After a big spike in sales of fully electric and hybrid cars as drivers rushed to take advantage of the Clean Car Discount before the incoming coalition government removed it, the numbers went into reverse at the beginning of the year, Motor Industry Association figures suggest.
The government further disincentivising EVs and plug-in hybrid use by not extending their exemption from road user charges, along with inflation and high interest rates eating into people’s disposable incomes, no doubt contribute to sales numbers flagging as well.
This is arguably not the most conducive environment for launching a marketing drive for home chargers like WEL Networks subsidiary We.Ev has done.
Dirty fossil fuels need to be phased out, they’re not getting cheaper, and electricity to power vehicles is a cleaner and more compelling proposition. What’s more, there are now nearly 106,000 BEVs (battery electric vehicles) and PHEVs (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) in the nation’s passenger car fleet.
They have to be charged. Being able to do it at home instead of using a public charging station is attractive for many EV owners. It’s convenient, and usually cheaper, particularly if you can schedule the charging to be done out of peak usage times with lower rates.
However, charging at 230-240 Volt and 10 Ampere is slow. From personal experience, using a thick extension cord, you charge at somewhere between 1.8 to 2 kW.
Depending on the capacity of your EV’s battery, and how depleted it is, you’re looking at a long charging session at that rate. PHEVs have smaller batteries and a Mitsubishi Outlander with 20 kWh capacity can be topped up overnight from a standard power outlet.
It’s worth remembering though that even 2 kW through what’s officially called Mode 2 charging is a good chunk of power. Caution is warranted, particularly if you’re running long charging sessions sometimes for more than a day at a time.
“I’m pulling my hair out when I visit places like Waiheke island,” We.Ev product manager Sam Montgomerie said.
“It’s terrible to see all the Nissan LEAF drivers running extension cords out of their windows, across the garden,” Montgomerie said.
Montgomerie said charging EVs this way is a messy trip hazard, and doing it in the rain is not particularly safe either. A constant high electric load also generates heat that standard three-pin sockets aren’t designed to handle for extended periods, and this could be a fire hazard.
To tidy things up, cable-wise, and speed up charging, you can buy more powerful Mode 3 chargers that use single-phase AC electricity at the same 230-240 V but a much higher current, 32 A.
They give you a much higher 7.4 kW charging rate, but that comes with its own set of issues, Montgomerie points out, particularly with grey imports that may not conform to New Zealand standards.
Electricity companies are keen for these chargers to be smart with control over the output, similar to the ripple relay control for hot water cylinders.
The reason for that is to avoid bringing the mains grid to its knees with demand surges. To quote the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Agency sponsored Standards NZ 6011:2023 document:
“If every New Zealander owned an EV, and we all plugged them in at the same time (such as when we got home from work), we would need to invest much more in the electricity network to meet this additional demand.”
“That would result in higher electricity costs for everyone. Smart EV charging allows you to increase or decrease your charging level, often to take advantage of lower-cost off-peak electricity.".
Not every New Zealander owns an EV, and it’s unlikely to ever be the case, but you get the drift. Montgomerie explained that a correctly installed smart charger would do hard on/off switching.
“It’s just a throttle-back, so rather than your charger pulling 7.4 kW, we’ll pull it back to 3 kW for 10-15 minutes,” he said.
If the home charging isn’t managed correctly, WEL would be looking at spending $1 billion over the next 15 years to bump up grid capacity, which would be more than a 100% increase in its current network value.
Electricity demand is likely to go up substantially in the near future, as people replace gas. Induction hobs, underfloor and water heating all have big electric power draws. Adding high power AC home charging for EVs would exacerbate the demand for electricity.
If 7.4 kW is good, then 22kW is three times better, right?
Compared to fast direct current (DC) charging that can deliver 180 and 300 kW, 7.2 kW for AC home charging may seem a bit anaemic.
Ratcheting up the charging power to 22 kW with a beefier unit may seem tempting, but there are plenty of caveats to bear in mind.
First, you’ll need three phase power. If you don’t have it already, like for example many rural properties do, it’s not cheap.
The cost of upgrading your house to three phase power can be as high as $10,000, Montgomerie explained, with the cost of the charger itself on top, of course.
EVs that charge faster than 11 kW are still not common either.
Even with 7.4 kW kW home charging, if it’s possible to install three phase power safely via a main distribution board, and the budget for doing so is reasonable, it can make sense if there are multiple EVs to charge.
