Plug-in hybrids accelerating the EV revolution

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are an ideal electric option for New Zealanders, Flip the Fleet’s latest monthly survey shows.

The survey of about 420 EV owners concludes PHEVs are suited to those with just one car in the family and a need to regularly travel long distances or tow loads.

PHEVs overcome range anxiety among prospective buyers and encourage more people to switch to EVs, Flip the Fleet says.

“Most New Zealand EV owners see plug-in hybrids as a useful step in the right direction,” says Kathryn Trounson, the Better New Zealand Trust chairwoman and Flip the Fleet citizen science collaboration participant.

She drives an EV with a range extender – a small petrol-powered generator that charges the car’s main battery on the move.

“This gives me the best of both worlds because I can do most of my driving from electricity that I upload from home, but I have the back-up for occasional longer trips,” Trounson says.

“Over the two and a half years that I have had my car, I have used only nine litres of fuel for the range extender.”

About 94% of PHEV owners surveyed agree their cars are contributing towards low emission transport in New Zealand.

The majority (61%) of “pure electric vehicle” owners agree too, but 22% of them are more sceptical.

This latter group believes PHEVs are potentially less environmentally friendly, particularly if they tend to be run on petrol for much of the time.

However, the Flip the Fleet data shows very little difference in trip distances of the hybrids and pure EVs. And nearly everyone agrees that PHEVs will attract more people, and a greater variety of people to buy low-emission vehicles earlier than if only pure electric vehicles were available.

“What matters most is what you are replacing when you buy a PHEV,” Trounson says.

“If you really need that bigger car for longer journeys, you’ll still reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money in your local trips between times. And you would probably have been using a gas guzzler for the longer trips anyway.

“But if the current pure electric vehicles’ range is sufficient for your needs, we recommend you buy them rather than spending the extra on a plug-in hybrid.”

The average away and return trip distance of all the pure EVs contributing to the Flip the Fleet database is 53km, well within the range of even the cheapest EV.

One of the issues raised in this month’s survey is the comparative lack of pure EV models for sale new in New Zealand.

In the second quarter of this year, around half the new ‘low emission vehicles’ sold were PHEVs. However nearly ten times as many second-hand pure electric vehicles were registered than were second-hand hybrids.

“This is partly because New Zealanders can score off the subsidies paid in Japan and Europe for EVs that are then on-sold second-hand in New Zealand,” Trounson says.

“But we look forward to having more pure electric vehicle options for sale new on our forecourts in the near future so that people can choose the best option, be it a plug-in hybrid or a pure electric vehicle model, that meets their individual needs.”

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