EV (electric vehicle) News & Discussion

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#1973608 12-Mar-2018 22:08

GV27:

Yea so it's a pretty straight-forward way to allow car enthusiast to import cars that are still interesting but may not meet one or all of the frontal impact or safety standards in very very limited numbers.

I don't make the rules, I'm just telling you what they are and how they get applied. But I'm guessing the opinions of people who write about cars and who deal with them for a living are probably a little more highly respected than mine or yours.

Which isn't fair or democratic....it's all bit "special".....which is what gets backs up more than anything.

I understand you're explaining the rules...and thanks very much for making the effort. But it does very much sound like the rules are currently calibrated to serve a sub-set of petrolheads......and don't have any ability to recognise any value beyond that - like zero emissions....which is, today, arguably more significant than boys panting over cool things. ;-)

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Linuxluver

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#1973609 12-Mar-2018 22:10

MikeAqua:

wellygary:

MikeAqua:

That's a neat looking little car.

Yeah, but at the moment that is all it is,

We have no idea about range or price, two pretty important things when you buy an EV.....

I imagine the range will be horrid. But I wouldn't take a little car like that very far anyway.

Would need to be <20k to be competitive.

Looks like it can come with a Vehicle to Grid "Power Manager". Maybe cross-selling like that will allow the car part of it to be cheaper......

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Linuxluver

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#1973617 12-Mar-2018 22:15

langi27:

Been thinking about renting a VW eGolf for a weekend trip from Christchurch to Queenstown and back. (about a 470km trip) $219 (3-days) with Europcar. I'd easily spend $200 in petrol with my 2006 Subaru Forester (basically a tank each way). Looks like i'd need to charge it twice on the trip down as they have a 220km range. So maybe another $20 each way for power as there are a couple free charging spots along the way.

While the trip if done today is probably still cheaper in my forester, it wont be long before i'm ditching the petrol car in favor for a EV. Plus i get to enjoy the trip in a brand new car and don't have to worry about Rego/WOF/tyres etc etc

Next year will be interesting when the 2019 leafs have a 450km+ range or cost of fuel goes up and i'm spending $120+ on a tank.

I drove the Europecar e-Golf from Christchurch to Ashburton and back one day...and to Akaroa and back on another afternoon. Awesome car...and much better range and efficiency than the 30kWh Nissan LEAF. Range of 220km would be the minimum at 100kph on a flat open road. Uphill a bit less.....and a wee bit slower there's no reason you couldn't get close to 250km.

It DC charges a bit slower - 35kw - 40kw....and the battery is bit bigger (35kWh?). But it definitely is a step up on a LEAF if you don't mind the car being smaller.

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GV27

5874 posts

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#1973691 13-Mar-2018 06:36

Linuxluver:

GV27:

Yea so it's a pretty straight-forward way to allow car enthusiast to import cars that are still interesting but may not meet one or all of the frontal impact or safety standards in very very limited numbers.

I don't make the rules, I'm just telling you what they are and how they get applied. But I'm guessing the opinions of people who write about cars and who deal with them for a living are probably a little more highly respected than mine or yours.

Which isn't fair or democratic....it's all bit "special".....which is what gets backs up more than anything.

I understand you're explaining the rules...and thanks very much for making the effort. But it does very much sound like the rules are currently calibrated to serve a sub-set of petrolheads......and don't have any ability to recognise any value beyond that - like zero emissions....which is, today, arguably more significant than boys panting over cool things. ;-)

I appreciate that, but the subset of petrol heads is exactly that - a subset. The idea is that electric cars are going to become more available, not less!

happyfunball

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#1973693 13-Mar-2018 06:46

It does seem silly that you can import RHD vehicles, but only if they run on petrol.

tripper1000

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#1973739 13-Mar-2018 08:56

Linuxluver:

GV27:

Yea so it's a pretty straight-forward way to allow car enthusiast to import cars that are still interesting but may not meet one or all of the frontal impact or safety standards in very very limited numbers.......

Which isn't fair or democratic....it's all bit "special".....which is what gets backs up more than anything.........

Democratic would be only allowing Toyota Corolla's to be imported, as they are (or were?) the most popular car in the world, so would satisfy the majority. Fair, democratic and right aren't always the same thing, imported cars being a case in point). The problem here is that LHD EV's overseas are (unfortunately) too common to be special.

Rules like this can be changed. You just need to put enough pressure on Politicians.

MikeAqua

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#1973804 13-Mar-2018 10:13

happyfunball:
MikeAqua:

Is it the battery packs that drive the higher cost of EVs? Electric motors are simple and cheap and everything else of the vehicle is a subset of regular car parts.

Yes batteries are expensive, but still cheaper than petrol. The price premium on an EV is because you don’t pay for petrol up front on an ICE. If you count the cost of petrol EVs can be cheaper. And batteries are cheaper every year.

I was trying to ask whether batteries are the differentiating cost component of an EV - the reason EVs cost more to buy (not operate).

I don't follow your petrol to battery comparison. Petrol/electricity are energy sources and a tank/battery is energy storage.

Battery vs a fuel tank = ICE cheaper to buy. Petrol vs electricity = EV cheaper to run (ignoring the cost of money).

