EV (electric vehicle) News and Discussion

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#3475407 30-Mar-2026 10:16

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.

Except its not made in japan,

"The vehicle is produced at the Gujarat plant in India and will be shipped from Pipavav port in Gujarat, to be supplied to markets worldwide, including Europe and Japan."

https://www.globalsuzuki.com/globalnews/2025/0826.html

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#3475426 30-Mar-2026 10:47

deepred:

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.

Hybrids are even more prone to battery degradation given they are regularly cycling between full and flat over and over during a single trip, instead of once every few days like a BEV. Once the batter in the hybrid is toast I'm pretty sure it stops working, but even if it didn't, you'd lose the hybrid advantage and just have a weak ICE.

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#3475434 30-Mar-2026 10:57

SaltyNZ: Hybrids are even more prone to battery degradation given they are regularly cycling between full and flat over and over during a single trip, instead of once every few days like a BEV. Once the batter in the hybrid is toast I'm pretty sure it stops working, but even if it didn't, you'd lose the hybrid advantage and just have a weak ICE.

That has been repeated several times in this topic. In practice for whatever reason it's not a practical problem. I'd guess Toyota engineer to avoid full discharge in practice. I have two Toyotas in the 170,000 km range and both continue happily achieving their rated fuel economy. That is the common experience of Toyota owners.

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#3475437 30-Mar-2026 11:02

gzt:
SaltyNZ: Hybrids are even more prone to battery degradation given they are regularly cycling between full and flat over and over during a single trip, instead of once every few days like a BEV. Once the batter in the hybrid is toast I'm pretty sure it stops working, but even if it didn't, you'd lose the hybrid advantage and just have a weak ICE.

That has been repeated several times in this topic. In practice for whatever reason it's not a practical problem. I'd guess Toyota engineer to avoid full discharge in practice. I have two Toyotas in the 170,000 km range and both continue happily achieving their rated fuel economy. That is the common experience of Toyota owners.

Then I stand corrected!

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#3475449 30-Mar-2026 11:42

From memory it was mainly the early honda hybrids that were ruining the battery with great regularity. Priuses are getting new packs well into the point where the car is otherwise worth nothing, so that is not really a failure IMO, its a flogged out car showing age related issues.

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#3475452 30-Mar-2026 11:54

wellygary:

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.

Except its not made in japan,

"The vehicle is produced at the Gujarat plant in India and will be shipped from Pipavav port in Gujarat, to be supplied to markets worldwide, including Europe and Japan."

https://www.globalsuzuki.com/globalnews/2025/0826.html

Fair enough - not made in Japan. But the key point is that it is not made in China, and hence:

1. pricing in different markets is influenced by tarrifs, with Chinese manufactured cars affected in some markets and not others. Suzuki is not affected by such Chinese-specific tarriffs, and so price relatively vs Chinese cars will vary. The e-Vitara may look like great value in Europe, but looks overpriced in NZ vs Chinese alternatives.

2. It is good to have a choice to buy EVs from a variety of countries of origin to isolate us from some of the geo-politics at play. It also gives us some (small) power as consumers to chose to align our buying habits with our ethical beliefs. Personally, I have reservation buying a car from either Musk or from (government controlled) Chinese companies. I'm glad to also have the option to buy from Korea, Japan, Europe, India, ...

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#3475453 30-Mar-2026 12:01

richms:

From memory it was mainly the early honda hybrids that were ruining the battery with great regularity. Priuses are getting new packs well into the point where the car is otherwise worth nothing, so that is not really a failure IMO, its a flogged out car showing age related issues.

Check out the recent ReDriven episode for comment from Jim (the mechanic on the channel) about the longevity of hybrid Priuses:
https://youtu.be/hhEZFV36jJc?si=6E6jDtmuBKDYOqg8&t=166

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#3475510 30-Mar-2026 12:33

I thought this was an interesting post and discussion from Facebook about Chinese EVs: https://m.facebook.com/groups/NZEVOwners/permalink/4233755676891714/?

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#3475784 31-Mar-2026 01:50

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!

Great that Suzuki has an EV offering at last. They kinda need it to stay close to the Clean car standard fleet averages.

https://autotrader.co.nz/news/suzuki-prices-e-vitara-launches-huge-warranty

Suzuki New Zealand has announced it is extending its vehicle warranty to eight years and 160,000km across its entire range, a significant upgrade from its existing three-year, 100,000km coverage. But the launch of the brand’s first electric vehicle, the e Vitara, has come with pricing that will test the loyalty of Suzuki’s value-conscious customer base.

For some wider context the e-Vitara is the sister car to the Toyota Urban Cruiser, with the latter to be slightly more upmarket of the two (unclear if that is coming to NZ)

e Vitara is 4,275 mm long (roughly BYD atto 2 sized), and has a somewhat weak spec sheet (70 kW Max DC charging. 45mins to do 10-80%...)

At regular pricing, it cots the same a s a BZ4X which is a much larger and better specified car.

But with the $2k launch discount, Suzuki does lay claim to being the cheapest AWD EV SUV on the market.

They are targeting 450 units in the first calendar year. If the Iran situation continues and they can get the stock on the ground fast, they could do it.

