A new club in town wants you to get electric. The Wanaka Electric Vehicle Club, which now has 12 members, is plugging the virtues of electric vehicles, and word is getting around. They’ve even set a goal of ridding Wanaka of 80% of its diesel and petrol cars by the 2020s. 

It sounds like a lofty ambition, but after sitting down with founding club members Florence Micoud and Morgan Knoesen, I’m just about sold.

For one, electric vehicles are not the fringe product they once were. Reports out of Norway suggest that all of the country’s main political parties have, as of yesterday, agreed to ban the sale of fossil fuel-based cars by 2025. The Indian and Dutch governments are considering similar plans.

Nonetheless, before meeting with Morgan and Florence, I was a bit skeptical. Electric cars? I immediately thought two things: expensive and slow.

There are currently five fully-electric cars in Wanaka (unlike hybrids, which can switch back and forth between electric power and petrol, electric cars do not use fossil fuels at all). Their first advantage, said Morgan, is the lack of emissions. He explained that every 10 kilometres of driving creates emissions equivalent to burning 100 plastic bags. "Imagine chucking 10 plastic bags on a bonfire per kilometre. That goes into our lakes and our lungs,” he said.

OK, but aren’t electric cars really expensive? Morgan’s fully-electric 2011 Nissan Leaf cost $20,000, a fair bit more than my second-hand Honda. But he can charge up his vehicle at home for $3.30, which gives him enough power to travel 100 kilometres. A quick calculation tells us if I used his car to get into town every day (I live rurally), I’d save at least $3000 per year in fuel costs, probably more. (According to the New Zealand Household Travel Survey, on average a male driver in New Zealand covers more than 12,500 kilometres per year.)

But what about maintenance? Not a problem. Morgan explained that an electric car has 200 moving parts, compared to the several thousand in a petrol vehicle. Fewer things to break, fewer bits to fix.

Fair enough, but won’t we need a lot more electricity if we all start plugging in electric vehicles? Again, not really. Refining crude oil into petrol uses a huge amount of electricity. And in New Zealand, because so much electricity generation is hydroelectric and therefore relatively clean, electric-powered cars are easier on the environment. 

As Florence said, "Why use petrol when you can use water?”

There are limiting factors, particularly in rural areas. Range is an issue, with electric vehicles only able to travel 100 to 200 kilometres on a charge, with a full recharge taking at least four hours. This makes for a slow trip to Christchurch. But the Charge Net NZ electric vehicle charging network currently has 100 Fast DC Charger sites, which will charge an electric vehicle in fewer than 30 minutes, around the country, and they are installing more at a rate of about one every two weeks. A Queenstown site is imminent.

For now, the Wanaka Electric Vehicle Club club has a petrol-powered carpool car which will be available to club members to use for longer trips.

As for speed, I took a drive in Morgan’s car. It goes from zero to 80 more quickly and smoothly than a typical petrol car like my Honda, and, a surprising bonus, it does so almost silently. There’s something Star Trek about it. It feels space age.

I like it, though I’m not completely convinced. Any car, even an electric one, is going to be a less sustainable option than, say, a bicycle. Or getting around on foot. And even with fast-charge stations, range will still be a problem in rural regions until battery technology improves.

Not perfect, then, but better, something more and more New Zealanders are starting to agree with. As of January this year, there were 1000 fully-electric cars owned in New Zealand, a figure that exceeds automobile industry projections by 50%.

And if Norway, one of the world’s top ten oil exporters, is prepared to give the electric avenue a try, maybe we should too. I love my Honda, but I’m starting to think its days are numbered.

PHOTO: Laura Williamson