Driving Australia’s electric future

Much has been said in the popular media about the need to decarbonise our activities. Not before time! At Envirotecture we try to put our money where our mouth is. Our office runabout and Andy Marlow’s daily commute has been a Hyundai Kona BEV (battery electric vehicle) for over a year, and recently Dick Clarke bought a Tesla Model 3 to replace an ageing diesel hatchback.

Ironically the Tesla cost less than the Kona, thanks to the NSW Government’s recently announced incentives: waiving stamp duty, and a $3000 rebate for electric cars costing less than $68,000. With a ticketed price on road of $64,500 this brought the price down to $59,500 – less than Australia’s top selling (but largely pointless) vehicle, the Toyota Hilux.

With a home charger putting out a modest 7kW, the Tesla can recharge overnight for no cost, thanks to Dick’s solar panels and Sonnen battery. At normal rates the cost would be about $3.50, providing over 400km of suburban range. In practice it is charged to maximum of 85% and run down to a minimum of 40% to give maximum battery life, charging to 100% only before a longer trip – which we can now do!

The sustainability benefits of cleaner air, never having to go to petrol station again (yay!), less carbon in the atmosphere are clear. Although the ecological cost needs to be considered: embodied carbon of making the car in the first place, and the need to have a 100% local recycling facility by the time the car reaches its end of life.

There is no need for everybody to race out and buy a BEV tomorrow, but when the use-by date on current cars comes up, BEVs should be at the top of the shopping list. Incentives such as those provided in NSW and Victoria make this a lot more attractive – we live in hope that the Federal government’s latterly announced incentives might have the desired effect and add to the transition to net zero accelerators.

Our tag line ‘just getting on with it, not waiting for government’ may be a small step closer to be being redundant; we can hope…….