What advice would you give to someone looking to buy an EV?

@Jim_Hare​ we get a lot of questions about charging EVs off the grid vs renewables. Was the process of installing solar panels difficult/costly? Or has the benefit outweighed the initial investment? 

@NRMA_Maddie​ great question.  For us solar panels have been an obvious choice. 

If someone plans to be in a house for at least 5 years it’s a no-brainer as they generally pay themselves off in this time then give another 20 or so years of free electricity.  

Add an EV and it gets even more obvious as both petrol and electricity costs rise it hedges you from both.  

The best thing we did was install a Zappi charger that monitors the solar and only feeds electricity to the car when there is excess power that would otherwise go back to the grid.  This way you decide the percentage of solar/grid and for many months each year our car runs on 100% solar which is really cool.

The big thing I’m looking forward to is V2H (vehicle to home) where we will be able to use our EV as a power-wall to power the house at night.   Doesn’t make sense to buy a 10kW battery when we have a 64kW battery sitting in the garage. 

The process of selecting/installing the panels was easy.  Important to research and select a reputable company and then talk about your needs and budget to select the right system.   The actual installation and grid connection was quick and painless, they basically took care of it all and we just sat back and enjoyed it. 

Thanks @Jim_Hare! Really helpful info. We're in the process of researching for our own home and it can be overwhelming for sure but sounds worth it, particularly when factoring in an EV 😁

Agree with Jims comments and just wanted to reinforce the point about the payback for solar installations. I had our first solar installation done 6 or 7 years ago, soon after the high rebates were discontinued, and used my monitoring system to determine that it paid itself off in about 4 years. Since then I have increased the size of the array and bought an EV, and the payoff is incredible. Even if you make a bad choice of installers and pay way too much, and EV chargng from your solar will make the payback period quite quick.

@declanscott​ How long do you need to charge your EV while shopping to help you get through the week? 

@SuzanaB​ hey Suzana, all depends on the speed of the charger and battery size.  

the JOLT chargers are 22kw so would take  between 1-3 hours from empty depending on the battery size in your car.  NRMA chargers are 85kw if I’m not mistaken so between 30-70 minutes from empty. 

But the idea is you never wait for empty so are always just topping up.  

@EViking​  Agree, identifying what your needs are and then researching what is out there is key.  I live in a regional town, and often travel to Sydney and Melbourne. The Kona long range looked the closest fit for all my requirements and it has a published "WLTP" of 484k. I knew it would not achieve that with prolonged highway driving but until I had done those trips several times, had no idea what it would achieve (turns out around 400k). However, I also learned that it did not matter all that much. I have never actually used anywhere near that range, and have only filled it to 100% once, as an experiment. I can get most places easily on an 80% charge, toping up a few times as I go.  

@EViking​ what EV do you own if you don't mind me asking?

We regularly do freeway driving of 700kms (exactly) in a day  and I'm concerned about the "true" mileage we'll get as I only want to charge once... which means range has to be in comfortably in excess of 350km pending charging location. 

For folk who have the KONA -- what is the charge time? This is another factor for me as I don't want to add too much time to a long day's drive which we do fortnightly.

Thanks :)

That's a good question.

Let's see about working out an answer - what is the route, suburb to suburb?

Secondly, do you take any breaks in this drive between these two points?

We can use https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ (ABRP) to plot the drive including charge stops, and specify an arrival battery %age.

You can create test plans in ABRP using a free account, which will give you a great approximation of how each EV will handle that route for charging, etc. It can also make use of bluetooth OBD to gather live data on your EV's performance, so you can better guage your safe/risky routes with regards to time and consumption.

@chalky​  charge time is a big one.  I drove Sydney to Melbourne and back in our Kona and the charge time was longer than expected.   350kw chargers were good and could charge the Kona close to 75kwh but the 50kw chargers always seemed slow, like around 35kwh. 

One mistake I made was getting impatient and stopping charging too soon.   I knew it meant more stops than needed but felt it was more important to keep moving.   But in reality the switchover time , additional route deviations to get to chargers, or the risk of chargers being occupied means if I do it again I’ll definitely wait at each charger longer and get more range.

I did really enjoy making the drive a more significant part of the journey by stopping in all these little one pub towns to charge.  Much more enjoyable than filling up for three minutes and jumping back on the road.  But that assumes you have the time to be leisurely.  😎

Thanks @Jim_Hare I can absolutely envision myself getting impatient and moving on ;) I think once we nail down the regular charging spots, we can make the most of them we get used to it. I'm certainly not loving filling up twice. We have a hybrid so it's 40km range is rather unhelpful! 

How long does it take you in those two scenarios -- 75kwh and the slow 50/35kwh? 

@A_Tesla_in_Newcastle great points. Our EV community was founded for that same purpose with like minded EV owners and drivers interested in EVs - as well our ongoing EV drive days. 

Interested to hear more about your experience with point 2 though. 

Point 2's a safety/security consideration.

Enough pictures of the same car builds a plethora of information about that car and the owner for motivated groups or individuals to hobble or harm.

@Stevens thanks for sharing. I love your points, especially that it's just another car, albeit some different planning challenges sometimes needed, but overall cheaper in the long rung. Sure the upfront cost is more, but something we hope to decrease as more models continue to arrive and production continues. With EV chargers being installed at Ampol locations, the 2 for 1 temptation might make a comeback, although not as such as regular visit. 

