A first timer's guide to buying an EV

The Spinoff

4 days ago

With volatile fuel prices and worsening climate change, now could be the time to switch to an EV. But where to begin?
Buying a car is a famously head-scratching experience, never mind buying an electric vehicle. There's so much to consider – upfront cost, fuel economy, safety rating, lifestyle needs and so on. With second-hand vehicles, that list gets even longer. Purchasing a vehicle requires not just money, but time to suss out the options and make the right decision.
While zero emissions is a big EV drawcard, there are many other perks convincing people to make the switch. If you're interested in buying an EV though, where should you start?
Kathryn Trounson is a longtime EV enthusiast and chairperson of Better NZ Trust, which aims to educate and promote EV uptake. She shared her top EV buying tips with The Spinoff.
Understanding the running costs
Running a regular car comes with familiar costs, petrol prices being one of the most important. Understanding how much an EV will cost you day-to-day though isn't immediately clear. Understanding charging options is key here.
Most EV users can rely on the charger their car comes with, Trounson says. These plug into a normal household socket so there's no need for expensive installs or rewiring. Many people charge their EVs overnight this way. If you need a faster charge, wall chargers are available at varying prices.
So how much will your power bill increase by? While electricity rates vary by region and time of day, Trounson says most people don't notice a huge increase. Any power bill increase is likely to be much less than accrued petrol saving, and there are special electricity plans on offer for EV owners. Genesis has an electricity plan to support future thinking Kiwi who invest in EVs. It offers discounted electricity rates, and a first-of-its-kind charging partnership with ChargeNet which allows customers to take their home charging rates on the road at any ChargeNet station. Genesis's Energy EV plan * gives customers 50% off their variable day electricity rate from 9pm to 7am, perfect for charging overnight.
While the initial cost of an EV might be higher than a petrol car, Trounson says, the lifetime savings of an EV are worth it for many. If you really want to crunch the numbers, this calculator can help.
Consider upfront cost
Like any other vehicle, Trounson says, you need to consider lifestyle and upfront cost when choosing which car to buy. Petrol cars come in all shapes and sizes for a variety of needs, and ditto with EVs – there are even fully electric utes. Generally speaking though, a bigger battery means a bigger range but a bigger price tag.
Luckily, Trounson says, EVs have gotten more affordable in the past few years, even before you take fuel and maintenance savings into account. More competition in the market and improvements in battery technology have pushed prices down. Brand new, fully electric models can now be found at comparable prices to new petrol cars.
Don't skip second hand
The second-hand EV market is growing, but buying one still requires the same caution you'd use when buying a used petrol car. A key thing to look at here is the car's remaining battery life, often reported as a state of health (SoH) percentage. This number, Trounson says, is often more important than mileage or number of previous owners.
While EV batteries do degrade, the rate is slower than you might expect. Most degrade about 1.8 percent per year, and should retain 64 percent of their range after 20 years, although battery health can be affected by factors such as storage conditions and driving style. Trounson recommends sticking to reputable, knowledgeable dealers for used EVs. Helpfully, she notes, cars less than eight years old often have a transferable battery warranty.
Be realistic about range
How do you choose the right EV for your lifestyle? Lots of people get stuck on range, Trounson says, the distance you can drive on a full charge. Many people find the concept of 'range' to be unfamiliar and offputting.
'An EV tells you in kilometres how far you can go, and you see that number change. When you turn the air conditioning on, or if you were driving into rain, that would reduce the range. But that would reduce the range in an internal combustion car too – it's just that you don't see it. Like anything, it just takes getting used to.'
As with petrol cars, terrain, weather conditions and driving style can all affect the range of an EV. But EVs can actually recover some range thanks to features like regenerative charging, where some charge is recovered as the car goes downhill.
The right model and associated driving range therefore depends on someone's individual needs, says Trounson, though you might find you need less range than you think. According to the Ministry of Transport, most people drive less than 30 kilometres a day. That figure is based on data from 2014, so our national average may have changed since then. Still, Trounson says that most EVs can handle the short, frequent daily trips that characterise most urban driving patterns. The cheapest available EV, an older, second-hand Nissan Leaf, might only have 50km of range – but that might perfectly suit a student, older person or someone who works from home.
Don't forget weekends away
Once you've got your head around costs, range and charging you might start to think further afield. Will switching to an EV make road trips trickier?
Trounson points out that even lower range EVs can be taken on a weekend trip. Just a few years ago, she says, the New Zealand charging network was still 'in its infancy'. But that's changed drastically. A quick look on the Electric Vehicle Database (EVDB) shows EV charging is now widely available in Aotearoa, even in remote and wild places.
It's not just the availability of charging stations that's improved, it's also the charging technology. Old public chargers were slow, which meant long stopovers. Now, most charging stations have fast-charging available getting you close to a full charge in 15 to 30 minutes.
And how much does charging on the go cost? This varies but Genesis's EVerywhere plan * lets you take your home rates with you on the road at ChargeNet public charging stations.
When to make the switch?
Companies are investing heavily into the EV market and prices are likely to continue falling as batteries become better and cheaper. But that doesn't necessarily mean you should buy a new petrol vehicle in the meantime.
'The right time to buy an EV is when your current car is no longer suitable for your needs,' says Trounson.
'If you can afford to, you should buy an EV now. If you can't afford an EV, never buy a brand-new internal combustion engine car, because petrol will go up.
'Nobody who has an EV says they wish they hadn't bought it. Everyone says I wish I'd bought it earlier.'