Mike

MikeAqua

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#1973809 13-Mar-2018 10:18

happyfunball: It does seem silly that you can import RHD vehicles, but only if they run on petrol.

I don't think it should be legal to use any vehicles with the drivers position on the left on NZ roads, unless for some specialised purpose where there is limited choice of vehicles.

Mike

Linuxluver

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#1973881 13-Mar-2018 11:26

tripper1000:

Democratic would be only allowing Toyota Corolla's to be imported, as they are (or were?) the most popular car in the world, so would satisfy the majority. Fair, democratic and right aren't always the same thing, imported cars being a case in point). The problem here is that LHD EV's overseas are (unfortunately) too common to be special.

Rules like this can be changed. You just need to put enough pressure on Politicians.

Umm...no...."democratic" is people being equally *able* to make choices that suit them.

You're describing something else. :-)

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Linuxluver

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#1973884 13-Mar-2018 11:27

MikeAqua:

happyfunball: It does seem silly that you can import RHD vehicles, but only if they run on petrol.

I don't think it should be legal to use any vehicles with the drivers position on the left on NZ roads, unless for some specialised purpose where there is limited choice of vehicles.

For what it's worth, I agree.

That said, we should change to the other side of the road. Being one of a tiny minority of countries driving on the left costs a lot of money and deprives us of opportunities.

Yep, there would be a cost of changing over.......but down the road it would look in hindsight like the best thing ever.

Most of the roads could remain as they are. On-ramps become off-ramps....the camber is the same. Change the signs.....move the traffic lights....and away you go. ;-)

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happyfunball

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#1973887 13-Mar-2018 11:30

Linuxluver:

That said, we should change to the other side of the road. Being one of a tiny minority of countries driving on the left costs a lot of money and deprives us of opportunities.

Yep, there would be a cost of changing over.......but down the road it would look in hindsight like the best thing ever.

That would probably save a lot of lives but would it really save much money?

tdgeek

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#1973895 13-Mar-2018 11:42

Linuxluver:

MikeAqua:

happyfunball: It does seem silly that you can import RHD vehicles, but only if they run on petrol.

I don't think it should be legal to use any vehicles with the drivers position on the left on NZ roads, unless for some specialised purpose where there is limited choice of vehicles.

For what it's worth, I agree.

That said, we should change to the other side of the road. Being one of a tiny minority of countries driving on the left costs a lot of money and deprives us of opportunities.

Yep, there would be a cost of changing over.......but down the road it would look in hindsight like the best thing ever.

Most of the roads could remain as they are. On-ramps become off-ramps....the camber is the same. Change the signs.....move the traffic lights....and away you go. ;-)

Yes, I think it is really not that hard. The problem is insurance, when all these drivers have accidents as they get used to it. The first time I drove in the US it did my brain in, 100% focussed 24/7. But since then I followed a simple formula, keep steering wheel in the middle of the road, easy. But I still had the odd oops momemnt

The other issue is then we have 2+ million cars where the steering wheel is on the curb side, harder to see ahead. Tricky to implement, but its a one off with long term positives.

MikeAqua

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#1973897 13-Mar-2018 11:47

Linuxluver:

MikeAqua:

I don't think it should be legal to use any vehicles with the drivers position on the left on NZ roads ...

For what it's worth, I agree.

That said, we should change to the other side of the road. Being one of a tiny minority of countries driving on the left costs a lot of money and deprives us of opportunities.

In theory I would be willing to switch sides of the road in reality I think it would be logistically difficult and horrendously expensive.

And of course it would give us the immediate problem that most cars would then have the steering wheel on the wrong side.

Mike

tdgeek

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#1973903 13-Mar-2018 11:51

Linuxluver:

MikeAqua:

happyfunball: It does seem silly that you can import RHD vehicles, but only if they run on petrol.

I don't think it should be legal to use any vehicles with the drivers position on the left on NZ roads, unless for some specialised purpose where there is limited choice of vehicles.

For what it's worth, I agree.

That said, we should change to the other side of the road. Being one of a tiny minority of countries driving on the left costs a lot of money and deprives us of opportunities.

Yep, there would be a cost of changing over.......but down the road it would look in hindsight like the best thing ever.

Most of the roads could remain as they are. On-ramps become off-ramps....the camber is the same. Change the signs.....move the traffic lights....and away you go. ;-)

Fun reads, Samoa and Sweden changing sides. Positive result too, accident wise, as drivers concentrated carefully

https://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/in-samoa-drivers-switch-to-left-side-of-the-road/

https://www.wired.com/2014/02/throwback-thursday-sweden/

tdgeek

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#1973904 13-Mar-2018 11:54

MikeAqua:

Linuxluver:

MikeAqua:

I don't think it should be legal to use any vehicles with the drivers position on the left on NZ roads ...

For what it's worth, I agree.

That said, we should change to the other side of the road. Being one of a tiny minority of countries driving on the left costs a lot of money and deprives us of opportunities.

In theory I would be willing to switch sides of the road in reality I think it would be logistically difficult and horrendously expensive.

And of course it would give us the immediate problem that most cars would then have the steering wheel on the wrong side.

Maybe not, Sweden switched from left to right, even though most cars were LHD as they sourced most from USA, so they drove with that issue for years before

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