Any sign that the Government to decide whether there will be any such charges . They still require a road network to drive on. Also the proposed cycle ways need to be paid for
supernova2,
Sep 16, 11:31am
TBH if you use the road you need to pay so RUC is a must for an EV, unless we make every road a toll road.
rsr72,
Sep 16, 12:09pm
They're becoming freeloaders. Even Auckland is giving them free run of our rush-hour transit bus lanes- why is this?
bill-robinson,
Sep 16, 12:39pm
because they hold up real traffic.
trade4us2,
Sep 16, 1:07pm
Like everything else that is subsidised, once you've bought your electric car, it will become less economic to run once the subsidies stop, as they will have to stop.
,
Sep 16, 1:10pm
rsr72 wrote: They're becoming freeloaders. Even Auckland is giving them free run of our rush-hour transit bus lanes- why is this?
Pretty obvious, because the government (like almost all governments worldwide) are very keen to move our fleet to electric. There's good reasons for this, on the economic side there are massive savings from generating fuel here in NZ (as electricity) rather than giving billions of dollars to other countries to import fuel (like we do now). Also there's health benefits (no particulates, smog etc). Also environmental benefits with no CO2 emissions.
Why would they hold up the traffic in Auckland? Pretty much every EV has way better performance than its petrol powered equivalent. Gas cars are general drays compared to EV's.
apollo11,
Sep 16, 1:11pm
Old silly billy, your driving would hold up traffic!
,
Sep 16, 1:13pm
The opposite is true, once you take away fossil fuel subsidies, EVs will become even more popular. EV's are about 90% - 95% efficient with the electricity they use, petrol and diesel cars are 18% - 25% and that's not even taking production of the fuel into account, just what you actually put into the tank.
so your guess is that electricity prices will go down across the board once we have electric vehicles?
,
Sep 16, 1:27pm
No, they'll hardly change at all, if you watch and can understand this lecture from Canterbury University (which unfortunately I doubt you can/will) you'll understand why:
Modern gas turbine generators are up to 60% efficient and can burn a range of fuels. You could burn the same fossil fuels to generate electricity, and even with transmission losses, use that electricity to charge electric vehicles and double the effective efficiency from the fuel. There is a bit of work going into microturbine generators as range extenders for trucks or aircraft. In higher volumes they are surprisingly cheap to make, nearly silent and require virtually no maintenance.
marmar1,
Sep 16, 2:21pm
There is a lot of tax on petrol, if 75% of people run EV's where will they get their tax from if not from petrol, for their consolidated fund?
socram,
Sep 16, 2:31pm
What is the TOTAL environmental impact of building and running an electric car, then scrapping it at the end of its useful life which will be how many years (?) before it is totally obsolete and non-repairable?
Compare it to a Model T Ford, Ford Mustang or Morris Minor for example.
rsr72,
Sep 16, 2:44pm
So on the basis of saving car fuel imports for electricity for electric cars, should we also ban say clothing imports for an expensive new NZ-made clothing industry, which we no longer have. The electric car fad is just that, and has no benefit for NZ at all other than to give misguided little Greenies a warm fuzzy feeling.
,
Sep 16, 3:26pm
Here's a quick video on the emissions costs (the main issue with petrol/diesel vehicles) created by scientists:
In NZ the emissions are right at the lower end have the potential to be 0 once we get our generation to 100% renewable.
,
Sep 16, 3:29pm
This is not what most of the major manufacturers of cars are saying and for many the green aspect is the smallest factor in buying an EV. The main reason is financial savings. The cost of buying a used Leaf of the same age and mileage is not much different than buying an equivalent age and mileage gas car, but they cost almost nothing to run (mines about $1.60 per 100km) with no maintenance costs and much better performance than an equivalent Jap import hatch.
loud_37,
Sep 16, 3:56pm
Most car manufacters are hoping if they go to EV's then the general public will have to update their cars more often than they would of with a combustion car. They are trying to adopt the smart phone system where people feel they have to get a new model all the time.
socram,
Sep 16, 4:05pm
The NZ clothing industry was sold out for a variety of reasons, but the clothing is more expensive now than it was when it was NZ made. I'm saying that as someone who has worked for two of the biggest brands in the country (in charge of labour costing) and consulted to many more.
Electric cars as I understand it, are often anything but environmentally friendly when it come to the materials and energy that go into their construction.
Maybe we also need a licence towards roading costs, for cyclists who seem to be commanding so much of our road space, with hardly any of that space actually being used very often.
,
Sep 16, 4:23pm
The opposite is true, EV's are fundamentally more reliable. Here's a link to a Tesla with over 400,000km's. EV's 1 moving part in the engine, very little heat, no gearbox. the drivetrain should last pretty much forever, the batteries are proving to be very reliable (particularly if looked after).
,
Sep 16, 5:48pm
You'll find lots of articles either way about the environmental costs of building EV's versus Petrol vehicles. You should do a little research about the environmental costs of Lithium mining (mostly in South America) and compare it to the environmental cost of oil extraction.
You need something like 22kg of Lithium for the Nissan Leaf battery and you only need that once. Your petrol vehicle needs about 8000kg of petrol for every 100,000km it drives. Other than the battery most of the materials and construction methods are much the same as for petrol vehicles.
travis47,
Sep 16, 7:25pm
A while back I read a article which suggested that RUC would be inevitable when EV's reached 5% of the national fleet.
nz_stacie,
Sep 16, 7:47pm
Do much long distance driving
,
Sep 16, 8:04pm
Drove Dunsandel to Dunedin and back last weekend, took about an extra 1.5 hrs each way, cost a total of $14 in fast charging. Would usually take the diesel truck as the Leaf is most useful as a commuter to Christchurch for work etc. Using it for commuting saves us around $4500 per year in fuel and running costs, so the car is free in about 2.5-3 years.
solarboy,
Sep 16, 10:02pm
I think the plan has always been that RUCs will apply to EVs from a % as you mention or from 2021 ? They're not supposed to get a 'free ride' forever, just for a few years as an incentive to buy them, to 'green' up the fleet. Some other countries have big cash or purchase tax incentives which has sped up their sales in those countries.
socram,
Sep 16, 11:07pm
True. Norway - no rego fee for EV and no on street parking charges either. But there again, Norway can produces more electricity than it can use.
Someone pointed out that if they relied 100% on electricity to rescue those hit by floods in the USA, thee would have been many more casualties.
I hope that we never have to rely on a single source of energy.
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