Interestingly there is lots of misinformation and objections from some who see EVs as a threat, however I think the approach should be for the driver to do their own research and see whether an EV is the right choice now or in the future. Has there been a common misconception/ concern that keeps coming up? 

@NRMA_Paul​ the most common question I get is "How do you charge it?". When I say "Any power point, though it is slow", there's a general look of surprise. There's too much emphasis on fast charging times - yes, important for road trips, but for most people they will just charge overnight at home.

There are also the "I can't drive from Melbourne to Sydney without stopping" people. And yes, if you do 10+ hours driving each day, EVs aren't for you yet.

Just the usual misconceptions.

For most people, they'll only do it when it reaches price parity (weird how they don't do it for other things) & they are so in debt already the idea of buying another vehicle is not even worth worrying about right now.

Resist the 2 for 1, people!

The No 1 goal is to get these things in front of people where they don't expect to see them (i,e Westfields, community events etc) and have a makeshift show & shine. Open doors, boots, frunks etc breaks down the 'untouchable' feeling & people will check them out & ask questions. The wife & I have done this & it works a treat.

@Stevens good points indeed. We agree and our EV Drive Days have been successful in the sense that it brings EVs to people who may not be able to see one, but also in a place where a test drive is possible ( without a sales pitch) as well as chat to experts around charging. We'll be looking to doing more events over the next 12 months, but also letting people know that switching to an EV is not a forced option, but one to keep in mind if it suits your lifestyle too. 

@gordonr​ we also have an 2020 Ioniq and love it too.  Before buying, my biggest concern was the the modest battery size and hence limited range.  But, I reasoned this would be our ‘town’ car and we could use our ICE second car for long trips.

However, when planning a trip from Melbourne to Brisbane in late 2020, my family just presumed we would be in the EV.  (That’s because they didn’t understand the difficulties, silly them).  But my thinking was challenged.  I sat down with PlugShare and realised it was possible in the Ioniq.  

I chose an inland route via Dubbo, made possible by the network of NRMA chargers existing at the time.  There were several legs of just over 200 km, but I was gaining confidence in the car so took the punt.  No looking back now!

The only ‘sweaty’ section was from Tamworth to Glen Innes , being over 200 km and a significant climb, but in the end we made it comfortably enough. (This is before the Armidale NRMA charger).

We now use the Ioniq for all our trips as a matter of course, and simply have to plan out the how bit.  So far we have done a number of trips into regional VIC and to the Barossa.

On the highway, our range can be 270km or more at 100km/hr but would drop to around 240 km? at 110km/hr.  These ranges can drop further in cold weather or head winds.

Our long term consumption has been 13.1 kWh/100km for mostly suburban driving.  Allowing for charging loss, that is about 15 kWh/100km overall.

Our driving is mostly suburban though and the range is always sufficient - but it is still important to check the ‘tank’ and charge if necessary.  Some forward planning Is still necessary - or you may have to search out a local fast charger!

At home we already had solar panels, so I bought a zappi charger.  For 8 months of the year our day to day car charging needs are almost completely met from daytime solar charging.

Finally, if I can offer one piece of advice to those considering an EV purchase….. Range Anxiety is doubtless prominent in your thinking right now.  As you gain familiarity with your EV and confidence in its capabilities, that anxiety will fade into the background.

Have you tried using A Better Route Planner?
You're able to Input your vehicle details, and if you have a bluetooth enabled OBD scanner you can connect the app to the data stream for accurate live data to help you nail-down your safe, and risky margins for any trip.

Yes, another EV owner I met at a charging station introduced me to ABRP.  I found it a bit more complex initially but more powerful as a route planner than PlugShare.

However, I haven’t tried the OBD scanner option. Do you find the live data useful?

Sorry for the late reply!

I haven't been able to test in an ioniq yet, so I can't say how it will perform. I'll test in a tesla soon with a bluetooth OBD & wiring loom adaptor.

Have you been able to try it yourself? Bluetooth OBD's are relatively cheap, and most cars have a port available.

@gordonr​ But, the helping is good - right?

Oh, definitely. I really enjoy talking with EV owners at chargers. But, this is friction we don't need.

One Polestar owner I chatted to at Golburn put it well - EVs don't have a range issue (mostly), it's a time issue. The fact that you can charge from any power point is highly under-rated.

@gordonr one point that is not often raised at all around charging from a power point. For lots of drivers, it's hard for them to see how this would work as they are set in their ways, but tech can only improve and has to start somewhere. 

@NRMA_Paul​ yep. I'm very clear that charging from a standard power point is sloooowww, but it's feasible and for people with garages or carports, they have all night. Obviously, this doesn't help people in units or with on-street parking, but it does help a lot of people.

I still find people are very surprised that you CAN actually just plug your car into a normal powerpoint. There seems to be a belief that you MUST install a special charger. If they look half interested, I then explain that yes, it would take a long time to charge my battery from zero, but just as they usually don't run their petrol tank dry, I don't run my battery dry either, and it's actually trivial for me to top up whenever I am not using the car (which is most of the time), rather than having to go down to the petrol station.  However, I am lucky to live in a house with reliable wiring and a plug in the garage.