If I buy an EV, will I spend my whole life queuing for chargers?

Wednesday, 4 September 2019

If the vox pop is any indication, people aren't nearly as concerned about electric vehicle (EV) 'range anxiety' as they used to be. Makes sense: New Zealand's charging infrastructure is actually pretty good right through the country now and (more importantly) very visible.

But there's always something new to worry about and in this case it's charging time. Assuming EVs will grow in number and grow in battery size in the years to come, will we all be spending hours queueing up at charging stations waiting for a turn to plug in? It's a question I get asked quite a lot.

The answer to that could be very complicated but let's keep it simple: if you have off-street parking for your EV at home and access to a plug, it's really not worth worrying about.

Look closely: this is why you don't wait for the last 20 per cent of battery charge.

Any EV can be plugged into a domestic AC socket. Charge time depends on the size of your battery, but it's slow. And that's okay, because you're only topping up what you've used during the day, which is very do-able overnight.

**READ MORE:

The Mansplainer: charge your EV like you charge your phone.

* Can you charge around NZ in an EV?

* What you need to know about buying an EV in New Zealand

* The EVs that can park and charge themselves while you shop**

It's easy to freak out about the charge time for a flat battery using power at home. The last time I plugged a Hyundai Ioniq EV into my garage socket (the car has a range of just over 200km) the on-board computer said it would take over 24 hours to fully charge. Child's play compared with the Tesla Model X (over 500km), which was more like 48 hours.

But do you run your car empty every single day? Probably not.

You could always have a 'wallbox' installed at home, which ups the AC grunt substantially.

For longer drives that require really quick charging - yes, you will need to visit a DC fast-charger. And yes, you might need to queue. But depending on the size of your battery, you'll get it from flat to 80 per cent in 20-40 minutes. Why not 100 per cent? Because with most batteries, that last 20 per cent takes a really long time. It's not worth it.

EV ownership does require a change in mindset. With a petrol or diesel car you feast on fuel: you don't visit a filling station unless you really have to.

With an EV, you graze - plug it in at every opportunity. After all, you don't let your mobile phone go flat before you plug it in, because it might let you down when you're out and really need it.

Get your head around that, accept that some things are worth waiting for occasionally - and you're ready for EV ownership.