Making EV charging even smarter
While there are challenges to overcome when it comes to electrifying our transportation, and charging vehicles of all kinds at home, Montgomerie pointed out that batteries are going to be a thing of the future.
“What we’re failing to understand is that by bringing an EV home, we’re actually bringing a massive battery to the house as well,” he said.
This refers to a feature that Nissan in particular has been keen to advertise, vehicle to load or V2L. You can use your car to charge other devices, and even use it to power your house.
One such scenario is to use solar to charge the battery in your car during the day. Then you change the direction, and power your house, in the evening. A vehicle battery powered property would be more resilient to electricity outages as well, and help smooth out demand peaks.
The car needs to support V2L, and several brands like Kia offer it, with Tesla also implementing its variant of the feature, called Powershare. EV chargers would also need to support V2L.
“There is no reason why in the future your car won’t have a vehicle to grid capability so that you’ll actually be able to power your home, or the grid, in that manner, off your EV for a couple of hours.
The V2L or V2G feature would be very desirable to many people, and adds functionality to EVs that fossil-fuel vehicles simply cannot provide. If there's a reason needed to bring back the Clean Car Discount, V2L/V2G is high on the list.
Update April 12, 2024: The Minister for Energy, Simeon Brown, says there are law changes coming for EV charging.
"One of the changes I am considering as Minister for Energy is an alteration to the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act to better provide for EV smart charging," Brown said.
"There will be increasing pressure on both the national grid and EDBs as New Zealanders choose to purchase electric vehicles. Non-Smart Chargers begin to charge vehicles as soon as they are plugged in. This can lead to large spikes in demand as people return home from work," he added.
"Smart Chargers are one important way that we can ensure there is a smoothening of demand without compromising service for the EV owner.
Officials are currently working on advice for me that will confirm the scope and timeframes of this work," Brown said.
84 Comments
You'd be crazy to regularly power your grid connected house from your EV as the cost per kw/hr in wear on the battery exceeds the cost from getting it directly from the grid. Maybe if you don't care because the battery wear is not a personal cost to you eg company car.
" If there's a reason needed to bring back the Clean Car Discount..." ROFL
32A charging requires a home wiring upgrade back to the main board (think ovens). Domestic grid wiring to house is typically 60A so car charging will take over half capacity.
When I installed a 32A charger in a new build a few years ago sparky recommended an extra breaker in the board to protect the supply cable to the house because with the charger & several appliances on concurrently it would be possible to overload >60A
There are smart chargers like the NZ made Evnex that can prioritize the household load, and channel the remaining line capacity into the car. Or even suspend the charging.
When combined with an electricity supply plan that has cheaper night rates, it can work really well for the wallet, the grid load and the environment.
I'll have to check, but previously you were not allowed to backfeed from a motor home solar system to a house. And generating any kind of power in the house required physical separation from the grid via a manual changeover switch, with a off position in between, or a failsafe contactor.
Now, some battery based inverter systems allow feeding to the grid input side, and use a smart meter only to ensure there is no back feed to the grid.there is no actual physical separation. AFAIK, no regs have been changed, just the interpretation of what is deemed safe.
Anything done by a plug-in, I.e an electric car, must have fail safes on the house input side, I.e so there is nothing to stop someone plugging a dirty old generator in with out protection.
Obviously the technology is evolving quickly, and the regs are struggling to keep up.
Yes, backfeed is forbidden, as it endangers linesmen doing work on lines they would assume are no longer live. But being able to plug the freezer into the car during extended outages is a really nice concept, especially for rural folk who suffer more frequent and longer outages, and typically have well stocked freezers, as the trip to the shops is not as frequent or inexpensive as it is for the townies.
Yes, there was a event in tauranga where a large industrial generator powered up a whole line that had been shut down. Why I will always install manual mechanically isolated protection no matter how smart the tech is supposed to be. As will most sparkies.
Live work on lines is on the way out, they will shut it down and tie it down to earth nowadays. More power outages for consumers, but fair enough safety wise.
There are already systems that allow for feedback. A friend of mine has a Passive House with solar and a smart gateway box that controls everything including out to the grid, and he also has two EVs. His electrical costs for the house and cars is $0, and he gets approximately a $3,000 cheque from the Power company every year.
