly the higher daytime rate would only cost me about $85 a year more than I pay now so it's reasonably minor compared with the cost I could save on public EV charging, but I would suggest individuals need to do the maths based on their own particular situation.

gzt

18684 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 7824

Lifetime subscriber

#3475001 29-Mar-2026 14:51

Suzuki Vitara EV arrives and gets healthy review:

https://www.drivencarguide.co.nz/reviews/suzuki-e-vitara-first-drive-leap-of-faith/

At long last Suzuki has a car to sell. Good timing!

kangaroo13

87 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 90

#3475048 29-Mar-2026 15:04

alasta:

Since I can't charge at home, the Genesis EV roaming deal looks like a good option.

Unfortunately it requires you to switch your main electricity plan to their 'EV Home' plan which appears to have the same daily charge but with higher daytime rates and lower nighttime rates. This isn't ideal for me as I am an old man living alone in a small unit so can't run appliances late at night without disturbing my sleep.

Admittedly the higher daytime rate would only cost me about $85 a year more than I pay now so it's reasonably minor compared with the cost I could save on public EV charging, but I would suggest individuals need to do the maths based on their own particular situation.

Throw some solar on the roof to mitigate the increased daytime charge. These days a small solar system pays for itself quite quickly, particularly if you can self-consume (by being home during the day). Feed-in tarrifs in NZ are still quite good, so you get something for your excess solar on those good generation days (of course, you need to check if the plans you are looking at give you both the EV roaming you need AND a decent solar feed in tarriff - the FiT does vary between plans).

kangaroo13

87 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 90

#3475049 29-Mar-2026 15:10

HarmLessSolutions:

lchiu7:

I have no skin in this game, just providing a PSA. I don't need to convince anybody. But out of interest I put some figures in an AI (too lazy to do the calculations myself) and got this result.

Assuming you can't charge at home but you visit a supermarket once a week and it has Chargenet chargers and you take say take 40 minutes to do shopping (we appear to take this long for some reason :-( ). On my Atto3 whic his averaging 14.2kW/100km I get these cost comparisons for the 40 minute charge using the Genesis EV plan (daytime rates)

EV TRIP COST (40 MINUTE CHARGE)

Vehicle: BYD Atto 3 Charger Type: 50kW DC Fast Charger Energy Added: 33.33 kWh Range Gained: 234.7 km (at 14.2 kWh/100km)

Electricity Rate: $0.32 + GST ($0.368/kWh) Electricity Cost: $12.27 Road User Charges (RUC): $16.90 (at $72/1,000 km)

TOTAL EV COST: $29.17

.....

Not being nit-picking but I'm curious as to where AI has sourced its RUC rate info. Should be $76/1,000km, and $72 doesn't even correlate with a GST exclusive price.

Like the old saying goes "If you want a job done properly you're best to do it yourself" is becoming all too true as research is outsourced to somebody's random software package.

AI can be good for 'fuzzy' things - statistics, probabilities, trends etc. It can do this by surveying the popularity of mentions, and how things are trending on the web, etc.

It is lousy at deterministic maths and physics calculations, and should not be entrusted to do such calculations without careful checking afterwards. Maths, physics and engineering calculations are not popularity contests (and long may it stay that way, I don't want my car's brakes, aeroplanes I'm flying on, bridges I'm travelling across and the structure of the house I'm living in to be designed by AI)

alasta

6889 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3363

Trusted

Subscriber

#3475053 29-Mar-2026 15:46

kangaroo13:

alasta:

Since I can't charge at home, the Genesis EV roaming deal looks like a good option.

Unfortunately it requires you to switch your main electricity plan to their 'EV Home' plan which appears to have the same daily charge but with higher daytime rates and lower nighttime rates. This isn't ideal for me as I am an old man living alone in a small unit so can't run appliances late at night without disturbing my sleep.

Throw some solar on the roof to mitigate the increased daytime charge. These days a small solar system pays for itself quite quickly, particularly if you can self-consume (by being home during the day).

