Petrol prices makes going electric more enticing

By Paul van der Werff

With petrol hitting record-equalling highs of $2.18 overnight, more drivers will be mulling over the merits of going electric – but fully electric cars remain a costly option.

The Blade Electron is the only fully electric vehicle available commercially in New Zealand; Llyn Richards bought his a year ago, but it wasn't cheap – about $67,000.

Blade Electric vehicles, which is based in Australia, manufacture the car.

The process involves retro fitting a brand new Hyundai Getz.

“We completely strip it, all the electronics are new, obviously the fuel and batteries, that’s all new, the motors the drive system so it’s a new car with a whole new drive system,” says Ross Blade.

The car is limited by the size of its lithium ion batteries and can run for 100km before it needs recharging from a normal household power point.

But Mr Richards says despite that limitation he is able to run the car at less than one cent a kilometre.

“My wife and I go past the petrol stations and go, ‘oh golly gosh, petrol’s gone up again’, as we go sailing past and it’s only cost us next to nothing.”

Another option that the large car companies feel will be more viable for the global market are the plug-in hybrids.

“What it allows you to do is run the car around town for a maximum of around 25km without using the fossil engine or without using any sort of fossil fuel,” says Roy Trimbel of Toyota NZ.

Cars like the Electron and the plug-in Prius give drivers the possibility of never having to purchase petrol again.

However, the mass production of cars like these are some years off.

Ross Blade says it will be five years before we see electric cars on the roads en masse while Toyota are remaining coy about the mass production of the plug-in Prius.

“These are test cars which we need to emphasis and they may not be introduced into the market place,” Mr Trimbel says.

They are even less confident about any future for fully electric cars.

“No motor company is in a position to sustainably or to actually build these vehicles at a cost that people can afford to buy them.”

But Llyn Richards is just glad that he could afford to buy an Electron and that he is doing his bit for the planet.

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