The bottom line "The five charges cost $76.09, plus about $7.00 of at-home power, totalling $83.09 in electricity. In a comparable Audi SUV, the journey would require approximately $110 in petrol."
Add Ruc to that and the electricity cost is more than the petrol cost. Not that I am surprised, hydrocarbons are cheaper to produce, transport and store than electricity.
sw20,
Oct 4, 4:26am
What do they value their time at? An extra two hours minimum each way. No thanks.
wachael1,
Oct 4, 4:49am
There are no ruc’s (yet!). And you wouldn’t normally be charging at stations that you have to pay for - you charge at home.
I drive an electric car - it adds about $10 - $15 a week to my power bill and I get approximately 370km per charge which is usually all I need each week.
gblack,
Oct 4, 4:55am
Most of that was dicking around learning about EV charging and not even getting set up with ChargeNet before they left. And using an Audi with relatively short range and charge port in the wrong place by the sounds of it.
A Tesla, VW ID.3 or Kona etc with 400+ km range would have made the trip no problems.
Even then, if a trip like Auckland to Napier (which I have done a couple of times) took longer, you save time and money by filling up at home most of the time. In last couple of years done a long trip like Napier about once a year, but filled up dozens of times at local petrol stations which would not be required with an EV. Using paid for services like ChargeNet would be an exception for EV owners.
And this holidays, my wife flying down to Napier as works out faster and cheaper just to fly if one or two people.
alowishes,
Oct 4, 5:00am
‘Filled up dozens of times’? - surely not for a 420km journey!
rodeorunch,
Oct 4, 5:11am
Was reading this before and has sold me on going out and buying A ev. With ruc will make difference would be interesting to know what a smaller Ev would cost to do the same run. Just sounds like it would be a fun road trip to try.
martin11,
Oct 4, 5:22am
Stick a trailer on behind and see how far it goes then
tony9,
Oct 4, 6:26am
A long way, if it has a good generator on board. And if it is a diesel one, way cheaper than using charging stations, apparently.
harm_less,
Oct 4, 6:28am
As the owner of an EV we have only used public charging 3 times in the 6 years/60,000kms we've owned it. Public fast charging is very expensive compared to charging at home, particularly as our supplier Ecotricity have an off peak rate of 16c/kWh from midnight to 7:00am which is when we charge. That rate would present a cost of $5.60 to put 50% of charge into the 71kWh base model E-tron, assuming the one in question was topped up from 30%-80%. In addition to hefty electricity rates on 'fast' public chargers they also charge for time taken to charge which disadvantages EVs with input limiting such is the case with a Nissan Leaf.
Regarding RUCs when they eventually are introduced for EVs the extra 7c/km will hardly reduce the viability of running an EV as the energy costs are equivalent to around 25c/litre petrol and there's virtually no maintenance costs. A $500 set of tyres and a set of wiper blades has pretty much been our costs over 60,000kms.
nesta129,
Oct 4, 7:20am
we had a very old couple buy the new etron from us,from way out of auckland and they flew in to pick it up late afternoon,just before closing. They realised they wouldnt make it back home with the range on the current charge in the vehicle so they spent the night here while the car charged.And without charging along the way,they would JUST make it home. With the new ev,the range sure does decrease a bit with the radio on or the aircon on etc. For peace of mind for long trips,its just better to stick with a petrol or diesel car.
harm_less,
Oct 4, 9:46am
That's like stipulating that people shouldn't buy ICEs with fuel tanks smaller than X litres. Plenty of fuel stations around, or public charging stations for that matter, and many of the public chargers are free for customers at the stores that have them.
tony9,
Oct 4, 9:56am
Passenger car fuel tanks have become an established and relevant size that reflects the great majority of driver travel distance expectations and distance between retail outlets. same as the delivery volume in litres/min to satisfy wait time. EV's have yet to get to that point, except for a small number of users.
It is common to fit long range petrol tanks (120+ litres) in some parts of Aus, wonder how EVs get on there.
s_nz,
Oct 4, 5:29pm
The article reads like trying out the fast charging network was the main point of the trip, rather than normal road trip stuff.
