Common electric vehicle myths

Charging electric vehicles takes forever

Incorrect. The technology around electric cars is changing rapidly and the time required to charge an electric car is falling just as quickly. If you’re charging an electric vehicle at home with a residential charger, depending on the vehicle’s capacity, it should take six to eight hours to fully charge it — plug it in before you go to bed and you’ve got a fully charged car in the morning.

Matters get even speedier when you look at public fast chargers, where an electric car (again depending on its capacity), can be fully charged in as little as three hours. Plug it in before you go to work, when you go shopping, or go to a sporting event, museum, or movie, and by the time you’re done, your electric vehicle should be almost fully charged. Ultra-rapid chargers can add 150 to 300 km of range in just an hour, and some vehicles can be fully charged in as little as ten to 15 minutes. Best of all, these speeds continue to improve as the technology does.

Electric vehicles don’t have enough range for a large country like Australia

The technology may be changing (and improving) fast, but we’re not yet in a world where you can drive from Sydney to Perth on one charge. That said, you can’t do that on a single tank of gas either!

Currently, a typical electric vehicle has a battery range of between 400 and 480 km, but that’s changing fast with manufacturers of newer models claiming ranges in excess of 500 km.

How far will 500 km get you? Further than you might think — consider the following examples of each state or territory capital and where is within 500 km of there. Please note these distances are as the crow flies, not actual road distance, and are for illustrative purposes only.

When you’re weighing up driving range and electric vehicles, it’s important to keep in mind how far you typically drive. An average Australian drives a little over 30 km per day, and when you consider an electric vehicle can be charged at home, the range question becomes a bit of a red herring.

There are not enough charging stations in Australia

It’s true that Australia’s electric car charging network is not quite as comprehensive as that of some other countries, but like charging speed and range, this is changing fast. It’s also important to remember that some 80% of electric vehicle owners in Australia charge their cars at home.

Nevertheless, as pointed out above, Australia is big, and a single overnight charge isn’t going to get you everywhere. So if you’re going to need to charge your electric car somewhere other than home, how hard is it?

Not as hard as you might think. A network of public charging stations is being established right across Australia and both private enterprise and state governments are investing heavily in charging infrastructure.

Charging stations can be found close to supermarkets such as Coles and Woolworths, fast food outlets like McDonalds, public parks, swimming pools and even universities. Charging companies like PlugShare and Chargefox have maps and apps illustrating the growing number of charging locations. Most importantly, remember that with an electric vehicle, and unlike a petrol car, you can charge it at home.

Electric vehicles are expensive to buy

True, they are more expensive to buy upfront than a conventional car, which makes for a great reason to rent an electric car! Prices are expected to fall as demand and production continue to increase, and the price of electric vehicle batteries are likewise expected to fall over time.

While they are more expensive to buy, electric vehicles are far cheaper to power. An electric vehicle can be up to 70% cheaper per kilometre to power than a conventional car, and this means an average electric vehicle driver can save up to $1,200 in fuel costs over a year.

Electric vehicles are expensive to maintain

This is incorrect. Electric vehicles have fewer moving parts — there are no spark plugs nor filters to replace, and no oil that needs changing — and these all contribute to lower maintenance costs. In general, an electric vehicle can represent a saving of A$300 to $400 per year in maintenance versus a conventional car.

The one big difference is the battery, which is costly to replace, but the prices of batteries are falling, and with most manufacturers offering at least a ten-year or 160,000 km warranty on batteries, chances are you’ll never be needing to pay to replace one. Many vehicle batteries are expected to last 15 to 20 years before significant degradation in their performance.

Electric vehicles do not perform as well as a conventional car

Again, false. Electric vehicles are able to deliver full torque instantly which, in plain English, means they can accelerate faster than a conventional car.

Electric car batteries, which are quite heavy, are often positioned along the bottom of the vehicle, thus lowering the car’s centre of gravity. This translates into better cornering and general handling of the car, reducing the chances of a rollover in an accident.

Electric cars are as bad for the environment as conventional cars

Incorrect, on a number of counts. For starters, electric vehicles have zero exhaust emissions. Secondly, even though an electric car is charged with electricity (that is, after all, why it is called an electric car), many charging stations rely to a large degree on renewable energy. Thirdly, batteries, when they are replaced, can be recycled and repurposed.