I think you missed the old man living alone bit. My electricity consumption is about 1500 kw/h per year as I am mostly at work, doing sports, socialising, travelling or sleeping. With an empty home most of the time, I doubt I would get an economic payback on solar. The daily charges are the real killer for me.

deepred

621 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 528

ID Verified

Trusted

#3475104 29-Mar-2026 16:33

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.

Who'd vandalise an EV? Jealous petrosexuals, I'm guessing?

"I regret to say that we of the F.B.I. are powerless to act in cases of oral-genital intimacy, unless it has in some way obstructed interstate commerce." — J. Edgar Hoover

"Create a society that values material things above all else. Strip it of industry. Raise taxes for the poor and reduce them for the rich and for corporations. Prop up failed financial institutions with public money. Ask for more tax, while vastly reducing public services. Put adverts everywhere, regardless of people's ability to afford the things they advertise. Allow the cost of food and housing to eclipse people's ability to pay for them. Light blue touch paper." — Andrew Maxwell

New World

Shop on-line at New World now for your groceries (affiliate link).

gzt

18684 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 7824

Lifetime subscriber

#3475106 29-Mar-2026 16:45

Doesn't really happen in NZ apart from a brief spate of Tesla tagging in Grey Lynn that time Elon Musk let loose his inner whatever-it-is.

dafman

4054 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2652

Trusted

#3475108 29-Mar-2026 16:52

gzt: Suzuki Vitara EV arrives and gets healthy review:

https://www.drivencarguide.co.nz/reviews/suzuki-e-vitara-first-drive-leap-of-faith/

At long last Suzuki has a car to sell. Good timing!

I love my Swift Sport, but no Suzuki is worth $60K!

Obraik

2167 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1347

#3475158 29-Mar-2026 17:26

dafman:

gzt: Suzuki Vitara EV arrives and gets healthy review:

https://www.drivencarguide.co.nz/reviews/suzuki-e-vitara-first-drive-leap-of-faith/

At long last Suzuki has a car to sell. Good timing!

I love my Swift Sport, but no Suzuki is worth $60K!

Certainly not for a 4 star safety rating..

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

deepred

621 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 528

ID Verified

Trusted

#3475166 29-Mar-2026 17:50

richms:

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.

I'm one of those Aqua drivers. I originally shopped around for used EVs like the Nissan Leaf, but the range wasn't quite long enough for my needs, and the likely battery degradation was another factor. Last I checked, the Japanese still heavily favour hybrids even though EV takeup has been rising.

Handle9

11925 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 9675

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3475168 29-Mar-2026 17:54

Obraik:

dafman:

I love my Swift Sport, but no Suzuki is worth $60K!

Certainly not for a 4 star safety rating..

If it's only got 4 stars because it doesn't have all the nonsense driver annoyance features then that's a benefit.

Mighty Ape

Shop now at Mighty Ape (affiliate link).

kangaroo13

87 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 90

#3475262 29-Mar-2026 21:39

alasta:

kangaroo13:

...

Throw some solar on the roof to mitigate the increased daytime charge. These days a small solar system pays for itself quite quickly, particularly if you can self-consume (by being home during the day).

I think you missed the old man living alone bit. My electricity consumption is about 1500 kw/h per year as I am mostly at work, doing sports, socialising, travelling or sleeping. With an empty home most of the time, I doubt I would get an economic payback on solar. The daily charges are the real killer for me.

Sorry - by 'old man living alone', I had assumed retired, and thus likely spending a lot of time at home during the day. My misunderstanding. It may not stack up for you.

Generally though - the economics of solar have changed a lot over the last few years, so it is worth checking. I you can self-consume, payback can be quite reasonable (in our case <7yrs, with one person WFH + smart control of our hot water cylinder).

kangaroo13

87 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 90

#3475263 29-Mar-2026 21:48

dafman:

gzt: Suzuki Vitara EV arrives and gets healthy review:

https://www.drivencarguide.co.nz/reviews/suzuki-e-vitara-first-drive-leap-of-faith/

At long last Suzuki has a car to sell. Good timing!

