A group of electric car owners have joined forces in a new group on Facebook to show that their zero-emissions vehicles “ruined the weekend“.
The saying is now widely used among EV owners to poke fun at comments made by prime minister Scott Morrison in 2019 – and which he recently denied saying – that EVs would “end the weekend”.
But the experiences and images shared in the group are certainly far from that, with many showing their EVs parked next to Easter camping tents, on day trips visiting the great outdoors and even lugging heavy stuff around.
“We trashed Easter by getting a new bike rack and going to Whiteman Park for a lovely ride. I really should have tried picking up the bike rack before purchasing it though, it’s heavy as! Not worried about the EV but myself carrying it!” said Ant Day.
Peter McBurney, who put his Tesla Model 3 to the test a little over 12 months ago to see how far it would tow six canoes, says he was “devastated” when his weekend was ruined by driving up to the Blue Mountains to see some rare pink flannel flowers.
Al Corven said, “I ruined the week driving about 1,900kms from Central Coast to Brisbane and back to visit my brothers. Cost to me for fuel $6.37 (versus about $150-$200 for petrol depending on the car and fuel price) – thanks NRMA!”
Ewan Regazzo took his family camping at Kylie’s Beach, near Crowdy Bay in NSW, in their imported 62kWh Nissan Leaf e+. He tells The Driven that their two teenagers are also learning to drive in it.
“The kids love it! It is far more responsive than any other car they get to drive. They both prefer driving it … out of all the cars they have access to,” he says.
Simon Harriott said he and his family did a trip from the Blue Mountains to the South Coast for the weekend in their new Model 3 Standard Range Plus.
“I live in the Mountains and we have a holiday house at Orient Point. Was the first decent trip we took the car on! Car handled it remarkably well,” he told The Driven.
“The whole journey from Springwood to Orient Point used 50% battery with a detour through Bowral. On the way down I gained 5% going down into Kangaroo Valley, 6% drain leaving and then 3% gain coming down the other side so all in all surplus for the whole stint.”
And the Easter weekend isn’t the only weekend “ruined” by EV ownership, it turns out.
Ken Taylor of Western Australia took his family camping in November to the Avon Valley. “Completely ruined weekend,” he quipped, sharing a photo of a gorgeous remote campsite with the setting sun in the background.
Others report that even though they weren’t able to get away some weekends, they still managed to utilise their EVs to great effect.
“Ruining the weekend doesn’t only involve travelling, sometimes you get to lug 50 pavers around in the boot,” said Ant Day.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.