There aren't any for electric cars or the Volt at the moment, though they may come back next year.
matarautrader,
Nov 1, 11:39pm
In 2009 the goverment granted an exemption for electric vehicles under 3.5 tonne from paying RUC. This was a 4 year exemption and will end in 2013 unless extended. Having to pay RUC for your electric vehicle will upset the greenies!
Exerpt from MOT web site.
Why are electric vehicles subject to road user charges! Diesel and electric powered vehicles pay for their road use through road user charges. Petrol, CNG and LPG powered vehicles pay for road use through fuel excise duty charged directly on the fuel they use.
What sort of electric vehicles does the exemption cover! The exemption will apply to any motor vehicle whose power is wholly or partly derived from an external source of electricity and whose gross laden weight is 3.5 tonnes or less.
What is the exemption worth to motorists! The exemption applies only to electric vehicles with a gross weight of 3.5 tonnes or less. A three tonne licence for a car or light van currently costs $37.71 (incl GST) per 1000 kilometres (approximately $377 a year for a typical road-user).
msigg,
Nov 2, 12:09am
its a good start, companies will use them, you can clain tax back on your purchase/offset, nothing wrong with that.
joanie32,
Nov 2, 12:38am
TM relly need a section for "tree huggers and anally retentive types" for these kind of threads.
richard112,
Nov 2, 12:52am
Admit I know squat about electric cars & how far ahead of ordinary mortals they are with their technology, but because of our location, I know heaps about alternative energy for the home. We don't have a grid. Diesel generator, 4 hrs per day, assisted by about 6k$ worth of solar, plus control equip. Biggest cost! Not Diesel. Deep cycle batteries. They cost heaps, and last between 18 months and 6 years, depending how much you spent in the first place. If their was more efficiency to be had from the batteries they use in the cars, I'm sure we (or our suppliers) would be on to it. Batteries are BIG dollars & they don't go for ever.
intrade,
Nov 2, 12:59am
richard112 do some research on the volt they guarantee the battry will be 80% live left in 10 years , its to do with ultra smart charging and not depleting them fully they are lithium ion type battery.
intrade,
Nov 2, 12:59am
richard112 do some research on the volt they guarantee the battry will be 80% live left in 10 years , its to do with ultra smart charging and not depleting them fully they are lithium ion type battery. also wotch the movie who killed the electric car. Gm and toyota have similar base knowhow from there joint experiment of the ev1 toyota used a rav4 as there electric back then.
r15,
Nov 2, 1:13am
this is my experience with solar too.batteries are also heavy to carry around in a car.
the best option for the 'green' ness at the moment i reckon is a good cleanmodern diesel
trade4us2,
Nov 2, 1:41am
So use capacitors that last almost forever, as I said above.
wrong2,
Nov 2, 4:03pm
the secret to solving the worlds car problem is :
a whole new fleet of different cars!
wrong2,
Nov 2, 4:04pm
ding ding ding!
we have a winner !
theres very little "green" in electric vehicles. the planet doesnt have the resources to change the planets fleet over to them
drsr,
Nov 2, 4:55pm
Which resources are we short of! Are they more scarce than affordable oil is going to be!
gammelvind,
Nov 2, 5:08pm
We were running out of oil in the 70's, not many remember back that far, are we still so sure that it is a finite resource (I know many are convinced) but I do seriously wonder if the earth is still producing oil, or the reserves are truly that vast that with careful management will last until a truly reliable and ecconomic alternative is developed.
loonee-dial-111,
Nov 2, 5:17pm
$70,000 electric car is less efficient than a $14,000 petrol car. You can travel ~560,000km on $56k cost difference ($56k / $2/L * 20k/L = 560,000km). Normally if something costs more it is because it is more resource intensive to make. That $56k reflects the cost of energy to dig up minerals, energy to manufacture batteries and so on. So I think that the electric car is not green.
bellky,
Nov 2, 5:38pm
Yep, apparently there are some Russian scientists that think that oil is a product of abiotic processes going on within the earth, and not actually old trees, plankton, and dinosaurs.
P.s. I think the 70s oil crisis was because of tightening supply by oil producing countries (OPEC), not because oil was scarce or running out.
bellky,
Nov 2, 5:38pm
Yep, apparently there are some Russian scientists that think that oil is a product of abiotic processes going on within the earth, and not actually old trees, plankton, and dinosaurs.
drsr,
Nov 2, 5:53pm
Car pricing doesn't really reflect embedded resources. For the moment these are specialist cars with luxury fit-outs, and an extra $10k or so added on by the NZ distributors. They're more comparable to say the Audi A3 at $60k than whatever new car you can buy for $14k (is there one!). Lifetime servicing costs will be much lower too, the Leaf service schedule is basically brakes and tyres only.
wrong2,
Nov 2, 10:05pm
rare earth elements
wrong2,
Nov 2, 10:10pm
thats an oxymoron
serf407,
Nov 2, 10:36pm
I think it is more likely to be a partial switch to tree residue biofuels. The recovery rates would need to be efficient to make the production process economic. Cars would only need to be flex fuel, direct injection turbo rather than electric battery pack nonsense.
Now that could potentially indicate there are two different types of crude oil, one from squashed old weeds and another made from the cauldron in the earths centre. Now obviously the first would have a limited supply, but the second, well the only limiting factor to that is political, in whose interest a "shortage" of supply would be a huge advantage. "Less" oil, higher prices, therefore more tax.
True, but increasingly IC engines are BIG dollars and they also don't go for ever. We are needing to make them more and more complex to get the efficiency gains that electric cars provide. As long as the final price is around the same, then what's not to like!
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