Why electric?

Petrol engines may sound grunty or smell like workhorses — fact is, they are highly inefficient. After a century of development, the combustion engine only turns around 25% of its fuel into forward motion. All the other energy is turned into heat. Meanwhile, an electric engine easily turns 80% of its energy into forward motion.

What is more, New Zealand generates most of our electricity using hydro schemes — i.e. falling water. In short, switching to an electric vehicle is one of the best things you can do to slow down climate change.

While going electric will slash your impact on greenhouse gases by around 80%, going electric may also save you money (the more you drive, the more you save). And, did you know, electric vehicles offer a much better driving experience.

So what is not to like? Electric Vehicles take longer to refuel and you need to refuel more often. That is an issue when you are driving from Wellington to Auckland, but most EV owners recharge their cars overnight, at home - at very low cost. Just like their mobile phones. Imagine you had to recharge your mobile phone at a petrol station!

Do you know how much you could save by trading-in your run-around car car, like a Honda Civic or Toyota Yaris, for an Electric Vehicle equivalent like a Nissan Leaf; without paying anything upfront? You may be surprised, it will not cost the earth. Answer two questions and we will show you all the details.

Got questions? Feel free to contact me, Nicolaas, I welcome your feedback. Thank you for using this site.

Credits: night image - Chris Gin; day image - Anup Shah.

Tesla #4 (customised)

Tell me more about the Nissan Leaf