EV owners love what their cars can do. And they can do a lot these days. Whether it’s an old Nissan Leaf that cost a couple of grand and can take care of the daily duties, a new Polestar that can go the length of the North Island on one charge, a Zeekr that can plug in to a two-way charger and power a home, or a fleet of company EVs that can cut your costs and help you meet emissions targets, there are so many good stories to tell about electric vehicles and so many features of these new technologies that are worth promoting.
This Car Can... is a campaign celebrating the real stories of everyday New Zealanders who have already made the switch to electric vehicles in the hope it inspires more people to follow suit.
There’s a lot of talk about what electric vehicles can’t do and plenty of myths and misperceptions that might stop people from upgrading. But the people who actually own EVs? They’re overwhelmingly sold.
There are now almost 100,000 full EVs running on New Zealand-made energy and they make even more sense as fuel prices keep rising and the world becomes more unstable.
We want existing owners to share their electric enthusiasm with those who may be on the fence so that more New Zealanders get to experience the economic, energy security and environmental benefits of running on cheap local electrons rather than on expensive foreign fuels.
We feel proud for contributing to less fossil fuel use, and we love driving the EV - it is very quiet and peppy. Our next vehicle will definitely be an EV.
By putting a timer on our hot water cylinder, we heat our water when the sun shines or at night when the price is low. The same applies to charging our EV.
The car is charged and ready to go every morning. For the few long trips we have taken, we have never had to stop longer than a typical lunch stop.
We have paid a bit more than $114 in total for 'fuel electricity' at ChargeNet rapid charger stations since October 2017, after driving more than 41,000 km.
We have travelled about 100,000km in the two vehicles, going from about 8L/100km to 13kWh/100km in the Ioniq and then 18kWh/100km in the Polestar, which saw about $20k of petrol replaced with about $4k of electricity.
We've swapped one then both cars to electric. The electric vehicles are saving us about $1,800 per year since road user charges began. We find we're more inclined to go away on road trips, knowing the cost of travel is low.
Our switch to EVs followed a 5-day rental holiday three years ago where we realised how good it was - smooth, quiet, effortless to drive, easy to charge and cheaper to own.
We ditched the gas guzzling vehicle for an EV in 2018. All in all about $50,000 after being electrified for 7 years. We're getting the largest savings from the EV.
Our only family car is a 2017 Nissan Leaf, a great round town car for all four of us. We supplement this with a road bike, an ebike, trains and buses. We've not got a fancy charger, just a three point plug near the carport. The only maintenance costs so far have been tyres and a yearly check. This is our second Leaf after an unfortunate incident involving a bus running a red light. Luckily we lived to tell the tale and bought another with the insurance money because we love it so much. We've been fully EV for seven years and can confirm you won't regret it!
The EV is in all respects a better vehicle than the vehicle it replaced, and it had a similar new purchase cost. In the last 2 years we have only used a public charge station 12 times. The rest of the charging has been done at home utilising 3 hours of free power 9pm to midnight, plus solar surplus.
We charge the EVs off solar during the day or overnight on off-peak rates, costing about $4 per full charge and saving us thousands every year. With charging costing so little, road user charges have actually become our biggest running expense.
The savings have been massive - we've saved roughly $50,000 so far. We save about $5,000 per year on each of our two cars.
As for the EV, we love it and could never go back to petrol. We even took our car when travelling to the South Island earlier this year to avoid having to hire a fossil-fuel powered rental car down there.
Power charges are down to a third of what I'd been paying, and this includes charging my EV. As the EV has few moving parts maintenance costs are negligible, so there's an extra saving.
Even in the winter, my monthly costs only reach up to about $130. This covers the energy for both my home and two electric vehicles.
Honestly, driving an EV is just fun. Beyond the drive itself, I've really enjoyed watching the numbers. There is a real sense of satisfaction in seeing exactly how little energy we actually need to import from the grid.
After installing solar, we purchased an EV, which became our only car for our family of four. We love the savings made from solar and an EV, which means we have additional money to invest in other areas of our lives.
EVs save you money
We love EVs because they’re kinder on your wallet. Cheaper energy, fewer moving parts, and lower lifetime costs.
Charging at home via the grid at off-peak rates costs about $1.50/L equivalent - and most people just use a standard three-pin plug. Rooftop solar pushes this even lower.
No oil changes, no exhaust system, no clutch or spark plugs. Hundreds of dollars saved every year.
More reasons to love EVs
It’s not just about the money — EVs are better in almost every way.
Quieter and smoother
60% fewer emissions
‘Free fuel’
Much safer
Power on the go
Batteries built to last
Much less noise and vibration. Smooth, instant acceleration with no gear changes. No exhaust fumes improving air quality in our neighbourhoods.
Nearly 90% of NZ’s electricity is renewable. An EV here emits up to 90% less CO₂ per km. Even factoring in manufacturing, 60% fewer lifetime emissions.
Regenerative braking recovers energy while stopping or going downhill. One-pedal driving means your brakes barely wear out.
Despite the media attention on EV fires, petrol cars are around 20 times more likely to catch fire. No flammable fuel tank means a fundamentally safer vehicle.
Vehicle-to-Load lets you power kettles, fridges, power tools — great for camping and trade work. And with two-way charging you will soon be able to use your car to run your home or feed back into the grid.
Modern batteries have a 15–20 year lifespan and around 80% capacity after a decade. There are warranties of 8 years / 160,000km. And around 95% of battery materials can be recovered and reused.
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