And so was the taxpayer.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/507363/transport-minister-says-cle…
Didn't factor in this,
Climate change: NZ could face $24 billion bill to hit 2030 international Paris Agreement targets in carbon credits, officials warn
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/climate-change-nz-could-face-24-billion-b…
As much as I love my EV for commuting and road trips, it simply will never be as fun as a proper manual or flappy paddle ICE car when it comes to carving corners. You can't hide the extra 1/2 ton of inertia, and the smooth power delivery takes the reward of a perfectly executed gear selection and change away.
Unlikely. Banning ICE and hybrid vehicles means destroying the European car industry, and handing the market to Chinese auto companies and Tesla. Just like how Biden is now walking back all the new car standards he wanted to bring in. They can save one of their biggest industries, or they can "go woke, go broke".
https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwinton/2024/03/27/eu-may-water-down-ha…
I think you will find that has already been cancelled or postponed. Their rule, even if they do actually implement it at some stage does not specify they have to be all EV, they just have to be carbon neutral, so alterative fuels and hydrogen ICE cars will be part of whatever the arrangement. EVs will probably be only a small percentage of the overall fleet, as they are now, given their significant disadvantages when compared with proper vehicles.
I don’t know why oil companies have anything to do with hydrogen, other than they have the perfect distribution network for it. So yes of course they would be involved. They are not just going to close down and go away. It’s pretty clear that EVs are not the future, they may be a small part of it, but better tech is just around the corner. EV owners are going to be like the people that purchased Beta video cassettte players 30 years or so ago. Holding on to a dead technology. The only difference in the comparison, is that Beta was the best tech, and that’s not the case here.
Because when green hydrogen proves too expensive, there is good old grey hydrogen. Also, they are selling the idea of hydrogen combustion engines.. So lots of moving parts needing lubrication.
You're completely wrong about EVs, there will be better batteries, but they will still be a battery of some sort, an inverter, and a electric motor (or 2,3 or 4). The tech is proven, reliable and economical. Until we get to "Mr Fusion" reactors or teleportation of course.
Until they can tow boats or the family caravan or whatever, and retain the majority of their range, and be charged within 2 minutes, and not burn down your house, and not get written off with the smallest dent etc etc, then they are a useless technology that will never be mainstream.
So, seems you agree then, since you cannot answer any of them. I would add to the list that they are also powered by coal as well in most countries accept for NZ (sometimes) and places alike Iceland where they have 100% renewable power, but these places are rare. A larger percentage of the worlds power comes from coal, and that is powering EVs.
Back in 2021 a 2015 Tesla Model S (with 170,000km on the odo when it was imported as a Japanese used vehicle) started towing up to 2.5 tons around the country, which is plenty for just about everyone towing a boat or caravan. Last I heard it was up approaching 250,000km but I haven't been paying attention since then.
The vast majority of people who drive utes with a "3.5 ton" tow rating don't tow anything even close to that weight, ever, and if they do they're putting far too much faith into what it's rated by the factory to tow and not enough thought into the physics of towing something that weighs over a ton more than their ute. Many are also ignorant of the concepts of GVM and GCM. If you're towing 3.5 ton, you really should be using something big and American, probably with a fifth wheel setup, or a light truck.
The battery depletion issue has largely been resolved. Not everyone's driving an early generation Leaf.
Your car spends many hours standing still in the garage overnight, why not have it charging then? We did just that years ago when we lived in town. House did not burn down.
"Smallest dents" don't just write off EVs. We had an ICE written off two years ago for a minor nose-to-tail that didn't even cause a handbag to slide off a leather seat or a coffee to spill. The car was able to be driven to the side of the road afterwards.
Many of the issues you're bringing up are more excuses. There's no shame in just wanting to stay with ICE, but why spread hyperbole to discourage others from going to EV? Imagine what Auckland would be like if just half the people stuck in rush hour traffic jams were sitting in silence, not generating exhaust fumes and consuming what remains of the world's fossil fuel resources? That could keep ICE vehicles on the road longer, and with a drop in demand it could even lower fuel prices. Sounds pretty good to me.
From Tesla...
As towing was not type approved by Tesla for the Model S, in general towing is not regarded as an option. Some regions take a more liberal view and people tow with their model S, and some owners ignore the legalities and take the risk. We do not support illegal use of Teslas and owners should satisfy themselves on the local requirements.
Also from Tesla....
Range is also significantly decreased when towing and owners of Model S who have towed a caravan have reported range has been reduced to as low as 40% of the normal range. Supercharging with a trailer or even a bike rack can also be a challenge
Its not illegal to tow with a model S in NZ, and it is safe. Tesla will also install towbars on the Model Y as a service option. For some reasong they won't install a towbar on a model 3 in NZ, but they will in Europe.
