Electric Vehicles (EV)

An Electric Vehicle (EV) runs on a rechargeable battery powering an electric motor. This means is doesn’t use petrol, diesel or oil, has no exhaust, no clutch or gears, no spark plugs, and no roaring noise or vibrations

Five Reasons to Go Electric

There are plenty of reasons to go electric including financial and environmental. The variety of electric vehicles on the market is increasing, and public charging stations are more available.

While electric vehicles do increase the load on local electricity networks, with the right technology this can be managed to improve utilisation rather than trigger expensive upgrades. This advancing technology will also benefit customers by supporting them to utilise time of use pricing from retailers to get the best value for charging their vehicles.

1. Slash Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Petrol vehicles emit 5 times more CO2 than equivalent EVs whilst driven in NZ. Electricity generated here is typically at least 80% renewable (mostly from hydro, geothermal and wind).
Battery EVs emit 60% fewer climate-changing emissions over their full life cycle than petrol vehicles

2. Cheap to run

Battery EV motors have so few moving parts, there is less to maintain or go wrong.

3. No more petrol station visits

90% of travel by car in NZ is less than 90km!

 

Being able to charge at home is more convenient than having to go to fuel stations. For longer trips, there are public chargers on most of the state highway network with more being added every day.

Learn more about EV Charging

4. Quiet and powerful

As soon as you touch the accelerator you get full power from an EV as it has no gears. There is also no engine noise. They’re great at climbing hills and recharge going downhill.

5. Plug into any power point

As long as all equipment is designed for use in NZ and for the conditions in which it will be used you can charge inside or outside in any weather.

6. Vehicle to grid charging

Electric vehicles are also essentially batteries on wheels and for vehicles that are V2G (vehicle to grid) capable, customers can use them to manage their energy costs by charging and later exporting the excess energy to the network/grid.

 

Learn more about V2G charging

Key Considerations Before Buying an EV

There are a few considerations that you need to consider before purchasing an EV.

What is my daily commute like?

Charging at home once or twice a week would be enough to cover most peoples’ day-to-day driving. Most EVs allow you to set a charging timer so that you charge at lower electricity price overnight

Where will I charge my EV?

Your EV can be charged either on a public charger or a home charger. It helps if you have off-street parking (so you can charge your EV off the road) and access to a plug

EV chargers

What type of charger do I need?

You can charge your EV from the normal 3-pin plug in your house, but it is advisable to have an EV charger.

EV chargers