I love my Swift Sport, but no Suzuki is worth $60K!

Interesting review by the Electric Viking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUjA9JX8r4w

In summary- spec-wise it falls short of the BYD Atto 3, and needs to be about ~30% cheaper to stack up competitively. And, in some places it will be due to different tarrifs on Chinese vs Japanese cars. However, in Au/NZ, is has a price premium over the Atto 3. Without digging into the details of the spec levels, on the face of it, it seems overpriced compared to established competitors.

Nevertheless - more EVs, particularly from sources outside China, to give us more variety and choice is a very good thing.

lchiu7

6521 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 543

Trusted

#3475265 29-Mar-2026 21:58

HarmLessSolutions:

lchiu7:

I have no skin in this game, just providing a PSA. I don't need to convince anybody. But out of interest I put some figures in an AI (too lazy to do the calculations myself) and got this result.

Assuming you can't charge at home but you visit a supermarket once a week and it has Chargenet chargers and you take say take 40 minutes to do shopping (we appear to take this long for some reason :-( ). On my Atto3 whic his averaging 14.2kW/100km I get these cost comparisons for the 40 minute charge using the Genesis EV plan (daytime rates)

EV TRIP COST (40 MINUTE CHARGE)

Vehicle: BYD Atto 3 Charger Type: 50kW DC Fast Charger Energy Added: 33.33 kWh Range Gained: 234.7 km (at 14.2 kWh/100km)

Electricity Rate: $0.32 + GST ($0.368/kWh) Electricity Cost: $12.27 Road User Charges (RUC): $16.90 (at $72/1,000 km)

TOTAL EV COST: $29.17

.....

Not being nit-picking but I'm curious as to where AI has sourced its RUC rate info. Should be $76/1,000km, and $72 doesn't even correlate with a GST exclusive price.

Like the old saying goes "If you want a job done properly you're best to do it yourself" is becoming all too true as research is outsourced to somebody's random software package.

I should have checked. At $76 the calculation is

EV TRIP COST (40 MINUTE CHARGE)

Vehicle: BYD Atto 3 Charger Type: 50kW DC Fast Charger Energy Added: 33.33 kWh Range Gained: 234.7 km (at 14.2 kWh/100km)

Electricity Rate: $0.32 + GST ($0.368/kWh) Electricity Cost: $12.27 Road User Charges (RUC): $76.00 per 1,000 km RUC Cost for 234.7 km: $17.84

TOTAL EV COST: $30.11

Petrol remains

PETROL TRIP COST (EQUIVALENT DISTANCE)

Vehicle: Petrol Car Consumption: 8 L per 100 km Distance: 234.7 km Total Fuel Used: 18.78 Liters Fuel Price: $3.60 per Liter (this is 95 which is what I have to use on my ICE)

TOTAL PETROL COST: $67.61

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.

shk292

2916 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2040

Lifetime subscriber

#3475401 30-Mar-2026 09:59

kangaroo13:

Interesting review by the Electric Viking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUjA9JX8r4w

In summary- spec-wise it falls short of the BYD Atto 3, and needs to be about ~30% cheaper to stack up competitively. And, in some places it will be due to different tarrifs on Chinese vs Japanese cars. However, in Au/NZ, is has a price premium over the Atto 3. Without digging into the details of the spec levels, on the face of it, it seems overpriced compared to established competitors.

Nevertheless - more EVs, particularly from sources outside China, to give us more variety and choice is a very good thing.

If you compare the price and specs of the AWD vitara to that of the equivalent BZ4X, you’d be a mug to go anywhere near the Suzuki.

This unrealistic pricing seems to happen a lot when car companies market their first EV in a sector, with the laughable Mazda MX30 as a prime example. Hopefully Suzuki will see sense and adjust price in due course when they struggle to sell these (as Mazda seems to be doing in Aus with the 6e)

1 | ... | 761 | 762 | 763 | 764 | 765 | 766 | 767 | 768 | 769 | 770 | 771