If you think ICEs dont suffer from range reduction when towing you are deluded. Hang a big heavy and unaerodynamic load off the towball of anything, and your range will suffer.
Just yesterday I used my diesel 4x4 to tow my 680kg tandem trailer with only a few hundred kg worth of furniture on it, so likely no not much more than a ton all up. Normally I see around 8l/100km, but even towing this light load I didn't get below 12l/100km, and I was on flat Hastings roads the whole time. That's a hefty hike in fuel consumption for what was a very light load. Physics doesn't care what's powering the vehicle, energy consumption increases with load and friction, it's that simple.
If you mean the Hulk, it was written off and the Hulk II was born. https://shop.driveev.co.nz/products/evolution-of-hulk-car-poster
The whole issue of towing large boat trailers , caravans , small houses etc , has apparently been put in the too hard basket for now . at the moment , the weights etc are for your information , not a actual legal limit. Insurance may say otherwise.
It will probably take a serious accident to make changes happen, in the meantime hopefully commonsense prevails and regulation is not necessary. yeah right.
There's a lot of shallow thought that goes into peoples choices for faster home charging.
For the majority of people their home charging really only needs to cover the daily drive... work, schools, shops, sports. That's likely less than 100km worth of travel, even if it's a family with 2 EVs to charge.
100km of city driving (with the benefit of regenerative braking) will likely use about15kWh. The bog standard, budget home charger on 240V, 10A is giving (conservatively) 2.2kWh per hour, so the car(s) will be fully charged after 7 hours.
The only time faster charging is needed is when there's two consequtive days with long drives or when the return home is very late, and the departure the next day is very early (in which case the driver is dangerously fatigued and shouldn't really be doing a long trip anyway). But on those rare occasions nipping out to a public fast charger will solve the issue.
Sure, this still doesn't balance grid load if everyone plugged in at 6pm, but it's less of a grid hit than at 30Amps
Yes, I charge our leaf at about 20km per hour 2 or 3 times a week between 11pm and 7 am to 80% charge, Or 100% if driving some extra k's the next day. Always charge at home rather than the expensive commercial chargers. THe RUC wrought by National have put EV's at a price disadvantage to ICE and I have to wonder what their thinking was!
Indeed, the calculations had already been done for diesels light vehicles, there was no good reason for an EV to be charged any other rate. An EV weighs near enough the same, takes up just as much road space
It does however highlight how petrol tax is no longer fit for purpose when hybrids pay so much less than non hybrids towards building and maintaining roads.
Considering you should get around 5km per kwh, an overnight charge will give you a minimum of 60km even at 1kw. More than enough for your average commute.
No right turn sums up the coalitions changes.
https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2024/04/climate-change-spite-destroys-…
"You've got to be a special kind of arsehole to destroy a highly effective policy out of spite. And you've got to be a particularly stupid one to do it at that cost. But apparently that's National's new standard of governance: stupid, spiteful arseholery."
You've got to be a special kind of arsehole to target the disabled with the highest taxes and discriminatory policies when they have no other transport options. But apparently that's your standard of governance: stupid, spiteful discriminatory bordering on systemic genocide arseholery. Much like Labours denying the ministry of disabilities enough funds for essential needs like transport access to GPs, much like Labours actions to deny disabled people food prep assistance, much like Labour denying disabled people minimum wage or access to 95% of housing. You don't get to be much more of an arsehole when you are already punching down on the most vulnerable by then charging them exorbitant taxes that ablebodied others do not have to pay and denying them any transport to access their community.
But where are all the commentators on this site claiming that the rebate didn't work as it didn't make any difference to sales anyway?
The silence is deafening.
As always, good government policy is to subsidise good things and tax bad things. NACTF are all about "market solutions" and like to pretend the government should just keep out of markets. But they seem to forget that they are responsible for managing climate change actions which markets externalise the cost of. Classic can kickers.
"A constant high electric load also generates heat that standard three-pin sockets aren’t designed to handle for extended periods, and this could be a fire hazard." No. Three pin sockets are designed to handle a rating of 10A continuously (no different to plugging in a 2.4 kW heater for a long period of time on a cold day). Also, 3 pin charging is more than adequate for 99% of users - my daily commute is 50 km of at least 50% open road driving and 6-7 hours is more than enough (depending on the charging rate which is set). For the average commuter it will be much lower.