But in a less panicked environment, This really need to come in close to Atto 2 pricing.

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#3475856 31-Mar-2026 09:19

Scott3:

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!

Great that Suzuki has an EV offering at last. They kinda need it to stay close to the Clean car standard fleet averages.

https://autotrader.co.nz/news/suzuki-prices-e-vitara-launches-huge-warranty

Suzuki New Zealand has announced it is extending its vehicle warranty to eight years and 160,000km across its entire range, a significant upgrade from its existing three-year, 100,000km coverage. But the launch of the brand’s first electric vehicle, the e Vitara, has come with pricing that will test the loyalty of Suzuki’s value-conscious customer base.

For some wider context the e-Vitara is the sister car to the Toyota Urban Cruiser, with the latter to be slightly more upmarket of the two (unclear if that is coming to NZ)

e Vitara is 4,275 mm long (roughly BYD atto 2 sized), and has a somewhat weak spec sheet (70 kW Max DC charging. 45mins to do 10-80%...)

At regular pricing, it cots the same a s a BZ4X which is a much larger and better specified car.

But with the $2k launch discount, Suzuki does lay claim to being the cheapest AWD EV SUV on the market.

They are targeting 450 units in the first calendar year. If the Iran situation continues and they can get the stock on the ground fast, they could do it.

But in a less panicked environment, This really need to come in close to Atto 2 pricing.

Comparing it to the incoming BYD Atto3 Evo, it feels like it'd be wildly underpowered.
They look similar in size and spec, but the BYD is almost twice as powerful with extended range and fast charging.

It'll be hard to pitch against existing EV's in a crowded market, I feel.

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gzt

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#3475877 31-Mar-2026 09:53

@johno1234: I disliked the subsidy for the reason that it transferred tax paid by workers to better paid people to fund them into flash cars that those workers could not afford. However I don't blame anyone who could afford it for taking up the free money. To not take it up would be stupid.

The subsidy was not funded by income tax.

Do you have a view on an equitable way to increase EV uptake?

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#3475890 31-Mar-2026 10:03

gzt:
@johno1234: I disliked the subsidy for the reason that it transferred tax paid by workers to better paid people to fund them into flash cars that those workers could not afford. However I don't blame anyone who could afford it for taking up the free money. To not take it up would be stupid.

The subsidy was not funded by income tax.

Do you have a view on an equitable way to increase EV uptake?

Was there a ring-fence around the feebate scheme? I don't think so. As far as I know the subsidy was never covered by the "ute tax" in which case the scheme was funded by the general tax payer.

The equitable way to increase EV uptake is now right in front of us: they are now cheaper to own and operate.

It seemed like there was a big flood of EV sales under the feebate but in reality it didn't move the needle. Even now the NZ fleet is only about 3% BEV or PHEV.

wellygary

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#3475912 31-Mar-2026 10:51

gzt:
@johno1234: I disliked the subsidy for the reason that it transferred tax paid by workers to better paid people to fund them into flash cars that those workers could not afford. However I don't blame anyone who could afford it for taking up the free money. To not take it up would be stupid.

The subsidy was not funded by income tax.
Do you have a view on an equitable way to increase EV uptake?

Over the 2.5 years the scheme operated, it took in ~$300 million and gave out ~$600 million,
it needed ~$300 million of government (taxpayers ) funds to keep it going..

It was promised that "eventually" the costs would balance, but there was no indication that it was anywhere close to this,

https://www.nzta.govt.nz/vehicles/clean-car-programme/clean-car-discount-ended-on-31-december-2023/clean-car-discount-scheme-financial-reports

gzt

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#3475921 31-Mar-2026 11:09

@invisibleman18:
johno1234:
I disliked the subsidy for the reason that it transferred tax paid by workers to better paid people to fund them into flash cars that those workers could not afford. However I don't blame anyone who could afford it for taking up the free money. To not take it up would be stupid.
This. It's all moot now, but perhaps the price threshold should have been a lot lower (halved?) so it targeted the more entry level EVs where the subsidy was more likely to actually make the difference between purchasing or not, rather than providing taxpayer subsidies to people able to buy $80,000 cars.

At the time there were few entry level EVs available. The scheme was intended to kick start the market for EV in NZ and it was very effective in doing that.

Likewise I would have preferred to see the eligibility criteria changed by the current government instead of scrapped entirely.

The current government took the view that charger availability would be more effective in promoting uptake. That is more or less a good thing and I'm very happy they've restarted that part.

sen8or

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#3475940 31-Mar-2026 12:23

Trump has done more for EV uptake than any rebate offered by the past Governments......

The country is now also in a vastly different place, manufacturer offerings have widened significantly with multiple brands offering sub $40k EVs (10 vehicles / specs from Dongfeng, BYD, Omoda, GWM & Fiat, with only the BYD Atto 1 "from model" @ $ 29,990 the only one with spec'd range under 300kms).

Technology advances have helped reduce some of the barriers to entry (range anxiety & charging times) and the ongoing acceptance of Chinese manufactured vehicles being "good quality" has also helped.

Will we end up with a dozen or so Chinese brands long term, who knows but there are still more entrants to come

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