Your basic EV guide

This story first appeared in the July issue of evtalk – CLICK HERE to download the magazine FREE

The first iin a series, this guide aims to make it simple for first-time electric vehicle (EV) buyers to understand the lingo and see the benefits to EV ownership or use.Our next issue explores charging.

EV benefits Why buy or use an EV?

A new EV can cost a considerable amount, or you can buy a cheap second-hand one like a Nissan Leaf – especially if you only do short distances (most Kiwi drivers do about 30km daily).

But the initial cost is offset by your car no longer requiring fossil fuels like petrol and diesel – saving thousands over a year.

Charging an EV at home overnight at residential off-peak times means you pay the equivalent of about 30 cents a litre.

Charging is even available free in some areas, perhaps at work if the company has an EV fleet or encourages staff uptake of EVs.

Running costs are also extremely low.

An all-electric car has about 20 moving parts compared with around 2000 in a petrol or diesel vehicle, so maintenance costs are minimal.

Among the few things that need regular checking and replacement are the window wiper blades and the window washing fluid.

No oil is needed, and you don’t need oil and air filters, spark plugs, drive belts, clutch or even have to worry about a gearbox.

A regenerative braking system (providing power back to the battery) also means less brake wear.

Don’t believe anything you hear about EVs being slow.

They’re quicker off the mark than most cars and some versions have set new speed records.

And they’re exceptionally quiet.

You can have a conversation without yelling, enjoy your music without the background noise of a petrol or diesel motor and things like the differential (diff).

EVs generally have very high safety ratings too.

Best of all, according to many EV owners, is that a pure EV produces no harmful emissions – one of the reasons many cities globally are imposing restrictions on polluting vehicles such as diesels.

And they use renewable energy – especially in New Zealand.

Meanwhile, there’s debate about the merits of pure EVs as against hybrids – vehicles which combine fossil fuel power and electrics but – until now – have tended to have longer range.

Most countries serious about vehicle electrification no longer consider hybrids a viable option, preferring all-electric.

What’s the difference between a BEV and PHEV?
BEV stands for battery electric vehicle, powered only by the EV’s battery.

While both are plug-in vehicles, the BEV is known as a “pure” electric.

The battery may be a low powered one with an energy unit of about 16 kiloWatt hours (kWh) – the EV equivalent of litres of petrol – such as a Mitsubishi MiEV, or higher powered one of about 95kWh like the Audi e-tron SUV.

The battery determines range (distance on a single charge) so the MiEV will do about 85km and the e-tron 328km, with factors affecting range including weight, temperature (less in cold, plus whether battery heating is controlled), terrain (flat or hilly) and friction (wind and road resistance).

Range is also in the expression “range anxiety”, which refers to the driver’s worry about whether the EV will make the journey’s end before running out of battery power.

BEV examples also include the Nissan Leaf car and e-NV200 van, BMW i3, Hyundai Ioniq and Kona electrics, Jaguar I-Pace, Kia Soul, Tesla models, Renault Zoe car and Kangoo van, LDV EV80 van and VW e-Golf.

PHEV means a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle such as the popular Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.

These are, as the name suggests, plug-ins which charge from an external power source and also have an internal combustion engine (ICE) fuelled by petrol or diesel which automatically takes over when the EV-mode runs out of power, perhaps after 20 or 60km.

Some repower the battery once battery energy reaches a certain point.
These ICE motors may also be known as “range extenders” as they assist for longer trips.

Another popular PHEV is the Toyota Prius plug-in.

Other terms you may see used include HEV – which also stands for a hybrid electric vehicle too that combines an ICE system with an electric propulsion system, and FCEV or FCV – which means a fuel cell electric vehicle, hydrogen providing added power and range, with water the only emission.

The Toyota Mirai is an example of an FCEV, but it won’t be seen much in New Zealand until a degree of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure is in place.