What is needed is modification to the pricing structure of electricity to incentivise consumers to charge at off-peak periods. EDBs (Electricity Distribution Businesses) aren't able to influence this because they have such a small share of the electricity dollar, and even if pricing differentiation is made, it can just be smoothed over by the retailers meaning that the consumers don't ever see it and aren't incentivised to change.
Control systems like OpenADR will help, but part of the solution also lies in a new pricing structure that allows EDBs to smooth demand and better utilise existing infrastructure without having to undertake upgrades due to capacity limitations that are addressing short term peaks in demand.
The smarts don't need to be in the form of a $2000 smart charger. The smarts could be in the form of a software interface for most EVs, just need to get manufacturers and electricity suppliers to agree on a common API and implement it. Govt regulation might be required to force certain manufacturers to pull finger.
In nearly 18 months of owning a Tesla Model 3 and changing every few days from a standard 3 pin plug have I ever needed anything more. Perhaps if I had to do a couple if back to back long trips it might be useful. But even then I could just pop along to a public charger for half an hour. I can see people who routinely make long trips needing something more but I fully recharge from a return trip from hamilton to Auckland in about 12 hours. And have plenty of charge for normal commute in less than 8. Not worth spending money on a home fast charger for me.
With current government policy settings, driving an EV for 100km could now easily cost more than an ICE, particularly when the EV owner has no off-street parking available. (ChargeNet DC charges 80c per kWh, plus RUC, = ca. 18$/100km. Equivalent cost to 6 ltr/100km petrol.) With the latest housing intensification proposal, off-street parking is not required anyway, thus likely to increase.
It seems to me, all policy (dis-)incentives are aiming to bolster oil imports. And when I look at the usage of the Seaview tanker terminal, there are ever more ships per week offloading fuel there.
Yet the government is committed to the emission reductions. I just haven't heard about any real actions to support that claim.
Actually a pretty smart tactic for saving them money for tax cuts. Make a promise to build 10,000 charging stations that would have been built by the private sector anyway if EV uptake continued on it's previous path. But now they've removed EV incentives they can argue they are saving money not building the chargers (as per Nat-ACT agreement they have evaluated it) and realise it's a pointless policy. Wahoo more money for Nicola's tax-cut budget. Winning.
I don't know about that, most of the public fast chargers have been built with some funding from EECA from what i've seen. Without those subsidies I think you'd find the charger infrastructure build out would be seriously lagging the uptake of EVs. $13.6million of funding has been approved by EECA, not all of that has been paid/started yet.
We just got into our new build, put in a 32A prewiring only as haven't got an electric car yet, inside our internal access garage, nearish the door opening. When we get one that should be plenty according to the electrician. They even put a wee printed blank plate over it saying its a future car charger :-)
For each of those battery improvements you will likely also need to get a new vehicle and leave someone holding the bag of the old vehicle without the battery improvements in NZ. Here is the kicker, that is all companies and manufacturers business models. With EVs that practice has only increased so to even run the current vehicle you may also need to pay subscription costs or face significant loss of vehicle functionality via software changes. This is not a better system. Ideally the old business models where parts can be replaced in existing vehicles would go a lot further to reducing carbon and waste in manufacture, disposal and logistics. If you simply accept the current business model system it does not matter if there were battery improvements as the minor change difference is wiped out by forcing more production on whole new vehicles and waste.
Remember it does not matter where the largest lifecycle cost is primarily located we all share the global changes.
This goes for most tech. If you have to buy a new phone to get better battery life & tech then it is a massive environmental cost much worse then if you simply had phones that could replace the batteries with significant improvements and update the software. I.e. the crux of right to repair would be far more beneficial environmentally then seeking to push for minor parts improvements.
We got a seperate feed installed in our garage to ultimately put in the Tesla wall charger however at this stage we are using the 15amp version 3 pin plug and that is perfectly acceptable @ 22-23 km /hr for us at the moment. In the Tesla app you can set the amps so if you have plenty of time I would set at say 8-10 amps rather than 15amps.
Plug location is in garage by door however we charge and store car outside. An EV fire in a garage although very rare spooks me.
I just don't find this a problem.
Everyone sleeps for 8+ hours a night. 2.4kW for 8 hours will give you more range than you'll use in 99% of days. We're engineering for the 1% scenario, and I think we need to be upfront about that.
If you're running a holiday home or work as a travelling rep then sure, maybe you need to think about something fancier. But most people drive less than 50km on an average day.
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