Electric Vehicles are Still Too Expensive

Robyn Everist bought her second-hand electric car when the prices got "a bit more reasonable".(ABC News: Maren Preuss)




When Robyn Everist saw the petrol prices skyrocketing she knew it was time to put a long-laid plan to purchase an electrical vehicle into action.

A few months later, she and her husband couldn't be happier.

"We've been waiting for the prices to get a bit more reasonable," Ms Everist said, with her selection of a second-hand Nissan Leaf setting her back about $30,000 when all the costs are tallied up.

"We had an initial look and said 'yes we'll do that', but didn't seriously go car hunting until the petrol price went up.


"We drive to town every day for work and there was no way I was going to pay petrol money if I could just as easily get an electric car that's more efficient."


Ms Everist and her husband live at Clifton Beach, about 30 minutes from Hobart's CBD in Tasmania, but work in the city — making for a round trip of around 70 kilometres every day.  READ MORE...

Traveling in an Electric Vehicle

Driving long distances in an electric car isn’t as bad as some of the naysayers might have you think. Provided, of course, the car in question has a solid range estimate. 

But what if your car doesn’t have particularly good range? What if your electric car is just like mine?

I am currently the owner of a Nissan Leaf with a 40 kWH battery. It’s the smallest battery Nissan currently offers in a Leaf, and has an EPA-tested range of 149 miles. 

The Nissan Leaf is a perfectly good city car, with a few questionable hardware choices, but it is categorically not built for road trips. Especially with high-speed highway driving.

It’s a fact that was living rent-free at the front of my mind as I prepared to take the car on a road trip. Because the choice was either that, pay about $140 to fuel my girlfriend’s car, or spend even more renting a more long-distance-friendly EV. 

Taking the Leaf seemed like the best option available, and now that the trip is over I still can’t decide whether I did the right thing.  READ MORE...