For a private e-tron owner, most likely they would fully charge at home before departure. The e-tron 55 has a 328km EPA rated range and it's not that hard to beat EPA rated range in the real world, however a single 10min stop at a fast charger would give a but of safety margin and avoid arriving in Napier with low battery warning flashing after the 321km drive.
Fully charge at destination, and then repeat the above for the return trip. Little need to arrive at home with 166km of range remaining. Charging at home is much cheaper.
Should note that the Etron is one of the least efficient EV's available. Only getting a 328km range out of a 95kWh battery. For comparison a Kona (much smaller SUV) gets 450 out of 64kWh. Also note that while the Etron is capable of charging at 150kW, the fast chargers used on this trip were 50kW units. As such it is not really the car to get if long trips and minimizing time spent at charger's is the goal.
mgmad,
Oct 4, 6:46pm
I'm far from bring against EVs, in fact I'm all for them. But really, just because you no longer change the oil doesnt mean there is 'virtually no maintenance costs'. Even EV pushing pundits best analysis comes out at half the service costs of an ICE car, mostly more than that. FFS there is a lot more to maintaining a car than the goddamn engine.
curlcrown,
Oct 5, 4:12am
Something often missing from discussions about the cost of running an EV compared to a similar petrol or diesel vehicle is the purchase price of the vehicle.
richardmayes,
Oct 5, 4:19am
Early ICE cars featured wooden cart wheels, a tiller like a yacht for steering, kerosene lanterns for headlights, a clutch whose life expectancy was measured in hours, no brakes, and no roof.
The oldest, slowest horse in town would get where he was going first, have a shit, have a feed, have another shit, and he'd still have to wait for the car to catch up. (He also probably knew the way and was effectively "self-driving". )
"This is a joke!" people said. "These things are expensive rubbish!" people said. "This will never catch on!" people said. Fortunately for us, the inventers were undeterred.
EVs are only going to get better and better. Can't come soon enough. I say that as someone whose hobby car in the shed has got a row of 6 individual throttle bodies.
curlcrown,
Oct 5, 4:29am
The problem with that argument is that EVs were being developed at the same time as those early ICEs
harm_less,
Oct 5, 4:30am
These trucks will likely do the job, Cybertruck is cheapest, Rivian most 'conventional' styling and Bollinger is a real workhorse but expensive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH1BDrEIcxw
harm_less,
Oct 5, 4:38am
The primary reason that EVs didn't progress was the relatively low price of oil during the 20th century. We now have a situation were oil is phasing out due to increasing price and reducing social acceptance while electricity is becoming cheaper, and can actually be generated at home (by PV) so the time is right for EVs to replace ICEs as the principal private transport option.
harm_less,
Oct 5, 4:43am
As announced by Tesla at its recent "battery day" event their technological advances in batteries now allow EVs to have price parity with ICE vehicles, and EVs will become cheaper than ICEs in the near future, with battery ranges and charging speeds to match oil powered vehicles. This will mark the death knell of ICEs as the much lower running cost for an EV will make the choice of vehicle a no-brainer for most buyers.
harm_less,
Oct 5, 4:50am
An EV has approximately 20 moving parts, compared to around 2,000 for an ICE vehicle. Of course the maintenance will be minimal. No engine, no transmission, minimal cooling system, regenerative braking, no exhaust system, . https://driveelectric.org.nz/individuals/what-is-an-ev/
gazzat22,
Oct 5, 4:51am
Would be a very "Pedestrian"trip.!
gazzat22,
Oct 5, 4:59am
They will have to get a lot lot cheaper. Most cant afford a Tesla and the cost of a EV(small) is close to that of a medium car with a petrol/diesel engine.The ev,s i see are small granddad/grandma shopping baskets hardly good for a school holiday trip with 3 kids.!
gazzat22,
Oct 5, 5:01am
How many of these 2000 moving parts are replaced regularly and what to your mind constitutes a "Moving part"?
harm_less,
Oct 5, 5:11am
I quoted the linked article. Best contact them for veracity of their claim but for a start count up the bits in an ICE that go up and down or round and round. All of them are prone to friction and wear often in an environment of extreme heat caused by the burning of hydrocarbon fuel so maintenance is crucial.
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