Oct 11, 2024
Rewiring Aotearoa
Electric Avenue: Oct 11

As David Hasselhoff almost sang, jump in my much cheaper and increasingly popular electric car and see why 96% of EV owners would buy a second one; the UK's last coal-fired electricity plant is switched off; the IEA's renewables report makes for good reading; a Rivian takes an unexpected trip down a river; and comedian Tim Robinson gives some helpful advice to climate change communicators.

Ups and downs

When Rewiring Aotearoa did its Electric Homes analysis, it used the ‘average’ electric vehicle price. That has come down considerably in recent months, which means the economic slam dunk of owning an EV and electrifying the machines in your home is now likely to be quite a bit bigger than the approximately $1,500 - $4,500 per year savings detailed in the report (keep an eye out for a proper update in the coming weeks). 

And while the removal of the government incentive certainly put the brakes on, it seems the price decreases being offered by most of the manufacturers are having an impact on demand, with sales of EVs up 50% in September, according to Stuff. 

“A large percentage of September’s increase in uptake is likely attributable to the unveiling of some of the most aggressive discounts on unsold new EV stock to date, including Nissan’s decision to slash prices on new Leafs to just under $30,000 — a local first for an EV.”

There have been stories from tje sceptics about EV sales dropping and demand waning, but it’s more accurate to say the growth rate has slowed, before picking up again. We’ve shown this graph of global sales before, but it’s a good illustration of the long-term trend. 

via Jan Rosenow on Linkedin

The big drop in prices is often seen as an issue for those who bought EVs early because resale value will be impacted. We raise a toast to those early adopters who have paid their premium (mostly happily, if our discussions with EV owners are any guide) and bravely bolstered the second hand market. Maybe it’s now time to make that second petrol car electric with all the great deals that are available. 

According to research from the UK, 96% of EV owners are planning on buying a second EV and one in two fossil fuel drivers are thinking about a switch because of lower running costs, so the vast majority of owners are clearly happy with their purchases.

When EVs hit price parity with petrol or diesel cars, which isn't faroff, it’s likely the depreciation on ICE vehicles will be even steeper because you’ll be buying a machine that will soon be outdated - and, as demand for fuel drops, even more expensive to run.

There were plenty of anti-car ads from the horse and cart industry back in the day and that didn’t stop the car’s ascent. Those who joke about virtue signalling EVs may come to realise that the joke's on them and paying too much to get around just isn't that funny anymore.

Burnt out

The UK shut down its last coal-fired electricity plant this week, 142 years after the first one was opened. As Sky News reported: “Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire has generated electricity since the 1960's, however it will now be decommissioned, making the UK the first G7 nation to exit coal-fired power.”

The world’s first coal-fired power station opened at 57 Holborn Viaduct in London on 12th January 1882.

As Kate Morley wrote,  "in 2012, coal accounted for 40% of Britain’s power generation. It was overtaken by gas in 2015, nuclear and wind in 2016, and solar in 2019. As I write this, wind is producing 40% of Britain’s power.”

And while some are concerned the lights might go out due to an increased reliance on more intermittent renewable energy, “the country’s Winter Outlook for 2024/25 predicts an improved energy supply margin, the highest forecast since 2019/20. This has been achieved by new interconnections, battery storage growth and increased distributed generation capacity.”

Despite hopes to the contrary, Huntly's coal is still burning bright in New Zealand, especially after our dry year and gas supply issues. And if the plan is to replace it with LNG, that's a false environmental economy.

“Overall, the greenhouse gas footprint for LNG as a fuel source is 33% greater than that for coal when analyzed using GWP20," says this paper.

And maybe these old coal plants can become places to put all the big batteries we'll need, as this BBC story suggests.

Rub of the green

The IEA has just released its Renewables 2024 report and, as opposed to the harrowing reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, this one once again makes for largely positive reading. 

While renewable capacity is expected to grow by 2.7 times by 2030, it’s not quite enough to triple global renewable capacity, which was agreed to at COP28. The IEA says it is within reach, but policy improvements are needed. 

“Solar PV and wind together account for 95% of all renewable capacity growth through the end of this decade due to their growing economic attractiveness in almost all countries … New solar capacity added between now and 2030 will account for 80% of the growth in renewable power globally by the end of this decade.”

China continues to dominate and accounts for 60% of the expansion in global capacity to 2030, while hydrogen continues to be teeny tiny, mostly because it's proven to be uneconomic despite plenty of government assistance (the French city of Montpellier cancelled an order of hydrogen buses after finding electric buses would be six times cheaper to run, and that was two years ago).

The world is clearly moving away from fossil fuelled electricity and modern technology is allowing us to manage that transition well. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, but climate change is largely an energy problem because energy is responsible for around 70% of global emissions. Solving that problem in practice is a machine problem and when our machines run on renewable electricity, we’ll be reducing our emissions and our costs. 

Rolling on the Rivian 

EVs aren’t just cheaper to run. They’re great to drive, tough as nails and seemingly waterproof, as this hurricane battered vehicle shows. 

“When Rivian said its electric pickup was built to “handle it all,” it wasn’t bluffing. A Rivian R1T owner in Asheville, North Carolina, had his vehicle dragged 100 to 150 feet after Hurricane Helene swept through the area. To even his surprise, Rivian’s electric pickup was still ready to run.”

Now that car deserves a restful break/wellness checkup at one of Rivian's fancy charging outposts.

Sugar coat it for me

How do you communicate bad climate news more effectively? Here’s some ‘great’ advice from Tim Robinson and Yellow Dot Studios. 

Read moreDownload the document here

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