Talkiet:

 

I still think the major barrier to EV takeup is that they are simply too expensive and the Kona is a brilliant example of that. A new petrol Kona is around $31k, a new EV Kona is $70k. Features, comforts, size etc are broadly the same so it's $39k worth of premium to have an EV. You'll get some of that back in maintenance and fuel costs, but over the realistic first purchaser life of the car you're never getting anything like all of it back.

 

If EV takeup is important to NZ, to our society and our politicians then they would be funding huge subsidies - not token amounts - they'd be making equivalent models (Petrol/EV) the same effective price over 4-5 years. That at least would then provide a compelling fiscal case for someone that can afford a new car (and doesn't have edge case requirements like towing or long distance driving) to pick the EV. At the moment the successful people with the funds to afford EVs have to make a fiscally dumb decision and if we're hoping that's going to work out at scale then we're deluding ourselves.

 

N.

 

A new Hyundai Kona 64kWh entry level model is $78,000 and the elite model is $84,000. An equivalent petrol Kona is around $42,000 so as you say there is a huge premium to get the EV when compared with the petrol version. But you can get a new 40kWh Nissan Leaf for $60,000, which is a bit better but has far less range and no liquid cooling system for the battery.

So, people with $84,000 to spend can now choose the Tesla Model 3 and, unless you particularly want a small car, people seem to prefer the Tesla over the Kona.

But thousands of people buy new small petrol cars in the $20,000 to $30,000 range, and until EVs can match these vehicles in price and range, EVs are unlikely to take off quite yet.

This is a pity, because from a climate change viewpoint, we do really need to get as many people into EVs as possible.